Speaking as someone who has read too many woodworking books, there are a few archetypes: the project book (“Birdhouse Bonanza”), the tool book (“Router Rodeo!”) and the black-turtleneck-and-beret books on why me make things (“My Mortise is Deeper than My Soul”). Nancy Hiller’s new book “English Arts & Crafts Furniture” is none of these books. […] via Nancy Hiller’s ‘English Arts & Crafts Furniture’ Book — Lost Art Press
This is a family restoration the piece in question belonged to my wife's grandmother. I twas most likely a dressing table or a washstand. There is evidence on the top that something was screwed to it in the past. Grandma used it as a kitchen table (which is what I will refer to it as) and bench which means the top took a beating. Other than that the piece was in reasonably good condition. There were no manufacturer's marks which makes dating the piece difficult. Im no expert but it looks Edwardian to me so it must be over 100 years old. Kitchen table The kitchen table was finished with shellac so I washed it with methylated spirits and steel wool. The top was the most damaged and I used a cabinet scraper to remove most os the finish. This exposed the old screw holes so I ended up sandins the whole top. Sanding removed some water damage but left the timber looking brand new. I didn't touch the edges other than a light sand. I needed to fill some old screw holes and decided to use wooden plugs. The timber was difficult to identify. In the end I used some red pine as the grain and colour were close to the original. After more sanding I stained the top with a mahogany stain to bring it closer to the rest of the kitchen table. I applied several coats of shellac to the top and then followed up with three coats to the entire piece. I sanded lightly between coats leaving the final coat. After a week or so I applied beeswax which brought a nice finish. The only other challenge were two of [...]
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An old school chair probably form an infant school. I think infant schools are now called junior primary schools. Our Grand Daughter can't even walk yet so I got in early and renovated the chair. Not much to it really a bit of sanding some spray paint and some off cuts of plywood. I shaped the seat with a slight taper front to back and a similar idea on the back rest. Because we are so safety conscious and that hardware is cheaper i used dome nuts on the back. This way little fingers won't be able to fiddle the nuts off the bolts. I added some Loctite threadlocker just to make extra sure I replaced the the stoppers at the end of the legs as well. The new chair stoppers are rubberised so the chaori cannot be pushed about easily.
On several nights every week our beloved dog Bunny who sleeps outside comes down the side of house and barks at God knows what. This happens around 3am she is most likely saving us from cats. I have been blocking her access to the side of the house with an assortment of chairs and gas bottles. This is how a small welding project came into being. I decided to make a gate from bits of scrap steel and mesh lying about from old projects. All I have had to buy is a pair of hinges a D bolt to close it and some paint. Only took a couple of hours to put it together. I used my favourite ALDI inverter welder. It's great for welding light and portable. So hopefully the dog will be out of ear reach at 3am.
Following on from my last post I'm adding some more photos directly from Google photos. I am still adding more planes to my wall. I have far too many handplanes but sadly I like them. Recently, well actually today I have been reorganising my tool wall to make room for more planes. Still have a couple to go .....
Just adding some photos directly from Google photos. I chanced on this feature when looking to see how I could add my google photos more easily to blogs. The article on venturebeat.com mentioned that worpress.com had added a feature allowing direct import from google photos. I have two self hosted blogs and discovered that if I enabled the wordpress.com toolbar vis jetpack I could import photos directly. It works
Originally posted on Making Things Work: Edouard Manet, “Dejeuner sur l’herbe”* A recent search of kitchens on the internet turned up several articles on gourmet outdoor kitchens. These articles described in glowing terms a range of “necessities” for outside entertaining. Among these objects appeared the predictable favorites—comfortable seating, easy-to-clean tables, umbrellas for shade. But there… via Do You Really Need That Gourmet Outdoor Kitchen? — Lost Art Press
Well after years it finally happened I got to feel the full force of kickback on my table saw. The reason is my riving knife. Rather the absence of a riving knife I took it off while preparing turning blanks. The result was a lump of red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) about 300mm long and 75mm square. It hit me straight in the sternum and it hurt! Luckily I didnt break anything and only had a small reddened area with a minor cut to show for the indignation. I have never given riving knives much thought. I took it off as the cuts were less than the height of the blade. In order to make a full cut the timber had to be flipped over. I had this idea fixed in my head that the riving knife should sit higher than the top of the blade which makes bling cuts impossible. What I mean by a blind cut is that the timber is thicker than the full height of the blade. I have watched many YouTube (and I have forgotten who made the video) videos where a blind cut has been made and not thought about how this was achieved. This was until I watched a video where someone was talking about setting up a table saw, I nearly didn't watch this as it seemed too basic. There is was set the height of the riving knife just below the height of the blade. Now I can blind cut to my heart's content and reduce the risk of another piece of timber flying off the table.
I bought these three planes from an online site the sale included three planes at $30 so that's $10 each. I really wanted the No 7 so the two No4 planes were a bonus. The No4 planes are a Stanley /Bailey made in Australia and an English made Record. All are rusty and dirty but otherwise seem to be in basically good condition. The No4 Stanley has a crack in the tote or handle. The No7 has a plastic tote but the forward handle is timber so I will make another. I have bought these to use rather restore and stick them in a cupboard. I found some websites that were helpful and interesting Hans Brunner Tools has lots of information about the Bailey / Stanley handplanes. I also came across a site dedicated to Record Hand Tools which is full of useful information about theses tools. Additionally there is this video from Jay Bates shows how he tackles a hand plane restoration. Finally if you want to make your own tote there is a template available from Lee Valley tools which includes a diagram and instructions.