Furniture that will stop you in your tracks

Continuing with the Texas furniture Makers show from the previous post. These photos do not do justice to the stunning beauty of these pieces of furniture. I noticed that the pieces which I was really drawn to did not come out good in the photographs. Even framing and angle of he photos is all wrong. I guess that I was so taken in by the product that photographing was secondary.

This pair of side tables are made of Quilted Burl of American Sweet Birch and American Black Walnut. The tables seemed to shimmer as if they were a large piece of jewelry.  I did not quite capture the sheen properly in all the photos in this post. Show pieces are also available for sale.

This one pair will set one back by $15000. Beauty costs money!!! 

Burl is the big bulbous deformed growth you see on trees usually due to infection or other causes. It is extremely rare. Sweet Birch is also called as Black Birch or Cherry Birch. This tree is source of 'oil of wintergreen' a sweet woody oil used by Native Americans to for sore throats, joint pains etc. It is used now a days in chewing gums and mouth wash products. It contains  methyl salicylate ie Asprin!! So it is possible that these bed side tables will banish headaches in the bed room!!

Apart from the amazing inlay work this table has a impressive presence in terms of size and heft. The photo has been unable to capture the scale of this table.

The table thickness is more than 2 inches.  Also if you notice carefully this is not just an inlay on  curved table top. The three main wood species that form the top are not inlay they are wood cut to  have complex curves. sawing them and gluing them together with those curves would be a very challenging task. 

A nice enough chair one would say whats so special about it?  The artistry lies in the use of steam bending of wood. The bent cherry wood (it is not carved) is used through out the chair in the arms and legs in the back supports and even in the slats at the bottom of the seat. The form is so fluid and light yet it is quite strong.

As you see both the pics follow the left leg  and its surface as it progress and bends to become an arm and then twists and bends and then turns over facing the ground  to from the back support, as it progress towards the right side it then flips over so that the surface is back on the top again.
In the pic below watch as the back leg spits into two and one portion joins the arm in a fluid motion the other portion twists bends and flips over to join the wood going to form the back. All this happening where that piece of wood is forming a back flip.

Another pic above of same design in Maple by the same furniture maker. I had downloaded this from the web but don't remember its link. I am including this here just to give more clarity to the  steam bent curves in this chair.

 This table was stunning though nothing much to it in terms of workmanship as exhibits go.

 

As you can see in this slightly out of focus pic the large book matched slab of pecan framed by a darker wood(cherry??) it has a very organic feel to it. If could afford it I would have had it in my dining room.  I will be on the look out for such a large slab of wood when I move to India.

 This coffee table is called suspension table. I uses wood, metal and leather. The base is made like a truck suspension, Two curves in the base are made of metal  the lower one has shaped wood between metal curves. the two suspensions are connected with leather straps.

A slight lip on the bread board ends give a special touch to the top.

This Inlay table was one of my favorites. Some of its design elements are going to make their way in some of my future work. It has a very pleasing proportions, the design  is elegant and restrained. It won the Judges special award and was also featured in the Fine WoodWorking Magazine a couple of months back.

 It is a very beautiful table hats of to the design effort of the maker.

This mixed media room divider was the only entry by an apprentice woodworker. It has ruffled cloth at the bottom and printed cloth at the top. Asian inspired with fine attention to detail.

Thin slats of wood make the up the middle part of the panel.

This concludes the posts related to Texas Furniture Makers show. I'm working on some ideas as to the direction the blog should take especially as it is targeted towards an audience in India. Hobbyist depend on each other to learn and support each other, relevance to their immediate needs would be important. I welcome any ideas. I see some good work being done by a couple of fellow bloggers I hope to add to that number. I'm sure more visibility will help discover more people who are involved in this hobby in India.

Furniture makers show

I had been planning to visit the Texas Furniture Makers show in Kerrville Texas held at the Kerrville Arts & Cultural Center. Kerrville is a small town about 250 miles west of  Houston Texas just about an hours drive from San Antonio and Austin. It is a little town that tries to remain relevant by attracting tourists. Situated in the Hill Country area of Texas. It has chosen arts and crafts as its theme to attract people.

 http://www.kacckerrville.com/

http://www.texasfurnituremakersshow.com/

(more pics of can be found in their website and you can also download a pdf file listing the various winners and their pics)

 Once I went through the pictures I realized that I have far too many. Even after selecting only some of the interesting ones there were too many, so I have decided to break them up in two or three posts. I guess the woodworker cant ever have enough wood to drool at so I'm hoping it is not an overload on the visitor.

I had been planning to visit this annual event for almost 5 years,  With kids being born and trips to India happening it wasn't until last year that  I finally got opportunity to visit. I didn't have the heart to leave the family back while I took what was a full day trip. Though two little kids are not exactly conductive to browsing in a museum added to a day trip. I took it all in my stride. 

Even though I had taken my DSLR camera after reaching there with hungry, sleepy and cranky kids I figured I have to make do with my phone camera. I was there for just over an hour. The thoughtful people at the exhibition had a few exhibits for kids to interact and get entertained. 

I will try to recall as best as possible the woods used in these pieces if I have made an error please let me know. I will write a few lines of relevant info with each picture.  It some times helps to know the context of the picture. If it is too much for you go ahead skip the text and enjoy the pics.

A nice chest drawers some of the brass corner hardware used here is quite expensive. The hand made(look only usually it is manufactured in china) corner braces and straps are still made and used in India. I have a couple of metal trunks which sport such stuff.

This cupboard is interesting. This effect is not as complex at it looks. For the door panels two different colored species of wood are laminated and a circle jig on a router is used to cut the various grooves on the surface the opposite side has a different color and pattern giving the cross hatched curves. With that basic method the craftsman has used it to make panels which have some sort of similar design note that the width of the curves is different in each panel. It must have taken quite a bit of effort in fine tuning design. I will link up some pics showing the techniques here in later on.

 I really loved the way the pebbles look like the bed of a stream. Notice the legs again using natural edges of wood.

I like this table above usually tables with natural edges use very thick tops this one has a very sleek and strong look because of its thin top. Usually as natural edge wood is not kiln dried and often is used much earlier in its drying process I guess people prefer to use thicker size apart from aesthetic 

requirements.

The wood used here is Tiger Maple. The legs are made of Birds Eye Maple.

 Shall we say United Colors of Benetton?? I will attempt to list some of the species. I may be wrong on some of them. From left corner, the rich purple is Paduk, next one looks like Walnut Burl I'm not sure. the light colored with eyes  is Birds Eye Maple, I'm only guessing the striped one it could be Honduran Mahogany, the last on the right and fourth from right appears to be Yellow Pine(Yellow Pine unlike other regular Pine though classified as a softwood is quite hard).

As we can see that almost all the finishes show off the grain of the wood. It takes an careful practice to bring out the beauty in the wood. We in India have a tendency to always cover up the wood grain. I hope that this small set of pictures will convince some brave souls in India to attempt to use wood grain and color to advantage instead of turning everything into an opaque same color. Some wood species like Ebony, Wenge and some varieties of Teak do not show much wood grain as they are dark and nothing stands out but even there something can be attempted as even within the same species there is enough variation that some are slightly less colored and have more pronounced grain pattern. I admit I haven't been able to take a liking to Red Oak which is the most popular and cheapest hardwood available here.

Normally one would not think of putting a grove in the middle of the table. Though this table looks simple enough the design is key. I would never come up with a design like this. It is the eye and imagination of the craftsman which elevates this table to an object of admiration. Not clearly seen in this pic is the apron which again is not a single piece but consists of two rails.

A bench is elevated to art form.  Such benches remind me of Indian sensibility in furniture. It Texas and Mexico you will find simple high seated benches meant for indoor furniture. The seat is made of Jaotba and the light colored wood in the back is Ambrosia. The dragon fly is made of some sea shell. Finish is Polyurethane rubbed down to satin finish.

Polyurethane finish will give you a glossy finish, satin finish polyurethane consists of glossy polyurethane with fine physical additives which deflect light giving satin  look. Instead of using Satin  Polyurethane rubbing down a glossy polyurethane finish retains some clarity, allows grain to show through better while achieving a satin look

I absolutely loved this set of boxes. Mostly because I thought I could make something similar. At last something within my capabilities on display. It had enough elements of design, wood selection and complexity and I liked the prospect of not wasting hundreds of dollars on large quantities of expensive wood. The drawer front is made of Pecan.

Pecan grows locally in Texas. Pecan and Mesquite are the only two hard woods native to Texas and Mexico (Tamrind also grows in Mexico I haven't heard it being used for woodworking). Pecan is like a walnut tree, grows naturally here. Its fruit is also similar to walnut with similar taste and texture.

I had a large tree growing in front of my apartment when  I was moving out of the place I noticed that the movers would keep on collecting the hundreds of dry nuts and cracking them open. Irritated that they were taking constant breaks I asked them what is it that they were eating. They replied Pecan!! I never felt so stupid. For a whole year I used to curse the tree for dropping hundreds and hundreds of nuts on the path to my apartment!! Now while moving out I discovered that they were Pecans!! No one else in the apartment ever picked the pecans. I have neighbors who have pomegranate trees and never pluck the fruit!!

Mesquite is considered as firewood by most woodworkers in US. So proud are Texans of whatever that grows here they have managed to turn it into an badge of honor for Texan woodworkers. Both woods are very hard and difficult to machine and are also brittle. Mesquite more so. I suppose the Indian equivalent will be the poor despised Aam Ki Lakdi (Mango wood, though any wood considered bad for woodworking is labeled the as Aam)in India used for firewood or packing materials. I managed to force my carpenter to use it to build the sofa frame for my upholstered sofa. Every one predicted that the sofa would fall apart in a few months. after nearly 12 years it is still going strong. I get a laugh out of it because all the wood for my sofa and two sofa chairs cost me Rs150 saving me thousands!!

The top consists of Walnut and Maple.
 I

Things of beauty. Strips of wood bent to form a ribbon!!

These are literary zebra legs both in pattern and shape.

What does one start with

It is difficult to decide where to start. I guess a couple of photos of my garage workshop and on going projects and tools would be as good a place to start as any.

Recent side table in African Mahogany awaiting finishing.

A bed I made for my relative  using pine construction lumber (2X4) Birch plywood in the platform and Red Oak plywood in the headboard finished with a coat of wood conditioner and wax as topcoat. Regular nut bolts(6" long 5/16" dia) hold the bed together the wood used in the bed cost less than $30, plywood on the other hand needed almost one sheet(except the Red Oak plywood head board which was a scrap from another project) that cost another $30 it is good quality birch plywood as i felt using cheaper plywood would not give me satisfaction!!!

 Rails being buffed with wax indoors. The finish was decided based on the weather, I made this in winter and it was too cold to apply any other finish and having to cure the finish indoors limited what could use. Though I applied the finish outdoors and let it sit for a couple of hours I bought things inside as wax needs heat to be buffed. Even then it does give out some smell because of presence of volatile compounds in the commercially available wax. It needs to be at least 18-20 degrees Centigrade to apply wax. It was nearly 4-5 degree Centigrade those days.

 This is the first time I used any kind of finish on my projects. I had never got to mastering it so I left my projects unfinished as most were utilitarian. Wax with wood-conditioner (Kind of industrial version of shellac) gave me a pleasing finish I sanded the wood down to 320grit.

I had made tall shelves 6 feet in height about 2 feet deep thinking they will be useful in storing more stuff. That was a failure as storing small stuff in deep shelves is difficult and wastes lot of space. Things pile on top of each other and it is difficult to use. After a couple of years of tolerating the situation I have re-purposed the plywood of one shelf to make a cabinet to store my off cuts from various projects. Made this last week and believe me the stuff that you see stored in this shelf seemed ten times more when I was lying around in heaps and in corrugated boxes.

After 6 years of working on my own I decided to join a woodworking course in the community college. I had two aims one was to learn how to select lumber as an lumber yard seemed intimidating and they obviously could not teach you how to select wood. The other reason was to take their advanced woodworking course which was taught by a well awarded local craftsman. I was required to take both the beginning and intermediate course as a prerequisite to take up the advanced course. I ended up also taking up cabinet making course though I knew generally how to make cabinets. I am glad I did as the guy who teaches taught me plenty of stuff which the other two classes did not teach. It shows the importance of a teacher. Even though he was teaching a trade as opposed to a craft. Which meant focus on efficiency and speed and saving money and time. All the same he taught me more about wood working than the teacher who took the intermediate class. It goes to show that a good teacher matters a lot. I may not be able to take the advanced course after all as the guy who takes it has only one class in the year and I may move to India before that.

 This photo is of my bench made this in the college. At the last minute I decided that I preferred to keep the slats closer together for aesthetic reasons and wanted to start the back rest a bit more from the top than was in the original plan so I ended up two slats less. I still have to make those two and finish the bench. It has been giving good use even then for the last few months. I used pressure treated pine 2x4's for this bench. The blue tape you see is holding down a plastic sheet. I used it when I was spray painting the shelves I made for my sons room last year(another unfinished project... more on that later...)

 I made the table on the right as part of my basic course. It is made in African Mahogany. I believe Honduran Mahogany is the real Mahogany. Of late similar species are used, they have slightly different characteristics. Mahogany tends to turn a deep reddish brown on its own if it left unfinished. Even after finishing it eventually changes color though the process is slightly slower. It was a good learning experience for me to go to a lumber yard and actually make the selection and end up with enough wood and sufficient quantity. I had been buying finished lumber from Home Depot till then but was limited to Red Oak & Pine all surface finished on all four sides and available only in 3/4" thickness.

The table (Hallway table with drawers) on the left is part of my intermediate course that just got over.Table top, apron and drawers (not shown here) are made in Poplar. The legs made in left over African Mahogany. Poplar is priced about a third of the cost thus the choice. I did not want to use more expensive wood on learning projects. I had planned to move to India around then and I was not yet planning to take my household stuff in a container. So I decided to use a cheaper wood as I would have to just give it away at the time of moving. The thought of parting with my tools prompted me to think on the lines of starting a woodworking business in India!!!

I have most of the essential  machine tools that I need except a band saw. Only access to them is difficult as space is constricted as the garage is also used to store other stuff and till last year also accommodated one car when it snows or hails.

The Frame & Panel door shown above used here in the kitchen cabinet. I hope that a cabinet making business will  be financially viable in India. A change of profession is something difficult but let us see how it goes I will give it about couple of years to see if it makes sense. I did ask a few friends who are in the construction industry about the business scope. They  seemed to be positive. There are many variables though.  I thought that very few people are offering custom made wood cabinets  in India so that may be my niche. Though on costs etc the manufactured plastic/laminate board or imported stuff forms the majority of the market. So far I haven't come across anyone doing the kind of work I intend to do. Though I visit India almost every year I am not fully in touch with the trends. Problem is I don't have any friends in the woodworking business. May be some of you who have some idea of the trends and the knowledge of woodworking will help me with some info.

Most of my small tools are stored here. I made this shelf a couple of years back I cannot describe how much of a difference it made to be able to find my tool ready to go and to have place to store it back immediately after use. I found that I tend to spend upwards of 50% of my time in the shop searching for tools or going to retrieve them and store them and in setting up the tools for use as even the stationary ones don't have permanent place. It is a big problem. It will be quite some time till I have a well organised workshop!!  The Ridgid table saw is quite economical  sold through Home Depot it is incredible value for money and is quite precise and powerful  enough for most needs. The only problem I faced was that the blade arbor which holds the blade is not long enough. Thus it does not accommodate the 'Dial a Width Dado' blade . I discovered this a few years later after I purchased it. Still at $499 it is incredible value for money.  The closest competitor comes in at $700 and is not as good and is missing a few features.

Now I spent an hour  collecting the photos and discovered that they are quite messy and not of good quality and even an attempt to take pics of my workshop was a disaster as there is too much clutter and mess around. So I have decided to post a few pics of  each and a few of my projects(as yet incomplete :)). In the coming days I will try to make sense of the stuff I need to put up and the direction of the blog. So in the meanwhile just to get started here we go....

I also realized that I have got to stop using the phone camera!!

After some thought instead of posting anymore photos of my projects or shop I will post photos that I took of a furniture makers exhibition a few months back.  That will give me time to organize some of the information before I make anymore posts.