Hand made Windsor settee I'm working on.

[signmeup]

There has been a lot of talk on the forum lately about hand done things and lost arts. Here's a lost art I taught myself quite a few years ago. Not sign related but interesting, I think.

I haven't made one of these in at least 15 years. The whole task is done by hand. I use antique tools like an adze, a wooden spokeshave etc. Some of the tools were so obscure I had to make my own like my curved bladed spokeshave or Travisher. (I had to learn to forge tool blades)

The seat was chopped out with an adze and then smoothed with the curved shave. The legs are turned by eye on the homemade wood lathe in the photo. All the turnings are left as they came off the lathe with no sanding. One of requirements of a proper reproduction windsor is the correct toolmarks on the various parts. The only thing sanded will be the seat surface....nothing else.

The arms and back bow are steam bent ash. The photo shows the second bend being steamed. My steambox is too short to fit the entire arm so I had to do one side at a time. I usually make two seat settees....this customer talked me into making a three seater. After the parts have steamed long enough they are quickly bent over a wooden bending form clamped to my tablesaw.

The next step is to shape and attach the arm bows and shave all the back spindles. I'll post a few more pics as I go along. I have to let the steamed parts dry for a few more days though. Steam bent parts are generally made from "green" wood so they have to be held in the proper shape until the wood has cured to right moisture content.

 

[signmeup]

Forgot to post a pic of my sophisticated steambox setup.

 

[d fleming]

Awesome

 

[Patrick46]

WOW. Very cool. Please post a pic of the finished product. I love handmade things, especially ones made in wood.
It looks like your doing a wonderful job. Did you turn the legs yourself too?

There's something very therapeutic about working with wood. It's a slow, steady, conscious thing, rather like a yoga for the mind.

I build alotta weird stuff in my shop. Hot-rods, choppers, and I'm going to build a teardrop trailer probably over the next winter. (that'll get my woodworking skills back on-line, eh?)

I also dabble in woodcarving, and this has now led me to learn traditional metal engraving, so I can do things like guns, knives and m/c parts. (I'm really into black-powder, so that's what inspired this interest). It sould go nicely with my hand pinstriping and lettering skills. (once I get it down)......(someday )

and...someday I'd love to build a nice wooden canoe, too.

"I can row a boat...canoe??"

 

[John L]

Really nice work Signmeup.

 

[signmeup]

Thanks guys.
Patrick I turned the legs myself. I built the lathe then learned to use it. When I'm going good I can knock out one of those legs in 15 minutes.....over and over again. I taught myself to turn by shearing so the wood is smooth without sanding. Because the legs are so thin in the middle I have to hold the spinning part with my left hand to damp vibration and use my right to hold and control the chisel. I wear a cotton glove to prevent friction burns.

Here's one I built a while back. It's a 2 seater.

 

[Service Sign Co]

That looks like some high quality craftsmanship!

 

[J Hill Designs]

very, very nice

 

[1leonchen]

i love your lathe. thats classic. really classic

 

[signmeup]

Ahhh.... the lathe. Very high tech. You adjust the toolrest with a mallet.

The lathe is designed to knock down for easy transport and storage. You knock out the wedges at each end then remove 1 bolt and it all comes apart. I have a longer bed for longer parts.

I have a friend who is a professional turner and he shakes his head whenever he sees my old lathe. He can't fathom how I can make anything with it. He has a monstrous cast iron industrial machine. It makes his knees weak when I grab ahold of the spinning part to steady it.

 

[JR's]

Sweet! it looks comfortable.

JR

 

[J Hill Designs]

Love the V-Twin tea kettles for the steamer too

 

[JR's]

We were on vacation over at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania and there is a lot of places over there that make handmade furniture.
I was in one shop looking at some office chairs and they looked like your chair but on a single seat. I tried one seat and it did not have any cushing's on it just the wood, but I swear it was made to fit my backside perfectly and the back with the thin spindles formed the shape of my back.

JR

 

[Malkin]

wow



I bet that's a lot of fun to do.

 

[signmeup]

V-twin tea kettles....love it!

 

[GAC05]

Nice work - looks like you are in the wrong business.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[signmeup]

wow



I bet that's a lot of fun to do.

It's very theraputic. There are sounds and smells that come from no other process. The steamed ash has a nutty/popcorn/tea smell to it. If I was blind folded and you held a piece of ash under my nose I could identify it by the smell. The white birch used for the turnings has its own unique smell when it's worked.

The sound the lathe makes after so many years away from it really brought me back in time. I also really love the sound that the curved shave makes when scooping out the seat. These are things that very few people in even my generation have had the opportunity to experience. I feel a little sad for them. I was surprised how easily this all came back to me after being away from it for so long. It was like I never stopped.

Another cool thing about making these is you can't go to the wood store and buy your supplies. You need green ash for the bent parts so you have to buy a log from someone. Same with the White Birch. None of the specialty wood suppliers around here carry it. So the process starts with finding the logs. I got what I needed from a local firewood supplier. Nice guy....I sold him some door graphics for his truck.

I got two 8 foot logs for 20 bucks. Then I had a guy with a bandsaw mill slice them up for me. The Ash is seasoned until the water in it is no longer visible when you cut a board in half. It's at about 22% moisture content when it is perfect for bending. If it gets too dry it breaks during the bend...too wet and it won't hold a reliable shape.

 

[signmeup]

Nice work - looks like you are in the wrong business.

wayne k
guam usa

Thanks (I think).

 

[wildindian]

Real professionals use professional equipment. What are you trying to do put all the furniture makers out of business? Just kidding but that's how some on this forum view anybody that doesn't buy the highest dollar equipment. That is some great work my Dad was a mster wood craftsman and you are too!

 

[Fitch]

"Not sign related but interesting, I think."

I disagree. Let me expand.

A good sign has form and function. It has utility. In it's final place it should enhance and become part of it's surroundings. It should be appealing to the eye and admired by those that view it.

You Sir, are a master. Your work is beautiful, and I do see the similarity between your chairs and signs. Only the shape changed - not the intent.

To put it in another way, many beautiful hand carved, cnc routed signs, well laid up vinyl, and even digital print content have taken their shape / form from the buildings of past times. Many City Halls are a good example of the way designers took one image and applied it to another non related product - many buidlings of old are adorned with grape corbels and have sitting lions out front.