What has John been up to, lately?

Gosh, John, that is beautiful! Just beautiful! I admire your many talents.

It is always such a pleasure to see what you have been working on, and this is just another beautiful, beautiful project. As Carolyn said, you have talents to be envied.

Judie

John wrote:

You're absolutely right about the 'cuteness' factor. What a truly lovely piece of furniture. That cherry wood (which I have hardly ever seen over here) has such a beautiful colour. Another winner, John. . In message , John writes

Yes, you're right about the pleasure! I always sit here smiling, while I wait for the link to connect! . In message , Judie in Penfield NY writes

Wild cherry is the Colonial equivalent of Mahogany, for which it was the substitute during the colonial period of English hegemony in America. The importation of Mahogany was heavily taxed by the then English government, so those clever Colonials, went in search of a local substitute, and found The Wild Cherry Tree growing in abundance. The rest, as they say, is history. Both to the use of the Wild Cherry Tree for furniture making, and the English Hegemony. I imagine it would be prohibitively expensive to import it back to Blighty, what with tax and import duties, so in a fair turn around of fate, life has come full circle. So to speak. I love it for it's ease of use in woodworking and the wide boards of knot free lovely colored wood, for furniture making. It is now a perennial American Favorite.

John

Oh John! Not only do you make wonderful furniture pieces, you quilt beautifully too! You have all these women in our newsgroup (including me) oh'ing and aw'ing over you and wishing the men in our lives could be more like you! I'm sure that about 90% would run away with you, if you'd just say the word!!! I'd love to know what your wife thinks of all of this? How about a brief message from her? Lucky woman! Seriously, your work is wonderful, Michelle

I think my wife might have something to say about that. And, yes, she does get a kick out of all my "girlfriends". She actually has a number of men who she has known for many years, starting in school and where she worked, that she keeps in touch with. She went out to San Francisco, by herself a couple of years ago, for a visit, and looked them up. They had a good time getting together, and so what goes around, comes around, I guess. Isn't it great that we can all interact, without falling into stereotype. I have always worked for women, and some men, in my capacity of remodeling contractor. I guess San Francisco is a rather sophisticated city, where there is a live and let live attitude. It worked for me. I don't know why most men don't find they can do things that might be outside of the norm. Frail mens egos I guess. Too bad, they miss out on a lot of nice people.

John

(Smile for hegemony!)

I suppose that our equivalent, is walnut. The black walnut is native to GB; but without research (which I haven't had time to do) I can't tell you whether that is the walnut used so much. Very much 18th century furniture was made out of rosewood. Nowadays elm is used a lot (because there is so much about due to Dutch elm disease), but it is quite heavily figured. We do have a lot of wild cherry trees, but I don't think any would get to the age required for a decent plant to be cut from them - they seem to be prone to dying early, perhaps from a disease, and they are brittle. Oak was used 15th, 16th and 17th century (of course!); but nowadays there are few cabinet makers, like yourself, and oak is reduced to being used for timber-frame homes, floorboards etc. There are exceptions I'm sure.

Would that we had the type of cherry you use. . In message , John writes

We use Black Walnut here also. I have a brother-in Law, who does a lot of wood turning of bowls and other round objects d'art. He lives in an area of California near the Central Valley which is a large growing region of Nut tree and Fruit tree Crops. The farmers out there graft on to the seedling stock of European walnut trees, black walnut graftings to produce a tree that is resistant to various tree diseases and for my BIL he is able to obtain highly figured wood that results from those graftings. He has a whole group of farmers who regularly thin out their trees after they slow down their production due to age and they replant. He gets the grafted areas of the trees from them and then does his thing on them, after aging the wood, We have some beautiful bowls that he has made for us and the junction of those two wood variations is truly unique. I don't know if I could wait the 3-5 years from acquisition to turning that is required for the drying and aging of that wood, but he is in it for the long haul. I personally don't like working with Walnut for furniture making. It has a lot of highly knotty areas, and I don't like the aroma of the wood when you are milling it. Just a personal preference, as I have used it on the few occasions I have gotten the wood for various purposes. I don't go looking for it though. It is beautiful when worked into useful objects, but I leave that to those who love it more than I do.

John

We have a local firm of furniture makers who made the Chairs the Queen gave to Jamestown on her visit recently.Apparently she also has their chairs in her private apartments.

If you order one you are measured to make sure it will be comfortable, and you can have carvings under the seat to really personalise it. Cost?

- I seem to remember about £1,000. So I won't be having anything until I win the lottery, though I did buy a tin of polish and a knife holder for the kitchen. Its beautiful but so was the cost!

The owners do a lot of work for charity - organising high quality craft fairs etc.

Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

John wrote:

Oops, forgot the link

Sally Sw> We have a local firm of furniture makers who made the Chairs the Queen

The British traditions of fine woodworking lives on. Thank you for the link. Some of us manage to hang on despite the dominance of mass production in the marketplace. But, as you can see, the price is the overriding limit to further expansion.

John

Oh, they're beautiful, Sally. Thanks for the link. One forgets, as John says, how lovely craftsman-made furniture can be, in comparison with mass produced things. It's so nice to just forget economics and see what would be available if money were no object. . In message , Sally Swindells writes

Geez, John...that is a great cabinet.....didn't you say you were making two?? You know..if you run out of room... i'll take the extra one!!!

amy in CNY

In message , John writes Message snipped

My Dh has turned a lots of bowls and dishes from various woods. He has glued various bits of wood together then turned it. I have an open staircase and there is something he has made that stands on the edge of each tread. He actually made the stairs as well out of mahogany. He also made a grandfather clock out of bits of old oak furniture. We have vases and table lamps plus a stand for holding embroidery threads. I ought to take pictures of them all and put him a page on my web site. Shirley

Oh yes, Shirley, that would be a lovely thing to do. I put my marquetry pictures on a section of my Flickr page. . In message , Shirley Shone writes

Go ahead. Show the flag, so to speak.

John

That type of turning is called Stacked Turning. We have one of my BIL's bowls done in that stacked style inMaple and Walnut. Truly a Harlequin looking sort of work. Quite stunning.

John

I guess I can always add on another room to the house, so as to avoid the cost of shipping. ;>)

John