Popular Post Art Posted January 14, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 This is a project I recently finished. It is a reproduction of a medieval bench from the following book: I've always been interested in this historical period, so I thought it this project would be a good way to combine my interests. The original was made of oak, but I made it out of some this old Indian wood panel that we've had for years, but don't want to hang up anymore: I cut it up and milled it. The carvings were pretty deep and the panel was only about 1 1/4" thick to begin with, so after miliing it was barely 3/4". I intentionally left some of the carving in. I figured it added some character to the finished piece, but also allowed me to preserve some thickness. The construction itself is pretty basic - some pinned through tenons, and angled tenons for the seat. The main reason I wanted to do it was for the linenfold carving on the sides. This was a new challenge for me, but I didn't really have the right tools, so the whole thing was done with bench chisels and sandpaper: Anyway, here it is finished and in it's final spot. Even though it is meant to be a small bench, it's a little small ( I guess people were smaller 500 years ago). It makes a great side table by my "Dad's Coffee Chair": I have no idea what kind of wood this is though. The original piece was made in India, and the wood is fairly heavy, a bit oily, and the grain is very crazy which made the carving a bit challenging. If anyone has any ideas on the type of wood, I'd love to hear them. This is as good a photo of the end grain as I could get: Anyway, thanks for reading... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Very cool project! I really like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Good job, Art. Looks like one heck of a carving job. How long did that take you ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Nice job! Cool piece! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 That's really neat looking. My guess is the wood is a Luan or in the meranti family. Some times this meranti and luan is sold as Philippine Mahogany but is nto related to mahogany at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Thanks for the replies guys. The carving on the first side took about 3 hours while I figured it out. There were a couple of setbacks. The second side only took about and hour and a half. The problem now is that those carvings are very difficult to see, so nobody really knows they're there, except me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Nice little table. Could you do a little glazing to enhance the shadows of your carving ? Maybe shesham? I think the lower grades look kinda like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 Thats some real nice looking work. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 I hadn't heard of those two types of wood that were mentioned. It's not a big deal in any case, I was just a little curious. I had thought about trying to enhance the carving a bit, but the main reason I did it was for the learning experience anyway, so the fact it isn't particularly visible isn't a big issue. In the future, I'll likely do some kind of chest in a similar fashion, and rather than having raised panel sides, I'll likely do a similar linenfold pattern, so the learning experience was valuable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new2woodwrk Posted January 14, 2018 Report Share Posted January 14, 2018 That is one sweet table, well done Grats on the build and thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 15, 2018 Report Share Posted January 15, 2018 Nice job, Art! The linen fold looks very crisp and smooth, I'm surprised they didn't take a lot more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjeff70 Posted January 16, 2018 Report Share Posted January 16, 2018 I can barely find reproduction plans for Federal period furniture, let alone Medieval Renaissance. Pretty cool. Makes me want to watch an episode of Vikings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted January 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 On 1/16/2018 at 11:02 AM, sjeff70 said: I can barely find reproduction plans for Federal period furniture, let alone Medieval Renaissance. Pretty cool. Makes me want to watch an episode of Vikings. I got the book at Lee Valley. The plans aren't great, as they are mostly descriptive, but certainly give you enough to work on, assuming you've done this for a little while. Some of the bigger projects look really awesome, but wouldn't really fit in with the decor in my house. I really like the idea of recreating historical pieces. Now if I could only find an outlet for them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjeff70 Posted January 18, 2018 Report Share Posted January 18, 2018 20 hours ago, Art said: I got the book at Lee Valley. The plans aren't great, as they are mostly descriptive, but certainly give you enough to work on, assuming you've done this for a little while. Some of the bigger projects look really awesome, but wouldn't really fit in with the decor in my house. I really like the idea of recreating historical pieces. Now if I could only find an outlet for them... Same here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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