The Barn Woodshop

Oak Front Door.

2012-02-24T15:04:00.000Z

OK, I have just finished this Oak front door, The brief was simple...we want a solid Oak front door. Now this might seem simple at first, couple of stiles, bottom rail, top rail, a few panels, easy yes? Well what my clients wanted wasn't to be you bog standard frame and panel door, oh no what they wanted was a slab door. Now you can't make a door from one piece, that just isn't practical (though it would look nice), so I suggested that we made the door from five pieces and glue them together, this makes it a bit more stable for seasonal changes, but not foolproof. I'll just go ahead and show you the finished door I think.

You will notice that the head and the top of the door are curved, this made the whole door a joy to make (I will forget about lugging it about, though I doubt my back will).

You can see on the back how I have some very slightly raised bearers, how will they hold anything I hear you ask.

The answer is, I used large sliding dovetails.

I'm going to fit tomorrow, so will update with finished pictures then.

Thanks for looking.

Brown Oak Coffee Table Finished.

2012-01-11T16:14:00.000Z

OK where were we, thats right, Resin...

Mix 5-1 and pour.

All done.

I stood over this and burst the air bubbles when they appeared, then re-poured to fill the voids to excess.

Wait 24hrs and then sand, starting with 40g Brilliant

Then up to 240g Granat.

Polishing time, I'm using Fiddes Hard Wax Oil.

Little bit different and will look nice in my living room.

Thanks for looking

Brown Oak Coffee Table II.

2012-01-06T14:56:00.000Z

Okay didn't get much done on this yesterday because of the power cut, but a bit more progress today..

Started off by running the legs past my spindle/shaper, and knocking the corners off to a 1/2" radius.

This is one of the legs in profile, I still wanted to retain the square chunky look so didn't totally round the legs as I first thought I would.

The end frames were then cleaned up and glued.

The Ebony dovetail keys were then cut out and placed ready for inlaying them.

Bit like a cross stitch once inlayed.

I'm waiting on a delivery of west's epoxy next week, so will update when that arrives.

Thanks for looking.

Sycamore Cabinet.

2012-01-05T13:49:00.000Z

I wasn't going to post this until after the coffee table was completed, but have only just got power back on after the storm last night, so today has been a bit of a right off.

Anyway.. this little cabinet is in my bedroom where there used to be an open fire, I don't need an open fire in my room anymore, so thought I would take it out and see if I could make better use of the space. I decided to run electrics for a wall mounted TV to be fitted at some point above the cabinet, plus some cables for DVD/Blueray, etc. So heres what I came up with..

The drawers are traditionally made and run on timber err.... runners , and will be used to hold remotes and my daughters' favorite DVD's. The bottom cabinet will hold a DVD or a PS3. As you can see me and my wife haven't been able to reach a decision on knobs as of yet, I want little walnut or ebony pulls, she wants glass knobs that look like diamonds!!!!!

Thanks for looking.

Brown Oak Coffee Table.

2012-01-04T15:41:00.000Z

OK I thought I would start on my much needed coffee table, as my living room looks a bit stark without one at present, and we are using the floor to rest cups on (its only a matter of time before I spill coffee/tea on my new carpets). The timber for this table I have had for a while, perhaps five years, I bought it with a coffee table in mind, and now is the time to use it. It started as a waney edged board about 7' long and about 20' wide, so giving me enough for a 4' long table top and four legs, plus some rails for underneath.

Cut the top to length.

I decided on showing all the faults to the top, and will deal with them in due course. I thought I would give the ends a bit of a rounded appearance, sort of like a gothic arch.

As you can see some of the splits are quite bad.

Now onto the base, I'm going for a kind of retro 60s/70s look, so have sloped the legs in from both aspects.

As you can see from the photo above, I didn't have quite enough brown oak for the long rails, so these will either be stained to match or will be fumed with Ammonia.

There is a good chance that these will never be seen under the top, as I have set them in a bit.

Thats as far as I've got today, still need to ease all the edges to give a more rounded feel to the table, and I hope to update tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

Painted Bookcases.

2012-01-04T14:46:00.000Z

Happy new year to all...Hope you had a good un! As they say around these parts.

These were the last job before the holidays, they are constructed entirely from Moisture Resistant MDF. Which I find to be a much higher quality board than the normal MDF, it machines much better than normal MDF, leaves a better edge for painting, though you still need to use a sanding sealer prior to paint. It costs roughly double the cost of normal MDF, but its worth the extra cost for a better product. The shelves are laminated from three pieces of 13 mm MRMDF, this gives a very stiff board and will prevent sagging, and the bottom cabinets are to house some filing cabinets that the client wanted to hide.

Thanks for looking.

My house.

2011-12-15T20:08:00.001Z

I thought I owed you all an explanation for the lack of blog posts.

Well the reason I haven't been blogging for the past few months is simply house renovation, if there is an activity that can consume all the available time that you have, then this is it! I bought my house at a public auction in june and knew it would need total renovation, it was previously owned by an elderly lady, and there hadn't been any work done on the property in perhaps 15 years. So with that in mind I set out a plan of what needed doing and where to start, all walls that were to be knocked down were duly knocked down, electrics, plastering, new central heating, and other assorted time consuming activities followed. Now I've more or less finished, there is just a A4 page of snags to be rectified at the weekend.
I have made my own kitchen, and just have the knobs to fit. The budget didn't quite stretch to making my own work-tops(central heating ate most of the cash), so I bought some ready made ones in, however I have allowed these to be easily removable if I can't live with them at a later date. Tiles are limestone and were a bit of a challenge to lay, but I got there in the end.

Heres a few snaps of it during construction, and some nearly finished shots too.

Little curved base unit.

Double bank of pan drawers.

And together.

Fitted in situ.

Work-tops fitted, floors laid.

Nearly there, just a few more jobs to go. I will take a picture of the Elm floor that I laid down in the dining room tomorrow, thanks for looking.

Timber Haul.

2011-10-29T17:06:00.000Z

What you are seeing here, is a start to my bulk buying timber that requires seasoning. One of my friends owns a saw mill that cuts up logs for things like pallets, potato crates, and construction beams. Now some of the logs are unsuitable for this, being too knotty and or some rot. But there is still loads of usable timber for a furniture maker, this is where I step in, and decide if the log is any good for me. His yard is about eight miles from me, so he gives me a call when something of interest comes in, and I take a look and say how I would like the log cut. I had this Oak log cut up in various thicknesses 1", 2", and 4", but I also had two 14 footers cut to an inch and a quarter that are to become a book-matched table top.

As you can see its all in stick at the present, and it will be at least a year and a half before I can start to use some of it. But when I do, I will have some lovely timber to choose from. It doesn't stop there of course, I have a spalted beech log being cut up this week, also I am going over to his this week to tell him how I would like a large white Ash tree converted, as well as a Cedar tree.

These two 4" lumps are English Walnut, and are destined to become two chairs when seasoned. I think some of the furniture I make from this new timber will become speculative pieces, or I have been toying with the idea of exhibiting some contemporary furniture of my own design in the future. Thanks for looking.

Hammer A3 41 review.

2011-10-15T02:52:00.004Z

Sorry for the rather long gap between postings, what with one thing and another, time has been very tight lately. But I have my whole house to furnish soon, starting with my kitchen. Anyway here is a short review of my new planer thicknesser,

Ordered this machine in July, it was delivered this week, a long wait for sure, but it was worth it, and a week earlier than stated. It was explained to me at the time, that there would be this wait. Mainly because they have just changed the design a bit and new machinery for making these was being installed in Austria.

I’m making my own kitchen at the moment, and I’ve wasted no time putting this machine through it paces. It delivers smooth, flat, and square timber. The fence is robust, and doesn’t have a massive centre bar, so can be pushed right back flat to the wall. Both tables flip at the same time, and the change over from planer to thicknesser is very fast with just two decent solid handles that quick release both beds. I have the wheel kit on mine, and would say this is an essential add on if your tight for space(as I am). I also opted for the digital readout on the thicknesser, and would say this is a good option also. On my older P/T the extraction wasn't that efficient, so using the fitted hood on the A3-41 was a revelation, the extractor hood is very efficient at picking up all but a few of the chips, and after machining for most of the day there was perhaps a handful of chips around the machine.

Now the bad bits, this machine has been keenly priced to be in-line with its competitors, so there have been a few corners cut on things like adjusting knobs. These feel cheap and nasty, and I don’t feel they have much longevity or a place on a machine in this class. The manual was all in German, but they are sending me an English version this coming week(it came the next day).

That being said, I wish I had got my hands on one sooner, the smooth finish alone has made sanding a much quicker job now, and I’m very happy with this machine. I would however, probably of paid a few pounds more to get metal adjustment knobs instead of the few(not all) plastic ones its supplied with. Hope this helps.

Edit...

I have since used this planer a lot and have tested the full width with oak, I have taken 2mm off in one hit, and the machine handled it without missing a beat.

Thanks for looking.

Large Bookcase

2011-07-25T17:43:00.000Z

Just got this finished today for a client in sheringham, it made a nice change to just get my teeth into a job and get it done, and not worry about fitting issues.

It is 3m high, and 2.8m wide. Its hand painted with Farrow & Ball estate eggshell.

Thanks for looking.

Ash bedroom finished

2011-07-21T16:07:00.000Z

Just finished the last piece for the ash bedroom suite, here's a few pictures of the desk in the workshop.

There is an optical illusion with the second drawer, the grain makes the drawer front appear tapered.

I've used the Bocote(mexican rosewood) again for this.

All done and in situ.

Finally got round to getting a picture of the window seat I made a couple of weeks ago.

The whole lot together, including the little bookshelves.

Thanks for looking.

Ash Kneehole Desk

2011-07-14T18:03:00.001Z

Time to dust this blog off a bit...

This is one of two desks that I have to make, I'm doing this one first as the other was ordered at a later date.

Onto the timber I selected for the top, this needs to finish at 1380 mm x 620 mm x 23 mm. This board measures 2.8 m x 305 mm, so should finish at about 600 mm. This means I need to glue a 20 mm piece in and hope to get a good grain match.

All machined up, I shoot the edges in by hand. Talking of shooting planes, an old record that i bought from ebay arrived today(forgot to take pic's but it seems a good-un).

Glue up the top, I've used titebond II for this, and left over-nite.

The grain match is good because I can't see which side it was now.

Onto the carcase sides, there are four to do, and they are to match the window seat I made a few weeks ago. I fielded these on my spindle moulder.

Carcase in dry fit, the gap at the top of the top rail is for a piece of poplar so I can glue the scotia moulding to the carcase.

Both carcases glued up and backs fitted.

Sometimes on my planer, chips collect between the rollers, and can cause a rather large scratch all the way down whatever go's in.

So out with the iron, and damp cloth.

Quick sand and scratch gone.

Glued up the two pedestals to make the kneehole, the eagle eyed among you may notice a small error?

Top fixed down with shrinkage plates.

Plinth fixed on, I'm still undecided weather to make bracket feet, think I will draw some out and see how its looks.

That as far as I've got so far, thanks for looking.

Small bookcase and window seat.

2011-06-24T16:14:00.000Z

This pair are pretty much finished, bit more to do on the window seat, and just a couple of coats of hard wax oil. Next time you see them they will be fitted, and I will update then. No wip pic's, as they are pretty straightforward.

Wall hung book shelves in European ash, cornice/crown moulding looks huge, but is going about 8' up so needs to be large. Shelves are adjustable, just on simple posts.

Corner detail on bottom shelf.

Ash window seat with compartment under the lid.

There are a couple of oak veneered panels going on the inside to hide all fixings.

Corner detail, I still need to plane the top rail a touch to get it to fit snug.

Thats what I've been up to for the last couple of days, thanks for looking.

Oak ledged and braced doors finished.

2011-06-21T17:29:00.000Z

Just got these fitted today, clients were very happy, and they have something that cannot be bought off the shelf.

Rear of the door showing the continuous brace, only available when you buy custom made.

It was also a good opportunity to take some finished pic's of the wardrobes and cabinets I made for them recently. The clients have now decorated, and I think the new ledge and brace doors go rather well with the wardrobes. You might be able to see at the bottom of the picture, the hand made blanket chest I made a few months ago also.

Thanks for looking :-).

Sycamore wardrobes Finished

2011-06-17T20:51:00.001Z

Just fitted these today, the clients father and mother were very pleased. The young client wanted to paint them...oh well cant please them all the time.

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend guys.

Oak ledged and braced doors

2011-06-12T19:05:00.002Z

I've been meaning to get these finished for a couple of weeks, but have been tied up on the wardrobe job. These are going to look very traditional, and the oak is stunning. Starting with a pile of machined timber...

Then apply the ledges and braces

Then nail, I'm using hand-made looking nails for this(that cost a small fortune), and they look great.

All nailed in place.

Two down one to go.

I will get these finished this week with a view to fit the following, thanks for looking.

Sycamore wardrobes

2011-06-12T18:53:00.000Z

I'm sure its getting a bit boring seeing all these wardrobes I'm making at the moment, but there's light at the end of the tunnel. I have a couple of nicer(to make) pieces soon, a knee-hole desk with nine drawers, and a little shelf unit. Anyway here's a few progress shots of the large sycamore wardrobes, face frame fitted.

I decided to book-match all the door panels, I used most of the figured sycamore for this.

And all the doors fitted, the drawers will be glued up tomorrow morning. There is a bookshelf unit going on the left-hand end, I am starting this tomorrow also.

Thanks for looking, and keep looking for the desk coming up :-).

Festool Carvex Review.

2011-06-12T18:33:00.004Z

I've had a fairly good play with the carvex to form an opinion now, and this will be my review.

First off let me tell you that it comes in a sys 1, and what you get in the box. The carvex itself and the cord, you get the dust extraction tube that clips into the base, and the interchangeable bases when you buy the set. A couple of blades to get you started, and a couple of zero tolerance inserts.

The extraction tube simply pushes into the back of the base plate.

It then seats/clips into the back of the base plate.

If you want to change to the guide rail base or the mitre base, you need to unclip the basic base that comes with the tool and push this lever forward.

This in-turn pushes the hooked baseplate holder back and releases the base for a change-over, then reverse to get the base locked in. There is no play in mine whatsoever incidentally, so they have sorted that small problem that was doing the round on the forums.

Shot of the baseless unit ready for the selection of bases that come with the set.

Moving onto the set this comes in a sys 2 and contains 4 interchangeable baseplates that clip onto the standard baseplate that comes with the tool. The circle cutting add on,which clips into the guide rail baseplate. The guide rail plate, and the mitre plate. There are five of the felt sheets for the StickFix plate for working on finished work, and four zero tolerance inserts. It also comes with a mystery key-chain that looks like it should do something, but I can find no mention of it in the instructions.

The circle cutting tool simply clips into guide rail plate.

The mitre baseplate can also be used for cutting all manner of odd shaped materials.

In this video you can see a bit of play in the guide rail plate, I think it could benefit from a couple of cam's that are present on the base plate of the track saws.

The pin for the circle cutting tool is a bit loose, I can see this being lost, so will need a better clip to hold it secure.

The blade changing is very quick and tool-less

It takes a couple of seconds to push and click a new blade in place

In use with the guide rail and extraction on, there is a little bit of dust, but not much. I also love the instant brake and have found it very safe in use. Plus if you turn the sound down, it looks like I'm using a laser....

And without dust extraction on

Now lets take a look at how square it cuts

This is in 1 1/4" sycamore, but I cut in 2" too and got the same result.

Is this jigsaw worth the money, for me yes. I have used many over the years and this is easily the best by far, it would be perfect, if not for the little niggles I have highlighted. That said it is a very well made tool and very accurate, I'm used to using jigsaws for roughing out work to then follow with other processes. This jigsaw is going to save me time cleaning up after, and in time also money. The strobe light is a very good feature, and helps with following the line. Its not a particularly loud machine in use, and the brake is a very good feature. Its variable speed, but I tend to use it on the A setting, it kind of idles when not in contact with the material, and as soon as it touches it, its full steam ahead. Putting the zero tolerance plates in is a bit unnerving, I used some pliers, but they really help minimise breakout. Now the money side of things I paid £464.40 which is twice as much as a comparable jigsaw...but this leaves them for dust, and is easily twice as good for the square cutting alone without all the extra options. On that note, I would recommend this jigsaw for sure, if you can justify the cost or you simply just want it.

Edit: Friday 3rd February 2012.

I thought I would update this post for a more informed view now, seeing as this Festool Carvex post gets hit the most.

Since I have had this power tool it has had some kind catastrophic electrical failure, that required a new motor and switch. This happened half way through a cut, where by blue smoke and sparks came out of the side of the tool, followed by a large bang, this happened on site scribe cutting 18 mm MDF while fitting some bookcases for a client. Luckily I had a spare jigsaw in the van so could carry on with the fit. This happened three days before Christmas, so I thought I would sort it out in the new year. I called Axminster power tools(where this tool was purchased) on the third of January and they collected it the very next day with a view for Festool UK to either fix or replace. They replaced the motor and switch after getting them sent over from Germany, and two weeks later I had my jigsaw back. The couple of disappointing things was.... I wasn't offered a loan jigsaw for this two week period. Though I didn't think to ask for one at this time, but it would of been nice to have been offered one none the less. Also why didn't Festool UK not have the parts in stock, and why did this take two weeks. Overall I'm still happy with this machine now I have it back. I cannot fault Axminster in any of this because they picked it up the next day, and dropped it back off as soon as they received it from Festool UK.

New Toys...

2011-06-01T18:50:00.000Z

I've been looking for a quicker and cleaner way to sand all my face timbers for some time, and with out splashing out on a decent wide belt sander I decided to take a look at the festool route. I consulted the gods at woodworkuk, Plus I checked out Paul-Marcel's site and got an idea of what's going to fit in with me. I decided upon a rotex 150. Also last week while fitting the ash robes, my trusty Bosch jigsaw finally gave up the ghost after 15yrs service, so with a 7% price increase soon I thought what the hey, and stumped up for the two at the same time. I trundled out this morning to a delivery driver handing me this little lot.....

I've had a bit of a play with this today, and I'm very impressed so far. It just seems so much more efficient than my old belt sander, plus my orbital. I've been sanding the shelves on the sycamore wardrobes I'm making, they have come up dreamy, and in about half the time it would normally take. Anyone who hasn't got one...get one immediately, you won't be disappointed.

I haven't had a chance to play with this as of yet, but I was sceptical to say the least. There have been many things said about this jigsaw, I'm just hoping they have ironed out the wrinkle's by now, fingers crossed hey.

I bought the set, so I have all these to play with on site.(wonder if I will use them?)

I have no idea what this is for, and because I'm a man I haven't looked at the destructions yet! The end seems to fit where the blade goes into the body, anyone know? Or is it just a flash keyring....

And the festool god's were with me again, when at then bottom of the box was this rather cool workshop clock.

Oh and I managed to get these knocked up too, these are the carcases for a Sycamore wardrobe I'm making.

Anyway thanks for a bit of a gloat, I will post a few progress shot's on these in the coming days. Cheers.

Timber Store.

2011-05-28T13:10:00.000Z

I recently bought a house, and one of the things that got left behind was a 16'x8' shed/garage. I've decided that it will make a good temporary timber store, and if it lasts me a couple of years I will be happy. I was going to buy a shipping container for this purpose, but when this shed came up I thought what the heck I'll use this. It's cost me about £20 for some 2x2 sawn to replace all the bottom bearers that were shot to bit's, a mornings work to get it down, and re-erect.

I haven't had a chance yet to rack it out, but will be doing so next week. Anyway here's what it looked like before.

So a little bit rough, and ready. Transported and worked on the back of a trailer..

You might be able to see the rotten bottom bearers...if you look carefully.

And in it's new home next to my workshop.

I've placed the whole thing on pallets so air can circulate underneath, I'm having racks both sides, and a centre walkway made from ply. I'm also thinking of keeping sheet stock in there to free up some space in my workshop. As you can see there's still a bit of work to do, and I need to treat it with some kind of preservative. But not bad for a mornings work and a little money, plus it will give me some much needed space back in the workshop. Thanks for looking.

Ash Wardrobes Finished.

2011-05-27T18:53:00.001Z

Just got the pair of European Ash wardrobes fitted and finished today. The clients were very happy and have asked me to quote for other work, and have recommended me to some of their friends. Anyway here's a few pic's...

Unfortunately you can't really see the large field I applied to the door panel and drawer fronts, It was very bright in there with a large window behind me when I took the snaps. So you will have to take my word that they look good...... Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend guys :-)

Drawer problem.

2011-05-22T13:39:00.000Z

I have a small problem on the ash wardrobes I'm making, both of the robes are being fitted into alcoves, but one of these alcoves is 250mm(10") smaller than the other. The wardrobes must both look the same from the front elevation, which means internally on the right hand one, there is an odd dog leg to fit a pair of drawers into.

Here you can see my drawer box dry fitted, the internal corner with exposed dovetail joinery, hand-cut of course.

And the finished drawer on Accuride runners, one fitted to the side as normal, the other fitted to the bottom of the drawer bottom. When fully extended there is a bit of play, so I'm going to fit another runner to the bottom.

Here you can see the under-mounted drawer runner, there is enough room to place another to the right of the existing.

I did think about having a normal drawer, and letting the drawer front sail over. But thought that that was a bit of a cop out, and decided on this course of action. As it turned out it only took perhaps a couple of hours longer, and the clients have an extra 1.5 cubic foot(approx) of storage. They also have some funky dovetails to look at when they open the drawer.

The drawer fronts on this wardrobe are joined together with a piece of face frame stock in the middle, this will look the same as the other wardrobe except for having two large drawers instead of four.

There is still a bit of cleaning up to do on these drawers and to make the bottom drawer front also, but they are more or less finished, thanks for looking.

Large fielded panels.

2011-05-13T18:21:00.000Z

I made this post yesterday, and its disappeared? I will try to write it again similar..

I've been working on the panels for the doors, that are going on the Ash wardrobes for the last couple of days. They are having a large field applied to them, I was going to make a jig for them to ride through my thicknesser. But as it turned out they have ended up 40mm wider than my thicknesser can handle. I decided I would make a jig for the router to do them instead.

Glued the panels up a couple of nights ago..

Planed the backs because after they have been fielded it will be difficult, then left them cramped up overnight to minimise movement.

Then set about making the jig, its a piece of mdf the same size as the panel, with two bearers for the router to ride on, set a bit higher than the panel. There is also a wedge one end to give me the required angle, in this case 1 degree.

You can just make out the the angle.

I need something substantial with no flex for the router to ride upon, I settled on a piece of 8x2 with a hole drilled in the middle. I have also fitted a collet extension to the router.

This needs a couple of batons attached to act as stops, so the router doesn't eat into the side bearers.

After I did the length I repositioned the panel in the jig to do the width.

Short video of the ~~CNC~~ router in action.

Sorry about the jerky camera work at the end, if anyone knows of a FREE idiot proof video editor let me know.

And everything would of been fine if I'd just planed these up and called them done, however hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I should of looked at today's date. I decided that the field wasn't showing enough so thought I would alter the angle to give myself a more of a pronounced field....However taking a couple of mils off proved far from sensible, when this happened...

And a nice close up of the damage.

The last panel to do as well, it just wasn't seated enough on the jig by about 5mm. I've managed to rip one half of the panel away and replace, its glued up ready for the morning(couldn't face it tonight).

Thanks for looking, have a good weekend:-)

Timber selection.

2011-05-10T17:58:00.005Z

OK I've been machining some European white ash today, and thought I would speak a little bit about how I select timber for doors.
When I look at timber for doors I want it to be straight and flat, with no twist or bow along its length, or cup through its width. I don't use any timber that has any hint of these problems, I don't just hope that I can machine these faults out. I want the timber to be as straight as possible in its raw state before I select it for door stock, I've found this to be the best way of ensuring your door will stay flat and not twist. First of all I check for twist with my winding sticks, these are made from Brazilian mahogany that I ripped from one piece about 20 odd years ago. If the timber passes this test, I place the board on its edge and check for bow along its length, if it passes its taken in to be cross-cut then ripped over-size by 10mm.

Here's an example of a piece of timber that wouldn't be suitable for door stiles, yes you could plane it flat and it might stay that way, but there is an element of risk that I'm not willing to take.

Here you can see what happens to timber when initially it passes the test, but when cut tensions are released, it bent badly, and this is rejected for doors. I would not use this timber for short rails on doors either.

But I will use it for short lengths on face frames where its glued to the carcase, or perhaps short drawer rails so its not totally wasted. The boards I have selected for the doors are about 200mm wide and are cut through and through, this means the two outside edges if ripped off, are rift-sawn. The middle is kept to be joined for drawer sides. I allow 40% wastage on square edged boards, and 100% waste on waney edged stock. I like to have more timber than I need, to enable me to select the best stock for my furniture. This is not a boast for me to tell my clients "I only use the best stock" I use it because down the line, I want my furniture to still be functional, and not have problems.

Oh and a bit of an update on these ash wardrobes I'm making, the face frames are made, sanded, and dry fitted. I have also machined, glued up, and sanded some show ends to the two inner sides. These panels are chamfered at the intersection of the face frame. The face frame will not be beaded on this wardrobe, any embellishments will have more of an angular theme to go with the large flat field of the door and drawer panels.

Thanks for looking.

Ash Wardrobes...sorry its all I've got at the mo

2011-05-08T18:21:00.000Z

OK I will not be doing a step by step on this project, as its all old ground that I've already covered in previous posts. However there will be some elements that you might find interesting on the door and drawer panels, they are to be fielded from the centre of the panel, and will need a couple of adjustable jigs to be built. Here's how the panel will kind of look like...

And here's how far I've got since yesterday.

As you can see the drawers in the right hand one won't be straight forward, so I might cover the construction and fitting of those. I think I will also talk about timber selection and how I machine and deal with problems in the timber. Anyway thanks for looking.

Fitting the painted robe.

2011-05-06T17:54:00.000Z

Fitting time for the painted wardrobe....I kinder knew it would go OK, as I checked all the walls previously for level, and they were flat but 5mm out. So I didn't need to scribe much off, opting to just plane to the line.

Started with the base, I cut the carpet up.

Then the underlay.

I then needed to cut a section of skirting away to make room for my base.

The base is then fitted and checked for level, it was running down into the corner 12mm!

This is then packed to a good level.

And then fixed.

I need this to be perfect for the doors to fit into the face frame.

Then its just a case of stacking boxes and fixing discreetly as you go.

Bit like Tetris.

Just need to scribe this end, and glue and fit the face frame.

Fit the doors and drawers.

And its done.

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend.

Festool Boom Arm

2011-04-27T21:43:00.001Z

Just got this today, I already had the CTL 36, so it was just a matter of putting the boom arm together, and fixing it to the vac. I thought about making something that would do the same job, but don't have time. It really was getting annoying tripping over, or standing on the hose, as well as standing on the cable which can't be good for the connection. My domino nearly fell off my setting out bench last week, because I tripped on the hose and cable, I can't have that in for repair right now, so I thought what the heck and ordered the boom arm......

Should help no end.

Dovetails for real.

2011-04-27T19:02:00.000Z

I've made a start on the six drawers, these will be hand-cut, or at least my version. First off the stock is cut to size, then marked out to where they are going. I'm using European Ash for all of my drawers for this project.

Then I nail the sides together with a small veneer pin, this hole virtually disappears on final clean up, and is a traditional way of cutting the sides together. I've used masking tape in the past, but find it can move, unless you use a lot which then lifts the sides off the bandsaw table, and breakout occurs. Marked out the tails next, I'm going for three.

Then to the bandsaw, making sure the pin will go into the mitre slot when I flip it to get the waste out.

Which brings me to here.

I then separate the sides, and its onto some hand work. I tend to find it easier if I angle the chisel back a bit, then square pare to this.

Then its on to marking the pins, I'm using a home made marking knife that is easy to flip to each side.

I hogged out the waste as I did in my previous post. Which brought me to a dry fit, then I cut the birch ply bottoms out.

Cleaned all the machine marks off the inside with my L/N #4, and glued them up.

Close up of the finished joint.

All in all these took me 15hrs to get all six to this stage, including machining the stock. I'm happy with this time but will get quicker on the next batch, and think the jig worked well. I've added a sacrificial top to the jig that can be used on each batch then renewed.

Thanks for looking.

Dovetails

2011-04-23T14:04:00.005Z

This isn't a how to cut dovetails, but just how I cut dovetails. I still like to be able to say to my clients that all dovetails are cut by hand, and for 99% of the steps that is still very much true. However I have no wish to live in poverty, and 99% of clients are not going to pay for truly hand cut work any more. So I now cut all my dovetails in this manner. I use a router to hog the waste out, but I do this free hand, so I guess I could argue that they are still done by hand, as you still need a steady hand to guide the router, but I will let you decide this small point.

This is my old jig that I made up a few months ago to make one drawer for a coffee table, but I have six to do now, followed by another 24 or so. This jig isn't going to cut it, for a start its way to low, and was made quick so not that accurate.

So I'm making a new one to last at least until all drawers are finished, I'm going to try a woodrat as well to see if its any quicker. First step is to join two pieces together, these must be square.

I then use my vice as a datum, and screw and glue the back support in. This must all be level and square for the jig to be accurate.

I fix a stop so it reference's in the same place.

I then need a pencil line running up from my vice guide, and square to the top.

Then I need to fit a stop that is smaller in thickness to the drawer material.

I chamfer the top so it won't interfere with the router.

Cut some pin's on the bandsaw, and clean up with a chisel.

The jig in use, I start by using the jig to give my router a larger area to reference off, then hog off the waste to within 0.5mm of my knife lines. I'm listening for a change in tone from the router to let me know how far to go into the waste, once I hear that tone I stop. Then its just a matter of chiselling to the knife lines.

Then just assemble them together

And the finished result, not perfect by any means but a quicker way to make a lot of drawers, and still have a hand cut look. This was done quick to show the process, but if I had taken my time a bit they would be passable.

Thanks for looking, I hope it's of interest.

A Bit More On the Painted Robe.

2011-04-22T15:04:00.002Z

Got all the doors shot in and hung today, I used the little L/N 60 1/2 block plane for this, it performed brilliantly as you would expect. I just wish I'd took the plunge years ago.

All hung and swinging nicely.

There was just time to get all the drawer fronts fitted, before my father drags me down the pub for a couple of beers.

I'm going to see how this ash behaves before I machine it all up, I have boards that are 27mm thick which I'm ripping in half with the hope to get the 10 mm drawer stock I need. If not there will be quite a bit of waste, or the drawer stock will be a bit thicker. I personally prefer a drawer with thin sides/back/front, so hope this ash will be OK come Sunday/Monday.

That's it on the robe for a day or two, thanks for looking, and I hope you are all having a nice Easter.

Progress on the painted robe.

2011-04-21T15:59:00.000Z

This could be the last time I use poplar again, I've had to buy extra as it seems hell bent on being...err bent. I would be interested on other peoples views on this rather unstable timber.

Anyway here are some progress pic's...

I've made the base from 8x2 redwood as this will be a very heavy robe, and needs to be set off the floor quite high for this 2.8m wardrobe to look right visually.

The face frame partly fitted, just the drawer divides to mark out and fit.

With them made and fitted it was time to glue up the main face frame, I did this in two stages starting with the drawer area.

Then the whole f/f was glued up.

I fit this dry to the carcase so I can shoot the doors in, these need more work tomorrow, and will be hung then.

That as far as I've got today, I hope to have all doors hung tomorrow so I can make a start on the drawers on Saturday. Thanks for looking guys.

Painted wardrobes

2011-04-18T19:47:00.004Z

Been breaking down all of the oak veneered mdf yesterday, and today. Because all of my carcases are going to be the same depth, I thought I would cut all of the sheets in half. When I know they are all the same depth, I stack all the sheets on top of each other, get my track saw, and cut away. This saves me having to mark any of the others out once this first sheet is marked.

I then just line my track up with this light scribe line on all the subsequent boards.

Which gives me a big stack of boards ready to be cut to length on my saw bench.

Got the all of the first wardrobe carcases made up this afternoon.

Just before this Lie-Nielsen no4 arrived....

Haven't had a chance to play around with it yet, but first impressions are, it seems a very nice solid plane. It certainly feels much heavier than my USA made bailey, but the handle might need a bit of fettling to fit my gnormus mitts.

I've Been quoting for more wardrobes today.....mustn't grumble but it would be nice to do some free standing furniture for a change though, thanks for looking.

So it begins

2011-04-14T19:44:00.001Z

I am about to start my biggest commission to date, one Sycamore triple wardrobe with bookcase to the side, two double European white Ash wardrobes, one painted triple wardrobe, an Ash desk, an Ash bookcase, and an Ash window seat. This is all for the same client, who lives about 12 miles from me. All wardrobes will have in total 28 handcut(more on this in another post) drawers to do, and the panels on the European Ash robes will be a bit different. I have spent the last few days ordering supplies for this commission, starting with the Oak veneered boards for the carcases which arrived Monday, and the 60cuft of Ash, Sycamore, and Poplar that arrived today(and had to be unloaded by hand because my forklift wouldn't start). Heres a shot of the Ash and the Sycamore...

I had a go at the Sycamore with a very blunt spokeshave, check out the chatter marks. But at least the timber was good and that's the main thing, wish I could say the same for the shave.

And here's the Poplar for the compromise wardrobe to kept the job within the allotted budget, It will still have six dovetailed drawers, and I'm going to make this one first.

I've done a little bit of machining today, but will have more to show tomorrow, thanks for looking.

Lie Nielsen Planes

2011-04-12T19:14:00.001Z

I've been somewhat sceptical about premium planes for a number of years, thinking they offer the same as a well fettled Stanley or Record. That scepticism was somewhat shattered today when I took delivery of two Lie Nielsen planes, a 60 1/2, and a 042. These are of course based on Stanley, Record, and in turn Preston planes. But Lie Nielsen has tweaked these planes into a different animal altogether. Now I've been using my Stanley/Record planes for close to twenty three years, so after this time I'd like to think I know my way around a hand plane. So today was a bit of a revelation using these two wonderful planes, I feel somewhat silly saying that, after saying in a few thread's on various woodworking forum's that my fettled Stanley's and records are just as good, this is just not true.
I'm trying in my business to finish off as much of my work by hand as possible, in part to be able to say to clients this is hand-made, and in part because a hand planed finish is so much nicer to achieve than having all the dust floating about. I believe these additions of the L/N's, will enable me to do this faster as well as tackle more wilder and attractively grained timbers, instead of perhaps turning to the sander. So after today I have changed my stance, and cannot wait for when I have enough money to purchase a No4....and maybe just a few more.

Oh here's the evidence...

There maybe no hope for me now.

Workshop Floor.

2011-04-11T16:35:00.002Z

Having seen some amazing workshop tours in the past, it must be very comforting to know that when you place a cabinet on the floor it will need minimal levelling before you can shoot the doors in ready for hanging. I've worked in one cabinet shop in the past where this was the case, and what a luxury it is. Now if you have been reading this Blog you will know that my currant floor in my assembly area is far from level, so today I decided to do something about a small portion of this. I need a longish run for placing wardrobes on, I have quite a few to do so I don't want to keep checking they are level when I'm assembling them.

Here is the offending floor...

And here is the solution, I haven't insulated as I would need to do the whole floor(not an option at present). I've placed the battens at 300mm centres with the folding wedges about the same. I've screwed through the battens into the concrete, and hot melt glued the folding wedges to the battens to stop them shifting.

Here's the finished article, it now gives me a level area that measures 4.8m(16ft)x1.2m(4ft).

It was also a good opportunity for Luke to have a go at scribing a front fascia piece to tidy it up, better for him to practice on this than an actual panel for a client. As you can see not to bad for a first attempt, but he does need to take a bit more time next time. He's very enthusiastic, and I need to slow him down sometimes.

I'm very happy with this little improvement, and should speed things up a bit with one less thing to worry about. What with my nice level setting out bench, and my level floor I feel spoilt.

Thanks for looking.

Goose Neck Scraper

2011-04-10T14:45:00.002Z

OK I'm going to attempt to show how I sharpen a goose neck scraper...

This first video shows me flattening the scraper on my DMT fine stone.

This video shows how I then get the cutting edge flat, with a 90° block to guide me.

On this next section of video I using an oiled burnisher to prepare the edge for rolling over, my grandfather would use the back of his chisel for this operation, not a good one I hasten to add.

Then I roll the edge, I need to say here that you do not need a lot of force for this, and I just flick the burnisher over once or twice.

Give it a whirl, and nice shavings not crumbs or dust.

Sorry about the quality of the video but you get the gist, I hope it's of some interest, and thanks for looking.

Wardrobes finished.

2011-04-08T16:51:00.001Z

Been fitting the oak wardrobes and cabinets for the last couple of days, got them finished today. These were hung on French cleats, and took about 40 mins to hang.

Few shots of the newly formed walk ins, just needs a lick of paint, and for the handles to be delivered.

Thats it for today, I have four more wardrobes in ash, sycamore, with a painted one to do next, and some assorted furniture, thanks for looking.

The robe's continue.

2011-03-31T19:48:00.000Z

So onto the walk in wardrobes... here are the floor to nearly the ceiling doors in dry fit. The Oak is really clean, and very mild to plane by hand.

Got the cornice moulded, there is some nice ray pattern on the face side.

The little chunky doors glued up.

I then made a start on the face frames for the taller doors, these are having a bead all round which needs to be mitred on the rail and stile intersection. Here I am using a 2" Ashley Iles chisel to knock the corner off ready to meet the stile.

Close up of the finished joint.

Then onto the stile, I cut the bead off by hand as there are only four.

Cut the waste off.

Then mitre with chisel.

Brings me to the finished joint.

The face frame is then duly glued up on my flat and level bench.

Close up of the finished joint.

Onto the hinges, I'm using a jig for the router to follow.

After routing.

Clean the corner waste out using my Ashley Iles corner chisel.

All the hinge mortices cut, quick try for a fit.

Tall doors glued up and final light sand.

Onto the face frames for the wall cabinets, dominoed out to start.

From both sides.

All lined up with sacrificial block.

Morter cutter into the router, this is pretty much how Jonnyd(from woodworkuk) does it, except I thought I would gang mine together.

Using a guide cramp I just run them through, next time I won't cut them to length first but keep them long so there is more for the router to run on.

Which bring's me to here, ready to fit to the cabinets tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.

Oak robes

2011-03-29T20:54:00.000Z

Started on the fielded panels this morning, I profile these on my spindle moulder using an upright jig and a 12 degree cutter. here's the set up of the jig..

And the result, a nice traditional fielded panel.

Here's Luke my apprentice, always a blaze of activity.

The doors need a moulded detail on the rails and stiles, so the door is held in place with folding wedges. Then the detail is routed on, I have got one of those non-slip mats for this procedure, but it always moves when you get dust on it...so its been binned.

I decided on a stopped chamfer, to carry on with the cottage theme. Its a detail I haven't as yet seen on mass produced furniture, and I really like it.

Which brings me to here, a dry fitted door. There's still a lot of cleaning up to do before they are glued up, so I will get them done tomorrow.

This is the detail to the reverse of the door.

Quick view out of my workshop, the geese are particularly aggressive this time of the year, and can generally be seen either fighting or mating. In fact they had just been fighting, and making a heck of a noise, which is why I was looking out my doors.

Thats it for today, I need to get the doors completely finished tomorrow, ready for hanging. Thanks for looking.

Oak Wardrobes

2011-03-28T19:36:00.002Z

Got a bit of progress on these today starting with the doors, I've done all the mortices, and tenons. Then I tried all the joints for a dry fit, and for nice grain matching. I have to say that the Oak boards Boddys sent me are superb, with a really prominent medullary ray fleck pattern on 90% of the boards. I think Oak has to be one of my all time favourite timbers to work with, it planes well, joinery is crisp, and it looks stunning when a finish is applied.

These are the boards I've selected for the door panels, you can't see from this picture, but these boards are lush, with no interlocking grain, and a heavy ray fleck pattern.

So after a bit of machining the figure can be seen quite clearly. The T and A that you can just make out in pencil is for when I shoot the edges on the jointer. Towards the fence and away, no matter how square you think your fence is, chances are you are 0.25 of a degree out(ish), and this method cancels out your accumulative error.

These panels are now all glued up, ready to be cut to size for the next step.

Which is a hand planed finish, the clients wanted a cottage feel to their bedroom, so I suggested having all the timber hand planed, and when done you will feel the slight camber from my plane blade when you run your fingers across the panels, much nicer than a sanded surface.

That's as far as I got today, should have all the doors glued up tomorrow, and I hope to make a start on the face frames. Thanks for looking.

Bits and pieces kind of day

2011-03-23T19:32:00.002Z

I have made a start on the oak wardrobes and cabinets today, I cut all of the sheet materials with my track-saw. I'm using Maxcut v2 on my laptop to help with maximizing sheet materials, this is a free download, you just need to re-register every 30 days. First impressions are it's really easy to use.

I then assembled the wall cabinets. I didn't take pic's of this as it's very boring, but here are the finished units.

This arrived today, and was duly used on all the solid lipping's. It worked really well, once I'd set it up, and made the job much faster.

For most of the first hour of the day I spent fixing my roof-rack, after hitting a pothole it looked like this...

Now I might of overloaded it..who can say. This is some Keruing that I'm planing and sanding for a clients bathroom floor.

Timber should arrive tomorrow, so I will have some more progress.

Thanks for looking.

Workshop, a few improvements(well to me).

2011-03-19T12:58:00.002Z

Whilst most think that having a very old barn for a cabinet shop is very right and proper, romantic perhaps. Maybe when clients come to visit they feel that their cabinets are made in a nostalgic location, that harkens back to the good old days. The reality is very different, when I decided to start this business a few years ago I had the space of a large single garage....I yearned for more. So my father gave me what I wanted, little did I know then of the true cost of conversion, or buying machinery. Maybe with hindsight I should of spent my money on renting a modern workshop with the amenity's that come with such a space. But hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I have what I have.
A new roof was the first part, duly followed with a new floor for the machine room, then electrics. My money soon got gobbled up quicker than I thought, so I called a halt to more improvements till such time as I could afford more. Now I don't have the money for what I would really like to do, I must make the best of what I have, and I am very grateful for what space I do have. The machine room is OK, but could benefit from being insulated, and that's about it really...oh and about another 500 sq-ft. I have been looking at my assembly area the most, the first area that needed improvement was my assembly bench which measures 5'x2', and just isn't big enough for anything of size. I took to laying a sheet of mdf over this, but this kept bending, and you can't make decent work if what you are building it on isn't level. So I decided to make a new one with storage underneath.....

I now have level platform to work from, thank's to the heavy duty lifting levellers.

As you can see my floor is...shall we just say out of level(read like a hill) by approximately 6" over the width.

But on with the assembly table, I have put a good extension lead on one end, and have moved all my planes to this end for the time being.

Now I'm not going to pretend that this is by any stretch of the imagination finished, where the festool is for example, will be a bank of drawers at some point. In the right-hand space will be where they are eventually, on pull-out trays

On the backside of the table is where I decided to put all the tools I no longer use as much, and part of my grandfathers tools. As you can see there are quite a few...

As much as I would like to have all of these on display, and use occasionally. Wall space is a premium, with future plans for shelving/cabinets.

Now back onto the ~~hill~~ floor issue, as I said it runs out about 6", and not only that there are large holes that are again about 6 inch's deep. I had filled these with hardcore/broken tiles from the roof, but over time it was sinking and getting kicked about, it also made sweeping up a nightmare. Well I finally got round to filling these holes this week, why I didn't before is beyond me, I really do question my brain sometimes!!!

I have also re-organised my most used tools to be in front of me, where they are easy to reach. I would love a large tool cabinet for these at some point.

I have had to be quite ruthless in this area, because this is going to soon make way for some shelving/cabinets.

So overall this is now much improved, at least to me. I'm starting to forget the money I've spent, and enjoy the space I have.

Now with the large chest out from under my bench I could put my festool CTL 36 in a better place out of the way. I thought I would also display some of my grandfathers wooden planes, for without him I wouldn't of started on this journey.

There will be more improvements soon, but I need to get back to making for a while, first is some oak fitted wardrobes, which I will document here. Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend guys.

Painted Bookcase

2011-03-17T20:49:00.001Z

It's been a while since I updated this Blog, I've been on a site for the last few weeks fitting floors, skirting's, and general carpentry work. I have also been doing a few jobs around the workshop, a new setting out bench, and filling the holes in the concrete(one sprained ankle too many). I will post a few pic's of the "improvements" next time. I had to make a MDF bookcase last week, I didn't do a wip as time was tight, but here it is finished...

It's almost identical to one I made before Christmas, The client saw that one on my website and wanted the same, but to cover the fusebox and still be accessible.

I have some nice fitted oak wardrobes mid week next week so I will update with that every day.

New Office.....kind of.

2011-02-24T17:11:00.002Z

Now, I know you are all going to have a good laugh at my current office, as you can see it consists of a mdf shelf, and a phone. I didn't allow for a pen and pad, as I figured I could always find them on my bench no problems....how wrong could I be. This has done the job(barely) for the past year, I've got broadband in the "office" but never used it, as I do most of my paperwork in the evenings at home. Well I have a couple of days before starting the next job, so thought I would make some improvements, to what can only be described as the office from hell.

Here is what I came up with, a mdf writing desk, its 12" x 12" x 22" with a 43 degree angle cut out. I'm hoping it's relatively dust free, if not it's an easy fix.

It has a couple of loper's to take the weight of the lid, and will take me leaning on it also.

I thought it would also be a great opportunity to install the wireless hub, so I can look stuff up on-line and order, and also research of course. With the lid down it gives me a small area to price commissions, work out cutting lists, and general office bits and bobs.

Who knows, might do a bit of live streaming if I make a start on the Brandy cabinet soon.

Thanks for looking.

Oak Fire Surround Fitted.

2011-02-23T16:53:00.000Z

Just thought I'd show you the finished pic's of the fire surround I made a couple of weeks ago, there was a bit of a delay with the slate, and the woodburner the clients ordered only came in yesterday. Anyway here it is.

Thanks for looking.

New Commission...maybe

2011-02-22T20:20:00.000Z

Today when I went over to my existing clients house, to take a couple photos of the blanket chest(they didn't want it by the way... my wife is over the moon). But they did call me into the lounge to take a look at their Brandy collection(no I wasn't asked to test it), now I've seen it before plenty of times, and every time I go past it, another bottle seems to appear, so much so, that it's now full. Now, I'm not going to pretend to you I know the first thing about Brandy, other than it's quite nice to drink after a meal. But my client does, and this is part of his pension apparently...confused? me too. I had to ask, I couldn't help it "is it worth a lot of money then squire"
"Well up until last week it was worth £102,000, but my wife dropped a £4000 bottle dusting so now its only £98,000". After I had rubbed my jaw better, I asked what he would like me to do to it, he replied "I want a new one but bigger, can you come up with a design and a estimate please".

"No problems" said I, here's what I have come up with today, in rough sketch form.

These are, of course very rough round the edges at present, but should give him another third again as much space, whatcha think?

Blanket Chest really finished

2011-02-21T18:22:00.000Z

I finally decided on a finish for the chest, and that's a hard wax oil by Fiddes. I took a look at the tried and true website recommended by Alex, and found that they had a similar product called, Original wood finish. I gave the outside one complete coat and wiped off the excess, then another and did the same. I gave the top inside and out a further two coats, then the whole thing(except inside for now) about five thin coats of paste wax.

I'm not completely satisfied with the shape on the bearers, but they passed a close inspection from my wife, so must be OK.

I'm taking it round one of my clients to be photographed for my website tomorrow, and they have shown an interest in maybe buying it. So I will see how that pans out tomorrow, thanks for looking.

Blanket Chest Finished

2011-02-19T15:36:00.001Z

I think I might keep this one, as the timber only cost £60, and has only took 20hrs so far . Oh and I really quite like it, It's funny because I would say my taste is more contemporary, but this more traditional furniture is something that I'm liking more and more these days. Then again my daughter seems to go through clothes and shoes rather quickly at the moment, so if one of my clients wants it....

Got most of this finished last night and today, made a start first with the ends, and its glue up time.

Then I glued the front rail sections up. I always try to glue everything up in small stages, this takes longer of course, but makes the final glue up a lot less of a rush.

Hmm... that's not ideal, there must of been a small gap between the tenon and the mortice. This now means this panel is glued in one corner, so I had to free this up. This turned out to be easy, I just got my paint scraper down between the panel and the groove, and separated the glue line. Then a wide throated clamp on the panel, a quick whack, and its free. Poly certainly has no gap filling strength If this had been PVA, I don't think I would of got away with it.

Once it was all glued up, it was time to work out how to swing the lid. This was made a lot easier by watching TJM videos, the whole process is very easy. Its a matter of easing the back edge, then drilling a 3/4 hole 3/4 in, and 3/4 down.

Making a 3/4 Oak dowel on my dowel jig.

Then line the bearers up and test fit.

I made the bearers with some cut outs.

This needs some kind of detail, as it looks odd at the moment, I'm undecided as yet but this is an easy fix.

The lid was catching, as the quarter round was planed by hand, and needed some more work.

All in all, I'm happy with the result, there are a few things still left to do, like sand, sand, and more sanding. Also I'm not sure yet what I'm going to finish it with..wax perhaps or maybe some kind of oil?

I think I might make the bottom from cedar.

Detail of the bearer and dowel set up.

Anyone have any ideas on a finish, feel free to make suggestions. Thanks for looking, have a good weekend.

Blanket Chest II

2011-02-16T19:38:00.002Z

Got all of the panels machined and glued up today, I'm still undecided as to have fielded panels on the inside, and carved panels at the front. Or to just have fielded panels on the outside, and flat panels on the inside. Hmm..really not sure, carved panels would add a lot of time, that a lot of clients might not want to pay for. But they would look nicer I think.

I did think about running all the grooves by hand, then I heard my spindle and power feed giggling in the other room at this rather foolish notion.

Anyway if I decide on carved panels, I can flip these round and carve the backs. But I might just glue the whole thing up like this, and not bother with the carving. I think it looks good as it is, and I've added a small stopped chamfer around the panels, I might carve these into a lambs tongue.

Got the top glued up as well, it has some ray fleck in, and some very big knots. I would normally cut around these, but it gives the top some visual interest.

As you can see the knots are quite big, but will look good when polished, and I kept the boards to a good 11". I wanted the top to come from just two boards, instead of lots of strips, which looks quite modern.

Thats as far as I got today, thanks for looking.

Blanket Chest

2011-02-15T19:12:00.000Z

Made a start on a blanket chest today, its going to be in the traditional style. This is in part because most of the requested furniture from my clients, is in this form, also in part because I haven't made a piece like this for many years, and I really want to. It's not for a client, but I am hoping to find a buyer for it(fingers crossed).
The mouldings are all applied with what I call a scratch stock, its two pieces of timber screwed together to hold the cutter. The moulding that you require is filed onto either a large re-saw blade(this is what I'm using), or you could use a cabinet scraper. I started by trying to scratch the whole moulding out in one go, but found this very hard to push.

So instead I did it in two stages, the bead first.

Followed by the ogee.

All the legs, and rails are done with this moulding applied from both edges.

This is as far as I got today, I would normally expect to have much more done, but I did enjoy working how I did when I first started as a lad.

I'm not happy with the width at the moment, it needs reducing by at least 4".

I don't have any 1" in stock, so its a trip to my new favourite timber yard. You really need to have a torch, and be prepared to sort through the mess. The stack at the top left is Silver Birch and dated 2000, the rather large orange beam is Yew and priced at £300

The stack here is a lovely white ash, its only been in here for six months, but the guy said I could have it for £100. It would mean it needs to go into stick round mine for a further 1 1/2 yrs.

I did manage to find some very clear timber for my panels, but had to sort through this lot. Most of it is walnut, and elm.

I will post more tomorrow, thanks for looking.

Some Nice Timber

2011-02-08T21:22:00.002Z

I had to drop off the fire surround today, which is very close to a timber yard. Well I have an order for a table coming up soonish, so thought I would buy some timber for this, and some for stock. For the table I want the top to be book-matched, so need to use a timber yard that still has its own sawmill, and that cuts its own timber. Here is the timber I have selected for the top.

They are quite pippy, and I can get a length of 72" with a width of about 28" and a finished thickness of a 1 1/4". I will need to plane these by hand, because my machines can only handle 12", and these boards are 15". I don't want to split them if I can avoid it, but might need to to get them flat. If I do this then I will process them through my machines.

These are the boards I picked for stock(although I'm thinking of making another table to sell).

These aren't booked matched as they sit on my bench. As you can see, it is brown Oak. Here is an extract from John Boddy Timber to explain why it becomes brown in colour.

This is a very unusual characteristic obtained from a Native or European Oak tree, which has been attacked by the Beef-Steak fungus (Fistulina hepatica), it gains entry to the wood through an open wound where a limb has been blown off. Unlike many fungi which cause serious decay and eventually kill the a tree, the beef- steak fungus simply extracts enough nourishment for itself, and the wood is stained by the chemical changes occur. Some specimen trees also show brown penetrating from the tree root. This is particularly apparent in park grown trees. It is a highly prized and valuable timber, and most trees are cut into veneer.

Fortunately the timber yard I went to today was not that interested in this timber being brown, and because its very pippy they don't see it as having any value. I paid £40 for all these boards that I've shown you, and the brown timber is 2" thick. As soon as I'm paid for the fire surround, I'm going back to buy a lot more.

Design for some stools

2011-02-07T17:45:00.000Z

Having just finished the repair on the little footstool, I thought I would draw out a design based on this. I had a bit of time today so what do you think?

This is of course only a rough sketch, the dimensions are as follows..24" ht 16" w 12"d so it could be used by adults or could be made taller, and with a back so could be a bar-stool too. Thanks for any input.

Bench Stop Review

2011-02-07T17:31:00.000Z

This is a short review of the little adjustable metal bench stops, that I fitted to my bench three years ago. These are a very reasonably priced accessory, if I remember correctly, they were about £5 each. They are made from Alloy, so you do run the risk of nicking your plane blade, although I never have. When I first saw them, I thought they would be a good solution to my problem. When I first made my bench, I didn't think to make provision for any mortices for wooden bench dogs at the time. This was very short-sighted of me to say the least. So these seemed like a perfect solution, its just a matter of routing them into the bench top, and you are ready to use them.

The maximum height that these will open up to is 12mm, this is just not enough. Sometimes you need much more than this, like for holding stuff. The holding edge is a bit like a razor blade, so you always need a cramping block. When you use a cramping block, because its only held at the bottom it has a nasty habit of slipping when you plane anything. If you use a piece of mdf or softwood, the razor sharp holding edge will split your cramping block when you apply pressure. There is no provision for using them for pulling work-pieces apart either. I have tried really hard to make these work for me for the last three years, however I now cramp work-pieces to my bench instead, and these bench dogs are now not used at all. If you are thinking of buying these, they have very limited uses, I would suggest you don't.

Rosewood and burr Walnut jewellery box.

2011-02-07T16:34:00.000Z

I have had a bit more time on this today, in between coats of polish for the fire surround. So I thought I would fit the stringing and split the box. I have taken the corner out with a cutting gauge, and a shoulder plane.

This is how I cut the mitres for the stringing, I'm using the polished back of my chisel(not that polished on the photo but it is). The stringing is made from Pequia, its a lovely mild yellow, and works really well.

And that gives me a nice mitre ready for gluing.

Here is how the top will look, I've just applied some meth's(de-natured alcohol?) to see the grain.

It was then onto the bandsaw to split the box, I rather stupidly forgot the measurement of where the 10mm lipping was. So I basically guessed it, and hoped for the best.

Thankfully I guessed correctly.

For the next step I had to make a sanding board up, to get rid of all the bandsaw marks. I'm using a contact adhesive for this.

Wait till touch dry, and roll on.

Then its a case of sanding the join, until flat, and all the bandsaw marks have gone.

It should look like this when fully sanded, the join should be invisible.

I might do some more tomorrow, thanks for looking.

Some Wooden Moulding Planes

2011-02-06T16:26:00.001Z

I thought I would show you some of my more unusual moulding planes, I have about 20, and most are hollows and rounds. But I do have a few that maybe of interest. I used to use these, when I worked at the company that took me on as an apprentice, we would make very good quality reproductions of 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th century oak and mahogany British furniture. These were for the most part all hand made including using a pit-saw, hand cut dovetails, and all mortices and tenons would be formed by hand. I didn't realise at the time but we were basically making fakes for a Dutch antique dealer who would come over once a month, buy everything we had made, and ship them back to Holland. We would use perhaps an old rail, or a drawer that was old, and I found out later that the Dutch would class that as an antique. That would be how the dealer got over the fact that they were made perhaps a month before. This gave me a very good grounding in using hand tools to say the least, also a bad back from being at the bottom of the pit for sometimes a month at a time. So I started acquiring old tools to make these pieces of furniture as faithfully as was required by our old foreman. I thought I would sort through my old tool box today, and I found these three that I once used some 20 odd years ago. The one on the left is an Ogee, the centre a plane for forming cock-beads, and the one on the right an Ogee with a double quirk(I rather think this one is of more use to the joiner).

Here is the largest Ogee in profile.

And here it is in use, its funny it still works, and I haven't sharpened it in at least 15yrs.

This is the moulding that it forms.

Close up.

The cockbeader(probably not a word).

And the Ogee

This is why I suspect this plane would be of more use to a joiner, I think its for forming glazing bars for some of the sash windows in Norwich, I've seen them very similar, and the plane was made by Griffith's of Norwich too.

Thank for looking, I hope its of some interest?

Little Repair Finished

2011-02-05T10:48:00.001Z

Not a very glamorous job, but I really like it. I think I might make a couple similar, maybe bar stool size. OK I got the seat leather out from the press, I was a little worried in case the edges would be as stiff as a board, these worries were unfounded, and the leather is still nice and supple. So I made a start tacking it to the frames, I'm copying what the previous maker did, because it has lasted 35yrs so will be fine.

Not the prettiest, but I love its simplicity. I'm going to make some plans up to make a couple to my own design, with my take on them. Still going to keep them simple, but make them for adult sized bum's. The clients grandchildren use this one on Saturdays for watching TV.

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend guys.

Little Repair

2011-02-04T15:56:00.003Z

Its not always making fine furniture and fittings you know! As I work for myself, I very rarely say no to these little jobs. Generally because they can be dropped onto when I'm waiting for glue to dry, and you never know when these little jobs might lead onto bigger jobs. This one has been in my workshop for about two weeks waiting for me to get to it. Its a well made footstool, with all hand cut mortices and tenons. I think it was made by a deceased family member, so has a lot of sentimental value to my client. As you can see the leather seat has perished and given way(wish I'd been there to see that). So first job is to remove all the tacks, then I can lay out the old seat for a measurement.

The client supplied the leather for the repair this time, its a lovely soft cream hide, and smells lush.

So I go about cutting the leather to size, I use a craft knife, and a good straight edge.

I had to clamp the straight edge down, because the leather kept slipping on my mdf setting out bench.

The leather needs to be folded back on itself, so the edge is less prone to tearing.

Glue to my pencilled line.

Fold back and press.

Leave in the cauls to set over night.

I will probably finish this tomorrow morning, as I had to sand the fire surround, for the rest of the day ready for polishing on Monday. Thanks for looking.

Finally Finished

2011-02-03T17:53:00.003Z

Dentil moulding time, I thought I would make a jig for this. It didn't need to be fancy, just functional. if I was doing miles of the stuff, I think I would make a proper dedicated jig. On this one I just needed to have two 3x3mm to help with indexing. I didn't have the guard on for this throughout, so thought I would just super glue some guards in place.

Came out nice.

Here it is applied to where its going.

And that as they say is that, all finished except for polish.

Close up of some of the details.

Thanks for looking guys.

Oak Fire Surround again!

2011-02-02T18:18:00.003Z

I knew for most of the day I would be at the spindle/shaper today, so I locked the doors, turned the stereo up, took the phone off the hook, and concentrated on the job at hand. This is the machine I have the utmost respect for, one mistake on here, means at best a ruined work-piece, at worst a ruined hand. So I don't mess about, I check, then check again, and probably check again after all the other checking....did I mention to check the spindle. I didn't take too many photos of this, I needed all my concentration. The first process is to run off half this moulding on three edges, front and two sides. The front is relatively easy, it's a matter of running it past the hand manglers..ahem I mean cutters, for the moulding to take shape . The ends need to go onto the sliding table, now this is the first time I've used it. So I probably spent 1/2 hr getting this set up and running smoothly, I love my sedgwick SM4, but it is a very basic machine and needs fine fettling for this sort of operation(well mine does). I have one chance with this particular moulding, one break in concentration, it's another trip to the timber yard for me, and a loss of earnings. So I tentatively ran the ends past for the first time, all is well. Then another round of setting up the spindle(and more checking), so I crossed my fingers for the last time, and moulded the mantle for the last time. Happy days it turned out spot on, and I didn't mess it up.

I'm making a kind of hollow box underneath the mantle, mainly so I can fix everything together easier. This will be made from Veneered oak face MDF, and have an applied moulding to the front to tie it into the mantle.

Here's the offending moulding, the rebate is a provision for the dentil moulding.

And here's how the whole thing will look, without the Nashers applied.

Here is how it stood at the end of today, the supports are too bland and need something to take your eye away from their blandness. There will be a moulding around the top and bottom of the split turning too, so that should help no end. I'm starting to doubt the design a little bit(I always do), It can be difficult working on your own sometimes, there is no one to bounce ideas off, or to say that looks good, or that looks dreadful. I'm thinking of having a full size cardboard cutout of Alan Peters(my cabinetmaking hero), so I've got someone to talk too and to tell me where I'm going wrong! I think the mantle looks a bit bulky, but the boxy bit can be removed very easily, if the client doesn't like it. They have OK'd the drawing and the full sized rod. It's just me having doubt's!

Whatcha think?

Hello, anybody there?

The other option is for it to look like this, without the cove and dental moulding.

This is what I have decided for the bland old supports, I might run a scratch detail down the middle too.

I hope to be all finished this week, Thanks for looking.

Fire Suround IV

2011-02-01T16:58:00.002Z

first thing to do this morning, was to get the panel out of the press, and check it was OK. I've always worried when doing panels in a press, because I can't see what's going on underneath, I always think there will be a catastrophic failure somewhere on the panel. But today the veneering gods were with me, it turned out nice and flat, and more importantly stuck on.

There was a heck of a lot of cleaning up to do on the mantle supports, but the cabinet scraper made short work of them.

I then remembered I was picking the turnings up off Johnny Taylor this morning, 1/2 an hour later I was back at the shop. Johnny used only one sheet of newspaper so it didn't fall apart on his lathe, this made it a bit of a challenge to get them apart without damaging my turnings. I eased a very thin paint scraper along the glue line, and worked my way along until it just popped apart. This left a bit of cleaning up to do, but my No4 made this very easy, and in next to no time they where both done.

I cut the panels in, and tried them for a fit.

I decided I was going to glue this up in stages, as I always find this way, the easiest to do with most glue ups.

Once this had set, it was time for the second stage of gluing up, the plastic bags are there so I don't glue it to my setting out bench.

This is where it stood at the end of today, Its starting to look more like a fire surround now.

Just as I was locking the shop doors, a delivery driver turned up and dropped these off. That's everything I need now to finish this, I can start putting the final details and mouldings on now.

Thanks for looking guys, I hope it's of interest.

Oak Fire Surround III

2011-01-31T20:19:00.000Z

First job this morning, was to make sure this little lot were fed and watered. With all the livestock we have, and a huge veg patch, me and all my siblings are pretty much self sufficient. It takes me about 1/2 hr in the morning, to do my share of the chores.

First job in the workshop was to mark then cut the top rail.

I was going to make a tapering jig to cut the side uprights, but in the end I just measured where I wanted the taper to be.

And then just free handed it through the rip saw, to within 1mm.

All I had to do was take a few shaving's off with my shooting plane, and it was job done.

It was then a case of laying out for the joinery, and letting the domino go to work. I did reduce the second domino, because I didn't want it blowing through the front. I measured it and it was only 2mm from doing just that, so good job I checked.

I normally use plain mdf for flat panels, but didn't have any in stock, so used the American ash faced mdf instead. This should give a better key than regular mdf, which I must admit I don't really trust for this application. I have no reason to think this as I've never had a problem before with it de-laminating, it just seems so smooth and waxy, and it does seem weak when its knocked with a shear tap from a hammer. So I might start using pine faced mr mdf, What do you guys think?

I'm just using some cauls, and a couple of thick platens for this panel, with plastic bags in between the platens and the veneered panel. It was about 9 degrees in my workshop today with the heating on, so I'm going to leave this panel in the press over night.

It was then onto the template routing for my mantle supports, I use double sided tape to stick the template to the timber.

Then it's a matter of following the template with a bearing guided router cutter.

The grain runs horizontal to the Ogee detail, so I had to do the majority by climb cutting.

I then took the template off, and dropped the cutter as far as the router would travel, and used the previously routed edge to run against.

This left it a little over half done.

It was then a case of changing for a bottom bearing cutter, flipping the timber over, and climb cutting the rest.

I didn't want to just glue these together without some kind of joinery, so I used the domino again.

All clamped up.

I thought I would make a start on some of the mouldings and spindle work.

After its gone through it looks like this.

This is how it stood at the end of today, could resist a bit of a dry run. This is to my design, so I hope it's going to look good for the client.

Got to pick the turnings up tomorrow morning, and the new block and cutters are being delivered in the afternoon. Thanks for looking.

Oak Fire Surround II

2011-01-30T15:08:00.000Z

Made a start on gluing some of the component part's for this fire surround yesterday, the first of which is the 65mm thick Mantle. I am using the domino for this, as I don't think biscuit's penetrate deep enough for such a thick piece of timber. I'm using 8x50 dom's for this, with a row at the top and bottom for strength and good alignment.

This joint is then glued using polyurethane, and my biggest and strongest T-bar cramp's.

These two always keep a close eye on me when I'm gluing up.

I'm Making the Mantle over size because the ends are being moulded on the spindle, and the breakout can be cut away if the backing board fails. This is just a precaution and will not happen, hopefully.

The next components that needed gluing were the fire surround uprights, I'm using rift sawn for this cut at 80mm in width, for stability, I have book-matched them for appearance and this has an added bonus of stability to. These are going right next to a wood-burner so I'm trying to minimise timber movement as much as I can.

Another component glued up, I use alternative cramps for an even pressure, and I have also dominoed these joints also.

Came out nice and flat, with no light showing through. I hope it stays like this in situ.

Next I made a mdf pattern for the curved bottom rail, and routed this to shape. If you look on the ends of this rail, you can see the small nib I have left for a cramping block, this end is very fragile, and the nib also prevents this from breaking(hopefully).

Here is an over view of how it will look when put together, this also helps me work out the size of the top rail. I have left the uprights over width at the moment, these will be tapered tomorrow on a jig I haven't as yet made.

Ordered the veneer at 12 o'clock on Friday, and it was delivered sometime on Saturday morning. I bought this from Nantwich Veneers, a very quick service I must say, and very well packaged.

First thing I do when I get a pack of veneer, is to mark the the sides so they are in sequence, I use a triangle for this to minimise mistakes.

As you can see the veneer is lovely(well in my eyes), and should blend with the oak well without a complete contrast between the two timbers(something I wanted two avoid).

I selected the first two leaves of veneer for flattening, for this I just wipe a fairly wet rag with clean water over both sides of veneer, lay on a plastic bag, then place a plastic bag between these two also, then use my state of the art platen press.

I should be able to press and glue these panels up tomorrow, ready for assembly. Thanks for looking.

Another Saw Mill

2011-01-26T17:17:00.000Z

Spent some of the afternoon today, looking at another saw mill that is only 9 miles from my shop. We are sadly lacking sawmills/timber yards in Norfolk, so as soon as someone tells me about one that I haven't heard of(that's 20 mins down the road), I like to make some time to go and visit them.
   The name of this saw mill is Richardson's sawmill and it's run by two brothers called Kenny and Mervyn, Kennys son Neil looked after me today, and showed me round. It is situated just outside North Walsham on the Bacton Rd, it's tucked away a bit and there is only one sign on the main road, but it's easy to find.

I was recommended to go there by my new turner Johnny Taylor when I dropped off the split turnings, for the oak and madrone fire surround. First impressions were not good, the yard is basically a bog with about 3" of mud everywhere(so take some Wellington boots if it's been raining).
   However if you can get over this small problem, there is an Aladdin's cave of native air dried timber, Oak, Elm, Chestnut, Birch, Beech, Sycamore, Walnut, and Yew. Most of this timber is kept in shed's, but there is also some stored outside exposed to the elements. They also have a limited stock of turning blanks of native timber, and they will slab a log for you, for a fee of £4.50 a cubic foot. If you are buying timber for furniture, I would recommend taking a moisture metre with you, just to make sure your timber is at roughly 15% for air dried.
   I can recommend them, but have an open mind to what you are buying with regard to moisture content. If you are prepared to buy the timber and let it acclimatise in your shop, you will have some nice timber. I didn't buy anything today, but will be going back soon to do so. Hope that's helpful.

Oak Fire Surround

2011-01-25T19:05:00.002Z

Received this order last week from the same clients I was doing some site work for. It needs to be done fairly quick, as I have had to take a week off before starting another job. As with most things I make, a trip/call to the timber yard is my first port of call, after doing a Rod and a cutting list.

The timber yard/sawmill I am using today is Sotterly sawmill in Suffolk, it is run by Ben Sutton, and the mill is in full working order. Ben is a very friendly chap, and very helpful too. I normally use John Boddy's in Yorkshire, but because this is a job that needs doing asap I'm using a local yard for speed. I'm glad I made the two and a half hour round trip, as the timber is excellent, and there is lot's to chose from. I was directed around by Ben to some really choice timber, he has most of the common native timbers, Oak, Ash, Elm, Sycamore, Cherry, Chestnut, and Beech. He also kiln dry's most of this native stock. He stocks European timbers also, and had a very nice burr elm pack that I was very tempted to buy(I must resist), but sadly no job with that kind of timber coming up. I can highly recommend Sotterly Sawmill for good quality native timbers, I would give Ben a call to discuss your needs first, as he travels a lot in search of good timber, and might not be in himself. The yard is open from 8 till 1 then 2 till 3.30

As you can see his stock levels are very high, this is one lane of about forty to chose from, I could of looked around for most of the day, but need to get on with this fire surround.

That's 15 cuft back at the workshop, I decided to buy lot's extra(about twelve cube), as stock levels of three and two and a half inch are non-existent at the moment.

Slight problem when I got back, how do you lift this lot on your own, answer, brute strength and ignorance I'm afraid, nearly killed me too.

Mantle detail.

Gun barrel turning.

Here is some of the detail for the middle panel, not that clear from the drawing I'm afraid, but the triangular panel is to be a veneered panel with Golden Madrone as it's face.

It was time to start breaking this timber down into more manageable pieces, this first cut is for the split turning that I'm applying to the front. I would normally use my chainsaw for this, but found it in my dad's shed, and of course it's out of petrol.

The longest length of timber I can deal with in my shop is 12 ft, so these 14 footers have to be broken down thus, it needed to be ripped from both sides, as these boards are 85mm thick, and then cross cut.

These two lengths of 30" are planned, square edged, then thicknessed.

At the top of the turning, the block is to be smaller than the bottom block. I set the planner with a depth of cut of ten millimetres(my gauge reads about 11.5).

I then need to set the stop, which is just a board cramped to the out feed table.

Then it's just a matter of running this through slowly, my planer is an old cast sedgwick, and is easily up to the task.

This is how it looks after processing, there is a lot of breakout, but this will be turned away.

I then need to clean the mating surface's, ready for gluing. My turner is going to do this as I don't have the time, but the process is to glue them together with paper in-between, so they can be easily split after turning. That's it for today, I'm doing some more site work tomorrow, but will be back on this the day after, thank's for looking, if you feel like leaving a comment or two, feel free.

Rosewood and burr Walnut jewellery box II

2011-01-19T21:04:00.000Z

I have managed to get half a day on this today, after finishing my site work early. I really need to get cracking with this box, as it was my wife's birthday yesterday(I did buy her another gift), and would like to surprise her.

Here is my 45 degree shooting board, made about 15yrs ago, and still spot on.

Close up on the 45 degree shooting board.

This is the result, a nice 45.

I am using quarter sawn oak grounds throughout, this panel will become the top.

Dry run of the sides and back.

Detail of the light coloured burr walnut interior.

Ready for the glue up, I have rebated(rabbeted) the bottom of the sides for a veneered panel, this will be covered on the external side with baize. I have mitred the top of the sides to receive the top.

Glue up time, the cramps are there for there weight really, as the masking tape does a very good job.

I didn't get a picture of the veneering of the top, but the veneer I selected is a very attractive burr of unknown timber, looks, feels, and smells like mahogany(I've never seen mahogany burr before however). But I'm puzzled as to what it is, any ideas? I really hope to cut the box in two next week, and make a start on the interior, reminds me I must order the hardware, Thanks for looking.

Rosewood and burr Walnut jewellery box.

2011-01-09T15:11:00.000Z

OK so I know I said it would be traditional, but as usual I'm not that organised. First off I couldn't find the pearl glue, it's in the shop somewhere I know it is. Then I realised I had run out of gas to heat the glue up with, so I need to get this done soonish(wife's birthday). I just don't have the time to run to the suppliers or wait for a delivery, so the box will be done with what's on hand.

I thought I would look for some suitable veneers in my store first, see what look's nice together.

I liked the rosewood for the outside.

I had a look at this burr(madrone?) I had for the inside.

But decided against in the end and went with a simply figured walnut burr. I will be using the Madrone for the top(I think).

This is a close up of the Indian rosewood.

I cleaned all the quarter-sawn oak that I will be using for my grounds.

Followed by a going over with the toothing plane, this helps the veneer and glue stick to my grounds of oak.

Close up of the planes mouth showing the iron.

This is how the finished surface looks, I am toying with the idea of going over my entire bench with this plane, for improved grip(I believe this is how the French treat their benchs).

Noticed a couple of the teeth are broken, I tried to hollow grind them out but the steel is very hard(cast), so this will take a bit longer than I had today.

Indian Rosewood blank for the lippings.

Glued the middle lippings in place before veneering.

I used a PU glue for this

Quick rough up with the toothing plane.

And onto the veneering, I'm using titebond II for this, with an ancient printers press(ideal for small boxes).

Thats the front and back pressed.

Followed by the two ends, I just used some MDF platens for these. That was it for today, will try to get some more done in the evenings this week, gotta do some site work this week so won't get much workshop time.

Thanks for looking.

Busy Bee Today

2011-01-06T19:17:00.000Z

Took a bit of a break from cabinet making today, to pick up my new Bees. Up until recently I was a bee-keeper with two hives to look after, however with the recent cold weather(it got down to -17 here) I lost both hives. So today, I had to go see my friend the bee-keeper, he's going to retire as he lost all his hives bar one in the frosts too, and has generously given me his last hive. These are a nice calm strain of bees, so I'm over the moon.

Here they are all loaded up, ready to go. One hive and 10,000 bees ready to go.

I decided to insulate the hive this time, as a precaution.

It was also time to make up some more frames, these come in kits with the wax in wire already.

You can just make out the wire in this frame.

Hopefully come May I can split this hive and have two again.

Photo Opportunity

It was also a chance to take a photo of the plate rack I made him recently. This is bow fronted in oak and the finish is fumed with Amonia to give it a darker appearance.

Back to cabinet making tomorrow with a little Traditionally veneered Rosewood jewellery box,

Thanks for looking.

Little Chunky Side Tables part deux

2011-01-04T16:26:00.000Z

OK all wrapped up on these today, barring the polish which I will do tomorrow.

Glue up time.

I'm using a Wurth PU adhesive, mainly for speed but also the strength. I have also used the wudcare product too which is also good.

I only apply the glue to the mortice cheeks, as this glue is very messy(as with all PU's), and I don't want to have ton's of cleaning up to do after the glue has set. I have found with all PU's that even though you push the majority down to the bottom of the mortice, If you are careful and plunge the tenon into the mortice twice, you get good coverage on the tenon cheeks. This way there is virtually no cleaning up after, which is something to be avoided at all costs with this type of glue, as it could potentially ruin the finish.

There's me telling you to avoid this at all costs, and what do I do, not but ten minutes later..oh dear.

When you do get PU glue onto your finished surface, the main thing is not to wipe it off at all. I always let it cure fully before even attempting to clean it off, once cured it's a simple matter of scrapping it off with a sharp chisel then planing or sanding. You must make sure it's all off, really take a good gander at the area to make sure you have.

Here is my cramping block arrangement, I do not like the oak coming into contact with any metal as the metal could react with the tannins that are present within the oak and could cause a bluish/black stain to appear. It's also good practice anyway so you don't mark the work. I will be getting round to making up some blocks that fit on to the sash bar, as it's much easier than trying to faff with four blocks when you are at the gluing up stage.

Because these tables are small enough to fit on to my table saw, I can check that the feet are all touching, and there is no rocking. If the piece won't fit on the saw you would need a level floor, and you could use some winding sticks as well.

I am going to be using some oak buttons to attach the tops to the bases, You can route these or, as I did with the other one, use a domino. Just make sure you can fit the domino into you base before you glue it up.

This is the bit I used in my router, a 8mm wing cutter.

That's these two wrapped up and ready for spraying tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.