Category: Furniture Making

Wax, Wood, and Chimney Cleaning

This Christmas really was not about gifts for any of us here on the Farm. Instead, we all seemed to be about being together. As our oldest put it to me in a conversation we had to the side at one point, “it is about being with the people I care about.” We did gifts, but I don’t know that anyone put so much into that as they did getting here and being in the moment together. It’s meant the world to me. Seems the same for all. Now, that’s not to say Mrs. Clause did not put an effort into making the gift opening a big part of the activities. We shopped cheap. There were themed hampers for the likes of cleaning, and movie night, and a date night. As has been his custom, our second son got me a 12-year-old scotch. I told him we would open it when his brother turns up a dad. He laughed. His brother didn’t.

Oldest brother said he would like to look at making a dining room table in the coming summer. I did say that I am not having much luck on finding any fine wood, and the poplar that I can find readily does not finish very well. Also, the wood needs time to dry, depending on how he wants it built. Solid wood requires a year per inch of thickness. His reply, “so it won’t be a quick project, then?” No, it won’t as such. To be fair, we could try to make a sort of kiln, and poplar does dry on the fast end. He was not yet sure of measurements required. Maybe we can get this going anyway. I would like to do some practice on a few smaller projects first.

It is a middle of the night post, and I am typing this at almost 2:30 in the morning. I put some wood into the stove and am keeping the house warm. It is 22F out right now, and the house is staying warm easily. I have the new wax melt running at 500 watts and 160F. It seems pretty accurate at the moment. I just added 10 more pounds in four blocks. It has brought the level up to just more than an inch from the top. I have not measured, but it looks like I could dip 18-inch candles in the vat. I would do well to get up in the morning and make a frame to hang wicks from to dip. I’d like to try it, though I am not positive I will sell them. But they could be a special product.

I have like four or five rows of firewood on the bunk at the moment. I am thinking one row will last about four weeks. I am not too mathematical at the moment, but if that can get us through to April or so, then I think we can easily make it till it is warm. If not, I think it will be warm enough to split off some dry logs from the sawmill pile.

I cleaned the chimney the other day, and found it to be a lot cleaner than I expected it to be. There was flakey soot on the walls, and when it fell down to the bend, it nearly blocked it completely. But it did not. That is about two to three large PeanutButter jars worth of material. It was an easy clean, and surprising. Also, it was a shock just because of how wet some of the wood I have been burning has been.

I am off to watch a video about English Barns now. Then maybe back to sleep.

Christmas Report 2023

Time for an early winter’s nap. We had the kids around last night and this morning for our Christmas celebrations. They have grown so much and are learning the importance of family over gifts and that is very gratifying. Still, we shared gifts and time last night and today. They have gone now, and we had a little while to relax a bit and enjoy the quiet. The evening drew closed in single digit temperatures. Now that winter has come, we are feeling more like the normal cold we experience this time of year. The autumn will always be remembered as the warmest we have experiences so far.

I got the girls and Missus each an alpaca blanket. The boys each got an external hard drive with all the photos I could find on my computer from their early days back in England. They are old enough now not to squirm and complain about how embarrassing the photos are. They were very happy about it, and both expressed excitement and anticipation for the contents of the drives. I am thrilled to have given them the photos and let them have their memories from those days before. The older one said he didn’t really have any proof that he grew up in England till now. What a laugh.

Our oldest also said he might like to have a go at building a dining room table for his house. I’ll have to keep an eye out for a decent type of wood to make it from. It would be nice to find him something other than poplar.

The day is over now, and tomorrow we will celebrate Boxing Day before we get back to normal for the season. I am looking forward to that! I also will say, I looked at Facebook for about a minute or two. No interest in that. So, I checked out again.

Next thing to come along now is the New Year. We are a quarter of a century after 1999. That is amazing! I really cannot even believe it.

Off to sleep now.

Worked on the Trailer Today

It’s meant to rain tomorrow and Monday. It would interfere with work on the trailer, so we got up and got at it today. My main focus was to build on the backing and top of the shelf Missus is using to set the checkout on. I wanted ti to come out pretty good, so I gave it a bit of effort to give it a decent finish. Missus wanted the end that sticks out towards where a customer would come in to be rounded to reduce chances of injury, so I did that. It was a nice challenge for me as I was using a saw that makes straight cuts. (Resaw blade on the bandsaw; some rounding mut not much.) Then I gave it the correct finish with a handplane and finally 120 and 320 grit sandpapers. It came out right.

That’s bee most of my day today. Not the rounded pine board worktop, but the whole shelves to cabinet and then worktop thing. I did mow quite a bit of the grass this morning, and I cleaned up where the memorial garden used to be. It is set in a wagon made from a likely pre 1920’s truck frame converted to hay wagon which has since fallen to disrepair. The earth under the wagon had become hilly and impossible to mow, so I leveled that off with the tractor and made it so the grass there should recover fast, and the area be easy to manage.

Our weather forcast for today topped out at 81F, and over the next ten days it is not forcast to get higher than that. We are genuinely in get things done season! At least for a bit! Cooler outside, cooler inside! So if it rains, I can always go work on the den and get it ready for the cool season, and to do some candle-making and hopefully get started on some leather work, too. I would like to spend the winter doing those things where I have ready access to plenty of heat! The shop is hopeless, and will get too cold to work in for several months.

Finally, it is September now. The summer will end in just over two weeks. I gathered firewood yesterday and the day before. Well, some of it was for the saw. But I always have scraps to burn from that, as I cut off generous slabs to get right down to the lumber and make sure I have good pieces to add to the cordage. What’s more, I always grab a few rounds to top the trailer off and come home with something to split, too. Even when I am gathering primarily for the mill. With the weather cooler, now is the time to get all the last of the wood gathered and split, and some for next year too, if I have it in me to do it, and there is time. I have a yard to clean before the snow falls, and I have a lot of jobs to get done. I won’t list them, just say when I have done them.

Scorp & Adze

I have searched high and low, the world over via the Internet to find two tools necessary to try out making a Windsor chair. They could be found few and far between, but the other day I was watching a video of Curtis Buchanan talking about chairmaking, and he mentioned a name I could not quite make out for where he had gotten his scorp, one of the two tools. Luckily, he had mentioned the location of the tool maker, too. So with a little help from the behind-the-scenes trolls over there at Google, I searched and found the maker’s website, and ordered both the scorp, and an adze. The adze is for quick, rough removal of material in a valley, such as a seat bottom. The scorp is for closer, more refined work. A travisher is required for finishing, and I have yet found where I would like to get one of those for sure, though I do have my eye on a site in England that sells them.

There are different types of adzes to be had. Some are short handled and useful for benchtop work. Generally, they are used to scoop wood out of a surface, and the user would hold the tool facing towards himself and swing like a hatchet. Others are long handled, and the user will stand on the work surface, and swing the adze towards his feet. I got the long handled one, figuring I could choke up on it and do benchtop work, or stand and do the ground level stuff. When Jon Townsend built his dugout canoe on his YouTube channel, he used a long handled one, so I don’t want that kind of opportunity to pass by for having the wrong tool. If necessary, I figure I can cut the handle.

The scorp is basically a curved drawknife. It is a blade around a foot long, with handles on each end. It is pulled downwards, again towards the user, and takes shavings of wood, rather than scoops like the adze. The cut is wider and shallower than the adze, and so is more refined. If the adze is scissors, the scorp is more to the effect of the electric hair trimmer. The travisher is more like a razor. Each had its finish, and the scorp will bring the work much closer to the final finish than could possibly be achieved with the adze.

Both tools were readily available on the website of Barr Specialty Tools. The maker is Barr Quarton. Nutty enough to me, he is out in McCall, Idaho! In the end, after all the searching, I ordered a tool from a guy in the same state as I live. Barr has trained on tool making, and with Japanese sword makers, so he talks about folding in carbon in his blades, giving them the edge on cutting. Buchanan recommended them as a superior tool. Since I was happy to take the word of a craftsman in the trade, and to shop locally, Barr Tools was my port of call for these tools. I Was surprised, as my searching had revealed few makers, especially in the US, and nothing of quality craftsmanship. Here, I got both, and with far fewer miles between me and the place of origin than any other.

Woodcraft has not confirmed shipping yet on the bandsaw I ordered, but the money has been taken from the appropriate account. I’ve paid them. My shop is small, and I do not see needing more than the Laguna 14bx. I have really enjoyed my Laguna lathe, so far, and decided to go with them, though I sometimes have doubts and think I might have liked a Harvey a bit better. But then, the only reason I can really find to regret is the blade guides, and those can be replaced if the ceramic guided of the Laguna turn out to be that bad. Carter makes some bearing guides for it. While I will be quite happy for the saw to arrive, it has been so cold in the shop that I would not be able to use it now anyway. So, it gets here when it gets here. As long as it is by spring, or whenever the weather becomes suitable to try it out. I have some blades for it arriving on Saturday, giving me a bit of flexibility with the tool. The bandsaw will provide curved cuts, resawing, and lathe stock prep. In fact, I am eyeing a spot for it right across from the lathe.

After these tools, I think a travisher is in order to complete the requirements, though I may still find a convex spokeshave necessary to complete the spindles. But with the, the shop is more or less complete to the requirements of chairmaking, and many other tasks.

The shop does not open just yet, however! It is coming up to 4:30 in the morning, and it is currently -4F outside. It does not bode well for a nice 70F degree day, suitable to a lovely time working. Looks more like another day hiding in the house! Well, everything has a season, as Jill Winger pointed out in her global email yesterday.

Here Comes a Tough One

It sure was cold this morning. The temperature at 8:00AM was 15, but the wind chill had it at -2. The good news is, tomorrow morning will much colder. The forecast calls for a windchill of negative 30. We will see! But for today, preparations, preparations.

I got the firewood in, and we have extra in place within reach of the woodstove, in a barrel on the front porch. If it is too cold tonight, especially upstairs, the we may all sleep downstairs and keep the stove burning. There is space for everyone.

I had a look at the plane iron I was messing with the other day, and I have to say, I can see the dull bits on the blade. I do need to establish a good secondary bevel on it. I suspect that when I do, it will sure cut a lot better. But I was out in the shop in my heavy winter overalls and coat. It is no time to be messing about with things like that out there.

Things on the way for the shop at the moment: A bandsaw, two chair making books, several mats for keeping my back from hurting so much, a scorp, and an adze. In theory, I still may need a couple of spoke shaves, a V-gouge, and a travisher. I’ll also need some milk paint, and some cheap brushes, and a surface finish. At that point, I think I’ll have nearly everything I need to try my hand at making a Windsor Chair. I want to get started as soon as it is warm enough, and I can find some wood to do it with.

I have been watching some videos on YouTube on how to do it. There is a lot of work in one chair. But I think it could be better than fun, and reasonable to do. I also would very much like to make some for the house. After that, I think selling others would be just fine. The tools and the knowledge are on the way!

The evening is setting in. It is 20 minutes till 6:00PM. The temperature is currently 8 degrees, with the wind blowing at 13 miles an hour, gusting to 19. That leaves it feeling like -6F. The temperature is meant to drop all night long till it bottoms out around 7AM, Weather Underground says it should be about -10 by then, with the wind chill at -20. All we can do at this point is hope the best for the animals.

A Working Bench

I started the process of ordering a work bench for the shop at the end of December. Then I realized I had ordered the short one on accident, so I cancelled it and looked for the longer one. The shop I had originally ordered from did not have any, so I tried out another shop. That was the next day. I put the longer bench on order and have been waiting since. Today, it finally arrived.

The box was in perfect shape, so that restored my confidence after imagining that the bench was going to come in a manky box, looking utterly destroyed from its long journey. The driver came to the door and asked me where I wanted him to put the box, but I said if he would give me a minute, I could get a pallet fork on the tractor and get it out myself. He was quite excited! Especially as the yard did not look ready for him to run a pallet jack across it. Once I had it outside the door to the shop, I opened it and got the trestle put together with the help of my youngest daughter. Everything went together easily and well. Then came time to put the top on.

I lifted the end of the top, and considered if I could use the dolly to get it into the shop and do a partial lift at one end of the top to the kneel saw table, then up to the trestle with the other end, then slide it up. I lifted it again and sent a message for help. With two grown men lifting the top off the forks and into the shop and right onto the trestle, it took a lot out of us! I think the trestle must have weighed forty pounds, and the top weighed the rest of the 290 pounds the paperwork said it weighed.

The next tasks were to try it out for a couple of simple things, then get to cleaning the workshop! The place has been a mess, and I have not wanted to deal with it till I got this sorted out to get an idea of the final layout. The shop, being an old garage, I want to close off the car door and turn it into a wall with a window and a door in it, then build a rustic bench under the window to take working pieces of wood while I build on the bench opposite it. Going to plan, it will also be a great place to take some photos on the rustic top and under the window light. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.

Now, about the projects on the plan so far. I want to make a couple of blanket chests for the girls, and I have a few projects in the house that need finishing up. I also want to make a couple of weaving tools for missus, such as inkle looms and eventually, if I can get my head around it, some more complex looms, as well as maybe a drum carder. She has also asked for things like shuttles for the looms she already has. Then comes the furniture. I want to make reproduction pieces of things such as pie safe, and perhaps a Coolgardie safe. I would like to look at butcher block counter tops for the kitchen, handmade, of course, especially as a power plane for such big pieces is challenging. We could use a cabinet for the kitchen that would also work as a good-sized bread bin, since that seems to be a family favorite. Then there is the big goal. Since seeing Anne of All Trades on YouTube working on Windsor chairs, I have had a real hankering to build me a couple of those. I have always loved the styles, and the proper joinery to hold them together. I think that would be a real accomplishment to be proud of. Well, if it comes out half-way decent! Time to learn how to use milk paint! My interests lie in 18th and 19th century designs. With the Sjoberg’s Elite 2000 now sat in the shop, I have my “…official Red Ryder Carbine action, 200 shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing that tells time.”

The next thing and perhaps final for the shop’s power tool collection should be a band saw. That’d be handy for resawing and preparing stock for the lathe. There are a few more planes and hand tools to get, too. I have the basic sharpening tools on the way to finally sort that out, and to keep the plane irons in top shape. Especially important now that I have a bench to do the work on, and I plan to keep the planes busy. I could use a mill for outside to reduce logs to lumber, seeing as I always seem to have access to logs thanks to the pursuit of firewood.

Am I excited for this? I think so. I am about to embark on a life’s ambition to really get into woodworking and to start building my own furniture, as I am so unhappy with what’s on offer down at the furniture store. I have held off because I was convinced to try hand planes by my Missus, and I did, and soon discovered that a proper plane is easier to use than the old ones I had used in the past, and that I really needed a bench that would hold the workpieces properly while I planed them. Believe you me, with this bench that excuse dies. On I go.

Spring 2022

Times are tough these days, with inflation high, and everything else that is going on withing the United States, and without. One of the biggest bug bears on our farm is the price of animal feed, and especially hay. Two years or so ago I was able to secure some grassy alfalfa mixed bales of hay from a neighbor for a mere $60 a 1,200# bale. This year he’s not growing hay, and I have had to go looking elsewhere. What I have found is the same bales, only more pure alfalfa, selling for anywhere from $200 to $360 a bale! I got my scythe out and sharpened it on the same wheel I use for my lathe tools and got a great edge on it! Now I am cutting grass from the roadsides and anywhere I can grow it without it being required as pasture by another animal, such as the horse or any of the pastured llamas.

It is still a lot of work considering the condition I am in at my age, but I think of the money it is saving us right now and keep on cutting till I have enough for a day or two. Once I have that, I try to leave it for three days till it dries and is time to feed, but I have had to put green grass in for the goats and llamas, which I sort of regret as I remember it is not that great for the ruminants.

I have a load of firewood that needs to be cut and split. I need to get off my lazy backside and do it! It’s honestly the other labors that slows me down, along with my bad hips and legs. I’ll push through it, but I may need to get a new log splitter soon as ours has pushed the maul right out of the track enough times it has now broken the rather industrial welds on the side of the track. I am hesitant to work too hard with it right now as I may break it and have to repair or worse, replace it, and cannot budget that just yet. To pick up an equivalent splitter with a better design looks to be just shy of $2K. Yardmax looks good to me. It doesn’t look like it would have the issue of water getting in the carb, nor the channel that broke on my Champion splitter. Without the channel, there should be less clogging, too. There are other features, too, but the biggies are the inherent weaknesses of the channel, and that leaky carb cover. Yardmax looks like the push pieces that separate a stuck log from the maul are replaceable, rather than just breakable like on the Champion. That entices me! All it is missing is a lift arm to put the heavy logs on the table for me! Maybe I should hunt one of those splitters down!

I am raising meat chickens this year, for the first time. I need to pick up a second batch. I bought 15 originally, but the brooder was too cold on the last chilly days of spring, and 9 of them died due to lack of oxygen while huddling too close together. I do need to fix the brooder, or just plan on raising such birds in the summer only. Since the weather has warmed up, the birds have been fine, even out in the cage next to the egg coop. They are larger now, but they still have a little way to go till they are full size.

I have been practicing a few things in the woodshop. I finally got a jig to use on the sharpening wheel and accurately sharpen my lathe tools. That is going to take a little working out as far as how to do it correctly and consistently each time, especially based on my preferred cutting edges, which have yet to be determined. But I have used firewood to make a couple of little stools, each a little more refined than the last. I only added glue to the stool I made yesterday, as the previous have been assembled without. All are holding together just fine, by the way! Yesterday’s stool can either be a garden stool for Missus, or a little seat for our grandson. I’ll leave that up to Missus! As I get better at this, I want to lead up to building a chair, then another and another, till I have a few for around the house! Maybe then it will be time to try a table! Whatever the case, the little stools are a good way to get started on an easy project with some of the required skills.

So that’s a summary of the things here that require my attention now. There are many more things, both house related, and family related, but those are for another space besides this blog. The best to you for now!

Firewood To Furniture

Today I split firewood for about an hour, then decided I would be having a lot more fun if I were to take a piece of poplar I split into pieces, and turned those pieces on the lathe. I cut my firewood to about 19 inches, so it was obvious right from the start what I would make. It was just about right for legs for a stool. Maybe Missus could use it at her spinning wheel or loom, if she wants to. It has been a long time for me wanting to try one, and today brought me my chance. I wanted to try crating spindles and then recreating them a couple of more times. So that’s what I did.

A stool does not rock on only three legs. That is a four legged stool. So I wanted to make a three legged one, cutting down the number of legs I would have to duplicate. The firewood was split with the grain, so the legs would have the advantage of strength for going with. As for design, I saw Anne of All Trades on Instagram showing a stool she made, and the spindles were just the style I most love, old fashioned! The seat was natural wood, live edges and all. If it worked for her, surely it would work for me! So that’s what I set out to do, only in the three legged variety. Again, I am using poplar, so I don’t think mine will come out looking quite as nice as Anne’s did, and this is my very first piece of furniture, so that has lowered my expectations as well.

I did not put any real coves or beads. I don’t much care for them, honestly. Strange, for someone who bought a lathe, I know! The top 20% of the legs look like a pawn, and the bottom is long and slender, then flares out just before the feet, which are slender again. It’s simple, and they are a bit thick, but if it works out as a stool for Missus, I want it to be sturdy so she will feel secure on it.

I suppose the most exciting prospect of this little project is that if it works out, I will have build furniture from a couple of pieces of firewood! That’s about as free as the materials get. And if it does not work out, just the parts I have made so far have been an educational experience, and have given me confidence to try again. Another way it helped, I finally found the bevel on the roughing gouge. My goodness! I want from clip-clip-clip to slice-slice-slice, and the debris went from splintery little chucks to real slices. It cut a lot faster, too! I was amazed!

Tomorrow I will probably look for a log I can chop two inches or so off the end of, with a diameter right for the seat, and then turn it on the lathe like a platter. I intend to set it up with a mortise on the bottom, and a beveled gouge outside of that, which will hopefully provide a spot to drill holes to mount the legs into. The bevel should put all the legs at the same angle. Then I will wedge them in, and glue them up extra good! I may cut the tenons on the legs a little longer by turning them on the lathe again, and taking them down the shoulders at the top of the legs a bit more. That may be necessary to give added strength, and also because of the thickness of whatever seat I produce. That’s yet to be seen! But I have a plan if longer tenons are required. Right now my tenons are only about an inch long, which I regret, thinking about it. Nothing I can’t fix with a skew and a minute each on the lathe!

Speaking of eventualities! If it turns out to be too short, I may in the future put a hole in the middle of the seat, thread it, and put a new seat on a dowel with threads on it, and set it up with adjustable height. I guess just one way one can build and then modify one’s furniture!

Missus reminded me that she was looking forward to me making some Christmas decorations, too! She mentioned spindle icicles. I mentioned baubles with spindles, but that I am probably not quite ready for those just yet. I guess I had better learn my icicles! I also want to make icicles that are also whistles. I’d think wooden whistles would be fun! I have made several so far, but not after the fashion of a tree ornament.

I would be out in the shop working right now, but for the fact it is dark and I don’t want to go rooting around for the wood for the seat in the dark. I would rather see it with fresh eyes in tomorrow’s daylight!

When I finish the stool, I will cut the bottoms of the spindles as necessary to put the stool relatively level. Also, though I originally wasn’t going to do it, I went ahead and coated these spindles in beeswax that I received in the mail today. I was dying to see how the wax would come out. It wasn’t quite as I expected, but I think it will be a durable finish for now, anyhow. The wood was green, though, so I expect it to lose water out the ends, causing them the cheque and shrink. It may be bad, but it is a stool I can always remake, especially where I have got the experience now!

That’s all I have got to say about it tonight. I will be off to bed soon, eager to get up and get started on the seat!