Before you tell me, I know that episode 2 hasn't gone live yet, and yes I am working on it, but in the meantime a recorded this little preview into episode 3. Enjoy!
So I thought it was about time that I pulled my finger and started taking my blog a little more seriously!
I have recently produced my first vlog, and yes there is massive room for improvement, but you've got to start somewhere. SO here it is. Enjoy! Today I started on making a twisted stool. Well thats what I'm calling it anyway!
Its going to be a similar size to a bar stool when finished. It measures 700mm high x 320mm sqaure. After a initial bit of head scratching as to where and how to mark the spiral on the wood the chainsaw was revved up and cutting commenced. Trying to put a symmetrical spiral in a solid piece of oak is a little tricky but with a little perseverance the stool started to take shape. The chainsaw work is more or less finished now and I'm awaiting a new 'saborr tooth' sanding wheel so that I can get it looking something like. The piece of timber is taken from a large section of oak that was felled at Samlesbury. The tree was felled as part of a small woodland clearance to make way for Thwaites brewery's new site. Its a really stunning piece of wood, I'm not entirely sure what I will do with the rest of it yet, It would make some lovely boards, so maybe a large dining table may be in order? So I have made a little progress today but ended up being busy with other things, which tends to happen a lot at the moment! Anywho, I have nearly finished tidying up the overcuts in the opening and have done quite a bit more sanding. My new belt sander did bite me twice today whilst trying to sand in the hole that isn't quite big enough for it, fortunately no blood was spilt on the table! My current predicament is that when the table is sat on floor it is a little narrow at one end of the base which makes it a little easy to tip!? I think I will make x2 sort of legs that will run under length ways, probably just raising it by 2"-3", we shall see.
I have decided this evening to root out an old project and try to get it finished. Around 3 years ago I was milling my first lot of timber, in that was some very large lumps of Beech. I was working my way down cutting it into 2" - 6" thick slabs, as I got towards the bottom a had one of those idea moments and thought that I could use one big solid lump to sculpt a table out of. Timber being milledI will take some pictures of how it looks now tomorrow, didn't just have chance this evening.
There is still quite a bit of work to do, I have plenty of sanding to go at. Through the middle I have cut a large rectangular hole just to break it up a little, back then I was a little numb with my big new saw and have left a couple of overcut marks that need tidying up but they shouldn't be a major problem. I would also like to reduce the top so that I leave a lip around the outside so I can fill the centre with resin. This isn't a method I have used before but am very interested and think that it would really work well on this piece.
Well its been over 2 months since a last updated my blog which just isn't good enough!!!
To be fair in the run up to Christmas I was pretty busy closing up my old shop (Jimbob's), working Manchester Christmas markets, Tree surgery with DR tree surgeons, working in the Green Man pub and trying to keep up with the wonderful new world of Peachwood. Christmas has been and gone and I am finally starting to settle into a little working routine. I normally do 2/3 days a week for DR I have the kids on a Friday and the rest of the week is my own (ish). Whilst mentioning DR tree surgeons I am finding working with them very enjoyable and very useful, the biggest problem is I want to by all the bloody timber that we fell! I have obtained some pretty exciting looking large lumps of oak that we felled from in a pretty tight spot in Lytham, keep tuned to see what becomes of them. I have my first official qualification, a NPTC in chainsaw & maintenance! I am hoping to do my chipper, stump grinder and maybe some climber certificates as well. I attended the Northern power tools & woodworking show at Harrogate with a group of local wood turners. John who we travelled there with did a excellent package deal, ticket to the show, travel and most importantly a pork pie for the journey! The show was very useful and gave me chance to look at some bits of kit I have been thinking of purchasing for a while, also to look at some bits of kit that for the time being I can only dream of owning (Look at this tool from festool for example). I purchased a new Makita belt sander as my old one decided to throw sparks & flames out of the side of it!? Very impressed with the new sander, it is a massive step up from my old one, it is a little wider and much heavier. What sold is that it looks like Makita haven't updated the design for some time, it is pretty square and heavy and is missing all the modern fancy plastic trims and laser guiding etc... I have completed a few commissions since my last update, a large solid oak shelf, a bread bin & chopping board (pictures to follow) and some house signs. Below is some video and time lapse footage of me making the signs. I should hopefully have some pictures of the signs up soon. In the last post I was talking about preparing the slice of oak. On Monday I went and installed the piece into the kitchen.
I started by offering the the whole piece up on top of the wall where it was going to sit. The timber was a perfect width to fit the wall, I had a discussion with the clients and came up with a plan as to how I was going to shape and fit the piece. A bit of measuring and a bit of marking then the timber was cut to length. Next was to cut the curve, this was done using my little carving chainsaw. The curve was cut so that it returned back into the waney edge of the wood nicely. A good sand all round including the bark and it was time to glue it down. Once the glue had had chance to go off a worktop matt finish oil was applied. The customer didn't want a varnish like shine, but a more natural look. The oil offers protection and enhances the colour and grain of the wood whilst keeping that natural look. The same was repeated at the the opposite side of the wall but on a much smaller scale. This has been the first piece of oak I have polished up from that first batch of milling that I did a couple of years ago. I am thrilled to have seen the job right through to the finish from the sourcing of the raw felled tree, milling, seasoning, planing, sanding, finishing & installing. I think the wood looks fantastic in that kitchen and the customers where suitably pleased too. Can't wait to get into the next piece of that oak now! The mud kitchen is all finished and installed!!!
My daughter who goes to the pre-school has reliably informed me that the children are enjoying playing in it and that there is plenty of mud now on it. The oven is carved out of a stump of ash with some fence post for knobs and some discs of luburnum as hobs. The sink unit is a couple of old 3x3 fence posts with some 3/4 x 3" lengths to make the frame. The back is a old pallet and the sink is from off the scrap pile. A fun little Sunday morning project. I hope the kids will enjoy playing with this for years to come. (Apologies for the picture quality, my Iphone is having issues) I have been commissioned to make and install a feature worktop in a newly fitted kitchen. The piece is going between the kitchen and dining area. The customer had asked if I would have a piece of timber big enough to span the whole width and length of the top, it just so happens that I have some very large boards of oak in stock. The boards are some I milled myself around 2 years ago. This is the first of the boards that I have sanded up and I am very very pleased with the results. Ok some of the boards have warped a little, but there is next to no splitting and I can fix slight warping a lot easier than big cracks. I initially started to plane the board with the chainsaw, it had warped whilst drying. (I am still learning about seasoning timber) this works well on green timber but found that it is quite hard going when the timber is dry, along with the fact I was working inside and there's only so much 2 stroke fumes you can inhale in one night. Time for plan B I switched to the router to level the board up, Because the boards are 2" thick you get quite a bit of allowance for them warping. Once the board is levelled with the router its time to bring out the sanders. I start with the belt sander and then the orbital working through the grits to around 400's to get a really nice smooth finish. Its difficult to get into pictures the size, grain and character of this board. The pictures below don't really do it justice but give you a good idea. I am off to shape & fit this board on Monday so as always I will keep you upto date with progress. My wife had kindly volunteered my services to our local pre-school who are after someone to make them a mud kitchen. If your not familiar with mud kitchens it is basically a space for kids where you can play with mud that loosely resembles a kitchen. Having started making one for the kids and having looked at a few other ideas about I am quite tempted to make a adult sized one? I think the equivalent is some decking with a BBQ?
Anyway, I had quite a large stump of ash kicking about so thought that this would be perfect for making a little kids size oven out of. This has just been a quick job with the chainsaw. The hobs are laburnum and the little knobs are just a off cut from a fence post. I need to make the sink unit next. Will keep you upto date with progress. |
Richard Hall (Peach)I am PeachWood, for more info see here Archives
February 2017
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