I always like to see my projects installed. Underneath this three sided black table is a hatch cover to a sump pump, but you would never know it. For that matter you wouldn't know that this is a funny three legged table. The client is happy and so am I.
Now I am onto making a knelling chair for my friend David.
David is quite a talented composer who is spending too much time sitting at his computer and hopes this alternative style chair will be a good for his back. He is helping me make his chair from a plan that he found on the net.
We cut out the pieces from one of the church pews that I got a couple of weeks ago.
The oak pew sliced up nicely, all that remains is to buy (or make) some large dowelling and various small nuts and bolts. This is one of those projects that will take as long to sand and finish as to build now.
Speaking of chairs.
There is another chair from my Mother's house. I don't remember how long ago my parents bought those chairs,(25-30 years ago) they have lasted well and only required a little bit of attention over all those years. We are heavy folk and seldom miss a sit down meal so those chairs have lived a hard life. I love wood and those chairs are a solid example of why. Some glue and clamping and the chair is a sturdy as ever, you can work with wood in a way that is satisfying and special.
Again I had to take some time out to clean up and put away tools, cutting up the oak pew meant I needed slightly more room to move. Also I have been seriously reconsidering my wood 'addiction'. My friend Ron pronounced me a 'wood junkie' several years ago when he encountered my shop in it natural state. So I have sent myself the goal of cutting up and throwing away at least 10 quarts of wood a week. My fire place owning friends don't need anymore wood and so I am going to send 10 quarts per week to composting/recycling. Ten quarts happens to be the size of container I have chosen to fill each week no other reason. For years I have kept and used off cuts and left overs. There are dozens of projects that I have done from the scrap bin, some nicer than others. I have also kept dozens of little bits to turn on the lathe. (that's never really happened in-spite of my best intentions). While it is deeply satisfying to make something from nothing but...floundering and tripping over bins and boxes of wood scraps has lost its allure. Gradually I am going to reduce my addiction and improve my work space. (pictures to follow.)
Anyway as I was culling some scraps I found two projects that I'd begun a while ago. I found an olive tray project from an oak barrel stave and a spoon. Both of these things had been started with my hatchet, and forgotten. It seemed like a good time to take them in hand.
The olive tray is the last of several I've made over the years. The first few trays I began by cutting and shaping the staves on my band saw and then using an angle grinder and power sanders to finish. The results were acceptable, the trays were popular gifts. Oak barrel staves are really nice wood.
I'd switched to hand tools for spoons last summer and this time I decided to work the oak stave with hand tools too. You can see my fabulous hatchet that I bought in Sweden just down the road from the foundry that forged it. It is a Wetterings #106 and a work of tool art. Their forge is twenty eight kilometres away from my kids house in Sweden I think I need go for a visit the next time I am in Sweden.
Scattered about on the bench are chisels, planes, and rasps. The only high quality tools of the bunch are the hatchet and the rasp. The chisels are a mixed bag, some good quality
( Two Cherries) gauges but others are no name for a wood show. The hand planes are quite ordinary too. Most workshop projects don't need tonnes of expensive equipment to complete.
There are speciality vises that will hold none parallel items but for my purposes I get along with an ordinary vise and wedges. I cut out four wedges with different angles ages ago and when I make one for a particular situation I save if for later use.
The other thing I'm working on is another spoon.
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| basic shape formed with gouges and chisels |
By the time I am finished with scrapers and rasps there will be little need for sand paper. I like making spoons/spatulas with hand tools, this way there is almost no dust and no noise.
I will use a draw knife to shape the handle.
I will share the results later in the week.
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