Mother Nature stomped all over our traces of spring this weekend, leaving behind five inches of snow and ice. I started the morning shoveling snow, not for the first time this winter. Dare I hope it will be the last?

Not.

I went to a woodworking show with Jack this weekend. Small by comparison to events like Stitches, but similar in many ways. Lots of doo-dads that made no sense except to the initiated. Finished objects on display. When knitters want to get down and dirty, we look at the inside of a sweater; woodworkers open drawers and look at dovetails. (I’ve seen better.)

Different because the testosterone level was off the charts. Most of the vendors used cordless mikes to demo their products so clumps of men would stop up the aisle before moving off to the next sales pitch. One demonstrator had big blue bandages on 6 of his 10 fingers, not a very confidence-inspiring sight. I moved along before bandage #7 became necessary.

And no color. Blue jeans, brown jackets, work boots. No screaming yellow socks, purple cabled sweaters or fun fur ponchos. Apparently the only colors available to the manufacturers are black and silver with occasional power shots of orange or red.

And knitters have waaaay more fun with show and tell. I was sitting out in the lobby waiting for Jack and 3 guys stopped in front of me. They were each carrying something they’d bought and not a single one opened their bag to show off their score.

For Pete’s sake, bounce a little, you might shake loose some of your inner girl.

The one, the only porch double-rocker made of mahogany and white oak residing at my house.  This has already seen many hours of use over the last two weeks. It turned out just right. Low enough to the floor that my short little legs are comfortable, the seat angle and the curve of the back fit just right. It rocks well and there’s enough room for two people; or a knitter and her cat. Unfortunately the cats have both decided it’s a tail-eating monster so they don’t come near it. They will eventually, it’s too enticing a spot for them to leave alone.

Before putting the rocker assembly and the seat assembly together, we hauled both pieces out to the garage for finishing. Hauled is probably too strong a word. This rocker is feather light, making it easy to move depending upon the angle of sun and the measure of sun worshiping desired that day.

Jack used a product called Penofin to finish it. Oil based, one coat, brush it on, wait a bit, wipe off the excess and let it dry for 24 hours. The only downside to this finish are the multiple warnings (the manufacturer, the store owner) not to leave the rags in a heap in the garbage; spontaneous combustion from the oil base is a danger. That’s why we moved it to the garage, no furnace or other pilot lights out there to worry about.

It will need to be reapplied once a year, but it’s not a lot of work. Much better than staining it and I think the finished grain is more attractive. It brought out the reddish color of the mahogany so that there’s a clear contrast between the two woods, something I had trouble seeing when it was unfinished.

The longer it sits in the sun, the deeper red the mahogany turns. The picture at top was taken when we first put it out on the deck. The mosaic below shows the color of the finished rocker as of today.

For now, Jack’s taking a break, cleaning up his shop and his tools and working odd repair jobs around the house. There’s some discussion about the next project, I have a list in mind but can’t decide what should be next. The rocker needs a table to go with, and a chair for those who don’t want to share their seat. But there are other ideas percolating, too, so we’ll just have to see.

I hope you didn’t find this process too boring. It was fun to document and will help me treasure this piece for many years.

Now that the spines and the rocker/stretcher assembly are finished, it’s time to build the seat for the porch rocker. The seat will take 20 mahogany slats curving from the bottom to the back and attached to the spines with brass flat head screws.

Before cutting the slats to the proper length, the half-inch mahogany boards have to be planed to a 5/16th thickness. Each 8-inch board will yield three 1.5- inch slats.

Once the slats are rough cut, they’re run through the router to shape the edges.

Some light sanding (no slivers for our tushies!) and they’re ready for the drill press. A simple jig helps position each slat so the holes for the screws match properly.

Then comes final assembly. The back spines are held steady by clamps while slats are attached one by one. Pilot holes are drilled, screws inserted and it’s on to the next slat. The spacing has to be precise, both for fit and aesthetics.

With the exception of the slats in the curve between the back and the seat, the slats fit easily. This area requires a little extra engineering with a filler underneath the slats to help ease through the bend. Sometimes, a crack will open from the pressure, but a little glue, a little clamp time and it’s magic!

Next time: the completed rocker. I bet you wondered if we’d ever get there.

Once the end assemblies were put together on the porch rocker, it was time to cut, shape and install the stretchers that attach the two ends and support the seat assembly itself. The stretchers are two pieces of one-inch mahogany cut 4 feet long and 2 inches wide which then have their edges routered to soften or “break” the edge. It probably took longer to do the glue up and clamping then it did to make the actual stretchers.

Ignore that yarn in the background. I don't know how it got there

There isn’t going to be much clearance between the seat and the end supports so it’s important to attach the stretchers at 90 degree angles to get the fit just right. Otherwise there might be some crying.

It’s beginning to look like more than miscellaneous parts now.

As soon as the assembled frame was moved out of the way, Jack moved on to cutting and sanding the back supports, three graceful curves of mahogany that will support the seat slats and hold them at what we hope will be a comfortable angle for sitting and rocking and relaxing.

The project is moving along faster now. Next time: the seat slats and assembly.

In the course of construction Jack decided to turn the tenons into wedge tenons. This involves making small wedges of contrasting wood that are forced into the tenons as they’re glued in place. It expands the tenons just the smallest amount, seating them more securely in the mortise and also eliminating any slight size variance between the mortise and tenon. It’s an attractive detail that draws attention to the tenon construction.

So that the wedges won’t split the tenons when they’re driven in place, slots are pre cut in the tenons with a small hole at the end of the slot. This radiates the pressure more evenly so the tenon doesn’t crack as the wedge is forced into place.

The finished white oak wedge in the mahogany tenon will be even more noticeable once the final finish is applied.

Glue up is always a race against the clock. The glue has a limited “open time” so once the process starts, it has to be finished posthaste. The glue must be applied evenly but not too heavily, spill ups cleaned, tenons inserted, clamps tightened down and angles checked — all before that 15 or 20 minute window closes. The reddish color on the pieces here is from wiping up spills.

One of the end pieces in its final state. The open mortises are for attaching the stretchers that will support the seat assembly and (duh) connect the two ends.

Tour de Fleece

This is supposed to be a day of rest for TDF but I’ll do a little spinning tonight since it’s time to start a new fiber and I’m eager to try the CVM roving. Hopefully I’ll have pictures tomorrow of the  completed coopworth/silk skein all knitted up.

The biggest PITA right now is plying off the shoebox lazy kate with the untensioned TP rolls. I’m thinking it’s time to improvise better bobbins since real bobbins and a spinning wheel are still in the distant future. And after this morning’s trip to the dentist with a cracked tooth the wheel probably just rolled right off the edge of the horizon. (Have I mentioned how much I hate dentists? No? Don’t get me started.)

There has been progress on the porch rocker this week. The four legs and two cross rails have been cut out of mahogany and the mortises and tenons to join all the pieces have been shaped.

While the initial carving out of the mortise can be done on a drill press, they have to be finished by hand to make sure they’re straight, clean and smooth so that the tenons will fit properly.

That means lots of patience. A sharp hand chisel is your best friend. Trying to hurry through this step will almost always spell disaster. It also means that progress seems slow with not much to show for it, but the end result is worth it, like knitting lace.

Straight shouldered tenons

Remember, mortises are the cavities cut in the wood to receive the tenon which is shaped on the end of the second piece of wood. Female (mortise) and male (tenon). And of course one piece of wood can have both a mortise and a tenon like above.

Checking the fit

Dry fitting the rail and legs and rocker all together.

After the pieces are cut, they’re dry fit together to make adjustments before the glue up.

By the way, in a woodworker’s shop, clamps are like knitting needles, you can never have enough. Notice the rack of clamps in the background of this photo (the red and black things under the pink cabinet). There’s another rack of clamps on another wall and some small ones that hang out by the work bench. As many of Jack has, it’s not uncommon to hear that he doesn’t have the right size for the job and ends up improvising. Sound familiar?

]]> http://www.woolandspice.com/2009/06/17/a-leg-to-rock-on/feed/ 2 http://www.woolandspice.com/2009/05/27/making-sawdust/ http://www.woolandspice.com/2009/05/27/making-sawdust/#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 22:12:19 +0000 Diane T http://www.woolandspice.com/?p=1695 Back in March I mentioned that Jack was planning to build a porch rocker for our deck as his next big project. To give you a break from peony and cat pictures, I thought you might like to see some of the construction process. (We got the plans  from this website.

I’m not a woodworker but I’ve been gaining an education by osmosis the last couple of years. However some stuff refuses to stick. For example I can’t ever remember which is a mortise and which is a tenon.

I know a mortise and tenon join two pieces of wood at a 90-degree angle. Like the side of a nightstand to the base of a nightstand. They form strong  joints but making a clean, good-looking one takes some attention to detail, down to the one-thirty-second of an inch level. You want the sides to be even and straight (unless you don’t, but we won’t go there). You want the joint to be snug, but not so snug that when you glue it together the glue oozes all over or makes the wood swell so much the two pieces don’t fit.

And of course you can get into all kinds of variations like a through wedged half-dovetail mortise or a feather tenon, depending upon the shape of the hole or the extension. We won’t go there either because I have no idea what those are.

For the record, the mortise is the cavity cut in the first piece of wood to receive the tenon which is an extension shaped on the end of the second piece of wood. Female (mortise) and male (tenon).

And that’s your woodworking lesson for today. This is a pass/fail course so don’t panic.

Anyhoo, in April we went to his favorite wood store (more expensive than any yarn store) so he could pick through their mahogany and white oak. Then life got in the way so he wasn’t able to start construction until this week.

In the meantime, the wood so carefully selected to be straight and true, dried out and started cupping. Having your wood cup (if that’s the right term) is sort of like finding out your gauge swatch lied big time. You really can’t work with crooked boards, any more than you can use a DK weight yarn with a pattern written for bulky-weight yarn and expect to get something wearable.

The boards were planed to straighten them again. Next, mortises (remember those?) were drilled into 4 pieces of  the mahogany, then two boards were glued together, matching up the mortises, to make a sturdy inch-and-a-half rocker foot. Once the glue set, Jack attached a template to the board sandwich and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y cut out the rocker on his bandsaw. Then you visit rocker island for the second one.

Easing around the curves

Making sawdust

Rock-a-bye baby

There’s a lot of waste on each board, but the leftover mahogany will go in the scrap pile and get used for a small project eventually.

And that’s how rockers are made. Next time: making the legs and rails and joining them to the rockers (remember tenons?).