The bow and spindles for each chair are rived out of green wood. This is done so that the wood fibers run continuously the whole length of the bow or spindle, and gives these parts great strength. Green wood is used because the initial shaping is much easier to do when the wood is green. The bow will also be bent after its initial shaping and this is easier when the wood is green.
I start with a 5 1/2 foot red oak log, which I split lengthwise into quarters (forgot to take pictures of this). Once in quarters, I switch to a froe and use a riving brake to give me leverage to get the wood to split as I want. I built this riving brake years ago - it is not really something you can buy, which is typical of much of the equipment that you need to build these chairs.
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The riving brake, a froe, and the club (old piece of apple) used to hit the froe
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It is not trivial to get the wood to split the way you want - the book contains lots of information about how to do it, but it takes some time and practice to get it to come out the way you want (like virtually everything in this process). The more oversize these pieces are, the more time will be required later to get them to the right dimensions and the more wood will be wasted. But the closer they are split to the right dimension, the greater the chance that the split will run the wrong way and the piece will be too thin, and hence unable to be made into a bow. Watching someone who really knows how to do this well is impressive (not that I'm including myself in that group :).
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| Riving out two bows - the brake gives you something to pull against |
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Ready for the shop - bark removed with an axe
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These bow blanks came out pretty good - one will make a bow for certain, as it's a bit thicker than necessary. The other is just a bit on the thin side, time will tell whether it will become a bow, or will be cut up for spindles.
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| Down to the shop - ready for shaping |
