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.
(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.
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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.
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.
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Things of beauty. Strips of wood bent to form a ribbon!!
These are literary zebra legs both in pattern and shape.
That really looks nice. As you said I wonder how people came up with some of those designs!
ReplyDeleteThanks more coming up some of my favorite ones are coming up in a day or two. I visited your blog. I really liked your take on how to get tools sanctioned. I remembered my real wood working journey started with the idea of making a bed. Talking a intense dislike to soft spring mattresses and after tolerating them for a few years I set out to find my own solution. Those days platform beds were not available in US and even those that available were too low to my taste. Not having the habit to adjusting to what is given I was determined to get what I wanted without spending a few thousand dollars that a custom furniture maker would charge. So the my first major purchase was a table saw!!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your cart for children for those who haven't tried their hand at wood working this is quite a complex work that you have undertaken. After a year of owning tools and making some stuff I finally built my shop table. In hind sight it should have been the first thing I ever built or brought!!
I hope you don't mind my adding your link on my blog.
Not at all, actually I have also linked yours.
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting up a collection of fabulous photographs. I liked the boxes made of contrasting wood the best. In the US there is wide variety of wood to choose from while in India the choice is very limited. Sadly, locally sourced wood is scarce and expensive. The best is CP teak ( and it has terrific grain); the other kinds of wood available include Maranti, Chaamp, Ivory Coast teak, Saal and so on. Local varieties like Mango, Sheesham and Baboul are increasingly difficult to find. I find it hard to get contrasting wood - veen Walnut is extremely rare and some lumber yards offer an imported variety which isn't that great.
ReplyDeleteYes availability of lumber is quite plentiful. US gets lots of African species and species from central and south America. Walnut and Walnut burl, Maple(Special verities s like curly, tiger, birds eye) and Quarter Sawn White or Rift Sawn White oak are local variety's of lumber which are available in good quantity and have good and distinctive grain pattern. Stuff from Africa should have similar costs in India I think it is a question of volume. Indian govt should completely reduce duties on Lumber so that we preserve our almost denuded forests.
DeleteI had been to Mudumalai and Bandipur forests on the border of Karnataka and Tamilnadu south of Mysore last year. It was a sad sight. You could see through the forest almost a quarter kilometer. This is a sign of extreme thinning of the forests. The trees did not seem very healthy even though it was just a couple of months after a decent monsoon. I think the elephant population has dramatically and is putting severe pressure on the jungle. A couple of months after my visit last year there was a massive bamboo bloom. This happens once in 30-40 years bamboo blooms and dies enmasse. Bamboo forms majority of the elephant diet. I don't know what condition the forests are now as it will take 3-4 years for bamboo to recover.
I did see some Ugnadan wood on a lumber yards website in Bangalore. American hardwood council has been heavily trying to make inroads into the Indian market for the last couple of years. I don't know how much success they have had.
I haven't heard of CP Teak I would love to see it. I have some friends who used to have Beedi leaf collection business in the Jungles of Northern Andhra, Southern Maharastra and what is now Chattisgarh. Occasionally they used to do some Teak business. Im handy with a Chain Saw and have had the experience of taking down more than hundred trees Im almost tempted to get one and attach a Chain Saw lumber cutting attachment!! It might be difficult to get legal permits to cut own lumber though. I remember it used to be quite a hassle for my friends to cut, process and transport as there are many checks by authorities because of rampant timber smuggling.
Now a days a new type of wood is come to the US market. It is called Lyptus. It is a cross bred version of Eucalyptus. This is a fast growing tree and has properties of teak though not so hard and is sustianalby grown. It comes from Brazil and Argentina. I have used it once it is cheap and surprisingly good wood.