The Renaissance Woodworker

So what good are some pretty French feet without a case to sit upon them? I had already started the casework before the feet but took a detour from it to build the feet because my set up for the sliding dovetail that secures the center shelf was being fussy. Rather than obsess over it, I moved on to another facet of the build and let the dovetail problem simmer.

So here is my case, dry fit and clamped. Before starting the feet I had routed the sliding dovetail pin groove. With the case assembled I can now get an accurate measure of how long the shelf needs to be. Let’s talk about the process and then I can explain where I was having problems. My router table hangs off my table saw. I like this arrangement because I can use the table saw fence from time to time as a fence for the router. This works great for case work because you can set the fence far away from the bit to make grooves in the center of a side like in this case. My groove runs 14.5″ up from the bottom of the side so using the table saw fence makes this job easy. So first you need to run the dovetail grooves. Make sure you do NOT touch the bit height setting that that when you cut the tails you can ensure a good fit. Then you set up a sacrificial fence and bury the bit into it exposing only the tiniest piece of the bit. You then need to run your shelf board across the bit vertically so it helps if your fence is tall to provide extra support. I always take a piece of scrap and sneak up on the fit making minuscule adjustments until I have a sound fit. With sliding dovetails you want the fit a little looser or you will kill yourself trying to get them seated properly especially once the glue has swollen the joint.

So I started on my test piece sneaking up on the fit when I realized that my tail was about 1/8″ longer than the pin groove and I would have a gap at the shoulder.

I knew I had not touched the bit setting so something else must be wrong. My first thought was that the router table wasn’t flat and maybe the top had sagged. Using a straight edge and feeler gauges I determined that the top is flat to within .002 so that is not the problem. I double checked the bit height against my groove and then is when I realized that my case board was just the slightest bit bowed (curved along the length) and must have risen up as I made the cross cutting rout. The bow was so slight that I could flatten the board with very little downward pressure and the way the case is constructed would pull everything in line so I wasn’t worried about that. That slight variation however had essentially shortened the depth of the pin groove in a few places. I had to set up again for the cross cut and making sure of solid downward pressure was able to fix the depth of the groove in that one board. Of course the way a dovetail bit cuts means that that particular groove would be slightly wider on that edge. That is not a problem because it is the back edge of the case and I usually slightly taper my tails to ease the fit. In this case I had the opposite with an every so slightly flared groove. If you do have a board that isn’t exactly flat you can either make sure it is flat or route the groove using a hand held router that will track the curves like a shorter hand plane would.

So now it was back to cutting the tails on the shelf. Using a 12″ wide board makes for plenty of registration against the fence, but you must make sure that this board is flat or risk ending up with a similar problem that I had with the groove. So I double checked the flatness and ran the tails.

As I said above, I like to slightly taper my tails to ease the fit into the case so using a shoulder plane set for a very light cut, I trimmed a 128th or so off each side of the back half of the tails. I am aiming for a fit that I can press into place without a mallet but one that is very tight right at the front to seal up any gaps on that show face. Here you can see the back of the shelf as it enters the front of the case and the slight gap created by tapering the tail.

So I set the shelf a little more than halfway in to make sure I have a good fit that will still work once glue is has swollen the joint and I stop there. Working with a soft wood like Pine means that you don’t want to spend too much time dry fitting a joint like this or it won’t be so tight anymore. One great thing about this joint is that although it takes the highest precision to fit well, it really helps to correct a lot of errors in the base by pulling all the side together and flattening out any cup or bow and this is common with cheap home center pine like this. It will be flat one moment and potato chip the next. The other thing is that properly fit, you only need glue the very front edge and the rest of the joint will allow the case side to expand and contract while keeping the all important show face nice and flush.

By the way, here are the glue blocks in place on the inside of the feet as well. This will really strengthen that miter joint nicely.

Next I will take everything apart again and start cutting rabbets for the applied integral case beading. Time to put away the power tools and pull out the rabbet plane. Now I’m going to turn up the music, turn off the dust collector and galoot out for a bit.

I got to spend a lovely few minutes in the shop last night to finish up the shaping of the french feet for this Hepplewhite book case. When I last left off, I had just glued the mitered feet together but had yet to shape the outer compound curve. It is certainly possible to do this shaping before glue up, but I find that I can get a more consistent shape to saw it after the glue has dried. I do this at the bandsaw and you need a support block or jig to hold the bracket foot while sawing. These feet are pretty small so I grabbed a 2″ square block of scrap that was laying about and double stick taped the bracket to the block.

A few of these feet had some dried glue built up in the inside corner so I needed to clean that out so it would fit cleanly on the cutting guide. I need that to fit a glue block later anyway.

Now back to the bandsaw to begin the cutting. Like most compound forms, when you cut one face you remove the pattern marks on the opposing face and you must tape the fall off back on so you can follow the line.

With a mitered foot like this, you don’t need to worry about that and can use the grain and glue line to guide your second cut. Take a look at this picture and you can see what I mean.

The end grain stands out clearly from the face grain and makes a perfect pattern. Also notice how our extra time to orient the pattern with the grain has worked out. The grain lines flow perfectly with the curve of the foot.

So with the second face cut, it is time to shape and smooth them. I turned to a curved bottom spokeshave and a Japanese rasp for this work. The same cutting block that held the blank steady at the band saw is invaluable here as well.

It turns out I didn’t even use the rasp as the curve was gentle enough for the shave to do all the work. Once again that miter line we used as a guide to saw the second face is handy here to make sure you have a consistent curve on both faces. Continue to shape the face until you can no longer see the glue line. In the picture below you can see that I still have to take a little meat off the center of the curve.

Finally after the shaping is done I have 4 beautiful French Feet. I just need to add glue blocks to reinforce the miter and provide an attachment point to the bottom of the case.

Now that I have the grain aligned for the best strength it is time to begin cutting the feet to size and mitering them into the typical bracket foot. I need a 90 degree edge on this parallelogram so I clip off the back edge of the blank using the miter gauge at the table saw.
This cut is imperative because now I have the two joinery faces where the foot meets the case and the front trim, flat and square.

Now I’ll use my square to strike a line to define the front edge of the foot.

I want this front edge square for now and I will bandsaw the curve later after the glue up when I have a bracket foot. So it’s over to the table saw to cut the 45 degree miter.

Cut the bulk of the waste then creep up on the final fit

These cuts are best done by hacking off the bulk of the waste then trimming the last 1/16 or so with a light pass for a good glue surface. Or if you like, take the piece to your shooting board and clean it up there for a tight fit.

I’m about ready to glue these into bracket feet, but first I have to cut the inside profile of the foot because I won’t be able to get to it easily after the glue up.

Make sure to cut the inside profile before gluing

Now to glue them together. I bind the mitered edge with packing tape, slather on the glue, then clamp the assembly together with these great industrial strength rubber bands that I got from Rockler several years ago. They have become probably the most valuable clamp I have in the shop due to their flexibility (rim shot) with odd shapes.

Glued and Cooking

Next time I will cut the outer profile to complete the feet.

To my loyal podcast subscribers, as you can see I am getting into the shop but really no more than 20 minutes or so at a time so I have decided to blog this build rather than film it to prevent a long lag of no content at all. I hope you enjoy it and I will get the camera rolling again shortly.

I am adding a French foot to the Hepplewhite bookcase that will be placed in my wife’s voice studio. In my last post about this little piece I teased you all with the pattern for the front apron and foot and now I turn my sights to building the feet. The key to making these is ensuring that the grain follows the curve of the foot so you get nice long grain strength throughout. The problem is that the direction of that curve is nowhere near parallel to that of your average board. So I have to orient my pattern for that best grain relationship.

Set the pattern so that the grain follows the curve of the foot

I took my bevel gauge and set the angle needed to crosscut the individual feet blanks from the larger board.

Use a bevel gauge to match the angle

Then I used that bevel setting to position my miter gauge on the table saw.

Use the miter gauge to cut out French foot blanks

Finally I have a blank cut to the exact height of the foot but allows the grain to flow along with the curve. From here I am free to miter the 45 degree corner referencing off this fresh edge. The inside edge will be cut on the bandsaw.

Now the grain will add strength to the feet

I have always thought of myself as a pretty slow woodworker. I am constantly amazed by the time in which my fellows crank out furniture. I don’t attribute this to my penchant for hand tools either because I have seen some of my neanderthal colleagues tear through a project as well. I am not adverse to flipping a power switch to get through a task when drudgery sets in or a deadline looms. I can’t really say that my slower pace is dictated by an anally retentive, hyper diligent attention to detail because lately I have been adopting the construction methods of our forefathers by not surfacing the interiors of cases and sometimes cutting inside tenon shoulders purposely away from their mate so as not to interfere with the fit on the show face. These factors actually speed up my work. So what is my problem? Why am I so slow?

I think I figured it out. Go back up to the top of this page and read the header title by my spokeshave logo:

“The Renaissance Woodworker; So Many Projects…So Little Time, Welcome to Woodworking A-D-D”

I adopted this tag line more than 2 years ago when I started this blog because I was fascinated by all styles and methods of construction. I would like to think that my tastes have become more focused lately and there is no doubt that I have a special place in my heart for period styles of the 18th century. However, I still love Arts & Crafts, Asian, Mid Century Modern, Danish, etc, etc. I have gravitated to a hand tool approach but I still get as excited as the next guy by a roaring planer and precision table saw cut. This is my cross to bear: woodworking attention deficit disorder.

This is why I am so slow. Too many balls in the air and projects in the shop.

This rather lengthy prelude is a way of leading into the introduction of yet another project in my shop. Right now I have my Queen Anne Side Table sitting patiently off in a corner waiting for me to spray on some Shellac. I am building a checkerboard style banding to inlay into a Walnut 2 drawer hall table as well as preparing stringing for the drawer fronts. Once that is done I will apply Shellac at the same time at the side table. I have 2 Adirondack chairs built and awaiting finish that I salvaged from my picnic table that collapsed under the February snows and a patio table under construction from that same Redwood. On the lumber rack I have close to 100 board feet of Pennsylvania Cherry and curly Cherry acclimating for The Wood Whisperer Guild summer chest of drawers build. Related to that project I have milled up 3″ square blocks of Poplar to practice ball & claw foot carving and have 6 of those blanks laying about in various stages of completion. All of this within the confines of my 340 square foot shop.

So I think I should add another project to that don’t you? My wife has a need for a small book shelf for her voice studio at work. This is where she teaches her private voice lessons and rather than running back and forth to her office every time she needs a piece of music she wants a place to store them right in the small studio. It cannot be anymore than 34″ high so it can fit under a windowtherefore I am making it with 1:1 proportions. Knowing that I have many other projects underway, she insisted that it need not be complex but still be pretty. I know that the kids who filter through her studio are parented by some of the wealthy elite in Baltimore and those parents often make appearances. Also this book shelf will be clearly visible to all who pass by on the way to the main theater. In other words I am building something that will essentially be sitting in a gallery frequented by people who can afford custom furniture. This is a great opportunity to build something small and simple thus giving me a lot of opportunity to embellish it with some fine points and lines so as to impress the passersby.

I will go into more detail on this build in future posts but I’ll tease you now with the template I have formed for the bottom feet and lower apron trim.

French Foot and front apron will be trimmed with a 1/4\

This French foot sweeps nicely into the trim where the change in radius of the curve punctuates the transition and sweeps elegantly across the whole piece in an elliptical shape. This is derived from Hepplewhite’s design book and some of his chests of drawers therein. It will be fun to see it come together using some modern techniques, time saving measures, and cost saving lumber.

So, the upshot of all of this is I will do my best to keep the cameras rolling and will report to all of my fragrant and beautiful readers. However, I really think I need to move some of this stuff to the completed column or I won’t have any place to step in the shop. Stay tuned to this Bat channel for more on what I am calling my Hepplewhite Low Bookcase.

I cut one of these feet by hand while working at The Steppingstone Museum using a turning saw. I cut the other 3 by band saw using a 1/4″ skip tooth blade. One took 4 hours with visitor interruptions and burned a lot of calories in 95 degree heat. The other 3 took 15 minutes and came with musical accompaniment by The Grateful Dead in a cool shop with a Golden Retriever coaching me
.

Feet rough cut and ready to carve

A case could be made for each as to which is the best tool for the job. Without a deadline and a yearning to understand how it used to be done you could say the turning saw is the best tool for the job. If you are on the clock then the band saw method is definitely the best tool. Ultimately I think you need to figure out what you personally enjoy about your woodworking and decide from there. I enjoy working with old tools to see how they work but I’m not a big fan of drudgery. Cutting one of these feet was enough for me to get my fix and continuing to do so with the turning saw would have become tedious. What I am really looking forward to is the carving aspect of these feet and I am anxious to get there quickly so in this case I think the band saw was really the best tool for the job.

What’s my point? Woodworking is subjective and we each derive our joy from it in different ways. The best tool for the job is the tool that makes you smile the most. ’nuff said!

Now who can guess which foot was cut by hand?

The Wood Whisperer Guild is at is again and embarking on its summer group build. This time it is a chest of drawers. The “approved” plan is actually almost identical to the chest I built in July of 2009 and you can find a 3 part series on it starting here.

In my non-stop effort to be difficult, I am ratcheting things up a notch and building a 4 drawer chest based on the designs of Major John Dunlap and Lieutenant Samuel Dunlap of New Hampshire. The Dunlaps are part of a legacy of immigration that took lowland Scots who emigrated to the Ulster area of Northern Ireland and then eventually on to New Hampshire and Maine in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. This nomadic existence was mostly driven by religious persecution since these people were mostly Presbyterian living among predominantly Catholic societies. In fact, once settled in New Hampshire primarily, some of this persecution continued as it was assumed these Scots-Irish were Catholic based upon their nationalistic origins. It seems that the Scots-Irish spent more time declaring what they were not than defining who they were. This checkered past yields the name Scots-Irish and the designs from this group are endearing, whimsical, idiosyncratic, and just plain weird. It is interesting because the towns of Antrim, and Londonderry are not so far from the major style hub of Boston that dictated most of the furniture details in New England. The Dunlaps worked primarily during the Rococo or Chippendale period so being in New England we would expect detailed, asymmetric carvings, massive structures with lower centers of gravity and powerful ambiance like this Highboy built in Boston around 1750. I took this pictures at the Winterthur Museum by the way.

In contrast the Dunlap cabinetry style adds an element of whimsy with unique and elaborate carvings unlike anything we see coming out of New England at the time. In some ways the ornamentation hearkens back to a Baroque style. Basket woven galleries and almost Celtic derived scrollwork adorn the tops and bottoms of the cases. A signature flowered ogee molding is seen as a punctuation mark between elements and upon closer examination seems to be a minimalist version of architectural egg and dart moldings. Deep lower cases are prevalent that seem to embrace the Chippendale massiveness but take it one step further. With the deeper lower cases came more elaborate scrollwork as well. This piece is somewhat iconic of this style and includes much of what I just mentioned.

Here is another example taken from Paul Rulli’s website. Notice the somewhat disproportionate upper and lower cases.

A Paul Rulli Dunlap reproduction

Here is a close look at the iconic basket weave and Peacock fan typically seen on Dunlap pieces. You will also see the flower ogee molding above and below the top gallery.

Paul Rulli's fine carving work on the Dunlap reproduction

I will be curious to hear some of your thoughts on this piece. It is certainly different and in my opinion somewhat ugly. I think the offensive nature of it is what really attracted me and stirred me into further research. In many ways this style has grown on me and I believe when taken in moderation it can yield some amazing pieces. I think some of the most constructive design exercises can be done when you force yourself to play in areas that you don’t like. So if we take away some of the disproportions of the above piece, mellow down the carvings a little, and apply the chest of drawer form to it we end up with this piece which will be the subject of my next Guild build.

This chest was mostly likely built by Lt. Samual Dunlap around 1795 and you will see that the proportions are more pleasing but the stubby feet keep that extreme low center of gravity to the piece. The distinctive flowered ogee molding is present as well. I think some of the reasons for this overall mellowing of the style is that period in which this was constructed. The idiosyncratic Dunlap style was really one for the American Revolution generations and as we move into the 19th century, this began to lessen.

So I see many challenges ahead during this build. For one the integral bead detail on the case and drawer blades will be a test since each joint will have to be mitered to keep a continuous flowing line throughout. This will be my first attempt at ball and claw feet as well and I am already gearing up for that by doing some practice pieces in Poplar. The chest will be done in Cherry and if possible curly Cherry for the drawer fronts. So stay tuned for updates here as I start out on my next project.

By the way, I highly recommend the book “The Dunlap Cabinetmakers” for a much more detailed look into this style of furniture.

No one likes sanding, but I am the president of the non sanding fan club. That is probably what drove me into hand tools more than anything else. But as most will tell you (even the purists) at some point the paper must meet the wood. I usually avoid anything coarser than 220 and let my planes to the talking up til then.

I few years ago, I ponied up the dough for a Festool sander and dust extractor hoping this would take the coughing out of the equation. This system does it’s job admirably and I can even work without a respirator most of the times and just turn on my ambient air cleaner. The problem is that the hose and cord really get in the way and wear you out as the weight of the cord always wants to pull the sander out of your hand. Festool makes a nifty boom arm for their extractors to loft the hose and power cord up out of the way and takes the weight off the sander, but my 7 foot shop ceilings just won’t accommodate it.

So when faced with sanding the Redwood parts for 2 Adirondack chairs and a table, I finally went in search of a solution. It was in my garden shed of all places. I used to hang my mountain bike up in the garage and I have one of those heavy duty rubber coated hooks still laying about. Find a stud in the ceiling near my bench, screw in the hook and problem solved.

Now with the weight of the hose and cord taken off the sander, it just floats over the work piece and does its job like it should. No more sore wrists trying to hold the sander on the benchtop. Surprisingly, this big sanding job just went by without incident.

Of course it was helped along by a Best of Wil Ferrell SNL DVD in the player.

This solution was so simple that I almost hesitated to post it, but I began thinking about all the tiny little creature comforts and time saving tips/devices that we woodworkers implement into our own shops and thought I would share in case anyone else out there is having this problem.

What tiny additions make your woodworking better? Leave a comment and share it with us.

I know you have seen the occasional woodworking plan with a grid overlaid on the curvy parts and the publisher expects you to be able to enlarge that for your own project. There are a lot of ways to do this with the easiest probably being taking a trip to Kinkos to blow up the image until the dimension are right. For smaller pieces I like to just lay out an actual size grid and transpose the drawing myself.

I am creating some templates for ball & claw feet as well as some trim molding for the chest of drawers I will be building next as part of The Wood Whisperer Guild summer build. I thought I would bring you all along with this process since I haven’t really found much published on it and I believe this is a skill all woodworkers should have.

Let me first say that you need not have a set of plans with a grid overlaid although that is helpful and pretty commonly available. If you only have a photograph you can add your own grid and calculate your dimensions using some known quantities. This is probably a topic for it’s own post but I just wanted to put it out there as a possibility.

In this specific case I knew I was dealing with a 1/2″ grid so I laid out a 1/2″ grid on a piece of stiff cardboard. I normally would use something like hardboard or thin ply but this is what I had on hand and it is really heavy cardboard.

Now I begin looking at the drawing and marking dots on my grid where the drawing intersect the grid. You don’t need to get hyper accurate here and I tend break each grid square down into quarters and mark the dot at the quarter or halfway point. Pay particular attention to your place on the grid and make sure you follow the drawing. By the end of this exercise you have something like this.

All that is left to do is connect the dots. I did this with a Sharpie marker so it would show up on camera better but I sketched in the lines with pencil first and shaped the curves to my liking. This is the point where you can add your own character to the design or focus on getting the reproduction just right.

Now I just need to cut out the pattern, refine it to the curve and I’m set to start shaping my blanks.

Here is the final episode in my unplugged attempt to turn a simple Shaker side table into a low country Southern Queen Anne version. In this episode I tackle the drawer and fit it. I did not go into detail on the ogee molding so stay tuned for a dedicated episode in the future on sticking moldings by hand as well as another episode on applying a shellac spray finish as I break in my new Earlex HVLP system.

I had a lot of fun building this piece entirely by hand and it was very satisfying to put my skills to the test this way. Now for the next project, I think I am ready to plug my thickness planer back in and probably my bandsaw too!

Enjoy!