How They Did It- For Roubo Bench

[Shamrock]

Hey Folks-
Found another way to prolong the completion of the Roubo Bench.:widea: I read about this technique on the back cover of Fine Woodworking a few months ago and figured the coffin vise would be a good place for a carved image-so here we go.

1st I made a LARGE photo copy of the image:

Then I transfered that image to the front of the vise:

Then I used a combo of hand carving tools and power carving tools to carve out the image:



Then I taped it all of to get ready to stain the carved portion:
(this green frog tape they sell at Big Orange is so much better than the blue 3M painters tape)

after the 1st coat of walnut stain:

and final after the 2nd coat of mahogany stain and with the tape off:


Sooo.. that's the last big design hurdle for the bench. I've got everything ready to install so it's just a matter of drilling some more holes-installing the vises and putting a coat or 2 of shellac on the whole thing. If everything goes right I should be able to finish this honker up in a few more days. :eusa_prayThanks for looking!

Oh-in case you wondered-all the vise faces and such are out of Ash as I didn't think the Southern Yellow Pine was hard enough for these applications-and that's what the Workbench book did.


:BangHead::BangHead::BangHead:clamps-clamps-why do I never have enough clamps

 

[CrealBilly]

When I was in my late teens / early 20's I worked at a place called furniture arts studio in Elgin IL as an apprentice under a guy named Ed who was the owner. When it came to wood and finishing Ed could do just about anything. We did a lot of antique repair which involved making replacement pieces and reproductions. It was from him I learned to carve. But as the old saying goes use it or loose it - I lost it.

There was no such thing as those little rotary tools back then nor was there green or blue tape - we would highlight our carvings with VanDyke Brown oil pigments dissolved in mason jars of mineral spirits. Using an artist brush to flood the area to be colored then sand the craving in spots to create a naturalized effect.

Ed was a Artist and a strange kind of guy. But he could take a sheet of chipboard, sanding sealer, earth tone pigments, mineral spirits, acetone, artist brushes, clear gloss lacuer and make a 4x8 sheet of chipboard look like a slab of marble or jade or whatever else you desired complete with cracks. We hung several sheets of chipboard marble in downtown Chicago elevators.

You remind me alot of Ed - not saying your stange although you might be, I never met you :gar-La; It's just the way you approch things, the same way Ed did. This is a great complement as I have a high level of respect for my old boss Ed.

 

[Shamrock]

Jeff-thanks very much for the compliment. I wish I could take more credit for my "creativity" up to this point, but I'm still in the learning stages of the craft. I see things and I just catalog them as ideas that I know I want to try. I find myself wondering home centers, wood yards, wood stores, bookstores, art galleries, furniture stores, etc. always looking for new ideas, or new ways to make something old new again. I'm not much of a carver, but after carving the seat on the rocker I knew I'd want to incorporate more of this into my work. This Fine Woodworking article just showed up at the right time.
Through your recent posts it certainly seems like you've been exposed to quite an awful lot of "artsy" experience, and I think that's really cool. Thanks again for the kind words.


Mike

 

[WoodWrangler]

That looks great, Mike and thanks for the "how to"!

 

[froglips]

Darned impressive results!

I think "you know who" would enjoy seeing that.

May the Schwarz be with you!

Jim