Barton’s Boxes & other stuff

I had a little free time recently, so went into my shop to tidy it up. As I did so, I picked up a Mallet that I purchased a few years ago from Lee Valley. I have always liked the shape and feel of this mallet and thought as I held it yesterday that it would make a nice model for one turned in wood.

So distracted from the task at hand, I scrounged through my scrap-bin and found some appropriate wood for the task. Two hours latter, I came up with this. It’s well balanced with a heavy head making the mallet feel good in the hand. I applied a coat of Tung Oil, but I don’t intend to add any finish beyond that.

The head is from Red Ironbark a heavy dense wood; Eucalyptus fibrosa ( F. Muell. ), Red Ironbark or Broad-leaved Red Ironbark, is a type of Ironbark tree found in Australia, mainly in Queensland and New South Wales. This plant is in family Myrtaceae.

The tree has deeply furrowed dark gray bark. It grows to a height of about 30 meters.

Flowers are creamy white. Leaves are dark green and broader than other ironbarks. The dense, strong wood is valued for lumber. The sap, locally called “kino,” was used by natives to keep fish lines from fraying and by the early settlers for ink.

The handle is Huon Pine, or species Lagarostrobos franklinii which is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia.

Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec was an 18th century French navigator. It is a slow growing, but long-lived tree; some living specimens of this tree are in excess of 2000 years in age. One particular stand of trees reputed to be in excess of 10,500 years in age was recently found in North Western Tasmania on Mount Read.

The wood was highly prized for its golden yellow colour, fine grain and natural oils that resisted rotting. It is now available in small quantities from reclaimed lumber that was logged prior to the middle of the last century, or trees that have fallen naturally.

Oh, I still have a shop to clean up.

I decided that I would make a Bowsaw, something I’d been wanting to make for some time.

Mine uses the brass pins from Gramercy Tools. I also followed the plans available as a free download on this site.

The wood is Australian Blackwood. The finish is Tung Oil.

The mortise and tenon joinery has rounded shoulders to enable the cross piece to pivot when tension is applied.

I spoke with my brother in Texas this morning, and he reminded me that it's bee some time since I posted to this blog

site.

I've been busy creating our church website at a sister facility TypePad. I've provide a link to it if you are interested.

My last woodworking project was turning small bud vases to give to friends as Christmas presents. I made about twelve in total, but here are three of them. I've used a variety of Australian woods so each one is a little different.

This box was made at the request of a friend. Its

dimensions were dictated by the location in which she plans to place it.
I believe that the red wood is Queensland Lacy Oak. The box trim is Victorian Ash and the dividers are American Maple.

Some friends of ours are getting married very soon. After giving it a lot of thought, I decided that I would make a small box for them as a wedding gift.
My reason for doing so is that she is from Australia and he is from Texas. They met when his company posted him in Melbourne, Australia. So I thought that a box made of unique Australian wood, Huon Pine and Australian Blackbutt.
The lid and base is the Huon and the sides of the box are from Blackbutt. Huon is no longer logged in Australia and is a protected species. The only wood of this type available is from logging done up to the sixties. The Blackbutt is from a demolished warehouse built in Brisbane circa 1900. It's my home that when they eventually settle in Texas, that this small wooden box will remind them of happy days in Australia.

Whenever I finish a project that my wife has been patiently waiting a long time for me to get done, I jokingly say, "There, done! See, all you had to do was ask me." She normally rolls her eyes in response. 
I've discovered something about myself that has taken a long time to admit. When it comes to a project that I am not particularly excited to do, I develop a mental block toward it. I mean by this that I invent reasons and excuses why I don't get started. It's too hard for me, or, I don't know how to do it, or, I don't have the skills, or, there are many other tasks that are a priority, or, or,.... Well, you get the idea. 
So July has been a good month for me. 
I finished one of these long delayed projects, repairing a door frame and the flooring beneath it, leading into my office. Yes, for the past five years, since the day we first moved into our current home I have been stepping over this eye-sore, rationalising why I couldn't fix it. It turned out not to be that hard once I got started.
And I finally got back to repair an error I made when making my Rocking

Chair. This was much more challenging, and still isn't finished. But I have made significant progress. A few more hours work and I'll be there.
Finally, I also designed and entered a small wooden box into the LumberJocks Summer '07 Challenge. The category I entered was the joinery section. The peculiar rules of this category required that any entry had to feature 'glueless' joinery without the aid of mechanical fasteners. In other words, the project had to hold together on the design and construction of its joints. You can read more about this challenge here.  It placed third in the joinery section of the competition.

It had been a year and a half since I was in Vancouver to

visit my family. In July, I visited my two grandchildren who have grown up to be wonderful children. It was a joy to renew my bonds with them. I especially enjoyed my week of baby-sitting whilst my daughter, Kristine was on vacation.
My only regret is that I live so far away from them.

I keep finding myself returning to Box Making. It seems to satisfy

my need to create things of beauty made from timber.

My work shop is small, so making small wooden boxes 'fits' is a practical utilization of the available space. Also, since I give most of my work away to friends and family members, the material cost is reasonable.

Box making involves most of the challenges of making larger pieces of fine furniture. But because the scale is small, there is the tendency to inspect the workmanship more closely. When is the last time you picked up a table and looked underneath? Likely never. But it seems that people just can't resist doing this with a small box. So it is incumbent upon a box make to make each box as close to perfect as possible.

These two aren't there yet, but I'm happy with them.

There has always been a friendly rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney residents.
It was easy for me to avoid buying into this rivalry. I didn't come to Australia until my middle years, so I can take a fairly unbiased view of things and appreciate the differences and benefits offered by both cities.
Last week, Barbara and I drove up to Sydney with my cousin and her husband who were visiting us from Canada.
We had a lovely time and enjoyed some really nice weather. Here are a few pictures that I took when there.

Here's a simple gift idea I saw some time ago.

It's made of Huon Pine, my favorite Aussie wood. These make a nice hostess gift - I find that people usually appreciate receiving something that you've made rather than the proverbial bottle of wine that soon disappears and is forgotten.

It's been pointed out to me that there is something perverse about a hand with only four fingers - especially from a woodworker - YIKES!