Sculptured Lectern/Music Stand

[Bmac]

Getting some more time in the shop for more interesting projects as I've finished up some Christmas gifts and my time surf fishing has slowed down. I saw this project first on Scott Morrison's website, and have seen it performed very well by fellow WoodTalk member, Dale. It always struck me as an interesting piece and it looked challenging, so I'm going to give it a shot. This will to be a challenge for me and I'm nervous putting it up as a journal, but I also know if I journal this it will push me on this project. I'm most concerned with the lathe aspect of this project, as I'm not a master turner. Other aspects of this build do fit into my skill set of sculpturing pieces. Once finished I plan to give these to my church and hopefully they can be put to good use.

Since I'm doing one I figured I may as well do three (currently my church has 8 music stands, and I'm not doing that many). I plan to make one out of Walnut as the primary wood and Maple as the secondary wood. The other two will have Maple as the primary wood and Cherry as the secondary. 

Here's the what it is supposed to look like when done;

Written directions with template package, thanks Dale for the written directions;

Templates;

Milled up pieces for the post and base. 

Hopefully this week I can get some more milling done on other pieces for this project and start gluing up the post pieces. More to come and thanks for looking.

[lewisc]

This will be a fun project to do. If you havent, pick up a copy of Sam Maloof's Woodworker. It's a good read plus it has many pictures of Sam, his work and process.  https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/sammaloofwoodworker.aspx

Here's a pic of my version of his stands. I made it about 7 years ago. It was quite challenging. Not quite as finessed as the one you’re doing but I was happy with it. 

 

[treeslayer]

I hope my parish priest is on this forum, that looks way over my skill level, nice work so far

[curlyoak]

Based on your previous work you may want to consider doing all 8. You would be remembered every Sunday as long as that church stands! As long as you live and beyond. Something to contemplate. I would make 9. One only prototype then 8 more...

[Spanky]

Anybody know Dave’s priest phone number? I will see if I can help, Dave get a new job!  

[Bmac]

12 hours ago, lewisc said:

This will be a fun project to do. If you havent, pick up a copy of Sam Maloof's Woodworker. It's a good read plus it has many pictures of Sam, his work and process.  https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/sammaloofwoodworker.aspx

Here's a pic of my version of his stands. I made it about 7 years ago. It was quite challenging. Not quite as finessed as the one your doing but I was happy with it. 

 

Yes, I have that book and it is a favorite of mine. Nice job with those stands. I'm sort of thinking about tweaking my plan and doing a solid piece of wood for the top piece rather than the wooden strips. I'm going to see what looks better once I get to that stage but I like yours and yours gives me confidence it will look good. Thanks for sharing, it was very helpful.

1 hour ago, curlyoak said:

Based on your previous work you may want to consider doing all 8. You would be remembered every Sunday as long as that church stands! As long as you live and beyond. Something to contemplate. I would make 9. One only prototype then 8 more...

Well I appreciate the confidence but you're giving me too much credit. Doing 8 would be a lot to batch together. But I very well may do another set of three if these turn out nice, then maybe another set. Might need to cut down a few more trees if I was going to tackle 8. 

 

[bleedinblue]

I spent many years through high school and college looking at music stands.  THIS is what I was used to!

That looks like a helluva challenging project, looking forward to following along. 

[Tpt life]

I am a full time music teacher. This resonates. What was your strength Frank?

[RIW]

On 11/26/2018 at 6:49 PM, Bmac said:

Getting some more time in the shop for more interesting projects as I've finished up some Christmas gifts and my time surf fishing has slowed down. I saw this project first on Scott Morrison's website, and have seen it performed very well by fellow WoodTalk member, Dale. It always struck me as an interesting piece and it looked challenging, so I'm going to give it a shot. This will to be a challenge for me and I'm nervous putting it up as a journal, but I also know if I journal this it will push me on this project. I'm most concerned with the lathe aspect of this project, as I'm not a master turner. Other aspects of this build do fit into my skill set of sculpturing pieces. Once finished I plan to give these to my church and hopefully they can be put to good use.

Since I'm doing one I figured I may as well do three (currently my church has 8 music stands, and I'm not doing that many). I plan to make one out of Walnut as the primary wood and Maple as the secondary wood. The other two will have Maple as the primary wood and Cherry as the secondary. 

Here's the what it is supposed to look like when done;

Written directions with template package, thanks Dale for the written directions;

Templates;

Milled up pieces for the post and base. 

Hopefully this week I can get some more milling done on other pieces for this project and start gluing up the post pieces. More to come and thanks for looking.

Brian, good luck with the build. It was a hard build for me because that was my first Maloof style piece. 

[Bmac]

Got some shop time this week as my surf fishing is starting to slow. Made some progress on the stands with a few techniques/procedures I was nervous about. So lets get into it.

First thing I focused on was the support post. the plan called for the secondary wood to be glued to the ends of the support post. The directions simply said glue the pieces (it's gluing end grain to end grain) and then turn on the lathe. Well I didn't feel good about that so I supplemented to glue joint with a 3/8th dowel. Using a doweling jig I drilled the dowel holes;

Next I prepared some 3/8th dowels;

Then I epoxied the blocks of secondary wood;

After some cleanup it was on to the lathe. The posts were 1.75" square and I needed to turn it down to a 1.5" round post.

A spindle rest is key here as the post is close to 36" long. First one came out fine;

Here are the three turned to 1.5 diameter. I left the top of the post square. This will help me drill the 1/2" hole to attach the gooseneck of the stand. Also I can then sculpture the post into the gooseneck. 

Next it was on to the bottom support. I need to make a 1.5" hole in the center of a 3"x 3"x 13" block of wood. My 1.5" diameter post will fit into this hole. How the plan shows to do this is split the support block then take a 1.5" round nose router bit and set it up on your router table. Then you run each half of the block over the bit, gradually increasing the height until you have a perfect circle.

What's tricky is that if you don't have the fence set perfectly than the two pieces won't make a perfect circle. To avoid this you need to run the same side of the support block against the fence, see how my arrows above show me the direction to feed the piece into the router bit, when the two pieces are mated together, the same side was run up against the fence. In the end it worked! A nice centered circle;

.

And the tryin worked!

 

[Spanky]

Bmac you need to slow down on your woodworking, timber cutting, fishing and chainsaw milling. You are starting to made me look bad. 

[Spanky]

Bmac I see you have a Powermatic lathe that was made in McMinnville.

You do any bowl turning?

[Bmac]

23 minutes ago, Spanky said:

Bmac I see you have a Powermatic lathe that was made in McMinnville.

You do any bowl turning?

That lathe was given to me by my Grandfather, I'm not a big turner and haven't turned many bowls, but it is something I could see myself get into.

That lathe is no frills but it gets the job done.

[Bmac]

Made some progress today in the shop, many focused on the legs Each leg is made of 2 pieces joined at a 45 degree angle. The plan calls for 2 dowels but I'll use 1 domino in each. I milled and sized all pieces, 24 to be exact, 8 for each stand. Once the legs are glued than I need make dados to fit into the bases, but I'm jumping ahead. 

Here is how the leg is put together;

The leg with the pattern overlayed;

A pile of pieces, a lot of domino work;

Also glued up the base the legs attach to and the post fits into. A tough glue up since you can't have glue seeping into the hole or the post won't fit. To prevent a squeeze out disaster I glued and clamped the bases, then I took a small wet rag and pushed it through the post hole a few times to cleanup any squeeze out, that worked well and here are the bases ready to get the stop dado cut;

Hope to get legs glued up and the joints for the base done this week. 

[bleedinblue]

On 11/28/2018 at 10:51 AM, Tpt life said:

I am a full time music teacher. This resonates. What was your strength Frank?

I played the trombone through HS and college in every band offered.  I was all in on jazz though, everything else was just for scholarship requirements.  Then I literally and figuratively traded that life for my current when I sold my two best horns to pay for my academy uniforms and equipment.  Miss it, but probably couldn't play a lick if I tried.

[DerekMPBS]

I played trombone in junior high and high school, and for a year afterward.  My horn has been in the closet for close to 30 years now.  I got it out a few years ago and tried to play, and found out that I couldn't even blow one note.  It would take me months to get back to being able to play.

At least I can still read music.

[Coop]

I played the field in HS and that too was a sour note. Looking forward to this journal @Bmac. Great start so far. 

[Bmac]

Made a little progress on this build this weekend, but my log procurement ate up a lot of intended shop time. I'll take that tradeoff as the logs I got will keep me busy for years.

I glued up the leg pieces. I used one domino, a 6 I think, in each joint. The clamping was alittle tricky but by using a second clamp to keep the pieces from sliding things worked out well;

All 12 legs glued up;

Next started on the stop dados in the base. Did these on my table saw and worked out well;

Squared them up with chisels and router plane;

With the dado set still in the table saw I cut the joint in the legs;

Then using the bandsaw cut out the shape of the legs and had my first look at the assembled base;

Finally, I put my 1/2" dowel hole in the top of the support post. By keeping the top square at the end I was able to use my doweling jig for a centered hole;

Have some shaping/routering to get my contours for the legs and I'm close to gluing up the base. Started selecting lumber for the top pieces today. I think I may look to do a solid top instead of the slats, but I'm going to try and get everything put together before I make that decision. 

 

 

 

 

[Bmac]

Slowly moving ahead, taking some time figuring out the best way to tackle the shaping aspect of this project, but it's starting to click. Two of the three bases are glued up, the other needs the initial shaping done on the legs before I glue that up. 

Here's the first base I glued up prior to shaping, legs have just the preliminary shaping done;

Here's the same base a few hrs later shaped and sanded to about 120, still have some detail sanding to do and will sand to 320;

Next I tackled the lever that raises and lowers the main post. Got a 1/2" wood threading kit from Woodcraft, surprisingly easy;

Finally, here's the process to shape between the legs on the base, goes pretty quickly now that I've done a few. Here's the base prior to shaping the area between the leg, I had cut off a 45 degree slice of the post prior to gluing to help with shaping;

Start with a die grinder;

Next alittle rasp work then the Festool RO 90 with interface pad and 80 grit followed by hand sanding to 120;

Next I need to use my rasps to blend the top of the leg into the base then use my Festool RAS 115 to aggressively taper and round the top of the base. But that will have to wait until another day. 

[RichardA]

Looking slick.  Keep at it.

[curlyoak]

Looks very good! A lot of effort and skill working the column. Exotic!

[Bmac]

This project was just what I expected, a definite challenge, and I mean that in a good way. Haven't moved very quickly with this, but I am moving forward. Here's some progress;

Some more shaping pics, got the leg contour started at the router table and marked the midline;

Then it was a lot of rasp work, blended the chamfers together into one peak. After doing 12 legs I was really wore out! 

Glued a small piece of leather to the tip of the knob that stops the main post;

Here are the 3 bases sanded to 320, quite a job and my shoulders are feeling it, along with my hands that are raw from the rasps;

Now on to the gooseneck that joins the top of the lectern to the main post. Started with gluing up 3 pieces to form the basis for the gooseneck, then copied the side outline onto the blocks;

Need to get a longer 1" bradpt bit to drill a 1" hole through the block. The hole will be at the small x on the gooseneck outline. I was able to drill the 1/2" hole for the dowel that join the gooseneck to the main post. Marked the center of the gooseneck and off the the drill press to get a perfect 90 degree angle;

Tested with a 1/2" dowel, perfect 90 degrees;

Next, as I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver my 1" bradpoint bit, I started work on the lectern top. I want to make a solid top for the walnut lectern, then I'll see how that looks before I decide on the maple lecterns. Started with a nice piece of 10/4 walnut for the top;

After squaring up I had just enough thickness to resaw into 3 pieces 7/8ths thick;

Here's the top glued up, pretty happy with the grain matching;

I plan to keep the grain vertical for the top of the stand. I think that looks best and it will also work well when I glue the support spline onto the top as I'll keep all the grain directions uniform. Where it presents a challenge is at the bottom of the top, I want to add a lip but I don't want to glue a long piece that goes against the grain of the top. So I think the solution will be to take the pieces I cut off the top to size it correctly. I glued up 2 of these scraps and they match the grain direction, color and features in the top;

So this piece I can glue to the bottom of the top and it will add rigidity, match the grain direction of the top, and it will give me the lip I need. Here it is in place viewing it from the "underside";

Here it is in place on the "topside" of the top;

I think that will work and I really like the way the pieces match in grain color and figure perfectly. I had to design it that way to avoid a complete end grain glue up and I will be placing a few screws in the underside after the glue up. I do think once I glue this in place I will look at adding some very small side lips and I'm going to do some significant shaping of the bottom lip to make it blend in and give it a look that matches the piece. I'm not sure how that will look yet. 

Thanks for looking.

[RIW]

On 12/17/2018 at 5:33 PM, Bmac said:

This project was just what I expected, a definite challenge, and I mean that in a good way. Haven't moved very quickly with this, but I am moving forward. Here's some progress;

Some more shaping pics, got the leg contour started at the router table and marked the midline;

Then it was a lot of rasp work, blended the chamfers together into one peak. After doing 12 legs I was really wore out! 

Glued a small piece of leather to the tip of the knob that stops the main post;

Here are the 3 bases sanded to 320, quite a job and my shoulders are feeling it, along with my hands that are raw from the rasps;

Now on to the gooseneck that joins the top of the lectern to the main post. Started with gluing up 3 pieces to form the basis for the gooseneck, then copied the side outline onto the blocks;

Need to get a longer 1" bradpt bit to drill a 1" hole through the block. The hole will be at the small x on the gooseneck outline. I was able to drill the 1/2" hole for the dowel that join the gooseneck to the main post. Marked the center of the gooseneck and off the the drill press to get a perfect 90 degree angle;

Tested with a 1/2" dowel, perfect 90 degrees;

Next, as I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver my 1" bradpoint bit, I started work on the lectern top. I want to make a solid top for the walnut lectern, then I'll see how that looks before I decide on the maple lecterns. Started with a nice piece of 10/4 walnut for the top;

After squaring up I had just enough thickness to resaw into 3 pieces 7/8ths thick;

Here's the top glued up, pretty happy with the grain matching;

I plan to keep the grain vertical for the top of the stand. I think that looks best and it will also work well when I glue the support spline onto the top as I'll keep all the grain directions uniform. Where it presents a challenge is at the bottom of the top, I want to add a lip but I don't want to glue a long piece that goes against the grain of the top. So I think the solution will be to take the pieces I cut off the top to size it correctly. I glued up 2 of these scraps and they match the grain direction, color and features in the top;

So this piece I can glue to the bottom of the top and it will add rigidity, match the grain direction of the top, and it will give me the lip I need. Here it is in place viewing it from the "underside";

Here it is in place on the "topside" of the top;

I think that will work and I really like the way the pieces match in grain color and figure perfectly. I had to design it that way to avoid a complete end grain glue up and I will be placing a few screws in the underside after the glue up. I do think once I glue this in place I will look at adding some very small side lips and I'm going to do some significant shaping of the bottom lip to make it blend in and give it a look that matches the piece. I'm not sure how that will look yet. 

Thanks for looking.

Looks great. Your on the downhill run now. One thing I learned was to go slow it's not a race .

[Bmac]

9 hours ago, RIW said:

Looks great. Your on the downhill run now. One thing I learned was to go slow it's not a race .

Thanks, I feel as though I'm hitting the sweet spot, the time in a project build where it starts to look like what you are building. Whenever I reach this point it tends to motivate me more for the finish, esp after some of the grunt work needed to get you to that point. 

At work the other day I was doing some searches of music stand to get some different visuals of shapes and contours. Doing these visual searches help so much in my shaping. During a search I found a couple of posts in another forum by Scott Morrison, he was talking about this stand and saying that this is his most challenging build. Can't disagree. 

[wdwerker]

I hope all of your music stands end up on the same stage in front of musicians who have skills on par with your woodworking !  These all need to be signed and dated !