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.