All of us at Susquehanna Woodcrafters would like to thank you for supporting us and our craft. We hope 2023 brings you health, joy and love of family and friends. Happy New Year.
Before the new year begins I look for a project that I would like to build. Sometimes, it is not a project but a new skill I would like to learn or improve upon a skill. Later in this post I will tell you about my project for 2023.
Previously I was intent on learning new skills. These included:
- Veneering – a thin layer of wood of superior value or excellent grain to be glued to an inferior wood.
- Inlay banding – mainly used in reproduction pieces, involves “cutting small strips and pieces, and gluing them into blanks called packets. You then cut thin strips from a packet and combine them with other thin solid woods or veneers to form patterned strips of inlay.”
- Hand cut dovetails.
- Build a hand plane.
- Build a tea tray with inlaid fans.
- Learn to carve ball and clawfoot legs.
- Build a Federal card table.
- Build a Sheraton mirror.
For some of the above projects I took classes at several woodworking schools. These included: Philadelphia Furniture Workshops and Wood and Shop. I am most grateful to my instructors who include: Alan Turner, Mario Rodriguez, Kaare Loftheim, Craig Vandall Stevens, Glen Huey and many more. To these teachers, thank you for your insight and patience.
Long before last year began, I loved the design of Sam Maloof’s sculptured rocker. It was my goal to one day build a rocker like his. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet Sam. Yet, there is a man who builds these sculptured rockers. That man is Charles Brock. Charles also teaches the process at his school. For those unable to attend the school he produced videos and plans that are very detailed. This is not a paid promotion for Charles, but his website is www.charlesbrockchairmaker.com. So last January, I decided to order is plans and videos. For three months I watched those videos, planned the cuts and went to several hardwood suppliers to find the walnut I was going to use.
So in April, I started laying out what slabs of walnut would be used for the various parts. Before cutting, I measured twice, then rechecked the plans, remeasured, watched the video and finally made my cuts. As of today, the rough cuts are made and as you can see by the picture, the rough assembly looks good without the rocker sleds attached. Now I am beginning to sculpt the final shape of the rocker. This is taking me longer than expected. Just taking my time and I hope to finish the project by Spring.
For the remainder of the year, I want to begin another chair. This one is a reproduction of a Sheraton Corner Chair. Wish me luck. I will need to work the rocker and the chair into free time when I am not working custom projects for customers or coming up with new items for my store. Please note: my on-line store is temporarily closed until I have the new designs ready. You can still order custom items like those in the gallery. Just email or call me.