11 posts tagged “woodworking”
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!
After two solid weeks in my shed making them, I need a break. These are the last of the batch that I made as Christmas gifts. Each one is different, although naturally, there are similarities. (For a fuller explanation of each box, click on the pictures.) All are finished in oil that is burnished into the timber. This produces a high gloss sheen that really shows the beauty of the wood. It's not at all plastic-looking like some polyurethanes.
In previous boxes I've made, I used MDF in the base
These three boxes are the first of about eight I am making for Christmas gifts. There is no specific use behind my designs; I've decided they stand on their own right as artistic creations intended to feature the beauty of the timber from which they are created.
The deep red wood is Australian River Red-gum from old fence posts. This timber used to be the wood-of-choice for this purpose as it is resistant to rot and insect decay. It's a very dense wood and a challenge unless one has very sharp tools.
The yellow wood is Huon Pine, perhaps my favorite Australian timber species. It's also a wood resistant to rot and was logged in the early part of the twentieth century for boat building. It has a beautiful aroma and mills easily. This particular piece of timber is rare in that it features "bird's-eye" speckling throughout. The large black knot-hole has created some spectacular grain making this truly a one-of-a-kind box.
One of the things I like about woodworking, is that there are always new challenges, techniques to master, and skills to learn. Now, although I like this, it doesn't mean that I find the process easy. In fact, sometimes it's plain frustration. But, I suppose it's the steep learning curve that makes is so rewarding once the new becomes familiar.
cut the timber from old recycled Red Gum fence posts. (This is a beautiful timber with a deep red colour, dense grain, and is resistant to rot and insects.) I recently acquired an Incra Ultra Lite router jig. It's about time that I started to push the boundaries and learned to make some of the special joints this device is designed for.
Well, to cut to the chase, after three hours, I had nothing to show for my hard work but mismatched pieces and lots of wood chips. But that's not quite true - I also learned in the process. I learned what not to do. Tomorrow, I will start again, but not from scratch, I now have experience that will prevent me from making the same mistakes. I have used the following as a tag line, and it certainly applies here.
This ended up taking a little longer than first planned. It turns out that I've had pneumonia for the past
few weeks which
sort of slows one down.
The entertainment unit is now completed and being used.
The difference between these pictures and the ones in the previous post is that the components are now properly glued in place. I've applied Danish oil to the
wood, rather than the Wipe-On Poly mentioned below and the two front doors now cover the lower shelves. The figured appearance on the top is referred to as 'chatoyance', from French meaning, "like a cat's eye". As you change your viewing position, the light and dark bands of colour change places.
Two weeks later, my hand has healed and I'm back to woodworking. This time, I'm making a large box – well it's not really a box, it's an entertainment unit. The timber is Tasmanian Blackwood – a beautiful hardwood readily available here in Australia. I've read somewhere that making furniture is like making large boxes. I suppose there is some truth in this.
The picture shown here is a WIP shot (Work-In-Progress). All of the cutting and joinery is complete. The parts are dry-fitted (not glued). This is the stage where you discover those minor adjustments that need to be made. The two lower shelves will be covered by doors (yet to be made) that will conceal the stored contents. The shelf below the top surface will be left open. This is where the various digital boxes go, so this shelf has no door that would interfere with the remote controls. The cabling will be fed down into the concealed area below and out through a hole in the back panel (not shown). The next step is to disassemble the parts and do some sanding. If I wait until after the glue-up, some of the surfaces will be too hard to reach. Finally, I will apply the finish which will likely be a wipe-on poly.
Woodworking can be fun, but you'd better be careful. Don't hold the workpiece with
one hand and with a chisel in the other,cut toward it. I knew about this, but now I know it firsthand, sort-of-speak. Six stitches later and four hours in the hospital emergency ward will not be easy to forget.
Tony Lydgate has been an inspiration in my pursuit of artistic expression
through woodworking. (See my version of Tony's Box on Stilts) His excellently illustrated books are filled with beautiful creations in timber. Some of the work he has designed and made himself, others are collections of small boxes from the completely practical to the absolutely bazaar; works done by artistic woodworkers from around the world.
However, one of the most complete books on
box making is Taunton Press' Complete Illustrated Guide to Box making
by Doug Stowe.
Anyone interested in pursuing box making would not go wrong purchasing these fine books. And even if you only want to learn more about this wonderful hobby, they make good reading.
Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?
My wife has been at me to rebuild some old dinning chairs that she picked up in a garage sale. I quickly did two, because they were structurally sound. But I put off the last one because it was coming apart and was missing one front leg.
Making the leg was easy enough; I've got a fully equipped woodworking shop. My concern was re-gluing. Chairs are made with hide glue in the joints. The beauty of this glue is that it can be reactivated, cleaned out and re-glued. Modern glue technology doesn't allow this. In fact today's glue cures stronger than the wood it joins, so rather than the glue joint failing the timber fails.
I finally got around to buying a glue pot and using hide glue to repair the chair. I'm happy now and she is delighted.
Woodworking is one of my passions. And making small boxes is what I enjoy making most. It has been said that most woodworking is making boxes. If you think about it, a chest of drawers is a box, as is a bedside table, a side-board, a china cabinet, even perhaps a coffee table. So when I make small boxes, I am encountering most, if not all, the challenges I would face in making larger furniture items.
The major difference is one of scale. In fact, it could be argued that making a small box is the pursuit of perfection. Not that I've achieved this, but a minor error is much more noticeable in a small wooden box than the same error would be in a larger furniture piece. Additionally, there are two other obvious advantages in working small boxes, because the scale is smaller, so is the 'consumption' and cost of timber. Unfortunately, making items from timber results in the destruction on up to 2/3rds of the original stock. This is so because of end cuts, sawdust, mistakes, etc., etc. Consequently, my cost and wastage is minimised. I can make maybe 20 small boxes from the same material required to make a small end-table, for example.
You might argue that an end-table is useful, whereas a small wooden box may not be. Well, I guess the answer to that is your definition of 'useful'. Things like jewellery boxes, or boxes to hold important documents, humidors, are just a few examples of boxes that have a definite application, or use. But I would take my argument further. Does a decorative vase, or a beautifully painted landscape have a 'use'? In one sense - no. But, of course their value is intrinsic. Their use is to exist for their own sake adding to the beauty of life and enriching us as a result.
