San Saba Workshop News

Today I would like to say a little about joinery and design. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, most of the old time stand by furniture types are of a design that is inherently of good structural design, and some lend themselves more to longevity than others. One reason I like the Arts and Crafts mindset for design, is the sturdiness and massiveness of the pieces. The through mortise and tenon joinery is the strongest joint used in furniture building. Even when the design moves away from the Arts and Crafts style, the mortise and tenon is still used, although not in the through design. The old time furniture was also pegged with a dowel or wooden nail, not only to hold the joint together, but to actually to pull the joint together, as in a draw bore application. This joint is also used in timber framed barns and houses, to hold together the massive timbers used. This joint is also used with wedges, to expand the tenon and hold it firmly in the mortise. This joint used with today’s space age glues is practically indestructible. Normally, the wood will fail before the glue does. I like to design furniture with joinery that is structurally sound, before any glue is added.

The photo shows a section of our 8 leg desk. The legs have the mortises cut and the  rail pieces have been tenoned are ready to assemble.

Much of the mass produced furniture, even from the turn of the 20th century, used a doweled joint, which has the appearance of a mortise and tenon joint. This joint has the pieces made to butt together, but the pieces are joined with dowels, rather than with a nice strong tenon. This joint has very little structural strength and will fail with only a small amount of stress placed on it. The “knock down” joint used on today’s furniture, is a close relative to the doweled joint. The main difference is the joint’s ability to be tightened up. Strength wise, it’s not any stronger than the doweled joint.

Quality furniture will also utilize dovetail joints. I always use them for drawer construction. Sliding dovetails are also used for applications such as chair arms and bookcase shelves, to ensure that the parts stay together, without the use of hardware.

On our table, desk, and recliner legs, I use a method of construction called “Quadralinear” leg construction. I’ve researched this term, along with a woodworking history buff that I know, and we’ve decided that this term is one that was used exclusively by the Stickley brothers, in describing their method of leg construction for their furniture. This method permits the figure of the oak to “wrap” around the legs. Normally oak only has figure or flake on two sides of the board. Originally, several methods were used to achieve this look. Some worked very well, some not so well. One technique was to face glued two quarter-sawn board together and used quarter-sawn veneer on the flat sawn face to get the desired affect. This looked fine, but the veneer had a tendency to crack over time, due the the shrinking and expanding of the flat sawn faces. I use the method of cutting 45 degree angles on the four side pieces of the leg and glue them around a core piece that is made of a stable material that won’t cause expansion problems. The photo shows the process use. On the right are the machined pieces of the leg, ready for the glue and core.  On the left are the completed “sushi roll” legs, ready for trimming and cutting the mortises.

In the next segment, I hope to get into the finishes I use, and give a brief explanation of the different types used on today’s furniture.

This is the latest project to roll out of the work shop. It’s a Craftsman Style Bookcase, based on the Stickley # 719. The 719 was 60” W x 60”H x 14”D. This case is 36”W x 60”H x 14”D. It has through mortise and tenon construction, ship lap paneled back, antique copper finished brass pulls, and 16 individual glass panes in the doors. The case has a dark oak stain, with our tung oil and varnish hand rubbed finish. Two of these were made, one a bit smaller at 32”wide. The size of this case can be modified to meet your needs up to the original size of the 719. See all of our Office furnishingshttp://tmuli.com/DeskandOfficeFurnishings.html

I guess I’ll start off this blog talking about the materials associated with quality furniture. The main comment that I hear from the folks that I talk to is; “Most of the furniture at the big box furniture stores is made from plywood or particle board.” Or “Nearly all the furniture is put together with screws.” Or “what kind of wood do they make that furniture store stuff from anyway?” And these are people that have the foresight to ask. When I was living in Maine, I was part of a Cooperative Gallery that carried only hand made home furnishings. From talking to a lot of the people that came through the Gallery, most didn’t know the difference between the big box furniture and custom handcrafted furniture. We didn’t mind educating folks on buying quality, but it was truly a pleasure to talk with someone that did know the difference and could appreciate the quality and workmanship that went into a handcrafted piece.

Good quality furniture will start out with hand picked, kiln dried lumber. Most of the furniture made by T. M. Uli & Son is made from domestic hardwood. Occasionally I’ll use a species of exotic lumber for a special, custom made piece. Kiln dried lumber is important to start with, because green, or improperly dried lumber will shrink considerably as it dries, and this is not a recipe for long lasting furniture. Furniture design will also play an important part, since allowances have to be made for wood movement. Poorly designed furniture will self-destruct in a very short time, if seasonal wood movement, due to changes in moisture content, is not taken into account. Most traditional styles of furniture have this design element taken care of, so they are a good choice for designing heirloom quality furniture.

Many people also shy away from the term “veneer”. Due to some improper uses of veneer, namely using it over particle board or low quality plywood, and even over less desirable secondary lumber, it has received a bad reputation. Veneer is the lumber of the future. It allows furniture makers to have several pieces of a visually stimulating piece of lumber, to incorporate into their furniture. It makes the trees that are cut go farther and is less of an impact on the forest. I will normally reserve veneer to what I call “captured panels. These are panels that are basically framed by solid hardwood.

The end panel of this case has a “captured” panel.  Since the veneer is applied to a substrate, like MDF or quality plywood, it is stable with the changes in seasons. Large panels won’t affect the structure of the piece and are as visually appealing as the hardwood lumber that was chosen.

Next time, I plan to get into a bit about design and putting the piece together.

Hello. I’m Tim Uli, the owner/craftsman of T. M. Uli & Son. I decided to start this blog, so that the many folks out there looking for custom made furniture will get an idea of the difference in custom, hand crafted furniture, and the “big box” store items that might work out “ok”. Nothing “fits” quite like a custom made piece, that is made just for the space or requirement that you have.
I also want to keep my past and future clients up to date on the latest projects that are going on in the shop. I have several clients that know if they need a special piece of furniture, call Tim. Just because there’s not a piece similar to what they are looking for on my web site, doesn’t mean that I won’t make it. I’m going to also try to get some “in progress” photos posted, so you can see the craftsmanship that goes into the pieces that I build.
So, hang in there. I don’t get in a hurry building the furniture that I create, and I’m sure that getting this blog going won’t set any speed records either.