Six Board Chest

Thanks to Erec over at Medieval Gardening we now have 3 mostly finished 6 board chests. The box was designed to have 2 functions : the first to keep your stuff neatly out of site, and the second is to give you a place to sit. To this end we decided how tall we needed to make each box in order for it to also be a comfortable seat. Being somewhat small of stature I of course have the smallest box.
Doing a woodworking project with Erec is always very fun and interesting because he likes to use hand tools that are as close to their medieval counterparts as possible. We are very spoiled getting to use my Father-in-law's awesome woodshop for all of our woodworking projects so it was really nice to do it "the olde fashion way". Also our son was able to do almost all the work on his by himself. I am so glad that he is old enough to start doing these fun crafts with us. He is also starting to realize the extreme satisfaction you get from being able to say "I made this".

The pictures I have were from the first evenings work. We started around 7pm and worked until 9pm. My husband and son went back a few days later to finish putting them together and I don't have pictures from that. We still need to do some sanding, put on the hardware and then waterproof and paint and decorate them. My son is going to paint his heraldry on his box. I am going to pad and upholster the top of my box so it has a cushioned seat then I will paint the rest with an Ottoman design on it. Frederick has not made his intentions known.

These are the 2 different styles Erec made for examples. The length of the side pieces determine the height of the box. Frederick and my son made the version to the right and I made the version to the left.

The different ways you could arrange the board to fit in to each other. We took the easy route and just have side boards nailed to the ends of the front, back and bottom boards.

Erec showing my son how to start sawing on the board and to make sure he keeps to the marked line

Frederick helps by being a human clamp

My son doing a great job! We let him do it all by himself. I only had a little bit of a stomach ache :)

We avoided math whenever possible. We marked the height of the first board from the one Erec had made before. Then we used the first board cut to measure the second. These first two boards are to be the side of the box.

First we marked the height with an awl.

Then we used the square to mark a straight line on the board using the awl to carve a groove in the board.

Now he is on his own to start the cut using the techniques he learned before.

Now we decided how long to make the board for the front of the box. The board for the front back and bottom of the box are all the same size. The top has to be wider to accommodate for the side boards being nailed to the front, and back boards and also have a little extra overhang to make it easier to open.

Now that my son is able to work on his own with a regular clamp, Frederick is ready to start working on his own box.

When you get to the end of the cut, it is helpful to have someone hold the board on the other side for you.

Erec pulled out the 2 person saw to show us. It is bigger than my son!!!!

And finally I can start my box!

Erec starts to drill the holes in my son's side boards where they will be nailed to the front, back and bottom boards.

All the boards for my box all cut out and ready for the next step.

Erec show my son how to use the jigsaw to cut out the fancy design on the bottom of the side boards.

Here is my son doing it on his own. I was so surprised he didn't break the blade doing this very difficult arabesque design. I admit I couldn't watch for most of it!

 

Frederick is using a plane to even out the front bottom and back boards. Using the handsaw gives a very rough cut (again we are so spoiled using the table saw at the workshop).

Erec gave the tip of using a chisel to make a diagonal cut across the side of the boards so that the plane doesn't chip off the end of the boards. It is so nice to have the benefit of his experience on this project.

I was able to get him to even out my boards too!

 

I get to make the holes in some boards using the hand drill. It was easier than I thought to drill. Sharp tools help a LOT!

Here are my son and Fredericks boxes so far. We still need to do put on the hardware and seal the wood. Then paint as desired.

The side view. My son's box is the one in front and you can see his fancy design.

The front view of my box.

I went with a simple design for the bottom of mine. I cannot wait to get them finished up this weekend.

 

My first Ottoman embroidery project

Way back in 2007 at Pennsic 36 I took a 16th century Ottoman Embroidery Class. The woman who taught it was from the West Kingdom and I can't remember her name but she was really great. I took her classes several times and loved every single minute. I was immediately hooked on this form of embroidery and especially love working with all the silk floss and gold and silver metals.

I recently had to recover from a minor surgery and I really couldn't do much other than sit on the sofa and watch TV and do hand sewing and knitting. I decided to go through all my unfinished projects and get them done once and for all (see my post on the 14th century heraldic dress). This embroidery project is one of those items. She gave us a very nice piece of linen with two flowers drawn on it. We did most of one design in class and had to finish the second on our own. She said that we could then applique the designs on a sash or other item if we liked. As my garb of choice is Turkish I definitely want to get these on a sash.

Now that the embroidery is finally done, I will applique it onto a sash I already have. I found a tutorial on how to applique by hand by making a running stitch around the design and then pulling it tight before pressing it under. I haven't tried it yet but it looked easy enough (famous last words). I hope to get this done in time for Pennsic 42!

Slat Chars-Day 2

After a good night sleep a great breakfast and a trip to church we were ready to continue the work on our chairs. We were going back and forth on when to stain the wood. We had originally thought we would stain before we put it together, but we were worried about having to make modifications to the wood in case something wasn't fitting right, and also there was a lot of rain and humidity and it would take to long to dry. In the end I think we made the right decision because it did take us till 8pm to get them all put together. Of course we did take a break for dinner. It is the other great thing about using my father-in-law's workshop, Mom feeds up pretty well :)

Frederick using the palm sander to finish up the last of the chair rails.

 

This is all the pieces for the "love seat" or double wide chair

 The pieces for chair number 1

Chair number 2.

 

Frederick making a template out of a scrap off wood for where the holes should be drilled on each slat. The slats for the seat part of the chair needed to have the screws set in farther from the edge than the slats for the back of the chair and the cleats. Also the cleats and top and bottom slats on the back of the chair and the seat of the chair got 2 screws in them and all the rest just had one screw in the center. Frederick marked the spot with a nail and hammer and I drilled the holes using the drill press.

 

Easily my favorite machine in the shop. I love to drill holes. I think I must have been a woodpecker in another life.

 

Aside for the use of all his great tools, my Father-in-law's guidance and expertise in woodworking and engineering always makes our projects that much better. Here he set up a brace and clamp to help us make sure the slats are all square and even.

 

Frederick finishing up the slats on the first chair back. The top slat gets put on the top edge of the chair, then the next slat down is spaced 1 1/2 inches from the top slat then each slat is 3/4 inches apart. After the top slat gets put in nice and square and even we used wood that was the thickness needed to guide where the next slat should be placed. It really helped make it all even and it went much faster then if we had measured and marked the rails with a pencil.

 

Harry joins us for moral support. He missed all the sanding that he could have helped us with.

 

Frederick checking to see where the seat slats should go. It is starting to look like a chair!!!

 

We used some super strong wood glue for the "cleats". These are the slats that really support the chairs and keep them from sliding around. We want these to last for many, many years.

 

We were a little nervous about the double wide slats since the brace and clamps we used for the chairs wouldn't work for this. So we just used clamps and measured and squared a lot before we put in the cleats and the top slat. Then we used the 1 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch wood as a guide for the other slats like before.

 

The slats on the seat had to be 1/4 inch apart. We had a piece of wood that was a little wider but worked fine.

 

Putting together the first chair.....

 

Success!!!!

 

These are so comfortable, especially after spending 16 hours standing to make them :)

 

I love how they fold up and are easy to carry. Originally these were going to all stay in our Pennsic trailer, but now we think the single chairs will come with us to events and we will just leave the love seat in the trailer.

 

Frederick testing out the final product.

These will look great around the fire at Pennsic.

 

 

 

We still have a little bit of work to do. We are going to stain them with Thompson's water sealer to help keep them in good condition for years to come. I will also paint some heraldry on the top slats. So many people have chairs like this, it is easy to get them confused. And I always have to over decorate everything anyway (have you seen our tent at Pennsic?).

 

This whole project would have been so much more difficult to do without the help of my awesome Father-in-law (and Frederick's dad), Bob Fox. He has all the right tools for the job and always has great improvements to the patterns we bring him. The bed we made in 2000 is still going strong and I can't imagine camping without it.

 

Speaking of patterns, I can really recommend the patterns we use for most of our woodworking projects. I don't consider myself a skilled woodworker, and I have no problem understanding the instructions in each of the patterns. They are layed out clearly and the finished product is always top notch. I buy them at Panther Primitives but I am sure they are available at other places as well.

 

 

Slat Chairs - Day 1

We have a very small camp at Pennsic. It is a small group of us close knit friends that camp together with our kids and most years the kids outnumber the grown ups. We like to keep it small and family friendly and the original idea was to be as period as possible. Of course we still have propane stoves and toys and crayons that are not strictly period but we try our best to keep the glaring mundane stuff out of site. Money and time are always a factor but every year we try to do a little better. This year we are trying to make our common areas more medieval looking. Our biggest offense (other than the Coleman lanterns) is our mundane camp chairs. I have a medieval looking chair I purchased a couple years back and that it is great for our dining table and it was definitely a splurge for me to buy it back when we had the means to splurge. We art thinking for the dining table we will try and get some 2nd hand or inexpensive new wooden folding chairs and that will look better than our current situation. This weekend we drove to my in-laws so we could take advantage of my father-in-law's most excellent woodshop in the basement and his considerable expertise to help us make a few slat chairs for around our fire pit.

In 2000 we had him help us make our canopy bed from a pattern we bought at Panther Primative (which is where we got the tent from) and we are still enjoying our bed. Last year I bought the pattern for the chairs and it took many months of nagging to get to this point today :) I was not really in on the discussion of what wood to get, and didn't go shopping with the guys so I can't get specific on the deviations from the pattern. I think it was just the thickness of the slats.

The pattern for the chairs we are making one "double wide" loveseat, and 2 adult size chairs. 

Frederick's material list

 

 This wood will be used for cutting the rails for the chairs the bottom picture is the wood for the slats.

The wood we used is clear white pine. It is really nice quality.

We decided to seal the final chairs with Thompson's water sealer so they can withstand many years of the harsh Pennsic weather.

Frederick glued the paper pattern for the chair rails to a piece of Masonite to make it a more sturdy pattern. (After this picture was taken we made him put on safety glasses!!!)

I got to use the chop saw!!!! My job was to cut 13 x 3 feet sections for the slats on the double wide chair and 26 x 18 inche sections for the 2 single person chairs.

Chopping away with my face shield (Safety first!!!)

 

 

My father-in-law setting up the router for me.

Frederick sanding down his template

 

 

The templates at the top of the picture and the wood for the "cleats" (rails that add stability to the chair) are in the bottom of the picture.

Drawing out the chair rails on the wood using his awesome templates.

I have moved on to the router. Both long edges on one side of the wood will be rounded. The edges will be rounded by my Father-in-law since doing the edges are way beyond my skill level.

Frederick is using the chop saw to cut down the chair rail wood to make it easier to work with.

Frederick working the band saw to cut out the chair rails. These chairs would have been so much more work if we didn't have all these great tools to help us.

Frederick sanding the chair rails on the belt sander. You can see all the sawdust in the air.

 doing the final sanding on the chair rails using a fine grade sand paper.

Frederick said I needed to put some muscle into it!

 

Frederick proud of his "bone pile".

Chair rails for the double wide chair.

 

Cleat slats all routed and sanded.

 

Slats for the single size chairs.

 

Chair rails for the single chairs

 

More slats for the single size chair.

Slats for the double wide chair.

 

Tomorrow we just need to finish sanding the chair rails on the belt sander, use the router to round the edges of the slats, drill holes for the screws put it all together then stain.