Replies

1. 
   _mj_ | May 06, 2022 12:31pm | #1

   Scorp?

2. 
   lat_axe | May 06, 2022 02:09pm | #2

   Hello M,

   The furniture style you refer to is that copied from medieval church stuff in Britain by Robert Thompson - The Mouseman of Kilburn, Yorkshire. He had a number of apprentices who eventually themselves set up business, in the same area, using the various plans and identical making techniques employed by Robert Thompson (with his blessing).

   My parents-in-law bought several such pieces from Albert Jeffrey, one of those apprentices, in the 1960s. After they died the ladywife and me inherited most of it. We still have it, so I can show you some close-ups of the surface finish you allude to if you like ... ?

   Robert Thompson carved a small mouse on all his furniture (thus "Mouseman"). Albert Jeffrey carved a small eagle and inevitably became named "Eagleman".

   https://duckduckgo.com/?q=albert+eagleman+jeffrey&atb=v314-1&iax=images&ia=images

   The surfaces of virtually every part of this style of furniture show the shallow scoops of the large adz used (rather than a plane or a machine) to thickness and "smooth" them. The long-handled adz is held two-handed by the operator, standing over or on the part to be adzed. He swings the adz between his legs with the necessary momentum, at the necessary height & angle, to take each shallow scoop of timber.

   The adz has a very shallow sweep, so the indents are only a millimetre deep or so. The apprentice adzers do hundreds of hours until they become adept at quickly taking the scoops of timber in such a way as to make both large and small parts evenly thick, to spec. It's quite a skill!

   You used to be able to go to the workshop and stand on a gallery above the work floor to watch this process. The adzers were indeed fast and skilful.

   I too have tried to emulate the adzed finish by using a large gouge and even a small hand adz. My results were no good either. :-) I feel that there's no shortcut - although it might be possible to use a Festool electric planer fitted with a drum and cutters that emulate the adz sweep. How you would operate this machine to take a scoop at a time, I'm not sure. Also, such a machine with the curved drum/blades costs a packet.

   Lataxe

3. 
   john_c2 | May 06, 2022 02:30pm | #3

   For the tools I own, I might try a travisher. It would be slower than an advertising, but you'd get a surface ready for finish.

1. 
   [email protected] | May 20, 2022 01:33am | #4

   I agree with the travisher.I have made many Windsor chairs , first using a gutter adz followed by a travisher.Given the flat surface , you do not need the upswing of the travisher. A curved spokeshave works just fine.