The Editor's Mailbox

Studio Furniture of the Renwick Gallery

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:50:47 GMT

Studio Furniture of the Renwick Gallery by Oscar P. Fitzgerald
Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Fox Chapel Publishing, 2008.
$35.00; 224 pp.
Buy this Book

The best thing about museum collections is that the pieces are all actually there, to be experienced in person. That’s also the problem with collections: that the pieces must actually be there. So any collection that purports to be representative of a major movement ends up hamstrung by logistical realities. I’m guessing here, but the seminal piece or piece must not be available in many cases.

In this beautiful, wide-format soft cover, Oscar Fitzgerald does an admirable job of describing each maker’s importance to the movement, but the book is only as good as the collection itself, and time and again, I found a maker’s signature pieces missing. Garry Knox Bennett, John Dunnigan, Wharton Esherick, Michael Hurwitz, Kristina Madsen, Jere Osgood, the names are right but the pieces weren’t.

The curators had better luck with some than others. Wendell Castle and Sam Maloof got full justice. And I was exposed to wonderful pieces and makers I had never seen before. On the other hand, recent artists were included whose work is, frankly, mediocre. I saw a blasé version of a Windsor chair, a bad knockoff of a Maloof rocker, and a mediocre children’s chair by someone who was briefly a student and apprentice and then left the field. And some true heavyweights were left out: David Lamb and Terry Moore, with their unmistakably contemporary but always sure handed takes on period furniture; Brian Newell and Michael Puryear, who do the same thing with Asian and African motifs, respectively. Check past back covers of Fine Woodworking for others.

I came away thinking that the way to do a definitive book on the studio furniture movement is not to base it on one exhibit, even one at the nation’s greatest museum. Why be at the mercy of a curator’s whimsy and the realities of collection when all you need are photos of the pieces, not the pieces themselves? I’ll forward that thought to our books department here at the Taunton Press. Maybe they’ll take up the mantle.

I Built My Credenza of Straw

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:51:28 GMT

Posted by: David Heim

A prominent part of Furniture08, the Furniture Society’s annual meeting, is a gallery of members’ work. The room contains more than a dozen cabinets, tables, and chairs, as well as some pieces that are hard to categorize.

But arguably the most striking piece in the gallery is a credenza by Peter Tischler. He has used straw to create a remarkable fan pattern on this Art Deco-inspired piece.

Multiple materials. The marquetry squares on this credenza are made of straw.

I’d just finished looking over Tischler’s piece when Will Neptune, a master furniture-maker well known for his period reproductions, walked in. He immediately began raving about the piece. “Did you see that?!” he asked, eyebrows arching skyward. Clearly awed by the credenza, he went on to praise the workmanship and the iridescent quality of the marquetry. He told me that the straw is specially grown in France just for marquetry, and that it contains silica, which helps impart the radiance.

Tischler’s piece is in good company. Here’s a sampling of the other pieces on display:

Joinery tour de force. This cabinet by Andrew Pitts exposes all the on the drawers.

Jack and Jill. One of the wittiest pieces on display, this pair by Jack Dodds probably belongs to the Expressionist style.

The Wright Stuff. Reid Anderson’s chair takes its inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School chairs.

Multilayer. Steven Ogle’s narrow table features this diamond-shaped, multilayered inset in the top.

-David Heim is the managing editor of FineWoodworking.com.

Project Complete for Xmas… in January

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:48:24 GMT

Posted by: Kelly J. Dunton

A lot of readers out there are probably like me. I work a full-time job, so furniture making is always a secondary endeavor. But the holidays are generally time to clear room in my schedule to build something.

Last year, I had every intention of finishing this small Shaker table with the possibility of giving it as a gift, even though it started as something for myself. Unfortunately, the project took a bit longer than I had planned. Isn’t that always the case?

I started the project because I really needed to build something to keep my sanity in check. Office work kept me very busy in the fall. Besides, I was anxious to test out Fine Woodworking’s new Powermatic lathe and a colleague had shown me a new book, Pleasant Hill Shaker Furniture, by Kerry Pierce, which really sparked my interest.

I based my design on a small table in the book with turned legs. I had just the spot for such a table near the entrance into my apartment.

I needed a challenge. Don’t we all? I was determined to offset-turn the legs. My design involved a greater taper on the inside of each leg and a straighter appearance on the outside. The top of the taper, just below where the aprons are located, had to be straight.

Of course I had never done this before, but that’s why I wanted to try it. A couple of experiments in poplar yielded some ugly results. The top of the taper didn’t come out straight. Back to the drawing board. My drawing was fine, but the approach and setup at the lathe were all wrong.

The difficulty was determining the center points on the leg blank. A formula that a colleague gave me to calculate the offset was too complicated and heavy on the math. I needed something I could visualize.

Being a visual person, I drew the leg in Adobe Illustrator. Knowing where the taper started helped me figure out my transition point or center point: the spot on the lathe where the turning would run straight. I also knew the center point for the foot. So I drew a straight line through these two points and extended it through the top of the leg. (I did this using the rotate tool, for any other designers out there). This created the red dotted line in my diagram.

Click here to see a larger, PDF version of the drawing.

Measuring the distance between the new line and the centerline of the blank gave me the offset point at the top of the leg. Since the drawing was to scale, the program easily helped me find the exact distance in inches: 0.0802 in. Fun!

A close-up from the full leg drawing above.

Then I tried another practice leg, and bingo: Right on the money, the taper stayed straight and the offset was what I had planned.

I had some soft maple in my stash and went to work. I cut the mortises in the legs first and then went off to the lathe for several hours of turning.

The rest of the construction process went along quite well. The drawer was a bit tricky because I had only a single piece of bird’s-eye maple that was just the right size--no room for error with the hand-cut dovetails.

By the time it was ready to finish the piece, I was in a hurry. I combined clear shellac and honey amber TransTint dye to deepen, or antique, the color a little. Then I did a quick rub with some Minwax colonial maple stain for an even deeper antique aura, followed with a couple more coats of shellac. The top got a couple coats of Minwax Antique Oil Finish for protection. A rub with steel wool gave the piece an even sheen. Then some mahogany-colored wax by Trewax brought the piece all together.

Finally finished? Rats! Needed drawer pulls. I found some small ebony scraps and I was back at the lathe. OK! I turned several practice pulls before I got them right. Now it’s done… Only 37 days late! Well better late than not at all. Now the real question: Shall I keep it or give it away? Christmas is over. I’ll have to take it home and see if the table fits that perfect spot.

-Kelly J. Dunton is an associate art director for Fine Woodworking magazine.

A Project Completed, Finally

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:31:12 GMT

Posted by: Tom McKenna

Like many folks with young children and busy jobs, it’s tough to find time for my beloved hobbies. As a result, my thirst for wood dust often is quenched at lunchtime or in the mornings here in the Fine Woodworking shop. It’s great to have access to such a well-equipped workspace, but it’s hard to make real progress working in hourlong increments, which is why it took me months to complete this simple wall shelf.

The piece is destined to hold a small collection of photos and miscellaneous art objects. Overall, it’s 18-5/8 in. wide by 6 deep by 26 in. tall. I chose to make it of hard maple to match other pieces I’ve built for my living room.

The sides are dovetailed to the top and bottom. Being a bit rusty in my dovetailing, I made a bunch of mistakes. Fortunately, thanks to Phil Lowe (FWW #186, pp. 38-45), I was well-armed to handle the emergency triage, and so far no one else has noticed the errors (perhaps they are too polite to say).

The shelves are attached with sliding dovetails. It was the first time I had incorporated the joint into my work, but I found the process to be fairly simple. Next time, though, I’ll taper the joints to make assembly easier. Even with the small 6 in. width, the shelves were very difficult to slide home during the glue up, requiring some brutish persuasion with my deadblow mallet.

I chose to make the drawers asymmetrical, but I couldn’t decide on the proportions from a drawing. So I assembled the case and played with location of the drawer partition until I had an arrangement that appealed to my eye. I cut the perimeter of the dadoes for the partition using a handsaw and guide block, then I cleaned out the waste with a chisel. It was a time-consuming task, but I am happy with the appearance. Next time, however, I’ll try to figure out a better, more efficient way.

To hang the unit on a wall, I made a rabbeted cleat that mates with a groove at the back of the top. It’s plenty strong, but I’m not sure I like the arrangement and look. I guess I’ll make that judgment once the unit is hanging on my wall.

I finished the piece with a mixture of polyurethane and mineral spirits (a 1:3 ratio of finish to solvent), which allowed me to build the finish to a soft luster. The mixture wipes on quickly and dries fast, allowing me to apply two coats a day--a bonus for the time-challenged woodworker.

Overall I’m happy with the piece, but I think the pulls might be too large. I plan to find smaller versions or make my own (something I’ve never done). Even though I’m ecstatic that I finished the shelf, I realize that I shouldn’t get hung up on how long it took to make. In the end, what really matters is the smiles I receive when I bring a newly built piece home. It’s also a kick to see my kids exploring the joinery and drawers, and running their small fingers across the finished surfaces. Makes it all worthwhile.

Next on my list is a bookcase. I hope I can get it done before summer…

-Tom McKenna is associate editor for Fine Woodworking magazine.

Furniture news from the front

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:39:37 GMT

(Editor's Note: The following dispatch arrived in our e-mail inbox earlier this week. It's a testament to military resourcefulness, among many other things.)

Hello!

I am a UH-1N helicopter pilot, currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq. One of my most favorite things in my care packages from home is the latest issue of Fine Woodworking.

Being my Squadron's resident woodworker, I was asked to improve things around our spaces. Your latest issue (#192) included plans to make an Adirondack chair, so I decided to make one with the limited resources I had out here. Specifically, I used wooden shipping crates and 2x4s for materials. The tools I had were a jigsaw, circular saw, screw gun, router and bits, and a miter saw I was able to borrow from another resident unit. I found a chisel that was in poor shape but managed to get it tuned fairly well using the scary sharp method.

In a few days of free time I was done, and the chair has seen non-stop action since.

Attached is a picture of the chair I made, just so you can see how it turned out. I had to modify some things based on what I had to work with but I think it turned out well and will provide a comfortable chair for a good while. It's nothing close to the level of work in the magazine, but for me, it is "Iraq good."

Thanks for making such a great magazine.

All the best,

Ryan "Heywood" Fair, Captain
United States Marine Corps
Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369