The glue-up for this project was not without its difficulties. I am reminded of a post a made a while back documenting the glue up for my workbench. On that occasion I nearly haemorrhaged blood from my eyes with the struggle to save the project. This wasn’t quite as bad as that, but it was a real struggle to reproduce the results of the dry-fit whilst fighting against the open time of the glue, a struggle that saw me pounding with a mallet; threatening the wood with violence; swearing like a drunken teenager; and cursing the day I ever took up woodworking. I finally collapsed in a heap of regret, embarrassment, relief and joy. “Never let the wood tell you, ‘no’!” Continue reading “Architect’s Chair #4”
Tool Tote #3: The big finish
The glue up for this project was a long drawn out process. I had to break out all my clamps, even the homemade ones. The first glue up was the main tool box and the tray. Continue reading “Tool Tote #3: The big finish”
Workbench #6: Project shelved
Hello fellows. I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, touring around France with the family, but I’m back now and ready to continue with the saga of the workbench build. When I last posted, I had got to the point in the story where the bench itself was basically finished, but not particularly functional. The next step was to add a shelf under the bench to store tools etc. during a project. Continue reading “Workbench #6: Project shelved”
Workbench #5: Goatboy’s kitchen
This is a bit of a sidetrack from the Workbench Project but fret not; it will bring us back on topic before this post is done. Continue reading “Workbench #5: Goatboy’s kitchen”
A backup mallet
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”
The Funeral Chair Part Two – Finish and Glue Up
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”