Woodshop Musings

Turning Shaker Chair Feet

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 19:34:42 GMT

In the early 1800's, Shaker chairs featured wooden ball and socket feet on the back legs to keep the leg bottoms level while tilting. In the original design, the wooden ball foot was secured to the leg with a leather strap that threaded through the foot and into the leg. This design allowed the feet to be held firmly to the bottom of the leg, but not too firm to allow the chair to tilt backwards.

Although a clever design, it suffered a couple drawbacks:

The leather strap would eventually stretch out or deteriorate. This caused the feet to become too loose, and eventually break.
The cavity in the leg, that housed the feet and the strap, compromised the integrity of the leg structure.

A new method was proposed in 1852 to help address the drawbacks in the original design.

I was contacted by a customer who owned a chair that was made from a kit by Shaker Workshops. The feet were attached via the original method - ball and socket feet held with a leather strap. Shaker Workshops was founded in 1970 in Massachusetts with the purpose of reproducing original Shaker furniture as faithfully as possible.

The feet on this chair broke due to the leather strap stretching. He wasn't able to find replacement feet, so I was contacted to reproduce the feet.

I was able to use my lathe to turn new feet, and nearly identical to the original. It was a challenge to make multiple identical parts by hand, but it was a lot of fun.

1 Essential Tool Everyone Should Own

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 13:49:12 GMT

Whether you want to get into woodworking or just a homeowner, a miter saw is a perfect tool to have around. It might seem like you need a full woodshop to get into woodworking, but you really don’t. When I started woodworking, the only tool I had to cut boards was a miter saw. This is one of the best basic tools to have in your garage. I have the 12” Double-Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw (DWS779) . I would recommend this saw, if you’re looking to buy one.

There are 3 main things you can do using this tool:

Straight Cross-Cut
Angled cut
Beveled cut

1. Straight Cross-Cut

One of the easiest things you can do with a miter saw is cut a board to a specific length. Boards are typically available in 8 foot lengths, so you'll need to cut it down to the sizes you need.

2. Angled Cut

An angled cut (mitered cut) is where this tool gets its name. A miter is an angled cut made across the width of a board. A 45 degree angle is one of the most popular angles to cut, but the miter angle can go up to 60 degrees on the right side and 50 degrees on the left. The desired angle can be easily set using the Miter Gauge on the tool.

3. Beveled Cut

A beveled cut is performed by angling the blade in the vertical direction. I don't use this feature much on my miter saw, but it's a good way to make decorative and functional cuts for moldings, picture frames, etc. Setting the horizontal angle (miter) and the vertical angle (bevel) is considered a compound cut. I typically use the table saw for beveled cuts.

There are other features this tool has, but I won't get into them now. These 3 basic features of this tool are great to have whether you're a homeowner, DIYer, or beginner woodworker.

5 Traditional Joinery Techniques

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 12:36:21 GMT

There are so many ways to join two pieces of wood together. When I first started woodworking, I did the easiest joint I could make - the Butt Joint. This is simply butting two boards together using glue, nails and/or screws. Over time, my tools and skills improved, and I began to master various traditional joinery methods.

What are Traditional Joinery Methods?

Traditional Joints primarily use only wood, designed in strategic ways, to join two or more pieces of wood together. These different joint designs have pros and cons depending on the application.

Why Should You Care?

If you don't like wasting money and want quality furniture, then you should care. The strength and longevity of a piece of furniture is determined by the types of joints used. When you're looking at furniture, take a moment to notice what joinery methods are used. It's easy to quickly check - open a drawer, door, or look under it and find out how it was built. Traditional joinery methods take more care, skill and time to implement. This is one of the reasons why the cost of custom furniture is normally higher.

Why are Traditional Joinery Methods Important?

Traditional joinery methods have been used for thousands of years and have stood the test of time. The type of joint used directly impacts the durability and longevity of an item. The joint can determine if the item will stay together for 3 minutes or 3000 years. The forces that can be applied to a joint are multi-directional. The more a joint can protect against multi-directional forces, the longer the joint will last. Good wood joints also allow the joint to expand and contrast with humidity and temperature changes. Joints only secured with screws or nails, can work loose over time due to climate variabilities.

Some of the Traditional Joints I Use

(1) Lap Joint

(2) Dado Joint

(3) Box Joint

(4) Mortise and Tenon Joint

(5) Mitered Rabbet Joint

MuseBuilt, LLC Voted Neighborhood Favorite

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 12:49:12 GMT

About Neighborhood Favorite Awards

Local businesses are the cornerstone of thriving neighborhoods. So every year, Nextdoor runs a campaign called Neighborhood Favorites, to highlight beloved businesses in neighborhoods. This is the only local business award voted solely by neighbors who know. Only 2% of all businesses on Nextdoor are crowned a Neighborhood Favorite each year, which means winning is a pretty big deal!

Neighborhood Favorite Award

We were awarded the 2021 Neighborhood Favorite Award on August 17, 2021 in 4 neighborhoods.

In Indianapolis: Meridian Hills East , College/Monon Trail Corridor and Woodcroft by the Monon .

In Zionsville: Royal Run .

About MuseBuilt, LLC

MuseBuilt, LLC is a local woodworking business based in Indianapolis, Indiana. We design and build affordable custom furniture , home décor and outdoor goods .

Thank you for your support and recognition!

The Cost of Custom Furniture

Sun, 01 Aug 2021 13:59:48 GMT

When people think of custom furniture, they might assume that it's too expensive. If you compare the price of an end table from a big-box store with a custom end table, the custom end table is sure to cost more (at first). In reality, you will spend more money buying Fast Furniture than Custom Furniture. Fast Furniture is designed, manufactured and mass-produced to be as cheap as possible. Particleboard is normally used which is made from sawdust, wood chips and urea-formaldehyde glue (a human carcinogen). Particleboard warps and bubbles when wet, brakes easily, and contains harmful toxins. As a result, this kind of furniture only lasts a few years on average.

" Buy cheap, buy twice"

Many people shop for furniture at well known, big-box stores. It's easy and convenient to just browse for Fast Furniture that you can normally leave with that day. This is the experience most are accustomed to. What are you actually paying for when you purchase from these bigger companies? A lot of your money is going towards their rent, employee costs and miscellaneous overhead.

This table shows a breakdown of where the costs come from.

With custom furniture, you're paying for hand-selected quality wood, durability, longevity, and a unique design to fit exactly what you want.

Quality

We hand select each board and evaluate it on various characteristics. Each board is checked for signs of bowing, cupping, twisting or cracking. The color and grain is also checked to ensure they are all consistent with each other. With Fast Furniture, quality is the first thing sacrificed. They keep prices low by using particle board, MDF, laminates or softwoods. Poor quality wood isn't durable and won't last.

Durability

Various factors affect durability. The first line of defense is choosing the right type of wood. Hardwoods are normally selected as they naturally resist dents and scratches. However, the most important factor is how the furniture is designed and constructed - this is what determines how durable it will be. Before construction even begins, choices on structural integrity has to be thoroughly thought through to ensure the strongest design. You'll never know if it's built too strong, but you'll definitely know when it's not.

Longevity

Quality + Durability = Longevity

When hardwood custom furniture is designed and built the right way, it should last generations. If dings or scratches do appear over time, you can have it refinished or repaired. Fast Furniture that use low quality materials like veneer or particle board, make it nearly impossible to repair - you just have to throw it away.

Unique Design

Custom furniture is designed exactly how you want it. It's a collaboration between you and the woodworker. Owning furniture that you helped design gives you a unique sense of pride, and creates heirloom pieces your family will be proud to pass down for generations.

I understand that not everyone is in a position to spend a little extra on custom furniture. When I purchased my first house, I needed furniture and wasn't concerned with how long it lasted - it just needed to get me by. As time went on, the furniture started to wear out and break down. I wasn't surprised. I got what I paid for. A quick fix at the time actually ended up costing more in the long run. Fast Furniture just doesn't have the quality and durability of hand-crafted furniture.

If it makes sense for your situation, consider looking into custom furniture when you need something new.

10 Steps for Bending Solid Wood

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 01:43:36 GMT

Red Oak has a bending strength of 14,300 pounds per square inch. To put that into perspective, a helicopter, school bus, and semi-trailer weigh about 14,000 pounds. Oak is super strong, and it's not going to want to bend without some serious convincing. Why am I wanting to bend solid oak? Well, a client wanted a high-quality, round end table but was unable to find exactly what she was looking for. I created a 3D sketch of what she wanted, which included curved sides right under the table top. I needed to create 4 sides with a 10" radius with one of those sides acting as a drawer front.

To be thorough, I looked into various options for bending wood. There are multiple ways to go about this:

Bendable Plywood
Kerf-Cut Bending
Steam Bending

Bendable Plywood

Bendable plywood is designed for making curved parts. This method seems to be easier compared to other methods, but requires veneer to be added to each surface, and plywood/veneer are expensive. Using plywood/veneer does not bode well for a high-quality end product that should last generations. It might be an easier method, but not the right solution.

Kerf-Cut Bending

This method involves cutting numerous slots in the wood to make it bendable. The slots can't be cut too deep or too shallow. Too shallow and the board won't bend; too deep and the wood will just break. This method weakens the board and requires veneer to hide the slots. This process can be done on solid wood, but reduces the longevity of the piece.

Steam Bending

This method involves placing wood in a steam chamber to loosen the fibers to make it easier to bend. It's recommended to use air-dried hardwoods that have straight grain running parallel to the edges. I decided I would move forward with this method, because I didn't have to use plywood, veneer or weaken the structural integrity of the piece.

How I Bent Solid Oak

I made a steam chamber out of a 6" PVC pipe with caps on the ends and drilled holes to allow the vapor and condensed vapor to escape. Not having proper venting will just create a steam powered bomb! I purchased a steamer from Rockler and attached it to the chamber.

I don't have easy access to air-dried oak, so I moved forward with kiln-dried oak. When wood is kiln-dried, the lignin in the wood dries out and hardens making it even harder to bend. To account for this, I submerged the boards in water for at least 24 hours prior to steam bending.

When wood bends, the inner surface compresses and the outer surface wants to stretch. This fact was visible during my initial tests. In one instance I saw the inner surface actually wrinkle up, like a rug when you trip on it. In another instance, I saw the outer surface stretching, which shows up as long splinters shooting off, tangent to the curved surface. The solution to this is quite simple - a compression strap.

The objective of a compression strap is to force the outside surface to be under compression instead of wanting to stretch. I made the compression strap out of a metal sheet with wood stoppers on either end. The wood is placed between the stoppers, which doesn't allow the board to stretch. I installed eye bolts on the compression strap stoppers as a place to attach ratchet straps to aid in bending.

Because I was using kiln-dried oak, I decided to steam it longer than recommended. It's recommended to steam for 1 hour for every 1" of thickness. I was using ¾" thick oak, so technically I only needed to steam for 45 minutes, but I decided to steam for 1 hour. After the wood is done steaming, the wood needs to be removed from the chamber, added to the bending form with the compression strap and bent to shape in just a minute or two. Not moving fast enough will allow the wood to stiffen causing stress fractures during the bending process.

After leaving the board in the bending form to cool, I carefully transferred it to a holding form. I tried to minimize and mitigate the spring-back that occurs once the board is removed from the forms. I did this in two ways: (1) made the board longer than I needed so I could remove the portions of the curve that would spring-back, and (2) kept each board in a holding form for at least a few days.

After a few practice runs, I was able to successfully bend solid oak with the correct curvature my design called for.

Steps I Used for ¾" Kiln-dried Oak:

Assemble the steam chamber.
Submerge the boards in water for at least 24 hours.
Start the steam chamber and wait until the steam reaches 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the board in the steam chamber for 1 hour.
Get the bending form area setup with the bending form, compression strap, ratchet straps and clamps.
Remove the board from the steam chamber and quickly place it in the bending form.
Using the ratchet straps, bend the board around the form, clamping to help hold it in place.
Wait until the board cools, then carefully transfer to a holding form.
Remove the board from the holding form after a few days.
Any small splintering that might appear as the wood cools can easily be sanded out.

Bending solid kiln-dried oak can be done with patience, persistence and the right equipment. I look forward to using this new skill in future projects!

How I Started Woodworking

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 14:05:58 GMT

I recently finished up one of my most challenging projects to-date - A solid wood, round end table . It involved steam bending solid ¾" oak for the sides, a lattice pattern on the top and traditional joinery methods throughout. I couldn't help but reflect on when and how my woodworking journey began.

Let's rewind back to July, 2017. I was laying on the couch watching one of my small dogs climb the doggy stairs onto the couch. He could jump on the couch just fine, but he preferred the stairs. I was tired of looking at this flimsy, fabric wrapped staircase. I tried to find better stairs, but couldn't find any that weren't super expensive. A thought came to my mind, "Why don't I just make my own doggy stairs out of wood?" This one thought started it all. I didn't have any woodworking experience and very little experience using power tools.

The only power tools I had at the time was a Hitachi 10-inch Miter Saw and a Makita Drill . I went to a home improvement store, grabbed some cedar boards and some screws. Within the first 10 minutes of building the stairs, I stumbled upon my first woodworking mistake. My initial thought was to make a line on the board every 15" for each step - a line at 15", a line at 30", etc. I decided I could just measure all at once, then make all the cuts. Once I cut the four steps out, I discovered the steps were not all the same length! How could this be? I measured exactly what I wanted and checked it twice. Then it hit me, my measurements did not account for the thickness of the miter saw blade. The blade is ⅛" thick. Each cut removed ⅛" of material, so my next step was only 14 ⅞" long and the next step even shorter. A silly mistake, but a useful one. I need to measure, make a cut, measure again, make another cut. I made the length of each step 14" to fix the error, finished the stairs and felt a sense of accomplishment. I made what I set out to make, and it worked.

My First Lesson

"Woodworking is one third planning, one third execution, and one third figuring out how to change your plan to cover up that mistake that you just made during the execution." - Unknown

Soon after, I had the urge to make my own coffee table. The one I had was littered with scratches and bubbled areas. It was a cheap particle board table. Using only my miter saw and drill, I built a coffee table. I posted it on Facebook, and had someone willing to pay me to make another one just like it. I made a little money and posted that project on Facebook which resulted in more projects, and the cycle continued.

I realized I inadvertently created a woodworking business. I thought I might as well make it official. This is when MuseBuilt, LLC was formed. I reinvested the money I earned to start the LLC and to purchase a Dewalt 10" Table Saw with a 32.5" Rip Capacity . Because I was inexperienced and needed to gain credibility, I didn't charge that much. This brought reviews and more exposure. I'm still able to keep my prices reasonable, because I don't have the overhead that most woodworking companies do, and it's not my full-time job.

What started out as just making a couple things for myself, snowballed into a side business and I haven't stopped since. I've been learning as I go, learning from mistakes and perfecting new techniques. If you're interested in woodworking, just start. The rest will work itself out.