furniture & woodenware for sale July 2019

I have the first big round of items for sale from work I’ve been finishing up during the past month or more. Prices include shipping in US; beyond that, additional charges apply.

Click the photos to enlarge.

I’m challenged when it comes to setting up stuff for sale; I’ve tried to insert paypal buttons right on the page, but it never works as easily for me as they say it is. So after wasting 2 hours, I ditched it once again. Leave a comment here if you want something; that way we have a timed record in the off-chance there’s more than one person interested in the same item. Then I  will send a paypal invoice, or you can mail a check.

If you miss out on something, I regularly take orders for furniture, and to some extent woodenware too. Just email me if you’re interested in ordering something.

Any questions, fire away. thanks for looking, PF

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Carved oak box. This one is made from red oak, with a white pine lid & bottom. Wooden pins and glue securing rabbet joints, wooden hinges. Till inside.

H: 6 3/4″  W: 18 3/4″  D:  12″
$850 including shipping in US

 

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Bowls – There’s several bowls I’ve re-carved recently. I had started them while working with Roy Underhill; we had a class at his school, and shot an episode of the TV show. I ended up with several “bowls begun” that got stashed in the loft. Four straight years of watching Dave Fisher each June really drives home what  bowl can be. So I had some time this spring/summer and tackled “fixing” these bowls.

Butternut (Juglans cinerea) bowl:
H: 5 1/4″ (to handles)  L:  17″  W:  9″
$450

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Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) bowl #1
H: 5″  L:  15 1/2″ W:  8 1/2″
$400

Carved on top of the handles, and along the sides/rim. This pattern is one I’ve been using on spoons a lot lately; it’s either half-round lunettes, or diamonds – depending on whether you look positive or negative. Or is it right-brain/left-brain?

 

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Poplar bowl #2;
H: 5″  L: 15″  W:  8 1/4″
$400
Poplar often includes streaks of dark blue/purple in the heartwood. Over time all the colors fade a bit, and turn a mellow brown. But the streaky bit stays streaky.

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Poplar bowl #3
H: 4 1/2″  L: 16 1/2″ W: 8″
$400

This bowl is one of the times I learned the lesson “leave the finishing touches for last.” I had carved the handles way before I had the shape the way I wanted it. So when I re-carved the bowl recently, I had to go over that carving and cut it anew. Fortunately there was enough thickness left for it to work. I added the textured background, just like on furniture carvings.

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Joined stool; oak with red wash

H: 20 1/2″ top is 14″ x 15″
$850

This stool is like a pair I made recently for an historic house museum in that the stiles/legs are plumb, not canted in one direction like many joined stools. I added carving to the aprons of this one; two different, but related patterns from Connecticut.

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Ladderback chair (what I usually call a “JA chair” after Jennie Alexander, whose design it follows. Somewhat)

H: 34″ W: (across front) 17 1/2″  ”  D: 14″ (at seat)  seat height: 18″
$1300 (includes shipping in US)

I caught up on my orders for ladderback chairs, and made one or two more. Here’s one in ash & red oak, with a hickory bark seat.

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Spoons

One picture; 3 spoons. There’s other views below, showing the shape, particularly of the crook. The handles are all carved, as usual. Here’s the lowdown.

top – #1; apple, crook  $130 –  SOLD

middle #2; birch  $100

bottom #3; birch  $100

Lengths are 10 1/2-12″

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Walnut spoon – SOLD
I couldn’t throw it in the other photo, it was wreaking havoc with the lighting.
L: 11 1/2″  W: 3″
$100

 

 

Baskets – I make baskets from white ash, pounding the log apart to make the splints. Usually I use white oak or hickory for rims and handles. Lashing the rims is either hickory bark or more ash splints.

Basket #1:   SOLD

This round basket has no handles, making it an excellent choice at the table.

Diameter: 11″  Height: 3″
hickory rims inside & out, hickory bark lashing.
$200

 

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Basket #2  SOLD
A small ash basket with a length-wise handle done in white oak.
H: (to rims) 5″ L:  10 1/2″  W: 8 1/4″
$200

 

How I go about re-carving a bowl

It’s a bit challenging re-carving a bowl. I started these in ages past by essentially winging it. Then getting to watch Dave Fisher make bowls for the past 4 years told me two things. I’ll never make bowls as nicely as Dave. And I can get them better than these were when I shelved them. If you want to see him work, Fine Woodworking recorded a lot of video of his bowl carving. I subscribed just for that and it’s worth the price. Then everything else on the site is gravy. https://www.finewoodworking.com/2017/11/02/ep-1-finding-the-bowl-within-the-log

I didn’t shoot the whole step-by-step; but here’s some of what I did. The main area I needed to address on these bowls was the bulky over-thick bottoms and end grain. First I needed a new lengthwise centerline. I snug the bowl between two boards, then shift these around so they are parallel and touching the widest part of the bowl. Take a couple measurements, fiddle around a bit, then mark out a centerline. From there, I can follow Dave’s layout for an oval on the bottom.

I didn’t shoot a true “before” image; but you can see the new layout on the oversized, too-rectangular bottom of this butternut bowl.

The whole premise of this week-long exercise was to quickly determine if these were worth saving. So large tool, in this case a Swiss-made #5, about 35mm wide. And a heavy mallet. Big chunks coming off quickly is the goal. If I’m going to ruin things, I want to do it right away.

After roughing it out with the mallet, I switch to hand pressure to fine-tune some of the shape.

Different bowl, same area, same problem. In this case, I have a large #2 gouge, thus almost flat. I’m using it bevel-up to round over the underside of this tulip poplar bowl. You can only go so far with this tool. Once the cut begins its approach to concave instead of convex, you need to flip it over to bevel-down again. And then I use a bent gouge, with more “sweep” or curve to the blade. Usually a #5 when I’m using the Swiss tools.

Here’s a detail of that cutting action.

 

Here my left hand is snugged inside the bowl, and my thumb is pushing the tool down into the wood. This helps keep it in the cut as I push forward with my right hand.

The butternut bowl. I did have a “before” photo after all – before I whacked off that sapwood rim.

Now its shape is defined, and I want to go back over it to fine-tune the texture.

There’s still a few bowls left to work on, but one is for-sure gone for good:

I worked on five different bowls this week, and all of them are at the “just-about-done” stage. Soon I’ll have them for sale, along with some spoons, boxes and I don’t know what else. They can’t go back in the loft.

Cleansing, part-I-forget-which, three or four maybe

Dove in. These bowls/partial-bowls have been around for ages, some over 6 years. Can that be for real? I guess it can. I left the museum 5 years ago, and I see one large one that I started there…

The goal is to quickly either get these into a shape that satisfies, or chop them up & get rid of them. Having just spent 4 full days eaves-dropping on Dave Fisher’s classes gave me the impetus to get these down.

I worked on two different ones today, but didn’t photograph the morning session. Nor did I take a “before” of this one. But you can see what’s left of the original configuration – a too-large rectangular bottom. Dave showed his students a way to measure and layout a rounded/oval-ish shape for the bottom. In this photo, I’ve got the end to our right roughed-out for its new rounded shape, and am ready to start in on the other.

Big chunks is what I want at this point, I’d rather get some results quickly while risking chopping right through it, than to timidly chip away for eons. The wood is catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) I assume this one’s Northern Catalpa. It’s a very soft wood, ring-porous like oak, ash, etc. Pale brown color, like chestnut.

Because this one hung around so long, it oxidized. Now as I re-cut it, it’s showing a few different colors; the pale brown, a bluish/grey tint when I cut into it, then paler almost green color when I get down deeper. All mutable.

I’ll shoot more as I go further with these bowls. One nice thing about this work is I get to use some very nice tools I rarely get out. A couple of years ago I fit this box (also un-finished) for my bowl-carving gouges. Some are by Nic Westermann, and others by Hans Karlsson’s shop.

 

https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2017/07/03/chip-carved-box-for-bowl-gouges/

I got interrupted this afternoon. There was another heron in the garden. That sounds like something from James Thurber. They come after chipmunks, but how do they know there’s chipmunks here?

It took over half an hour, but he made his way up toward the house, and hunted (successfully) under the bird feeders.

Now he’s (she’s?) getting serious. Crouched down, hunting very slowly. From the shop, I couldn’t see the chipmunk. If you don’t want to see the gruesome bit, don’t scroll any further.

I missed the strike, the bird filled the frame too much and I didn’t have time to zoom out. But I got him with the chipmunk once he was upright again. A sad sight for chipmunk fans, but somewhere there’s young herons that will get a good regurgitated meal today. He took it to the river, dunked it repeatedly, then hogged it down. Then came back to the yard right away. It was high tide, so no good fishing for a while.

“Such a long, long time to be gone…

And a short time to be there…”

[I wrote this & forgot to post it. Re-phrased a little bit today. I boosted a number of photos from Marie Pelletier and Rick McKee – and Paula Marcoux did too, but that’s what they shoot them for. So more are on Plymouth CRAFT’s facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/PlymouthCRAFT/

Last week we finished up several woodworking classes and our first-ever “Spoon Day.” Plymouth CRAFT is really lucky. We have a very receptive and generous audience. We didn’t even know what Spoon Day would be & we knew it they’d flip out over it. The one-day event was wedged in between two 2-day courses taught by Dave Fisher and JoJo Wood. The venue for Spoon Day was Bay End Farm; http://www.overbrookhouse.com/bay-end-farm an idyllic spot down in Bourne, Massachusetts. As far as I we can tell, it all went swimmingly. The responses that we’ve heard were glowingly positive.

Here’s the class photo from JoJo’s class for women

Tim Manney did his sharpening scene at Spoon day; they were lined up all day to work their edges with him.

Some of the spoon carvers…

I worked with some folks on knife grips at one point –

JoJo beaming during one of her classes.

And with one of her students.

An overview of the tent for spoon day.

Dave Fisher showing his adze work.

 

I wish my first bowl looked that good…

Group photo for bowl class # 2.

Running even a smaller-scale event like this – one day instead of three, about 75 attendees instead of 125 – still requires a lot of setup and breakdown. One by one our instructors trickled in; and it’s always a highlight of our year when we get to spend so much time with our far-flung friends. Tim Manney arrived and he & I immediately launched into a long discussion about chairs, chairmaking friends, and all things related. We could have gone on for hours, and in fact picked right up again a day later and did. And we all had multiple interactions like this over & over during our days together. Some were here longer or shorter; and one-by-one they trickled out as they had come in. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped us set up & break down.

And just like that, it was over. Thanks all, for a great time.

 

June 2019 with Plymouth CRAFT

 

Paula wrote somewhere that we’re all going to miss Greenwood Fest this year; but all the time she’s saved not organizing that event has allowed her to organize some woodsy classes as well as a new idea – Spoon Day. If you’re on Plymouth CRAFT’s mailing list, you got a notice about it today. If you’re not – we’re having two classes with Dave Fisher & JoJo Wood. These happen either June 7 & 8 or June 10 & 11. So what to do on the Sunday in between? We made up Spoon Day – one-day event wedged between sessions.  It’s all on the events page – https://www.plymouthcraft.org/events

 

Here’s the blurb about Spoon Day – we’ll announce other carvers we’ll have there shortly. https://www.plymouthcraft.org/spoon-day 

(but you there, block #3, watch what you’re doing! Is that you, Robert Newmyer?)

Tickets go on sale February 2nd. In case you didn’t hear that –  TICKETS GO ON SALE FEBRUARY 2ND.

Sign up for Plymouth CRAFT’s emails here – https://www.plymouthcraft.org/contact

Spoon Jam, New South Wales Nov 1-4

Most of my Australian photos were of birds…so this post will be a bit light in pictures. Once I was teaching, I had little time for photos.

First task in Australia was Spoon Jam. http://www.spoonsmith.com.au/spoon-jam.html Organized by Jeff & Jules Donne, (swiped this picture from Alex Yerks, thanks, AY)

It’s a medium-sized Spoon Fest – just as you would expect. This year it took place in Pambula Beach, New South Wales. I read about the area on the web, and thought it all sounded like travel/tourist hype, but it actually was more beautiful than the web said. In a rugged/prehistoric way…

The event started off with two 2-day classes, me with spoons carved from (intractable) crooks; and the Wayfaring Stranger Alex Yerks https://www.instagram.com/alex_yerks/?hl=en carving kuksas. If you’re new to Alex’s scene; he’s a wanderer. New York, Minnesota, London – now Australia and New Zealand.

The site was about a 5-10 minute walk from an astoundingly beautiful Pacific beach called Merimbula Bay that stretched for quite a ways. The couple of times I was there, other than the spoon carvers, 3 people meant it was crowded.

merimbula bay

We started out under a large marquee (think circus tent if you’re in America) – Alex at one end me at the other.

I had a great group of willing students working their way through some unusual woods as far as I was concerned. I had to preface all my concepts with “Let’s see if this will work in ______.” Some of the woods we tried included Banksia, Casuarina (aka She-oak), Black Wattle, Native cherry (Exocarpos cupressiformis), and I forget what else. They flip around from local names, Latin names and other trees they call by names you’d recognize, but the trees are nothing like what they’re named for. Some of them worked. The black wattle showed promise to me – but then mine checked after a couple of days. I thought I had got it past the critical stage – but then the weather turned warmer and it cracked along the back of the bowl. Here in the more humid (most every place is more humid than southeastern Australia) it looks better.

My students were very patient while I was distracted by every song/flit/swoop/screech of the native birds. This eastern Yellow Robin sat on this tree right in front of one of my sessions, as if to say “get your camera…”

After the first 2 days, the rest of the group descended; many of them camping on site. The other instructors were Jeff Donne and his kidney stone https://www.instagram.com/thespoonsmith/?hl=en, Pete Trott https://www.instagram.com/von_trott/?hl=en (he helped translate Australian to me) and our old Greenwood Fest friend Brad Van Luyt https://www.instagram.com/bvanluyt/?hl=en

 

That was a happening two days; filled with ideas, techniques, stories, ant-holes that could engulf a person, a goanna, some kangaroos and spoons galore. One morning, I was hanging around chatting with Spoon Jam regular Annie and she spotted this kangaroo and its youngster – 

Alex gave a presentation to the whole group of how he carves his kuksas. Later, he kept exclaiming “I was surprised how many people were carving them!” – we had to remind him that he showed everyone how to do it.

Alex Yerks hollowing his kuksa

One of my favorite stories of the event involved Alex. I arrived at Jeff & Jules’ place ahead of him by a few hours. I was hanging around, learning about parrots, cockatoos and more from them and their kids Misty (age 9) and Isaac (age 7). Isaac was asking me if I knew Alex.

Isaac Donne: Do you know Alex?

PF: Yea, a bit.

ID: What’s he like?
PF: Well, he has glasses, long hair and a beard, he’s much younger than me. He might be wearing a vest, and he will definitely be wearing a hat. He travels all over and loves to carve.

ID: what else?

PF: Oh, I don’t know. He’s a musician. Oh, and he’s from New York.

ID: Oh – is he fancy?

I didn’t answer that one. Told him he’d have to get to know Alex, then decide for himself if he’s fancy.

 

more Greenwood Fest photos

UPDATE – I completely forgot to point out, these photos are from Marie Pelletier, Plymouth CRAFT’s intrepid photographer. Thanks, Marie.

Some might be repeats – I can’t keep track.

home of Swedish cowboy coffee

Tobias Eklund and Pär Brask  from Morakniv were there all weekend, offering Swedish cowboy coffee and talking knives…it was great having them with us.

Tobias Ecklund of Morakniv

 

Pär Brask and Ian discussing knives over coffee

Darrick Sanderson (ol’ #16) brought his own lathe, set up outside the pavillion drawing in the crowds to see what all the commotion was about.

Darrick Sanderson

The lathe pavillion was always jumping. Not sure if this shot is during Robin Wood’s class, or during Darrick’s in the Fest. Rare shot of the floor being cleaned of shavings.

turners trompin’

Tim Manney, helping people get sharp and stay sharp.

Tim Manney sharpening

They were never not carving.

around the woodpile

Spoons!

spoons

There was much fan-bird mania.

fan bird feathers being spread

 

fan bird

Pete Galbert kindly supplemented our shaving horse throng. These got used in many groups; drawknife work, fan birds, and more.

horses all lined up

Pete Galbert demo’d drawknife stuff for his class.

push & pull

Dave Fisher’s students concentrating hard on letter-carving in basswood.

 

letter carving

For a minute, I though Joel was being serious here, as he tries the spoon mule. But no, still grinning ear-to-ear.

spoon mule

The tip of the iceberg.

a fraction of the full week’s output

 

some Greenwood Fest pictures

I’m getting nowhere sorting Greenwood Fest pictures, so will just post a few here & there rather than trying to write a comprehensive blog post about the event. The wood gets delivered in a dump truck. Easy to unload, but last year we just left a large jumbled heap for people to sift through. This time I asked for (& got) volunteers to sort and lay out the wood so it was less hazardous. Then – I kept worrying we’d run out. Doesn’t look like enough, but it was…

Here’s Curtis Buchanan on his way to work, no doubt some hijinks between him & Darrick Sanderson on the pole lathe there. It was a great pleasure to have Curtis join us this time…

Way back in my woodworking DNA I’m a chairmaker – and I kept going back to Curtis’ sessions to see what he was up to, and to admire his chairs. So much so that I bought this one – I never bought another chairmaker’s chair before.

Barn the Spoon. BOOM.

So much hands-on component, so much real-world connection.

This place was always busy.

The ladyslippers were in full bloom.

 

Robin Wood came over from England. He ran several sessions, this one, with JoJo (seated on the right), about their tool-making operation Wood Tools.

Our old friend Joel Pontz brought his tent, his borrowed dump truck and his eager help. Then he took Jane Mickelborough’s folding spoon class. Here he’s cutting the bridle joint that forms the hinge.

Stopped by Dave Fisher’s pre-fest course on carving bowls, to see just who the quickest ones were who got to sign up for that class. Under 10 minutes I think it took to sell out…

And Dave in a later session demonstrating how he does the finish work on one of his bowls.

The rest of the Greenwood Fest lineup for 2018

I’m back from New York and off to Williamsburg. I’ll be at their Woodworking conference through Sunday, then back home here Monday or Tuesday. Then Pret & Paula get back from their jaunt just in time for tickets to Greenwood Fest to go on sale February 2nd, 10 AM eastern time.  https://www.greenwoodfest.org/

You can read what we have so far on that site. Earlier I mentioned we’re having 2 new instructors this time – Curtis Buchanan https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2017/12/27/greenwood-fest-instructor-curtis-buchanan/ and Robin Wood https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/greenwood-fest-2018-instructor-robin-wood/ The rest of the lineup are regulars, or now-regulars for Greenwood Fest.

The Spoon Carving Triumvirate.

JoJo Wood – I’d hate to think of this program without JoJo. https://www.instagram.com/jojowoodcraft/

 

Barn the Spoon – a great addition last year and we’re thrilled to have him back again. https://www.instagram.com/barnthespoon/

And last but not least – Jane Mickelborough. https://www.instagram.com/janespoons/ Her folding spoons (and fan birds) were a huge hit. She’ll be doing some of both this time.

Then, Dave Fisher. There is no link to Dave Fisher. I’m not saying anything else.

Dave Fisher on a bowl horse

Darrick Sanderson is a huge hit. https://www.instagram.com/dcsandersoninc/ Hewn or turned bowls, spoons like crazy, non-stop carving/cutting/slicing.

 

The whirwind-around-the-world slöjd man Jögge Sundqvist.  https://www.instagram.com/surolle/ Where is he? Japan, Australia, Sweden, Minnesota – well, in June he’ll be in Pinewoods with us. Here he is doing his Jimi Hendrix thing. 

 

Not only do we have the now-old man of Windsor chairs, Curtis, but once again we have Pete Galbert coming back this year. Great chairs, great book, great teacher. https://www.instagram.com/petergalbert/

We just spent a weekend with Tim Manney making all edges sharp. Chair making, tool making, sharpening – Tim covers a lot of ground. https://www.instagram.com/tim.manney/

I’ll do a separate post about Pen Austin next week – she does amazing work with finishes, surfaces, etc. Often working with lime plaster, at the Fest she’s going to show us about using milk paint like you’ve never seen before. Even this crowd that is milk-paint savvy. Pen was there the day we launched Plymouth CRAFT but it’s taken until now for us to get her into our orbit – she’s very much in demand for restoration work. Here is a photo of some of her faux painting on columns for a Shakespeare Company’s stage.

 

I’ll probably do an oak carving session during the Fest, and hopefully Paula will do another cooking w/fire class…we’ll figure those details out during February.

Spoons and bowls for sale

Maureen has been finishing stuff lately and posting them on her etsy site, https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaureensFiberArts and she got me poking around my spoon basket. I haven’t had much time for spoon carving, but have a few I’ve finished in the past month or so. If you would like to pick any of these, just leave a comment. Usually paypal is the easiest way to pay; I’ll send an invoice. Or you can mail a check, just let me know. Finish is food-grade flax oil on all of these. Prices include shipping in US, further afield requires an extra charge for shipping.

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November spoon 01; SOLD

an American sycamore crook, with S-scroll carving

L: 9 5/8″ W: 2 1/8″
$75

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Nov spoon 02; SOLD

birch serving spoon
L: 11″ W: 2 1/2″
$85

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Nov spoon o3; SOLD

birch crook. serving spoon. One of my favorite kinds, following both the crook of the branch as well as the curve.
L: 9″ W: 2 3/*”
$80

 

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Nov spoon 04; SOLD

birch serving spoon.
L: 10 7/8″  W:2 1/2″
$85

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Nov spoon 05; SOLD

cherry crook serving spoon. Maybe my favorite of the batch.
L: 12 3/8″  W: 2 1/4″
$100

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Nov spoon 06: Not sure what to call this one. Almost a pie-serving shape. American sycamore crook. Very flat “bowl” to this one…(clouds came out, photo is darker than the spoon really is…)
L: 9 3/4″  W: 1 1/2″
$75

 

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Nov spoon 07; cherry, large serving spoon. The last of a batch of oversized serving spoons in cherry. Too late for Thanksgiving…
L:13 7/8″   W”  3 1/2″
$150

 

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Nov tray; birch. SOLD

When I was carving it, I thought of it as a bowl, but now I see it done, it’s a tray.
L: 15 3/4″   W: 5 7/8″
$375

 

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Nov bird bowl,   SOLD

 

cherry. The last one of these I have done for quite a while. I have unfinished ones lurking at me in the shop, but no time for them now…
L: 15″  H: (at front) 7 1/4″
$500