Month: July 2020

I was so happy with the nightstand that I made for my sister-in-law that I wanted to use that plan again, but minus the part where I had to put a log through the band saw. Oh, and minus the part where I put it on skinny little legs. I had gone with the Central Jersey Woodworking Association (http://cjwa.org/) to visit the D.C.C. Inc. sawmill. Dane Enright operates this mobile log milling operation, and obtains very interesting logs. He kindly gave me a block of black locust. I had wondered about this stuff. It’s traditionally used for fence posts and boat knees because it’s hard and doesn’t rot. It’s color, when it’s newly cut, is a startling greenish yellow. Those are not great recommendations for furniture wood. But I wanted to know more. So…

• 

• 

I rounded the edges, and set the sides back about half an inch. This is a forgiving pattern. It doesn’t need to be exact. I drilled the finger holes and then cut across to create the dividers and spacers.When it came to cutting the drawers, I had to hold a cylindrical piece as I put it through the saw. The saw wants to spin a piece like this and knock it out of my hands, so I held it in a clamp. This was so handy that I now hold the square pieces like that as well.

• 

• 

Everything was machine cut and sanded so far on this piece. The wood is much too stringy and tough to carve, but I wanted some handwork, so I textured the edges with a gouge. You can just barely see it in this photo, on the side pieces. You can also see the awesome streaks of color in the wood, which is great in a piece like this but would be difficult for traditional furniture manufacture.

• 

• 

Here it is, with four drawers. I would certainly use this wood again, but only for simple machined shapes like this. This piece will be for sale as soon as there’s an opportunity, and I’m cutting a smaller one out of black walnut. I’ll be looking for new things to do with variations on this pattern.

• 

•