A few days ago I picked up the spikes for my new lathe from blacksmith Peter Ross. He seemed to enjoy making them: “People don’t want work this rough very often, but I was trained to make reproductions like this.”…
Blog Archives
Building a Dominy Springpole Lathe
Last fall I had the joy of spending a couple hours in the Dominy shop at Winturtur to measure their Springpole Lathe. I’ve finally started building a copy of it, for use in the book on early 19th Century chairmaking…
Posted in Built for Speed Book Project, Sprinpole Lathe
Steam Boxes, Part 3: Heat Sources
The size of steam-generator you need is related to the size of your steam box, how well insulated it is and the temperature of the air around the box. It is probably cheaper and easier to insulate your box thoroughly…
Posted in Steam Box
How many Hours to Build a Chair?
This is one of the most popular questions I get asked. I never know how to answer it. Usually I say, “About 30 hours for a Continuous Arm chair, including 8 coats of finish.” But the truth is I haven’t…
Posted in Built for Speed Book Project
I Spoke Too Soon
In the months after I last posted about my book project, I read what remains of Samuel Wing’s account books and spent some time comparing measurements. I compared my tracings and measurements of the red loop back labeled “WING” at…
Posted in Built for Speed Book Project
