We survived Chair Camp!

Once upon a time there was a little blog keeper that found herself too busy woodworking to keep up her blog about woodworking. Sorry folks for the delay but, I am back in action! To make my comeback as grand as possible, I find myself with no choice but to recap the absolutely stellar week we recently had at the Lenox Workshop's Windsor Chair Camp.

At holidays this year, Jeff was so generous to gift Rob, Eoin, and me a week with Joe Graham (the creator of the most beautiful windsor chairs the world has ever seen) learning how to make his unique and stunning Windsor chairs- a sort of woodworking continued education, if you will. The week fell in the middle of March and I think I am just now getting over the aches and pains my muscles felt from those 6 days. Although it was likely the most physically and mentally exhausting week I have ever experienced, every moment at chair camp was a learning opportunity and time spent with wonderful people - I am beyond thrilled to have had the chance to attend.

It all began with a white oak log. Well, actually for us, it all began with an 8 hour road trip from Schwenksville, PA to Jefferson, OH with a U-Haul trailer in tow that we hoped would be filled with successfully constructed chairs at the end of the week. After that, it all began with a log. Joe taught us how to use the rays in the end of a green log to start splitting it into usable chair parts. With some persuasion from sledge hammers, steel log-splitting wedges, axes, and wooden wedges the sucker split apart into 8 parts. Those 8 parts were then split along the tightest grain lengthwise and halved again to provide us with 8' lengths to start with for the continuous chair arm/back.

After laying out the shape and dimensions of the arm/back from a plywood template onto the lengths from the log, we took to the band saw. At the band saw, we ripped along our layout lines to establish a piece that was at least somewhat the size and shape it would finish at as well as remove the bark and sapwood. The still-rough shapes that came from the band sawing were then hand shaped more accurately (and I use the word "accurately" loosely here) with draw knives, spoke shaves, and hand planes.

A huge part of chair camp for me was setting aside my need to make things smooth and square. As it turns out, green lumber isn't going to be smooth or square; Especially when the end goal of the piece is curved, rounded, and shaped by eye. It was an adjustment and, as I said, every moment was a learning opportunity (and a complete 180º from the realm of woodworking that we practice around here).

[I just want to take a moment to recognize the level of physical exertion we have put forth already. At this point, it's something like 10am on day one. We just split logs, held 8' lengths of wet oak level as we pulled them through saws, and shaped with draw knives. Just sayin'. Chair making is no joke.]

Speaking of physical exertion- steam bending. Yep, that's a job that calls on all of your upper body muscles to be at attention.

We stuck our 8' long arm/back pieces into Joe's homemade steam box to cook for 45-60 minutes before we yanked them out and wrapped them around a shaping jig that Joe has perfected over the past couple of decades, I'm sure. Starting with the center of the top aligned with that of the jig, we pulled on the ends to form the top curve of the chair. When that was locked in, we twisted the arms inward and then curved them down toward the ground at an almost-90º angle. After the entire thing was locked into the jig with wedges, we wiped the sweat from our brow and let the damn things sit for 4 days to retain shape as they dried.

 

While the steam bent arm/backs sat quietly in the background, we tended to other things, like shaping. A lot of shaping. So much shaping. Back splats, spindles for under the arms, stretchers for between the legs, and the legs themselves all needed shaping. The blanks of each respective part were cut on the band saw to be just that, rough blanks. So, we broke out the spoke shaves and card scrapers and went to town for what seemed like weeks.

We were in and out of shaving horses and vices like it was second nature. I will say that this type of hand work is somewhat soothing and allows for a great atmosphere to chat with your fellow chair-makers while burying yourself in some impressive shavings piles. There is just something satisfying about watching your rough, square-ish piece of wood slowly become round and smooth and something you like looking at.

"What about the chair seat," you say? What about the seat, indeed. Have you ever heard of an adze? Because I hadn't. And, I'm still not sure that we're friends (me and the adze, that is). Swinging the scoop-shaped axe at just the right angle to chop into the cherry seat blank was nearly impossible for me to perfect. I understood the idea and the physics behind it as I watched Joe demonstrate the technique with ease, but it was a whole other ballgame when I picked it up myself. I'd take 3 swings and need a 5 minutes break.

One of the unique, and insanely comfortable, elements of Joe's chair designs is the hollowed and shaped seat. So, although grueling for those of us that don't do it every day, it was the fastest way to clear out a lot of material relatively quickly to achieve that awesome seat shape. The good news is that no one slammed their shins with an adze and, better yet, everyone found themselves with a lovely, hollowed seat that we then used angle grinders to more carefully shape. I will mention though that there is reason I have no photographs of any of the Lohr kids chopping seats with adze- we didn't want any documentation of the tears.

But then, things started to come together. Seats were shaped, legs had been shaped and attached, the curved stretchers were attached between the legs, back splats had been tenoned and shaped, and arm spindles had been fit and shaped. The splats and spindles were tenoned using a plug-cutting style drill bit to cut them to the proper size at the ends. I know I skipped a lot of process detail in here but, there is really only so much I can write about shaping by hand before people start closing this browser window. Also, let's be real, I took this class and learned a whole lot but am in no way qualified to teach anyone how to make one of these in grand detail.

With the center back splat in place for a height and alignment guide, the arm/back was put into place and was clamped and banded there while we drilled holes through the arms and down at the appropriate angle into the seat to accept the spindles and remaining back splats. This is the point in the week when the anxiety begins to lift and Joe starts to tell you that you're doing a good job. When it starts to look like a chair, the pride outweighs the sleep deprivation and muscle aches.

 

When all the holes were drilled, final sanding and shaping happened quickly and frantically as the big moment(s) approached. The glue up. The most stressful-yet-rewarding part of any woodworking project. ::deep sigh::

Spindles and splats were glued into the seat first but not long after, the continuous arm was carefully pounded onto the top. We'd step back 7-10 paces to eye up the symmetry of the curve and the height of the arms before we'd run back to the chair to take another wail on the area that needed a slight adjustment.

The last task was to chop a kerf into the top of each round tenon that popped through the top of the continuous arm and hammer some walnut wedges down into them to lock the suckers into place (whilst adding a nice touch of contrast). And eventually, we all had chairs. Real, glued, functioning, beautiful Graham-style Windsor chairs.

Some of us got fancy and decided to add some rockers. And those of us who didn't might now be a little bit jealous that they didn't jump on that opportunity. But the art of testing the placement of the curved rockers with reference to your center of gravity in the chair was a wonder to learn and watch.

And as soon as it started, it was over. I could write a book summarizing my gratitude to Joe and Barbara for everything they did for us while we invaded their lives, meals, and home for a week. Joe for teaching us everything he had spent his adult life perfecting while simultaneously dealing with all of our questions/complaints/pointless banter, Barbara for feeding us some of the most delicious food I have ever had, Jeff for sending us on this learning-and-growing adventure, and Ted for being a perfect fourth member to our 'class'. I guess I am also personally grateful to Rob and Eoin for being sort-of okay co-workers sometimes.

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in making chair camp happen for the Lohr Woodworking Studio fellas and me! We are better chair-makers, woodworkers, teachers, students, and overall people because of it.

We all survived Veneer & Cabinetwork!

Last week was the official launch of our Veneer & Cabinetwork, third-level woodworking course! After weeks of building and rebuilding the veneer wall cabinet in order to organize lessons and procedures for the class, we were excited to open the doors on Monday morning to welcome back our eight, lottery-winning alumni. A huge applause goes out to these gents for pioneering the course and persevering through such a complex and challenging project with us. The week was jam-packed and a new experience for all, but there's nothing quite like a Saturday afternoon with a shop full of new and beautiful veneer cabinets ready to find their way home.

The week started with the basic cabinet carcase layout and joinery. As I said in my last post, we had prepped a pre-milled pack of walnut parts for each student during the weeks prior. Students returning to us for a third time are expected to know how to mill and square parts with relative ease, so to save the time, we do some of the dirty work for them. This is in no way a paint-by-number type of course so the parts they received were roughly sized and without any assigned placement in their project. The first task for students was to tackle the layout. They had to consider the grain patterns and color tones of the walnut parts as they decided where each rail, stile, and mullion would live within the cabinet's carcase. Which faces would look best and should be presented toward the front? Which pieces match best to serve as stiles for the cabinet doors? Are there any knots or flaws that should be hidden toward the inside or back of the cabinet? When all elements were considered, students then labeled their parts and moved onto plows (to accept the panels) and joinery. The complexity of the mortise and tenon joints in a project like this one required the bulk of Monday to machine cut, hand cut, and hand fit but, the sides, doors, and face frames came together.

Next, it was onto playing with veneer! Starting with long sheets of highly figured cherry veneer, Jeff cut sets of rough lengths for each student to flip through, book match, and assign to their door, side, and back cabinet panels. The students quickly learned that keeping the stacks of veneer numbered and in order is key to achieving book matching perfection. The goal was to book match the veneer so it looked cohesive all the way around the cabinet while also using matching sets to glue to the inside and outside of each panel so that it appears as the same solid piece of wood through to the inside of the cabinet. Using their assembled door and side framework as guides, they chose which portions of the veneer sheets they wished to see on their panels. From there, they carefully measured, marked, and cut the veneer to fit the MDF substrates for each part.

For the back panel, we needed to join two pieces of veneer together in order to cover it's entire width. To do this, we used a jig which clamped the two sheets of veneer stacked, flat, and tight with only 1/16" of their soon-to-be-joined edges protruding. With a trim router and a fluted pattern-cutting bit, students were able to cut a pair of smooth, straight edges that would create a perfect seam when they were glued to the substrate. When the edges were jointed, we broke out the veneer tape! The veneer pieces were held together tightly as short strips of damp veneer tape were applied like stitches down the length of the joint. The final step was adding one long length of tape down the entire seam to keep everything in place for glue up.

For gluing veneer, we use Titebond Veneer Glue and apply it with small foam rollers to ensure an even spread of glue over the surface of the substrate. One side of the 1/4" MDF substrate was coated with the veneer glue and then the veneer sheet was applied. The opposite side of the substrate was coated in glue, and then the other sheet of veneer for that panel was applied. In between each panel set (veneer-substrate-veneer), we placed a piece of lightly waxed melamine to keep the panels from being glued to one another. When each student's complete stack of door and side panel sets was glued up, they used painters tape in each corner to hold the entire bundle from shifting too much during it's move to the press.

There is more than one way to press veneer and, as is the Lohr School of Woodworking way, we introduced students to more than one method. The first approach we took was bar clamp presses we had made here in the shop. We like this system because it can be recreated by students in their home shops relatively easily as it's just pairs of 3" thick hardwood boards with bar clamps slid through at either end. The clamps are held vertically while a piece of 3/4" plywood (bigger than the size of the panels we were gluing up) was placed between the hardwood clamping boards to create a platform. The stack of panel sets sits on the 3/4" plywood platform while another sheet of thick plywood is placed on top. These two pieces of heavy plywood serve as a caul to disperse the pressure of the clamping boards evenly across the entire surface(s) of the panel sets. By tightening the bar clamps, the top hardwood clamping boards lowered onto the stack and we were able to put immense pressure across the stack.

For the back panels, to ensure the veneer would be pressed flat across the larger substrate surfaces, we took to the vacuum press. As before, each panel set was separated with a lightly waxed melamine sheet (to prevent gluing unwanted things together) and the top melamine piece was sanded to have rounded edges. With a big, heavy, flat piece of melamine coated particle board underneath, the back panel sets were placed into the vacuum bag. The vacuum sucks out all of the atmospheric pressure and air from the bag thus pressing the veneer to the substrates with no chance of bubbles or bumps. Both veneer presses were left for an hour or two to let the glue tack and set before the pressure was removed.

As the week pressed on (see what I did there? Veneer press, time pressing on... no, you're right, that was a bad one), we tackled some more joinery within the cabinet carcase and how to glue it all together. Then, we attached the face frame to the carcase with carefully planned biscuit placement. We mitered and glued some decorative molding for the top of the cabinet and used another set of jigs to make sawtooth shelf supports. The hard parts peaked again toward the end of the week when it was time to hang the doors. The students used their trim routers and some careful layout to cut hinge mortises into the face frame and door edges. When the mortises were successfully cut to fit their hinges perfectly, extreme care was taken to plan how they were to create an even reveal all the way around each door. In some cases, it was just a slight trim here and there using the table saw. In other cases, students took to the router to cut a clean, straight edge at an angle to make a top/bottom edge parallel to the face frame. And, just when they thought it was over, it was time to do the same for the drawers! The runners had to be carefully attached inside the cabinet to hang the drawers in such a way that the reveal around the edges of the drawer front was the same. This is the part when every woodworker smiles to themselves as they know how painstaking it is to tend to the finest, finishing touches of a project like this. Frustrating and time-consuming as it may be, it's the attention to detail that makes or breaks the cabinet you've been working on for 40 hours.



Good news for you, recent grads, Rob & I took the afternoon yesterday to finish up the last little details on our cabinet. Shaping the pulls, drilling their clearance holes, cleaning up the sawtooth shelf supports, drilling the holes for the bullet catches, attaching the top molding, sanding everything down once more, breaking all edges, and applying the boiled linseed oil only took us around 3 hours to do. So, fear not, we are living proof that you can finish it up in little time! Take a few hours, crank some tunes, break out the course guide, and finish up your seriously stunningly-figured cabinet if for no other reason than so you can brag to your friends and impress your family.

After six long, busy days, all eight gentlemen had a nearly-complete veneer wall cabinet sitting proudly upon their bench. Pat yourselves on the back, men, you did a phenomenal job! We were, and continue to be, thoroughly impressed by your ability to keep up with the pace, face any challenges that arose, catch on to techniques, and persevere with laughs and smiles. And now, we're preparing to welcome our very last class of the year- Advanced Joinery 201 folks, we're gettin' ready for ya'!

We'll see you at Long's Park this weekend!

It's almost Labor Day weekend, folks, and you know what that means- it's Long's Park Art & Craft Festival time! We've been in a whirlwind of putting finishing touches on pieces, wrapping furniture, and loading trailers in preparation for our departure to Lancaster tomorrow morning. The festival will be running rain-or-shine this weekend Friday-Sunday and we will be there, fully-loaded with a diverse selection of Lohr Woodworking Studio furniture.

For the past two weeks, we have been selecting which pieces would take the trip with us to Long's Park. You'll be happy to know that we have a wide array of live edge pieces mixed with our traditional refined Arts & Crafts style furniture. The Lohr Woodworking Studio booth will be filled with tables, cabinets, tables, desks, lawn chairs, and more. See my previous post for some details on the two new desks we'll be showing for the first time this weekend! All the pieces were crafted by one, or all, of us and are all original designs. And, bonus, I will be
proudly debuting and representing my "Apprentice's Corner" filled with Larissa-crafted things.

Anyway, because we make things from wood, they are, by nature, prone to dings and dents. To avoid harming any of the furniture as we pile, stack, and cram them into trucks and trailers, each individual (of the 36!!) piece is wrapped in a blanket(s) and banded. After all the objects dismantled and wrapped, a huge game of Tetris began.

Our heaviest, biggest pieces include two live edge walnut desks, a cherry table sofa, and the famous, single-slab, English oak burl "Resurrection" dining table. Needless to say, there is no way we were moving and accurately placing those guys into the trailer without some assistance from physics. The first stage was loading all of these guys onto a cart with wheels; Lesson learned: Big, heavy things on wheels are much easier to move around. Then, with a little ramp action leading up into the trailer, we used a block-and-tackle (hooked to the floor at the front of the trailer and to the cart) to pull that sucker up and in with [relative] ease. And physics wins again.

Come by, dine on some delicious local food, sip on some beer (or wine if you're feeling fancy), listen to some live music, and admire 200 artists & craftsmen from around the country. Seriously though, what makes better holiday presents than one-of-a-kind pieces from a once-a-year festival? Plan ahead, kids! We hope to see you there, enjoy the last remaining days of summer in an ideal Labor Day weekend environment!

The Latest Generation of Advanced Joinery Grads

A big ol' congrats to the Advanced Joinery graduates that completed their second level course with us today! Outside, the north east was battling weather ranging from perfection to flooded disasters, while inside these eight woodworkers we crafting their own stunning walnut and cherry accessory tables. Patrick, Perry. Allen, Matt, Dave, Anneliese, Ed, and Brian can all go home today proud to know how to make drawers, floating shelves, drawer pulls, breadboard end table tops, and much more about intricate joinery. Way to go, kids, way to go!

Over the past few weeks, the Lohr Woodworking staff has been working hard to save the walls of the ramp bank leading to the upper floor of the sawmill. Over time, the compression of the stone and weight of the elements have stressed the walls enough that they were nearing collapse. Luckily, with Jeff's ability to design a fix for anything, Trixie the tractor and her giant auger, and some giant pressure-treated beams and boards, we have made significant strides to keep it upright. Check back next week for the full story on the design and work that went into this mission!

What? Another Shreiner Log Delivery? YES!

Mr. Steve Shreiner has done it again! The alumni of the Lohr School of Woodworking are truly the cream of the crop. On Friday, we were lucky enough to see a Shreiner Tree Care log truck making it's way up the driveway. Rich, the greatest log truck driver in the land, arrived with a filled-to-the-brim load of beautiful logs. Cherry, Walnut, and Oak galore! We couldn't be more excited to receive such a wonderful delivery. We are grateful beyond words. Thank you Steve, Rich, and all those at Shreiner Tree Care!

Rich piloted the huge log-grabbing claw from atop the truck as we watched in awe from below. It was awesome to see huge logs lifted, moved, and twisted with such ease. Rich was up there sorting massive tree trunks; placing the smaller ones aside while he put the bigger ones where they'd be easier for us to move for saw milling. Jeff merely had to point to a space in the yard and, within seconds, Rich dropped the log in it's place. Our usual log-moving routine involves tractors, digging bars, gantries, and some serious muscle, so watching the Shreiner truck in action was a treat. I'm a lady, so I can say it was much like a ballet of log stacking.

It is often said around Lohr Woodworking that one of the best parts of working the wood from the source (log form) is that we are the first to lay our eyes on what is inside of a log when it's cut open. A tree spends it's entire life growing and forming it's rings and grain patterns and we are lucky to, not only reveal the natural patterns to the world but, create furniture that will present them to the human eye throughout the test of time. We now have a yard full of logs just waiting to reveal their inner grain patterns! I can't wait to see what our newest Shreiner logs has waiting for us.

As a new week begins, I can only assume that much if it will be spent at the saw mill breaking into our new goodies. We are excited to know that our saw mill, drying yard, and kiln will be operating at maximum capacity for the coming months. I want to send our greatest of thanks to Steve and Rich for all of their generosity, time, and stunning material! We are grateful to have the pleasure know these kind gentlemen. If you have any tree or landscaping needs, we can assure that you'll receive the utmost care, kindness, and dedication with Steve and the lovely people at Shreiner Tree Care.

Advanced Joinery Class of August 2013!

Although my absence for a week may have suggested otherwise, we have not had a dull moment here at The Lohr School of Woodworking! Last week we were graced with the presence of 8 eager and animated gentlemen as they tackled the Advanced Joinery class.

Ted, Buzz, Mike, Steve, Stephen, Chris, Randy, and Randy aka Arkansas were dedicated and quite amusing as they learned the more detailed and intricate techniques necessary to complete the project for this course. The more intricate details I refer to include drawer construction, mortise and tenon joinery, dovetail (hand and machine cut) joinery, buttons, floating shelves, Green & Greene style breadboard ends, and so on.

All students are required to complete the Practical Woodworking course at our school prior to enrolling in the Advanced Joinery class. Because of this requirement, when these gentlemen walked through our shop door last week, it was their second stay with us. It seems that having spent 6 long and busy days with us during the Practical Woods class in the past causes students to walk through our door excited, comfortable, and prepared for round 2. The comradery was instantaneous and carried on throughout the entirety of week. Even though I haven't assumed any formal teaching role in the advanced course yet, and hadn't had the good fortune of meeting most of these men before last week, I still felt like I was hanging out with 8 close friends by the end of the week.

As you can see, the sanding pavilion was in full swing thanks to the weather treating us so well as the students learned and created some stunning walnut and cherry side tables. The men made jokes as they got their hands on countless additional Jeffry Lohr original jigs paired with the usual machines; bandsaw, mortiser, routers, and tablesaws. This time around, however, students get their hands on far more hand tools and operations than the Practical Woodworking course requires. The gentlemen had to fine tune their hand saw, marking knife, chisel and mallet, and detailed sanding and gluing skills. All the while though, Rob and Jeff were there to remind us that most any question can be answered with the Jeff Lohr mantra, "All things will be revealed."

One of the more interesting (and often frustrating) operations in woodworking is learning to deal with dovetails. The joinery is undeniably beautiful and strong but, the jigs aren't always willing to be easy on the user. After the bulk of one day of the course being dedicating to hand-cutting dovetails, the students move onto the routers. Jeff does a thorough job explaining jig types and how to adjust them in order to provide fitted and proper dovetails but, that doesn't eliminate the fact that each student needs to adjust those jigs when they sit down to being their drawer joinery. Luckily, we had a shop full of students like Steve (pictured left) and his constant enthusiasm to bring light to even the most challenging tasks.

As I said, comradery was not missing from this bunch of guys. When glue up day finally arrived, a strong desire for perfection was not lacking so teamwork was essential. In order for the tables to function as intended (drawers that open and close, shelves that float perfectly between legs, and breadboard ends that hold everything in place), all things needed to be level, square, and aligned. Just as they did throughout the week, the gentlemen showed full dedication and soon enough the room was filled with assembled tables. In six very busy, rather intense days of instruction and work, there were 8 beautiful tables ready to find their way home.

A huge thanks to the Advanced Joinery Class of August 2013! Although the week demanded a lot and was fast-paced at times, you all wore a smile and delivered in production. I am happy to have had the chance to spend the week with all of you gents and I hope to see some photos of finished tables in the coming weeks! A special thanks to Chris & his thoughtful daughter for making the staff some fantastic (and incredibly appropriate) t-shirts! We'll wear them with pride.

And, as a final note, I will mention that Rob will grace the cover of Woodcraft Magazine on October 1st's issue AND we are working on the construction of a new website so keep checking back with us to see it's official launch!

I am basically a pro with an Alaskan chainsaw mill

While Woodcraft was here to document all things Morris chair related, Jeff and I made ourselves scarce (and busy) by taking to the saw mill!

We spent two days slicing live edge slabs with the Alaskan chainsaw mill. Although I may not be a master of the 6-ft long chainsaw just yet, a few days of intensive practice definitely brought me closer to such a title. I can now oil, gas, sharpen, and start up a chainsaw all by myself! ::pats self on back:: This log was a cherry tree from which came several 2 1/4" thick crotch, live edge slabs with stunning figure. They have been coated in Anchorseal to protect said figure and any checks that might want to form.

While we were working, Donna and/or Tom snuck out and captured us in action. Beyond the fact that I now feel like somewhat of a woodworking celebrity, for those that may have doubted my scrawny build's ability to man a chainsaw, here is a bit of undeniable proof. Despite the heavy Pennsylvanian heat this summer, we now have cut and stacked a huge collection of live edge slabs. They have begun the drying process and, thus, are a few weeks closer to being usable. We are already anxious for them to finish drying!

Again, a huge thanks to Donna Chiarelli and Tom for such wonderful work on the Woodcraft Magazine article and now for sharing these photos with us! And, an additional thank you to Steve at Shreiner Tree Care for providing the beautiful logs, without which I wouldn't have been able to hone my awesome chainsaw skills a few weeks ago!

Last week at the saw mill...

Despite the presence of full-on summer climates, we spent a good portion of the past few weeks outside at our saw mill. We were finally able to make some room on the drying stacks by loading the kiln so, we finished making slabs of the beautiful logs Steve (the man in charge at Shreiner Tree Care) donated to us!

When it comes to milling here at Lohr Woodworking, some logs are easier to cut than others. Our band saw mill has it's size limitations so, for the narrower logs, the process is relatively quick and dirty. After rolling the logs onto the mill, we need to decide how we want the boards to be shaped along their live edges. In most cases, when we mill the logs ourselves, we have no intention of milling the edges to be straight; they will likely be left in their natural, live edge form so we want the shapes to be as interesting as possible.

After we position the log how it needs to lay to provide the most appealing and interesting live edge shaped boards, we use wedges (and in some cases a car jack) to hold it in place to can cut a flat face. Because it is far safer to cut the log with a flat surface sitting on the mill's base, once the flat face is cut, we flip the log over and cut the boards from the opposite side.

Here, I am cutting an 8-quarter slab. The band saw blade spins horizontally as we manually push it through the log. Even for a clearly incredibly muscular girl such as myself, pushing this mill is far from effortless.

Now, what happens when we find ourselves with a log whose diameter is longer than what our band saw mill can cut? Well, we break out the Alaskan chainsaw mill of course!

First, we need to halve the log so that we have the largest flat surface we can get for the straight cutting guide of the chainsaw mill to ride on. Before that flat surface exists though, we need to make an exterior flat surface in order to make a straight cut to halve the log. To do this, we attach a long straight, milled board to the top of the log. We attach it by leveling the board as it sits atop the log, then screw a small square of plywood to the ends of the log with it's edge flush with the level board. From there, we screw another small piece of wood to the plywood, make it flush to the level board as well, and screw through that piece into the level board. This way, the board is firmly held into a level and secure position as we use it to guide the chainsaw.

Then, out comes the Alaskan chainsaw. As I have written about before, this monster of a machine is composed of two chainsaw motors attached by a 6-ft long bar and chain. The straight cutting guide is an adjustable frame that allows the long bar to remain straight and level as it cuts through the log.

Here, you can see Jeff and Rob making the first cut to one of the logs. The guide rides flat along the level board we attached and as the cut is made, small wedges are pushed into the cut so that the weight of the upper portion of the log doesn't weigh too heavily on the chainsaw blade.

Eventually, the log is halved and we break out ol' Trixie the tractor to move the upper half. We place the half up on lifts so that we can easily get to the bottom when we need to lift and move it again.

This is one of the best parts of woodworking; being the first person to see the inside of a tree. The plant has spent years and years growing it's annual rings and keeping them sealed and hidden under it's newer layers and bark. When the half is lifted, the grain patterns and colors are revealed to the human eye for the first time.

From there, we use the large, freshly cut, flat surfaces as the level face for the chainsaw guide to ride on for the remaining slab cuts. The guide is easily adjusted to cut any board thickness we want.

And, by the end of last week, we have stacks of brand new live edge slabs! The slabs are temporarily stacked on saw horses with equally-sized sticks placed in between to prevent warping and allowing air to pass between the slabs so both sides can dry at the same pace.

In this photo, you can see the white, waxy substance applied to the ends and along the figure of the slabs. We use a coating called Anchorseal to seal the ends of the slabs to prevent checks from developing/growing through the drying process. The sealant also helps protect the interesting figure from any cracking or splitting it might do while the slabs dry.

Now, these slabs will find themselves on the drying stacks for a year per every inch of thickness. From there, they will make their way into the solar kiln for a couple more weeks. And, some day in the distant future, they will become part of some  one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture to carry on their legacy.

The Zelli Bar Finds It's Way Home

Greeting again from Lohr Woodworking!

'Enough is enough, woodworking apprentice, we are constantly reading about this Zelli Bar and all the progress being done but, when will it really be done?' Don't worry, folks, it's finished!

As readers, you have seen this project from the beginning stages (when I first learned to draw to scale) all the way through the finishing processes and the day has finally arrived that it has been assembled, photographed, packed up, and delivered to it's home.

Because this was my first time being part of a commissioned furniture project from start to finish here at the shop, it was also the first time I've taken part in a pieces' formal documentation. New pieces get photographed and added to the Lohr Woodworking portfolio. I was more than excited to be a part of this process as much as I was about every process along the way. Set up in the back/lumber room, we hung up a slew of flood lighting and all the tripods we had laying around to created a photo shoot.

The men put on their cleanest and most proper apparel while I did my best to capture their prideful faces. Complete with a bottle of J. Lohr wine, they stuck with me while I took what seemed like a hundreds of photos. Thanks in large part to a DSLR tutoring session from Eoin, the end result was what you see here.

The bar can be, and was, broken up into five main pieces for move-ability. The long portions of the base separate into two parts and are joined together from the inside via a couple of custom board connector pieces (full disclosure: the last portion of that sentence is apprentice-invented terminology) as well as some additional spax screws. The top is broken up into three pieces and held together with custom splines and tite joint fasteners. All in all, for such a massive, heavy piece, it is relatively easy to break apart and move around when necessary.

As I've mentioned, the top of the bar is live edge, locally grown, black walnut. Jeff can tell you where his live edge pieces come from (usually in PA), right down to the lot number where it grew. The base is primarily cherry with resawn live edge walnut along the faces. Inside, you see a sink, adjustable shelving, a towel rack, sliding doors beneath the sink, and space for a trashcan. It was treated with boiled linseed oil and finished with Waterlox Gym Finish and lacquer. The gym finish is a strong, clear gloss finish that will withstand the frosty beverages that will grace the bar's surface.

The piece was completely custom made for the Zelli family home and, after much planning, we were happy to see it find it's perfect place there.

After a full morning of assembly and delicious breakfast treats, we were even happier to celebrate the newest addition's successful installation. The bartender at this bar is a lucky guy or gal for more reasons than one. We're happy to have designed, constructed, and delivered such a great anniversary gift. Cheers to your new bar and many more years of happiness for you and your family, Zelli's!

Back to Building

On this beautiful Tuesday, we return to the shop and back to the grind.

As my previous entry states, last week we had the pleasure of hosting eleven wonderful students for another Practical Woodworking class. We are proud and grateful to all of them for being such great overall humans during the course. Congratulations to our most recent Lohr School of Woodworking graduates and you should all be proud of all that you learned and created this past week!

Now, what the "grind" entails is quickly approaching the completion of the Zelli Bar!

Here, we see Rob making his sternest bartender face as we carried out the final fitting of the bar faces' live edge detail. Each live edge piece of walnut was resawn and cut/sanded/fine-tuned to fit perfectly with the others to create a seamless frame. The live pieces that meet at the corner are formed from a bookmatch so they are essentially mirrored around that angle. The rest were chosen based on their natural shapes and colors.

After the pieces were confirmed to be fitted together properly, it was time to glue up! Face gluing requires an abundance of evenly distributed pressure to ensure that all pieces are attached completely and as flat as possible. As you can see, our evenly-distributed, abundant pressure was tackled with a variety of clamps... and a whole lot of them!

The long pieces of wood stretching across the length of the bar were elevated in the middle (via wedges) to make sure that there was even and heavy pressure pushing onto the live edge framing around the outer edges of the bar face. Using F-clamps, C-clamps, and bar clamps we made sure that every inch of the live edge board faces were held tight against the bar face while the glue dried.

Holding the title of smallest and most agile in the shop, it's my duty to crawl into any small and awkward spaces necessary to get the job done. I've learned to hold this title with honor as it has been part of my role in countless situations since I was young.

Thus, when it was glue clean-up time, equipped with a flashlight and a toothbrush, I crawled beneath the bench and carefully removed any squeeze-out. Because we are dealing with cherry veneer on this project, it is important to be scarce with water usage to avoid any chance of mold growth.

After the glue was left to dry for 24 hours, we unclamped and jumped right into finishing. As per usual, we used boiled linseed oil to bring out the natural colors and grain patterns in this piece. From the photo, you can see that there is a radical difference between the oiled walnut and cherry portions. Granted, a photograph doesn't do it justice but, these woods are beautiful when their colors are deepened and accented. Better yet, as the cherry ages, deepens, and reddens with time, the pairing of the dark walnut and the deep reds will be even more stunning than they already are!

The oiled bar sat untouched for the week during class thus allowing it the perfect amount of time necessary for the oil to dry.

Starting today and continuing over the course of the week, we will be spraying and brushing on layers of clear lacquer finish. With all the small additions and details done both inside and out, this bar is quickly approaching it's finish line. I am more than excited to see and share the completed project!