Posts Tagged ‘Furniture advice’

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Wooden Dowels Used By Cabinet Makers

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Wood dowels are cylindrical pieces of wood that can be used in woodworking, crafts and other pursuits as pegs, axles and support rods. Available in a variety of diameters and length, dowels can be bought ready-made, or you may make them yourself.
Shapes and Sizes
1. Wooden dowels are not tapered; rather, they are the same diameter along their entire length, although the ends may receive special treatment. Dowels range from as much as 3 inches in diameter down to an eighth of an inch. Thicker dowels are more expensive than thin ones.

Dowels usually are sold in 3-foot lengths at hardware stores and home centers, although manufacturers produce longer dowels, up to 12 feet in length.
Common dowel diameters are a quarter inch, three-eighths of an inch, and a half inch.
Dowels in Joinery
2. Dowels are often used as pegs to join two pieces of wood. After selecting a dowel of the appropriate diameter, the woodworker drills two holes of a similar size, one in each of the wood pieces to be joined. After checking for fit, the woodworker puts glue on the dowel and inserts it into one hole. Then, after applying glue to the other end of the dowel, the woodworker slides the dowel into the corresponding hole on the other wooden piece. Any excess glue is wiped off.
Dowels provide strong joints between wooden pieces without the use of screws or nails. When used by a skillful woodworker, dowels can help create an apparently solid slab of wood out of many individual pieces.
Other Uses
3. Besides joinery, dowels can also be used for trim, either by being cut in half and attached or by being laid in a groove cut by a special jig.
Outside the wood shop, dowels are used in crafts. They can serve as axles in wooden toys or be turned into knitting needles. They may serve as the blanks out of which an artisan carves chess pieces. Inserted through the layers, dowels provide internal support for multitier cakes.
What Are Dowels Made Of?
4. Just about any kind of wood can be used to make a dowel. Hardwood dowels—made of walnut, oak, or maple—are common, because hardwoods are stronger and less apt to snap than a softwood, such as pine or spruce. You can buy dowels made of poplar, hickory, ash, beech and even mahogany.
Some manufacturers offer custom-made dowels created from exotic woods, such as olive, plum, rosewood or holly.
Special Treatments
5. Dowels may be sold as simple cylinders, known as square cut dowels. However, special treatments are available. You may purchase a dowel with rounded, tapered or pointed ends. A chamfered end is similar to a square cut, only the edges of the dowel’s end have been sanded so they are angled. End-bored dowels have a hole bored in the end. A tenoned dowel has a tenon at one end and a mortise on the other, allowing them to be fit together.
Short dowels intended to be used in joinery may be either spiral grooved or fluted (grooved from end to end) to provide extra surface area for the glue.
Making Dowels
6. Some woodworkers choose to make their own dowels. To cut a long dowel rod, they would place a piece of wood stock into a lathe and use a chisel or a router to trim the stock to the proper diameter.
Another way to make short dowels to is use a tool called a dowel plate. The woodworker roughs out a piece of stock and then pounds it through the chosen hole in the plate. The sharp edges of the hole cut the dowel to the precise diameter. This allows the woodworker to use short pieces of wood that might otherwise be wasted.
However, industrial dowel-making machines are more suited for producing a lot of dowels. A dowel-making machine uses cutting heads of various sizes, depending on the diameter of the dowel being produced. The cutting heads can be switched out when a different sized dowel is to be cut.
To cut very large numbers of dowels, manufacturers use machines called wood shapers. Wood shapers are similar to routers, but instead of one bit they use cutting heads above and below the wood. Each head forms half the dowel.

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History of wooden furniture

Monday, December 21st, 2009

For many people, the warmth and beauty of solid wooden furniture is inviting and reassuring; as if a touch of nature were still present in our modern, everyday lives. Wooden furniture is one of the earliest, and most important, inventions intended strictly for human comfort and pleasure. Understanding where our love affair with all things wooden comes from is an important part of understanding human nature and aesthetics.
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Chairs
1. Perhaps the earliest form of wooden furniture, the wooden chair has seen many permutations over the centuries. In Egypt, chairs carved of wood were status symbols in that mostly-treeless environment. Pharoahs would sit upon thrones of carved cedar inlaid with gold and gems. Romans also carved chairs, but Roman chairs were an open “U” shape allowing the occupant to rest his arms but without a backrest to lean against.
Arguably the most intricately crafted chairs hail from the 18th and 19th centuries. French, American, English and German craftsmen all produced highly detailed, exquisitely-crafted wooden chairs that displayed the grains, knots and patterns of exotic woods, all protected under layers of lacquer.
Chests
2. Chests in China were cedar-lined boxes delicately enameled and lacquered to protect precious silks and clothes from destructive insects. Medieval European wooden chests were relatively watertight, sealed with tar or lacquer, to protect important documents such as maps and papers from the occasional storm. Chests have changed over time, and have even been given new name: armoire, wardrobe, chest-of-drawers and hope chest. Regardless of their name, the function is the same; to use the durability of wood to protect precious belongings while making the room more attractive.
Beds
3. Early beds were nothing more than piles of animal skins or straw with a blanket on top. But Mesopotamian and Egyptian nobles slept off the floor, thanks to a wooden frame with interwoven leather or hemp straps. The essential configuration of a bed remained largely unchanged for centuries until the early Renaissance. Beds then were considerably shorter than they are now for two reasons; people slept sitting up and mattresses were becoming more widely used.
In 19th century America, Sears Roebuck & Co. began selling beds that could be dismantled and re-assembled fairly easily and thus distributed wooden beds across the country in a few short decades.
Tables
4. As old as chairs are, tables must be nearly as old. Persian emperors and the Rajahs of the Indus valley used tables as platforms for games of Shataranj (also called “Chess”). Roman and Greek feasts rested upon intricately inlaid and carved tables. The mythical King Arthur ordered a round table built so that all knights of his realm might be seen as equal.
Simple but elegant tables in the Shaker style are still in high demand both for their quality and for their attractiveness. Born of the Protestant American religious philosophy of simplicity, functionality and modesty, Shaker tables are easily recognized across the world.
Desks
5. Writing desks became the province of educated gentlemen in during the Enlightenment. Thomas Jefferson is often depicted with quill in hand, sitting at a beautifully carved writing desk penning the Declaration of Independence.
Presidents of the United States are often photographed sitting behind an imposing, wooden desk known as the “Resolute Desk.” Originally a gift from Queen Victoria to Rutherford B Hayes, the Resolute Desk was made from the planks of the HMS Resolute, a British ship rescued from the Arctic, refitted, and returned to England two decades earlier. The Resolute Desk is usually the desk of choice of American presidents and serves as a reminder of the “special bond” between the United States and Great Britain.

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History of the bed

Monday, December 14th, 2009

• 10,000 years ago, in the Neolithic period, people began sleeping on primitive “beds.”
• 3400 BCE. Egyptian pharaohs discover the benefits of raising a pallet off the earth. King Tutankahmen had a bed of ebony and gold. Common people slept on palm bows heaped in the corner of their home.
• Roman Empire. First luxury bed. Often decorated with gold, silver or bronze, these beds featured mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool or feathers.
• Roman Empire. Romans discover the waterbed. The sleeper would recline in a cradle of warm water until drowsy, then be lifted onto an adjacent cradle with a mattress, where they would be rocked to sleep.
• Renaissance. Mattresses were made of pea shucks or straw, sometimes feathers, stuffed into coarse ticks, then covered with sumptuous velvets, brocades and silks.
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Louis XIV was inordinately fond of staying in bed, often holding court in the royal bedroom. Reportedly, he owned 413 beds and displayed a special liking for the ultra spacious and ostentatious variety.
• 16th and 17th centuries. Mattresses were generally stuffed with straw or down, placed atop a latticework of rope.
• The late 18th century. Advent of the cast iron bed and cotton mattresses. Together, they provided a sleeping space that was less attractive to bugs. Until that time, assorted vermin were simply accepted as an accepted component of even the most royal beds.
• 1865. The first coil spring construction for bedding was patented.
• 1930’s. Innerspring mattresses and upholstered foundations became serious contenders for the dominant position they now enjoy in the U.S. and Canada.
• 1940’s. Futons introduced to North America.
• 1950’s. Foam rubber mattresses and pillows appeared on the market.
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The expression “sleep tight” comes from the 16th and 17th centuries when mattresses were placed on top of ropes that needed regular tightening.
• 1960’s. Modern waterbed introduced. Adjustable beds become popular with consumers.
• 1980’s. Airbeds introduced.
• 1990’s. Spacious sleeping is once again on the rise. In 1999, the queen-size mattress became America’s most popular choice for mattress size – for the first time ever – beating the twin.
• 2000’s. Choice and comfort are key words in contemporary bedding. In addition to an almost unlimited range of innerspring mattress designs, new types of foam mattress cores (such as “memory” or visco-elastic foam and refinements to traditional latex) as well as airbeds, waterbeds and high-tech adjustable sleep sets offer consumers attractive, quality alternatives. Pillowtop mattresses, a popular innovation in luxury, offer an extra layer of soft cushioning, and single-sided no-flip mattresses are common.

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American Black Walnut

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Uses:
Walunut lumber is used for fine furniture, architectural woodwork, musical instruments, decorative panels, interior trim, and flooring. Large amounts are also used for veneer. Its stability and shock resistance make it the wood of choice for gun stocks. Many customers appreciate its “easy of use” and beautiful colours to use as a craft wood in all their small turning and scrollsaw projects. The fact that it is the only dark North American wood, has added to its reputation.

The Tree: Juglandaceae family
The black walnut’s specific name is J.nigra. The black walnut is sometimes called eastern or American black walnut. There are about twenty species of walnut with six found in the U.S.A. Black walnuts were once abundant in old growth forests with trees reaching 150 feet with six-foot diameter trunks. Today’s trees are generally 80-100 feet tall with trunks of less than three feet.

The black walnut has one “bad habit” however in that it can poison neighbouring trees and shrubs with a substance called juglone in its roots. This is its way of protecting its territory and assuring its access to good sunlight necessary for its growth.

It typically grows in a mixed hardwoods forest, with light coverage.

Wood Description:
The sapwood is creamy white and may be three inches wide. Heartwood is a rich chocolate or purplish brown in colour, with a dull sheen. Black walnut is normally straight grained and is noted for its beautiful grain character, producing more figure variation than any other wood. Over the years the wood develops a lustrous patina. It is the only dark brown domestic species, so it has a large following of devoted woodworkers, that enjoy its rich colour and ease of use..

link to short walnut craft wood panels for sale–>

Weight: approx. 36-38 lbs. per cubic foot

Finishing:
Walnut takes any finish and most complement the lovely satin sheen of the wood. It polishes well. Rarely do you find sap pockets that cause difficulty.

Machining:
Walnut works easily with power or hand tools but may cause some dulling of cutting edges. Planing, turning, shaping, routing and sanding all produce crisp detail. With figured crotch wood it is necessary to watch the direction of feed, in both thickness planers and jointers. Fasteners hold well with little tendency to split. Standard adhesives and stains go on uniformly. Wood is rated tough and hard with good steam bending qualities and little movement in service. Wood and sawdust of black walnut are known to cause irritation of the eyes, nose, skin and lungs, and may stimulate allergies and asthma – precautionary measures are advised… a good dust mask is essential.

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Information about American White Oak

Friday, November 27th, 2009

American white oak
Latin name
Quercus spp.
Other Common names
Northern white oak, Southern white oak
Distribution
Widespread throughout Eastern USA. The white oak group comprises many species, of which about eight are commercial.
General Description
White oak is similar in colour and appearance to European oak. The sapwood of American white oak is light coloured and the heartwood is light to dark brown. White oak is mostly straight grained with a medium to coarse texture, with longer rays than red oak. White oak therefore has more figure.
Working Properties
White oak machines well, nails and screws well although pre-boring is advised. As it reacts with iron, galvanised nails are recommended. Its adhesive properties are variable, but it stains and polishes to a good finish. The wood dries slowly and care is needed to avoid checking. Due to its high shrinkage, it can be susceptible to movement in performance.
Physical Properties
A hard and heavy wood with medium bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam bending. Southern white oak is faster grown with wide growth rings, and tends to be harder and heavier.
Durability
The heartwood is resistant to decay, extremely resistant to preservative treatment, and the sapwood is moderately resistant to treatment.
Availability
USA:
Readily available but not as abundant as red oak.

Export:
Very widely available in lumber and veneer, in a full range of qualities and specifications. The most important hardwood export.
Main Uses
Construction, furniture, flooring, architectural joinery, exterior joinery, mouldings, doors, kitchen cabinets, panelling, railway sleepers, timber bridges, barrel staves, coffins and caskets. White oak can vary in colour, texture, characteristics and properties according to the growing region. It is therefore recommended that users and specifiers work closely with their suppliers to make sure the wood they order is suited to their specific needs. Northern and Southern may be sold separately.

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Wooden Beds

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Wooden Beds are bulletproof
I’m not quite sure that I should be taken literally here, but I won’t patronise you any further by explaining the metaphor! Another one of my chance conversations the other day caused me to ruminate over the whole wooden bedroom furniture thing. Having said that, our bedroom furniture is never far from my mind, let alone thinking about what I need to write on a blog about wooden bedroom furniture! I digress and am in danger of becoming the Ronnie Corbett of the blogging world. So the producer said….. Sorry, hang on, where was I? Yes, a chance chat. I happened to bump into my neighbour, Jimmy the other day when he announced that he’d just gone and bought a new car. ‘Nice.’ says I, ‘what have you gone for this time?’
‘Merc.’ Says Jimmy. ‘Well they’re bulletproof aren’t they?’.
I won’t bore you with the whole conversation, but needless to say, Jimmy doesn’t like having to pay out for cars all the time, he considers them a necessary evil. He’s going for a Merc as he plans to ‘run the thing into the ground’. Mercs are not a cheap option, but they do have that reputation of solid build and reliability over long periods of time.
Wait for it.
Just like quality wooden bedroom furniture! Any luxury item that has a commodity value needs to be stylish and durable. Like cars, we don’t go buying beds all the time and when we do, we want them to stand the test of time both in looks and reliability. With the odd bit of Danish oil over the years, an akka bed will continue to look as fantastic as the day you first owned it and last you for many years to come.
Akka beds are bulletproof. QED.

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AKKA Furniture uses Danish Oil to give a quality finish

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Danish oil is made with nothing but the finest ingredients. The main component is Linseed Oil. This is blended with other high quality resins and oils, such as Tung oil, and is then mixed with a small amount of solvent to improve the drying time, performance and qualities of the danish oil.

What can Danish Oil be used on?
Danish oil is a very versatile product that can be used on any number of wood types, such as oak, pine, mahogany or beech and can be applied to any surface requiring an oil finish including; doors, garden furniture, kitchen worktops, food surfaces, childrens toys and hard of soft wood flooring. For decking it is recommended to use decking oil.

Why use Danish Oil?
When you apply a Varnish, Lacquer or paint onto wood it forms a protective film on the surface, which, if damaged or applied incorrectly can peel and flake. Danish oil however, penetrates into the surface grain and thereby keeps the wood supple whilst adding to its natural strength.

For maximum performance danish wood oil should be applied as at least 3-5 initial coats to your wooden surface, these will further improve the look and will continue to feed the wood keeping the surface water repellent. The frequency of subsequent coats depends on the density of the timber but as a guideline, further coats of danish oil should be applied about once a year.

Please note that although the product is manufactured by Morrells (or some times we sell Barrettine) it may sometimes be re-packaged and supplied under the Manns label due to it being decanted from a bigger container.

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Application
There are many ways to apply danish oil and no skill required. The most popular method is by cloth so that you can key in and wipe off the excess oil at the same time. A good quality paint brush is particularly useful when working with turned and moulded areas or when you need to apply a straight edge as with skirting boards. Danish wood oil is also compatible with virtually any type of spray equipment.

For a smooth, silky finish, lightly sand the danish oil between coats with very fine sandpaper or wire wool.

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The Dovetail Joint

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Dovetails can be cut by hand or by machines, often with an electric router and using one of a range of commercially available jigs or templates. Although it is technically a straight forward process, hand-cutting dovetails requires a high degree of accuracy to ensure a snug fit and so can be difficult to master. The pins and tails must fit together with no gap between them so that the joint interlocks tightly with no movement. Thus the cutting of dovetails by hand is regarded as a mark of skill on the part of the craftsperson.
The angle of slope varies according to the wood used. Typically the slope is 1:6 for softwoods and a shallower 1:8 slope for hardwoods. Often a slope of 1:7 is used as a compromise – perhaps using a dovetail template for marking out.
When being cut by hand, there are two schools of thought as to whether the pins or the tails should be cut first. For pins first, the pins are laid out and cut by the chosen method, then the outline of the pins is transferred to the face of the tail board. For tails first, the tails are laid out and cut and then the outline is transferred to the end grain of the pin board. Each has advantages and it is a personal choice as to which is chosen.
Hand cut dovetails can often be distinguished from machine-cut dovetails by the width of the pins. It is possible to have pins that are almost triangular when cut by hand that are not possible when cut with a router, owing to the thickness of the router bit’s shank. These narrow pins are known as London Pins.
Types of dovetail
Through Dovetail

A through dovetail joint
Through dovetails are common in carcass and box construction. Traditionally, the dovetails would have often be covered by a veneer. However, dovetails have become a signature of craftsmanship and are generally considered a feature, so they are rarely concealed in contemporary work.
Use for:
• Carcass and box construction
Half-blind dovetail

A half-blind dovetail joint
A half-blind dovetail is used when the craftsman does not wish end grain to be visible from the front of the item. The tails are housed in sockets in the ends of the board that is to be the front of the item so that their ends cannot be seen.
Half-blind dovetails are commonly used to fasten drawer fronts to drawer sides. This is an alternative to the practice of attaching false fronts to drawers constructed using through dovetails.
Use for:
• Attaching drawer fronts
Sliding dovetail

A sliding dovetail joint
The sliding dovetail is a method of joining two boards at right angles, where the intersection occurs within the field of one of the boards, that is not at the end. This joint provides the interlocking strength of a dovetail. Sliding dovetails are assembled by sliding the tail into the socket. It is common to slightly taper the socket, making it

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How a mattress is made

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Completing the mattress
• 5 The closing operation is of one of the most highly skilled and critical procedures in the entire process. It is done with a movable sewing head that is mounted on a track. Tape edge operators manually feed the top, bottom, and side panels and a heavy duty binding tape into the sewing machine as it moves around the mattress. As this combination of materials is fed into the machine, the operators uses their skill to feed the proper amount of each material into the machine to produce a professionally tailored product.
• 6 Some of the highest quality mattresses may also feature a pillowtop, a panel filled with soft upholstery and attached to the top and bottom panels of the mattress for a more luxurious feel and appearance. Prequilted, the pillowtop is then taped to the mattress.
Boxsprings
• 7 If the desired boxspring has a spiked coil design, it is made by stapling the bottom of each coil to a flat wooden frame. A wire grid is then placed on top of the springs and, once aligned, manually locked to them. A thin layer of upholstery is applied to the top. If the desired boxspring contains no springs,

Once the cover is quilted, it is cut into top, bottom, and side panels. Next, flanges are added, and hogs rings are stapled to them. Finally, in the closing operation, workers use a movable sewing head mounted on a track to feed the top, bottom, and side panels and a heavy duty binding tape into the sewing machine as it moves around the mattress. The mattress is then ready for packaging.
it consists of a wooden frame that may or may not have a layer of upholstery attached to its top. Regardless of the internal composition, the frame is usually inserted into a pre-sewn cover that encases the top and sides of the unit. A border fabric that matches the mattress exterior is applied to the sides, and a dust cover is added to the face.
Inspection, labeling, and packing
• 8 Once the units are complete, they are inspected for quality. If every thing is in order, they are labeled with the content and the contingent “do not remove” tag, required by law to ensure the consumer that the contents are properly represented in the labeling. The finished product is then transported to the packing area. Here it is inserted by hand or by automated machinery into protective plastic or paper covers. Additional information about the warranty, safety, and care of the product is also included in the packaging.

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Seeing your home through new eyes

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

When my wife and I moved into our house just around four years ago, we were full of good intentions. Every room needed decorating, we would finally buy co-ordinated furniture for each room. We would make sure we treated ourselves to new bedroom furniture from the akka range for ourselves and not just for customers. We would strip back the floors, re-tile the bathroom, put preserver on the shed and insulate the loft.

Did we do it all? Hell, no! We still have our old oak furniture and the same bed that we had in the last house, we even still have the coaster in the same place on the bedside table where I keep meaning to polish out the water mark that got left there when I put down a nice wet cup of tea on the top!

So, have we got lazy? Are we too busy to fix our house up the way we would like? Maybe both, but the chances are that we have just got used to living with things the way they are and we stop seeing how things could be different. For those of you who have seen, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ you’ll know how James Stewart never gets around to fixing the cap on the bottom wooden banister post which always comes away in his hand as he walks upstairs. We need to see things through a fresh set of eyes.

Why not download our room planner from the link on the home page and think about how you could see your home differently? Maybe it really is time to stop ignoring the fact that most of your clothes are piled up in awkward places because you don’t have the wardrobe you want. Or maybe it’s time to lose the formica topped tallboy that Aunty Maud lent you to ‘tide you over’ and replace it with something you really want.

Go on, take a look at your house now and see it through fresh eyes. Engage that imagination of yours and start thinking how great it would be to finally get that lovely walnut bed you always wanted!!

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