• 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!

Post a photo of the last thing you made...

Nice work.

I've made a couple of similar stools and I think posted a WIP here. They were not copied from Barnsley but from something I had seen in Scandinavia.

For use in place of dining chairs I find that if I sit on the stool for a long time, I get a numb leg pretty quickly. The curved seat looks bum shaped but I find the seat edges cut off the nerves. :unsure:That said, mine are higher.
 
AndyP said:
I bet the apparent simplicity of the design belies the skills involved to produce.
Click to expand...
That's probably right, although there's no particular magic involved. The key is really accuracy in preparing the components. For example, the thickness of the legs where they go into the housing needs to be very consistent to avoid gaps in the housing. The edge of the seat needs to be square so the layout of the mortises result in square mortises (again to avoid gaps in the mortises - especially where they're cut with the grain; across the grain, the wedges will hide small inaccuracies). The angles need to be consistent (sliding bevel set and checked regularly), and you need to remember to apply the angle when necessary (eg in the mortises and on shoulders etc).
 
AJB Temple said:
For use in place of dining chairs I find that if I sit on the stool for a long time, I get a numb leg pretty quickly. The curved seat looks bum shaped but I find the seat edges cut off the nerves. :unsure:That said, mine are higher.
Click to expand...
Thanks. They're just a bit taller than our dining chairs. I think the comfort depends on how tall you are. My wife finds them comfortable but, like you say, does find the seat edge can cut in a bit. I don't have any issues. We don't sit at the table for hours so they're OK.
 
Excellent Nick. Wedged through tenons are just such a wonderful joint.
 
I think I might have put a tiny shoulder around the leg to disguise where it goes into the housing on the underside of the top, but maybe not worth it.
But I’ve just noticed the neat chamfer to remove some of the bulk/thickness of the seat, it emphasises the curve on the top of the seat as well, nice work.
 
Cabinetman said:
I think I might have put a tiny shoulder around the leg to disguise where it goes into the housing on the underside of the top, but maybe not worth it.
But I’ve just noticed the neat chamfer to remove some of the bulk/thickness of the seat, it emphasises the curve on the top of the seat as well, nice work.
Click to expand...
That would be an option. There's nowhere to hide with the housing, but as long as the tops of the legs have uniform thickness, it's OK.

There are shoulders on the edges of the legs. The housing just runs between the tenons.

The shaping on the underside of the seat gives the illusion that the bottom is curved when it's in fact flat.

It's a great design (to repeat, not mine!).
 
I'm having a concerted effort to run down my offcuts pile and found a piece of hard maple that came from John Boddy's timber yard and had the price stamped on it with VAT at 15% which suggests it was bought in 2008/9?

Combined with a piece of Laurel veneer it has become this ...

IMG_1501 Large.jpeg

IMG_1503 Large.jpegIMG_1505 Large.jpegIMG_1507 Large.jpeg

The last picture is a better representation of the colour - I need to get better at photographs!

This one is offcuts of Cherry combined with Myrtle veneer. It's experimental as I've tried a different bevel angle ... which I won't be using again!

IMG_1494 Large.jpegIMG_1495 Large.jpegIMG_1499 Large.jpegIMG_1508 Large.jpeg

The finish used on these is Chestnut Hard Wax Oil. Much easier to apply than my usual "wax over oil" approach and far less "gloopy" plus a better finish imo than Osmo.
 
AJB Temple said:
I made this (complete building) over the past year or so. As with almost all of my projects it was not quite finished, and since early December I have been doing wiring and snagging, making steps (see carving threads etc).The oak frame has moved a bit with a super hot summer and pretty wet winter, so it was wise to delay the snagging :cool:

I've posted bits and pieces before maybe (?), but not a WIP as I couldn't face the photo posting. But I do have snaps of everything from ground prep to concrete pour, timber framing, roofing, laying the stone tiles etc, but as it recedes into history I suspect it will never see the light of day here.

View attachment 18691

Here be the sliding door that leads to another room. That room is panelled and the door is disguised on that side as part of the panelling. This is before I fitted the step and wall sockets in December. Paint is Mylands.

View attachment 18692
Click to expand...
Adrian, I like the hardware for the sliding door. Is it much more expensive than the standard offered?
 
Cabinetman said:
Another beautiful box Robert, just curious what you do with them all?
Click to expand...
Thanks Ian.

These ones being made from offcuts are earmarked by my wife as Christmas presents for friends. I’ve previously done candle boxes and playing card boxes for friends at Christmas.

As these don’t have hardware they are relatively inexpensive to make. I think if I get organised I can be more efficient and do them as a batch so am thinking about doing some for the local hospice charity shop in the New Year. Hopefully this next bit will make sense as I don’t have any illusions of grandeur about my woodworking but … the thing that is holding me back is an irrational concern that I may see them in the shop window at an insultingly low price of £2 🤷. I probably need to have a word with myself 🤣
 
Blackswanwood said:
Thanks Ian.

for the local hospice charity shop in the New Year. Hopefully this next bit will make sense as I don’t have any illusions of grandeur about my woodworking but … the thing that is holding me back is an irrational concern that I may see them in the shop window at an insultingly low price of £2 🤷. I probably need to have a word with myself 🤣
Click to expand...
I've done stuff for our local hospice shop in Salisbury and they're always delighted to receive decent quality items for sale. What I've done is to have a word with the 'powers that be' and actually tell him or her the amount of hours/work that goes into a box; you can then indicate a reasonable price for it (or they) to be sold and which punters would be happy to pay. Last year I made some Cosmanesque boxes for Wessex Rehab at our local hospital which were sold for around £200 each, but they did contain some Victorian heirloom oak from the bell towers of St. Paul's Cathedral - Rob
 
Blackswanwood said:
Thanks Ian.

These ones being made from offcuts are earmarked by my wife as Christmas presents for friends. I’ve previously done candle boxes and playing card boxes for friends at Christmas.

As these don’t have hardware they are relatively inexpensive to make. I think if I get organised I can be more efficient and do them as a batch so am thinking about doing some for the local hospice charity shop in the New Year. Hopefully this next bit will make sense as I don’t have any illusions of grandeur about my woodworking but … the thing that is holding me back is an irrational concern that I may see them in the shop window at an insultingly low price of £2 🤷. I probably need to have a word with myself 🤣
Click to expand...
It's probably worth having a chat with Rob about how he arranged things when donating some other lovely boxes to a good cause. It was discussed in this thread, which suggests a sensible selling price was agreed, to reflect the skill and materials.

www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk

Cosman Boxes

A dozen of so small 'Cosman' boxes are underway in offcuts of various assorted timbers (Rosewood, Paduk, English Walnut, Elm, Lacewood, Brazilian Walnut, (Ian's) mahogany, Swiss Pear, Brown Oak etc): What makes them absolutely unique is that each one will have inlaid into the lid a circular...
www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk

Edited to add - Rob beat me to it!
 
Thanks Rob and Andy.

Your posts have spurred me into action and I’ve e-mailed them with photographs and an explanation.

Not sure my offcut pile can compete with St Paul’s though!

Cheers

Robert
 
I’ve got offcut-envy now to add to my tool-envy! :-). I look around my wood pile and find a bit of walnet, sapele then loads of pine and ply! I need to up my game clearly. The boxes are stunning and inspirational too.
 
After some of the boxes shown here I am somewhat embarrassed by my efforts, but a couple of xmas gifts for work colleagues - apologies for the picture quality, there was a significant time pressure here. I really struggled to get the lid from these for some reason and both nearly went in the bin more than once. Still not happy with them, specifically the fit between lid and base, which does not really show here, and I had chipping on the one on the left, hence the slightly different shape to overcome this.

Card_box_1.jpg

Card_box_2.jpg


Card_box_3.jpg
 
StevieB said:
After some of the boxes shown here I am somewhat embarrassed by my efforts, but a couple of xmas gifts for work colleagues - apologies for the picture quality, there was a significant time pressure here. I really struggled to get the lid from these for some reason and both nearly went in the bin more than once. Still not happy with them, specifically the fit between lid and base, which does not really show here, and I had chipping on the one on the left, hence the slightly different shape to overcome this.

View attachment 30647

View attachment 30648


View attachment 30649
Click to expand...
Very nice indeed.
 
I had the home-made wood lathe out on the bench so before putting it away I took the opportunity to make my other half a pen (from a commercial pen kit and some Wenge):

1734193475421.png

I was only going to make one of these so it definitely didn't seem worth buying the bushings for the kit. Thankfully I have a metalworking lathe, so it was a fairly quick job to make my own (seen at the front of the photo).

The pen kit seems quite a nice design (for a cat lover).

1734193485534.png

When Carolyn's half-brother visited us around Christmas time a few years ago, he (apparently) liked the Christmas decorations I'd made so I thought I'd make one for him this year. I'm fairly sure he doesn't frequent this forum so it should be safe to share the photo!

1734193494720.png

It was also a good opportunity to practise TIG welding again before I start the heat treatment oven. It also encouraged me to buy some new batteries for my welding helmet as the ones it had were completely dead.
 
Beeswax will not last long on that pen if, and I imagine it will, it gets used often.
I use a pen daily that has never had any finish on it and I rather like the worn and used “patina” it has developed.
I now apply a few coats of melamine lacquer on all the pens I have given away as gifts.
 
That's good to know, thank you. Possibly a bit too late, but that's not your fault!

I've made some pencils before, some of which had sanding sealer / beeswax and some had Mike's Magic Mix on them. All seem to be doing okay so far, but they haven't been around for long.

At least the pen isn't going far, so I can always refinish it if needed.
 
I made these a little while ago, but was waiting for the recipients to receive them before posting photos.

If you've been following some of my other posts on here, you'll know that I've been somewhat blown away by the generosity of a couple of members of the MIG-welding forum. One of these fine fellows (named Ali) engraved some brass discs with my logo, asking for nothing in return for all his work. The other (named Dale), again asking for nothing in return, collected a whole load of (rather high-end) control gear and sent it to me for use in my heat treatment oven build.

Considering all they'd done, I didn't feel I could accept their assertions of not wanting anything in return, so I made them each something and posted it to them as a thank-you. Each of them received a hand-tool-made box with their name carved in the lid, a pencil turned on my home-made wood-lathe, a scriber for marking out metalwork projects and a pair of welded nut coasters:

1734780321858.png

(I must admit to being grateful that neither of them were called Emmanuel or Nathaniel or something like that: Dale & Ali are quite civilised names when it comes to hand carving!)

When I've made tea caddies of this sort of design in the past, I've made the lid open to just beyond vertical. As I didn't know what the recipients would use the boxes for, I decided to make these lids open all the way.

1734780408844.png

This photo shows the pencils (from a kit) and scribers:

1734780491704.png

The top pencil is European Walnut; the bottom one is Tanga Tanga. The scribers are turned from brass and use the end of a dressmaker's pin as a tip: the tip is glued in place, so when blunt the scriber can be heated to weaken the glue and then a new tip fitted.
 
the finished frame, I bought this photographic print years ago, for now I have framed it without glass because I prefer the matt look, the wood is pear and it is finished with french polish.
 

Attachments

  • hendrix_pearframe (1 of 1).jpg
    hendrix_pearframe (1 of 1).jpg
    103.9 KB · Views: 11
Speaking of picture frames: a rather large one in Oregon white oak. I wanted a more complex profile but lacking a shaper I made two simple mouldings on my router table and glued them together. And I had the perfect excuse to make a square of Thales (thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Maskery!)

A90F282B-91A9-4D37-AFF6-FC25863AFEB6_1_201_a.jpegB84498C0-9C4F-4BC8-8AE0-B7DD0024BB7A_1_105_c.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top