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Dave Macfee writes:
Here's a nice project we finished recently.
The bed was a serious challenge. It was missing one
footboard post and both headboard panels were
missing.
A strange twist of fate when the owner brought the bed
in- He was not aware the footboard post was missing.
When I pointed it out, he was sure that he had packed
it. We scoured my receiving area. He couldn't believe
it. Apparently it fell off the truck on the way in. I was
sorry for him but so glad that I was in when he brought
it to point out it was missing. Otherwise I'm quite sure
he would have blamed us for losing it (new customer).
The missing panels were also an interesting tale. The
customer had no idea there were ever panels there and
took some convincing to make him believe I knew
what I was talking about. I pointed out the impression
and screw holes on the back of the headboard but he
still wasn't buying it. Then I went to the p4a.com
database and found another bed exactly like this with
the panels in.
Duplication of the leg was a long journey. The post
begins as one quarter of a very large turning. I am very
pleased to report that I went to David Steigerwalt of
woodchairparts.com and he supplied us with the basic
quarter turning. He located a fantastic piece of walnut
stock- if I remember right it started a little over 5"
square. It still required one seam but hey, I was thrilled
he found anything over 3" and the seam is very
inconspicuous. I can't say enough about the high
quality of David's work and the fast turnaround and
agreeable charges. I have been sending all my lathe
work to David since I read about him here several
months back. His turnings are immaculate when they
arrive and need no further preparation. I don't even
bother specifying wood type because I know he will
choose better than my own guesswork and he even
takes care to find similar grain figure as much as
possible.
Back to the bed post, David did the turning and
shipped it back to us for the other shaping and fitting. I
then turned it over to my neighbor Mark who builds
cabinets and furniture. Mark is a true artisan builder
and did just a perfect job completing the shape and fit.
I'm making this brief to get out tonight, but the final
shaping and fitting was pretty testy work and took
Mark about 1.5 days to finish it out. I am really grateful
to have Mark next door. This is not the situation where
you can afford a mistake.
Now for the panels. I thought this would be pretty
straightforward. Here's the plan. Call the friendly Jims
at Certainly Wood and get some nice figured veneer
ordered. Use my Vac Press to bond that veneer to
some Baltic birch plywood using Unibond 800. Then
just finish the panels and screw them to the back. Nice
plan but how do you say.. oversimplified?
Luckily my 6th sense kicked in at the beginning and I
ordered 4 pieces of the lovely Walnut crotch veneer on
the idea I might use the extra down the line on
something else. Good decision because our first
attempt to press the veneer was a disaster. I had not
pressed any material like this previously. Due to the
nature of the material, it comes in a sort of wavy
condition- in other words, it ain't flat. Usually the press
just mashes down any curl in the veneer so we just
proceeded as normal. Well the curls did not mash
down and the 2 panels were unusable. We contacted
VacuPress and they instructed us how to size the
veneer and get it flat. This is subject for another thread
and I won't go into it now but it is a pretty cool
process. Anyway, the second time around and another
10 or so hours later, I had my panels ready to finish. I
also did not account for the considerable time it took in
final cutting and positioning of the panels so as to have
the exact mirror image effect.
I also spent more time than anticipated in color
matching the panels, but I am really pleased with the
match.
There is a picture showing the matching dresser we
also did. The finish is garnet shellac, tar glaze and clear
lacquer topcoats.
Dave Macfee, KS
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