Recent Projects

 How quickly time flies, even in the midst of a never-ending pandemic.  The workshop has not been idle though.  A couple of herb boxes were knocked together from some budget redwood garden sleepers, which were ripped and planed smooth.

The corners were rounder over and they were finished with some leftover decking oil.

My wife bought a print from a New Zealand artist.  A picture frame was made from an old totara post.

My sister was looking for a serving tray.  Could I make one?  A length of interesting looking rimu came out of the wood store.

It was ripped down the middle, book matched into four boards and then fitted with a finger jointed frame / handles.

Continuing on the finger jointed theme, a spice box was made from some leftover American white oak.  It included a lightweight frame for a 3mm floating base. 

The base was stained and the box finished in Danish oil.

And finally three chairs were repaired and then re-upholstered by my lovely wife and sister in law.

That was it for the second half of 2020.  So far 2021 has been very busy with work (the paid variety) but another restoration project is coming to completion, plus some exciting developments in the workshop - a new shed, and a whole new building material: metal!

How do you like them Onions?

 On the way back from a recent trip to Waitomo for some abseiling fun we stopped off at the Classic Museum in Hamilton.  On display were examples of the car and motorcycle maker Alldays & Onions, I brand I'd never heard of before (not that I know much about vintage cars).

John Onions family started his business in 1650(!) and William Allday started in 1720 but it wasn't until 1889 that the Alldays & Onions Pneumatic Engineering Co was formed, making bicycles, then cars and motorcycles until the 1920's.

By Charles01 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7343560

It's a shame they are not still around - imagine being able to say your car company has its roots in Stuart era England before the Great Fire of London!

Gather Round the Wireless

 My brother-in-law gave us two mid-century radios from a house clearance a while back.  After evicting the borer from the cabinets, the innards were passed on to my Dad to resurrect.  The first cabinet had been painted with what looks like brown house paint.

After stripping it back it appeared that the fluted mouldings and inner frame were originally black, so they were masked off and spray painted.

The main woodwork was then given a few coats of shellac to match what would have been the original finish, the inside was liberally coated with black paint to discourage the borer from coming back home and a new speaker cloth was fitted.

My Dad worked his magic with the old valves and components, and made up a new Bluetooth receiver and power supply which I then mounted next to the old equipment.

Finished and up and running, the sound is not quite up to today's standards but is good for a bit of background sound in the living room.

Offcuts and Offcut Offcuts

 The plank used to make the lazy Susan was 40mm thick and was split in two to make the 20mm platter.  After resawing, jointing, thicknessing and sanding the other 'half' was 10mm thick - just right for the back of a cookbook stand for the kitchen.

The base and shelf came from another piece of the recycled Jarrah I've used previously.  The back was made from grain matches pieces of the 10mm Rimu board, with a gentle curve across the top.  The pieces were screwed together to allow for some wood movement.

The whole thing got a couple of coats of Danish oil and some beeswax.

The leftovers from the back of the coobook stand were then used to make some coasters.

All and all, a well used plank of wood!

 

Misty morning

 

View from bed.

Around we go again

 Lockdown Number 2.  Off to the wood stack to see what there is - some nice figured rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum).  Perfect for a lazy Susan, finished with a couple of coats of Danish Oil:

The 500mm diameter disc is made from six boards grain matched and edge jointed together.  The grain reflects light differently in each direction, producing a nice effect when the lazy Susan is rotated.

Pretty Weighty Jetty but not Muddy or Wet(ty)

 A pond needs a jetty, but who wants to stand around in muddy water to build it?  So it was off to the workshop to frame it up undercover.

Some 'scope creep' resulted in it being wide enough for two people to sit comfortably next to each other and long enough to give a true 'over water' experience.  As a result, just the timber frame turned out to be quite heavy, so I made some jockey wheels and used a hand truck to move it out of the workshop.

With the help of a couple of friends, it was manoeuvred down to the pond and onto the piles.

Then it was just a simple job to nail down the decking, relocating the workshop compressor to make life easy.

The winter rain still needs to do its thing to fill the pond back up but eventually the water will overflow down the standpipe next to the jetty.  Finished with a cleat for the dinghy, it will make a great place to contemplate the next project...

What's in the scrap bin?

Here are a couple of small projects for those lockdown Microsoft Teams meetings, Zoom sessions and FaceTime catchups.

Both made from scraps of oak and jarrah, and hinges recovered during a 1960's kitchen renovation we did in 2009 (I knew they would come in handy).

The Mark 1 (left) is shorter in stature and perfect for the not-so-busy engineer to chat while he pretends to work on his PC.

The Mark 2 (right) is higher for a more flattering camera angle and can be brought up to the vertical with the aid of the stylish recycled window stay.  Perfect for those yoga sessions and live workouts.

On sale now soon one day when we all emerge from our hibernation.

Barstool Upgrade

I bought a cheap second-hand barstool on TradeMe a few years ago for my standing desk.  Lately, it has migrated to the workshop to give a bit of relief from standing in there all day.

It works ok, apart from the sound of plastic creaking and cracking every time you go to sit down or stand up - a little bit disconcerting.

Maybe I could make a wooded seat using some of the 'macrocarpa shorts'.

I made an MDF pattern from the old seat and cut enough lengths, either full 90mm width or ripped in half.

The boards were then ripped to the approximate angle to form the profile of the template.  To make the seat comfortable, I decided to make a circular depression and marked this out while the boards were temporarily clamped together.

Using a curved template with a radius of 800mm I then cut the curve in each board with the bandsaw, with the blade angled to form a series of faceted curves.

Now the boards could be glued together.  Just a few clamps should do the trick.

 Next, a custom made sanding block was made, cut with the same 800mm radius template.

Once everything was sanded, planed and rounded over, the seat got two coats of Osmo Polyx.  This is a natural hard wax flooring oil and is very durable.  Our floors inside still look great after nine years.

The oil dries to a satin finish, nice to touch, and to sit on.  Now that the upgrade is finished, the question is does the barstool stay in the workshop or go back inside?

Locked down but not out (of wood)

A while ago the macrocarpa sawmill down the road was selling pallets of 'shorts' (less than 1m long) that were no good for regular sale.

I nabbed a cubic metre and put them away for a rainy day.

Fast forward and these short lengths are perfect for another couple of Adirondack chairs.

Finished with some leftover decking oil, the macrocarpa grain really 'pops' as they say.

The perfect place to sit and contemplate the end of the world as we know it.  Now, what else can I do with those shorts...