# Work in progress--Medieval Thrones (update March 11)



## kirkpoore1 (28 Dec 2010)

Since I’ve been hanging around for a few weeks, I guess it’s time to post an example of the stuff I make. I belong to a medieval recreation group (or re-creation, depending on how hard core you are), and as a result most of my projects are medieval furniture. Usually they’re portable, since most people want something they can take to a weekend event. So now I’m working on a pair of portable thrones for a group covering the southeast US. These are based on medieval box chairs, with 14th century ornamentation. The wood is black walnut, with panel-frame construction and finished with Tried and True Varnish Oil. Each throne will have 5 pieces, with all but the seat joined by bed rail hardware to allow disassembly for transport. I actually started working on these back in October, and am about half finished. 

Although box chairs are more of a 15th-16th century style, it will have a 14th century pointed back like this one:





All the panels will be carved and use repeating patterns, so I figured some practice was in order to ensure I got things right. I started on the front panels (kickplates) first, because they would be the easiest and let me get the bugs worked out:




This test panel was made from some red oak scrap laying around. I used a scroll saw to make the cutouts, then overlaid a pattern to clean up the openings with the router, and put a bevel on the columns with the router. The rest was hand carved. I used a scratch stock for the lines around the panel, and the frame is mortise & tenons. Here’s the frame being mortised:




And the dry fitted frames themselves, showing the haunched joint:





Here’s the first of the real panels:




It was actually easier to carve it in the (dry-fitted) frame, because so much open space left it hard to hold and vulnerable to breaking. 
Here’s the assembled panel:




Since this will carried around, I’m concerned that the columns would be eventually broken out by rough treatment. I therefore glued on a secondary panel in the back of the carved panel. Here is the second kickplate, with the back panel in place:





On to the sides. First, since I was using rough cut, air dried planks, I had to trim one edge mostly straight, then run it through the jointer (planer) to get a final straightening, then through the table saw to get to final width, and finally through the planer (thicknesser). Here’s one plank on the bandsaw getting one edge straightened:





Here’s one arm frame being test-fitted. The arms are built up of several pieces of walnut, since I didn’t have any wood wide and thick enough. One more piece needs to be glued to the back of the arm (on the right):





On to the panels. The panels are carved with a repeating pattern of quatrefoils. I started by marking the pattern, then drilling out the holes in the quatrefoils:





Next, I used the router to get rid of most of the background down about an eighth of an inch:





After that came the hand carving, getting into the corners, straightening the lines, and cleaning up mistakes:









Each panel took about 3 hours from start to finish.

There are four of these panels per chair:





I carved the ends of the arms in a quasi-acanthus pattern. I’m not really happy with this. I can do some pretty decent relief carving, but my carving in the round just ain’t great. So, I didn’t get a closeup—sorry. So after the panels were done, I put a coat of finish on everything, then assembled. Here you go:









All four sides are done except for adding more coats of the varnish oil and attaching the actual bed rail hardware. 
I’m starting on the backs now, with some prototype frames for the top, pointed part of the back. The first attempt failed, so it’s on to a second plan tonight. I get both Thursday and Friday off of work, so I expect to make good progress those days (except when I’m cleaning the house for our New Year’s party). So more pictures in a few days.

Kirk


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## mailee (28 Dec 2010)

WOW! That is brilliant work Kirk. Must take ages to complete something like that? I wouldn't have the pateints for that sort of work.


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## Vinny (28 Dec 2010)

=D> =D> Thats some pretty amazing stuff kirk, looking forward to the finished chair.


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## Thomas Hayman (28 Dec 2010)

Kirk, SCA by any chance?


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## kirkpoore1 (28 Dec 2010)

mailee":1hrmuyy2 said:


> WOW! That is brilliant work Kirk. Must take ages to complete something like that? I wouldn't have the pateints for that sort of work.



Most doesn't take too long. I've put together a very well equipped shop over the last few years, and mostly it goes pretty quick. The carving is of course the slowest part. Mostly, I throw some tunes into the CD player and start working, and quit when it's time to go to bed or I reach a convenient stopping point. It helps that I haven't done this type of thing in a while, so I'm not bored (yet!). I think I guesstimated this project at 110 hours, which will probably be low but not by that much.

Thomas: Yes, SCA. These are for Meridies.

Kirk


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## TheTiddles (29 Dec 2010)

Beautiful work but I'm glad we have evolved into other tastes as that style of furniture is monstrous!

Do you make ducking stools and witch burning stakes too?

Aidan


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## kirkpoore1 (29 Dec 2010)

TheTiddles":3pusjn7v said:


> Beautiful work but I'm glad we have evolved into other tastes as that style of furniture is monstrous!
> 
> Do you make ducking stools and witch burning stakes too?
> 
> Aidan


No stakes, but I do make these too:





Darn if I'm going to let anybody throw it into a pond, though, witch or no witch.

Kirk


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## joiner_sim (30 Dec 2010)

Really good and intricate work there! It must take forever to complete.


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## wysong (31 Dec 2010)

Kirk .
I didn't see this over there ????
Nice work


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## kirkpoore1 (31 Dec 2010)

wysong":jo0e0s2q said:


> Kirk .
> I didn't see this over there ????
> Nice work



No, Hutch, I haven't posted it over there yet. I figured these guys would get a kick out of a _'murican_ making thrones. I will post it later. I did break a 3/8" hollow chisel on it yesterday, and another one today. No, I wasn't doing the same thing twice--The first was my fault, but I don't know why the second one broke--it might have been defective. Tomorrow, unless I screw something else up, I should have the back frames at least dry-fitted.

I see you're keeping the old avatar. With that user name, you ought to at least show off your edge sander in it's own thread, even if you're not going to use it as an avatar.

Kirk


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## Mcluma (31 Dec 2010)

is this your full time job?


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## cerdeira (31 Dec 2010)

Hi

Nice work. Very uncommon to see pieces like those posted around here.
I think your attempt at the acanthus leaf didn't come up too well is because the setting-in stage was not carried away sufficiently.
I mean the background should be much deeper to give a more expressive effect. You could have achieved that perhaps by gluing a thicker block on the arm so that the carving would "stand out" above the rest.


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## brianhabby (2 Jan 2011)

That certainly shows a level of patience that I would have difficulty with, it is clearly a labour of love, well done.

regards

Brian


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## kirkpoore1 (3 Jan 2011)

Thanks, guys. No, this is not my full time job, just a paying hobby--I've made enough to pay for all my machines and materials, and am starting on paying for my shop. I'm a computer programmer for a dental insurance company in my day job--not exactly exciting.

I think the acanthus didn't come out because I've learned pretty much everything out of books, rather than being taught in person. I think in some areas, like carving in the round, direct feedback can be very useful. More geometric designs, like the panels, are fairly easy, vegetation relief carving isn't too bad, vegetation in the round I find to be tough, and as for faces, people, or animals, where the proportions have to be right or they look funny, well, let's just say that I can't draw or carve my way out of a wet paper bag. It's funny because my sister can draw well, and my daughter can draw well, but me? Not so much.

Kirk


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## kirkpoore1 (6 Jan 2011)

OK, time for an update. 

You know, sometimes machinery just isn't the answer. I have an tilt-table autofeed mortiser, but I learned that there's a _wrong_ way to make angled mortises:




This happened because although the table was tilted at 30 degrees, I wanted to use the traverse on the table. However, when the drill head drove in, it slid the table down, bending the chisel and breaking the drill. Oops. Looks like it will be lock the table and slide the work from now on.

However, the show must go on, so I switched to a more reliable technology--a mortising chisel:








And then the tenon:




My tablesaw tenoning jig won't do a 30 degree back angle easily, so I just cut it with a tenon saw.

On to the panels. Each throne back has two tall and one triangular panel. The triangles are too wide for my available wood, requiring a glue up:





Next came a dry fit on a back frame:






The glue up and dry fit was last night. Tonight, I cut out the triangular panels and ran a lip around the edge using the shaper. With a little tweaking, the test fit went well:





Here's the back side. Note the sap wood showing in the triangular panel:





Next up is the final fitting on the triangle frame, which isn't quite right yet. Then on to carving the rectangular panels.

Kirk


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## kirkpoore1 (19 Jan 2011)

Time for more pictures, after a significant delay trying to get the bed rail hardward attached correctly to the sides & back of the first chair. The first back is now done, except for finials and crockets. I still have to assemble the second back, and am in the middle of carving the back panels. Anyway, on to more pictures:

The main frame of the back went together fairly easily, but the pointed top was tougher to add on due to the oddball shape:









The mortises for the crockets were actually very useful. I trimmed some scraps to shape, stuck in them, and that allowed the clamps a place to grab on. For the mitered joint, I had hand-chopped the mortises and then planed a floating through tenon out of a longer piece of walnut. The points had to be clamped to keep them from splitting, but (eventually) all went well.

Here's a closeup of the carved panels in the back. This is low relief, with most wood removed with a router and then final cleanup with chisels:





And the assembly so far:




















Obviously, the seat isn't done yet, nor are the seat supports. For decorative elements, the finials and crockets are still in the future, as well as several more coats of finish. I'm working on the back of the other throne now, and if all goes well it will be caught up with this one by the end of the weekend.





Oh, the triangular panels will have an applied siver repousse design. A friend is doing that. I meant to have this panel set back a little further to protect the silver, but I screwed up and ran the wrong edge through the shaper. I couldn't flip it around because there was too much light colored sapwood on the back. Ah, well, it will have to do--it's not the first botched part of these thrones.

Kirk


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## kirkpoore1 (1 Feb 2011)

kirkpoore1":30ira71l said:


> Here's an update, folks. The thrones are structurally complete:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## kirkpoore1 (11 Feb 2011)

Time for another update. I spent the weekend carving crockets and working out finial designs, and finished the finials on Tuesday night. Wednesday night I glued on the crockets (using hide glue so they can be easily removed & replaced if damaged), then added the finials. A few more pictures:

Finial blank, with central portion cut down and carved:





After I turned the finials, I bored out the bottoms. This was the first time I'd put a drill chuck on my lathe, and I was surprised how well it worked. This was to receive a rare earth magnet. I was hoping to use the magnets to hold the finials in place, along with some overlap on the sides. This didn't work--the fit of the 3-sided socket (see below) simply wasn't precise enough nor did the magnet, strong as it is, have the strength to resist more than lightest sideways push at the top of the finial. So I went back to the steel rod idea, and added 2" lengths of 3/8" rod.

Finial being bored out:










3-sided socket with magnet holder:





I next put another coat of varnish oil on the thrones, and touched them up here and there, then assembled for more pictures. Here's the 97% complete versions, needing only another coat of varnish plus a little touch-up here and there. (Sorry for the reletively crappy shots. It was midnight, and I was too tired to arrange decent ligthing.)

















Not a great view of the crockets and finials, but the best you'll get today, I'm afraid. I'll get better pictures this weekend:





One thing I can say is that I used every stationary tool in my shop, plus lots of the hand tools. That makes me feel that I didn't waste money when I bought all this stuff. Fortunately, my wife doesn't get on my case about these things either. 

Kirk


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## Setch (11 Feb 2011)

Smashing work, very authentic looking.


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## kirkpoore1 (15 Feb 2011)

Now that the sun came out and it warmed up, I was able to take a few better pictures:
















Kirk


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## adidat (15 Feb 2011)

incredible you are a very skilled man my friend!

adidat


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## mtr1 (15 Feb 2011)

Dam fine work sir, I'm finding with my clients that they are asking for more of this traditional work. This might be in part to my rural location, older properties, and their average age 50/60. Either way I like making it, and its starting to creep back into my taste also.


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## kirkpoore1 (15 Feb 2011)

Thanks, guys.

Mark, I checked out your web page, and see what you mean, given this cabinet:






Very nice, and dead on with some of the examples I've seen. I also saw the curved hot tub stairs you did--my wife and I will be ripping down our old deck this spring, and I may use your stairs for inspiration. 

Kirk


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## mtr1 (17 Feb 2011)

Thanks Kirk, The wip for the deck is here, if you are interested.


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## kirkpoore1 (12 Mar 2011)

The Penultimate Pics:

I have a friend who's a pro photographer, and he came to one of our medieval events and shot pictures as a fundraiser. He then took pictures of one of the thrones. This is pretty much the last I'll see of them, since they're being delivered tomorrow. They still will get some silver repousse done in the triangles, but that will be done by someone else and in the coming months. Anyway, here you go:






Top of the back panel, with triangular panel:




Middle of back:




One panel:




Well, the carving ain't perfect, but I think the flaws give it some good character. (On the other hand, I'm biased.)




The frame lines are done with a scratch stock, and the corners finished with a chisel. Took maybe an hour or hour and a half for a total of 12 panels. Router? Bah, humbug!

Side panels:




And even closer:






Handrest:














I'm still not real happy with the handrest carving. But frankly, these pictures make it look alright.

Finial:









Again, things look a trifle "rustic". And I've only seen a few medieval pieces in person, but I think this looks appropriate in comparison.

Kickplate:





Don't like it? Off with your head!






Kirk


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