hazel coppice pole furniture??

[Eric_Methven]

If you appreciate 'form' in wood, you'll like these.

The above were made by Clarence Nichols of New York between 1926 and 1932

This chap is John Krubsack from Embarrass, Wisconsin. He decided to experiment in grafting techniques and 'grew a chair'. It took him 11 years.

The chair still growing. The branches have been trained and grafted onto each other so they merge as one living piece.

The finished chair will all the unwanted bits cut off.

These and others like them are what have influenced me over the years.

Eric

 

[spamel]

That is amazing!

 

[weaver]

Yes Sir!

Those are nice, I really like the rocker. Are those from a book you have or off the web?

I would like to get a copy of the book if it is still in print.

 

[mr dazzler]

Amazing set of pic's there Eric. Way ahead of there time. The openness reminds me of Frankk Gehry's chair design's, loose, minimal and "weightless"

The second one of your photo's has an african (ethiopian) feel to it
Interesting to see the man growing a chair form. I've seen other folk's on the net as does that sort of thing. I dont know If I could maintain focus for 11 years to completion, but I have often wondered if it could be feasible to "grow" certain components particularley bent arm's, would cut out ( terrible pun ) all the fuss with steam bending. The japanease people seem to have a tradition of modifying natural growth for asethetic reasons (rather than grafting for agricultural purposes)
Thanks again for putting those photos up, cheers Jonathan

 

[shep]

Those examples are breathtakingly beautiful. I'm feeling inspired...

 

[commandocal]

That is awesome, Time to gop start bending tree's into all sorts of shapes!

 

[mr dazzler]

Yes Sir!

Those are nice, I really like the rocker. Are those from a book you have or off the web?

I would like to get a copy of the book if it is still in print.

Check out the link
http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/treasures/explore.cfm?coll=18&startRow=1&maxRows=31

 

[Eric_Methven]

The best way to 'bend wood' so it trains in a specific shape, is to use 18mm WBP plywood cut to shape with small holes drilled around the shaped edge. Then you bend the sapling onto it (the sapling doesn't want to be more than a half inch diameter) and secure, not too tightly, with cable ties. As the sapling grows, remove the cable ties and replace with larger ones so they don't cut into the bark. If two pieces cross,and you want to graft them together, just scrape off some bark at the points where they cross and bind them together with a bit of rag. They will merge into a single joint through the wound as the saplings grow. The grafting process doesn't take long.

The book I got the photos from is "Making Rustic Furniture" by Daniel Mack. ISBN 0-8069-8264-0 Also available here

Hope this helps,

Eric

 

[harlequin]

ALL of those pictured pieces are works of art.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[weaver]

Eric,

As always very helpful! You, Sir, are a gentleman and a scholar as well as a great friend.

I just ordered a slightly used hardcover copy of that book for less than 5 quid including shipping. Will let you know how well I like it. I'm certain I won't be disappointed.

And Mr. Dazzler, thanks for the link, I saved a few pics to look at later.

 

[mr dazzler]

The best way to 'bend wood' so it trains in a specific shape, is to use 18mm WBP plywood cut to shape with small holes drilled around the shaped edge. Then you bend the sapling onto it (the sapling doesn't want to be more than a half inch diameter) and secure, not too tightly, with cable ties. As the sapling grows, remove the cable ties and replace with larger ones so they don't cut into the bark. If two pieces cross,and you want to graft them together, just scrape off some bark at the points where they cross and bind them together with a bit of rag. They will merge into a single joint through the wound as the saplings grow. The grafting process doesn't take long.

The book I got the photos from is "Making Rustic Furniture" by Daniel Mack. ISBN 0-8069-8264-0 Also available here

Hope this helps,

Eric

Thats exactly what I was thinking, some sort of form or restraint. My thought was just to stretch a rope (like a bow cord?) across a new sapling just for a long enough peroid of time until its fixed into that shape. Small 1st year ash would be ideal. Just keep trimming off new growth each year to prevent additional side branches on the curved sapling until its thick enough? (5 or 6 year's?) to harvest and use. I reckon you could pre form canoe rib's as well, in fact any shape EG a row of saplings with round posts and rails set at various heights and angles similar to a hay fork mould to hold the shapes? Just requires careful pre planning (and patience) AND result's in minimal waste as well, I havent always found it easy to get arm blanks from logs and wasted quite a bit of timber

 

[Eric_Methven]

Been having a think about pre forming wood. I tried it before using cable ties to hold the saplings to a specific shape and found that they sometimes cut into the bark if you forget about them. I was talking to a colleague who does this also and he told me he uses strips of rubber from old inner tubes. He staples these over the sapling to the plywood former and just forgets them. As the sapling grows and thickens, the rubber just stretches to accommodate it. After a couple of years, the wood has set in it's shape anyway and the rubber rots of it's own accord and splits away.

You could certainly do canoe ribs as well although it's a long winded way to go about it. Canoe ribs need only be thin and would probably be better cleaved from wider wood and steam bent.

Eric