Chippendale mirror

[h3nry]

On 1/22/2026 at 2:49 PM, Beechwood Chip said:

Would a Dremel with a grinding stone bit or polishing bit be useful?

Maybe ... I guess that depends on what you're trying to remove. It should be just surface prep at that point, if the tool is coarse enough to grind divots, that will be detrimental.

[h3nry]

Of course the main event for the carving is the top rail. Here it is before and after sanding ...

There will still be a little more shaping and sanding after glue-up ... but it's starting to take shape.

[Coop]

Beautiful work!

[wtnhighlander]

Looks pretty darn close to final, BEFORE the sanding!

[h3nry]

On 1/22/2026 at 8:39 PM, wtnhighlander said:

Looks pretty darn close to final, BEFORE the sanding!

Yes ... but the camera really didn't pick up the irregularities on many of the surfaces that were very obvious with the light reflecting off it in the right way.

[pkinneb]

Awesome job!

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

Stunning work, @h3nry!

Always a great ride!

[h3nry]

The frame has now been glued up. And a cove added round the inside ...

[Mark J]

Did you do the cove with the hand chisel? 

[h3nry]

On 1/25/2026 at 7:15 AM, Mark J said:

Did you do the cove with the hand chisel? 

Yes, scribe a line on the face, and another line on the inside ... then use the gouge to cut down to the lines. The curve of the gouge matches the curve of the cove.

[Mark J]

I can't imagine doing that and getting the smooth and uniform result you achieve. 

[h3nry]

Started work on the moulding ...

The main moulding has a swan-neck shape, but the ends are flat ... so I can start by applying the profile across the bottom.

Then the shape needs to be cut out at the bandsaw.

Then clamp onto the frame, and file down until the shape matches the frame ...

Once the shape matches the frame I can then mark the final part of the curve, keeping a constant width round the curve.

Once this is smoothed off the mouldings are ready for carving.

[fcschoenthal]

Just constantly impressed.

[wtnhighlander]

^^ What he said!

[Coop]

Wow!

[gee-dub]

@h3nry - What wonderful and rewarding work.  I think we all need to remember how fortunate we are to get to dabble in this craft.  Other than spending time with my family, my time in the shop is some of my happiest and most satisfying.  Is that a Veritas Inset Vise I see in the background of the pics?  I use one in my Bench-On-Bench. 

A very handy little bugger.

[h3nry]

On 1/31/2026 at 8:27 AM, gee-dub said:

  Is that a Veritas Inset Vise I see in the background of the pics? 

Yes. I use it as my tail vise. I really like it. But you have to make sure that the dust and chips are well removed from the little holes that hold the stop, or it won't seat cleanly and can bruise the aluminium housing, and eventually it will start wobbling. After about 10 years I had to buy a new one the stop was wobbling too much to hold work properly.

[h3nry]

Working on the swan neck moulding.

First cut the rabbets to guide to profile around the curve with a chisel and router plane.

Then with the help of a little cardboard template to keep check of my progress ... carve out the profile round the curve...

The final curves aren't quite as smooth and fair as I'd like, but I'm calling it good enough.

And finally carve the leaf design on the ends.

... and the mouldings are ready to be mitred and attached.

[Coop]

Pretty and incredible! 

[gee-dub]

Yes!  Coming along beautifully.

[h3nry]

I still have the side pieces attached to the mouldings, so there is enough flat base to clamp down to the mitre box to cut the mitres.

Then it's time to glue on the mouldings ...

A bit more squeeze out than ideal, but those edges need a final sanding anyway.

And glue on the side mouldings too ...

[h3nry]

With the moulding done, all that remains is the finial.

And ready to attach to the frame...

The plans in the book have a turned flame on top of the finial ... which I'm pretty sure I can make.

But I'm going to reserve that for plan B ... I've seen a carved phoenix on top of other Chippendale mirrors, so I thought I'd give that a try ... but I'm not sure my carving will actually deliver the results for this ... but I've cut out the blank to give it a go...

[Coop]

The fact that this frames a mirror is apropos as the right side exactly reflects the left. Great work! 

[pkinneb]

Not sure I could ever do this but I absolutely love following your builds to see how its actually done. Great work and thanks for sharing!!

[h3nry]

Well, I think the phoenix has worked ...

I've never really done any full 3D carving, so I'm basically treating this as a relief carving but with very high relief. First cut back some of the 3D form ...

Then put in the detail on the feathers and flames ...

Since this is not just a relief carving, the back also needs shaping ... but it doesn't need any detail carved since it won't be visible.

Finally I can finish the detail around the head.

I didn't add some if the fine detail of the barbs on the feathers that were in the original. well I did add them, then cut them away because I felt that I was just butchering what I had already done ... but I feel fairly satisfied with the result anyway.