Two weeks ago, my family and I went to Maleny for the weekend as it was Therese and my wedding anniversary on the May 2nd and completely coincidentally the Maleny Wood Expo was on the same weekend.

http://www.malenywoodexpo.com.au/woodexpo/woodshed-workshops.php

Not wishing to let a opportunity go by, I just had to go and was lucky enough to get a place in one of the workshops (the fact that I booked into the the workshop a week before is not to be mentioned in Therese’ presence, ever).

The workshop I did was billed as a ‘Mortise and Tenon’ workshop and you had a choise of what you could make in the 1 1/2 hours. I chose a Walking Stick. The workshop was run by Richard Knight (http://richardknightwoodworks.com.au/). And I walked away with a natural timber walking stick made from Tea tree and Redgum (the handle).

When I got home it was burnt with Therese’ Brulee flame torch to give it the black finish and then oiled. I also added the copper ferule to the end. It does not show in the photos but there is also a black rubber tap valve, which takes away the clunk, clunk of using it. It is also readily replaceable.

Interestingly, I don’t need a walking stick but because the workshop was early in the day I had to carry it around all day (till Therese came and got me). Before leaving, two people had offered to buy it and I had a long conversation with one of these fellows comparing mine to a similar one he had, which he had purchased in Ireland.

Anyway, it was a great day and a great weekend with the family. If you ever come to Australia in May, make sure you schedule a visit to this yearly event.

A couple of years ago, a friend had some old furniture he wanted to get of. So for $200 I got the lot. Most of it was going to be way too much work to restore but this piece looked worth the effort. It has taken me quite a long time because a previous owner painted it white (not my friend) and this timber just soaked the paint up. So after many hours with a stylus it was finally at a stage to put a finish on it. It is made of Red Cedar. A beautiful timber but very soft. And it comes in a wide range of shades, all of which were used on this piece. So the next step was to stain it to a ‘consistent’ colour. My efforts were not 100% successful but it looks good from a distance.
Also the softness of the timber meant the draws were beyond help as they had worn an arch on the bottom of each draw side.

Luckily the draw fronts were in good condition so the draws were scrapped and new draws were made which I then attached the old draw fronts too. The draw runners are metal because it is going to be my son’s study desk and will need to stand up to some abuse.

Hope you like it as I doubt I will ever do another restoration project as they are too much work.

The other pieces were a table made of silky oak, a Hoop Pine table and a pine side table. The side table was trash but there was enough quantity of timber in the tables will be enough to do a some other projects. The hoop pine is being used to make a blanket chest, which is well under way.

When I was planning my recent trip to the USA, I was hoping to meet up with some LJs and at least one friend currently living is Philladelphia. So that I would not be visiting empty handed, I wanted to make something relatively simple but would be somewthing they are unlikely to already have. Additionally, it had to be easy to pack and travel. So I made three Scratch Stocks from a design in Australian Woodsmith (a metric version of Woodsmith Magazine, as far as I can tell).

Well I managed to meet up with Planeman in Atlanta, Georgia and my friend. So I have one left for myself.

Funny story, I rocked up at Damion’s place in PHiladelphia on the day his copy of Australian Wood Review arrived. Of course I have a look and he tells me to check out the article he wrote for that edition. Guess what the article was about, using scratch stocks. So we had a laugh about the coincidence of that.

Anyway, I nice easy project and very useful as well, hopefully.

While in the USA I made two pieces for my sister. This is to be an entry seat next to front door for putting your shoes on and taking them off again.

It is made from solid oak and required very simple joinery, because I only had a week to make it. So ten mortice and tenons later and we have a bench seat.

BTW the good looking model in the first photois my mum.

As some of you may be aware I recently travelled to the USA for 3 weeks with the intention of doing some woodwork and other things like a normal tourist might do. Well this easel case was completed for my sister while I there. It is made of Cherry and Mahogany, has dovetailed corners and a tray.

It was made from scratch without a plan, so there was a fair bit of tweeking involved. The lid support was not my first choice but the original would not work with the internal dividers.

The handle (photo 5) was hand carved from Mahogany because I could not find a handle that I felt suited. I think this is the bit my sister was most impressed with, as it was done while she and I watched TV and finished after she went to bed. So she saw it progress from a lump of timber to the finished handle.

The top slides up to accommodate different sized paintings.

A lot of work was done in Philledelphia while I was visiting some friends. Damion Fauser, a very excelletnt Australian woodworker, currently living in the US, and his wife Bronny. Damion helped source the Cherry, machine work and provided valuable guidance on design and construction elements. It would not of been finished without his contribution. Check out his article in the current Australian Wood Review.

I am very pleased with the outcome and have told my sister I expect it to be covered in paint and banged around significantly next time I see it.

It is finished in Pre-prepared Shellac.

The timber was reclaimed from a fence that I helped removed from a farm near Canberra quite a number of years ago. They were the stringers, which hang along the fence between each post. The purpose is to stop the wires twisting around each other when a cow or sheep hits the fence. There were about three each between the posts, so there were a lot of them. Most were only good for the fire place but some were solid enough to be used.

I have made a chair and some went into the bread boards I have posted. And some went into the fire after all. But I had enough to make something and decided if I didn’t use them, they would end up ‘up in smoke’. So I put aside some other projects and built this chair.

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine’s brother fell to the black dog. For those unaware to the term, it refers to depression. Andrew has been fighting this beast for as long as I have known him, about 15 years. Well it got too much for him and he took his own life.

This chair is going to my friend Alex, hoping it will provide some peaceful moments for him to remember his brother.

This box started out as a dovetailing exercise, but I hate just doing exercises as there is little motivation to do a good job. Well this philosophy has worked for me, as the hand cut dovetails on this box are pretty good. I did have to fill one (or two) small gaps but they are on the other side and we wont mention them again.

The dovetails were cut using my new dovetail saw that I made from scratch at a course with Paul Nicholson. Still love that saw.

The sides are Silky Oak salvaged from my wife’s old desk. She is the oldest of four girls and the desk was passed from sister to sister, the last of which decided to paint it black all over, even inside the drawers. This girl had issues. After being with my wife for 12 years (still hoping for time off for good behaviour) all I know about this person is her name. Not sure if the desk is part of the reason they don’t talk.

Anyway the black paint soaked into the timber, so when I was tasked to restore the desk it soon became apparent this would not be possible. My wife has been assured that all the salvageable bits would be bits would be put to good use. It wasn’t that nice a desk in the first place.

The logo on the base is an attempt at a maker’s mark. It is supposed to be the profile of an eye and ‘12’ for the year. The reason for the eye, you ask. Well my initials are B D I, ‘Beady Eye’. Get it. Anyway I have to perfect my carving. Alternately, I have priced a electric brand from a place in California for $150 with changeable numbers (for the year). Just not sure I want to spend the money and find I don’t like it.

Oh, the bottom and top are Kwila. And I made it for some friends as a tea box. They recently returned from Sri Lanka and told me they bought some specialty teas. So I made this for them to put them in. I am hoping this qualifies as a RAOK, although they are pretty well off and probably don’t need the generosity. RAOK – Random Act Of Kindness.

This coffee table was built for my wife. This is significant because it is the first thing she has actually asked me for and therefore the first thing I have made for her. The style is based on the Limbert style coffee table featured in Fine Woodworking (last image).

Mine is not quite as tall because it was made to suit the height of our arm chairs. This facilitated reducing the detail under the shelf. Unfortunately this was the aspect that Therese based her choice of design on (oh well). Additionally, rather than buying more timber to get a uniform colour tone across the paneled top I used what I had. This resulted in the two tone striped effect (photo four). This is okay but I think it would have been better to get some more timber. Over all I think it came out pretty well, a relatively easy project with a lot of bridle joints but with some significant learning aspects.

Made from Kwila.

From Friday to Monday of last weekend, I went to a course with Geoff Tonkin (http://www.geofftonkin.com.au/). Geoff has a workshop on his property just outside Molong, New South Wales (Australia). Just working in his workshop is worth the trip (about 4 hours west of Sydney). He has restored and converted the old sheep shearing shed on the property into a very spacious and comfortable workshop.

Making a Bodhran was the course, pronounced ‘Bow Rawn’. A Bodhran is a traditional Irish drum that is played by striking the drum with a Tipper. During this course I made two drums, a 16” and a 18”. I also made a series of tippers in various styles. I did not make the orange brush like one in the photo above.

These drums are made by laminating timber inside a form with Cauls clamped to the inside to press the laminates together when gluing. The outside is Oak veneer, inside that is bendy ply and inside that is a 1ml ply. Once the glue dries, the gaps between the ends of the Oak on the outside and ply on the inside are filled. A slip of Purple Heart was used on the outside of both drums. Slips of ply on inside.

Then the tuning ring is installed.

The skins are goat bought from a drum skin supplier. To attach these they are soaked overnight in water. Then stretched and stapled around the outside edge. The row of staples was covered in a strip of vinyl that is tacked in place.

A cross bar is installed inside. Apparently there are different ways of doing this including not having one at all.

Lastly, the inside of the leather is sanded to give it a smooth finish because the left hand is pressed against it during playing. The leather is also treated with a suitable leather conditioner, in this case Dubbin.

All I need to do now is learn how to play it.

For the third year running I have attended the summer school at Sturt. For those of you who don’t know, Sturt is a craft school located in a town called Mittagong in the Southern Highlands between Sydney (Australia) and Canberra (the nations capital). This year the Summer School boasted of being the largest craft workshop of its type in Australia. There were over 200 students doing everything from ‘Making a Coffee Table’ to ‘Weaving’ and ‘Painting’.

The course I completed was making a Dovetail Saw. The photos above don’t do it justice and while I am probably biased it is a truly beautiful tool. Even better it actually works. The attached photos show a dovetail cut with this saw and I do not lie when I say there was no paring of the faces (only the shoulders).

There were only four students and we were instructed by Paul Nicholson. A great group of guys and a lot of fun to be around for the week (Corydon, Me, Leon and Paul. Mark was not available on the last day for this photo). The last photo is of all of our saws, including Paul’s (except Mark’s). See if you can pick it. Mine is on the right.

Today is Little D’s fourth birthday. So we had 13 little people around (+ parents) to celebrate this momentous moment. As part of this I made 11 little boats (more little people turned up than was originally planned for). These required a surprising amount of work. The hulls are made from 19mm pine reclaimed from a entertainment centre. The mast and booms are dowel from Bunnings (the Australian version of Home Depot)

The sails were made to be an expanse of white clothe so that they could be decorated by the kids. Despite this, I made them to actually work. The screws at the back are actually threaded brass rod to provide balance. Each is about 1 & 1/2 inches long. The fixed rudder should make the boat sail straight. The sails and hulls were decorated with stars and glitter and a lot of fun.

We played lots of games at the party and cut the cake of course, but decorating these boats definitely got everyone involved and was a remarkably quiet process. They loved it.

We had plaster Santas for the two that did not get boats. They were only two years old and were quite happy about this.

Now back to some serious wood working, after I make four more for my nephews who were not at the party. Bother.

I have been making this project for over a year, nearly two. It got interrupted by the necessity to make the clock for my sister’s wedding. A lesson, don’t stop a project. When I came back to it, storage of the parts had caused minor problems which all had to be repaired.

Now I know nothing is new under the sun. But the design of this is my own. The construction techniques were my teacher’s. It is hard to see in the photos, but the front rail has a curve in it and this curve is repeated on the front edge and back edge of the top.

The curved rail was made by laminating 3mm sections onto a form. The front to back rails are joined using 3 small stub tenons per rail.

This is also the first project I have put my maker’s mark onto. The clock should have had it, but I just forgot. If you’re wondering about the relevance, my initials are BDI (say it quick) (Bead E Eye) hence the eye. The eleven is the year.

I am so happy with it I am planning another but some small changes. On the next version the front curved rail will be thicker. This will be done by laminating all the layers except one, then cutting the tenons as through tenons, then adding the final layer to the front. I think this will simplify the cutting of the stub tenons which was very fiddly because they needed to be cut just short of the front face. Also this will give more support to the two front legs as the rail will be thicker.

Another thing I might do is make the front to back rails from a light coloured timber like Rock Maple to provide contrast in the gaps.

Oh the timber is American Walnut. Lovely colours and easy to work with (maybe too easy).

Hope you all like it.

Actually, it ended up not being a tool tote at all. My mother is using it for her knitting. That is why I spent a little extra time on the finish.

It did start out being a tool tote but it turned out so nice I wanted to it to not get banged around, hence the knitting box idea. Mum loves it. Of course she would probably love it even if it was two pieces of wood held together with a rusty nail, if I made it.

Anyway the timber is Tasmanian Oak and Kwila sides. Hope you all like it.

Doug

Background
Some of you may of been thinking that I had given up the woodworking all together given my lack of post lately. Well I have fallen into the wood workers trap, one of them anyway. Too many projects and none getting finished. This is not all my fault but some serious procrastination has been involved as well.

September 2009 my sister is getting married to her childhood sweetheart who she has reunited with after 30+ separation through Facebook. What does she want as a wedding present, “Ohhh I would love a clock”. ‘Bother’ or words to that effect. Well I was already working on a table for a friend so I thought finish the table work on the clock, easy I have a year (wedding scheduled for September 2010). Well the table is still not finished (guilty of hitting above my weight on that one), the wedding is been and gone; and the clock is just finished. Understanding sister thankfully, especially when I explained how much it was costing me.

Design
There were a number of problems that had to be resolved, the mechanism and the design being the main ones. I wanted a mechanical mechanism but I did not want to pay the $1000 plus for all the bits from the retailer. So I bought a dodgy old clock that still worked and pulled it apart. Dont worry the case of the old one was all ply and very ragged. For the design I tried to think of something to reflect ideas such as ‘love’ (the wedding), guitars (Peter plays very well), or nursing (Heather is a nurse). Hours of sketching ideas gave me nothing so I made a design that I thought was a good one, my own but based on something I have seen.

Construction
The case is a solid wood construction from New Guinea Rose Wood. It has a floating panel back and a MDF housing for the mechanism. It was built as a solid box and the door was then cut off. This required the first pin had to be 2mm bigger than all the others to accommodate the 2mm blade cutting it in half. Because the tail on the side of the door was set by the distance from the clock face to the clock window, I decided to make their size incrementally larger because the size did not space evenly across the side (I think it works really well).

The half blind dovetails on the side were my first ever, woo hoo. Gotta be happy with that, but I will probably stuff the next ones. Hehe

The mechanism is suspended on an an MDF frame to avoid any problems from wood movement. The clock face is a Rock Maple veneer over a 3mm MDF substrate for the same reason. The Rock Maple is repeated in a detail on the side of the door

Lessons
Some of these lessons were a bit harsh, especially because I knew them but life is a harder teacher/reminder.
+ Timber does not like to be left in a car in summer.
+ The MDF frame for the mechanism did not need to be as big as I made it.
+ Procrastination can lead to its own problems.
+ Veneering is harder than it looks.

I gotta tell you, I love this clock. Heather is under orders that when the time comes it has to come back to my son (she has no children of her own).

Expect more soon

Doug

PS It is finished, not having numbers or dial marks is intensional. This was inspired by Krenov’s clock.

Well just like last summer, I went to the Sturt Summer School and did a wood working course. This year’s course was making a Windsor Stool. This was done using technology dating back up to 400 years. It was definitely the most physical woodworking I have ever done.

You start with a piece of cut Camphor Laurel for the seat and one sawn log of Robinia. The Camphor laurel is shaped into a seat using bow saws, spoke shaves and a device called a Scorp to shape the seat. The log of Robinia is split and then draw knives are used to get the five pieces round enough to go into the pole lathe.

The pole lathe is just like any other lathe except it is treadle powered. The pole is what the rope is attached to make the spring for the treadle.

After five days of pulling, pushing, swinging and treadling I ended up with a stool. It was great.

There were eight in the group and a better bunch of people I have never met.

The teacher, Howard Archibold, was very patient as well. This was of particular use when dealing with me.

I am in the process of making three marking gauges. I started off just making two, one for a pencil and the other for a blade. When I cut up the stock I was left with the exact amounts for 3 bodies and 3 beams. It must of been the big woodworker in the sky working in my favour because the first one was not great, good but not great. This is the first one. It is going to be the pencil marking gauge as you can see.

The is a wear plate imbedded into the body of brass. The rebate for this was cut with a panel saw and then chiselled a little to smooth the bed. The beam is secured using a brass knob. The knob is a solid brass door knob. This turned out to be the most expensive part. The timber was off cuts off my work bench, so effectively cost nothing, the brass was a $12 for a sheet that will last a 100 marking gauges.

The screw on the brass knob was drilled and tapped into it. Then the knob needed some reshaping. This was done with a file and my drill press. Knob spinning, me filing.

The screw passes through a imbedded brass insert (shown in photos). This insert has a thread on the outside that cuts into the hole it is imbedded in. The screw then passes through the middle. This presses against a piston that presses against a plate that holds the beam firm. Without the plate the piston will put indents in the side of the beam.

The timber for this one, is New Guinea Rosewood. A beautiful timber that continually impresses me with its figure and colour. It does have a wavey grain and tear out can be a problem. This is a problem I will remedy on 2 and 3.

In the end I like it. Despite its faults it is very useable and will be.

Cheers
Doug

Check out my new work bench. Solid New Guinea Rose Wood, I wont bother you with the details of how much that timber cost me. Talk about handing over amunition to the enemy, my wife has been giving me curry ever since I told her. I know, why tell her. Well she asked, insistently. And I live by a policy that I would rather get in trouble for the truth than a lie. So she knows. Thats not the funny part.

If you have checked out my workshop, you will have noticed that it is on the small side and there is absolutely no way a full sized cabinet makers bench is going in there. So the plan was, it is going to double as the bar-b-que bench. I mean really, how many bbq do you have. Too many. But that is still not the funny bit.

See the last photo. I bought a second hand Dawn quick release wood workers bench vice. In need of a bit of TLC but it was cheap (ish). So in preparation for the new bench that I was hand making with no expense spared, I also restored this vice. So well in fact that my wife would not believe it was the same one and wanted to know how much I had paid for the ‘new’ vice. It took a bit of convincing for her to believe it was the same one. Still not the funny side of this story.

She won’t let me put it on the bench. Worried someone will bump into it. So until I can find space apart from the bbq area to put my new bench it will remain viceless. Oh well. It is better to keep the peace. But what a forelorn sight, a viceless bench. Its like a pub with no beer, an ocean with no beach, a night sky with no stars.
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A slight alteration to a previous project. A LOT of work to make to happen though.

Its a box. Ta Da. After my last mamoth effort at box making. I went for as simple as possible this time. This is the result.

New Guinea Rosewood. Finished with Danish Oil.

I made it for a mate, Peter. He is recently (6 years ago) divorced and I have told him by the end of 2010, I want to see it full of the names of all the women he has dated in the year. I will let you all know how he goes.

Anyway, I liked the result. Not sure what the mitre splines are made of. Some dark timber.

Cheers all
Doug

This Christmas I went to The Sturt School in Mittagong to attend their summer school. Sturt has a School of Woodworking and they ran programs in wood turning, marquetry and ‘Making a Side Table’. Making the side table was a basic course but I really wanted to get away for a week for a wood working course and I wanted to go to Sturt.

It was great. The piece we made was done nearly entirely with machinery to accommodate the 12 students who attended. We also had two tutors who did a great job of teaching, entertaining and keeping a watchful eye on proceedings. The 12 students came from all walks of life, including 4 ladies. I know it is probably not PC to be surprised by this, but it was a pleasant surprise. The students were architects, pilots, engineers, university lecturers, a librarian, a retiree and more of course. A nicer bunch of people I am yet to meet (wood workers, goes with the territory).

We all made the same piece, but we were allowed some scope to add our own details. My inclusions are the white details (Rock Maple). Personally I think this works very well, and a number of my fellow students commented on how much they liked it. All the tables were great though and some of the details added by other students I eyed with envy.

Anyway, it’s a side table and luckily for me I had exactly the right place for it in mind (as shown). It is made primarily of New Guinea Rosewood with details in Rock Maple. The construction involved reinforced mitre joints for the leg/rail assembly and 12 mortise and tenons. All these were machine cut.

It was finished to 400 grit and then given 3 coats of Scandinavian Oil.

A combination of wood with a modern design. I think it works and the wife has almost conceded it was almost worth the sacrifice of being without me for 6 whole days (we have a 2 year old, but I am sure she just missed me).