Reclaimed Oak Mission Style Sofa
A few of months ago, a friend of mine, Nicole, was asking about a custom sofa for her mother, Sandra. After some research we decided that I would build the couch specific to the dimensions she wanted. After a few discussions and mashing up a few pictures, we found a mission style sofa that she liked. I used dye to match the color of the sofa to the existing oak furniture in her living room.
Making furniture for family, friends, and customers is a rewarding experience. The oak for this project came off of my family’s farm. This farm has been in our family for over 200 years and has been recognized by the department of agriculture as a “Bicentennial Farm”. The oak from the shed was built over 85 years ago by my great-grandfather Childs. Knowing that I am handling and building with the same wood that he handled to make a shed has a lot of meaning and the wood is going to great use with a lasting memory instead of ending in a burn pile or landfill.
These are pictures of the shed during the tear down project.
Once I brought the oak back to the house, the chore of pulling nails and planing began. This is one of the oak beams that was planed, squared, and resawn.
The sofa design included 40 rectangular spindles that are assembled using mortis and tenon.
So far, this is the sofa glued and squared.
Drilling and setting the wood dowel pins:
Sanding and Finishing steps… the long part of the job. The following three pictures show the completed construction and sanding. A coat of water-based dye is added to match Sandra’s existing furniture. The first coat of shellac is added to seal and begin the process of multiple coats of shellac, finish, wax, and buffing.
See the full project on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gERZNEhslT0
Tags: farm furniture, reclaimed oak mission sofa, Sustainability