Not the last but perhaps the first. That was before I had a thickness planer, and I had to use a hand plane to join and flatten the shelves. Never did manage to find catches that I liked for the doors.
Six years ago I built one of my first woodwork projects. A garden table and bench from some reclaimed oak. They both got the ‘flintstone’ treatment, no idea how strong wood is so make it ridiculously thick!
The table has lived outside since and has weathered rather well. However, the bench came into the kitchen shortly afterwards for party seating and never left. The bench was functional, that’s about the only positive I can say. The huge dovetails were a disaster and fit so bad I had to drive little wedges in so the didn’t wobble too bad, they were obviously unglueable due to huge gaps.
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A few weeks back I caught my leg on one of these wedges again, and I’d had enough. I took the beast out to the workshop for some repurposing. The tops were taken off, resawn, and glued up into a new wider top. Octagonal tapered legs, and a big bevel gave it the form I had in mind. It was great to have the skills now to build the bench I really wanted to make back then!
Fitz
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Your site is inspiring, love the grooving planes and kerf saw. Two tools that I am going to shamelessly copy now.Build write-up here: CGTK - Bar Clamps Build Process
They look really good.
They look really good.
Your site is inspiring, love the grooving planes and kerf saw. Two tools that I am going to shamelessly copy now.
+1 I would go as far as saying I'd definitely buy some if they were available for sale.
Nice work. I notice in the background of one of your pictures the set of balls. I've recently turned a set of replacement balls from rescued Oak table legs. I'm not sure what to colour them with. If I use paint I fear it will chip off during the first game. I don't really want to buy loads of stain if most of it will sit at the back of a cupboard. Any thoughts?playing with the lathe, replacement croquet stick, hardwood, turned, painted, waxed, varnished...
Nice clampsSome long bar clamps:
More info here (including whizzy interactive 3D model): CGTK - Bar Clamps
Build write-up here: CGTK - Bar Clamps Build Process
Nice clamps
How did you embed the 3D model into you website?
ThanksIt uses a javascript library called jsc3d. It's fairly straightforward to use (as javascript libraries go). Other bits of the site (e.g. this one) use openjscad instead, but that requires the 3D model to be drawn in openjscad (which is useful for some things, but not when you're exporting from another CAD application).
those are the croquet balls that came with the set - so not sure how they did that...Nice work. I notice in the background of one of your pictures the set of balls. I've recently turned a set of replacement balls from rescued Oak table legs. I'm not sure what to colour them with. If I use paint I fear it will chip off during the first game. I don't really want to buy loads of stain if most of it will sit at the back of a cupboard. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Martin
Actually, it's not finished yet, the making process is going to go on for some time, but I've just returned to volunteering at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and we're building a full size working replica of a WW1 (very) fast torpedo boat known as a CMB (Coastal Motor Boat).
I've been involved since the start, helping with the lofting, building and setting out the moulds, the basic framework including steam bending and, now, planking.
This is a cutting edge 40' lightweight boat that was capable of 40 knots over 100 years ago (!) but our replica will have a more powerful engine but won't be carrying live torpedoes! The boatbuilding techniques are more akin to aircraft technology than traditional boatbuilding. It's a totally unique project and I count myself lucky to be involved,especially as I'm a retired Chartered Building Surveyor, not a professional boatbuilder! I'm really glad to be back to the project.
Building a boat would be on the bucket list if money and time were no object. Looks like a fascinating project to be involved with.
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