Maloof/Morrison walnut bedroom bench

[Bob Riefer]

This project is still in progress at the moment, but I thought I would share my first attempt at this sort of build. Some things went pretty well, others did not (so please be kind :)

I started off by seeing a bench that I liked in the Fine Woodworking gallery (https://www.finewoodworking.com/readerproject/2010/09/24/walnut-bench-in-the-spirit-of-maloof-design). I learned that this was considered to be in the spirit of Sam Maloof designs.

Next, I searched here om SMC and found that Prashun had built some furniture in this style, and having admired his posts over the years I reached out. He pointed me in the direction of Scott Morrison (https://finewoodworker.com/), and after emailing with Scott, I purchased DVD's for his tea chair and figured I would adapt as needed along the way to achieve what I was after.

My first departures from Scott's plans were that I could not readily find 8/4 walnut nearby (and thus worked with 6/4... which makes my creation a bit daintier overall) and I wanted an evenly scooped seat (instead of a more pronounced carved seat with 'yoke' area). As such, I was able to glue up my seat plank with the boards running the long way (instead of opposite as Scott teaches in the videos), which simultaneously made the glue up easier and the joint cutting more difficult (because I was handling long boards during that process). Here's what we looked like at that point:

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Next, I decided that I might have a steep learning curve using an angle grinder to carve the seat, so I decided to use a router sled to get various zones to my preferred depths as a first step:
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Then, I used an angle grinder and Kutzall carving disc, followed by 24 grit sanding disc, to contour between the zones and create the subtle shape of the seat:
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After this, I forgot to take pictures for awhile unfortunately. Things progressed pretty quickly. I selected a simpler back rest approach, and also changed the arm shape as I went. I found the process of resawing, and regluing the arm blanks to create a curve to be very interesting. By the time I remembered to take another picture, I had the bench basically together, and had done preliminary rough carving using the angle grinder:

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I was very nervous to use the angle grinder much more than what you see above, so I then purchased a Foredom rotary tool and some burrs. I had never used this sort of tool either, so this was a bit stressful at first, but I got the hang of it. Lots of time spent refining the shapes with the rotary tool, and then with hand rasps, has left me at this stage where it's time to sand the piece.

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I will use a combination of ROS, muscle power, sanding burrs for the rotary tool etc. to get this thing ready for finishing. I have one minor spot that needs some filler too (I ran out of wood and had to use a known-to-be-flawed piece).

Overall, I feel like I didn't botch this one up too badly, although there are so many steps that could have gone better. I also somewhat worry that the bench is too "thin" overall due to the use of 6/4 lumber - time will tell if it is strong enough (and it will be in our bedroom as a place to put on shoes before work... so only my wife and I will ever use it).

Any input as I look to take this to the finish line?

Thanks!!

Bob R.

[Jim Becker]

Bob, you're doing a really wonderful job on that project! Whatever tool(s) you use for taking off stock and shaping, a light touch and repetition is the way to go. You can always remove more, but, well...you can't really put any back! I'm betting with something like this one has to bounce back and forth between sides to help maintain symmetry, too, but I've not done anything like that to-date.

[Christopher Charles]

Looks great to me-nice lines and some great wood. I'd only recommend that you don't point out any of the flaws (that likely only you can see) to others :)

What are you planning for a finish?

Best,
Chris

[David Publicover]

That looks great! I went to investigate further but the link to Scott Morrison is a dead end for me. Do you have another? A quick google search didn’t help me much either.
Thanks,
David

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks guys! I'm really trying my best (as I always do) but with so many new techniques this has been a bit stressful the entire time.

Jim - regarding the symmetry remark... All the components are the same prior to carving, but then you're right... it's a game of shave a bit, stand back and look, shave a bit more, and so on. Scott M. makes it look so easy, but it ain't.

Christopher - I long ago learned to stop pointing out flaws to others that would never notice them. And that's great advice :-) For finishing, I'm going to use the steps outlined by Scott. M which I can't recall perfectly from memory right now... I'll update on this soon.

David - the link ought to work, but if you google Scott Morrison Fine Woodworker you will get there too. In addition to his great videos (which I have watched and re-watched) he was responsive to my few questions via email as well.

-------

Today I got through the first round of 60 grit sanding on one side of the bench. Lots of work with ROS, blocks and sponges, my hands... but I was able to remove tooling marks, and am excited to see how it progresses as I move through the other grits next.

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[David Publicover]

Thanks Bob! It really is a nice looking bench. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished project and am envious of your obvious skills!
David

[Ron Citerone]

Bob, that looks like a challenging piece. From what I can see it is turning out real nice.

BTW, I'm from Delco, been telling people forever that I am not from Philly! :)

[Gordon Eyre]

Such a beautiful piece of work. Love the gentle curves.

[David Utterback]

The curved arms are spectacular. Way to go!

[Joe A Faulkner]

Your results are looking fantastic. Good for you for trying out a slightly more petite style, and putting your own touch on the design. I am lucky to have sawmills near by. I have to believe there are some good hardware sources near you. Maybe others in the area can provide references.

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks again guys! Very humbling, and greatly motivating, to receive these votes of confidence from the SMC crew. :)


Ron - If you're still Delco (or visit from time to time) we should try to meet up sometime!


Gordon and Dave - The curves are my favorite part too. For the arms, it started off with an 8" x 20" rectangular board that was about 1.25" thick. A gentle curve was re-sawn, and the cutoff was then glued back onto the other side of the plank. Next, several rounds of "sneak up on it" cutting occurred in order to achieve a compound angle where the arm meets the rear, upper leg connection. Then, shape cutting at the band saw and round over with 1/2" router bit to reduce the amount of carving later. The connection to the front leg is done with a hardwood dowel, so I made a center finder (and have since bought a pack of them) to ensure the dowel would hit the arm in the right spot. Once the glue dried, angle grinder with 24 grit was used to do most of the shaping, followed by rotary tool with burrs, rasps, sandpaper.


Joe - I rarely follow plans exactly for two reasons... One, I like what I like. Two, I usually screw something up along the way which requires me to change the project to suit my mistakes. ha ha (but serious). I do have a sawmill nearby, but his stock is unpredictable and pricing seems high. There are further-away (but still doable) options that I hear are very good, but my skill level has not warranted the time and $$ investment. Perhaps I'm far enough along the learning curve to make the trip for my next project (entry storage bench with coat/hat hanging options above).

[Jim W. White]

Cool project, cool post ...it really looks very nice!

[Joe A Faulkner]

Rob, I tend to look at it a little differently. You clearly are producing results that are made to last, and while maybe not all of your results are premiere, master craftsman quality, you likely will be keeping these pieces for decades. For me, the big investment is time, so spending a few more dollars on lumber or even taking a couple of hours to source lumber are relatively small incremental costs of the project, especially compared to the amount of time I spend planning and working the wood. This is not to say I'm indifferent to lumber prices, but I've never regretted building a piece out of more expensive lumber. I am slow and generally only have to satisfy myself and the family members who will most benefit from my work, so again time becomes the biggest investment in nearly everything I make which frees me up to an extent to not worry as much about lumber costs.

[Bob Riefer]

All very good points, and I think "I'm there" now... in the past, there was quite a bit of uncertainty as to whether my projects would end up in a campfire, or in our living room. The past year's worth of projects have all been completed without major issues, so going from nice lumber to really nice lumber probably makes more sense now than it did in the past. :-)

[Bob Riefer]

Question for the team here if you have a minute to provide opinions...

I'm nearly finished with the bench now. Here's my finish approach:

- I wet sanded danish oil with 320 grit wet/dry
- wait overnight
- Rubbed out the finish with t-shirt, applied another coat of danish oil
- wait overnight
- Applied wipe-on satin poly urethane with a t-shirt
- wait overnight
- lightly (very lightly) sanded with 320 grit, applied another coat of poly with t-shirt (this was today)
- wait overnight (this would be tonight)
- Rub out the finish with a t-shirt (this would be tomorrow)
- Done

My thought is that the danish oil seals and protects somewhat, and the poly coats provide further protection.... So this is about 4 coats. At this point, my surfaces are very smooth to touch and the wife and I love the look of the bench/finish.

So, my question is... do you think I should do any additional finish coats or steps, or is the outline above sufficient? (reminder that this is a decorative bench in our bedroom that will see about 4 minutes per day of "action" when I put my shoes on each morning, and remove them each evening).

Thanks!!

Bob R.

[Bob Riefer]

All done now! The wife is happy and that's the most important thing ;)

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[David Utterback]

Success! Thanks for taking us through the project, Bob.

[Jim Becker]

That turned out beautifully, Bob!!

[Brian Runau]

Picture me jealous.

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks guys!!

Some parting notes, in the hopes that anyone tackling this sort of build could benefit:

- I would NOT build this from 6/4 lumber again... I will forever worry about the strength of this piece. Use 8/4.

- I forgot to align the grain on the cherry plugs... damn.

- I WOULD definitely use the router sled, followed by power carving approach for the seat. This really sped things along and increased uniformity.

- Since my seat planks were glued up long ways (rather than many smaller boards glued the other way), I had to make a little plywood frame to contain my router while cutting the Maloof joints... this worked extremely well and I will take the time to build such jigs again in the future

- It's really really really difficult to nicely sand contours such as the seat, rounded parts etc. I really really really tried hard and went slow and didn't skip grits... and still have some imperfections that will drive me nuts forever.

- Lots of "stand back and eyeball" your work is needed on this project in order to get symmetry.

- The Foredom rotary tool with Kutzall burrs was a necessity in my opinion. You could get there with rasps, but this really made the work much faster.

- Respirator is a must, and I had to blow out my entire shop several times during this project.


Other than these items, I thought the project was pretty manageable overall. I would definitely recommend this as a fun build.

[Prashun Patel]

Came out well.
I like your grain choice and the rear legs have a great flair.

Curved scrapers can be used to smooth the curved areas. They also assist in achieving a crisp line where the scoop starts.

Many random orbital sanders can be re-fitted with a 'soft backing pad' which also helps.

Last, you are a brave, brave man to do any power carving in the the shop. For my part, I will only nowadays do this outside - even if it means stooping over and tolerating extreme weather. It's just not worth the dust inside.

[Tom Bain]

Bob — The bench looks fantastic and very Maloof-esque.

[Christopher Charles]

Beautiful piece! And only you can see the “flaws”…

Back to your question about the finish…. It is subtle but I find rubbing on a coat or two of hard wax w 0000 steel wool makes nearly any finish easier to the touch. Might wait a week for the poly to harden though.

Thanks for bringing us along.

[Mike Allen1010]

Rob, I tend to look at it a little differently. You clearly are producing results that are made to last, and while maybe not all of your results are premiere, master craftsman quality, you likely will be keeping these pieces for decades. For me, the big investment is time, so spending a few more dollars on lumber or even taking a couple of hours to source lumber are relatively small incremental costs of the project, especially compared to the amount of time I spend planning and working the wood. This is not to say I'm indifferent to lumber prices, but I've never regretted building a piece out of more expensive lumber. I am slow and generally only have to satisfy myself and the family members who will most benefit from my work, so again time becomes the biggest investment in nearly everything I make which frees me up to an extent to not worry as much about lumber costs.

Bob, I’m super impressed with your project and the results. In particular, I don’t use a lot of abrasives in my work and learned a lot from your description of the rotary tools and abrasive you use to create the beautiful, organic curves in the bench.

More generally, I completely agree with Joe; I’ve never regretted spending extra dollars on quality lumber, but have often had the reverse experience. For those of us with the blessing of building furniture without the pressure of economics, taking the time to find the specific individual stock that best meets your needs, is one of the clearest indicators of something handmade versus factory production.

Thanks again for sharing!

All the best, Mike

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks again everyone!

Time to decide on the next project now...

I have always wanted to try some upholstery and am thinking of a storage bench that has a leather cushioned area on a portion of the top.

If it doesn't end up as firewood, I'll post it up :)

[Dwayne Watt]

I like to finish furniture pieces with wax (Bri-Wax mostly) to further improve the "feel" of the part. I do this over poly all the time. FWIW...

[Dwayne Watt]

Thanks again everyone!

Time to decide on the next project now...

I have always wanted to try some upholstery and am thinking of a storage bench that has a leather cushioned area on a portion of the top.

If it doesn't end up as firewood, I'll post it up :)
LOL...real leather prices along with proper upholstery foam (if you can find it right now) will make your wood investment seem trivial. Faux leather can be more reasonable, though.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bob, that is an instant heirloom! What a beautiful piece of furniture. I truly like everything about it, the gentle curves, the finish, everything! Very well done Sir!

[Bob Riefer]

Aww thanks Ken!! Really makes me feel good to hear such kind words. Much appreciated :)

[Mike Allen1010]

Rob, I tend to look at it a little differently. You clearly are producing results that are made to last, and while maybe not all of your results are premiere, master craftsman quality, you likely will be keeping these pieces for decades. For me, the big investment is time, so spending a few more dollars on lumber or even taking a couple of hours to source lumber are relatively small incremental costs of the project, especially compared to the amount of time I spend planning and working the wood. This is not to say I'm indifferent to lumber prices, but I've never regretted building a piece out of more expensive lumber. I am slow and generally only have to satisfy myself and the family members who will most benefit from my work, so again time becomes the biggest investment in nearly everything I make which frees me up to an extent to not worry as much about lumber costs.

+1 to Joe’s comments. I’ve gotten older/more mature in craft, I am also come to appreciate the value of spending a couple extra dollars to get premium lumber that allows a bit more flexibility with design considerations . I’ve never regretted spending extra for quality lumber, but have had the reverse situation several times and ended up rebuilding pieces originally made in Pine out of nicer stock.

Cheers, Mike

[Bob Riefer]

To be clear, I use high quality lumber for my projects, this one included. The only compromise in this case was using 6/4 instead of 8/4 because I felt I could make it work instead of driving multiple hours. Turns out I was able to make it work and we are very happy with the results.