Monday morning!

Saturday morning

Can you tell what it is yet?!

After such a long time with nothing I thought I'd post a "story so far!" I have finished a shelf until for a friend, but forgot to take photos. O will try and get some next time I am over there. I have had a mental block as far as getting going on boxes, so I have decided to have a play with the new router fence. So far I have clocked up a few hours in there today and this is the result. Hopefully if I remember to keep you posted you will see the story unfold each day!

The Bench is finished!!

The bench (so far!)

I thought I would show some photos of how the bench is starting to look. It has been a long time since posting. I am hoping to get it finished very soon! I have rested some thin strips of wood in the seat position, but that doesn't mean that will be what I choose to use in the end. There are a few of the back rests missing, obviously, but while I was taking photos of the loom I thought I'd take some of the bench!

The loom!

This picture above is of a traditional braid loom. I was asked to make a copy of it, but leaving out some to the modern items such as the wooden screw and nut arrangements that hold the pegs in. I was asked to make it out of oak, the original was made out of pine. Traditionally it is more than likely that they wood have been made from oak. The reason why there are screws and nuts is because that makes life easier!! There were some interesting challenges in making this and I have learnt a huge amount and taken my skills and workshop onto a new level through this! The pegs are push fit tight into the holes, close tolerances in wood are not easy to achieve! The adjustable peg is held firm with a wedge shaped peg through a hole in the back. As you can see the adjustable peg is a lot larger than the original, this is to give it a good purchase on the frame once the wedge is pushed home.

Boxes at the Victoria and Albert museum

We Popped into the Victoria and Albert museum after visiting the natural History Museum. What a treat!! In nearly every hall there were great examples of boxes from around the world and history. Here is a few! I took over a hundred photos! Of course the conditions for photography were not the best, but at lest these have come out reasonably well! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, they have given me a lot of ideas and inspirations!

The Loom!

The loom is a medieval braid loom! It was used by the medievals for making braids. They used braids instead of buttons to tie shirts together and in their hair and all sorts.

The problem has been that the pegs need to fit tightly, but not too tightly into the upright supports. On the original I had to copy, they were held on with a wooden nut that was threaded at the back. To give it more authenticity I can't repeat that! I just need something that will hold the peg square while it is under tension with the threads on and pulled tight. I want to use a simple peg in a hole with a snug fit approach! Easier said that done, but I am getting there!

Update on changes!

I have been quiet on here for far too long! I have two outstanding commissions and one new one. The outstanding one's are a garden bench and a loom. The loom has been proving to be a real challenge, but I have managed to work out at least one half way decent solution and one solution that is finally achieving what I wanted from the beginning.

This solution has meant building a jig for my lathe that houses my router. This will enable me to turn the wood on the lathe with machine accuracy. Apologies to any purists who want all hand made!! Unfortunately, I haven't got the life long apprenticeship to call on, so need to use anything I can to achieve the results I want!! With one quick play with the new jig I was able to achieve something that I hadn't managed in several attempts by hand. The jig needs refining but it is working! (The second picture above shows the router on the MDF box jig, the next two pictures show the little motor that I attached to drive the lathe very slowly)

The other new edition to the workshop is an Incra fence on the router table. In a previous post I talked about my home made version, but I still liked the look of the Incra for accuracy and efficiency. (The top picture above shows the fence mounted onto the router table)

The new project is a long, narrow book case for a hallway. It will be used to house toys and things that spark feeling and imagination in a counsellor's therapy room.

The gate

I was asked to make a gate, to improve on the one that was there. I decided to make it with slats as a solid gate will catch in the wind. As well as this it gives light to the passageway. The previous gate was made from fence featheredge boards. Here are the "before" and "after" shots!

It's official!!

Today I have registered the business with the tax man and have openned a business account with the bank!

The Wood Bee Workshop is now an official business!!

The Router Table

I noticed a fence that can be bought for a lot of money that is very accurate. That would cost about £250 to £350, this cost me about £6 and some scrap bits of wood and is accurate to 20th of a millimeter (1.97 thousandths of an inch!)

It has felt like an age trying to get the time to finish my router table. I have finally managed to make the drawers for it.

Trinket boxes

This box is oak with an elm lid panel

This box is white oak with a maple lid panel

This box is sapele with a maple lid.

This is also sapele with a maple lid

I

have been making these boxes while working out what I need to do to start as a business for someone who asked for them. I changed the way I lined the boxes with these as well.