A Box, A Bed and A Rack

Last July I completed a Pochade Box for my water colour paints. Last evening I modified the box for this summer's painting course, in which I need pencil crayons and pastels instead of paint.

I

  The divisions inside the box were not suitable so...

I removed one of the dividers.  Also I decided that I wanted a handle on the box so 

 I added one.  Since the box is wood and I made it myself it was no big deal to make changes.  I know how the box is put together and what it is made from, all wood, no M.D.F. I made the handle by braiding three strands of heavy string together and then wrapping it with two more layers of string to make comfortable to hold yet totally squash-able.  Once I tied the strings together I sealed the knots with Super Glue and shazam a comfortable handle.

  Another project that was finished this week was a Bunnie Bed.  I carefully cut, from quality cedar a 10 by 18 bed for one of Clara's stuffed toys. On Monday we glued and clamped the bed together and on Wednesday day she admired the finished product, commented on how smooooooth the wood felt and then painted it multi-colours.  All that nice grain is gone.  I can't really expect a seven year old to have a love of wood and admiration of grain patterns.

  

The pink and yellow didn't show up very well in this picture.  However, the Bunny likes her new bed, and Opa hits another home run. 

  I still prefer cedar to 'pine'. The quality of the wood is higher for cedar, its grain is nicer and it is very light, perfect this sort of project.

  The last project is a rack for my pull cut saws.  A week ago I was given a very nice gift in the form of two high quality pull cut (Japanese Style) saws.  I made a rack to hold my two wonderful new saws and my old stand by plywood cutting saw.

 I made the rack from left overs in the shop.  The backing board is part of an old dresser I salvaged a while ago. It is veneer on real wood. The other pieces are soft wood that I glued onto the backing board and then embedded rare earth magnets to hold the saw blades.  Also I glued a small shelf onto the bottom of the rack, because I always over engineer my projects.  Also because I don't want my really nice saws to ever fall on the floor.

  The rack is screwed to the front of my tool cabinet.  On the inside are other small saws, so there is order coming into the chaos of my shop.  Those new saws ( red handled) are very fine tools, they cut with ease and grace and I promise to try and keep them away from hidden screws and nails.  

  If anyone is looking for a custom sized Pochade Box, contact me through the comments section and we can talk price.

cheers, ianw