# We needed a mirror........



## MikeG. (25 May 2018)

We just couldn't find what we were looking for, so my wife suggested I build it instead. So, I toddled off into the workshop, raided my off-cuts bin for some oak, and this is what I came up with:










































Unless there is a good reason not to, I always do shoulders all around when doing M&Ts. Here, with these tiny mortises, the shoulders hide the damage done by levering the waste out of the joint. I was just about to scribe the shoulders for a really nice tight fit when a thought occurred to me. After a quick sketch on the back of a piece of scrap, I carried on:




































I was just making this stuff up as I went along. I really enjoy doing that, but it doesn't always end well. We'll see:































I made this composite moulding because I don't have a spindle moulder, and my friend who does wasn't available. So, I had to come up with something I could do on my router table. Ideally I would have had a simple cove instead. Ho hum....


























.....and a French cleat to hold the bottom in:


























After a quick trip to the glaziers (who had three goes at cutting it!!), and £10 later:


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## Tasky (25 May 2018)

Yep - If I was in the market, I'd happily buy one of them!!
Excellent job, Mike!


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## MikeG. (25 May 2018)

Thanks Tasky. I didn't count, but looking back it was at least 15 hours work........which means it cost more money than anyone would ever pay for a mirror. I shan't be going into production.


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## custard (25 May 2018)

Looks like it was absolutely made to hang right there...

...which of course it was!

Great job =D>


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## MikeG. (25 May 2018)

Thanks Custard. It was made to go with the floor, which is a dark oak.


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## John15 (25 May 2018)

Excellent job Mike. Congratulations.

John


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## ColeyS1 (25 May 2018)

That's a beauty ! Very smart job Mike 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk


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## MikeG. (25 May 2018)

Thanks John.


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## Marineboy (26 May 2018)

Beautiful work. 

You really should change that plaster on your thumb though.


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## MikeG. (26 May 2018)

Marineboy":iriuyb5f said:


> Beautiful work.
> 
> You really should change that plaster on your thumb though.



Yeah, but more fundamentally, I should probably avoiding jabbing it with the corner of a chisel in the first place.


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## Obi Wan Kenobi (26 May 2018)

Lovely work Mike, it looks fantastic. I especially like the comment that you "made it up as you went along" :lol: - if I did that, I'd end up with firewood and sawdust #-o 

Obi Wan ccasion5:


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## Steve Maskery (26 May 2018)

I'll be honest, Mike, when I saw you gluing those corner pieces in I thought "Arrgghh! Ghastly bodge. What is he thinking?!"
But When I see the context and the end result, I think it looks excellent and would be happy to have produced it.

And as to sticking things into your digits, I'm having a new kitchen (I'm gophering for a real fitter) and today I went to do some retail therapy. Far too many saucepans and a new set of knives later I did my first bit of cooking this evening for nearly three weeks. The knives are very sharp. Fingernails grow at about 0.1mm per day, so my left first finger will be fine again by about the end of September.


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## MikeG. (26 May 2018)

Thanks Obi, Steve. 

I reckon that's about 10mm you've removed then Steve. How was the gravy?


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## DTR (28 May 2018)

Wow! I agree with Steve, at first glance those corner pieces look a bit odd. But when the mouldings are added and it all comes together, it looks amazing! =D> =D> =D>


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## MikeG. (28 May 2018)

Thanks Dave.


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## Newbie_Neil (30 May 2018)

That's beautiful Mike, you must have one very happy lady.

Neil


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## Jamster21 (30 May 2018)

I think that's great too, and I was further reassured to see that I am not alone with a shed / workshop that _might _need a tidy...


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## transatlantic (30 May 2018)

hmmm ... I don't like the way this is going ....(few pics later) WOAH that looks cool!


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## MikeG. (30 May 2018)

Jamster21":2jdaw456 said:


> I think that's great too, and I was further reassured to see that I am not alone with a shed / workshop that _might _need a tidy...



 Yeah, it's not really a workshop at the moment so much as a building site overflow zone. I couldn't get to the RAS or the pillar drill at all.


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## Chippyjoe (30 May 2018)

Mike, that's really nice. When I was going through the WIP's was really hoping it was going to have a bevelled edged mirror, but on reflection (No pun intended) it would not have worked.

You must have earned a serious amount of brownie points, or TV time especially now the cricket season is upon us.

Mark.


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## MikeG. (30 May 2018)

Yeah, you're right. Bevel edges would have looked funny disappearing behind the corner detail, and there was no way of having them trace around that odd shape.


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## yetloh (18 Jun 2018)

Really nice job Mike, ingenious and very nicely executed. For me the staining spoils it but that's very much a matter of personal taste.

Jim


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## MikeG. (5 Dec 2018)

I made another one. Smaller and more subtle than it's sister:

















I didn't stain this one so dark, but otherwise the manufacture was much the same as the previous one.

Apologies for the poor photos. Lighting conditions were awful, with a window showing in the mirror and it being such a gloomy day. Here's the same mirror in its previous frame (the 1970's called and demanded it back):


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## Tasky (5 Dec 2018)

Can I ask what finish/stain you used on these?


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## MikeG. (5 Dec 2018)

I can't tell you about the first mirror, because the stain's original container leaked, so I transfered it to a big plastic container, and my writing on the outside subsequently faded. This latest one I used Colron "Georgian Medium Oak" wood dye, 2 coats of clear water based lacquer, and then because it was a little too red, a coat of Fiddes "Rugger Brown" wax.


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## Tasky (5 Dec 2018)

Ah, cool - I have some Colron Danish Oil in that same Georgian shade. Looks like you got a great finish from it!


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