Thread: A slightly fancy music stand

With my deadline looming, things became a bit more intense & I didn't take many pics of the next stage. I chose some fiddle-backed white beech for the 'desk' part - a strong but light wood, so it would not make the stand too top-heavy. I had a piece just thick enough to saw two book-matched pieces from (more 'violin theme'), with figure that is obvious but not too garish. It is a simple frame & panel construction so nothing out of the ordinary, the only complication was working out how to fit the shelf the client requested for her fiddle-related knick-knacks, but that turned out less of a challenge than I first thought it would be.

What I did take some pics of was using my mini-tools on the job. The panels are quite thin (~10mm) and I wanted the surface flush with the frame, so I could only apply a small tongue to it. My regular plough plane is far too bulky & the narrowest blade I have for it is 1/4", so out came my miniature reproduction. It did the job no sweat - I'm beginning to love this thing! 10 ploughing rails.jpg

I wanted to inlay my 'trademark' gum leaves & the mini router proved ideal for that job: 11 inletting a.jpg

And my mini mitre/chariot plane equally ideal for levelling the inlay: 12 levelling inlay.jpg

Before I started the build, & well into it, I spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to fit the desk so it would be most convenient to adjust for height yet lock firmly to the shaft. Initially, I was going to use wooden thumb-screws tightening a split hole, but test-pieces failed to lock firmly enough without excessive force on the thumbscrews. So I decided to use a straight pin in an over-lapping hole. A small flat on the pin allows it to be inserted, and a twist locks it. That worked beautifully & will lock very firmly indeed (almost too well, it needs a hard twist to undo it if you are over-enthusiastic!): 15 support bracket.jpg

The desk turned out as hoped, plenty stiff enough but not too heavy to make the stand unstable: 14 desk detail.jpg

So there it is, finished in plenty of time to meet the deadline (just, actually, I finished polishing the desk 2 hours before it was to be collected ). 13 Done.jpg

Someday I'll learn not to procrastinate so much before starting a job....

Cheers,

Edit: And btw, before one of you points it out, the screws attaching the desk to its support are not in line - I did that deliberately so as to reduce the risk of the stile or support splitting should someone knock the stand over. They're symmetrically-placed, just not in a straight line... ..

Very nice Ian !
I'm not a huge fan of the contrasting timbers look in things unless its done well and that works really well.

Originally Posted by auscab

.... I'm not a huge fan of the contrasting timbers look in things unless its done well and that works really well.

Thanks Rob.

I agree, I'm also not big on using using contrasting woods indiscriminately in furniture. It needs to be done with restraint, or at least be justified by other criteria, which was my reason here.

I spent some time mulling over that desk part, I wanted to keep the top as light as I could without making it flimsy, & the added shelf wasn't helping achieve that goal. In retrospect, I could have made the feet splay out a little more to increase stability, but I was afraid of making it look a bit ungainly if I made the feet too big. I was striving for at least a bit of elegance in the design. The desk itself will be covered up by music books most of the time, so it shoudn't offend anyone too much. The colour of the white beech will alter very little overtime (it's some old stuff I reclaimed from some crude furniture made in the 50s), but it will darken a little bit (I used some a few years ago to make a small cabinet & it has darkened a bit), & the maple should lighten-up over the next year or two, which will reduce the contrast a bit.

I'll probably never make another music stand in this life, but if I do, I'll have a few more clues on the next one....
Cheers,
Ian

Ian

That came up well. I particularly was impressed with the figure on the Maple. I am sure the recipient is already playing better than before.

Regards
Paul

This is a very nice music stand. I like the details and the extra little shelf. Makes me want to hide our simple foldable metal one.

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

A very nice music stand. I was kind of wondering how those scrolls were done. I made a dulcimer a few years back but the scrolls were in the too hard basket so I just narrowed the end down with flat facets. Kind of looks okish but scrolls would have been better. I will need to invest in some gouges if there is a next time.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

....... I am sure the recipient is already playing better than before. : ...

Not yet, Paul, as we speak it is wending its way to Melbourne in the back of her parents' car, so she hasn't actually got it yet....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by orraloon

...... I made a dulcimer a few years back but the scrolls were in the too hard basket so I just narrowed the end down with flat facets...

John, I assure you making the body of that dulcimer half as well as you have done would've been far more challenging for me than carving a couple of scrolls!

Like so many things I've done, it turns out to be easier than I feared. And you won't need that many gouges, I did use 3 with different sweeps to follow the spiralling curve, but could probably have gotten away with just 2. It would have required more care, but it would be doable. One thing that I forgot to mention that helped a lot was a Japanese file-rasp, the type with large cut teeth. It cuts right to its 'safe' edges and was invaluable for tidying up the edge of the scroll...

Cheers,
Ian

So that's what we do with tools we make ! Really lovely Ian.

A most enjoyable thread and you have certainly created a unique and beautiful music stand, very impressive x 10

Hope I am not being obtuse, Ian, but could you please comment on the thinking behind the grain orientation in the pedestal feet?

Pedestal Feet.jpg

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Hope I am not being obtuse, Ian, but could you please comment on the thinking behind the grain orientation in the pedestal feet?....

Not sure what you mean, Graeme, I have set out each foot so as to maximise long-grain along the main axis, as is typical. I assume you are looking at the very prominent "fiddleback" stripes and equating them with grain direction, which makes it appear I've cut the feet in a way that would render them liable to break under a heavy load?

It's an optical illusion. In fact, the stripes run roughly perpendicular to the grain, which is typical of such figure. I've blown up the feet from the original pic for a bit better resolution. You can see the stripes indicating the grain direction, and to make it absolutely clear I put an arrow running along the main grain direction (right) and the two arrows on the left are pointing at a stripe that follows the grain in that leg: grain direction.jpg

Does that clear things up?

Ian

Thanks, Ian. As you interpreted, I had totally misread the picture.

No worries Graeme, it can be tricky to "read" grain in highly-figured wood. The chunk I cut the feet pieces out of was from where a large fork had been in the tree, with a distinct curve to the grain which would have been ideal if I could have laid out my template to take full advantage of the curve - I would have had continuous long-grain running from end to end. Unfortunately, I had to work around a bark inclusion and a crack, so couldn't take full advantage of the gift. I don't think it is too critical, I have done lots of similar feet for tripod tables using dead-straight grained wood & managed to get at least some to go right through the foot.

Some of those old Georgian tea-tables had much larger feet/legs with a very pronounced curve. The ones I've seen "in the wood" got around the cross-grain problem by keeping the inner part of the leg/foot very bulky. From what I've seen & read, the biggest weakness is not in the foot itself, but in the join. By the time you dig out the dovetail trenches, there is not a huge amount of wood left in the stem: D_T trenches.jpg

Breaking out of one or more feet is one of the nasty injuries tripod tables suffer from at times. I haven't had any completed tables break, but I did once manage to bust one by being over-enthusiastic "tapping" in a too-tight fit: stem busted.jpg

This one was some rather soft blackwood, and I made the D/Ts far more generous than I needed, which left a very fine web between them.

Some makers prefer to dowel their feet onto the stem. I have a particular dislike for dowels, so it has never interested me to go that route. So far (& my fingers are tightly crossed as I type!), none of the tripod tables I've made (nearly all small, occasional table size), have suffered any injuries to their feet, apart from my dog chewing the carving on the knee of this one (which I was able to repair well enough for it not to be noticable): gum leaf knees.jpg


Cheers, Ian