A Seat Frame for the Morris Chair

The Morris chair that I have been restoring was in need of a seat frame that the upholsterer can attach the webbing to for the seat cushion. Below are a few photos of the construction of this frame.

The boards cut to size for the frame Dowels in place for joinery gluing the frame The frame in place with a 1/4 inch gap around all sides for the fabric and padding.

From Locust Stump to Turned Column

A customer asked me recently to extend an Asian Pagoda outdoor sculpture for him with a turning. I decided to use a local wood called locust for the turning because of its natural ability to brave the elements. Locust has traditionally been used for fence posts and there is an old saying that says "Locust lasts 50 years less than stone." Another nice quality of locust is that when left outside it turns a nice gray color that we hope will match the granite color of the sculpture.

the turning was to be 5 to 6 inches in diameter and a piece of turning stock of this size is difficult to buy, regardless of the species. As a result, I decided to harvest the blank from a Locust stump in the woods. Below are photos off the process.

The Pagoda sculpture with a bird feeder put temporarily in the center to get a sense of it with a column.
Cutting the turning blank from a Locust stump The blank ready to be separated from the stump Shaping the blank on the lathe. The finished column A second view

Custom Items for Christmas

I am sure that no one needs to be reminded that Christmas is fast approaching, but I wanted to let my readers know that I am taking orders for custom items for the holiday season. I have included some photos below of some past projects as well as a few of my turnings. If one of these appeals to you, let me know, or if you an idea of your own let me know. We can work together on a design on the item of your choice. If any of this is of interest to you please feel free to email me at inf0@johnmarkpower.com or call at 703-727-5691.

Walnut and Tiger Stripe Maple Jewelry box

Walnut, Bubinga, and Yellowheart cutting board

Bubinga and Yellowheart serving tray

Walnut recipe stand

Beech natural edge bowl

Cedar bowl

White Oak natural edge bowl

Mulberry natural edge bowl

Locust turned box (lid off)

Locust turned box (lid on)

Walnut dining table with breadboard ends

Ambrosia maple coffee table

Oak tip and turn table

Locust and Walnut dining table

Cedar Planter

Occasionally, I get asked to do some custom work other than furniture. A customer asked me to design a large planter for an ornamental tree that needed a larger container for its roots. I used Cedar because of its resistance to rot and lined the interior of the planter with aluminium flashing to help with rot. One other design feature was that one side is removable so that the tree can be removed and replaced at a later date. below are some photos of the completed planter measuring 3' long by 3' deep by 2' tall.

Damage from the dogs

A frequent repair made to furniture is due to dogs chewing on furniture. They don't know these are priceless gems, they just see them is something to chew on. I recently received some furniture with this problem, including the Eastlake chairs I posted recently.

Luckily there is no damage that cannot be undone. below are some before and after shots of the damage and the repair. First the Eastlake chairs and then an modern armchair.
In this photo the arm has been removed from the chair and turned on it's side.
The inside of the arm at the end is where it had been damaged

Victorian Walnut Cabinet

Here are some photos of repairs mad to a two drawer cabinet made from Walnut. I believe it dates to the Victorian period. After the piece is repaired I will wax clean and wax the finish and clean the hardware.


Adding material to the drawer runners.

Gluing case

Two Eastlake Arm Chairs

I received two walnut Eastlake arm chairs recently that had been damaged by a dog chewing on the arms. If you type "Eastlake" into the blog search box above, you will see earlier posts I have written on Eastlake furniture and its links to pages on Eastlake Furniture and its designer Charles Eastlake.

The Photos below show the damage to one of the chairs and a loose arm being repaired and glued in place.
Damaged arm Arm disassembled with loose pieces. Part of arm being glued.

Other section of arm being glued in place.

Arm being glued to chair.

Morris Chair (Part 2)

In a previous post I talked about bridging patches and showed one on a chair leg. When inspecting the Morris chair for damage I found a cross grain crack along the one side of the chair back. This crack was caused by a knot in the wood. If the break had been along the grain It would have been sufficient to glue the break, however since the break was across the grain it needed a patch to be structurally sound. Below is a picture of the break: I cut a patch in a trapezoid shape to cover the break. The reason for the shape of the patch is that the 45 degree angle has better strength than one cut at 90 degrees because the 90 degree cut would be across the grain like the original break:

After I scribed where the patch was going to be, I made several saw cuts into the leg to help with removing material:

Here is a photo of the material being removed:

The patch next to the cleaned out area in the leg:

The patch being glued in place:

this picture shows the patch in relation to the back of the chair:

The patch glued in place:

The patch carved down and sanded. As I apply finish to the chair I will touch this up to match the existing finish.

The brackets which hold the back in place were damaged and needed to be replaced. In addition, the rod had been lost and replaced with a steel rod from a hardware store. Below is a photo of the brass replacement rod and brackets next to the original hardware.