Craftsmanship in Wood

Good morning! I would like to introduce my latest project. I have been commissioned to build a tea house chair and table. Please have a read and I look forward to your comments.

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/201 ... and-table/

Good morning! I'm riving away on my chairs, please have a look at the latest round of work performed;

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/201 ... %EF%BB%BF/

As I always I very much look forward to your comments.

Hi Brian,
I'm curious about your experience with the chona. Is this project your first time using one?

I've struggled to fit my blades to the handle as they rapidly wiggle loose, so any tips or diagrams you can share would be most appreciated. From your description and photos the handle end looks slightly tapered to match the blade opening. Did you then reshape it to accommodate the wedge?

I may also open a topic in the hand tools section as I don't see any discussion of the chona yet.
Cheers,
Mike

Mike,

I'd like to put a lot more time on it before putting out any sort of diagram. I don't feel confident that a diagram I make would be worthwhile at this point.

I had good success in setting up the chouna both with and without the wedge, but I found it a little easier with the wedge, once the wedge was properly tuned. I found that a low angle worked nicely, and it was especially particular about the fitment. It needed to be quite tight as the force of driving the chouna is working against it. The Chouna is not used, at least in my experience, very aggressively, since it does cut well without hard use, so the wedge need only overcome that force without coming loose.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, as I progress and fine tune this arrangement I'll begin to release some information. Since I have a blog, people do take my information quite seriously and so I like to be careful to ensure that what's going out is worthwhile and quality, especially for something like this. I have a feeling that is one of the reasons where there is precious little information on the chouna out there...it does seem a dangerous thing to get wrong.

The teahouse chair continues;

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/201 ... %EF%BB%BF/

I'd like to encourage a certain type of commentary on this board, I respect the members here greatly. Please say what comes to mind, and do not attempt to spare me any sort of harsh commentary. It does not hurt my feelings when it comes from respected sources and further more it helps me to refine my product.

I respect that many people do like my work, while that is encouraging, I'd also like a healthy dose of constructive criticism. There is little chance that everything I do is great, so I'd like to know when that is truly the case.

My clients do read my blog, so I do appreciate that people do not comment negatively on the blog itself and mainly save constructive criticism for various forums that I participate in, but please have at it.

Hi Brian,

If you want constructive criticism you need to screw up more often

The only concern I have is that you mentioned applying a film finish to the chair. In my experience film finishes do not do well outdoors. Perhaps if the piece is protected from sun and rain it would be ok, but if it's well protected, why would a film finish be needed? My preference is for no finish, or, at most, something that is easy to touch up.

Are the armrests going to be braced somehow to prevent rotation on the posts?

It's fun reading along!

Best,
Matt

Hahaha, thanks Matt! Glad that you are enjoying reading along!

I tend to agree, I think film finishes are not great. I'm planning to appeal to the client in that regard, I know the majority of his outdoor furniture/carpentry is varnished so I believe he will tend toward varnish.

Maybe simple tung oil (not varnish) would be a better solution should my client insist on a finish. I know Chris finished the gate in something, wondering his thoughts on the subject as well.

I'm highly skeptical of outdoor finishes, which is also why I've decided to plane every surface, so that if all goes well and goes my way I'll be able to avoid using a finish.

I've got a support in the works for the arms, but it will tie into the base, so I'm waiting to move forward with it.

I used a Sirca product called Waxy Impregnator, only because the MFA had an expectation that some finish was necessary (which I do not agree with). That water-based waxy emulsion is supposed to be reapplied on a yearly basis (not that that is happening at the MFA). You would need to clean the wood, and then reapply. I told them this and provided the product information, but there has been no follow through from them. Urban grime has made the gate get dirtier faster than I expected, so a yearly soap and water clean would be a good thing, at a minimum.

I think the best finish for outdoor things is hand planing/super surfacing. Period.

Thanks Chris! I'll provide some evidence and seek approval. My client is quite reasonable so I expect my recommendation will be well received.

Especially with your and Matt's opinions to support mine.

Chris Hall wrote:Urban grime has made the gate get dirtier faster than I expected...

I would love to see the gate in it's current state. Do you have any pictures? Or someone else made a trip to Boston?
Alltough I liked the shiny look of the gate when it was new, I wondered how it will change its appearance due to weather influences.