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.

Flattening jig

I'm making a slab hall table & thought I'd try using the Offerman router jig on FWW. Flattening a surface too wide for the jointer or planer comes up now & then. This method does an excellent job flattening a surface. but I need to figure out some form of dust collection, it sprays dust everywhere, leaving a full shop cleanup in it's wake.

Picnic Table

The picnic table. 8 footer. ready for a serious apres-ski picnic party. and I think it makes my deck look bigger.

Picnic Table WIP

Somebody said aluminum was difficult to weld. but they were lying. it's EXTREMELY difficult. My welds range from very ugly to reasonably poor. but definitely improving. This is an aluminum & cedar table & benches that i'd designed ages ago with my skills being the stumbling block. The aluminum has been cut & sitting in the shop for over a year (throughout the shop reno) & and whenever I'd see it or have to move it (yet again) I would hang my head in shame & promise myself to do better. nice to finally have it on the bench.

Cubby shelf

Here's a couple pics of a small wall mounted shelf I made as a gift for a buddy. thought he might find a use for it at his fly tying bench. Catalpa (that dan may recognise) & black walnut.

Stool #2

Here's some pics of a slat stool that I managed to build amoungst the summer distractions.