strapwork carvings

I’ve been carving a lot of oak lately. Boxes and drawer fronts in this pile.

As I mentioned the other day, I have a box with a drawer underway; for a descendant of William Searle, one of the Ipswich joiners. These pieces get big and heavy – about 15″ tall, 26″ wide. Maybe 16″ deep.

I’ve only seen one & 1/2 period examples of this form, this one is based on the full example. The 1/2 example has lost its drawer; got cut in half at some point. Both were by the same maker(s); sometimes attributed to William Searle, sometimes to Thomas Dennis.

Lots of layout involved, and the outlines are struck with gouges and chisels, not cut with a V-tool. Centerlines, margins, arcs – all measured off with a compass. In this case, I’m trying to make a close copy, usually I make my own versions of this “strapwork” design.

 

But I got ahead of the story. While I had the box with drawer underway; I got an email asking if I would make a copy of the “other” one, the one that’s lost its drawer! And it had nothing to do with my having the first one on the bench. What are the odds that I’d get that note while working on a related box? I’ve got the first one to the point where all the hard parts are left – the drawer, applied moldings around the middle and base, and turned feet for underneath. Then the lid. I need to shoot some of that for the book I have underway, so rather than get involved in that right now, I got out a board to start carving the next box front.

It’s fun to see how the strapwork designs relate to each other, and how they are different. Scale is quite similar, about 5 1/2″ to 6″ high x 25″ wide.

 

I wrote in detail about strapwork back in 2013 – I found it by searching “strapwork” on the blog’s sidebar. https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/strapwork-carving-designs/ 

Update, oak furniture & spoons for sale etc

I started some blog housekeeping today. I never get around to cleaning up the pages on the blog. First thing is there were spoons and a bowl left last week. So I made a page for them and posted it in the header. I added two pieces of oak furniture for sale as well. Certainly not an impulse purchase like some of the spoons – but better they’re posted here than just collecting dust. This chest is one of them – and it’s at a slightly reduced price; $3,600.  Here’s the link to the page. The chest, a large box, spoons & a bowl.    https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/spoons-for-sale-march-2018/

 

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The other thing I am working on, woefully late, is my teaching schedule. I created a page for that as well. I’ll update it as I get my act together. There will be the usual Plymouth CRAFT stuff in the fall; and more at Bob Van Dyke’s Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. The page is also in the blog’s header and here’s the link:  https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/teaching-schedule-2018/ 

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For those inclined, a reminder that I take custom orders also. I’m chipping away at my list. Among them is this box with a drawer, for a descendant of William Searle, the joiner in Ispwich, Massachusetts. This afternoon was one of those days in the shop where everything went exactly as planned. No hitches anywhere, smoothly flowing all day long. But… I shot no photos in the shop as I worked. I planed and cut the end boards, rabbets front & back, made the till, bored all the pilot holes, fit the hinges in the back board, and assembled the box.  All red oak, except the till side & bottom, Atlantic white cedar.

The drawer front caught some raking light as I was leaving the shop.

And while I was outside hewing, this cooper’s hawk strafed the mourning doves. Missed.

Color & Patterns but no wood

Not all of my friends are woodworkers. Makes sense. But most are creative in some way. Martha Sulya is in many ways. You know it’s almost Easter time when she’s making Pysanky eggs.  Join her on one of her two upcoming workshops making these beauties –

This Sunday is at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts at 10:00 AM – costs $50 members and $75 non-members.  https://fullercraft.org/event/ukrainian-style-egg-decorating-2/2018-03-18/ 

Then Saturday the 24th is at the Falmouth Art Center in Falmouth, Massachusetts at 10:30 AM for $45 for anyone. https://falmouthart.org/workshop-pysanky-ukrainian-egg-decorating-with-martha-sulya/

Spoon carving classes: Openings at Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s School

I was out collecting some spoon wood today for an upcoming one-on-one session; but was also planning on stock for a couple classes in spoon carving  coming up in April.

In three weeks, I’ll pack the car and get back on the road for one of my favorite trips of the year – off to the Woodwright’s School with Roy Underhill. Never a dull moment for certain. This time it’s 2 spoon carving sessions – Roy & I don’t want things to get too simple, so the 2nd class is first, Tue-Thu April 2-5, and the first class, which is now second, is Fri-Sun April 6-8. Turns out some room in both. Come have more fun than you can stand.

http://www.woodwrightschool.com/classes/spoon-carving-pl us-with-peter-follansbee

Who knows what will happen? You can never tell in Roy’s place, but it will be fun – that much is certain.

Maybe there’ll be time for shrink pots…

 

 

Spoons and more for sale

Some stuff for sale this time. Box, book stand, bowl & spoons. Just leave a comment if you’d like to order any of these; all of these prices include shipping in the US. Further afield, we can figure out a shipping charge. Paypal is simplest, but I’ll take a check too , just let me know. The bowl and spoons are finished with food-grade flax oil. Thanks to all for the support, past and present.

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Oak box, SOLD

S-scroll carving. This box is mostly based on a period one I studied many years ago. Rare to see a New England one this small. It’s based on the work of Thomas Dennis, the joiner from Ipswich, Massachusetts. I carved the ends, which was not the case on the old one. Iron nails and hinges, red oak box & lid, which oak bottom. Till inside.

H: 5 3/4″  W: 14″  D:  9″

$525 includes shipping in US.

Here is the inside, showing the small till within. It’s made of Atlantic white cedar, with a chestnut lid.

The oak lid to the box.

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Carved Book Stand; black walnut.  SOLD

Not a stand for carved books…you get the idea. I’ve made a few of these. I based the dimensions on a turned one I studied once. The idea of this is from an English one I saw only in a photo. So I made up some of the format; the joinery around where the shelf meets the stiles, that sort of thing.

I keep one on my desk and it holds papers, etc that I work with as I’m writing…some people even use them for tablets. (there’s no stopping progress)

H: 16 1/2″  W: 15 1/2″ D: varies – about 15″

$450 including shipping – this doesn’t fold dead-flat so I make a wooden crate inside a box for it.

 

 

 

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Bowl – butternut. This bowl has been around a while. I carved it from a large butternut limb; bent and twisted. Once I finished it, I chip-carved around the rim. Then here it sat for quite a while, something was always a bit off about it. I showed it to Dave Fisher and he said, “easy, just carve away this bit & that bit & it’ll be fine.” I did, and it was. Then it went in a chest and I forgot about it until a cleaning of the shop recently.

H: 4″-5″  L:  13 1/2″  W:  6″

$350 including shipping in US.

 

 

SPOONS –

A few months back, I began to carve my spoon handles with designs derived and adapted from furniture carvings. I have never shown this process yet on the blog, but shot a couple photos of this one underway…  I’m going to write and shoot more of this soon, but thought this was a good place to introduce the subject.

I always start with margins. These I incise with this knife by Del Stubbs. He stopped making it, and I’ve never found anything as good since.

Then I use a gouge to begin incising the pattern. This is an old gouge with a very short handle, maybe 3″ long. I found it that way & it’s perfect. I can’t drive these with a mallet like in furniture work. It’s all hand-pressure. I oil the spoon first, that helps. So I’m pressing down and rocking the gouge side-to side.

Then an angled chip behind that incised cut.

This one I further highlighted with a punch. It was a bit scary whacking it with a hammer to punch those dots. But I haven’t broken one yet.

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Here’s the spoons for sale:

spoon 18-01; cherry. Very pronounced crook; I love making this kind of spoon.

L: 9″ W: 2 3/8″
$125

 

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spoon 18-02; Cherry, crook. This is the spoon I like to make the most of all. A curved crook, this spoon has shapes and angles in several directions. This one still works, I’m known for carving some “challenging” shaped-spoons.

L:  7 1/2″  W:  2″
$125

 

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spoon 18-03: Cherry crook again.

L: 7″  W: 2 3/8″
$75

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spoon 18-04; Almost a pie-serving shape, but quite narrow. A small slice of pie. American sycamore crook. Very flat “bowl” to this one…
L: 9 3/4″  W: 1 1/2″
$75

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spoon 18-05: SOLD

a long, cherry serving/cooking spoon. Lefty, mostly.

L:  13 1/2″ W: 2 3/4″
$100

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spoon 18-06: SOLD

a big spoon. A deep bowl. Cherry again.

L: 13 3/8″  W: 3 3/4″

$100

 

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spoon 18-07: SOLD

Large cherry server.

L:13 7/8″   W”  3 1/2″
$125

 

spoon 18-08:  Ornamental cherry

L: 10 3/4″   W: 2 1/4″

$90

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spoon 18-09: Small birch spoon. Straight grain.

L:  7 1/2″  W: 2 1/4″
$85

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spoon 18-10; black birch serving/cooking spoon. This one is straight-grained. I based it and the next two on one I made years ago that gets frequent use in our kitchen.

L:  10 1/2″  W: 2 3/4″
$85

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Spoon 18-11; Another black birch. Same story as above

L:  10 3/8″  W:  2 3/4″
$85

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Spoon 18-12; One more as above

L:  9 5/8″  W:  2 3/4″
$85

 

Wainscot chair rear leg

I’m working on a few things at once; including another wainscot chair. Making the “rake” to the rear legs is the largest output of labor for a single piece of wood in my repertoire. And, the most conspicuous waste of material. But, it has to be done. I rived this white oak billet about 3 1/2″-4″ square, maybe 45″ long or so. I start then by hewing the tangential plane into something close to flat.

This is a departure from my standard practice – I usually always work the radial face first. It’s easiest to plane, and often rives quite flat. But in this case, I’m planing the side-plane of the rear post – so I can then layout the shape on this face. If you enlarge the photo below, you can see the growth ring orientation on the end grain.

Each wainscot chair I have seen is different in its angle/rake/cant – what ever we might call the shape hewn and planed above the seat. I like to align the top end with the grain – it makes plowing the panel groove easier. Chopping mortises too. But to do this, like in the photo below, it means the chunk of wood to give you this shape is pretty hefty. This particular chair isn’t raked all that much…some have a greater angle than this.

There have been times when I have shifted the template on the stock, to squeak the leg out of a thinner piece of wood. To do that, you bump it so the leg angles back both above and below the seat. Sometimes a riven piece of wood will have some blowout here or there so you have no choice but to do this. The downside is all the joinery is mis-aligned with the fibers of the wood. There’s no way around that to some degree, but the orientation in the first photo minimizes it.

After having determined the layout, I hew off the bottom/front and then bring the piece to the bench to plane the top front face. This is the radial face. On this chair, the surface will be carved.

 

Once I’ve planed the top and bottom front face (the top & bottom here are in relation to the seat height – above and below the seat.) Then I mark the thickness on the side view, and saw a relief cut from the back, at the point where the leg angles back. This is the same height as the top of the seat rails. But that’s later.

Now – depending on how straight the wood is, how tough your nerves are – you can rive off the bulk of that waste. I knocked the froe in, but left a chunk of wood for caution.

I jammed it in the riving brake, and it split as perfect as can be. It popped off right after I took this photo. Almost hit the camera.

 

I had left some wood that needed hewing; I did the top end first, that way if the hatchet slips it won’t hit the bottom end of the leg.

After hewing both ends, I set it up on the bench like this to shave each end in turn. There’s some fiddling around right where the angles diverge, but skewing the plane helps, and I got in there with a spokeshave too.

This is the finished planed leg. Once I do the other one, I’ll let them dry for a couple of weeks. At that point, I fine-tune the shape, matching one to the other more than to the template. As long as they’re close to the template, but closer to each other it will be fine. Then I cut the carving and joinery.

 

After lunch I worked on a carving for a box I’m making. A good day all around.

Carving a Wainscot chair panel

We’re up above the water here at the Jones River. Here’s the 2nd day’s high tide, a few feet less than the day before. The only other time it got this high was early January this year. That conifer in the foreground is on the river bank…

We did get a picnic table and Adirondack chair float in during the flood tide on the first day…so if you’re down river from us and lost them, come get ’em. I hate Adirondack chairs…and picnic tables for that matter.

Back to working oak. I carved the panel for a wainscot chair today. This is a copy of a New Haven chair I saw at Sotheby’s this winter. A couple of noteworthy things about this panel. I carved the forward half entirely before going across the centerline –

That’s because this panel, like the original, is glued-up from two boards. Totals 14 3/8″ x 17 3/4″. I dislike working glued-up stock. The backs of these two boards are not even, thus the panel doesn’t sit perfectly flat. So I clamped it to the bench, instead of pounding a holdfast down onto it; and carved it in halves. There’s very little layout. A centerline and margins as usual. Then large half-arcs at each end. And a small full circle inside those arcs. That’s it. I chalked a sketch of what I was carving. Again, a bit cautious – this is the only white oak I have to do this chair panel, so I wanted to be sure there were no mishaps.

Using a #5 Swiss-made gouge to remove the background. This is my standard tool for this work. It and the V-tool are the only tools I used for 99% of this carving.

The V-tool cutting in the veins in this leafy shape.

Another view of the background removal, now on the 2nd half.

Two gouges to cut 4 leaf-highlights – this is the only use of anything other than the V-tool and the shallow gouge for background. So 4 strikes from 2 tools…to do a tiny fraction of this panel.

It’s very shallow carving. Now to build a chair around it.

Here’s some Ipad video of the carving – until Paula Marcoux called about Greenwood Fest. Inverted by some Ipad/youtube business. I’m video-challenged.