Scott Conners
03-16-2009, 3:36 AM
Until recently (when my downstairs neighbor finally got too tired of the noise), I've had my mini lathe in the kitchen of my apartment. My best friends got parried in November, and I had volunteered to make the chuppah (hupah). A chuppah is a Jewish wedding tradition, where four poles hold a canopy that the ceremony is performed under. Traditionally, the poles are held by members of the community, symbolizing the importance of the community's support of the fragile new household. In this case, the chuppah would be free standing. I had originally planned to have a few small simple poles with decorative finials. Then, I had the (perhaps foolish) idea that if I planned ahead, I could make the chuppah into a four poster bed as my wedding present after the ceremony.
Since I don't have a shop, I had to find a way to get 4x4 posts of nice dry stable wood to make the bed from. I couldn't join and glue my own hardwood, and 4x4 cherry glue ups from the local hardwood place was far beyond my budget. I wracked my brains for a solution, and then had the idea of using parallam.
Parallam is a laminate building material used for structural beams and posts. It's made of many strips of pine or fir glued together under great pressure. I'd heard of bowls and hollow forms made from it, and found I could get the wood I needed for a reasonable price. I knew it would be stable and strong, and would definitely be different.
So I found I had committed to turn 4 - 90" 4x4 posts of dry, hard to work wood in my kitchen. It's a really good thing the LOML is VERY understanding and supported the project, because we are still finding bits of chuppah in random corners of the kitchen. The first pic is a shot of me roughing. I found the parallam tended to chip out badly in large chunks if I wasn't careful, and did most of the roughing (and almost all of the work in general) with my Thompson 1/2" detail gouge.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=113181&d=1237186709
Because I took so long finding wood, I had to somewhat hurry through the production. It took three days just to get the design and first post done, and then I turned for 10+ hours for the next four days to finish and sand the rest. Each post is three segments, two 36" pieces and a 18" finial. They have round tenon joints that I'll eventually glue permanently. I designed them so the top 18" piece could be removed and they would still look complete, as the bungalow they currently rent has odd low ceilings. I found duplicating them was actually easier than I expected, I used a technique of cutting in depth parks at key points with a parting tool, then connecting the dots. Having the original model right in front of the lathe was also important so I could judge curves and such.
You'll notice a spot about half way up where I left a large flat area. This is for another good friend of the couple who does leatherworking, there will be tooled leather panels wrapped around each of these areas. When I make the bed, I plan on making spindle based head and foot boards, and we have plans to have tooled leather panels laced in between the spindles of the headboard. It should be quite a piece of furniture when we're finished.
I put 18" x 1/2" steel stakes in the bottom of the posts so they would be self supporting on the lawn for the wedding. they are sanded to 400 and were unfinished for the wedding, and looked great. The mother of the bride actually came to me and said "I've been to many Jewish weddings, and that is definitely the most beautiful chuppah I've ever seen." That really made my day :D
Eventually I plan on staining it a very deep red and finishing it with Arm-R-Seal or similar.
Here are some photos of the construction and the ceremony:
Sizing marks layed out for an upper:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102254&d=1227931994
An upper section ready for sanding:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102255&d=1227932021
A mostly finished top section:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102256&d=1227932021
A completed top section - on the very last top, The donut around the tip broke in half. I used layers of CA and sawdust to build up a new one and it worked pretty well:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=113182&stc=1&d=1237188635
The completed peices:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102257&d=1227932039
The chuppah set up before the ceremony:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=153&pictureid=1509
Detail of the top:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=153&pictureid=1508
Last pic - The test piece I made to see if the wood would be useable - a very simple cup, turned quickly the day I picked up the wood. It shows the cool "grain" patterns well:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=153&pictureid=1517
Since I don't have a shop, I had to find a way to get 4x4 posts of nice dry stable wood to make the bed from. I couldn't join and glue my own hardwood, and 4x4 cherry glue ups from the local hardwood place was far beyond my budget. I wracked my brains for a solution, and then had the idea of using parallam.
Parallam is a laminate building material used for structural beams and posts. It's made of many strips of pine or fir glued together under great pressure. I'd heard of bowls and hollow forms made from it, and found I could get the wood I needed for a reasonable price. I knew it would be stable and strong, and would definitely be different.
So I found I had committed to turn 4 - 90" 4x4 posts of dry, hard to work wood in my kitchen. It's a really good thing the LOML is VERY understanding and supported the project, because we are still finding bits of chuppah in random corners of the kitchen. The first pic is a shot of me roughing. I found the parallam tended to chip out badly in large chunks if I wasn't careful, and did most of the roughing (and almost all of the work in general) with my Thompson 1/2" detail gouge.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=113181&d=1237186709
Because I took so long finding wood, I had to somewhat hurry through the production. It took three days just to get the design and first post done, and then I turned for 10+ hours for the next four days to finish and sand the rest. Each post is three segments, two 36" pieces and a 18" finial. They have round tenon joints that I'll eventually glue permanently. I designed them so the top 18" piece could be removed and they would still look complete, as the bungalow they currently rent has odd low ceilings. I found duplicating them was actually easier than I expected, I used a technique of cutting in depth parks at key points with a parting tool, then connecting the dots. Having the original model right in front of the lathe was also important so I could judge curves and such.
You'll notice a spot about half way up where I left a large flat area. This is for another good friend of the couple who does leatherworking, there will be tooled leather panels wrapped around each of these areas. When I make the bed, I plan on making spindle based head and foot boards, and we have plans to have tooled leather panels laced in between the spindles of the headboard. It should be quite a piece of furniture when we're finished.
I put 18" x 1/2" steel stakes in the bottom of the posts so they would be self supporting on the lawn for the wedding. they are sanded to 400 and were unfinished for the wedding, and looked great. The mother of the bride actually came to me and said "I've been to many Jewish weddings, and that is definitely the most beautiful chuppah I've ever seen." That really made my day :D
Eventually I plan on staining it a very deep red and finishing it with Arm-R-Seal or similar.
Here are some photos of the construction and the ceremony:
Sizing marks layed out for an upper:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102254&d=1227931994
An upper section ready for sanding:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102255&d=1227932021
A mostly finished top section:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102256&d=1227932021
A completed top section - on the very last top, The donut around the tip broke in half. I used layers of CA and sawdust to build up a new one and it worked pretty well:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=113182&stc=1&d=1237188635
The completed peices:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=102257&d=1227932039
The chuppah set up before the ceremony:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=153&pictureid=1509
Detail of the top:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=153&pictureid=1508
Last pic - The test piece I made to see if the wood would be useable - a very simple cup, turned quickly the day I picked up the wood. It shows the cool "grain" patterns well:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/picture.php?albumid=153&pictureid=1517