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Knot Just Bookends

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Project by KnickKnack posted 1590 days ago 3503 views 6 times favorited 13 comments Add to Favorites Watch

So.
I’ve finally finished my entry for the competitions. I don’t expect to win, but I decided early on to give it my best shot – I didn’t decide on the shooting weapon however, and it looks like I used a water pistol! More info on some thought processes in this blog.
Anyway – bookends – we needed some (but I always say that), and here they are.

I wanted to do something “different” for the hidden compartment, so I came up with this “dismantleable” bookend idea – one of them is attached to the base with a sliding dovetail (not easy without a router table)...

and inside…

drum roll…

is the stash of cash!
Now, bookends have 2 sides – on the “pretty” side I’ve done a marquetry (I think that’s what it is) olive inset – 2 slices from the same log – it’s a knot, so I’m trying to qualify for that competition with the same piece.
I’m supposed to tell a story about the knot…
The log had been sitting in the garage, oops, shop, for a while, and every time I went past it I could hear this voice calling to me – “I’m not for burning. I’m knot for burning”. So I sliced it up – weird thing was that the knot you see wasn’t where I’d expected it to be – there was no sign of that old branch on the outside, and the knot I’d been aiming for simply wasn’t there. Serendipity.
Enough drivel…
On the other side…

is, well, a mess – and therein lies a story, and almost grounds for divorce. The original design was to give Micheangelo a run for his money and make a carving like the entry doors at Lisbon’s Rossio train station on the other side.

My mistake was to bounce this idea of the wife. Her argument, which I eventually came round to (after several days with no food), was that, since the olive side looked so incredibly beautiful (she’s a big fan too, especially since the Christmas pressie of the rose-tinted glasses), a thief might want to steal them. Soooooooo, when we go away, we’re supposed to turn the bookends “crappy side” out.
“So you have 2 hidden compartments”, I hear you say. Well – no. I figured (all on my own this time), that, in the unlikely event that a burglar decided to examine the bookends for a hidden compartment, there would be a 50% chance that he’d pick the one that didn’t have one, and would be unlikely to try the other one as well! That and not having a lot of cash to stash, of course.
Some more pics during building, in my blog.
Oh, it’s ash, with olive inset, finished with my usual turps/oil/varnish mix – this time teak oil seems to bring out the olive best and tung oil is still not available here.

The design is based on the neo-manueline entry doors at Lisbon’s Rossio train station.

which is, without doubt, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful entryways in the universe. There are some more beautiful pictures here if you’re interested, and even more if you google “Rossio train station” or anything similar.

-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence."




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13 comments so far

View mtnwild's profile

mtnwild

3474 posts in 1698 days


#1 posted 1590 days ago

That’s a great idea for a secret compartment. Great project.

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

View lew's profile

lew

8986 posts in 1926 days


#2 posted 1590 days ago

Knice Knots!

Good Luck in the contest.

Lew

-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

View CharlieM1958's profile

CharlieM1958

14858 posts in 2389 days


#3 posted 1590 days ago

Great entry on both counts!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

View Colin's profile

Colin

232 posts in 2091 days


#4 posted 1590 days ago

great entry, great story!

-- Colin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Every craftsman was once an amateur"

View WispWoods's profile

WispWoods

50 posts in 1597 days


#5 posted 1590 days ago

Beautiful idea. Two birds with one stone, eh.

Great work!

-- - You begin thinking less, and feeling more.

View BarryW's profile

BarryW

1013 posts in 2077 days


#6 posted 1590 days ago

real purrdy wood

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

View Alan Young's profile

Alan Young

108 posts in 1891 days


#7 posted 1590 days ago

Very Cool! The background makes for a great project.
Alan

View 93mwm's profile

93mwm

59 posts in 1590 days


#8 posted 1588 days ago

is the secret compartment side made from a single peice of ash hollowed out or two laminated peices?

-- mwm! Before you criticise walk a mile in their shoes, and when you do criticise you will be a mile away and have their shoes!

View KnickKnack's profile

KnickKnack

805 posts in 1737 days


#9 posted 1588 days ago

The secret compartment is from 2 pieces laminated – picture before glue up is here

I meant to put in the dimensions of the compartment, but forgot – it’s 20cmx9cmx3cm (about 8”x3.5”x1.25”)

-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence."

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

18320 posts in 2331 days


#10 posted 1587 days ago

these are great and i love the story behind them. You are a great story-teller!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

View SCOTSMAN's profile

SCOTSMAN

4312 posts in 1756 days


#11 posted 1587 days ago

It looks a nice project carried out rezally well anyway get rid of the gardening books and sell them on amazon and buy some good wood books gardening YUK too much like hard work for nothing LOL Just kidding anyway good job young fella Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

View Jason's profile

Jason

631 posts in 1679 days


#12 posted 1227 days ago

What a great project. I love the story to them. I agree that is a beautiful entry and good grounds to design a project. The secret compartment just blew me away. I love it.

Thanks for sharing with us.

-- Jason - Colorado Springs

View Piiterke's profile

Piiterke

7 posts in 1118 days


#13 posted 918 days ago

Great idea! I hope that a potential thief doesn’t read Lumberjocks ;o)
Your other projects are pretty as well.

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