Splitting (riving) Hard Maple for Chair Parts

                                           
    As I began a new and rather large chair order this week, 10 to be exact. I went through the maple logs I had gotten 3 or 4 months ago and they just weren't up to par. So I had to search out another nice maple, (hard to find in Missouri by the way) that could get enough parts for all 10 chairs and extra if needed. I found this beauty at my local log guy. It was about 20" in diameter one way and 17" the other and 9 foot long or so. It was really nice and straight and just had one little blemish on the bark. So I bought it got it home and began cutting it to rough length. This is how I laid out my blanks.
    Instead of the "normal" way of splitting it into 1/8ths I tried basically making it a large checker board. I drew lines first across the center as normal and then again across the other way making 1/4's, then instead of drawing lines into 1/8th's I decided to lay it out every 2-1/2" from those first two lines, it gave me what you see in this picture.

 After all the lines were drawn on the end of the log, I used my normal way of scribing in with a hatchet to establish the split I want, ( I go a few times across each scribe line to deepen the line making the wedges easier to set and it also gives the split a direction that you want it to go). First I split the log in half, then into quarter's, then I work each quarter till it's all split up,  move on to the next quarter and so on keeping a few fibers in tact so the log doesn't fall over.

 Looks like a cheese slicer went over on this log, wish it was that simple! This method provided me with the best quality billets I've ever gotten. Usually I have a bunch of triangular splits that aren't always easy to get just what I need. By doing it this way I was able to get more uniform 2 1/2" square blocks that while not all perfect, were much easier to work and mount in the lathe. Plus every billet so far has the growth rings running at a 45 degree angle making it "rift" rived. I haven't looked at every billet yet, but of the over 60 that I split out of 2 sections, they have all been "rift" rived.

I did have a few that were unusable, mostly the 4 that were dead center and a couple around the outside, but this photo shows, out of just one of the sections I cut to 24" long, it got me about 30 billets and just had 4 or 5 that are going to be firewood this winter. I'll have to make sure all goes well with this method, and if so, I believe I'll be using it permanently. Now to rough turn them all round and begin making chair parts.

Shaker Table w/ Company Boards

Earlier this year I had made a set of 8 Windsors for a customer and they then asked me to make them a table. They needed something that would fit the everyday space they had but during holidays they needed it to become larger. My suggestion was company boards. Company boards are just that, boards you put on the table when company comes over. Unlike table leaves, company boards go on the end of the table eliminating the crack always in the center of the table.

They wanted a shaker style table with simple turned legs and no frills. This is the table I made for them. Pretty much a shaker inspired table, made out of cherry, and plain and simple.

The only drawback to company boards are they have to be stored when not in use. They are 36" long and 18" wide making them hard to store on the underside of the table. A closet would be my choice. 

For making extra room for "Company" they work great. They slide in through notches in the aprons and gravity takes over once inserted all the way in.

This table can go from 60" long for 6 people, up to 96" long for 8 . Makes a wonderful way to add more chairs around the Turkey dinner. Plus with a normal leaf table,  you always have the crack in the center of the table and the grain usually goes across the table, not an attractive look in my mind.