Bombarde16 Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Been lurking for a while, but I once again have my little lathe set up and am launching into a new project. For lack of a better term, I'm calling it a Follansbee book stand, because the design was featured on a Woodwright's Shop episode with the man himself. (Knowing Peter, one may assume he took the idea from an older source, but we'll give him credit for it all the same.) Hiking a state park a few months ago, I came across a monster cherry tree that had just been felled. Figuring they had dropped the tree with an eye towards mulching it later, I came back later that weekend with a saw and helped myself to a chunk. That has since been sliced into blanks and has been drying for a few months. If the gods are smiling, there's enough there for two of these stands. In the meantime, I'm making a prototype out of construction lumber. I eyeballed dimensions from screenshots of the WWS and from Peter's website, so a prototype is also a good chance to firm up exact inches and whatnot before tearing into the real stock. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Glad you are still with us Rob. I enjoy your projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Nice to see a project that takes some inspiration then works up a prototype before starting with the good wood !Always fun to follow your builds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted September 8, 2015 Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Very cool Rob..Like your projects also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2015 Finished one upright. They're supposed to be an inch and a half round. This is dimensional lumber and (of course) it's impossible to get the stock perfectly centered. So, there's a flat on the back. Sir Roy actually called Follansbee out on TV because some of his turnings had flats on them as well. He retorted that this is a.) historically authentic and b.) better than turning all the way to round and leaving a piece that is "too slight". Fair enough, I'll orient these toward the back in the prototype. The real stock, of course, is milled generously and will be turned completely round. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2015 Made the ratcheting doohickey. Just need to turn the feet and make the base. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted September 9, 2015 Report Share Posted September 9, 2015 Nice work Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 Turnings complete. Dressed a scrap of pine to 1/2" for the shelf. Now where's my 3/4" Forstner?... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 Pro tip: When selecting wood for pieces that will be carved by hand, avoid stock that has a KNOT right in the middle of the part you intend to whittle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2015 Holes drilled...badly. I used a square and lined things up as best I could but everything came out off by two or three degrees. Clamped the long diagonal to square things for the glue-up. We shall see if it stays that way when I release the clamps. If not, I suppose a parallelogram frame would still work. It'd just look a little dippy. That said, we need to up our game when time comes to drill the real thing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Home stretch for the prototype. Scrollsawed some quick frills into the shelf, glued it and the feet onto the frame. Gluing in the arms of the ratchet mechanism now. This one will certainly be usable (and I'll probably pass it off to someone as a present) but there'll be a nice long post of lessons learned for when the cherry is dry enough to make the real thing. Will probably finish with a cursory wipe of linseed oil and then get into the debrief. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted September 15, 2015 Report Share Posted September 15, 2015 Really cool project! Prototype is awesome, i cant imagine how good the final product will be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 A friend offered some time on his thicknesser, so I hit the future shelves with a first round of planing. They had twisted badly so I began by gluing sacrificial rails of construction lumber on the sides. (Bonus: make the rails a little overlong and this technique completely eliminates snipe.) I took them down to 7/8", still a ways away from the eventual finished thickness of 1/2". We'll let them settle and see if they want to twist some more. In the meantime, I took advantage of the dressed surface to preview things with mineral oil. Definitely some of the blotchier cherry one will see, so that's a finishing hurdle that will have to stay in the back of my mind as I work with pieces from this log. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Good work around Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted October 4, 2015 Report Share Posted October 4, 2015 glad to know your still rob havent seen you in a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-MattK- Posted October 5, 2015 Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 Holes drilled...badly. I used a square and lined things up as best I could but everything came out off by two or three degrees. Clamped the long diagonal to square things for the glue-up. We shall see if it stays that way when I release the clamps. If not, I suppose a parallelogram frame would still work. It'd just look a little dippy. That said, we need to up our game when time comes to drill the real thing. Rob, I'm only a few weeks into woodturning (taking a class at SUNY Purchase right now), so please excuse me if this is ridiculously obvious... but here what I was thinking about for this part: Leave it on the lathe - lock the spindledrill a guide hole through a piece of wood, perpendicular to the flat side of the board.Attach that piece of wood to the banjo (maybe to the tool rest, so the hole for the drill bit is parallel to the ground and vertically centered between points)Use a square to ensure the drill bit is perpendicular to the cylinder.Drill your recesses out, using the guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted October 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 Certainly a workable solution, Matt. My particular lathe doesn't have a spindle lock, so I'd have to improvise something there. That said, it's perfectly doable to drill a straight hole by hand. I just did a bad job is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted October 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 Starting in on the real deal. One of the lessons learned is that I need to think things through such that I spend less time changing the jaws on the chuck. With any luck, this should go more like an assembly line and I'll be able to work in batches. First up are the uprights. Since these are longer and thicker, if I screw one up it can be cut and turned down to become a crosspiece. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Four uprights roughed round. One of which I oiled and then left in the sun for a day to get a sense of how things will age. Looks promising. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted November 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 Roughing the crosspieces. Still have ten so far. So, theoretically, I'm still on track to make two of these. For now, I'm taking them down to 1.5" ~ 1.25" in diameter. We'll see what they do and then finish them down to an inch when we cut the tenons. This would be a lot easier with a proper saw to get the blanks straight and to nip the corners before turning. Some day... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted November 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Picking through the last scraps to get pieces for the ratcheting mechanism. Ripped this piece and revealed the dramatic color change brought on by six months of direct sunlight. No finish, no photoshop, just photons. Isn't cherry great? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Back into the home stretch. All of the spindles have been settling for a while and can now be turned to their final shape. Two down, eight to go. I made a steel wire garrote to burn some details. Works quite well: fifteen seconds of moderate pressure, a little smoke, and you have a sharp, blackened line. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted December 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 Five down. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted December 1, 2015 Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 Looking good Rob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bombarde16 Posted December 1, 2015 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted December 1, 2015 Seven down. Fingers crossed, no casualties yet! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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