Calvin Hobbs's Page

Cal,

I have been dovetailing drawers for a week or so.  There are nine in total and its taking me a while to get through them.  I took a look at some Townsend dovetails and they are very fine, coming down to just a saw kerf between the tips of the tails.  I've got all the lower case drawers done, and one and a half in the upper case.  I've been resawing wide poplar on my bandsaw, as the drawer parts are only 3/8" thick.  It's nice to save on the lumber, even if it is only poplar.  I got a few brassess from Ball & Ball so that I can drill all the holes for the posts, and I've got all my locks already.  Still a lot to do with the drawers, but once they are done I have only three things left: put on the back of the upper case, run the waist molding, and then carve the finial.  This thing is taking forever!  How are you doing, working on anything new?

Rob

Cal- I have drawings for a lot of stuff, but much of it is probably only comprehensible to me, as I often draw just to the point of understanding the details, then I go ahead and build, as I don't draw for the fun of it- I'd rather build.
I have drawings of a Townsend highboy and a Wilder dwarf clock that you could understand. Tell me what you have in mind and I can tell you what I've got. I've made hundreds of pieces, but I usually use story sticks and patterns to build,and not complete plans. Best-Al

Calvin- I actually measured the Met armchair, that's why I recognized it. There's a sidechair to match also. I agree about Nutting's 3d volume- a very overlooked resource for drawings. Let me know if you want to make the arm to match-Al

Boy, I never thought of that--the kids staying up later. That could be trouble. Hopefully I can finish this project before it gets to that! If you get serious about the highboy, I'm sure Al could provide you with the same set of plans. He has been very helpful with answering all the questions I have as well. Thanks again for the comments. When I make some more progress I'll be posting pictures.
Rob

Calvin-Nice chairs. Are those like the pair at the Met?-Al

Cal,
Are you a professional woodworker? Presently I am a night time woodworker and am lucky to get about 2 hours a night in the shop. I'm guessing that once I get into this highboy project it will take me at least nine months to complete. I agree with you about most of the books out there. A lot of plans from repro furniture rather than originals. The plans I got from Al look to be taken directly from the original and are what he used to build the same piece (it is the highboy in the picture with him and his son on the page when you click on the tab "Allan). I went to the annual meeting in 2007 and really enjoyed it. Now that I have a two year old its a lot more difficult to get down to VA.
Rob

Thanks Cal,
I like that Philly lowboy you have posted. I've admired that style, but some of the pieces are pretty intimidating with all of the decoration. At this point I'm trying to challenge myself with each piece I build. Maybe in over my head a bit with this one, but doing the same old stuff can get boring. Do you build from photos, plans? I was going to do the highboy from photos but really didn't want to mess up the proportions. Plus, its difficult to get a feel for the details, unless you've got a good photo source. I've seen your posts over at the sapfm forum, I'm a member there and am wishing there was more activity on the forum these days. Seems like period furnuture is kind of a small world, at least online.

Hi Cal,
Thanks for the comments. I got into woodworking in 2005 and have been building furniture for about 3 years. I got a set of plans for the highboy from Al, and got to meet him a little while ago on a trip to Maine. I actually brought a practice leg up for him to critique and he showed me how he does the knee carving, etc. The plans were measured from a townsend original.
Rob

Calvin- Nice looking stuff-Al