Max Vollmer (Click on any image to enlarge)
Truchas, NM
Ghost Ranch – Abiquiu, NM
Yesterday, I went back to Ghost Ranch and hiked the 3 miles up to the top of the mesa from which the “chimneys” are slowly eroding. (All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge)
All photographs copyright Max Vollmer
Northern New Mexico
I’ve been getting around. Did a tour of Truchas, NM, last Wednesday, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Another day we drove over to Abequiu, NM, and Ghost Ranch, https://www.ghostranch.org/, artist Georgia O’Keefe’s country. Old Abequiu, where her last home is located, is a characteristic little New Mexico village clustered around what was once a central plaza. At Ghost Ranch we were treated to some late afternoon/early evening clouds from the recent rains that were lit up beautifully as the sun was setting. The Pedernal, which is a black volcanic truncated cone and sacred to the pueblo people, over to the south, was lurking the whole time under dark grey/ purple clouds with “walking rain” off to one side. “Walking Rain,” if you’re not familiar with the term, is/are rain sheets coming down from passing storm clouds that touch the ground and appear like legs under the clouds. Best viewed from afar in this vast open country.
Last Saturday, I toured the Santuario de Chimayo, http://www.
Then Monday I headed over to Chaco Canyon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The weather here at 6,000′ is turning cold (frost at night) although the sun is warm in the daytime. There is already snow on the high peaks nearby.
Chimayo, NM
Max Vollmer (Click to enlarge)
Utah in October
Max Vollmer (Click to Enlarge)
New Mexico Bench
My inspiration for this bench is a classic 18th century original from northern New Mexico. I used Ponderosa pine, as in the original, but substituted an upholstered seat for a solid wood plank seat. (All photos Max Vollmer, Click on any image to enlarge)
From Washington State
Max Vollmer (Click to Enlarge)
Finished!!
I finished this tall chest in late May. The primary wood is American Black Cherry, about 90% of it from one tree. Cherry plywood was used for drawer bottoms and the back panels, while quarter-sawn white oak was used for the drawer sides and backs. The entire chest, inside and out, has three coats of hand-rubbed Watco Danish Oil (Natural). The solid brass drawer pulls (called “bridge” pulls) and knobs for the cabinet doors came from Crown City Hardware in Pasadena, CA. The hand-cast, solid brass hinges are from Horton Brasses in Cromwell, CT. From concept drawings to completion, this took me about 160 hours. (Click on any photo to enlarge.)
The chest is 72 inches tall, 34 inches wide, and 22 inches front to back.
Each panel in the cabinet doors is made up of a book-matched pair of boards which were beveled first on the table saw, and then finished with a hand plane. The door frames are quarter-sawn cherry with the rails tenoned into the stiles. The transition molding and the crown molding were cut on the table saw as coves and then split into the quarter round profile. The outer edge of the crown molding was extended with solid stock.
The drawer fronts are graduated from bottom to top (9.5″, 9″, 8.5″, 7.5″) and each drawer front is one solid piece of American Black Cherry.
Quarter-sawn, Eastern white oak was chosen for its stability in the drawer sides and backs. The half-blind dovetails were all hand cut with a 14 ppi saw and chisel.
Shelves and center divider are solid cherry.
The upper section of the chest is a separate unit and can be removed for transport. Back panels for the upper and lower sections are 3/8″ cherry plywood (cherry both sides).
The “Makers Mark.”
Cherry Dresser Progress
This is where the basic frame work of the dresser stood on April 27. Since then I have fabricated the raised panel doors for the upper section, the drawer fronts and sides, and drawer backs and bottoms for the lower section. I am gluing up the drawers today and hope to mount the hinged panel doors for the upper case as well. (Click on any image to enlarge)
These are most, but not all, of the tools required for marking and cutting the hand-cut, half-blind dovetails that are used to join the drawer sides to the drawer fronts.
These are the four pairs of quarter-sawn white oak drawer sides for the four, graduated size drawers. The dovetails are hand-cut, the rabbets and the dadoes are cut on the table saw for the drawer bottoms and drawer backs.
These are the four cherry drawer fronts with all dovetails cut to mate with the drawer sides, and the dadoes for the drawer bottoms are cut as well.
This is how a drawer front and drawer sides come together. Note that the dadoes on both the drawer sides and drawer front line up to accommodate the drawer bottom.
The two pictures above show one of the raised panel doors for the upper section before assembly, and then the pieces glued and clamped in place. The frame pieces are glued together, but the panel floats free in dadoes that run all the way around the inside of the frame. This is so the wide, flat-sawn panel boards can expand or contract with changes in ambient humidity without stressing or cracking the frame. The door frame pieces are cut from quarter-sawn cherry and are joined together with mortise and tenon joints. The door panel is made up of two “book-matched” cherry boards arranged vertically and edge glued before the beveled edges are crafted.
Huapango by José Pablo Moncayo – Alondra de la Para & L’Orchestra de Paris
José Pablo Moncayo is one of the most important of the 20th century Mexican classical composers. His composition, Huapango, is brilliantly performed here by the Paris Orchestra under the baton of Mexican American conductor, Alondra de la Parra. I would go to a concert just to see de la Parra conduct in her unique and spirited style. [Click on Full Screen icon in the lower right corner to best appreciate the video]