Sitting bench build

[Brian Holcombe]

This is a bench I'm building for outside to sit my bonsai trees on, so I'm using white oak and building it using mostly interlocking joinery.

The planks for the top have been edge jointed, glued and face jointed, they're set for finish planing next week.


The stretcher has been jointed flat on all sides and this is where the excitement starts, the outside joints are going to be captured by a through mortise locked with a double dovetail pin.





The design is a modified version of a very early work by George Nakashima.





This is the major modification, in making this 6ft long I needed to add a center support leg, and to capture the leg in the stretcher I will be using a combination of fixed and wedged supports.















Shaping the fixed support.

Mortising for the center support:






















This will also allow me to tighten up the center leg without disturbing the outside legs.





I will probably also pin the fixed support.

[Prashun Patel]

Your joints are so clean and pretty. I aspire to that!!!

Pretty tools. What brand of chisel and rasp are you using?

Watching with relish.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

LOVE the joinery, and also thank you for posting the build. Looks great.

[Steve Voigt]

Every time you post one of these build threads, the joinery is impeccable. Can't tell much about the design yet, but I expect it will be as clean and elegant as the other stuff I've seen. Seeing your shop photos always brings a smile to my face.

I think, though, that you need to trade in some of those primo brand tools for some vintage junk, and spend the proceeds on beer.

[Jim Matthews]

You're banging through mortises in 8/4 White Oak?

That takes a brass set O' Clank.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Prashun! The rasp is by Auriou and it cuts like a dream. I have a couple rasps by them and they are incredible. The chisels are Lie Nielsen (hornbeam handles) and Blue Spruce (African blackwood).

Thanks Malcolm!

Hah, thanks Steve, not a chance I will be turning these in, even for the right single malts I actually do own a vintage woodie, but it is truly ancient and I'm terrified to ruin it.

Jim, you aren't kidding! I knew when I skipped my plane over the board on the first cut that this stuff was going to be a bear.

[Tom Bussey]

Very, very nice work

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Tom!

[Andrew Kertesz]

Your work and threads are always impeccable... I'd like to see some pictures of your bonsai. I tried once but didn't have any success other than to kill them off.

[Jim Koepke]

I'd like to see some pictures of your bonsai. I tried once but didn't have any success other than to kill them off.

I have heard that called, "the finished state" by practitioners of bonsai.

My wife has done some bonsai. It is very labor intensive. She hasn't had the time lately to do a lot.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Andy!

My trees are all work-in-progress, but these are my best;






I have a bunch of Japanese black pines, a shimpaku juniper, and a procumbens that are all at the beginning stages.

And here are the tools:

[Andrew Kertesz]

Those are great looking bonsai. What are the ages?

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks! I'm not sure of the exact ages but they're about 10-15 years.

I have some pines I'm working on that are in training, so they're in big colander style containers to thicken the trunks and grow the roots. One I put in the ground so it will either stay in the ground or become very large bonsai (4' tall).

[Jim Koepke]

Those are some very nice bonsai.

One I put in the ground so it will either stay in the ground or become very large bonsai (4' tall).

Reminds me of some trees where we used to live. There is some public land along what is called the El Sobrante ridge. The soil is very poor in some of the area. There is a rare type of manzanita that grows in only one other place. There are also a few oak trees. There are a few very old stunted oaks. One of them is only about 5 feet tall.

I have trouble even growing dwarf fruit trees.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks Jim!

Most of the classical styles are modeled after trees like the ones you mentioned, old trees that have lived a tough life. Some were actually collected from the mountains, but originally it was only those who mastered the craft that could dig up those from the mountains and train them into pots. Now it's a bit more common.