Let me begin by correcting a couple of mistakes from past columns. First, I incorrectly identified Wayne County as the county in Ohio that had the largest Amish population anywhere in the world. In truth, Holmes County, Ohio, actually holds that distinction and is also where my youngest daughter and her family live. Sorry about that.
Secondly, a few weeks ago, I wrote that Robert Duvall starred in the movie, Hearts in Atlantis. I meant to say Anthony Hopkins. For some reason I tend to get those two actors mixed up in my mind. Maybe it is because they are both really good actors who are getting on in years. I regret that mistake as well. I renew my commitment to accuracy going forward.
Today is Saturday, which is not the day I like to be writing my column for the following week, but I have been busy in the shop. Not working in the shop during the work week in order to write a column is a difficult decision to make, so I tend to put the writing off until, finally, I literally have to do it. This says nothing about how much I enjoy writing, though, since I happen to enjoy it very much. Maybe it is because I enjoy it so much that I hate to let it compete with what feels like real work. Who knows?
For lunch today, Linda and I had homemade chili and corn chips. Linda makes her chili without tomatoes and, for some reason (other than tomatoes), it is very good. It must be the peppers. Her chili is red, but the color comes from the peppers she uses in the recipe. I like to top mine off with diced onions. Uhhmmm!
About the beds I have been building in the shop. They are built in the craftsman style, which is my favorite, and are made of quartersawn white oak lumber. Quartersawn white oak contains rays or flecks in the wood grain that catch the light differently than the rest of the wood. This gives the lumber a beautiful look which can't be matched with regular (flatsawn) lumber. It does, however, create a problem when it comes to the legs or posts on the bed. For instance, if you were to glue up a couple of boards in order to make a bed post, two sides would have the quartersawn look and two sides would have the flatsawn look. This tends to take away from the beauty of the furniture, so it is nice if you can get that quartersawn look on all four sides of the post.
There are various ways of accomplishing this. You could cut a thin veneer of quartersawn wood to cover the flatsawn sides. Many builders do it this way and it works for them. I prefer to take four boards and cut the edges at a 45 degree angle and then glue all four boards together to form a square. This way I have control over which two boards are next to each other and can choose the prettiest two to turn toward the outside where they will show more. With my method, it is very important that all four boards are the same width and thickness. Otherwise the angles won't match up and you will have trouble getting the posts square and strong enough to withstand daily use. I use tape to hold my posts together until the glue dries. Sometimes I also use a clamp or two. You do need to make sure your table saw is cutting at a true 45 degree angle.
Craftsman style furniture relies on mortise and tenon joinery for part of its unique look. This is where it is important to take a cautious approach to your work. I call it "sneaking up on your cut." I cut my tenons using a dado blade on the table saw and, if you are not careful, it is way too easy to cut the tenon too small for the mortise. So you have to sneak up on the fit by having the mortises cut and handy for dry fitting the tenons. Then take small amounts of wood off the tenon until it fits snugly into the mortise. The tenon shouldn't slip back out without some pressure from you.
I cut the mortises on a router. Since I don't have a router table yet (Christmas is coming, Honey), I run across the road to Travis Pendergrass' cabinet shop and use his mortising set up. Travis uses mortise and tenon joints on his face frames. The only problem with using his router is the router bit is ¼-inch in diameter and I need it to be a bit wider. So to solve that problem I run a piece through and then turn it around and run it through again from the other side. This makes for a wider mortise that works well for me.
Before lunch my son Eric and I finished spraying the finish on the first bed. It looks good and I am hopeful the customer will think so too. I'm sure her children are ready to sleep in a real bed for a change instead of on the floor.
At lunch Linda asked me if she needed to worry about fixing anything for supper. I told her I reckoned not. I think this is her way of asking about eating out and my way of saying it's okay with me if we do. But then it may be her way of suggesting we skip supper altogether. I sure hope not.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 12/14/2016