Norse style carved bench

[Clayton Johnson]

Hello!

I am new here, and would like to share my current project with you. It is a carved bench that is being done in Norse styles. I currently have the ends finished, and am working on the front panel and backrest.

Here are some pics...







And the front panel/backrest...









And some accents that I carved for the front panel and backrest...

[Barry Richardson]

Wowzer! Very impressive! Do you use a scroll saw for the initial cutout? What species of wood?

[Mel Fulks]

That is the tightest pierced and carved work I've seen. Thanks for posting ,are those small piercings typical of Norse work,
or is that your own take?

[Clayton Johnson]

Thanks! Most of it is in basswood, but some is in walnut. I would say it is typical of Norse art. For cutting the larger carvings out I use a jigsaw. First I will drill a hole with various sizes of drillbits, and then put the blade down through the hole and cut.

For the accents it was similar, but I would drill a hole and then thread a scrollsaw blade through the hole and then cut it. The pierced spaces on the accents were just big enough to take the end of a scroll saw blade of the type that is without the pins.

Also, I have pictures of all of my other work on my website here:

https://sites.google.com/site/clayton707/home

Thanks!

[Mark Yundt]

Welcome to the forum. Beautiful work!

[Clayton Johnson]

Thanks for the compliment and the welcome!

Another thing that I have gotten questions on in other places is the issue of strength for it's intended use. The blanks for the front panel/backrest/ends were made out of doubled up 1" thick boards, edge and face glued together. I used a lot of clamps! So in reality, even with all of the wood removed as I am doing, the parts are still very strong. It was a slight concern of mine at first, but as I saw them come out the concern kind of went away. Here is a picture of the ends right after they were finished. The one on the left is slightly turned, so gives an impression of depth and strength.

[randall rosenthal]

nice work!...i always liked the "woven " theme

[mike holden]

Wow! just....wow!

[Clayton Johnson]

Thank you! Here is another progress photo of part of the backrest. Making good progress. I have now fiilled up one of the larger trashcans in my shop with wood debris. That has never happened on any of my other projects!

[Clayton Johnson]

And another of my progress on the backrest....

[Clayton Johnson]

I finished carving the backrest and added the accents that I carved for it. This is a picture of the inlaid walnut initials that I carved. They are 3/8" thick and sit flush with the surface that is around them. Now all that is left on this part is to sand it and add finish.

[Clayton Johnson]

A couple pictures of the finished backrest. It is 50" long (127cm) long by 28" (71cm) tall.

[Clayton Johnson]

Hello! An update on this project. I finished the front panel, and now am on to working on the seat panel.

[Clayton Johnson]

And finished!

[Joe Ruden]

Beautiful work. I can not imagine the time spent creating this. Not to mention the time sanding.