I have started to blog a bit again. Due to computer issues I was unable to access this blog and started another. You can find it here, https://sawdustandshavings.home.blog/ See you there.

I recently entered some of my work or judging and feedback.

The Stave built mug

In 2011 I began to experiment with building the octagonal mugs that you see at various SCA and Renaissance fairs. I didn't know much about them but they looked cool so I decided to try making some. It worked out pretty well and I have made a lot of them since then. If you are not sure what I am talking about let me help.

Small sample of ones  I have made over the years. When I started to make them I wasn't to worried about them being authentic, just that they were a fun project that people liked and would use. Over the years I have made literally hundreds of these. Little did I know, they actually have a historical basis.

In the book "Domestic Wooden Artefacts in Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking times", say that three times fast, Author Caroline Earwood documents a wide variety of wooden finds. I picked up the book for it's sections on bent wood boxs, a topic for another blog, but inside I also found ideas and inspiration for many other things. Looking at the bucket information I noticed a section labled "stave-built tankards". When I read it I found comments about such vessels being found in Romano-British graves. The burial vessels were richly decorated with bronze sheeting and attachments.

So now I have another new path to explore.


The Build

If you have ever looked online you can find this style mug all over the place. For sale on hand made craft sites, on the big bidding site, everywhere. You can also find a surprising number of places with instructions and videos on how to make them. I honestly don't remember where I came across the instructions for how I built mine. I do know that I have yet to see anyone else who does it the same way.

On many online videos you see people cutting out pieces of wood, cutting a bevel on both sides of the stave and then gluing it up, some will cut a kerf near the base of the stave and fit the base in prior to gluing, other will attach the base after the body is complete. I don't like the bevels, they are a pain to get right, and if you off a little they gap on one side or the other. Putting them together creates a challenge as well, gluing up 8 or so separate pieces in a circle is not easy.  Plus your sides are very thick and look clunky to me. So I did it a different way.


My mugs are built out of 8 staves of wood, average size is 6 3/4" long, 1 5/8" wide and 1/4" thick. Average capacity of a mug at those dimensions is around 1000mL.

Set you tablesaw so the fence is 1 5/8" from the blade and tip the blade to a 45 degree angle, facing the fence. Lower the blade until the top edge of the tooth will just barely break the surface of the wood, or leave a slight hinge.

Do this to all 8 staves. When you are done, gently break the piece off, this will leave you with a 90 degree face cut in at a 45 degree angle.

This is called a birdsmouth joint. There are router bits you can buy to do this as well and they have them commonly available in angles for 8 or 12 sided constructs. I prefer this joint to a simple bevel for it's strength. When you break off the piece and sand it smooth you should be able to fit another stave into the corner and it will meet flush.

This gives you a stronger joint than a bevel and means that the ends lock in place much easier. You also only need to cut one side of the stave.

When all 8 are cut, the small piece is removed and they are sanded you can get ready to assemble. You really only need to sand the inside, the outside will be sanded later.

Lay the 8 staves inside face down on the work bench with the angle cut just barely touching the square side of the stave next to it. Make sure the bottom edge is lined up as well. When all is lined up and straight use a couple strips of painters tape to attach them all together and flip it over gently.
Place a small amount of glue in the 45 degree cut side of each piece. Begin to roll the staves up so that the 90 degree corner is firmly snugged into the 45 degree cut at each intersection. If your angles are cut correctly the mug should form an octagonal cylinder and all the joints should fit snugly without gaping. Tape shut to dry, for a little extra pressure I use rubber bands to pull it all in nice and snug.

Once the glue has fully dried, or the next day, remove the tape and rubber bands. make sure all the slats are glued together, if not, add a little more glue and let dry. Once I am happy with the body I sand the end flat, making sure it is smooth and square so the bottom will attach completely all around.

The bottom. I use a 5/8" bottom for my mugs, I like the proportions it has to the finish mug and since I also use 5/8" for my handles it makes for less cutting. Place the body on the blank for the base, If you have a side that is not as pretty as the others or your pattern is off now is a good time to mark that for the handle, then trace the mug body onto the base. I prefer to have my mug with the grain running to the handle, just a personal preference and has nothing to do with the strength of the mug.  cut the base to rough size of the body making sure to leave a little extra. Glue the bottom in place and clamp.

While the body and base are drying you can cut your handle. I have designed a handle for myself that I like the look  of and made a template. Cut it out and smooth the handle out to your preference, I like a smooth handle and I also use a router table and round over all my edges except where the handle will attach to the mug. Sand to final smoothness.

When the body and base are dried remove from clamp, now is time to grind. I use a bench sander, making sure the table is 90 degrees to the belt, I sand away the excess base and smooth it into the sides of the body. When you can no longer feel the joint between body and base with your finger more on the next side. Repeat for all sides.

The next step is to sand the entire body smooth to your final finish state. if you haven't yet, ensure your top is level and smooth, as with the handle I run mine though a round over bit on a router table for comfort of drinking. Being careful to not over glue, attach your handle to the mug on the side of the mug you have chosen. Secure with painters tape and let dry.

Once the handle is dry take a good look at the mug, if there is squeeze out around the handle remove it and sand away and remaining. Next step is finishing.

I have tried a number of finishes on my mugs, boiled linseed oil, spar urethane, polyurethane, polycrylic, and shellac all come to mind. Find a finish that will work for you for your purpose. Most of the mugs I make go to people who will use them for alcoholic beverages so my finish needs to not be alcohol solvent, like shellac. You can also try a french polish or just wax if you don't mind the maintenance.

For the inside a real popular finish is a product called "Envirotex lite" it's a 2 part epoxy that many people use and can be found at big craft chains in the U.S. . Price is not bad, better with coupons, and it does a good job. My only real complaint is the heat rating. The manufacturer only rates it up to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit . Over the years a lot of people have asked about using for coffee, not an option with 120 degree heat limit.

In 2016 I found a product called max clr. it is listed as a food safe finish and has a heat rating going to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. When I corresponded with the manufacturer I was told 180 as a limit not due to the epoxy failing, but due to heat expansion. Much above 180 degrees the epoxy and the wood expand differently causing the max clr to begin to separate from the wood.

The Snap Box.

A few years back I became interested in a style of box that was described to me as a snap box. it is an oval box with a lid held in place with vertical notched pins attached to the opposite ends of the box. When the lid is put in place it is forced down to the top of the box with force making a loud noise, hence the name.

The overall defining characteristics of the box are a body constructed of a thin piece of wood that is bent around and secured to itself, often by stitching together with thin roots or reeds but the use of brads or nails is not uncommon. The base is set inside the walls and pegged in place, the number of pegs varies but three to five is most common. A lid fashioned to settle on top of the box is constructed in the same fashion.

I turned up a lot of little bits and pieces of information relatively easily. The box in question was originally of Scandinavian design for one, another name for it was a "Tina" pronounced "tine", like on a fork. The earliest I have found examples of these boxs is the 1700's. They are relatively easy to find all over the inter net from auction houses, ebay, and antique sources. 

I began to look a bit more widely around for the boxs, trying to find other examples and earlier uses of them. I began to discover similar boxs in 14th and 15th century manuscript illuminations. The handle and the pine were absent and they had a rounder end. Often you can see them on shelves, under beds, or placed to indicate they were an everyday item, perhaps a sewing or embroidery supply container. 

They also have a very wide variety of names and description. Svepteknik, svepning, svepask, spanask, spanschachtel (german), lathe walled box, split wood box, bride box, svepkärl, and swipe box. The names vary from culture to culture and also in some cases size or task. They all have a commonality in that they are made of thin strips of wood, bend and fastened back to themselves, usually with a lid. 

In Domestic Wooden Artefacts: In Britain and Ireland from Neolithic to Viking Times
by Caroline Earwood the boxs are described as a lathe waled box. One box, the hedeby box, was a small round box, found in pieces and reconstructed was discovered in Germany. It is theorized that this particular box had no lid to it, unusual in itself, and was round whereas most other examples are oblong or oval. A number of thicker pieces of oblong wood, consistent with finds at other sites, appear to be the surviving base plates of the more common shape of box.

The Dantesca Continues. Yet again

The Dantesca Continues. Yet again

This is the even more delayed continuation of my post on constructing the dantesca chair.


At this point the chair body is complete and has a nice finish on it. Now for the seat and back.

The seat is nothing more than a rectangle of fabric, the back is pretty similar.



The Basics.

 Historically these chairs were found with either a leather or fabric seat. Most of the ones I have done have been fabric. It comes in a huge variety of colors and patterns and is pretty easy to work with. I prefer upholstery fabric, outdoor rated is even better. Keep in mind when you choose your fabric keep in mind who all it may end up supporting. My method of choice is a sandwich of 2 layers outdoor rated canvas and two layers of your decorative fabric.

Leather has it's advantages and disadvantages as well. It can be more expensive, it is not so forgiving as fabric, and it is more susceptible to moisture. It is however very strong, can be painted, dyed, or tooled, and requires less steps than the portion does.

For a fabric seat and back you will need about 2 yards of material. 1 yard of the inner fabric, and 1 yard of the outer, more if you are trying to match a busy pattern.

Grab your cloth tape measure and first measure the height of the back of the arm.

Now measure from the outside edge of the arm back, to the outside edge of the other arm back, plus 1 1/2" around to the side at both ends.

This is the finished width and length of the outside back of the fabric for the back. Add seam allowance  to preference, I like 1/2" for these.

Now, that is the outside of the back, for the inside you will measure from the inside corner of the arm back, to the other inside corner, again adding 1 1/2" to each end.

This will be the inside piece, again seam allowance. Cut two pieces of fabric for the outside with the measurements you have taken, and two pieces from the inside from those measurements. Sew them together right sides facing on three sides. Press with an iron, round your corner a bit and flip it inside out. Fold over your seam allowance and stitch it shut. I like to go over the outside and press it flat and top stich in about 1/4" all around for a finished look. Repeat for the second piece if you haven't.

Once you have two pieces, place them together center to center, the back piece should be an equal distance longer on both sides. Pin in place.

Here is where it gets a little tricky. On the shorter piece, mark in 1 1/2" from the edge on both sides, you will sew the two back pieces together down the entire top and bottom length but do not go over that line. At the line a double or triple line of reinforcing is a good idea.

You should now have a 4 layer thick chair back that has two short stubby pieces sticking up near the ends. The reinforced seam you just made should go into the inside corner of the arm so that the longer piece of the outer part wraps around the back of the arm and onto the side.

I use wrought head nails from www.Rockler.Com, 1" nails are fine. PRE DRILL. The nails are diamond in cross section and form a good tight bond, but can split the wood if not careful. I use three nails vertically on the inside, then again on the outside. Repeat for the other side.

Your fabric may be a little tight and need time to stretch, it's pretty normal and unavoidable. If your fabric is so tight that your chair won't open all the way you may need to move your nails a little closer to the edge of the canvas.

I usually put 5 or 6 nails on the back of the arm for support and decoration. The inner piece of fabric is there to take the weight of your body off the back so that those nails don't put out or rip your canvas.

The seat is a bit more straight forward.

Measure the inside length of the tenon.





Then measure around the tenons, the tape should make a loop.


This is the seat, again add your seam allowances but here cut two outer layers, and your two reinforcing inner layers. You will want the finished piece to be a couple inches shorter than the total measured length of the loop. Once it is sewn up and a closed piece of sturdy material you will put in grommets near the edges on each side, 5 is usually a good number. The seat gets wrapped around the tenons and then laced on through the grommets. This allows you to tighten it up or loosen it as you find comfortable over the life of the chair.

At this point, you're done.

I welcome feedback and questions. Have fun, make stuff,

Dare to Be worthy of Your Dreams

The Dantesca Continues. 

This is a much delayed continuation of my post on constructing the dantesca chair.

We last left of the construction with the legs cut and the half laps joints in place.

The next step is centering a hole on the half lap joint and drilling through it. This will accept the bolt that holds the two pieces together., again the pieces will all be identical I prefer to use 1/4" or 5/16" bolts 1 1/2" long, with washers and lock nuts. Once I have the holes drilled I will go in and counter sink the holes so the top of the bolt is just below the surface. The nut side will most likely end up being proud but as it is the inside it is less of a concern.

At this point you need to go through the legs and decide which is front and back of each set. From here out it makes a difference. Once you have decided you should mark which piece goes where so as not to confuse the pieces. Here is where you will layout the mortice holes for the top and bottom stretchers.

The bottom holes will be located behind the decorative protrusions on the lower legs, about 8-10 inch of the ground and parallel to the bottom of the feet and centered in the leg.. The seat supports are between 16-18 inches off the ground and again parallel to the floor, again centered in the leg.. Each mortise will be 1" square, and 1" deep. There are a number of ways to cut the mortices, dedicated hollow chisel machine, drill and square, or pure hand cut. I prefer to drill and square. I chuck a 1" forstner bit into my drill press, set the depth stop and away we go. After drilling all of the legs I grab a one inch chisel and square up the holes. 

The stretchers and seat supports will be 1 1/2" square and between 18 and 20 inches long depending on how deep you like the seat. Keep in mind the material you plan for your seat and back and how much stretching you are likely to have.

For the stretchers I install a dado stack and raise my table say blade to 1/4". Setting a stop at just under 1" I take a couple of passes each side to make the tenon. Once all four tenons are cut test fit and trim accordingly.  

The use clamps to get a dry fit.

The legs should all sit flat on the ground and rotate freely on the bolts. Be careful on your clamping and make sure not to pull the chair out of square. if all legs are not flat on the ground you may need to make some adjustments to how far the legs open, it should be pretty self evident where the adjustments need to be. Once everything is square, flat and looks good, glue it up and let it dry.

EDIT: Going back and reviewing this post I have to correct myself. When you test fit and later glue the body of the chair together start at the bottom two clamps. Tighten then in and set the chair on it's feet. It should sit flat, if not your clamps are put on of center to the tennons and are pulling the chair out of square.

Loosen the clamps enough to let you push down on the high legs and then reclamp, if it raises again try shifing the clamps a little on one end of the clamp or the other. If you move it in and the chair is flat, your good, if it is even more out of square, shift the clamp the other way. Once you have the lower portion flap clamp the top being sure not to let the top pull the bottom out of square. 

Once everything is clamped make sure it still opens and closes easily. Let it dry. 

The arms. 

Next up is the arm construction. I have tried to keep mine fairly true to original lines but have adjusted the end result to my liking. I use a 4x6 for the arms. with a little care you can arrange them so that two nestle into each other with less waste. Once you have them laid out and you have marked the bottoms for the mortise holes that the top of the legs will go into, cut the mortises before you cut out the arms. Much easier while they are still a square block.

After the mortises are cut and fit the chair, cut the arms out. 

How you attach the arms is mostly a matter of personal preference. I have glued them in place, I have also used dowels to secure them to the legs. I have used a combination of the two. However you feel comfortable doing it, now is the time to glue them on and have something that resembles a chair.

There are a good number of in between steps in this process I have left out. Sanding, cleaning up glue. Rounding edges. Ultimately this is all the tedious minor stuff most people will get without me having to say it. Once your chair is assembled take the time now to check it over. No loose joints, rough patches, or dirt marks.

EDIT: Once you are happy with the final product it's time to finish it. Stain, oil, polyurethane, or wax, it's important to put some form of protection between your hard work and the elements. I prefer to use helmspare polyurethane for my chairs, it forms a pretty durable finish, soaks in and enhances the grain of the wood some, and is relatively easy to apply. Several thin coats are much easier to work with than a single heavy coat.

Then set it aside while you prepare the seat and back.

The Dantesca Chair

One of my first big projects for myself was something to sit on. I looked around and came upon a web site called Spiffing Up Your Campsite. Looking through plans on the site I came upon The Coffer Chair and decided I wanted one. At the time I was in the army stationed in Texas, in The Kingdom of Ansteorra. The first chair I built I used a jig saw to cut out the shape, a circular saw to cut half laps and a drill to connect the dowels.

I was pretty proud of my success but found a few things I didn't like. My back support was low and the arms were uncomfortable. I used a board for the seat with some padding but when it folded up I had to carry both parts. plus with my location of the dowels the supports for the back broke off and needed to be repaired. With one success under my belt I went on to a second one. I began the chair and then had to pause it when I deployed to Iraq. Upon returning I used some bonus money to expand my tools collection, adding a sander and a table top belt sander to my collection.

This one was much the same but instead of dowels I used 2x2's and added a solid back. The arms were more comfortable but the back arms still broke and now the chair was in three pieces to move.

In 2004 when I started there weren't very many people making chairs. benches, bag chairs and coleman chairs were the order of the day. I liked the chair and also liked having something so different and unique. but it wasn't quite right so I began looking online for more chairs to learn from.

My searching reveled a number of chairs and some background on the chairs. Coffer chair, Dantesca chair, x chair, curule chair. The chair has many names but Dantesca is what I am most familiar with.





Looking closely at the two chairs posted above you may notice some differences. First and foremost I changed my leg design from the original. This did several major things for me. First and foremost my new layout was more in keeping with the lines of the historic examples I was seeing. Second it let me put my own stamp on the pattern so I was not just copying the work of someone else. Third and final was that I could now cut a leg out of a standard 2x6 from the big box stores. Second I added a wider arm that is tenoned into the legs instead of the dowel. Third I went to all fabric for the seat and back, allowing it to be folded without having loose pieces to carry. Previously I had nailed the seat to the support stretchers but now I am using grommets set into the fabric and cord to allow the tension to be tightened or loosened as needed.



Supplies:

2 - 2x6x8'

4x6x30"

2 yards non stretch upholstery fabric.

10-15 grommets

2 yards of cording

2 carriage bolts 5/16 x 1 1/2"

4 washers 5/16

2 lock nuts 5/16

pattern

Arm Pattern


pattern is on a 1x1 grid


Better lumber will produce a better product of course but this pattern and these instructions are done using cheap lumber store dimensional lumber.

Take your time in selecting your lumber, if you have to go through the entire pile looking for flat and straight boards with no cracks and as few knots as you can get. As long as you make sure to leave the pile reasonably neat most of the time the store doesn't mind.

I like to make sure my boards are flat to begin with so I run them through my jointer first. Once they are flat and smooth I run them through the planer to get them parallel.

I make a number of these chairs so I have created a one to one pattern out of mdf, if your only making one then you can use a paper pattern scaled out so the light blue blocks are 1" square. Placing the pattern on the lumber and trace out. All four legs will be the same at this point.

Cut out the legs using whatever means are available, I have used a jig saw as well as a band saw, a band saw has a greater ability to keep the sides 90 degrees to the face but with care a jig saw will do so as well.

Cut out the legs and clean them up, sand the saw mark and remove any stray pencil marks.

The circular center of each leg needs to have half of the material removed to create a joint known as a half lap joint. My preferred method is to use a router and a circle cutting jig to cut the outside edge of the circle out, going to a depth of 1/2 of the thickness of the leg. 

From here the next step is to remove the remaining material. A hammer and chisel can be used but must be done gently taking a small amount of wood at a time.

If you try to take to much off at once you risk splitting the wood. 

At this point you can use planes, sand paper, files, or any other means at your disposal to get the wood smooth and flat.

Alternately you can use your router to free hand remove the rest, again taking a small amount out each time to avoid splitting.