Quirky Hand Made rustic furniture

  The new year bring a fresh collection of stools  tables and chairs.

 

 

Twenty Tables Stools & Chairs

My latest handywork creations in wood include the following items.  All have Oak tops and a natural vegetable-oil and beeswax finish. No screws or nails are used. Joints are waterproof glued and wedged. 

Legs are either lathe-turned or cut from young coppice sticks. The atter randomly shaped and chosen for their rustic appeal and aesthetic quality. No two items are the same and because my work is not machine made each one is unique.

Stick legs are Hazel, Sweet Chestnut or Sycamor wood cut to shape on an old fashioned bodgers horse using a draw knife and spokshave. Where the grlain of the wood demands I like to use a flambe'd finish to accentuate the grain and to help the natural oil and beezwax pentrate deep into the wood.

 Tuba Skinny

 

 

Pair of nesting tables with figured oak top and lathe turned legs

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Childs Stool

Flamb' Ovals

Rustic and quirky

Rustic with bark on legs and flamb' top

Sheffield Cutlers stool

Rustic wany edge

Rustic Oval

Lathe turned legs

Hazel Legs

Rustic oval

Rustic with wany edge

Teak legs on upcycled wood

Jacobean stained legs

Rustic stool with centre carry-piercing

Three new legs on the old chair & table top waiting for its legs.

Awaiting assembly

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 F.A.Q.  Footnote:  I am sometimes asked if I undertake commisions and the answer is "selectively and sometimes".   Repair work I will not normally accept, unless required to my own pieces under guarantee, (happily undertaken but rarely needed).

Wood is carefully selected from a local supplier Yandles of Martock.

Windfalls or driftwood is sometimes used. I am sometimes asked if I can use tree sized wood from the garden. If you deliver it to me planked and cut into useable form - yes.!

Stools and spindle chairs - How to make

 

From little to large my rustic stools

The Welsh stick back chair

Variety of small tables stools and a chair at Market Stall

Advancing on with my little stools and exploring the wide variety of styles possible with the limited tools I have in a small garage workshop, here are some thoughts for the beginner wishing to explore the practical methods of this simple craft.

The wood need not be too expensive and the type depends on availability as much as workability. Oak or Elm is preferred for the seats. Legs can be of Oak, Ash, Sycamore, Hazel, Chestnut, but these don't exclude the use of soft woods that will usually be of lighter weight.

At first I was using my battered black & decker work bench for preparing the legs under the draw knife and spoke shave. After many months struggling to speed up the process I put together a bodgers horse. This simple device is a sit-upon work horse with holding clamp – vice controlled by the foot rests. Many sorts can be found on you-tube videos.

I do use power tools as well as hand tools. The indispensable ones include the power drill, jigsaw, spokeshave, draw-knife and Japanese pull saw. The larger electric machines include a lathe and a band-saw.

The essential skill to acquire is the forming of the joint between leg and seat.

I use a Forstner bit here to drill the hole and a spokeshave to shape the circular tenon that fits this hole and a set of dividers to get a good fit.

The tenon is sawn down to form a slot for a hardwood wedge that has to be driven into the joint and lock it tightly together. A PVA waterproof wood glue is used and will ensure the joint will not fail.

My latest attempt at something more advanced is the stick back chair. Many different styles have emerged over time and I have drawn upon the wealth of images to be found on Google. Antique shop sites also picture these chairs in a wide variety of forms and an amazing variety of prices.

Finishing the wood surface, I usually apply Linseed oil. Alternatively I apply a beeswax home-brewed finish. I also have a method of scorching the wood surface with a hand held blow lamp. Before the heated wood surface cools I quickly sand down the hot surface and apply the wax which soaks deeper into the wood and may be polished with fine sandpaper or wet and dry paper. A very smooth surface with a pleasant shine and improved colour results.