The background to this photograph may look familiar to some of you.

Well the customer commissioned some additional seating and a small occasional table, the material was White oak (in fact the Sister & Brother boards to the original projects), well everything was the same as the previous commission, they had to match.

It has been some time since I posted a project – so here is one I completed last year, but failed to post.

This a Sheraton reproduction bedside table made from Sapele (Mahogany) the secondary wood is Birch. The finish is Polyx hard-wax oil and paste wax.

I made a pair of these, but no photographs of them in situ, I am afraid.

The legs were home made , this might give an idea how too.

A very quick and cheap little project. My lathe does not have an indexing system, because it is a really cheap and nasty lathe. This little projects has two main components; 1. a piece of MDF and 2. a horizontal toggle clamp.

start with a square of MDF, find the centre and mark it (DO NOT DRILL IT OUT YET), next mark out the index holes you want, this one has 32 (11.25° increments), 1, 2, 4, 8 & 16 increments are also possible with equal spacings . Drill out the index holes ( the size depends upon the tip of the rubber pad), then drill out the centre hole, I used a forstner bit close (slightly smaller) than the diameter of the spindle thread.

I then threaded on the MDF to the spindle (the steel thread cuts into the MDF really easily) – I then screwed on the chuck to lock the MDF into place. I then turned the square plate into a perfect circle and softened the edges.

Next come the fitting of the toggle clamp, this must be positioned so then when it is engaged, the soft rubber tip engages the holes centrally – A little shimming with a Ply wood block fixed to the housing of the pulley assembly.

That is it – I have used the lathe with the indexing wheel attached, whilst turning at high speeds without any problems. When using the indexing wheel, I always remove the power from the motor, to avoid any accidents.

You can make any number of wheels with the required increments for your project – I hope you like it.

Update: About a year ago I said I would post the project I made with this jig, well better late than never I suppose, also find attached e few photographs here of the legs.

I have been working on this bench over the last few months, in between teaching assignments. The primary wood is Finnish Oak and Birch. The side vice is Araputanga , the cap on the tail vice is Walnut the tool tray ramp is spalted birch and lastly the caps on the vice handles are Alder. All the primary woods were from trees I harvested and milled over the last few years – all the wood is air dried to about 8%

The total cost of this project was under $100 (the wood was free, apart from a lot sweat and swearing)

This design is based on the Frank Klausz articles in several FWW publications over the years. The dimensions are 84” x 27” x 36” and apart from thicknessing the boards with my planer, all the rest of the build was using hand tools – this was a real treat, with lots of shavings, no dust or noise.

The construction of the base is much heavier, than stated in the articles, plus I used through tenons which were wedges using beech wedges. The feet and top support are 3 3/4” square oak (just to give some idea for the scale) The total weight of the project is around 440lb (200kg)

The whole bench has 3 coats of tung oil, but the top needs another couple of coats – but the drying time is very slow due to the weather conditions. Both the side and tail vice jaws have 3/16” thick leather facings,, which really help to protect the work pieces and help to stop the work piece moving in the jaws with less pressure.

I may add a drawer under the bench in the future, but I want see how this bench works first.

I hope you enjoy

The final project for this weekend – as my wife likes too much chocolate, I made her this Egg instead – Made from Mahogany, measuring 7” high and 3 1/2 wide.

The finish is sanding sealer, Mahogany stain, Mahogany wax, and polished out using the Beal system.

An egg cup, made from Black Cherry and Birch. Measuring 6” high and 1 1/2” wide.

The finish is sanding sealer and wax

Small bowl, made from Tuomi (Bird Cherry), which I cut down 2 years ago. Simply turned on the lathe (end grain) the walls of the cup are about 2 mm (3/32”) thick.

The finish is sanding sealer, and polished out using the Beall system. The bowl measures 4” high and 3 1/2” wide

A traditional drinking vessel from Finland – The wood is Norwegian Maple (spalted), rescued from the firewood pile. The vessel is completely carved, drilled band-sawn and sanded by hand, with a little help from electricity (90%).

The vessel is about 4” high, the finish is sanding sealer and wax for the outside, the inside is finishing oil (4 applications) – not to sure how the oil will stand-up to the application of schnapps (Vodka) to the inside!.

Just a quick posting of a little project I did on Sunday afternoon, you can more details on Gouge sharpening on the cheap, by clicking on the link.

Another attempt at turning. The candle holder is reversible, slightly different shapes on the top or bottom.

The wood is Walnut 4” High and 3 1/2” wide, sanded to 800 and finished with shellac and wax.

My first successful attempt at turning a square bowl, without bashing my knuckles.

The measurements are 13” square (18 1/2” diagonal) and 2” deep The wood is mahogany and sanded to 800g, the finish is shellac and wax,

The difficult part was I only have a 15” swing on my lathe. The marks on the underside of the bowl were not visible until I started the finishing process and are not as pronounced as they are in the photograph.

These benches were designed to compliment the table I made last month – again made from Finnish White Oak, the same tree as for all of this series of projects.

The bent form was steam bend first, to relieve the stresses in the wood (it was splitting and breaking when bent cold for lamination), then after an hour or so, glue was applied to the laminations and clamped up over night – 4 pieces in total. the halves of the arch were joined with a simple lap joint, the glued and clamped together.

The compound Mortise and tennon joinery was undertaken using the Leigh FMT, which was a breeze, about an hour saw all the legs and rails finished and fitting perfectly first time (more luck than judgment I think) – the tennons on the arches were cut and trimmed by hand (this took some time, to get the angles just right).

The finish on the project is Polyx hard wax oil and Fiddes supreme wax.

I am not sure what is on the cards for next year with this customer, I still have about 150BF remaining from the tree, some 4”x4” 3”x3” 2 1/2”x12” all about 10’ long, most of what I have used so far was the smaller pieces and the not so nice pieces for the 4 projects to date – time will tell what will come next.

Here are a few more photographs

The legs and arches are pretty much identical on both benches. This photograph is of the two tops side by side

I saw the original design featured on the back cover FWW No 200 (October 2008). The original designer and builder of the project was Petter Southall

My customer liked the concept, but did not want the full size version, but coffee table size. 1.5m (59”) long x 50cm wide (20”) x 50 cm (20”) High.

The method of fixing the table together was basically the same – very little glue, but the copper rivets were replace by brass bolts. All the construction and dimensions were derived from the main photograph and the small write-up on the article. This was not a difficult project, but was quite time consuming, as I had to bend the arch using steam, which I had not used for nearly 40 years. Hence the posting on the steam box

The timber is Finnish White Oak, the same customer who had the Hall Chest
and Hall Bench

The finish on the project is Polyx hard wax oil (frame 2 coats and the top 4 coats). I still have to sand out the final coats and then add Fiddes supreme wax to the frame and table top. I’ll update this with some more pictures when it is finished in a couple of weeks.

Just thought I would share my latest project and addition to my arsenal, a simple steam box.

this is made from junk (from the too good to throw away bucket) and 1/2 sheet of 3/4 ply wood.

More information UPDATED LINK (17:50 EST)

Updated information 18 November 2008
There was some concern about the plywood de-laminating during the interaction with hot steam and water. Well I have used it for well over 20 hours on several days and there is no de-lamination present. I leave both doors open when I have finished the session, this allows the hot box to dry nicely by the next morning.

I just thought I would share this little “in between projects” project. The plate/bowl is made from Birch and measures 9” diameter.

I used some NGR tints to accentuate the different areas – then a liberal coating of Finishing oil to “pop” that grain and finally polished out with the “Beal system”

Different parts of the relief was carved throughout the finishing process, to give subtle, but slight changes in the colors.

This is inspired and to match the Hall Bench.

The material is Finish White Oak – This is quite a rare wood to get some appreciable size boards.

The customer provided me with the whole tree, which was felled in 2005 to make way for his new house, the tree was milled in May of this year and has been air drying in my shop since then.

The Hall stand is made entirely from solid wood, there is no ply or MDF panels like the original, the main panels are resawn and sequence matched to provide continuity. It measures 1800mm wide, 577 high and 457mm deep. The finish is Polyx oil (3 coats) and Fiddes wax. The fittings are all solid brass.

This part of the project took about 45 hours to complete, not including the redesign.

This is a copy of the Hall bench published in Woodsmith Magazine Vol 29/No.172 with some subtle changes. The material is Finish White Oak – This is quite a rare wood to get some appreciable size boards.

The customer provided me with the whole tree, which was felled in 2005 to make way for his new house, the tree was milled in May of this year and has been air drying in my shop since then.

The Hall stand is made entirely from solid wood, there is no ply or MDF panels like the original, the main panels are resawn and sequence matched to provide continuity. It measures 1800mm high, 985mm wide and 457mm deep. The finish is Polyx oil (3 coats) and Fiddes wax. The fittings are all solid brass.

This part of the project took about 40 hours to complete, not including the redesign. The Hall Chest was designed to match this piece

Here is the latest creation from my workshop. The table is to be used as a manicure table, and is designed to the customers requirements.

The measurements are 750mm (H) x 800mm (W) cm x 350 mm (D) closed. Raising the leaf, increases the depth to 600 mm.

The main material is Black Walnut, the secondary material is Birch (drawer sides, back and base), the inlay is purple heart.

The table has no stain or grain filler, as this would have made it too dark, and I really wanted to show the book matched table off. The final finish was 3 coats of Osmo polyx oil sanded to 600 grit, and the final protection is 2 coats of Fiddes Mellow wax (Georgian Mahogany).

The customer wanted some storage within the table and also wings/leaves on the side. When I investigated the drawer size, I found that conventional drawers would have been too small to meet the needs of the customer. I was also not very happy with the appearance of extra leaves on the sides of the table. So as compromise, I made false drawer fronts, highlighted with Purple heart to draw the eye away from the sides of the table. The drawers on the side of the table now are large enough inside for the customer and also serve as the table top extensions required.

A fun project, the total time to complete this project was 45 hours, including the design, redesign and finishing.

There are more photographs on my website for those of you who are interested.

Here is the latest to my collection of projects.

The cabinet measures 1225mm (48”) wide, 1016mm (40”) high and 420mm (16 ½”) deep. The primary wood is Black Cherry, secondary wood is Silver Birch, the flat panels are Finnish birch plywood with cherry veneer. The knobs are walnut. The doors and drawer fronts are solid cherry

The veneering of the plywood was undertaken in the shop, and the knobs are hand turned (getting 9 knobs exactly the same is not that easy as a part time turner)

The drawers have a solid cherry front, whilst the sides and back are made from Silver Birch and the base is Finnish birch plywood.

The project time was about 150 hours from concept, through design, build and finishing.

The cabinet sanded to P400, 2 coats of hard wax oil applied, and left for a week to fully cure, then lightly dry sanded to P1000, the cabinet is then finished with 2 coats of Fiddes Cherry supreme wax. 1 more coat application of wax is to be applied next week, then its ready for delivery to the customer.

There are more photographs at http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi/Suomi/lipasto2.html

Just an update to my table and chairs – at long last I managed to get some photographs of the completed set.