William and Mary Escritoire Desk

Obviously, I am a fan of William and Mary furniture. The period between about 1690 and about 1720 (in America, anyway) produced some of the most beautiful pieces of furniture in the history of the art. From the staggering heights of a high chest to a simple book stand, William and Mary has something for everyone, yet is all too often ignored (thanks to PWM for helping to bring the style back to the forefront).

For some time, I have planned to build a close interpretation of the 1707 Edward Evans desk, now in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg.  I have drawn up a sketch based on the photos found in Worldly Goods. Other projects have distracted me from this goal, but a recent conversation on the Society of American Period Furniture Makers forum reignited my passion for the form by linking to an incredible  escritoire recently sold at a Skinners auction.

The Edward Evans desk

Skinner desk closed

Skinner desk open 

Skinner desk detail 1

Skinner desk detail 2

 I think I have enough walnut on hand to build a very similar desk. I'll probably have to come up with some poplar and I will have to find a source for "screeter" hinges.  I will definitely use drop pull hinges rather than the brasses found on the Skinner desk. Once I'm finished with my gooseneck and a Chippendale table for a proposed article, I will restart my efforts on this style of desk. I already have the lower case sides planed up and waiting... but that is the easy part.

Paring chisels are amazing

While working on my gooseneck cabinet last night, I noticed that there was a slight hump in the middle pine shelf board.  This is to be expected, given that the stock is prepared by hand and will almost never be perfect.  In most cases, it would be totally fine to leave it. This case, however, is not a standard case. This case is a case that will hold prized possessions, perhaps some rare books, or other delicate items. Anything other than a flat, smooth shelf surface will potentially cause damage to those items and it must be fixed.

I wanted to wait to remove this hump until the case was glued up so that I could ensure that the pine (which is made of a 2" wide cherry facing strip and a 9" wide white pine filler) would line up with the cherry perfectly. I glued up the shelf boards in situ after the case was assembled. To remove this hump, I turned to a trusted friend, a paring chisel.

No, I don't mean a chisel with a stubby blade and a long handle (these are not true paring chisels no matter what the ad men say). I mean a proper parer, one with a long, thin blade that makes Kate Moss look positively Reubenesque. One that is preferably made of a proper vintage steel that takes a ridiculously low bevel angle and is sharp enough to split atoms. My favorite chisel (the one I used last night) is an 5/8" wide, 3/16" thick, 8" long vintage Ibbotson with a boxwood handle. It has a sub-20 degree bevel on it... yes I have to sharpen it very often but it works so very well that I don't mind.

To make use of the chisel, I referenced the blade on the cherry front strip. Pushing the blade down into the surface, I raised the back end of the handle slightly.  This flexed the chisel a tiny amount. I then slid the chisel forward carefully at an oblique angle to the grain of the wood, paring halfway between with the grain and directly across it.

The chisel references the front strip, keeping the paring chisel from cutting too deep into the shelf board. Once you've hit an area that needs to be removed, simply flex the chisel a bit by modulating the pressure used to flex the chisel. This will move the chisel forward slightly, allowing you to remove fine whisper-thin shavings. You can also simply push the chisel into the work with the handle, but you lose control so quickly that I do not recommend this technique, especially given the necessary proximity of your off-hand.  I have no doubt that my Ibbotson could just about take a finger off if it were stuck into the "right" spot.

Repeat the process until you've achieved a smooth surface. Any remaining fibers can be scraped away or simply hit with 220 sandpaper.  I hope this helps you to think beyond planes when faced with a tight space.

Progress on my gooseneck cabinet

Four day weekends are the best. Even with chores to do (taking care of chickens, spending an inordinate amount of time cutting wood and tending to my wood boiler), I still found plenty of shop time to work on my  unique little gooseneck hanging case. As I said in my previous blog post, not everyone "gets" this piece, but that's ok. Hopefully a prospective customer will too (this piece will be for sale upon its completion).

On Thursday morning, I began with two pieces of cherry roughly planed to size. I planed the boards to length and width and tried to get them both to a roughly equal thickness. This is a step that is usually unnecessary in hand work but any major deviation here would be readily apparent in a small piece like this. 

On this piece, my reference surfaces on each side are the front edge, the inside face and the top end. Following basic hand tool technique, all layout work is only done from one of these three surfaces.  These surfaces are carefully worked to be flat, straight, and square to each other and are the only ones that can relied upon.

I started the joinery work by laying out the tops of each dado for the dividers. This work was done with the boards sandwiched together so that all dadoes end up in the same place. Then, using a fence, I ran my 3/8" dado plane (thanks Lee Richmond!) through the cherry to make the necessary dadoes.

Once this work was completed, I began to rip 2" wide strips of cherry to make the front faces of each of the dividers. This accomplished, I arranged them on the sides to mark them to the proper length. After this was achieved, I marked out the 3/8" x 3/8" tongue on each end. I then sawed out the shoulder and split the cheek, leaving some wood just fat of the line so that I could plane it down to a snug fit with my shoulder plane.

Once this was done, I was able to dry assemble the case for the first time and see the composition of the lower case (excluded the ostentatious gooseneck that will come later...)

As a result of my careful layout work, the case is square and the joinery fits well with a minimum of clamp pressure. This will make the whole thing go together much easier at assembly time.

After putting the case together with clamps (no glue yet), I was able to rip out the white pine filler strips. No sense in using show wood for parts that will be covered by books and knick-nacks for the life of the piece. Remember to always sever the edge of your work piece when cutting joinery cross grain. Most joinery planes designed for this type of work will have a knicker ahead of the blade, but I find it helpful to sever the first 1/4" or so with a knife, as this helps prevent spelching (a fancy word for grain blowout).  I make this mark with my bench knife after pulling my moving fillister plane backwards, using the knicker in the plane to show me where to cut.

One of the main structural elements of the case (as well as the method of fastening it to the wall) is a pair of dovetailed French cleats. The top of each pair of cleats is dovetailed and glued (probably will get a nail as well) into the back of the case.  To begin this work, I laid out the 45 degree angle on the end grain of the cherry, then used a marking gauge to define straight lines where the angle intersects each face.  I then marked out the ultimate width of the bottom cleat, as this would have been difficult to do after cutting the bevel.  I then rip-sawed down the angle, making sure to stay neatly on the line on each side of the work piece. This completed, I simply planed each face a bit to clean up the saw marks, then I ripped the bottom cleat free of the mother board. This process was done twice, one for each pair of cleats. The top pieces were then dovetailed into the back edge of the case, leaving the bottoms loose for the ultimate installation in the customer's home.

    

The last thing to do before gluing up the case is to cut the notch for the secret drawer.  The original 1790 piece didn't have a secret drawer, but I really enjoy adding at least one to every project that permits it. So, behind the molding on the right hand side of the case, there will be a 1" deep drawer that fills the open space between the real top and the false top.  

To accomplish this notch, I marked out the 1" depth of cut with a marking gauge, then marked the 1" wide parts on each edge of the board. I then sawed the vertical lines with my carcass saw, then proceeded to cut angles that intersected with those lines, notching out pieces along the full width of the notch.  I sawed close to the base line before chopping and paring the waste down to my line. Just think of chopping a really wide dovetail and you'll understand the process.

Well, there you have it. After I notched the right side, I glued up the case. I still need to pre-drill and install some nails into the dovetailed cleats, and I might install some nails into the dividers, just to make sure they don't go anywhere. Not sure about that yet. 

I hope you enjoy this post. Next time I will be doing the gooseneck pediment and maybe even carving some molding...

Zach                  

Antiquing new pine... or Conan Dillinger strikes again.

Earlier this year a friend of mine brought me this really neat old pine blanket chest. I'm guessing it is from the 1870s, give or take 10 years. Old red oxide paint finish, lots of character to the surface. Splitting, dings, dents, etc. This is the kind of look I try to achieve with my new pieces of furniture (to the consternation of many in the woodworking family). See the comments on this Popular Woodworking Magazine blog post for evidence...

Anyway, there is a method to my madness. I enjoy replicating old looking surfaces. So when my friend asked me to replace the long-missing side trim on this piece, I jumped at the chance.

Cool old surface

I used a piece of old growth pine, then re-sawed it by hand with my Disston D-8 rip saw, as the trim on this piece is only about 1/2" thick. I planed the resulting stock square and true.

 The molding profile on the baseboard is a simple astragal. In my immense collection of wooden planes, I just so happened to have a plane that exactly matched the size / location of the astragal and fillets, so that was used to make the profile.  I planed in the molding, as you have seen me do a hundred times, by starting at the far end of the profile, establishing the cut, then making longer and longer cuts by pulling the plane further back each time. Within two minutes (or less), I had a full 40" of molding cut.

The molding was then mitered, leaving the back ends long for trimming flush with the chest. Given the age on the piece, the miters on the original front trim are very worn, so I scribed the profile onto the new piece, then simulated wear on the miter of the new piece with a rasp, followed by a file.  This left a surface that closely matched the old miter end. I then took a chunk of hard maple and used it to round over the crisp edges and to introduce some surface dents and distressing scratches to the wood (read, I pretty much went Conan on the piece... thanks Megan for the nickname!).

Once the woodworking was complete, I took the pieces into my finishing room.  The first step was to dry brush dark brown oxide pigment into the surface to age the wood. This step alone adds 100 years to fresh pine.

As you can see, in this photo, some of the old original red paint was still clinging to the fillet below the astragal and to the flat surface.I made a red oxide and stand oil paint to brush into the fillet and to lightly smear about the surface. Then I took a dab of stand oil and a tiny bit of black iron oxide pigment to make a greyish, somewhat translucent paint. This was sparingly brushed into the top fillet and onto the top of the molding. This simulates the dirt and dust that accumulated in this areas over the years (look at the first photo to see how black this area is).

Once this was finished, I brushed a very light (less than a pound cut) coat of blonde shellac with a small amount of light brown ochre pigment mixed into it. This gave the surface the right golden color while minimally adding to the sheen, a perfect match for the original surface.

On top of the shellac, I daubed some small areas of green paint, as this chest features green drops sprinkled throughout the surface (this must have been in someone's room while the room was being painted). The green paint was made with stand oil and green pigment.

This completed the final finishing step. I used five cut nails on each side, then aged the nail holes with a tiny bit of india ink. The finished result is shown below.

I'd say the surface is very convincing and will only get better as the piece ages.

This is the type of work I love to do, telling stories with the surfaces of furniture.  This is why I find new-looking furniture so boring to look at. Sure, it is shiny and pretty, but where is the heart?

Zach

Shop made tools

While preparing for the annual Old Tools gift exchange known as Galootaclaus, I was brainstorming of what to make for my chosen "victim".  It occurred to me that I've never really done a "shop made tools" post here, so I decided to rectify that.

Some of these have been seen on this space, others have not.

Visible in this photo are:.

- the case sides for my Fall Project. They are still a little rough, as I prefer to surface my stock in stages.

- my 30" maple jointer plane with silver and pink ivory (wood, not tusk) inlay. This was based on a 18th century plane in my collection, although I lack a proper round-topped iron to complete the look. Soon, hopefully...

- my heavy hard maple mallet that I call Mjolnir. White oak handle with walnut pegs to hold the head on. It surely is the Mallet of the Gods. Mortising chisels tremble at the mere mention of Mjolnir.

- Walnut and copper plow plane. You've seen this before.

- Beech low angle plane. You've also seen this one before.

- A pair of mahogany squares that are replicas of the small squares found in the famous Seaton Chest. I am also working on a full set of three (this size, a medium size, and a much larger full size) for myself.

- A pair of small dovetailed dovetail markers (thats like meta-dovetailing!). These were made with the offcuts of the try square blades.

- My own winding sticks. The curly maple sight on the back stick came from a plank of wood that my now-deceased father gave me. It is very precious to me and I only use it in small doses and for things I use a lot, like my winding sticks.

The color in these photos is quite washed out. The mahogany squares are a deep, dark red in real life; the walnut is a purple green (air dried walnut for the win!)

As you can tell, I really like making tools. So much so, that I am offering my services to make any of the tools you can see here for sale.

I can make the dovetail markers for $15, the small squares for $40 (pricing on the two larger squares in the Seaton set is TBD) and the winding sticks (probably with boxwood inlay, not my precious curly maple) also for $40. If you are interested, please let me know via email at zacharydillinger@gmail.com.

I am also willing to make the planes you see here, but the pricing would be pretty darn high, especially on the plow. You'd be better off just finding a vintage wooden plane or purchasing from Lie-Nielsen if you are of the metal plane persuasion, but I'd be more than happy to provide you with my services if you just can't live without.

Zach

My upcoming Fall project

Last year, I was fortunate enough to participate in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers exhibiting at the Detroit Institute of Art.  We will be having another exhibition in March of 2014, an exhibition for which I need to make a piece.

I've loved this hanging cabinet ever since I first saw it in Antiques and Fine Art magazine earlier this year.  It was for sale by a major antiques dealer. The price was $20,000.

c. Antiquarian Equities, Inc.

Is it a little weird, perhaps unique? Absolutely. I've never seen another just like it.  Some will say the proportions are off, that the facade is way over the top. I agree. All of these things draw me to this piece for some reason. It has character, a je ne sais quoi that calls me to it.  I must make it.

The original is a New England piece, c. 1790. It is about 25.5" tall, 16.5" wide and 11 3/4" deep. Using the magic of Google Sketchup (a program I am still not very skilled with, but that is helpful for things like this) I worked out the dimensions and designed the piece as close as I can without actually paying $20,000 for the original.

I also added a hidden little bonus: a secret document drawer behind one of the side moldings.

Keep an eye on this space for details regarding construction, the sash door, and the secret lock setup on the drawer. Should be a fun piece.

Oh, and if you are wondering what has kept me from my blog for so long... here is your answer...

Its my new 1926 Model T. Sat in a barn since the lat 1940s. She now runs and drives very well after a couple of months of efforts. Still needs quite a bit of cosmetic work, as it doesn't really look any different now than it did in that photo. New tires and painted wheels, but thats it.

See you on down the road.

Zach

The world's fanciest sock drawer?

After a very busy few weeks, I've finally finished my Taunton Chest.  I left off in my last post having just finished the actual painting of the artwork on the front of the chest.  The painting isn't perfect, I messed up some of the lines and I need to learn to roll the brush, but for a first try at painting I'm pretty happy. Here is the final product...

 Since that time, I coated the piece with several coats of tinted shellac to darken the artwork and to give a dirty, grungy brown-yellow tone to the whole composition. I also did the final install of all the hardware.

 The layout of the vinework is influenced heavily by the original, but I wanted to add some of my own patterns in. So I rounded the hearts more (they were quite flat in the 1729 piece) and I added both my and my wife's initials to the piece on the first full length drawer.

I also cut back on the number of birds.  The original had at least three that I could make out under the gunk, but I thought that was a bit too busy. So I just went with the most prominent one painted on the top two drawers and the divider.

Gratuitous end grain shot for your joinery fans out there.

 The woodwork was very quick but still done with quality. The dark line you see on the top of that tail in the drawer is the pencil line (I've since erased it) that marked the joint out. When someone says 'split the pencil line with the saw' this is what they mean...

A number of people who saw my piece suggested that I make the feet more closely resemble the original.  But, having studied a number of similar chests, I've decided that mine are more than adequate since this isn't an exact copy (I did change the painting after all).  I have left them unglued, so that I can redo them should the fancy strike me.  Currently, it is sitting in my bedroom, on top of my main dresser, holding my socks, and the turnings don't bother me at all.

I'm currently finishing another version of the same basic form.  It is the same layout and size, but with bracket feet.  I would consider it a transitional William and Mary to Queen Anne form.  This one is also in pine, but I'm planning to try my hand at grain painting thanks to Stephen Shepherd's willingness to share his knowledge...

Painted the vines and berries of my Taunton Chest...

Well, I bit the bullet and gave it a try. I bought some artists oil paints, thinner, pallet knives and two different striping brushes at Grand Art Supply downtown Lansing.  Great store, if you should find yourself in the area.

Having laid out the pencil work freehand, I figured I could paint it that way as well.  I was mostly right...

Please forgive the crummy camera-phone photos. Hardware not totally installed in this pic

I've since added several coats of tinted seedlac, so that the paint has a nice aged look.  The retina-searing white is now a nice yellow / gold, the blue and red berries are no longer so bright.  It looks really good, I will post more photos once I've rubbed out the surface with wax.

I'm unhappy with a line or two, but will leave it that way as a reminder to roll the brush when turning corners. This is to store my socks in my bedroom (old houses are awesome but the bedroom storage space is abysmal) so I will look at it every day.  Even with a couple of crummy lines, I'm still ecstatic.  This is my first ever attempt at painting this way...

Meanwhile, my next small chest is well under way... This one is the same basic build as the above chest, but is on bracket feet. This makes this chest a little later in style, more of a transitional piece between William and Mary and Queen Anne.

Check out the massive pile of pine shavings. That trash can is also full

This shot shows the glue block / actual leg. Brackets haven't yet been cut

Center joint, nice and tight thanks to my new 3/8" dado plane from Josh Clark.

It actually sits on glue blocks, which extend roughly 1/8" below the bracket feet. In these photos, the brackets haven't been cut out yet, but they have been now.  New photos will be taken as soon as the clamps come off.

This one will have the same pulls as the painted chest, but will just be painted brown. I am contemplating a "graining" effect, simulating walnut, but I haven't yet decided.  If I do that, I may just want to keep it instead of put it up for sale...

Zach

Another Taunton Chest... sort of.

I've been busy painting (and re-painting) various sections of the vining of my Taunton Chest.  It's been slow going but I think it's going to look really good when I'm done.  No pics in progress, but will have some soon.

Now, on to the next project. I was going to start on this small hanging cabinet next, but I've yet to hear if the magazine has accepted my article proposal on it.  Having to stop and take magazine quality photos changes my work patterns, so I won't begin this one until I know for sure if they want it or not.

I'm itching to build this little baby.

So, despite having a chicken coop to rebuild, a shop addition to plan, various home maintenance projects and a MWTCA meet to run, I decided this weekend that I needed to build something else.  So, I took the story sticks for my Taunton chest and built another case of the same form.  Five drawers, increasing in height as you go down the piece. A really quick job in white pine.

I had intended to paint this one brown, no vining, just a less expensive version to sell to a customer.  But, I saw this picture and changed my focus just a bit...

Should be great fun!

This piece is roughly the same construction as the piece that is currently on my bench.  However, this one is veneered in walnut with some stringing, bracket feet and cock-beading around the drawers.  A nice change of pace from the normal Taunton style.

I will have to pick up some walnut veneer, but I think this will be a beautiful style to copy. It isn't quite William and Mary, it isn't quite Queen Anne. It's a nice transitional piece, even if it is English! I really like the hardware on this one, but I already have the H-24 pulls from Horton Brasses, so that is what will be used. 

Or maybe I should just finish the chest as I intended it and build another with the intent to veneer it.  That might be a better idea. I can sell the painted version to fund the hardware purchase for the veneered version. 

Taunton Chest Part 2

Here is what I accomplished last night. This is as far as I will go before taking it down the LN show this weekend. I laid out the striping, berries and bird freehand with a soft pencil, working from the picture of the original. I threw in a couple of personalized areas so it's not exact, but it is very darn close and to the casual eye it is dead on. There are a couple of lines I'm not 100% happy with yet, so I will redo those before painting.

Overall... ignore the tape and the quill!

The striping will be done in white, leaves in green. The bird is blue, gold and red. Some of the berries will be red, others will be blue. The little dots around the escutcheons will be gold, as will the diamonds on the bottom drawer.

Need to rework the line, but love the initials!

Over all the striping and milk paint will be a dark shellac finish. This will take the brightness of the fresh striping down as well as make the box appear browner / aged but with the nice red undertone. Should be a stunner when completed!

Need to smooth the base of the lowest heart  

Speaking of the Lie-Nielsen tool show, I'll be demonstrating how to make sash by hand both days. I'm scheduled for 5pm on Friday afternoon and 12pm on Saturday. Come on down to Cincinnati and learn how to do a sash door for your next project without firing up a screaming demon!

I like the bird! Looks like the Liverpool FC Liver Bird!

Taunton Chest

The original

I've been busy with the construction of a copy of a particularly nice little chest made by Robert Crossman in 1727 (it is signed and dated!). The original is currently a dark red-brown with extremely intricate vine and bird painting.   The original sold at a Christies auction for $3 million.  Not bad for a pine piece that is only 22 inches square.... I'll take 1/100th of that for mine!

My version is currently a custom-mixed dark brown / red milk paint.  The case is made entirely of white pine, per the original.  The drawer fronts and feet are also white pine.

The cornice and waist moldings were made with dedicated molding planes, but the moldings around the drawers were done with a #6 hollow plane. Lots of fun!

A lumpy, not perfectly round foot. In other words, perfection.

Turning pine on a spring pole lathe is a challenge, but I made it work thanks to a burnishing tip you will see in the Tricks of the Trade section of Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I turned all four feet from one 13" long cylinder of white pine, then cut them apart. This ensured that the feet at least have a passing similarity with each other. This is exactly what I wanted, as imperfect turnings are par for the course on W&M pieces.

I've started to distress the finish (read scratch through the paint in certain areas and round over the sharp corners) but the detailed painting will wait until after I get back from the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks show.  Over the whole thing will go a couple of coats of dark shellac to grunge it up, as per my normal modus operandi.. Once that is done I will have another update!