• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

A complete novice made these......

Mike G

Mike G

Petrified Pine
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Three days ago, my son in law had never used a handtool on wood. Ever, at all. His only chisel had been used for taking the lid off paint tins. The DIY he had done was all done with power tools, and almost none of it with timber (he's Spanish, and they tend to make everything out of concrete and blocks over there).

We started off 3 days ago, beginning with sharpening, then onto some mortise and tenons and a dovetail. Now take a look at what a complete novice can achieve in 3 days, all with hand tools, and including stock preparation (he'd never picked up a plane in his life):

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This is a bathroom cabinet, just dry fitted (lots to do yet). I did the other end as the demonstrations, and he did this end. The through tenons will be wedged, so we'll open out the mortises a little. How many woodworkers have even done a housed out and through-tenoned shelf, let alone by hand? It just goes to show what a little patience and enthusiasm can achieve.
 
The full story is that his grandfather was a carpenter, and he (my SIL) has inherited all the tools. I've seen them, and they just need a good clean up and a bit of sharpening. So before there are any great woodworking projects, there will be a whole lot of tool restoration, setting and adjusting, and a few purchases (I don't have any woodies, so I can't show him how to get the best from those.........so he'll buy a Stanley/ Bailey whatever). He'll then build some shelves etc in his garage/ workshop to go with the bench he's just bought. Great to see someone so enthusiastic.
 
Very good. Almost the same age as me when I started browsing UKW and getting interested in woodwork after not doing any since school. Good man.
 
Very nicely done! I reckon once he's seen what he can do he'll be hooked on woodmangling for life - Rob
 
The carpentry looks good and excellent for a novice. I’d get the photographer to clean the lens next time though ... :lol:
 
I reckon this was roughly 25 to 30 hours work. 80% is my SiL's efforts (the rest my demonstrations):

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Note the dovetail and mortice & tenon dry joints he's taking home, in the drawer, to inform his practice. This was a 100% hand tool project, other than drilling the holes for the hanging thingamejigs:

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These (below) were a bridge too far, hence the simpler drawer above:

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It isn't perfect, and it's for painting, but a week ago he'd never picked up a hand-tool. There is a lovely wrong-side-of-the-line classic above the top shelf:

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He rushed on with more enthusiasm than thought, as we've all done, and what he calls his "signature" will always remind him to slow down and take a second look before starting to cut. The design was his, based on one in his other bathroom, but sized to fit in his suitcase to take home. They'll pick knobs/ handles for the drawers back in Spain.
 
Nice job!

What's the wood? The red streaks remind me of parana pine I used to sell in the 60s.
 
It's probably exactly that, Malcolm. It's the reclaimed stair treads from my house (I took the 60s staircase out 3 or 4 years ago). So much nicer to work with than the modern fast-grown stuff, but still not easy with a chisel.
 
Mike G":1d0nmdsp said:
It's probably exactly that, Malcolm. It's the reclaimed stair treads from my house (I took the 60s staircase out 3 or 4 years ago). So much nicer to work with than the modern fast-grown stuff, but still not easy with a chisel.
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Nice. I use to like working with it.
 
Mike G":1l5mnrpr said:
The full story is that his grandfather was a carpenter, and he (my SIL) has inherited all the tools. I've seen them, and they just need a good clean up and a bit of sharpening. So before there are any great woodworking projects, there will be a whole lot of tool restoration, setting and adjusting, and a few purchases (I don't have any woodies, so I can't show him how to get the best from those.........so he'll buy a Stanley/ Bailey whatever). He'll then build some shelves etc in his garage/ workshop to go with the bench he's just bought. Great to see someone so enthusiastic.
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If you're ever in my neck of the woods Mike I've got some wood planes you could take one back with you.
 
Last time I was in that neck of the woods (ie Scotland) I was on a bike ride from Land's End to John O'Groats.....and that was in 2010. You might have to hang on to those woodies for a while!! :) Many thanks for your kind offer, though.
 
Thats a bit of cycle ride especially when you are in the Highlands (always the chance of being chased by a mad haggis). They are not going anywhere so am happy to hold onto them.
 
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