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Another gift; this one for my step-daughter Jane.

The yew tree was damaging their house and so sadly we had to fell it. Still, it lives on in her kitchen in the form of this chair. Very much an English style, it's all from that tree except for the seat itself which is a piece of elm. The logo on the splat is my attempt at carving her initials.

My wife insists I mention that she helped with making the bends!

Gallery

Comments

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Tell your wife she did an exceptional job. Very nice and so special to your daughter.
Welcome to LJ. You will find friends here.
Tom
 

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Just great, Stewart! A wonderful project, and all the better for being made from wood on your daughter's property. Thanks for sharing, and welcome to LJ!
 

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Sell your tools, Stewart. You obviously have no aptitude for this sort of thing. LOL Great chair!
 

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Stewart, this is a good example of the chairmaker's craft. I've always believed that it takes exceptional woodworking skills to make a chair. I think this proves my theory.
 

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Stewart, You are GOOD! Excellent work. I can only dream of making something this complex.
 

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Yew…interesting sounding wood. Being a Yank it makes me think of Robin Hood in Sherwood forest.
 

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The bending was that made with multiple layers and then just bent or was it steam bent?

Fantastic looking chair.

Posting 4900 only 100 more to go. Until Martin gives me the same amount of stock in LJ that he gave MsDebbie.
 

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Stewart, Yew did an excellent job with the chair. You are a remarkable craftsman and will inspire many of us to advance our craft.
 

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Fantastic looking Chair - Nice use of the tree
 

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Thank you for posting your beautiful creations here, Stewart.
 

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Thanks very much for all your comments. Karson - I steam bent the three components (+a spare). Used a length of 3" plastic rainwater pipe that was lying around (& quickly found I needed to tape a length of wood to it as it quickly went banana-like). Wooden stoppers in each end and connected to a source of steam (wallpaper stripper). Just over an hour was enough for 1.5" x 1.5". Photo 3 shows the bending rig - length of stainless steel fitted with wooden handles to back up the length of yew as it's being bent.
Dennis - Yes, yew is one of my favourites. A very hard softwood - eh?. They're often found in churchyards and some living ones are reckoned to be over 4000 years old. But wasn't Jesus born only 2000 years ago? Discuss… http://www.ancient-yew.org/ is worth a look.
 

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Great looking chair. Lumber is beautiful. Turning looks terrific. In 200 years it will be worth a fortune ! did you sign it?
 

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Nice Stew!
I really like the crisp detail you managed to preserve in the final piece.

Bob
 

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Dan - One of the thoughts that often passes through my mind is how long our creations will survive & who will own them in the future. Will old things continue to be cherished by future generations. All that sort of stuff. Not having inherited anything of this nature, it's good to think I'm hopefully starting a chain. Yes I did sign & date it under the seat. Bob - Thanks for your comments. yew is a lovely wood to work with and its appearance continues to improve with exposure to light and air.
 
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