Over the ten years that I have written this blog I have several times extolled the virtues of wood. It is my belief that wood is beautiful and rewarding to work with either hand tools or power tools. If you are a reader of this blog you probably agree with me on those points.
A while ago my wife collected several bushels of wind fall fire wood for craft projects. Before Christmas she cut a bunch of wood slices and made then into a small Christmas trees .
I have used some of the wood for small turning projects and recently for a table ornament.
We had a larger version of the flower vase on the table last season. This version is smaller and more attractive, I think. It is used to hold individual flower stems. We have a 'wild' area behind our home, so Eva keeps this filled with seasonal wild flowers. I spent extra time sanding so that the grain and worm holes are highlighted. I hand sanded to 400 grit to get the full effect. Then I finished it with three coats of shellac.
The other project was renewing the mat at our front door. In 2015 I made a outdoor mat from oak. This is only the second time that I have brought the mat into the shop for cosmetic treatment.
After I wire brushed the wood clear of dust and leaves I sanded it with my random orbital sander, only to 120 grit, its an out door mat after all. All the wood remains solid but I replaced the screws holding the edges on as the current ones were rusting.
You can see that liberal coat of Thompson's Water Seal improves the look and protects the wood.
The weather blows in on this door year round, the oak is quite weather resistant, without much effort on my part.
Why wood? It is just a superior building and craft material, what can I say.
cheers ianw
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