Japanese garden bench

[Alan Turner]

This is a piece that will be delivered this Saturday. It is a garden bench, built of Paulownia, and designed in a style I perceive to be Japanese. Paulownia is an interesting wood to work. It weighs only slightly more than balsa wood, but is considerably stronger. All joinery is mortise and tenon, except for the arm to rear leg joint, which is a loose tenon. 44 M&T’s, in all. The arms, and the ends of the crest rail, were pattern shaped with 3 x 3 Byrd Shelix head and BB patterns, running on a ball bearing rub collar. I am new to the shaper, and the cut, and dust collection, were excellent, even on the end grain. The copper rivets are 40d nails, hand peened. This is what I needed a right angle drill for. It is 5' wide. The slats have a good bounce to them, so it is quite comfortable. Now I just hope that it does not blow away.
Alan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Alan......jeez.........Fantastic. I am envious of your talents!

[Wolf Kiessling]

Ditto what Ken said, Alan. That is a wonderful piece of work. DEFINITELY influenced by Asian architecture. Interesting choice of wood, also.

[John Olson]

I get in trouble with ethnic furniture. I told a Japanese that his furniture did not remind me of the orient Your bench does remind me of Japan. I spent many nights on the side of Mt Jugi. So for that you have set the mood correctly. Nice looking bench.

[Jim Becker]

Another winner from Alan! Since you used a species largely unfamiliar (I've seen some turnings from it, but not furniture) can you expand upon it a little more, especially it's properties relative to outdoor use, assuming your "garden bench" will be enjoying Mother Nature? TYIA

[Tyler Howell]

Hubba Hubba! Too Nice Ken!;)

[Alan Turner]

Jim,
Here is what I know, or learned, or believe. It is both bug and rot resistant. It will weather first to a yellower shade of light tan, and then to a light gray shade, all within the first 3 months, and then stay gray. (My test.) All of the joints are glued with West System epoxy. There are no gaps, and so I would not expect any water to collect in the bottoms of the several mortises. I hate drilling the weep holes as they are nothing but bug houses, IMHO. The bottoms of the legs are coated with epoxy so that there will be little wicking of water. It is quite strong for its light weight. I beefed up the slat thickness to 1 1/4", and bounced on it a bit without harm. Excellent bounciness, in fact. ( :
In Japan, I read, it is used as a wood for boxes that hold important papers as it will char but not flame easily, and thus is somewhat fire resistant, a feature that is not important for this application.
Some of the growth rings are near an inch across, meaning 2" of diameter growth per year. This guy is a quick grower! It dries easily (this was dried) with little checking, and 12/4 is easy to achieve quickly. Hence is pretty inexpensive. $3/b.f., even in thicker dimensions.
It was originally an Asian wood, but was imorted here about 30 or so years ago to be grown commercially, and I bought it locally, from Groff & Groff. It is not an import to G&G.
I hand planed, or spokeshaved, all of the surfaces, but then had to hand sand afterwards as the surface is not as smooth off the plane as usual. But, no power sanding at all. Just a quick once over with 150 grit, in the hand, before glue up. I was quite careful that no glue escaped any moritse.

If I know, or think I know, more, I don't remeber it. CRS is tough.

Alan

[Chris Padilla]

Yo Norm...I mean Alan, you're churning out gold by the minute!! That is very cool stuff...looks to be some interesting figure, too.

[Alan Turner]

Hey. I'm no norm. I fill my nailholes.
The figure is not that interesting. Grain is pretty regular. The pix make it look more interesting than it is. There was a bit of curly grain, but I decided not to use it as I wanted to emphasize form and shape, and there wasn't enough except for maybe about 3 back slats. My son touched up the pix, and added some color for contrast, as the wood is quite light in color, and the photographic background paper, which is the only color I have of this stuff, was not the best for this piece.
As for gold, I don't think so.l I underpriced this guy as a bit of a lost leader as I am trying to break into a bit of a different community. And, they said they like a Japanese sytle, and I have a slab of zelkova, which is a japanese elm, which is burled and with crotch, 47" by 52", irregular, that will make a very dramatic coffee table, and on it I will not take a loss.
Alan

[John Miliunas]

Alan, I'm with Chris P. on this one! You're just turning out some awesome pieces! :) I've never heard of the species, much less have any available from the suppliers around here! Very neat and I'm sure this will only wet the appetite of future buyers! :cool:

[Mark Singer]

Alan,
Another winner! Really great work! What technique did you use for making the tenons and mortises...by hand, band saw, router? I am doing a similar project now. Great design and wonderful proportions, really great to see work of this quality!

[Jim Ketron]

Looking Good Alan!
Nice Job!!
Jim

[David Klink]

That looks great Alan! What kind of finish did you use on it?

Isn't Paulownia that tree that's supposed to grow so fast? I remember reading someplace that they can reach 30' in 3 years and they have huge leaves when they're at the new growth stage.

Here we go, I found some info on them. Sorry to take this off topic somewhat, but I've heard they turn out decent timber, and that's the first I've seen it used.

History and uses of the Paulownia tree - For centuries the Chinese have grown Paulownia, also known as Empress and Sapphire trees for beauty and for highly prized timber. Paulownia is a fast growing, lightweight timber which is used in the making of moldings, cabinets, veneers, furniture, and even musical instruments. In Japan when a girl child is born they plant a Paulownia tree for her and when she marries they build her wedding chest from the tree. They also believed that the tree should be planted by the house so the Phoenix would come and protect them, and bring good luck.

Forestry:

Fast growing hardwood is light, does not warp, crack, or twist.
Hardwood is fire resistant and water repellent.
Fast growing hardwood that is used for furniture, musical instruments, doors, moldings, window frames, poles, pulp, and paper.
Makes great veneer and plywood.
Paulownia can be commercially harvested in five to seven years.
Peels 20% faster than conventional hardwood.
Lightweight with excellent weight strength ratio.
Excellent external an internal cladding for energy efficient homes.
Regenerate from the stump after harvesting.
Ornamental trees grow from 25’- 30’ in three years, forestry trees grow 70’-80’ in 10-15 yrs.
Kiln dries in 24-48 hrs, air dries in 30-60 days.

[John Miliunas]

"Holy chain saw, Batman!" :D Talk about sustainable forestry! That is some great info, David! I may even look into what the climate requirements are for it. I've got some land I could dedicate to something like that! Thanks much for sharing your research! :cool:

[Aaron Koehl]

Very nice.. probably something I would have myself.
Could you post some zoomed-out pictures?

[Bill Grumbine]

Very nice work on both pieces Alan! Too bad this one wasn't ready to sit on when I was down there, or we could have given it a REAL bounce test! :D I just delivered a chaise lounge last week, and I told my petite customer that I sat on it for a while just to make sure.

To everyone else, I was privileged to visit Alan at his shop about two weeks ago, and it was a real treat for me to see his work in person. I was also impressed with the combination of hand and power tools, especially that shaper head pattern cutter. All I can say is, I want one!

Bill

[Wes Bischel]

Alan,

I suspect youwill be seeing that client back for more - along with all of their friends and relatives! Beautiful work.

Wes

[Alan Turner]

David,
The information you found on Paulownia is what I found as well. Plus, I querried Jon Arno on the species, and he confirmed that it was at least a reasonable choice for the project at hand. Rot and bug resistant. He is quite a gentleman, and freely shares his wealth of knowledge about wood, species, etc. By the way, I grew up in Kansas City, and all of my people were from Southwest MO, so there were many car trips from KC to Joplin and Springfield. One lasting memory of those trips was the wealth of Burma Shave signs. Yours is great! YOu might send it over to the laser guys for making into signs for shops. I might be a customer.

Mark
The joinery mortises were done with my new-to-me Griggio Slot Mortiser. What a tool. Accurate, fast set up. End mills from Bentz tools, out in CA. One is a ½" dia, with 4 inches of cutting length. Solid carbide. I have wanted one of these since I first saw Alphonse Mattia demo one at a weekend seminar in about 1980 or so. New cost is about $4500, and I would never spend the money. Now I sort of wish I had. But, I finally got lucky. I had searched for 20 years for a used one, and never found one. He demo’d the Griggio, because that was what was in the Buck County Community College shop at the time. First time I had ever seen or heard of one. I hate to use routers for mortises since they are loud, and spray dust all over. Before the Griggio, I was going to buy the new Festool ½" router, if only for the dust collection I am sure that it has, but now I may not. I do use routers, but only when I can’t do it otherwise. BTW, the dust collection on the shaper with the pattern cutting head is terrific, and it is just an old PM 26, nothing special. I cut all of the tenons on the TS, and use the old and heavy Delta cast iron tenoning jig. I bought it in the early 80's for $275, and I think that this is still the price. Inflation be damned. I couldn't really chop these by hand as the Paulownia is so soft that it tears easily, and a clean cut with a chisel is quite difficult. I squared the ends of all the mortises with a 20 degree paring chisel. Try that in a harder wood. ( :

Aaron – I took the pix the way that I did because it was the limit of my paper backdrop. When I deliver it this weekend, I will shoot it in situ – i.e., in the garden. Actually I think it is to live on the front stoop of my clients’ home. Then you will get a sense of the scale. That is assuming that I remember to post the pix. These were taken for my web site, and so will be public when I find the time.

For all – There was an article in FWW in about the summer of 2000 by a fellow from Washington state on the building of a garden bench of Spanish cedar. The copper rivets method is from him. The bench is on the cover. The essential structure of this bench, and the one on my web site (which is of Spanish cedar) is from those prints. The angle of the back is 9 degrees off vertical. The seat rail is curved at a 21" or so radius. Seat height is 17", depth about 20" or so, which is pretty standard, I think. Here the slats are a full 1.25" for strength since the Paulownia is not as strong as the cedar. I built 5 at once and storage of the parts was a bear in my limited shop space. This was before I turned “pro” meaning (according to brother Grumbine) that I charge for my work. One is in Boston, one in Portland OR, one in Chester County PA, and two at my home in a Philadelphia suburb. So far, so good, but the back design is not right on the earlier ones since the crest rail is a single plank, bandsawn from 8/4. I think it will crack and break over time. too much cross grain. Were I to do a curved crest rail version again, I would jig it up, and do it out of bent laminations, for strength. Boy do I hate the sp. cedar dust. I smelled it for months after that project, which was before I was so into hand tools.

Bill - I sold a lathe and 20" bandsaw to a friend, and Bill is teaching him to turn. So, I had Bill over for dinner afterwards, and we had a nice evening. His comments are overly kind. And yes, Bill, I think it will hold you just fine, but you only get 2 bounces. ( :

Thanks to all for the kind remarks.

Alan

[Chris Padilla]

Mm..mmmu...ssttt h-h-h-hhhhave some Pp-pp-p..pppp..aulownia-a-a...aaaa wood!!! :D

Sounds like a too good to be true tree!

John,

Here ya go...25 trees for $250!!! ;)

http://www.paulowniasupply.com/paulownia_plantings_order.htm

Now if you could just grow cabinets, dressers, etc.! :D

[Alan Turner]

An office mate in my day job is a gardener, and she mentioned that this tree grows as in weedsw, so be careful that what you wish for will come true.
Alan

[David Klink]

An office mate in my day job is a gardener, and she mentioned that this tree grows as in weedsw, so be careful that what you wish for will come true.
Alan
I think I read someplace about that. How the seeds take very easily, that is. LOML saw an ad selling the seeds in one of those coupon collections you get in the mail and talked about planting one in the front, partly because they have such pretty blooms. I dissuaded her from the idea, partially on this point.

I also read that there are 12 different species, and they have slightly different characteristics. The timber derived from them could vary based on species as well. From what I've read, the trees are mature enough for harvesting wood from in 7 years or so.

Here's some of the sites I found if someone is really interested.

http://www.paulownia.com/
http://www.paulownia.org/
http://www.idrc.ca:8080/library/document/071235/
http://www.dragontrees.com/
http://www.paulowniawood.com/
http://www.paulowniatrees.org/
http://www.paulowniasupply.com/

And some pictures.

Approx. 4 months growth.
http://www.dragontrees.com/pcouple.jpg
http://www.dragontrees.com/patree1yr-2.jpg

http://www.paulowniatrees.com/a_trees_1_b.jpg

[David Klink]

By the way, I grew up in Kansas City, and all of my people were from Southwest MO, so there were many car trips from KC to Joplin and Springfield. One lasting memory of those trips was the wealth of Burma Shave signs. Yours is great! YOu might send it over to the laser guys for making into signs for shops. I might be a customer.

I'm glad you got a charge out of it Alan.:) I mentioned in another thread that LOML and I were talking about old ads one night, and the BS ads came up. That's when I had the idea.

If anyone would be interested in that sig pic as Alan suggested, feel free to use it. I also have one saved on the computer with the 1st 4 signs blank, and just the Burma Shave logo in the last one so you could create your own, or use one of the original sayings. All you need is a basic photo or picture program that lets you insert text. You can PM me if you're interested.

[Alex Lee]

The Paulownia is known by its more popular name- the Royal Empress Tree in the West. It is certainly one of the fastest growing trees in the world. I am a cultivator of these stately trees besides other fast growing trees. From personal experience, the Paulownia has an amazing growth rate. A lot of my customers ask for the Royal Empress just because it is one attractive flowering tree that shoots up to 15 feet in a year. Now that’s fast for you!
Here, check out this link: http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/EmpressTree.htm (http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/EmpressTree.htm)

[Karin Voorhis]

I must say I really love the lines and your design here with this piece. Very nice...

[Jake Helmboldt]

The Paulownia is known by its more popular name- the Royal Empress Tree in the West. It is certainly one of the fastest growing trees in the world. I am a cultivator of these stately trees besides other fast growing trees. From personal experience, the Paulownia has an amazing growth rate. A lot of my customers ask for the Royal Empress just because it is one attractive flowering tree that shoots up to 15 feet in a year. Now that’s fast for you!
Here, check out this link: http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/EmpressTree.htm (http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/EmpressTree.htm)


It should also be noted that Paulownia is considered an invasive species :mad: and planting should be done with real discretion. Here in Richmond, VA the things are growing in every nook and cranny on sites that are neglected. In some instances they are literally growing from the cracks of masonry buildings; they are truly pernicious. As someone else said, be careful what you wish for.

As for stately, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It has giant, heart-shaped leaves and looks like a giant weed when growing (because it is basically). Someone once described it as looking like rotting cabbage when the leaves begin to drop.