A sitting bench a long time in the making

[jlimey]

Hi all,

I finally finished a bench that has been a couple of years from conception. The NC Woodworking Showcase gave me the incentive to finally put a finish on the piece. I have included few photos.

The bench is of mottled makore and wenge. I had created a mock-up from cardboard to elicit comments before cutting this expensive board. The fear of cutting the board and not doing it justice took a few months to overcome!

The joints were cut by hand except for the mortises (router and mortiser). The parts were dimensioned by wide belt sander, jointer, and table saw. I had hoped to surface everything by hand, but I couldn't quite get the surface that I wanted. Not exactly tear out, but a little fuzz on the convoluted figure over a very small percentage of the surface. Weird wood to work in some ways. So sandpaper it was! Finish is General Finishes Seal-a-Cell and 5 coats of Arm-R-Seal. That will become 6 as I didn't like the finish in the raking light at the showcase. Note to self: get better lighting in the shop.

Tools used:

Marking gauges
dovetail template
dovetail saw
carcase saw for tenons
shoulder plane
marking knife
chisels
chamfer plane
block plane
cigar spokeshave
low angle spokeshave
low angle jointer plane
smoothing plane

The bright white between the wedge columns is just paper to show the detail for the pic.

Thanks for looking!

​

 

[redknife]

Wow. Really nice. I like the wood; the dovetails look perfect; I like the wedge detail. I've been there as far as the hand surfacing (probably too much for me and yours was more likely a difficult wood than technique/sharpening).
One of the most under-rated woodworking expenditures is for light.
great job.
where did you source the makore and what can you tell us about working with the wood?

 

[jlimey]

Thanks. All dovetails look great from 30,000 feet! I did photograph the better side - amazing how much better you get just with another set of practice (at least for me).

I bought the wood at the Woodcraft store in Raleigh. They had 2 boards - I wish that I had the other now.
The oddest thing abut working this piece was that the mottled figure led to some parts being softer than the neighboring section with a different grain direction. This actually caused me the most trouble on the dovetails. I was originally going to use a batten to guide the chisel and avoid passing the baseline. I changed my mind and went for it. The first few taps with the chisel must have been in the harder wood. They went well. The same tap was too hard for the softer area and I went back a hair (even with creating a shoulder at the baseline first). The other thing to note that though the wood does dull tools quickly (high silica content apparently), it dents fairly easily. A problem when the pieces are roaming the shop for a year!

 

[Hmerkle]

So Jeff,
The real question here is: did you win something at the Showcase?
You certainly should have!
Absolutely beautiful work!

 

[jlimey]

Hank,

Thanks for the compliment.

I was fortunate enough to take 3rd place in the Open Division!

 

[Hmerkle]

Hank,

Thanks for the compliment.

I was fortunate enough to take 3rd place in the Open Division!

WELL!
I really need to see #1 and #2 because they must be something out of this world!
Your bench and dovetail execution is incredible!

 

[farmerbw]

Hank, Robert's(rcarmac) tank won 1st and Phil's (PhilS) ultralight canoe won 2nd in the Open Division.

B.

 

[Hmerkle]

Hank, Robert's(rcarmac) tank won 1st and Phil's (PhilS) ultralight canoe won 2nd in the Open Division.

B.

OK so the tank is pretty cool (lots of time effort and pieces!)
But your bench is WAY cooler than a dacron covered skeleton! :rotflm:

I should have been there to vote!!!!

 

[JohnnyR]

Correction, the tank and canoe won in the open miscellaneous division. Jeff's bench won the blue ribbon in the chair/bench division and was 3rd overall in all the open categories - i.e. best of show, amateur. A mandolin and segmented turning were 1st & 2nd.

I was one of the judges and all these entries were outstanding. I've seen a lot of great work on these pages and am puzzled why more people don't enter this showcase. Congrats to Jeff for a great piece of work.