Little bit of art, little bit of function

I decided that I was fed-up with not having somewhere to dump my crap upon entering the bunkhaus. I`m sure guests were feeling the same. This way one can immediately purge pockets: cell phone; wallet; hat; coat; keys; sunglasses; emergency bag of cherrios; all that crap. I chose the woods to match the hall stool I made last year (for that second matter of business upon entering, taking off shoes), Arbutus slab with Walnut cubbies. The cubbies are suspended from the flat bar. Not sure if the metalwork is Zulu shield inspired or canoe inspired...but when you put flat bar under tension it becomes very rigid/structural. I also fab`d a type of french cleat out of flat bar to hang it on the wall, worked well. I've been using this thing for a couple weeks now & it's a real game changer.

That bar cabinet was the first thing I ever made, when I knew nothing. I still know nothing, but back then I knew absolutely nothing. at least the skills have improved a little over the years.

Two smokin' barrels

Here's the frame. Now I just need to go speak to a man about some saddle leather.

Slow but Steady

Work on Chair #1 progresses in between bathroom reno madness. Some in-progress pics: a big load on the crescent; joinery cut & fit; bent lamination.  Time to shape parts & start some pre-finishing & glue-ups.

Also a note about the mortiser set-up to avoid getting tangled up with double mortises (with floating tenons): spacer milled to correct thickness, so no need to adjust the table height which keeps the double mortise consistent; tape on all pieces to mark which side up, again so the double mortise is consistent accross pieces; "little buddies", one to set the angle of the workpiece, another to set the depth of cut stop on the table.

...and so it begins...

I'm wondering if I can squeeze one more into 2011. I've been wanting to take my first run at a chair for some time. A Safari chair might be the easiest place to start, basic frame, saddle leather for the seat & backrest. Pretty cool chairs but never seen one with decent lower back support, so perhaps there's room for improvement. Also got talking to a local artist who does some great work with leather...

So this all got me thinking. Using Stool #1 as the foundation, I've done a brutally rough mock-up, some full scale drawings, made a couple templates, and started laying out cuts on a couple slabs of Elm that have been sitting patiently in the shop. For the curved back legs I need to hit rift grain off the bat, so did some scouting around with the block plane, & it looks promising.

Here we go...

The Upgrade

from this:

to this:

Sometimes crossing one of those little things off the 'to do' list can feel like a giant leap forward. oh yeah - no sandpaper was used in building the sandpaper storage cabinet, hand planes only - the sandpaper is just for backup Robert. It's just for backup.

Table #3

It pained me to delve back into rustic. but I guess sometimes it's nice to keep the planks close to the tree without too much interference. I made this for a buddy who wanted something really rustic. although I gave it a little refinement & dressed it up with hand planed surfaces. also nice to work with slabs Dan & I harvested. 'Death Elm' for the table top & 'Shaughnessy Elm' for the legs.

Table #3 WIP

My little soldiers. My dad recently sent me the smoother & jointer. I stripped them down, tuned them up & they're both performers. There's a great article on FWW on flattening the sole, frog, chipbreaker, lever cap etc etc. The smoother is an old UK Stanley; proving to be an absolute gem. The 22" jointer, also made in England is a Record; wonderful to finally have a long plane in the regiment (especially for those workbench flattening sessions). According to some guy's website who's seriously into Record planes, I dated this big guy to 1931-1939 pre WW2! My dad reckons his 'Uncle Wolfie' gave it to him when he started his apprenticeship.

Cleaned up the slab top with the hand planes following the router. I left the bottom rough just wire brushed, hence the wedges. nice to see the chainsaw mark patina; a reminder of the blood sweat & tears milling & hauling & watching these things dry.

Geez I gotta build that F clamp rack.