scratch-stock moldings

scratching a molding

Recently Mike Wenzloff asked about scratch stock use in seventeenth-century work…and as it happens the next step I needed to do on part of the cupboard I’m working on was a couple of moldings. Some type of molding cutter (in addition to molding planes) was in use in the period, although I have never seen a documentary reference to one.  Many chests show a molding that runs out between the junctures of the mortise-and-tenon joints. I had my apprentice from this past summer, Bryan MacIntyre make a white oak chest. I  showed him how to run a molding like this. On this photo, it shows up in the background, the inside face of the chest. You couldn’t acheive this molding with a plane.

carved front rail, molding inside chest

I make mine from leftover stock given to me by Mark Atchison, a blacksmith I work with. I file the shape, mount it in an oak handle, and go right to it. I try to flatten and polish the face of the cutter, but don’t usually bother with honing with stones, etc. – but stoning the blade would make it cut longer between filing. Nice straight oak helps make the moldings go easier, the high moisture content is helpful as well. this stock was planed just a few weeks ago, still very wet…

newest scratch stock and moldings

cupboard restoration

hewing front stile

I have a client with a 1680s cupboard base, and I am making the upper section for it…one of the three-sided versions, with a door in the front section. The front stiles are therefore five-sided. Here I am hewing an outstanding piece of red oak, preparing it for planing. This log is the best I’ve had in a while, a real pleasure to work.

planing stiles

This log split almost perfectly flat, and the shavings peel off beautifully.

front stile

Here’s one of the stiles planed; the hewn & riven surface is inside the cupboard, so not really necessary to work it much.

skipped woodworking the other day

great blue heron in the snow

On a good snowy day, I’m more likely to stay home and enjoy the view, than to go down to my shop… and this past week I was not disappointed. Great blue herons are around here all year long, but we most often see them in the winter, they are often hunkered down in the river. The other day we had a good snowstorm, about 8″ or so. It’s gone now, from warmer temps, & rain. But I managed to get out & snap a picture of this one in the middle of the snow. To me, this is the river at its best.

chopping mortises

mortise gauge layout

Typically, seventeenth-century New England joinery uses mortises about 5/16″ wide, set in from the flat front face about the same thickness…so here I have set a mortise gauge to strike the width of the mortise.

chopping mortise w mallet

The standard practice in my shop is to chop most of the mortise with a mallet and a 5/16″ mortise chisel. In something this size it’s not necessary to bore out the waste first, the green oak chops very easily. 

mortise chisel detail

I align the chisel in such a way that the bevel is plumb, this helps knock the chip upward as the chisel is struck down. I alternate the chisel’s position, so I chop a V-shaped opening in the middle of the mortise’s length. Then I gradually widen this opening.

hand pressure for mortising

To finish off the ends of the mortises, I often use hand pressure. In this view, I’ve risen up onto the balls of my feet, and come down with my whole body to drive the chisel. Then I can pry the waste up from the bottom of the mortise.

 

The pictures here are the beginnings of a set I am doing to illustrate the making of a joined stool. There are many more steps to chopping mortises, but these few are the gist of it. The moisture content of the oak is important, usually it’s fairly wet inside when I chop these joints. The stock in the photos was planed wet from the log less than a month before…

joined stool

carving

new Devon pattern

I have been working on some carving/photography lately.  A few projects coming up in 2009 will feature some of these carvings. The one above is a chest rail; once again a motif borrowed from some furniture from Devon, c. 1660s and beyond. The same general source is used for this “scissor” motif, below, which I used on a chest I built this past spring. This is a close detail; the motif is about 3″ high in reality.

Here’s a quick view of the beginning of a carving. You can see the panel is nailed to a backboard of pine. The pine board is in turn held to the bench with a pair of holdfasts (not shown in this view). I’m using a V-tool to outline the pattern; after using a compass to define the arch at the top of the panel.

carving outline with V-tool

Here is the finished outline, mostly. So to this point, it’s been cut with only one carving tool &  a mallet. Tomorrow I hope to shoot the rest of this carving.

finished outline

lectures & workshops, 2009

carving a panel

Some upcoming projects/appearances in 2009 include a trip to Colonial Williamsburg and another to the Winterthur Museum. Both are furniture forums, and I will be demonstrating structural and decorative techniques relating to seventeenth-century furniture.

here is the link to the program for the CW forum in early February:

http://www.history.org/History/institute/institute_about.cfm#antiques

The Winterthur forum is in mid-April. Here’s the link:
http://www.winterthur.org/calendar/calendar.asp?Month=4&Year=2009#forum

Then, in August I will be returning to Drew & Louise Langsner’s Country Workshops to teach a week-long class in making a carved box. We did a class in 2007, and had a lot of fun. It means a lot to me to teach there, it’s where I really got the foundation for all the work I do these days…last I heard we had some students already, so if you’re inclined, get a hold of Drew:

http://countryworkshops.org/Joinery.html