Silky stuff

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had used some very green Silky Oak for a Continuous Arm crest rail. It was lovely stuff to work with, almost reminiscent of the White Oak I used with Curtis Buchanan to make my first Windsor Chair. Just as it's name suggests though, it has a distinct 'waxiness' to it, which I'm sure will be interesting when it comes time to apply the finish to it. Here's a few pic's of it coming apart from the log and in the chair. Nice ray fleck, don't know about the pink colour yet! Perhaps another opportunity to seal it with shellac first....

Whilst on the Continuous Arm subject I've just spent a very enjoyable week with Peter and Kathy who came up to make a pair of chairs with me. In a new twist to the Continuous Arm Course, I'm trialling offering a choice of making either the rocker or chair version during the course. As both are exactly the same from the seat upwards, there's really not much divergence in the process. So this week Peter made a chair and Kathy and I made the rocker. It was a great week in good company. Thanks guys.

Happy to say it worked out just fine making both rocker and chair at the same time. Given the good company, I even used a piece of my coveted Treasury Gardens English Oak for Kathy's rocker blades. The new jig I made for routing the rocker legs worked a treat too. I'm crediting a small part of it's ease of use to a new router bit I tried for the first time.

This little beauty is a 1/2"  tri-fluted spiral up-cut bit. The fine notches in the edges of the flutes ensure that shavings are severed into minor shavings, rather than long continuous, thick ones. This in turn lessens the drag on the bit. It was very noticeable just how smoothly this new bit cut compared with others I've used. Lets face it, when your routing the ends of Hard Maple, any advantage is a bonus.

It's been rainy few weeks of late, so I'm looking forward to Spring being just around the corner. With it will come a new chapter for us and a good deal of hard work also. I can't wait.

Two steps forward, one back.

Sometimes when your busy, something has to give. You're making progress on most things but then there always seems to be an element that suffers a little. Unfortunately for me that has been the blog of late. Sorry about that.

Since the last post midway through last month, there's been a couple of double Perch classes and a few days where I've been teaching a few things on a furniture making front. In between that I've been trying to squeeze in finishing off a Continuous Arm Rocking Chair, making a matched pair of Crested Rocking Chairs, a couple of Perches for the shop and keeping up with supplying our shop with the usual products, bentwood oval Boxes, chopping boards, etc etc.

I run the bar too on Friday and Saturday nights and at the moment in Kyneton the night time temp is usually hovering just above zero. That means one more thing, firewood, firewood and more firewood. 

                         The bar runs two open fires at night and they both chew through the wood. 

Father and Son team, Michael and Julian, who both sailed through the Perch Class and made a couple of very fine Perches.

Mates Carl and Jim, who bought their own figured Blackwood, figured Myrtle, spalted Black Heart Sassafras and Crotch Macrocarpa to make two custom Perches. Nice work guys. Jim is the owner of Carrolls Woodcraft Supplies, a one stop shop for wood turners and a professional wood turner too. It was great to have him in the workshop and pick up a few tips from a great wood turner.

Stiles mortised, crests roughed in and legs and arms reamed. Tomorrow I carve the seats before I rout the rocker slots with my "Chandley Special" Rocking Chair Routing Jig. 

Based on the jig that Pete Galbert first made when we bought him out here a few years ago, Bern Chandley made a double sided version which I've used successfully on a few of my chairs and on the class we taught in July. I've made a few subtle changes on this new version to suit my Porter & Cable router and to allow for a slightly larger seat base.

 It works well, is accurate and allows the slots to be cut in the legs with supreme accuracy. To me that means being able to get back to other parts of making a chair that I enjoy, like carving seats, shaving spindles, steam bending and the like.

I've also been experimenting with finishes on some of my chairs, including milk paint colours and also ( shock horror! ) staining and distressing them. Not my preferred finish, but when the customer wants it to look old, then that's what you do. In creating an aged patina I've been using shellac more and I have to say I'm a bit of a new devotee. It's quick, effective and very versatile.

                               I even like the look of it after one quick coat as a sanding sealer.

On top of that we've also been thinking about our future, new courses, where we run them, what we can offer and some variety. What we have come up with I think will be pretty interesting. Not to say that I'm not content, but I'm a firm believer in continuous improvement. More to come on that soon.

Continuous Arm Rocking Chair Group Class

Last Friday saw a first for the Rundell & Rundell Workshop. Bern Chandley and I finished teaching our first Continuous Arm Rocker Course. Four very dedicated and passionate wood workers attended for the week and made four very impressive Rocking Chairs. Joe unfortunately had to leave early on the last day, so he wasn't able to be in the group pic below!

Since I began teaching courses in Kyneton, I've always been keen to make the course as close as possible to what I experienced when I visited Tennessee and Massachusetts. Either one on one tuition or a maximum of two people in any chair class. Add to that, a quiet country location and good food and coffee and I think I've got about as close as I can.

But when Bern came to visit me a few months back and showed an interest in teaching a class or two with me, I think we both knew that we could run a great class, still meet all of the objectives of a smaller class and maintain that attention to detail that makes the difference.

I think the smiles on the faces of Steven, Kate and Todd and the quality of their chairs speak of that. Well done to you all.

I might add that Bern's considerable  experience as both a furniture maker and joiner ensured that our new process of fitting matched rockers to the legs of the chairs was flawless. Nice work mate. We also had the opportunity to utilise some 'park fresh' Sheoak for a chair of our own, which we split out by hand with wedges and froes.  That's for the next post....

We have plans for some great new chair classes for 2014 as well as another group class for October, there's still two spots left. So watch this space and the website for details soon.

Cheers!

Friday on my mind.

The last thing I ever really thought I'd be doing was donning an apron and being a barman. However my Friday and Saturday nights are now often the highlights of my week. Locals and friends coming in for a quick glass after work and before or after dinner. Or people who are staying in town for a weekend away. I enjoy all their company. Then there's nights like this Friday just gone.

Pete Murphy and Kate came in for a drink. Pete makes the spectacular Ukeleles we have in the shop. Also in the bar that night were Peter and Wendy Barber and their close friends who had come up to town for the weekend. 

What happened soon after, happens a lot these days. Musical instruments come out and people start playing. We've had everything from full size harps, to harmonicas and guitars. On Friday it was four ukeleles in an impromptu session by the fire.

Here's a snippet.

I like being a barman....

Behind the scenes

We are very fortunate to have such talented artisans supplying us with their work to sell in our shop, Rundell & Rundell. From Coopers, to spoon carvers, Archibald Prize finalist oil painters to Master Armourers. The list goes on.

So I thought I might introduce you all to a few of them over the next couple of months. The people behind the amazing products.

Pete Trott has been supplying us with his beautiful desk and floor lamps, under the name of 'Von Trott,' pretty much since we opened. A Lauriston local, Pete is a very talented sculptor and works as a set designer and builder for film and theatre. 

The lamp frames are made from recycled timber and the shades from.....anyone? anyone? Look closely. Yes, recycled oil filters, which have been carefully stripped back and enamelled to form an excellent shade. 

...or left as brushed steel like this floor lamp.

They are usually made in pairs or as individual lamps. Each one is unique. Hand made and very well made. Vintage style cord finishes them perfectly. And as quickly as they come into the store they head out the door to a new home just as rapidly.

But Pete's talents don't stop there. When he arrived the other day he also had some other very impressive cargo on board. Again, hand made. Bacon!

And not just any old Bacon, this streaky bacon is the best I have tasted. Full stop. By a country mile. And believe me, I've had my fair share of the stuff. 

Cured by Pete using a recipe I best not divulge, it was smoked for 7 hours in this beauty....

Again, using recycled timber and complete with a cast iron wheel for portability. The copper roof and porker on top are literally the icing on the cake. This is what country living is all about! Great stuff Pete.

When's the next delivery??

Who was C. R. Thompson?

C.R. Thompson was a Patternmaker who apparently worked the the famous H.V.Mc Kay company in Sunshine. He also worked for the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation.

This was his tool chest. It's a great example.

I'm looking for any information I can find about C.R. Thompson's life and history. Anyone who may have known of him I'd be very interested to talk to you. More to come on this one......

Coopering in Kyneton

On Saturday George Smithwick rolled into town again for our second Coopered Bucket Course. A perfect Winters day with the fire going in the workshop set the scene for another entertaining and informative day of Coopering. 

Before long the workshop was a hive of activity, with staves being shaved, hoops bent and riveted on the Bick Iron and the heads ( the base ) being measured, cut and shaved to size. Not forgetting a special delivery of, our neighbour Louise's, home baked chocolate eclairs for morning tea!

It's inspiring to see 6 people who, prior to attending the workshop, had most probably not even heard of the coopering tools they were now wielding and see them start to take ownership of the bucket that was appearing before their eyes. 

There was a pride in workmanship too, people being particular in ensuring the rivets in the hoops lined up and that the hoops were straight and parallel. Great to watch. This short grab of video was indicative of the buzz in the workshop for most of the day.

I'd taken a few more videos of George demonstrating various Coopering techniques throughout the day, but I had enough trouble loading the one above after 6 attempts that I gave up. Perhaps I might try to get them on U-tube and post a link. George really is great to watch.

At the end of the day there were 6 watertight buckets and 6 very happy bucket makers. George and I both had a great day too and have tentatively arranged for another course this September. Just like this and the previous course, they book out quick, with two people having already put their names down  yesterday after hearing all about it. If you're interested, throw your hat in the ring quickly as the other 4 spots wont last long. Cheers.

Let it burn.

When we opened the door to our business late last year, we realised even then that a very large part of our time would be spent not only making the stock for our store, but also, for want of a better word, gently 'educating' our customers as to why they should purchase what we and other local artisans made. What set our products apart, made them special.

Some ( most ) days it's really quite easy, people just get it,. On other occasions it can be like watching a dog listening to the radio. It's really not surprising when you consider that we have been conditioned for years to look for the lowest price we can. A bit of human nature.

We scour the internet not looking for the best, but the cheapest. Hardware catalogues spruiking circular saws for $49, mega Euro furniture stores advertising household furniture items for a tenth of what they might have ordinarily cost. To each their own as they say, but some days I do dismay at the level of landfill we are contributing to. The waste and senseless use of materials, often the wrong materials too.

So where am I going with this? I guess what I'm saying is that we cant expect to the greater community to be any better informed, unless they are informed. 

On Friday, for the first time in my life I bought firewood. It's Winter and having the open fire burning in the bar on Friday and Saturday night, churns through a fair bit of wood. More than I can keep up to from workshop scrap. So I ordered a cubic metre of Redgum and it was delivered shortly afterwards and dumped in the back yard. 

And there it was, a big pile of fiddleback Redgum. Fiddleback as good as it gets. Cut up for firewood. Worse still, given what I had to pay for the stuff and the way its chopped up, I've got not much choice but to burn it! ( Ok, I've squirrelled away a half a dozen bits to make chisel handles! )

I couldn't resist running it over the jointer and rubbing in a bit of oil. Nice firewood eh?

In the U.S. this stuff would be milled and sold to furniture makers as highly figured lumber. It reflects their appreciation of fine furniture too. Here in good 'ol Oz, we burn it, shove it under railway tracks or make fence posts out of it. 

What can you expect though if people don't know any better? If they cant distinguish highly figured timber from......firewood. Please don't take it as anti Australian sentiment, it's expressed more from a sense of disappointment than anything else. 

Anyway, enough of me on the soapbox, I've got a fire to light.

The next leg of the journey.

I had the Daniel and Adam in the workshop over the weekend making a Perch each. They both turned out great chairs ( sorry, but I just don't enjoy calling them stools. You get the picture.... ) and I was especially pleased that they each chose to shape their seats differently. 

Adam chose the shape that I first started to carve when Pete Galbert showed me how to make them. Whereas Daniel chose a shape that I have since gravitated to, where the back bevel of the seat tapers to a slender point at the side , leaving the actual seat of the Perch slightly flatter. 

Both looked great. Daniel chose to spokeshave facets onto the legs after turning them, giving them a very natural and earthy effect. Nice.

Another pleasant aspect of the new workshop is the wood heater. Very comfortable in Winter  if I do say so myself.

During my time away and whilst teaching this last class I've been thinking more about some of the designs I have drawn over the past year and have yet to experiment with. I enjoy making continuous arm chairs, crested rockers, perches and the like but I find myself leaning more and more towards exploring other designs and more importantly, designs of my own. I think I will always be influenced by the people who have taught me to make chairs, but that's natural. Just like I'm sure Curtis Buchanan was heavily influenced by Dave Sawyer who taught him to make Windsors and so on.

So the first point of call on Tuesday morning was to reinvent a four legged bar stool ( errr )  that I had roughed in well over 12 months ago, but was disappointed with. 

I was happy with the Elm seat shape but the original legs were slightly steam bent, which just didn't sit right and had too large a footprint on the floor. Secondly the front stretcher which doubled as the footrest was a typical 5/8" round mortise and tenon and I had reservations that eventually the racking force on the rest would eventually force the foot rest to pivot and become loose.

I started with a new set of four straight legs from some of the 40mm stock of English Oak I had from the Treasury Gardens tree. Next was the racking issue. So a chopped a 12 x 25mm  (1/2" x 1" ) rectangular mortise in the front legs then shaped a new aerofoil inspired rest to fit. This was followed with a standard box stretcher setup for the rest of the legs. 

When dry assembled this stretcher setup was rock solid. I even stood on the leading edge of the foot rest to make sure. It didn't so much as even creak under the pressure. There's some fine tuning of the seat, but in it's roughed in state, I have to say I'm fairly happy with it.

This weekend we have George Smithwick from Beveridge Coopers at the workshop again for our Coopered Bucket Course. It promises to be a great day. So plenty of inspiration to come...

Marvellous Melbourne!

A good friend sent this to me a while back and I've been meaning to post it on the blog for some time. It has to be one of the most incredible films of Melbourne in it's heyday, circa 1910. It runs for a while, but for all of those Melbourne-ites out there ( and visitors to Melbourne ), it's  great to pick the various city icons and see just how much our wonderful city has transformed and conversely, remained unchanged. I hope you enjoy it!

Marvellous Melbourne

Recognition

Last night Lisa and I went out for dinner at the Kyneton Town Hall.....with another 100 or so local business owners and operators from the Macedon Ranges.

We had been nominated, by person/s unknown, for the Excellence in New Business Award and I'm very proud to say we won.

As per usual neither Lisa or I had prepared a speech.......so we just thanked everyone. It's a welcome pat on the back and validation for our small business which is still in relative infancy, given we've only been up and running for 6 months. 

There's still a lot to do before Rundell & Rundell reaches our full expectations. A small part being the opening of our new front room at the shop. It's a dedicated Winter lounge, with an open fire, leather lounges and arm chairs and even an original English Hood Skittles table for people to enjoy a game or two over a beer, cider or perhaps a glass of Lisa's mulled wine.

I'll post a few photos of the new room tomorrow, when it has one or two people enjoying the space. If you're in the neighbourhood, be sure to drop in. Cheers!

Things of Stone and Wood

Inspiration for me takes many forms. Working at my own workbench, seeing the work of other crafts-people, learning new techniques and other crafts all together.

Inspiration for me this week is by means of relaxing on holiday with Lisa and Tom. We've taken a break from the near freezing weather of Kyneton and have jumped a plane to sunny ( albeit overcast today ) Bali.

The view from our room in Ubud

It's not our first time to this island but it's our first holiday for a few years. And after a whirlwind 18 months of setting up a new business, workshop, renovating a cottage, starting school ( Tom not me ) and moving all and sundry to the country, we were all certainly ready for one.

I can imagine that you might be asking how being on a tropical island might inspire someone who practices traditional western style wood work? The climate, architecture, lifestyle - in fact everything in Bali is far removed from home.  It is virtually the parallel opposite. But their craftsmanship in all manner of mediums is something to behold. If you can see past the 'tat,' the 'plait your hair ' purveyors, the plastic rubbish and fake watch brigade you can find some amazing workmanship. 

Rice paddies at speed from the mini van!

Stone temple carvers amongst the rice paddies of Ubud. Locals all over the island carving the most intricate designs in everything from Coconut wood to bone. Massive mortise and tenoned framed structures. It's all around you and it's very hard not to be inspired and a little in awe. 

Tom ( with fan ), me & an elephant and his mate

Yesterday while we meandered through the jungle on the back of a Sumatran Elephant, the Pachyderm's handler reached out and picked a palm frond whilst astride it's neck. In about 2 minutes he had fashioned it into a woven, revolving fan on a stalk and handed back to Tom, all whilst controlling the Elephant with his feet! Tom held it towards the wind and smiled as it spun around freely. "We didn't have toys and made our own fun like this," he explained as we plodded along.  Again it was hard not to be impressed. 

When we got back to the hotel that afternoon I noticed the acanthus leaf carving above the entrance to the foyer. It would be admired for the execution of the form if it were in any building, in any country. Surrounded by craftsmanship.

As amazing as this all is my greatest inspiration is seeing Lisa relaxed and Tom having the time of his life. It's inspiration to work hard when I get home,  produce for our shop, to fill the orders I have waiting and to inspire the next person that comes to my workshop to learn something from me. Inspiration comes in many forms but sometimes you need to step away for a while to see that it's right before your eyes.

Interesting paths.

Met a great couple on the weekend. Larry and Carol came to the workshop and made a couple of perches and celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary at the same time. Nice one. 

This wasn't the first chair that Carol had made though and it showed. You see Carol spent 5 or so years in the Newstead workshop of Dickie Blackman, a very well known and respected maker of cottage style furniture. Blackman was well known for his traditional English style furniture, which exuded integrity, simplicity and strength. Hand woven natural rush seats were a feature of his work.

Above is an example of his work that is now held in the Craft Australia National Historical Collection. 

And here is a chair that Carol made with Blackman in his workshop. The rush seat is terrific and very comfortable. It was woven by Carol. Below is a child's chair made in the same style, next to my arm chair to give a  sense of scale. It's a real little gem.

Lastly a little three legged oak table started by Blackman and finished by Carol. The top is hand adzed and draw-knifed. The legs turned off centre then gently shaped by hand with a drawknife and spoke shave. The legs are wedged into the top. So simple and very beautiful.

Blackman's mark lays near one of the legs.

Thanks Carol for the insight into a very talented craftsman and your time spent with him. Thanks to you both for a fun 3 days too. Cheers.

Different chairs, same result.

This evening I had the reason why I teach others to make chairs re-iterated to me.

Mike finished his Perch today. Great guy and a fine result. Mike took to every technique like a duck to water.

Friday morning Woody came and finished off his Continuous Arm Chair that he started a few weeks back. He couldn't attend the seventh and final day of the course as he went off to see some bloke called "The Boss" or Bruce Something, who was apparently singing a few tunes in a paddock near Hanging Rock. Woody's chair too, is a credit to him.

Both guys really enjoyed their respective chair making experiences. Both guys I believe will go on to continue making chairs in the future. That has to be the greatest compliment any person who I've taught in my workshop can give me. That they are inspired to continue their own chair making odyssey. It's how 'we' ensure that traditional woodworking is kept alive and thriving long after 'we' have departed.

Cheers Guys.