What are you working on?

Bob Lang

Member
If you're staying home why not share pictures of what you're working on for publication in the next Pins & Tales newsletter. We likely won't have many chapter meetings to report on, but it would be a good thing to share what's on your bench. Send me an email [email protected] , post in this thread, or upload to the gallery.
Also, if you've been thinking about writing an article for either Pins & Tails or American Period Furniture this is a good time to get to it. Get in touch and I'll be happy to help you out.
Bob Lang
Editor Pins & Tales and American Period Furniture
 
I'm working on my pantry. Plywood, biscuits, pocket screws and yellow glue.


When using those things, I'm working in the shop, not relaxing.


But my wife has expressed her desire for me to finish it so finish it I shall!
 
I am working on a pair of Philadelphia style curved front chest of drawers. It is a challenge with the 45 degree ends. I am bricking and veneering the drawer fronts,
 
I have pictures of the base and the bricking for the drawers. I need 76 bricks to make 8 drawers. The front base moulding is 3 parts. I realized after I glued the 45 degree ends I could have made it one piece but then I would have had 45 degree end grain.
 

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Working on a chest of drawers. Based on a piece in "Crafting Excellence, The Furniture of Nathan Lumbard and His Circle". Need make drawer bottoms, case back and shape the brasses.

 

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Thank you, it is cherry  The drawer fronts are stack laminated pine, cherry veneer with shop made chevron stringing and Cuban mahogany cross banding with cherry cockbeading. It is constructed as close to the original as I could from the photos in the book.
 
Like most (all?) of you, I've been avoiding people and hiding out in my workshop.  I don't know if it's the chaos around me that's influenced me to do this, but I've been suffering through a case of too many works in progress; I have 4 more owl-eye chairs in some state of completion, and am ~75% done with my spice chest on stand.  On top of that I have a minor restoration queued up of an 1805 Pennsylvania drop-front desk (walnut) and have been building small boxes for my nail/screw cabinet.  It might sound like I've accomplished a lot, but keep in mind these are all works in progress...if I focused on any one of these I could finish up quickly, but I'm having a hard time focusing in this topsy-turvy world.
 
I had to stop working on the walnut curved front chest to build triple bunk beds for the grandkids. They are going to be painted so they will be made with poplar.
 
Bob,


I have been fairly productive in the shop over the last few weeks.  As a silver lining of the shutdowns I have loved the lack of scheduled activities and meetings.  After a very involved long grind through a restoration/expansion of a 17th century European bed that required a lot of carving and turning, I have been trying to knock out a few easier unfinished projects.


1.  I had a Philadelphia style footstool I started a few years ago for a class I was teaching, decided to finish it up.


2.  I'm working on a hall table "inspired by" a table I saw at the department of state.  Fairly simple table with straight Marlborough legs.  The added blind fretwork and gadrooning ups the time needed for sure.  Still in progress.

Cal
 

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Frederick, here's a photo of my WIP corner with the spice chest.  This is from Gene Landon's plans; he built (several of) his in walnut which is probably more typical of the period, but it's a high-style piece so I'm using swietenia that I bought from Hearne.
 

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Here's my favorite view of this piece.  It's very nicely designed.
 

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Awesome project!

I took Gene's class in 2001.  I recall there was a slight error on the layout of the tombstone doors which may have been fixed on their drawing. (I looked up my copy of the drawing from the class and I wrote "NO - see my drawing" on it.  The original drawing had two centerpoints for the arches.) I redrew this in CAD with one centerpoint - this is how I did mine.

Good luck!
 

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Thank you Mark. I especially like the feet on your chest. Do you have the book "Spice Chests of Chester County"? There's a ton of good photographs of various spice chests.
 
Tom, you'll be happy to know that the plans match what you show.  They were drafted by Michael Sener in 2001, so happily he worked the correction in.  These are the finest plans I've purchased...hand-drawn, four pages, very detailed.


I do find it interesting that the pivot point is not aligned with the upper corner of the vertical raised panel...suspect that gives a very subtle "pinch" to the arch at it's lowest point that makes it more pleasing to the eye.  Not something I would've picked out without this build, but now that I look through photos of other raised arched panels I think I see this consistently {or I'm imagining it, which is possible :) }.
 
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