Cherry Credenza

[Michael Todrin]

Just finished up a credenza in Cherry. Design is my own. Base is cherry with Iron Acetate rub for the dark color. Wedged through tenons for the case joinery. Frame and panel doors with textured panels. 86”x20”x30”

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[Lee Schierer]

Very nice. Please tell us more about the textured front panels.

[stephen thomas]

I like that a lot!
really clean chisel work.

[Michael Todrin]

Thanks Lee and Stephen.

The idea for the panels came from Jon at Big Sand Woodworking and is inspired by the adze work done in Japan on beams called Chouna Shiage. It is done with an out-channel gouge and a mallet and travels with the grain down the panel. The out-cannel gouge allowed me to ride the bevel in and out of the cut and get a good finish.

[stephen thomas]

Did you do any layout at all? such as construction lines or grid? to keep all 3 panels more or less similar weight & "feel"
Or was it just a lot of previous practice?

Do you start in the center and work out? or?

All 3 are impressively "of a piece".

Thanks for any insights.

smt

[John TenEyck]

That is such an impressive piece. It would be nice had you used a CNC to carve those panels. Knowing that you did it by hand puts it in a whole 'nother level of competence, and determination, I imagine. Bravo.

John

[Michael Todrin]

Thanks John, I appreciate the compliment.

Stephen, I didn’t do any layout for the chisel work. I started at the uphill edge and worked my way down (Same as you would while planing). I put that edge on the right and I did the whole edge and worked to remove all the flat spots as I went from right to left. I suspect that no layout is needed to get the regular irregularity because the parameters are so narrow. The gouge size is fixed, the gouges are going to be in a fairly narrow range of depth, and the requirements to remove all the flat spots makes the center points of all the gouges fairly tightly spaced. It seems to me that it would be difficult to follow that system and get something that looked much different.

[stephen thomas]

Thank you Michael.
I can relate your description to scraping a surface (metalworking)
But one gets more than one try (pass) to get it right.
That is, everything is defined: tool shape, width x stroke length, depth,
But the natural progression can often vary more in how it appears & scintillates the light over a largish area, because muscles lag, change approach, accommodate elbow position, etc.
Then you look at it and take a more over-all approach when appearance starts to become part of the equation. In fact, at that point, sometimes one does choose to lay out a grid.

Your awareness, facility, and control is probably better than you give yourself credit for.
And i appreciate the notes.

smt

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Impressive detail work! Nicely done, Sir!

[Michael Todrin]

Stephen, I think the comparison to metal scraping is apt, though the stakes for the scraping are higher because the desired outcome is functional and not just visual.

It seems like we are begging the question to do a panel with the gouge points laid out on a grid next to my less rigorously laid out system to see if a difference can be discerned. I will keep that in mind the next time I am inspired to break out the gouges.

[glenn bradley]

Lovin' it!

[Michael Todrin]

A couple more pics

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[stephen thomas]

Michael -
I am not suggesting that at all, i was checking for tips on how to do it.
Things like this always remind me of the stories about the guys in the late 19th/early 20th c who could still recite entire 3 or 4 day long Indian (subcontinent) religious epic stories that were strictly oral tradition, no written scripts. Western guys became concerned that the ability and the stories would lapse. So some of the great ones were taught to read. So they could write them down. As they began to learn to do that, they could no longer remember the stories with clarity, and the memories faded.

There is a lot to be said for just developing natural ability.
But some of us with less of it, often ask questions about how to develop it.



smt

[stephen thomas]

Your shadow adds an interesting note to the texture in the second picture.

[Michael Todrin]

What a lovely compliment Stephen. To be compared in any way to a Vedic master is certainly high praise.

I do agree with you on the value of cultivating natural ability or instinct about proportions and the position of one’s body in space.

regarding the shadow: it is clearly the case that the artist, try as they might, can never remove themselves from the center of their work. ��