The last post on this blog....it has moved

 

Yes, this is the last post on this blog as it has now move and is fully linked into my furniture website which has also been redeveloped. It makes it much easier to have everything in one place.

Main website: www.jonathanpearcefinefurniture.com

Gallery pages: www.jonathanpearcefinefurniture.com/gallery

Blog pages: www.jonathanpearcefinefurniture.com/blog

Also, there is my jewellery box website that has everything that relates to the boxes I make, which to be honest I now spend the majority of my time doing. Have a look there too.

Handmade boxes: www.handmade-boxes.com

All these post will stay here.....just the blog won't be updated again. Not that it hasn't been updated much anyway.

Thanks!

Chest of drawers....The making of - Part 1

I am currently making a pair of chest of drawers. It is a long process making anything with drawers in, as the drawers themselves take a while to make.

Although the drawers are the last thing to make, getting the timber machined up for them at the start of the project is a good idea as it allows the wood to dry and settle.

So here is how I do this part of the process.

First of all, select the timber you are going to use for the drawers. In this case, I am using American cherry.  It is a good wood, as it has few defects, comes in good size planks, supplied dry, and is stable.

I got some big planks sent to me. Each was about 3.4m long, about 160mm wide and 50mm thick. For those who want to know, it was 7 cubic feet of timber.

The downsize of these long lengths was they didn't fit in the lift up to the workshop. They had to be carried up the stairs to the 3rd floor.

The planks laying down are the American cheery used to make the drawer boxes.

Next I work out how to cut these planks up to make the best usage of the wood. I worked out that from a 1.2m length, this wood give me a piece for the drawer side, and a piece for the front (or back) of the drawer.

I cut the large planks into these length, and machined them on four faces giving a final thickness ranging from 46mm to 51mm.

The cherry machined up into 1.2m lengths.

Now comes the hard slog.  These planks are then ripped (a woodworking term that means cutting along the length of the grain) into strips 15mm thick.

So each plank has two edges, that is two cuts on the band saw to give two pieces, and then the rough surfaces on the plank from the cut are then cleaned up (and squared) with a couple of passes on the jointer. Repeat until all the wood has been processed.

Here are all the strips of wood straight from the band saw

I got about 150 strips of wood from the planks.  These can now sit while I make the carcass of the chests. During this time the wood will dry more and become more stable.

Lucky all those pieces, when arranged nicely, fitted under my bench.

The timber neatly stacked up under my workbench

So what will I ultimately do with all these strips of wood? Yes stick them back together! Ha ha ha.......utter madness!


Next I will be starting to make the carcasses. Funny enough, this also starts with cutting more wood into smaller pieces.......



For more information please visit either my bespoke fine furniture website, or my handmade jewellery boxes website.
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Stand set......ready to go!

My stand for 'Handmade at Kew' is all set up and ready to go.

Under wraps

But to see under the blankets, you need to get to the show (unless I post some more pictures later).

See the 'Handmade' website for full details of this and upcoming shows.

For more information please visit either my bespoke fine furniture website, or my handmade jewellery boxes website.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

Working out how to do it

One of the great things about making furniture and boxes, is coming up with an idea and then having to work out how to put that idea into practice - problem solving.

I recently made a cabinet that has two doors, and when these are open, it reveals a drawer. I needed to make a handle for this drawer which had to be flush with the drawer front.

There still needed to be a way to grab hold of the handle to open the drawer, so my idea was to take some wood and hollow it somehow to allow purchase  for your fingers.

The shape of the handle I wanted was like the key stone in a stone arch - a 'V' shape with a flat bottom. To hollow it out, I would use a Router and something called a finger-pull cutter. The problem was how to hold the wood while the Router is spinning the cutter at over 20,000 RPM.

 

So how was it done? With lots of screws and various pieces of MDF cut to different shapes and sizes.


In this first picture, the handle black can be seen surrounded by various pieces of MDF. The handle is not screwed down, it is just held in place. The two upper pieces of MDF stop the handle from moving up and down, while also providing a guide for the hollowing process with the Router.

Fig 1 - The handle blank held down.

 

The first part of the hollowing process is to remove most of the wood with a straight sided router cutter. Finger-pull cutters are small and not really designed for removing too much waste wood, only really the 'pull' detail. As I had to remove a fair amount of wood, I made a number of passes with the straight sided cutter, getting a little deeper each time.


Fig 2 - Waste wood has been removed with a straight sided cutter.

 

The actual finger-pull shape, shown in the picture below, is done with a single pass of the router cutter.

Fig 3 - A close-up showing the finger-pull detail.

The handle is finished. All that is required is some sanding to remove the machining marks.

Fig 4 - The completed handle.

 

This final picture shows the handle fitted to the front of the drawer.

Fig 5 - The completed handle fitted to the drawer front.

Five pictures don't really convey how much time it took to make the handle, both thinking time and making time, but it was probably about 5 hours in total.



For more information please visit either my bespoke fine furniture website, or my handmade jewellery boxes website.

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A great bit of kit

I am lucky in the workshop to have access to a Plano clamp system. It is such a good method for the glue up of panels.

I often use it when making drawers.  I take a plank of timber, joint one side, then shove it through the thicknesser to flatten the other side.  Then I rip sections off a few mm thicker than the desired drawer side thickness (say 11mm for an 8mm finished side).

Then using the Plano clamp, I butt joint the pieces together to get the required width.  As the clamps really do keep the joint flush, it is only a simple task when the glue is dry to flatten and thickness to the required dimensions.

In this picture, I am jointing the timber I used when making a couple of jewellery chest of drawers.

Plano clamp being used to glue pieces of ash
to form drawer sides.

And here is a little montage of pictures taken in the workshop of the completed jewellery chest of drawers. The ash I glued up in the Plano clamps was used to make the drawer boxes.

A pair of jewellery chest of drawers.

You can see more pictures of this chest of drawers (not taken in the workshop) in the gallery page of my handmade boxes website.

I suppose a chest of drawers like these could make the ideal Mothers Day present for a mum who has a large collection of jewellery.........



For more information please visit either my bespoke fine furniture website, or my handmade jewellery boxes website.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

New website dedicated to my handmade jewellery boxes

Here is something to do when you are sitting at your computer wondering where to go next on the amazing World Wide Web.....visit my new website!

Yes, I have created a dedicated handmade jewellery box website. I still have my furniture site, but from now on all box related information and pictures will be on the new site.

So go have a look. Thanks.




For more information please visit either my bespoke fine furniture website, or my handmade jewellery boxes website.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

I forgot the pictures

In the dark and distant past, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth........

.....okay, not that long ago but in the summer last year, I did a blog post on the making of a chest of drawers. Remember?  Probably not.

Well, I forgot to post the pictures of the completed piece. So here they are.

Notice how the drawer fronts curve alternate left and right.

The drawers are made from maple, and use dovetails in
their construction.

The drawer fronts have fumed oak on their edges - it helps to
show the curve on the drawer fronts and adds a visual detail
to the finished piece.

Next time I promise I will post the pictures sooner.




To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

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It takes time

When making something, I track the time taken to perform each task. I use an online product called Toggl. It works well and is simple to use.

Why I find it useful to track time, is that is shows which tasks and processes take the most time, and how long it actually takes to make something.

For the chest of drawers I have recently made, I was tracking how long it took me to make the five drawers. I was told a good while back to allow three days to make a drawer. That is starting from raw timber and ending up with the finished drawer.

And guess what? I did take me three days to make each drawers, and hence fifteen days to make all five.

That is why handmade bespoke furniture costs more.



To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

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The final stages

"Previously on Jonathan Pearce Fine Furniture....

.....I had glued the drawer frames to the carcass sides. Stay tuned for this weeks episode."

Once the sides had been glued together, it only seems logical that the top and bottom are attached. Yep, that is what happened. Here you can see the completed carcass, minus the back panel and foot assembly.

Carcass all glued up

The carcass is standing on a white platform the is square, flat and level. If it was standing on something that was out of true, then the carcass could also be pushed out of true. Something you don't want when fitting drawers. You see this out of true effect on flat packed furniture. When it is screwed together and doors fitted, often it is impossible to get good alignment. This is often because the floor is not level and is influencing the carcass.


Once the carcass is complete, the next stage is making the drawer boxes. It is a long process with many individual steps, most of which go unnoticed. But the thing that people do notice is the dovetails.

Each drawer has twenty dovetail joints, and with five drawers gives a total of one hundred dovetails!

I do my joints by cutting the tails first, and then marking up and cutting the pins. Some people do the reverse process. Neither is incorrect, just personal preference.

Marking up the 'pins' from the dovetails.

Finished - one hundred dovetail joints!

These drawers will have 'slips' and two central runners. A drawer slip is a small piece of wood that is glued to the inside bottom edges of the drawer sides. It gives the drawer more wood to run on, and also has a groove cut into it for the drawer bottom.

Drawer runners have three grooves - two for the drawer bottoms and one for a piece of wood that exactly fits into the runners (used to guide the drawer in and out of the carcass).

Drawer slips (on the left) and runners (on the right).

In this picture I am fitting the drawer fronts to the drawer boxes. Using yellow shims and masking tape to hold the drawer fronts, I can ensure that the gaps between the fronts are even.

Almost finished....just a need to fix the drawer fronts with screws, a final sanding and a final oiling.


To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

For the Gold Cup?

Mid summer has gone....the nights are now drawing in (of sorts, I am sure for a time the sun sets later than it did on the solstice)...soon be Xmas! 

But before then, there are a couple of shows I will be attending, so that means I am making a couple of new items.

One thing I am making is a chest of drawers. I know this as I have started it. If there is time, I may also make a coffee table. We shall see.

Five drawers in this one. Made of oak. Curved drawers fronts.  Fumed oak detail on the drawer fronts. Got the idea?  No?? Here are a couple of simple SketchUp images.

Made from oak. Curved drawer fronts, that curve alternate right-left.

A close-up showing how the curving drawer fronts will look.

So these images give an idea what I am making. Wanna see some 'work in progress' pictures? If you do, then scroll down. If you don't, then you are done for now.

A big pile of wood, rough cut to size, ready to machine.
I have another two piles as well. Takes a fair bit of timber
to make a chest of drawers.

The drawer boxes are made from smaller pieces of wood that have been
glue together. It makes the construction of the drawers more stable, which
is very important to stop them sticking and binding in the carcass.
The gadget being used is a special clamping system that helps keep the
pieces of wood flat while the glue dries.

Here I am doing a test fit of the components that make up the carcass - two sides,
a top, a bottom and five drawer frames. The test fit ensure all the joinery is correct.

Here is the final phase of carcass to drawer frame glue-up. It is a multi phase
process. First of all the frames are individually glued to one carcass side. Once this
is done, and in one big hit, the frames are then glues to the other side.

That is it for now.....check back later to see how I am getting on.

To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

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Lights and glass

Apart from hand tools, there are loads of other tools that are useful for a cabinet maker.

I suppose a pencil, a pencil sharpener, a straight edge and paper could be classed as a collection of tools, as these are traditionally used to design work.

I sometimes still use the above, but more often than not, I use drawing applications on my computer.  There are a couple I use.

To produce engineering type drawings, I use a package called Visio. I first used this package sometime in the mid 90's while working for NatWest.  I was on a project and we were reverse engineering some code, and needed a tool that allowed us to produce flows that could be used to explain how the reverse engineered code worked - nobody actually knew.  Visio allowed flow diagrams to be made, which were the ideal pictorial representation of what we had found.  Basically Visio is a simple drawing package.  You drag shapes around, set their sizes etc. It is not technical type drawing package. It just uses shapes, but I have used it so much I find it easy and quick to produce plan/elevation type drawings.

This is an example of the type of drawing that I produce with Visio.  It give me all the information that I require for making a piece of furniture.

An engineering style diagram, giving dimensions etc.

Another good software package is Sketch-Up, which you can download for free from Google. Sketch-up is designed for producing 3D type drawings. These types of drawings are great to help people visualise something, as looking at a 3D render is a bit easier than looking at an engineering type drawing. Using Sketch-up is a bit strange at first, but there are plenty of on-line help type videos around, plus there is a useful book from Taunton Press which is aimed solely at woodworkers using Sketch-Up.

Here are a couple of images of the piece of furniture shown about in the Visio drawing.

A 3D image that gives a totally different view compared to the engineering drawing.

The cabinet placed in-situ in an alcove.

This display cabinet is the piece of furniture I am making at the moment.  It is designed to hold a collection of pottery and ceramics. It will be made from oak and sycamore (this wood being inside the cabinet to help keep the inside bright). The doors will be of glass, and there are two glass shelves.  In addition, there will be LED lights inside the cabinet to add even more illumination.

Real pictures will appear when I have finished, then a comparison can be made with my drawings. I hope they match, but I expect the real piece of furniture to be better.




To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

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Follow the winding path.

There is nothing like making something extra tricky for yourself.

For example, take a hall table.  Better still, take a hall table I made. Better even still, take a hall table that I made from oak.

Now I wanted to make the table top more interesting than just a slab of wood. Don't get me wrong, a slab of wood can look very good, nice grain, nice timber, nice edge detail. But that wasn't what I was looking for.

I read something a while back about making a chopping board with solid wooden inlays. The result looked good, and the technique could be extended to other items. I gave the method a go and made myself a chopping board.  It worked out fine, and I already had in the back of my mind something to make on a larger scale...a hall console table.

I wanted the table itself to be simple with clean lines, but adding the inlays to the top would really add an eye catching detail.

"So what does the technique involve?", I hear you say.

Well before I spill the beans, let us first discuss inlays.

Most inlays are made by cutting a small groove in a surface, normally a couple of mm deep (if inlaying a veneer string, the groove could be only 0.6mm deep) and then sticking in the item to be inlayed. So the inlay is only just in the top surface.

What is different about the technique I used on this table, is that the inlay goes right through the table top.  So when viewed from the ends, the inlay can be seen 'wrapping' round the ends and continuing onto the under surface.

How is it done? Roughly like this. First of all, make your table top. Sand it nice and flat.  Cut it in half and stick it back together with the first inlay. When dry, flush that inlay back.  Cut the table top in half again and glue back together with the next inlay. When dry, flush back. Repeat until complete.

This table top has three inlays, so including the initial making of the top, that makes a total of four glue-ups for the top.  Oh, and did I say that because the inlays follow a curved path, when you stick the top back together, it slips and slides around like a bar of soap?

And did I say the inlays I used are different widths? 

And did I also say that making a table top is much harder than a chopping board because it is so much larger?

See, tricky. 

Anyway, enough words. On with the pictures.

It looks small, but it really is a full size table!

The three drawers have a hidden finger pull detail on the bottom edge. Saves having handles sticking out and getting caught on things as you walk by.

Here you can see how the inlays go completely through the table top. 

Overhead shot of the table showing the inlays - the 'Winding Paths'.

I like the effect you get doing this technique.  I have loads of other ideas in mind too.............


To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

Happy New Year

First blog post of the year......

.....and all it says is 'Happy New Year!'

Well, you have to start somewhere.

A tale of two sisters

A few years ago, probably in 2007 actually, I purchased a plank of English walnut from a fellow cabinet maker who was selling some of his stock off.

The plank had a bit of history.  

It came from a tree the cabinet maker got 'in the round', and had planked up by a local saw mill.  You would hope that the saw mill knew what they were doing, but they didn't.

Oh, the cut the log up okay.  Nice even thickness to the planks and made the best use of the timber, but that was it.

When a log is planked, it needs to be stacked up and dried. This is called 'put in stick'.  Each plank is stacked above the other with a small piece of wood (the stick?) between each plank - hence air can flow around the planks and help the drying process.

Now why didn't the saw mill do this with the walnut?  They planked it up but forgot the sticks. The wood was just plied up plank on top of plank.

When the cabinet maker went to collect his timber, it was too late. When a log is planked, lots of stress is released from the wood and if it is not dried properly, the wood will twist and warp. Which is exactly what happened to these planks.

The planks were twisted, and warped and some had mold and fungus on them. He took the planks, but for making furniture where you need relatively straight and sound timber, these were no good. So he kept them in the back of the workshop and when space was needed, decided to get rid of them.

That is where I come into the story. I saw one of the planks and it wasn't that bad.  I wouldn't be able to get large items from it, but I could work around what I had and make something smaller.

So I made two boxes.  Sisters so to speak as the come from the same plank of walnut.

Here are pictures of the big sister.

English walnut has such a great grain pattern.

I worked around the grain, and placed the handle for the lid
where the grain changes direction and swirls towards the front
of the lid.

There are three lift out trays, each with a different configuration
of little compartments. The trays and box are lined with a purple suede.

And here are some pictures of the little sister.

The little sister is much smaller, but still has a pleasing grain pattern.

Once again there is a lift out tray lined with purple suede.

Here you can actually see into the box. Items can be stored under the tray when it is
placed in the box.

Now they need a good home.  Wouldn't it be nice if they could stay together?

"As I was going to St Ives....

....I met a man with seven wives,
and those seven wives each wanted a jewellery box."

Which is lucky as I have just finished making seven jewellery boxes.

Seven jewellery boxes made from ash, walnut and various burr woods.

I will let those wives argue it out as to who is getting which box!


To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

The trials and tribulations of making things.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by someone who had seen a piece of my furniture on my website. They had been looking for a something like it for ages, and the one I had made fitted the bill exactly. Even the wood was perfect. They asked if I could give them a price for how much it would cost for me to make another. I said I would, and that I'd give them the low down within a couple of days.

I duly worked out the price. What I normally do is work out how long it will take to make, which gives the labour charge. On top of this I then add an estimate of the materials. I never know this amount exactly as the price of timber constantly changes, and I have to visit the timber merchant and select the boards before I can get an exact amount. So when I give an estimate, I normally say it will be X amount plus or minus Y depending on material costs. Y is normally only a couple of hundred pounds.

I passed on the estimate.

A couple of days later I got a reply. It was a out of their price range. They wondered if I could still make the piece, but out of cheaper wood.




We had water troubles in the workshop. The biggest was that we never had water for three months as the main into the building was crushed by all the lorries that deliver to a unit further down the road. As the road is private, there was an argument as to who would pay to get it fixed. Good news is that we didn't have to pay when it was fixed.

Anyway, one of the taps in the workshop was broken. You know how it is. Turn it for ages and nothing comes out, and then a big rush of water. So the bloke who runs the workshop called in a plumber to have a look.

The plumber came in, had a look, got his spanner out, fiddled around, and changed a washer. Tap fixed! 

When the bloke who runs the workshop saw the bill of £80 + VAT, he said “but you only changed a washer. Can’t you use a cheaper one?”




A stroll through the park across the road from the workshop takes you to a street with a few nice shops in.

One of these is a sandwich shop and they sell some really nice looking artisan bread. I went in the other day to have a look.

I couldn't believe the price of the bread. £4.95 for a loaf!

Now I know a bit about baking, and bread is only really flour and water and salt and yeast.  Water (if your main isn't broken) comes out the tap, yeast will grow by itself, and salt comes in very big bags for not much money. How much must the flour cost then?




A cabinet maker, a plumber and an artisan baker walk into a pub.

“Three pints of your finest real ale, please.” asks the plumber.

“No problem” says the landlord who pulls the pints. “That will be £11.55, please.”

“Hold on!” says the cabinet maker. “That’s a bit steep, isn't it?”

“Yes” says the plumber. “I know water comes out of the tap.”

“And I know that you can grow a yeast culture.” says the baker.

“And I know that hops and barley don’t cost much.” adds the cabinet maker.

“Ah yes gentleman” says the landlord. “It isn't the ingredients in the beer that make up the expense. Okay, there is a tax to pay to the government to be accounted for too. But what you are paying for is the skill and knowledge of the brewer who makes the beer.”

“Oh!” say the cabinet maker, plumber and baker in unison, with a look of enlightenment of their faces.



To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

Good enough to eat

Here are some pictures of the chest of drawers I mentioned a few posts ago, the one entitled 'January'.

It is made from steamed pear, walnut and maple.........custard anyone?

To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

Q: What do you need for a very large bottle of Sol?

A: A large slice of lime.

Was travelling back to London the other weekend after being away in the Cotswolds, and on the way back we (my wife and I) stopped into a place called Welford Park in the county of Berkshire.

The reason why we stopped was to look at this seasons crop of Snowdrops. Jenny does love Snowdrops, and we were going to visit the park last year but didn't, as we went elsewhere to see some.

As a bonus and a bit of a bribe, the park does farm pigs and has for sale various pig derived products. These pigs live in the woods so have a good time rooting around in the undergrowth. So I was hoping for a tasty lunch in their cafe.

Yes, the snow drops were impressive. I have never seen so many in a single place.  For all you snowdrop fans, here is a picture.

Snowdrops as far as the eye can see

The cafe was good too!  A freshly cooked sausage bap, followed by a cream tea. The sausages were so good, we got a pack of them in the shop to take home. I would like to buy half a pig, but our freezer isn't big enough.

Anyway, at the park they have the largest lime trees in Berkshire. A couple of hundred years old. And by the looks of it, full of mistletoe, or maybe a nest of some creature I have never come across.

The largest lime trees in Berkshire

Now where is my axe? I need a large slice of lime for that beer.