Danish Chair Building Extravaganza - Epilogue

I've been back to Spain for a couple weeks, and have had some time to reflect on what happened during that awesome week of chair building in Denmark.

Jonas, Brian and Alex on the last day.

But first, let me catch you up. Day 5 turned out not to be the last day, like we were supposed to. Alex and I talked Jonas into letting us stay one more night, so we could cram in a bit more woodworking the morning before we drove off.

Here I am slathering BLO on my elm chair parts.

Alex was a bit slower, but to be fair he built two chairs in tandem. He had never built a Roorkee chair before, and actually had quite a few firsts, including first time turning on a lathe and first time working leather. That being said, he came up with a pair of the finest Roorkees I've ever seen.

Alex's chairs approaching completion. One elm, one sycamore.

I started an elm version after I completed the sycamore one.

I think I could have gotten a bit farthur, but I wound up re-doing a stretcher, as one of them disintegrated in the mortise. I posted this pic before, but just to jar your memory:

Rotten stretcher.

We made a giant mistake when milling the wood. The ends of the sycamore board we were using were gray in color. I figured that was just on the surface, but it was gray all the way through. That was my first sign, but I figured it would be OK.

This particular stretcher happened to be running fore and aft, and the broken part was in the back again. Funnily enough, the chair still sat even when the part was broken like in the picture. I thought it had a funny lean when I was watching some of the others sit in it.

If you look closely at the above picture, there was enough of the tapered tenon in the hole that the chair still held up. I only noticed this when I disassembled the chair.

The gray colored wood turned out to be rotten. It was about the consistency of a wine cork. There was no strength left in it.

The fix was easy, I just milled another stretcher and was back in business. It did take a while, though, as I didn't have a spare stretcher octagonalized.

Moving on - I tried something else for the elm chair. Up until now we all had used the Veritas tapered reamer (12 degrees taper) and tenon cutter for all of the chairs. Having examined the original Klint chair (I'll have to do a whole additional post on that chair) we borrowed, it looked like those tenons were less of a taper than the 12 degrees we used. Why not try a six degree taper, since I have a six degree tapered reamer here?

Using my six degree reamer.

This is what it looks like when the taper is done being reamed.

This was amazing. This reamer is much more accurate to use. It is possible to check for square after every half turn (or less, if you wish)!

Stretchers with six degree tapers.

Assembled joint.

The design of the Roorkee allows for the joints to be a little sloppy. It will still sit and hold together if everything isn't perfect. The leather keeps everything from falling apart.

But...

Using the six degree tool allowed for an insane level of accuracy so each joint was perfect. Plus, I think the six degrees holds a little tighter.

This means that the wooden bits stay together on their own as in this photo:

My elm chair and the saw benches already in use.

In fact, the chair has been sitting in my office waiting for leather since I got back without falling apart. I'm curious as to what difference this will make in how the chair sits, if any.

Alex and I stayed up until after two in the morning working on our chairs that Friday. When I got up Saturday, Alex was already in the shop. "This isn't a chair building vacation," he he explained, "it's an extravaganza!"

From top to bottom, the original Klint, Jonas' bench from two years ago, his Roubo stool, his Safari chair, and mine in black.

Jonas and Mrs. Mulesaw were busy Saturday morning, but let us have our way in the shop. We finished up about noon and made our way back to Germany.

We stopped in Kiel to visit Pedder and have a cup of coffee. Pedder was kind enough to show us his shop.

Pedder in his shop.

Pedder's shop, just like mine, is in a Kellerraum in the basement of his apartment building. His shop isn't a whole lot bigger than mine, but he has it set up a little smarter, I think. One thing I really liked was his light which can be seen in the above picture. I might have to get one like it someday.

Pedder's saw vice.

He has a really cool saw vice. It is like many other's, but it has ebony inlaid in the jaws to aid in a contrasting background when filing saw teeth.

A perfect idea!

We left Pedder's after a short visit, and spent the night at my in-laws.

Alex and the Schwiegereltern.

When I got home, I put a final coat of paste wax on the sycamore chair.

Glamor shot.

I then packed it up and mailed it to my brother.

I figured out a way to pack up the legs to take less room.

Here is another shot with the belts undone.

While I was home in Munich, I tried out the brass screw Jonas made for my No. 12.

You can see the old one was bent.

I don't know how he did it, but it is a perfect match. He turned it on board his ship without the original to look at.

Perfect fit.

After two days, I boarded a plane back to Spain. I booked 50 kilos of luggage, and wound up taking 60!

Here's why.

Alex finished up his chairs the day he got back.

Alex enjoying one of his new chairs.

I had a little work to assemble my saw benches that I brought in my checked luggage (along with the elm Safari chair, and enough wood and leather for two more chairs).

I glued the legs up, and since each bench had one elm leg and three ash, I figured I would put an elm wedge in the ash legs, and a sycamore wedge in the elm legs.

OCD therapy.

I also constructed a precision instrument for marking the legs for cutting.

The finest of construction.

After that, it was just a matter of cutting to the line...

Using one saw bench to make the other.

Action shot.

Ready for finish.

I really like them.

They will have to pull double duty in our apartment, so they will need some kind of finish. I decided to just put a coat of boiled linseed oil on them.

Finished staked saw benches.

I was going to write a bunch about what I learned from each of the other woodworkers here, but I might save that for later. Let me just say that if you ever get a chance to work with other woodworkers, whether it be a cooperative build like this, or a class, the projects you take home are just a bonus compared to what you really get watching the others work.

Once again, a big thanks to Jonas and Mette for being such kind hosts.

Woodworking Trip to China

I have so many pictures, you might think I went there for a year.  In truth, I was only there for seven days, and it wasn't really for woodworking, although you might not know that from my pictures.

I have lots of other pictures, too, but since this is marginally a woodworking blog, here are some of my photos that had something to do with woodworking.

First up is a KFC on Wangfujing Street.  What could say "woodworking" better than fried chicken?

I don't think this KFC is in Kentucky!

China has an old woodworking tradition, along with many other hand-crafts.  In one department store on the touristy shopping street, I ran across this display of an antique loom.  I couldn't tell you what it says, other than "Do Not Touch," as I don't read or speak Chinese, but neat to see nonetheless.

A neat display of a wooden loom.

The Frau and I spent a whole day in the Forbidden City gawking at all of the cool old buildings.  This was my first time being exposed up close with ancient Chinese architecture.  You can probably tell I was impressed with joints and details by the photos I took.

This is just part of a door.

Part of the same door.

Here is the whole thing.  Likely the doors on this palace have been here for a very long time.  "A very long time" in Chinese history is a lot longer than in Western culture.

The corner roof joints on Chinese buildings are famous for their beauty and strength, and like any good wooden building joint, uses no metal fasteners. 

The little water beasts on the corners of the roof are to help protect the buildings from fire.  I suppose they work, as this building hasn't burnt down yet.

Here I was a bit closer to a building to show the corner joints.

The undersides of the roofs showed some more highly decorated architectural details.

Keep in mind this is a building intended to be occupied by the emperor.

What about woodworking for regular people?  Well, if you have been reading my blog, you'll know I could be just as impressed by that.  One of the reasons we ate at one restaurant was the furniture that was in use.  All of this furniture had good, old fashioned joinery.

This chair is very similar to many others that I saw there.  Mortise and tenon joints, along with frame and panel construction.  The weirdest thing about this one was that it's seat was  only about ten inches off the floor.

And the table was extremely sturdy.  It was a bit short for what we in the west would use to eat on, but perhaps that helps.

Don't ask what the bucket was for.  Every table had one, but we didn't ever see it in use by anyone.

Just for your curiosity, here is our bill for dinner that night.  Four main dishes and two bowls of rice came to about $16 US.

This makes it tough for us illiterate dullards to check the bill.

I was pleased to see so many trees there.  Even in town, although most Beijingers would say there aren't enough.

We spent one day at the Great Wall.

We did indeed do plenty of touristy stuff.

Gratuitous shot of me being a tourist at the Great Wall.

There were plenty of trees that I recognized in Beijing and the area, including birch, oak and maple.

Oak leaves

A maple leaf at the Great Wall.

It was so beautiful that day,  I couldn't help but take lots of pictures. 

Here's one uncharacteristically devoid of crowds.

Being me, I had to visit a flea market.  This is near the famous Dirt Market.

I actually found some hand planes!

And some bow saws.  These are all new tools, and I didn't want to bring them home.

I did find some old tools.  In fact, I bought a set of dividers that I forgot to photograph.  I'll have to do a blog post on those later.

There is an old wooden plane in this photo.  Can you see it?

This place was too big to comprehend, and I think one could spend many hours here.

Interesting architecture on the buildings in the market.

This whole market was very organized.  The stalls were all set up according to what it was they sold.  This would make it easier if you went there for art, teapots, coins, or whatever.  Everything easy to find.

Does this count as hand tools?

I did get some photos of some wooden ware.

I think the stumps in the bottom of this photo are ebony or similar.

Carved panels.

Plenty of other stuff, too.

Lots of pottery.

More close-ups of architectual details.  This time at Bei Hai Park.

The colors and painting of some of these buildings is gorgeous.

Look!  Dovetails!

More obligatory tourist pictures.

Trees in the Lama temple.

I get the feeling the Chinese view trees (at least most of the ones I saw in Beijing) as sacred, and something that should be preserved at any cost.  When I first arrived, there was a worker shoring up a tree on the street with pallet wood and a pneumatic nail gun trying to save a branch with a big crack in it.

Here at the Lama Temple is a typical view of a tree being supported by a metal pole.

I think we in the west would cut down many of these trees for safety and try to grow new ones.

I just couldn't quit taking photos of architectual details:

Another corner roof joint.

The paint accentuates the structural details.  I think in the West at the time, we were trying to cover these bits up.

Here is a beautiful stove in the Lama Temple complex.

These temples had many people burning incense.  One would think burning incense near wooden buildings could be hazardous.

Perhaps not too hazardous, as this is what they had for fire safety there:

Chinese fire extinguisher?

More obligatory tourist poses.

A walk through a traditional Beijing Hutong revealed some neat everyday furniture. Here are a pair of what look like saw benches.  However, I don't know they were tools, as there is a lot of ornamentation on them.

I really like the double tenons offset for joinery.

I liked both the door and the sign for this business.

Weirdly, I ran across this dovetailed chest just sitting out on the street.

Dovetails.

Above that was a six board chest, and next to it was another saw bench looking piece.

Cool furniture left to the elements.

Here is a close up of the bench. 

More double tenons, this time in a row.

The Frau really liked this door.

Everytime you run into a traditional building, it is hard not to take pictures.

This one had some metal pillars, but the roof is wooden.

I love the painting.

Here is a neat doorknocker near the Temple of Heaven.

Being a tourist again:

Many people were getting their photo with this tree, so I thought I would get one, too.

If you ever get a chance to visit Beijing, I give it a hearty recommendation.  There is lots to see there, and most of it is so different to what we know in the west.