I finished cutting out the pieces to the chair this past week. The BioFiber Wheat board machines well. There was hardly any chip-out of the material and the finish passes with the CNC made the surfaces fairly smooth. It smelled like a loaf of bread in the CNC room, which was a nice change.
Cutting out the pieces was more complicated than other things I had cut out before because holes need to be drilled precisely and the pieces need to be planed smoothly. Ultimately it took 4 separate tool paths for the CNC to do it right (compared to a typical 2, I had 1 for the holes, 2 rough passes- 1 to cut out contours and the other to roughly plane the surfaces and then 1 finish pass to make everything smooth).
After the pieces were cut, assembly was straight-forward. The seat back had to be glued to the armrests and the cross brace pieces need to have the tenons chiseled out by hand because the CNC can only cut from one direction on the Z-axis (top to bottom). All of the edges were sanded, the handle opening in the seat bottom needed to be cut out using a drill, chisel and round file. And then the hardware was added and everything was put together. I then added the magnets. They did not work quite as well as I had hoped. Instead of arresting motion or making the legs come together tightly, there is more of a slight pull. I would need stronger magnets to get it work better. I had erred on the side of caution because I would rather have them be too weak than too strong.

The drawer for the desk is being made this week. It will be made out of Maple and will have Dovetail Joints. They will be ‘Through’ Dovetail Joints so that the front of the drawers hints at its construction. A guy named Patrick McMahon is making it for me. He is a busy guy and I appreciate him taking the time to do it. He said it would take him about 2 hours. I am paying him $100 (which I am sure is below what he would typically charge). Once it is done, I will stain it a very dark brown or ebonize it- not quite sure yet.

Jeff Haddorf and I will finally be getting together Monday to begin the light. I am hopeful that we will be able to produce something nice in the next 2 weeks…

I received my gallery space assignment this past week. My work will be the first thing you see as you walk in the main gallery! I am really excited about this but also a little nervous. With the lamp still incomplete and the graphics for the space yet to be created, I still have a lot hanging in the balance.

Wish me luck!