Wood a Sustainable Energy

Timber for furniture making is only one of the many different and varied products produced by woodland. Saw mills, who convert trees into planks and other dimensioned timber, are only interested in the tree trunk. Once this is carted away the head of the tree, usually all that part above and including the first branch, is left. This can amount to a considerable amount of wood, in the case of a mature oak tree almost half of the total timber. This timber is too misshapen to use economically in the workshop, although choice pieces may be of interest to a bowl turner; it does however make excellent firewood.

I’m very enthusiastic about this other side of woodland use; it’s a truly sustainable way of providing cheap fuel for those living in the countryside and to a lesser degree even for those in towns. Townies may need to invest in smokeless wood burners making a larger initial investment necessary and additionally the firewood will be more expensive, because of distance. Add to this the messy business of stacking logs and dealing with fire ash and one may wonder if it’s worth the bother, but only until you have enjoyed a real wood fire. The smell, the crackle of the logs, even the heat is different and if you ever cook with it you will be sorry when summer arrives.

Being a real hardcore wood addict, I not only work with it, but do most everything I can with it. It heats my workshop, cooks the family meals and runs the central heating; if only I could power a generator…humm?

Being fortunate in living next to woodland I cut and fell my own wood February/March and haul it back to the house after 1st July, the day I pay the forester. This amount is a fraction of that charged by commercial sellers, but then I have invested in equipment and time and they have to make a living. However, I have to tell you that it is one of the nicest feelings to sit in a warm home eating a meal you have grown yourself all heated and cooked with wood that you cut and hauled.

Nearly all forest woodland has been tended by man for thousands of years, providing tools, furniture, houses, boats, charcoal for industry and of course firewood. Sadly most of these activities went out of fashion after the first world war resulting in many neglected forests and woodlands; more so in the U.K. than in France where many traditional trades still survive. As many people are now discovering, the modern age demands that an exacting price be paid and those who sold it to us do not have the currency. Now many people are themselves looking to alternatives in our tried and tested heritage.

Those in the UK can find more information on forestry here : http://www.woodlandheritage.org.uk/

There are other side benefits gained from all this activity, not least the care of the woodland itself, providing many kinds of resource for the community,in addition to this working woodlands will support more wildlife than those left to dereliction.

Shaker Rocking Chair

A friend of mine recently asked me to make a few replacement parts for an impressive French walnut armoire that he is restoring. By way of compensation he suggested he gave me a rather sad looking # 7 Mount Lebanon rocking chair that he had acquired locally. Looking at the condition of the chair, most people would probably think this was not much of a deal. It’s true the rockers are missing along with the shawl rail, the bottoms of the legs are rotten and woodworm have been feasting on other parts. If this was not enough, someone thought it a good idea to hide the original ebonised finish with white paint. Then cover the seating tape with calico, in fact they did this in reverse order so that they could paint most of the calico at the same time. Never the less I was delighted and immediately agreed, it’s probably the best chance I will ever have of owning a real Mount Lebanon Rocker of this vintage, c1880. I imagine a good one would fetch about $3000, but I couldn’t be sure in the present economic climate. Its not likely that another would turn-up locally, so crating, shipping to France with insurance maybe half as much again. Then again this aspect doesn’t really interest me so much as the chance to work on an iconic chair that I have copied so many times; I find this prospect more exciting than owning a new one. It’s going to make a really interesting project and I shall be featuring it here, as work progresses. The other items in the picture are a few pieces of Shaker ephemera and more about this later. My friend, Roy of the wardrobe, is researching Shaker history and has turned-up many interesting artifacts and as yet unknown facts about the Shakers and France. Unfortunately I'm sworn to secrecy until he is in print, so I must ask you to be patient.

Why wont my antique repairs stay stuck?

The arrival of two very different chairs this week, both with loose joints, highlighted this sticky problem and prompted me to write about it in greater depth. It was previously covered in part by another article; however it is such a common occurrence I thought it deserved to be dealt with more thoroughly.

All the joints of one of these two chairs had failed and were loose; they had been in this condition for some time and remained untouched, which was good. Because this made it a relatively easy job to dismantle, clean the joints, re-glue and smarten up with a little shellac and wax. Result, a happy client with a modest repair bill.

The other chair, owned by a very nice chap with a tube of glue, was quite a different matter. This also had failed joints, but in this case my well meaning client had squirted glue into and around every one of them. The back splat, had also received some of his attention after what looked like a nasty break, trouble was it had been glued-up with some small bits missing. If you have read my article on chair repair, you may think I’m starting to sound like a broken record. Well sorry about that, but this is the single most frustrating thing that I come up against on a regular basis, making tedious work for me and a large bill for my clients; and it’s just not necessary.

Most people do not understand what makes a bond; this is due to all kinds of wrong information that has been passed down through the ages. It started off as good advice, but like ‘Chinese whispers’ it gets changed a bit each time it’s repeated until it just ends up as nonsense. I can give you an instance of this, when much younger I remember being told that you should rough the wood of a joint to make sure the glue got a good hold. This little gem probably grew out of the fact that craftsmen laying traditional veneer would use a toothing plane (plane with a serrated blade) to score the surfaces of the timber being stuck. The real reason they did this was to flatten the two surfaces without the risk of tearout, always possible with a conventional plane especially when working on difficult timber. Although antique veneer is usually much thicker than the modern equivalent, faults like tearout if uncorrected would telegraph through to the surface. The tiny serrated teeth of the toothing plane are able to take multiple minuscule cuts much in the same way as sandpaper, but at a rapid rate of work. Today’s craftsmen mostly use a power sander, or if like me with one foot in the past, use either as the situation demands.

The people I really blame for most of this confusion are the glue manufacturers with their ‘’Bonds stronger than the wood itself’’ type of advertisements. This leads to the belief that there is some sort of integral strength in the glue itself, wrong. Things stick together when they are perfectly matched and have a surface that is perfectly smooth. Place two sheets of clean glass together and you will prove this for yourself. Theoretically if we could make perfect joints we wouldn’t need glue at all, but as we can’t we need the glue to take-up all the little imperfections and make the glued pieces feel like they are a perfect match and can’t bear to be apart.

You are probably at this point beginning to realise why so many repairs end up failing. As in the case of my glue toting client, whose chair joints hadn’t been dismantled and cleaned by washing the dirt, wax and dust of decades out of them. All this had been allowed to remain and get between the new glue and the timber, not to mention the old glue which would not be compatible with anything out of a tube.
The new glue just can’t work because it doesn’t get near the timber to iron out all those little imperfections. What it does do however, is cover the old hide glue that would easily wash off, with an impervious coat that later takes any amount of work to remove without doing damage to the timber.
Final note; There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t tackle your own repairs providing you abide by the golden rules. Never make a repair on a piece of antique furniture that can not at some later date be reversed. Hide glue is known to last centuries and can with the application of heat and humidity be reversed easily. If you do not have the equipment to use traditional hide glue you can find Franklins liquid hide glue in most good woodworker’s supplies.

How do I Determine Table Size?

Trying to determine what size table you need is not always easy, especially as needs change over time. One way of solving this problem is to have an extending table or alternatively, two or more smaller tables that can be pushed together when needed; or kept against the wall as a serving table etc when not. If you have the room it’s always better to acquire a larger capacity table than you will need for everyday use, because no matter what size you eventually choose it will always be too small on occasion.

So how much room does each person need around a table? As a minimum each person will need 24’’ however, this will feel cramped, 30’’ is a much better ideal to go for. In addition each person will need about 12’’ in front of him or her; this means an extra 24’’ on the length if you wish to have someone sitting at each end of the table. It is also desirable to have a section of 12’’ running the length of the table for serving dishes, drinks, glasses etc. Therefore a table for eight people, sitting two at each end and tree each side, would ideally be. 3 x 30’’ = 90’’ + 24’’ 114’’ or 9’6’’ long. Width would then be 2 x 12’’ = central 12’’ = 36’’ or 3’ So eight people will require a table of 9’6 x 3’ as a comfortable minimum or 8’ x 3’ if using the more chummy 24’’ formula. If you are going to choose a round table you must stick to 30’’ around the circumference.

But will it fit in the room? Well the table and chairs might, what we really need to know is how much extra room do people take up. To move in and out of a sitting position with a chair behind the legs requires a minimum of 36’’ to move freely requires about 45’’ and 55’’ if you or someone else uses a wheelchair.

Therefore a table for eight 9’ 6’’ x 3’’ will ideally be in a room 17’ x 10’6’’ don’t forget to add on any additional furniture in the room and allow for doorways, especially if the doors open in.
These are ideal sizes and probably it will prove difficult to accommodate all of them, I’m sure we have all enjoyed any number of good meals in less than idea situations, even in restaurants. However now that you have the formulas you will at least be able to make informed compromises.
Bon appétit

What Wood is That?

Right use of timber and correct wood identification is an important aspect of furniture making and restoration. It is also an important part of enjoying furniture whether old or new. Initially the maker will consider the suitability of any timber based on appearance and mechanical properties. For instance drawer sides and runners are better made from Oak, than say pine, when considering the longevity of a fine piece of furniture. Or the flexibility of Ash or Yew for a chair back, the non splitting quality of Elm in a Windsor seat and so on. Although, these considerations will be of interest to a prospective owner their primary interest after function and design, will probably be one of colour or the beauty of the surface timber.

It is worth remembering that colour will change over time and may affect the perceived beauty. Age will lighten dark woods and darken light woods, whether or not this enhances the beauty, is of course subjective; although I think most people would agree, that age does add a mellow quality that can not be imitated. Atmospheric conditions and proximity to sunlight will either hasten or slow this effect; however nothing will stop it altogether. The net affect is that most woods end-up looking the same, especially if you are not sure what to look for. It can be very difficult for instance, to tell the difference between Walnut and Mahogany, in an antique. The figure of the wood can be very helpful in identifying the species; especially if you can reinforce your suspicion by finding a piece of timber that has been relatively unexposed, say in a drawer opening. Over time one does learn to tell the difference with some authority, , although, the unexpected is always waiting to trip one up, so it really isn’t a good idea to get over confident and show off.
www.thewoodexplorer.com/ is the largest database of timber species I know and is a good place to start researching or just familiarising yourself with different timbers. Naturally the colour plates are of new timber.