I haven’t posted for a long time so I thought I’d better remedy that. I have been away on holiday for a couple of weeks (no prize guessing where if you look at my twitter feed), and since I have been back I have been working on the boat bookcase.
A few weeks ago, I received a commission to build a small bookcase in the shape of a boat. Knowing that this would involve steam bending, which I have never done before, I made no promises, save that I would give it a try. I made a start last week. Continue reading “Boat Bookcase #1: Full steam ahead!”
As I mentioned in my last post, I wasn’t entirely happy with the dovetails on the auger box. I haven’t had a great deal of experience of hand cutting dovetails, but still, it felt as if I was going backwards. The complimentary comments I received on that post are much appreciated and they went some way to cheering me up, but I decided to have a crack at some more dovetails to prove to myself that I could make a decent job of them. Continue reading “Sandpaper caddy”
After a great deal of thought into the design of my auger box, I was faced with a choice between a flat box, rather like the one I built to house my mortice chisels, and a tall box which would store the augers in an upright position. Since the flat box was something I had already built, and since it would need several spring clips (30+) to hold the augers in position, I decided on the tall box. The design I came up with was a dovetailed box with a lid cut at an angle, the lower half of the box being solid with a series of holes to take the augers. I wanted to keep the weight down so I decided to use balsa for the majority of the solid core, topped with a panel of the same material as the box itself, which in this case is chestnut. Continue reading “Auger box”
I went to a car boot sale the other day, and I bought myself a lovely handbag. Goatgirl was a little disconcerted when she found out – she thought that perhaps I was trying to tell her something.
A few months ago, I posted about a mallet I had made from a chunk of apple wood donated to me by a friend. Well, since then the head has unfortunately developed a couple of rather large radial shakes. I am wondering if perhaps it wasn’t dried out enough before I shaped it, but there’s nothing to be done about it now. I had toyed with the idea of using some kind of epoxy to fill in the shakes but I’m not sure how useful this would be. The shakes don’t seem to be getting any bigger and the head seems to be holding together in spite of them. I’m not sure if I really need to do anything – perhaps it is just cosmetic. I’d welcome some advice if any of you have experienced this kind of thing. Continue reading “A backup mallet”
With all the parts now essentially completed it was time to sand them down ready for pre-finishing. On a project like this it is far easier to finish the components before final assembly. The finish I used for this project was a homemade oil/varnish concoction. Taking advice from various online sources I mixed boiled linseed oil, polyurethane varnish and white spirit (mineral spirits in the US) in equal parts. Continue reading “The Funeral Chair Part Two – Finish and Glue Up”
A few weeks ago I found myself in need of a project that might take my woodworking to the next level. Up until now I have tackled very simple projects while I find my feet in the world of hand tool woodworking. I didn’t want to run before I could walk, but I wanted something that was a little more complicated than the small dovetailed boxes I have been pottering about with recently. Tom Fidgen’s book An Unplugged Life provided an ideal suggestion in the form of The Funeral Chair. As I mentioned in my last post, I am sure that seasoned woodworkers would find this project to be quite simple, but bear in mind that I am a noob. Continue reading “The Funeral Chair Part One – Dimensioning and Joinery”
Last year, for dad’s day, my kids very kindly got me a set of Narex bench chisels. Now, I know that they are not high-end chisels, and many a woodworker would probably scoff at them because they aren’t Lie-Nielson or Ashley Isles and didn’t cost the equivalent of the GNP of Ecuador, but for my needs they are perfect. They fit my hands well, they are nicely balanced and they hold an edge well. Also, as a bonus, they came in a nice little box which protects them from surface rust. Continue reading “Yet another box”
When I built my Sawyer’s Bench recently, I got hold of some Miller Dowels. These are special stepped dowels with annular grooves to help displace excess glue. Because they are stepped, there is less friction when pushing them home, but once they are pushed in tight there is plenty of friction for a strong joint. Continue reading “Another Dovetail Box”
goatboys woodshop 
