# Dave's Wooden Stuff



## DTR

As I lost track of my original thread, I thought I'd make a fresh one to lose track of....

Sapele box








Garden gates







Tool chest







Walnut box







Grace's carving vice







Grace's little carving vice (business card holder)







Little sapele boxes (one finished, the other waiting)







Oak blackboard shelf







Jack's toy box







Some saw horses







Oak coat rack (naff photo)






Thanks for looking!


----------



## Stanleymonkey

Great projects. Gates and toolchest are my favourites I think.

Nerf bullets on the floor by the gates - were you trying to keep some kids in or lock them out?


----------



## Bm101

Lovely stuff Dave. Was going to ask where you sourced the vice handles so I could favourite the site for later reference. (You never know!) Then I realised you probably made them. Dammit.


----------



## DTR

Stanleymonkey":3hfnfls7 said:


> Nerf bullets on the floor by the gates - were you trying to keep some kids in or lock them out?



Thanks. The nerfs are from next door's..... I think I'll still be finding them for years to come :roll: 



Bm101":3hfnfls7 said:


> Lovely stuff Dave. Was going to ask where you sourced the vice handles so I could favourite the site for later reference. (You never know!) Then I realised you probably made them. Dammit.



Thanks. Sorry about the vice handles :lol:


----------



## Phil Pascoe

Some really nice stuff ... except for the knife lines on the dovetails. They are awful. imho, of course.


----------



## John15

Some very attractive items Dave, especially the walnut and sapele boxes and the gates.

John


----------



## DTR

Thanks chaps  



phil.p":o6bvipy1 said:


> except for the knife lines on the dovetails. They are awful. imho, of course.



Yes, knife lines are a bit Marmite so I usually plane them off....... (hammer)


----------



## whiskywill

DTR":2v5cx8t3 said:


> Thanks chaps
> 
> 
> 
> phil.p":2v5cx8t3 said:
> 
> 
> 
> except for the knife lines on the dovetails. They are awful. imho, of course.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, knife lines are a bit Marmite so I usually plane them off....... (hammer)
Click to expand...


I love Marmite but not knife lines. :?


----------



## Racers

DTR":3cwq0ffx said:


> Thanks chaps
> 
> 
> 
> phil.p":3cwq0ffx said:
> 
> 
> 
> except for the knife lines on the dovetails. They are awful. imho, of course.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, knife lines are a bit Marmite so I usually plane them off....... (hammer)
Click to expand...


Historical precedent from the 14th century 





Leave them on!  :wink: 

Pete


----------



## ColeyS1

Good bunch of finished projects !!! Smart job 

Coley


----------



## n0legs

Looking good Dave =D>


----------



## Tim Pardoe

I think the vices are great


----------



## DTR

Thanking you kindly, chaps


----------



## beganasatree

LIKE THEM GATES


----------



## dzj

You've been busy, haven't you? 
Nice work!


----------



## AES

All lovely stuff IMHO (inc the knife lines!).

You make me sick DTR - there's no hope for blokes like me, you bash wood about just as well as you bash metal. 

=D> 

Thanks for posting.

AES


----------



## nayngnottz94

DTR":1jdtzsiu said:


> As I lost track of my original thread, I thought I'd make a fresh one to lose track of....
> 
> Sapele box
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Garden gates
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tool chest
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Walnut box
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grace's carving vice
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grace's little carving vice (business card holder)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Little sapele boxes (one finished, the other waiting)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oak blackboard shelf
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jack's toy box
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some saw horses
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oak coat rack (naff photo)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for looking!



wow! great stuff mate


----------



## DTR

As mentioned in the other thread, I've abandoned the hum-drum field of woodworking to go and work for British Aerospace. Here's a few shots of the current, multi-million pound contract I'm working on...

Preliminary design phase:







Investigation into the aeroelastic properties of the airframe structure:







Advanced testing of the avionics suite:







Configuring the aspect ratio of the rotor subsystem:







Wind tunnel testing:







Ready for delivery to the primary stakeholder:


----------



## memzey

Awesome (met project critical objectives)!


----------



## AndyT

Lovely stuff!

Where's the bit where the project goes three times over the original budget?


----------



## AES

..... and as well as being 3 times over projected cost, takes 4 times longer than planned, AND the aeroplane weighs double the original estimates!!!!!

=D> 

Lovely mate, but as a matter of (serious) interest, did you rough the fuselage blank out first with a band saw or scroll saw, or was it all by hand?

AES


----------



## DTR

Thanks chaps 



AES":2tz11sw2 said:


> did you rough the fuselage blank out first with a band saw or scroll saw, or was it all by hand?



Roughed out on a bandsaw, as per the photo. Then smoothed with a plane, nose shaped with a rasp and tail shaped with a spokeshave. Finally all edges were softened with a bit of sandpaper. 

Incidentally, my treadle lathe is in bits so I had make the round bits for the rotor spindles on SWMBO's Coronet. Did you know they put electric motors on wood lathes now? What a novelty! It might just catch on.....


----------



## AES

Thanks DTR, I missed the band saw pic, sorry.

As said, very nice mate.

AES


----------



## kevinlightfoot

Love the gates and the whirlybird copter keep up the good work!


----------



## John Brown

I used to know Paul Ellis, many moons ago. He married a old friend of mine(they've been apart for many years now).


----------



## lurker

AES":260fo7bd said:


> ..... and as well as being 3 times over projected cost, takes 4 times longer than planned, AND the aeroplane weighs double the original estimates
> AES



Did not happen as there was no meddling civil servants involved continually altering the spec.


----------



## lurker

You and your missis are talented folks Dave


----------



## AES

@lurker:

QUOTE: Did not happen as there was no meddling civil servants involved continually altering the spec. UNQUOTE:

Not quite true mate. Not as bad as some of the later projects ("Mother Riley's Cardboard Aircraft", or Nimrod anyone?), but the Seaking was originally a Sikorsky, USA design (the S61), and was originally built for UK under licence by Westland in Yeovil. By all accounts (I wasn't involved in any way) it wasn't too bad or muddled a project compared to many, but as time went on and more and more "Brit Mil" wants were built in there was some civil service AND MOD meddling - with the inevitable results.

For what it was/is though, and with the original design getting on for, what, 50 years old now? (I can't be bothered to look it up, sorry) it's an excellent machine and has saved many lives around the coasts of UK, never mind all the military lives saved and other "scrapes" got out of in The Falklands, etc, etc, etc.

And Dave's built a very nice model of it too (why can't we have 5 rotor blades Dave?  )

AES

(P.S. my original was only a "funny" - ALL new aircraft are overweight, over budget, and late)!


----------



## ColeyS1

I like the helicopter, looks really good !!! What brand yellow paint did you use ? I tried some yellow oil based dulux on white primer/undercoat and it took 4 coats to cover-even then it wasn't 100%

Coley


----------



## DTR

Thanks for the kind words, everyone (including the comments about going over-schedule, which it very nearly did....... :lol: )

Out of interest, are the ASR Sea Kings still going now that it's been privatised?



ColeyS1":1kczjwfc said:


> I like the helicopter, looks really good !!! What brand yellow paint did you use ? I tried some yellow oil based dulux on white primer/undercoat and it took 4 coats to cover-even then it wasn't 100%
> 
> Coley



Thanks Coley  The paint is Humbrol Acrylic, as usually associated with plastic kits. I was sceptical at first but I'm impressed with the finish. I did give it three coats just to make sure


----------



## DTR

In this post-brexit, pre-Trump world, imports to the UK have become a bit chaotic. Left with no alternative, I have decided to secure my own imports with a new venture into shipping:


----------



## Bm101

Should've put a heli pad on it! :wink:


----------



## AES

Very nice work DTR. Some little sailor will be very pleased to find that in his stocking tomorrow morning.

=D> 

As a very-much newbie, I'm still going up a steep learning curve, so I have 2 questions if you don't mind:

Before joining this Forum I'd never even seen a router plane before, so can I ask what are the advantages & benefits please (apart from the obvious ones of much less/nil noise, and a smaller distribution of the shavings & dust around the shop)? I have a power router, but, for example, could I use a hand router to round off the edges of solid pieces of toys in a nice regular fashion, aside from the obvious hand router use for "milling" out slots?

Did you use acrylics for the paint finish? Spray or brush? I've had quite a lot of problems with getting a smooth and even colour paint coating and have found the % age of water used to thin the paint (artists acrylics in tube in my case) very critical - too thin and it hardly covers in less that 5 or 6 coats and produces runs at the drop of a hat, just a bit too thick and it gets lumpy. (Within the next few days I'll be posting a little tractor & trailer combo I made for a Xmas pressie and sprayed with a Badger 350 airbrush and you'll see just what I mean).

Thanks for any tips in advance, meantime happy Christmas to you and yours.

AES


----------



## AndyT

Lovely job again. Trivial cost of materials + proper woodworking (accurate cutting, deep ripping, curves) = seasonal happiness! :ho2


----------



## custard

You and the missus are both very gifted designers, it's really hard to produce children's products that have charm, play-value, and integrity; yet you two seem to get it right time after time.

=D>


----------



## DTR

Thank you chaps, you are far too kind  Hope everyone had a good Christmas :ho2 



AES":3c30tnuo said:


> Before joining this Forum I'd never even seen a router plane before, so can I ask what are the advantages & benefits please (apart from the obvious ones of much less/nil noise, and a smaller distribution of the shavings & dust around the shop)? I have a power router, but, for example, could I use a hand router to round off the edges of solid pieces of toys in a nice regular fashion, aside from the obvious hand router use for "milling" out slots?



I don't feel anywhere near qualified to answer that, but I'll have a go. For me the advantages of hand tools in general are, like you say, far less noise and mess. And to a fair degree, the space savings too. But in the right hands an electric router is a far more versatile tool than a router plane (I don't have the right hands..... or an electric router!). I only use my router plane for levelling the bottoms of roughly sawn or chopped housings (and sometimes tenon cheeks). For rounding outside edges I use either a hand plane or a spokeshave, followed by sandpaper. 



AES":3c30tnuo said:


> Did you use acrylics for the paint finish? Spray or brush? I've had quite a lot of problems with getting a smooth and even colour paint coating and have found the % age of water used to thin the paint (artists acrylics in tube in my case) very critical - too thin and it hardly covers in less that 5 or 6 coats and produces runs at the drop of a hat, just a bit too thick and it gets lumpy. (Within the next few days I'll be posting a little tractor & trailer combo I made for a Xmas pressie and sprayed with a Badger 350 airbrush and you'll see just what I mean).



I cheated by using pre-mixed Humbrol acrylics, brushed on. I find that the results are a bit of a mixed bag; the first coat always looks naff but it looks better by the third coat. A spray would be better. I've suggested to Doris that we get a compressor, so we'll see.......

I look forward to seeing your latest creation; my customer's favourite word is tractor!! :mrgreen:


----------



## AES

Thanks a lot for those comments DTR, very useful.

Not having been in UK for yonks I didn't know that Humbrol make acrylics too. Their enamels are (were) very good but may not be child proof (the customer for the tractor - which I'll post soon, promise) has just turned 2 so I didn't want to take any chances with someone else's little bloke poisoning himself!

If you do go to a compressor may I suggest you get one of the "silent-er" ones (diaphragm ideally), and also, one with an on/off switch (would you believe on mine you have to pull the plug out of the socket every time! - we don't have switched sockets here).

Also, re an airbrush, the cheapo Humbrol/Airfix air brushes that used to be available in UK are quite good within limits (although they're known as "droplet distributors" by the experts). I have one which, PROVIDED you get the thinning down right - trial and error, are quite good enough for an overall coat of single colour or clear acrylic varnish after colouring. But if you can stretch to it, I'd recommend a single action outside mix brush as an ideal cost/utility compromise between the real top end artists (dual action/internal mix) brushes and the above droplet distributor. I have a Badger 350 which is excellent, but others such as Paasche and DeVilbiss make them too and I believe are equally good. I read somewhere that there's some new Japanese stuff available too.

Not sure about price, but I think my Badger costs about a hundred quid these days. If you use it enough, well worth the investment IMO.

Lastly, make sure the hose from the compressor to the brush is the bigger-bore jobbie, flexible plastic/neoprene inside and cotton braided outside, and with a moisture trap. And ideally but not essential, with a pressure regulator valve on the compressor too. In my experience, unless you're spraying really big toys/models, a reservoir tank is just not necessary.

Googling around some of the specialist model maker Forums and kit suppliers will soon put you right.

Thanks again for your comments and I hope the above is of some help/interest.

Happy New Year

AES


----------



## AES

For DTR and anyone else who may be interested, the tractor referred to above now appears under the thread heading "Tractor and Trailer" in the Scroll Saws section.

AES


----------



## DTR

Wow, lots of good info there. It's definitely something I'll have to look into in the new year. Thanks AES!


----------



## DTR

At the weekend my parents' towel rail inexplicably broke off the wall for no reason*. The rail itself survived but the brackets are knackered, so I'm making some new ones from an oak offcut. 






Laying out the design:






Boring holes for the rail with the cordless drill:






An angry man wearing a flat-cap:






Wasting out:











Chopping the waste with a gouge:






I had to borrow SWMBO's carving vice for the next bit. Curves smoothed then chamfers added with a spokeshave, courtesy of BM101 (thanks again):






To get the screw holes all in the same place, I used this stunningly sophisticated jig:






And now just awaiting a coat of oil:








*I'll try to make this one a bit more 8-year-old proof. Just as a precaution


----------



## AndyT

Tidy!
Good and sturdy too. A job like that would be so much harder with power tools.


----------



## Bm101

DTR":1n72kpuk said:


> *I'll try to make this one a bit more 8-year-old proof. Just as a precaution


Cover it in tin foil and wire into the 240 mate. My kids won't go near the electric sockets now. Or the fridge. Or the Sofa. Or the floor. Or their school packed lunch boxes. In fact I have them holed up in a wardrobe most of the time but that's another story. Just don't let the social know. 
Nice work as always Dave.


----------



## n0legs

Bm101":9e2pt82s said:


> DTR":9e2pt82s said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'll try to make this one a bit more 8-year-old proof. Just as a precaution
> 
> 
> 
> Cover it in tin foil and wire into the 240 mate. My kids won't go near the electric sockets now. Or the fridge. Or the Sofa. Or the floor. Or their school packed lunch boxes. In fact I have them holed up in a wardrobe most of the time but that's another story. Just don't let the social know.
> Nice work as always Dave.
Click to expand...



:lol: :lol:


----------



## n0legs

That there's a proper job Dave =D>


----------



## DTR

Bm101":24lqq12u said:


> DTR":24lqq12u said:
> 
> 
> 
> *I'll try to make this one a bit more 8-year-old proof. Just as a precaution
> 
> 
> 
> Cover it in tin foil and wire into the 240 mate. My kids won't go near the electric sockets now. Or the fridge. Or the Sofa. Or the floor. Or their school packed lunch boxes. In fact I have them holed up in a wardrobe most of the time but that's another story. Just don't let the social know.
> Nice work as always Dave.
Click to expand...



:lol:

Thanks chaps


----------



## Nelsun

Putting things near a washing machine, kitchen sink or vegetable rack works wonders for keeping things safe from kids (teenagers mostly). They rarely go near them by choice!


----------



## DTR

When I was making the toys further up-thread, I had to borrow Doris' carving vice several times to work on the smaller parts. I've decided I need something of my own, albeit simpler. I am shamelessly ripping off Benchcrafted's Hi-Vise (sic), who themselves ripped it off from an old French design:







Here's the work so far. I'm using ash offcuts left over from my workbench. When I first made my leg vice many moons ago, I had a pair of parallel guide pins made up by a local blacksmith; I'll be using the spare in this vice.


----------



## AES

This looks really great Dave, thanks for showing (could be very useful for me). Please excuse my ignorance, but where will the parallel pins go, each side of the threaded shaft (the jaws look pretty narrow for enough space there)?

AES


----------



## DTR

Thanks AES. The parallel guide is the bit with all the holes drilled in it. It's a sliding fit through the fixed jaw at the back; its purpose is to keep the front jaw aligned as opposed to spinning in the breeze (think of the guide bars on a regular iron vice). The iron pin is inserted through one of the holes; when the vice is tightened up the front jaw will pivot around the pin slightly to apply pressure at the top of the jaw. This is a larger version, but maybe it's a bit clearer? The iron pin is just visible at the bottom of the moving jaw:


----------



## AES

OK, got it, thanks Dave. Asking dumb questions is the only way I'll ever learn!

AES


----------



## AndyT

That's looking very good and useful too!

If anyone wants a bit more of the historical background, it's also called the "Croix de St Pierre" as described here 






https://archive.org/details/everymanhisownme00youn


----------



## AES

Thanks for that Andy. All even clearer now. It never fails to amaze me that so many "good ideas" are so old. "What WILL they think of next"?

AES


----------



## n0legs

Nice one Dave =D> 
I am partial to a good vice :lol:


----------



## DTR

In a slight deviation from the original plan, I've decided to add a crossbeam to aid clamping down to the bench (another idea pinched from Benchcrafted)....

Chopped some housings:






Marked out for the mortise that receives the nut:











And a dry fit:











(please disregard the random screwholes; they are relics of an offcut's previous life)

All that's left to do now is to make a tommy bar and make a garter to capture the leadscrew.


----------



## DTR

Finished vice!






When I made the parallel guide, I copied the hole spacing from the leg vice on my bench. However I found in practice that the holes were too far apart to on a vice this small. It works fine on the leg vice because its length allows a greater swing around the pivot (the iron pin). The solution was to add an intermediate row of holes in the parallel guide, in between the original two rows. The three rows are closer together than I would like, but as all the stress is directed in line with the grain it will hopefully be ok. I've subjected the vice to some experimental aggressive drawknifing and it performed admirably


----------



## DTR

The latest, top-secret project at Smiling Gorilla Industries....

A stick, with some proportions laid out with dividers and a sector:






Drilled some holes:






Drew an arc on each end and planed down to the line:
















I cut the stick into to two and started whittling. As it was nice outside I decided to clamp my new vice to a sawhorse and whittle outside 8)






After some drawknife and spokeshave work, I ended up with a pair of these:






To be continued......


----------



## Bm101

DTR":1bfpexnp said:


> The latest, top-secret project at Smiling Gorilla Industries....


Oooooh. A mystery. Sweet.
Don't tell Bob though he's already losing it on NoLegs tail end vice thread trying to guess what the tail end vice might turn out to be in case it's not a tail end vice....  

Ps, That's a Macaque. :wink: 
https://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2 ... -stand-up/
If you haven't seen this madness take a read. 
PETA. Not just deluded nutcases but misinformed deluded nutcases. Whoda thunk it? 

Look forward to updates.


----------



## cyberheater

As someone new to wood working this his inspiring stuff.


----------



## AES

That vice really looks good Dave. Very nice "clean" work - idiots like me can only aspire to such standards.

=D> 

No idea what the 2 new bits are. Sunnybob will definitely be jumping up and down once he sees them (if he's not already fallen asleep in his pool)  

AES


----------



## AndyT

:roll: If that's meant to be a rope ladder, I'm sorry but it will be too short to be any use... :wink:


----------



## DTR

:lol:

Consequent to this revelation, I have petitioned the Board for a company rebranding. After several hours of deliberating, the committee decided to change the name of the company to Smiling Macaque Industries. However this was vetoed at the eleventh hour by the PR department, who are concerned that it will alienate our primary demographic. They finally agreed on Smiling Monkey Industries, on the understanding that a 3 year old probably knows what a monkey is. 

In an addendum to the motion, it was also agreed (in deference to PETA) to pay royalties to the copyright holder of our company logo. The macaque named as Naruto, who may actually be a macaque who chooses to remain anonymous, will be paid a substantial percentage of any profits made by our non-profit organisation. 


Oh, and I made another stick. With a housing in it. 












Thanks all


----------



## AES

"Yer all barking, I tell yer, absolutely barking - thems as is following this fred"

Blimey, that me too isn't it  

AES


----------



## DTR

Made a surfboard to go with the rope ladder:






And used some vee blocks to do some decidedly off-square drilling. I planed a small chamfer on the corner to give the drill bit somewhere to start:











Can you tell what it is yet?


----------



## Bm101

Boom! Can I ever Baby! 
I'm pretty sure you should email PR and suggest Golden Monkey Industries. 
7 seconds in. Bosh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyA03dOdvTI


----------



## n0legs

Rope ladders ?? 
Surf boards ??
Whatever next :lol: 
I'm staying tuned anyway :wink:


----------



## DTR

Bm101":26s7id42 said:


> Boom! Can I ever Baby!
> I'm pretty sure you should email PR and suggest Golden Monkey Industries.
> 7 seconds in. Bosh.



:lol: nailed it! I was an 80s child, how have I never seen this?! :lol:


----------



## AndyT

Sweet!

I'm just off to check the Dave's Metal Stuff thread to see how you make the engines... :lol:


----------



## Bm101

DTR":1bm7p2ij said:


> Bm101":1bm7p2ij said:
> 
> 
> 
> Boom! Can I ever Baby!
> I'm pretty sure you should email PR and suggest Golden Monkey Industries.
> 7 seconds in. Bosh.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :lol: nailed it! I was an 80s child, how have I never seen this?! :lol:
Click to expand...


It was a pilot series Dave, I think they only made about 8 shows or summat, released on the back of the popularity of Indiana Jones. I loved it as a kid, but it's one of those shows where people are reminiscing about childhood tv and you go 'Yeh! And remember Tales of the Golden Monkey? That was awesome right?!?!' And you're all excited and remembering how brilliant it was and you look and everyone is looking at you like you made it up and you're a bit mad. 

:|


----------



## memzey

I remember that show! Although the monkeys were actually bronze if I recall correctly.


----------



## DTR

Our intrepid test pilot preparing himself for the maiden flight.....


----------



## AES

I s'pose seeing as it's 6th June today, he's off to Gold Beach now! (Thinking about the "Golden Monkey" clip linked above - which I'd certainly never even heard of before, let alone seen)! Or am I thinking about 1944, (the year BEFORE I was born before anyone comes back with a clever remark) 

Nice floatplane Dave.

AES


----------



## DTR




----------

