A Worthy Cause

Here is an awesome community service cause for this time of year. If you are a woodworker with a little extra this holiday season, it is worth a look. I would rather you go to http://www.moringacommunity.org/ to read the story yourself and watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpxK_qrb2Rg

From My Earliest Brewing Days

I bought this book with my first home brewing kit in 1988, rode back to my college dorm, and with the help of a small electric burner, brewed my first batch of ale. Hours later, in the middle of the night, I awoke to my roommate cursing me up and down as the CO2 snored "blurp, blurp, blurp" from the airlock of the fermenter. Thus began my long journey into beer and brewing. The original kit was purchased at Home Sweet Home brew in Philly, PA. The ale turned out great. Incidentally, my second batch was a stout which I remember giving a sample to one of my friends which resulted in a sourpuss comment "eeww! tastes like Guinness!" as he spit it out.

Wing Chair Documentary(construction complete)

The arm support is screwed and glued to the roll and the wing stile. This is the very final screw.

I placed glue in the front of the arm support only and elongated the rear screw hole to allow for movement in the wider, cross grain, wing stile.

Here is the final construction ready to go to the finishing department. I will also be placing metal support brackets at various places for additional support.

Wing Chair Documentary (gluing arm post blocks)

Here I am shaping and gluing the arm post blocks. I really like the look of the vertical cylindrical arm roll on these chairs. Most traditional wing chairs made today favor the horizontal roll.

Wing Chair Documentary (gluing wings and arm post)

I usually have a helper available when needed, but when necessity calls: I used double sided tape to hold glue blocks in place to clamp the wings to the back frame. The angles of the clamping blocks have to be right on, or the force of the clamp will really give you problems when gluing up. The glue blocks on the curved wing rail were saved from the original cut off, but a better idea would have been to custom make a block that fit around the wing stile also, preventing slippage. As you may have noticed, I changed my earlier plan, which was to glue up the back frame as a unit, in favor of gluing in parts. When you are not going by any plan or the plan is your own, sometimes you have to let the process fall into place.

I also glued the arm posts to the seat frame. I need to attach the arm rests and add a few finishing touches and the chair will be ready for the finishing department.

Going to the Phillies Parade(a few weeks back)

This is a photo of me and the kids all Phillied up before departing to the Phillies World Series Parade. The only thing that I don't like about the picture is that my wife is not included(someone had to take the picture). This was taken on Halloween day. Some Friday for the kids; no school, once in a lifetime world series parade, and trick or treating.

Wing Chair Documentary (gluing wing to seat)

Now that most of the sanding is complete, I am gluing the wings and back frame to the seat frame. At first I thought I would have to attach the wings and back frame to the seat frame as one unit, but this way seems to work(and is easier). I had to use a horizontal clamp on the wing rail to hold the clamping block in place.