A Work Mate

My workshop (man cave) is my garage and right outside my garage is a Kowhai tree grown from a seed my son planted 16 years ago when he was in Play Center, now I have to trim the tree to keep it in a healthy state and due to my trimming it has fewer flowers this year, my work mate however still finds a good feed at tea time, I am more comfortable vertical for my tea specially when he sings to me and he can

Banding a trial

I had to see what else I could do with banding, I was asked to create a tray, I had found what was a kit of thick veneers for making skate boards American maple some of it is whiter and for this I used the not so white as I see it all as just another experiment, so I had all what I needed to start a new banding, this time the white is thicker than I used on the table about the same thickness as the red, now I am thinking of putting the banding you see back to back and creating an arrow affect but that is in the future, the tray is of course sapele I think it will have a pale European Beach surround that will incorporate a handle.
There are so many choices to be made about banding and looking at what is here I can see other options.

Sort of Finished

Here it is sort of finished, the whitish look on the draw front is due to it having a bit of a sand, all of it now needs a sand then taking to a professional spray painter who will give it a satin coat of clear.

I have been asked for a serving tray, so here was an excuse to experiment with another banding, so look out for the next pics.

Lets celabrate spring

We had the most wonderful day for the first day of spring but today was not so hot.
I now have the legs to the table veneered, I have used 12mm ply and I was a little concerned as they did feel a little bendy I veneered all edges with 1mm veneer's glued with PVA,  I did the vacuum press of the first side over the weekend and the second side this morning and now they are so much stiffer just no flex at all, so this coming weekend may just see me having a go at hand cutting some dovetails, I have used a machine for all my dovetails in recent years so to hand cut some will be a first in over 35 years, the draw front is thin so there will have to be something special about the dovetails.
I am thinking to detach the legs for the purpose of spraying the table as I think I will get a better sand job and it will be just so much more crisp, the top will of course be loose.
No photos this time, but once the draw is made I will assemble it then it will be worth a photo.

10c lengths

The weekend started of right, $6.20 entry into the swimming pool so to get value for money I had to do 60 lengths I think I may just have done 62 as I lost count at one stage and did 2 extra lengths so the total was either 60 or 62.
The weather brightened on Sunday and made time for a coastal walk the tide was a high one and it made for quiet a sight to see just how high it was.
A little time was given to the creative side and I am pleased with the outcome, I did consider a brass knob that has sat in a draw for years but as this has turned up so well I think I will stay with it, there is no draw behind the front yet but there will be soon.
The week saw a block of paduak join the ranks of wood to be used.

On A Roll

Sometimes I just want to see progress, so this week I have done a small amount as I arrive home from work even if its just clean up the mess from the previous day, and it has put me ahead for the weekend, so this is the result from a concentrated weekend, I an still putting the house back together after the heat pump installation so that ate up a few hours, 40 lengths of the pool and a good beach walk gave a bit of balance to a working weekend.
The photo is a work in progress the top is sanded ( the edges aren't ) I made a decision to include a stripe around the skirt the same as the one in the top, and now I am so pleased to see the way it wraps around the corner, the legs will be planted on the face of the skirt so some of the blank space is dissolve, now I can't wait to get on but of course I have to make the legs.  

Busy Weekend

Some time ago I was given a small band saw, a some what unloved band saw and it has sat in the garage unloved for a while now, this weekend was love a band saw weekend and it looks like I will have to continue to love it for a few weekends to come, I wonder if it too much to ask for some love in return one day.
I did have to share my attention however and the inlay for the Tawa top took a leap forward, it is decided to put a small panel of inlay on each side of the apron/rails that I will also attach the legs to, one panel of inlay will be in the center of the draw and I hope to turn a knob from a block of the same.

The rails will be Tawa and the legs layed up from a Mahogany veneer, my legs in the drawing look a bit weak or is it the rails that look too heavy, it needs more work than I have done up to now.
I think there was some shake when I too the pics so don't zoom in too much it hurts the eyes.

A New Month

And it's all downhill to summer, I have just heard predictions of a warm winter, do I care tucked up with the heat pump blasting, actually I don't like the air movement it creates, as where I sit at the computer is about 3 to 4 meters from the source and by the time the air gets to me its like a cold wind not good for the back, there may have to be some shuffle of furniture sometime.
I have wanted to post pictures of a set of tables I made a while ago, the hexagon has been such a big part of my life for a few years now, I wanted to see how many cubes make a hexagon imagine putting more together and making a huge one, each table has 7 hex cubes if you follow me.
When it came time to consider legs it was just about so obvious and being 3 feet of course is just perfect.
Now timber types one is oak made from an old single bed head, one mahogany made from scraps left overs and due for the rubbish bin when I was building boats, the third is 5 different New Zealand native timbers, I wonder if they were scraps too probably left over from something I had made.

The Stringer

The stringer is a .6mm Tawa veneer in the center with 2.25mm Mahogany on either side then 1.2mm Tawa veneer then another 2.25mm Mahogany, the Mahogany seems very course and has taken a lot of filling with the two pot epoxy and I guess as it shrinks back there will be more filling to come but at the moment I just enjoy being able to look at the results.
The thoughts are of a 120mm wide skirt under the top of Tawa set back about 50mm then some angled legs in a better grade of Mahogany that pass in front of the skirt and finish under the top, I am wondering about a draw in the skirt, the front to have a matching inlay of stringing, there is not a lot of room so the draw would be small, maybe when I feel less crowded with projects it will come right.

Another Preview

There is some excitement about a heat pump to help get us through the winter it has also demanded a little time in preparing the house for the installation, a little alteration in the carport to give more shelving in the garage/workshop and what could be more important.
However the Tawa top did get some attention it now has the stringing and an edging, it has a rough sealer coat of a two pot epoxy to help keep it stable, the unfortunate part of using this product is that it shows dark lines on the joints and I am torn between like and dislike of the dark lines.
The photos are taken without flash to eliminate any light reflection but I think definition suffers.
I would have liked more detail of the stringing to show But maybe that is another post.

A Preview

This is the patten I had considered putting on the top of the chest of draws but the other one won the day, I have been itching to use this pattern but now I am not sure I like it side by side, it will get some stringing I have made around it before a final edge of Tawa to match the veneer, the stringing is Tawa and Mahogany, the legs of the table maybe Mahogany and there may be some stringing around the draw, it will be a bed side table one day.

I have plans to use this pattern one day as a panel in doors and maybe on the end of a unit I think I will have to match the veneers better I an sure there
could be better effect to be had, it is such fun experimenting.

Catching Up

I always wanted to show what the top of the chest of draws looked like, unless you are 6 feet or more tall it is unlikely that you would notice the top as it is at 1300mm high that is 4feet 4 inches for those who are still in feet and inches, for me it was the high light of the construction probably 'cos I had got tired of dealing with those draws I hate repetition so 6 draws was too much however as each draw is a different height they were not all the same, well the top was fun to make I enjoyed getting that round center to fit so well.
I put the mirror over the unit with the thought that I would see the top in the mirror but now I realise that as the mirror points ahead so
I can see myself I don't see the top at all, its all
about learning and I have a lot to learn and less
time to do it in.

The Exhibition

It has been a while since I was here, I got such a dose of the bot at that exhibition I feel as if I have only just come right but the cough is still there, I did get to the pool for a couple of swims a week ago so I must be better.

The exhibition was a success as in that I heard a lot of peoples comments but no dollars moved from their pockets to mine, I did have a learning experience with mounting a panel in a wrought iron gate something I would not have done had it not been for the show, I think people struggle with imagination as to how to use such panels, and its not time to experiment with their dollars.

Exhibitions

Progress is well underway now for the next exhibition.
It is a display of Perception Panels, panels and more panels, some in frames and some not, I would like to have had more panels to show but realistically I don't have room to display what I have so I will go with what I have.
Other than an outdoor table of Macrocarpa with a very early display of hexagons there will be no furniture, it is an outdoor stand at the North Shore Events Center the last weekend of March for 3 days, I am so looking forward to seeing what happens.

Something I'm pleased with

 I worked hard on these colours, I was looking for something different.
One photo is taken straight on the other from on an angle.
I am so pleased with the out come, gray is the best back ground.

Those windows

It has been a while, the knife block is finished, and one window now has a sill flashing, the other window is now out and boarded, up the window awaits reassembly, I have been pre painting the jamb liners as a precaution against them getting wet and the water soaking up the wood as happened before, I have glued the miter together with a biscuit in there, now I have the 2nd window out I can see why when it rained the floor inside had started to swell so all in all the exercise is worth the effort now I will feel more comfortable during those winter months.

This week 8th Feb to 12 Feb

A couple of windows in the front of the house need taking out and a sill flashing putting underneath but I'm lazy about starting so its on with a knife block I drew up some time ago, I found some Tawa a N Z native and I have some Jarrah so the contrast will be nice the Jarrah is old so a few shakes have developed, I glued some together and spun them on the lath tomorrow I will split them and put some saw cuts in for the knives then insert another piece of Tawa to give me an oval.

Totara Draw Chest

This 6 draw unit is 1300mm high not including the mirror and 900mm wide the draws are graduated.
The legs are New Zealand Kauri and all the other timber is Totara.
The original design came from WoodCentral an article by Richard Jones thank you very much Richard.
The top has a very nice pattern that includes a burr, all the burrs in the draw fronts were booked to keep some continuity and show off as much burr as I could without overdoing it.
I used vacuum pressure to laminate the fronts.
The Totara was from a house renovation in Auckland it was covered in years of paint and thick of nails when I finaly rescued it from being sent to the timber recycling yard, I wasted a lot of the timber in the process of creating this as I didn't want to show a lot of nail holes.

Matai dresser with Jarrah inlays

This is one one of two I made, Matai is a native New Zealand tree and the timber I was offered was very dry having been stored for a long time under someones house, the Jarrah (inlay) was taken from a beam that had been taken out of a building in Auckland that was built about 1884 Jarrah is an Australian timber, the dresser is about 3 years old now and is changing color slowly over time.

So this is one I put behind the sink at home, again it is green with gray on a white background.

A design I drew myself in true perspective, looks like its hanging of the wall, but it is flat and would be so easy to keep clean from all those splashes.

I have done a blue one and it is more mottled maybe best to just show it.

Now I have mentioned the green diamonds I want to show it.
They make great splash backs to the bathroom sink.

This has to be my favorite probably cos its the latest.
Its about 800mm diameter. And will look real good hung on a big wall.

I am learning how to get this blog thing going.
Now how about this.
This patten is in gray and white so the white blends with the background, imagine it the other way up, I did it in green and gray and that is cool.

I have some pattens I really want to share, they are of course water proof.

This looks so good in different lights it changes color.