Post a photo of the last thing you made

[bourbon]

I've been on a quest this year to improve my woodworking. I think it has worked. Unfortunately, It's for the ashes of a dog.

 

[ey_tony]

Catio, thanks for that, I do like discovering a new word, I just wish my neighbours had heard of it!
Looks a very competent piece of work Tony.

Thanks Cabinetman.
I confess I'd never heard of the word 'Catio' until maybe a year ago, up until then I would have called it an enclosure

I have a Church Organ Builder background in woodwork so such as this has been a challenge for me, not in skills but in actual working methods.
It was as a teenager that I first learned my woodwork skills on a bench and therefore carpentry like this that was conducted off a bench as was using power tools was always quite foreign to me though I have used my woodwork skills over the years when restoring the houses I've owned but I am far from being a natural carpenter and would have been far too slow to make a living from it on building sites etc!

I did however over the years love making pieces of reproduction furniture for my home, using many of the traditional ways of construction hundreds of years ago and up until being taken seriously ill six years ago, almost everything I did was done by hand and not machine and I had hardly any power tools or reliance on them but that changed when I was taken ill as I wasn't able to push along a 2 foot long steel plane any more.

My garage which I use as a workshop these days is at the front of the house so it would have been impossible as well as impractical for me to do the work on this project from there so I had to move my Metabo mitre saw and extending stand which was one of my primary tools to the work area and work from there without a bench so I was learning new skills...a case of an old dog learning new tricks suppose!
It was only after being unable to do any or even the slightest exhaustive work through illness that I adopted power tools into my world.. Up until that point I'd not used tables saws or planer/thicknessers or circular saws...all would have been done by hand but if I wanted to still do a bit of woodwork, then it was either doing much of it with power tools or nothing so using power tools it was for me.

I have a 10" table saw which has been invaluable in ripping down lengths of timber to size and also a budget planer/thicknesser which saves a heck of a lot of work which I couldn't do now so those tools have breathed new life into one that was effectively over but it just shows that just because illness overtakes you, it's still possible to do some of the things you once loved doing even if not by hand.

 

[ey_tony]

Catio looks great, very neatly made, beaut cat as well.

Thanks Fitzroy.
He's a lovely cat in fact they both are and neither would ever scratch or bite, but that's just how we've reared them from kittens. They aren't allowed out to trouble the neighbours or wildlife and we give them plenty of exercise through play so they're very happy, fit and unstressed cats.

We feared that they would have loved to be out there most of the time instead of being indoors which is why I constructed the 'shed' end to give them a bit of extra weather protection but while they seem to enjoy a few minutes at a time out there, they're just as happy being indoors.

We shall see how that changes next summer as I've noticed they are not exactly keen on being out there when it's cold.
This is the two of them together....

 

[lee66]

This is what im on with recently, its not quite finished yet but almost there


Not had chance to make much recently, apart from this the last thing I made was 2-3 months ago! Trying to get back into it again though

 

[Dr Al]

Today I made (or at least sort-of-finished-making) a plank of wood out of lots of offcuts of four different hardwoods, all cut into equal width strips and glued together:

It's a bit over 240 mm deep, about 820 mm long and about 9 mm thick. The plan is currently to trim it into a rounded-rectangle sort of shape and use it as a monitor stand for my two monitors, but having seen it, I'm wondering if it might be a bit of a shame to cover a significant proportion of it with the bases of the two monitors, so I might use it for something else.

There are quite a few imperfections (and a couple of aligned joints that I tried really hard to avoid, but must have done something wrong in the glue-up), but as this was my first attempt at something like that, I'm really pleased with how it has come out.

 

[Fitzroy]

My eyes refuse to see that as straight, all I see is wobbles. Curious effect but nicely done.

 

[GarF]

Unavoidably spending more time sitting and less time doing at work this year. Getting a bit fed up with dull and not terribly comfortable chairs I decided to make my own. Currently plotting a garish paint job which will hopefully keep my colleagues off it!

 

[Cabinetman]

Nicely executed chair there Garf, I would just say the last time I made a tall stool with three legs I kept falling off it. So please do be careful. Ian
Is the back cut out of solid by the way?

 

[GarF]

No, it’s steam bent ash. The spindles are ash and the rest is redwood. It’s Chris Schwarz’s design with Pete Galbert’s legs. I’m fairly pleased with it, but you’re right, I think it would punish the nappish!

 

[Cabinetman]

I think we are overdue a bit on steam bending, I’ve only done it once and it’s something I want to do again, don’t suppose you have any pictures of your work in progress on that? Would love to see it, thanks Ian

 

[Droogs]

Would it not be more stable if the back had the pair of legs and the front the single leg once you lean back in the chair. is lovely though and impressive joinery

 

[GarF]

Intuitively that would be the case. I think when leaning backward the tendency will be for the weight of the sitters legs to counterbalance the weight of the trunk, whereas with a single front leg there would be no such counterbalance and so it might be easier to tip it over by leaning forward off centre. Honestly I don't know. I'll file my first incident report here!

Didn't get any pictures of the steaming, only the very crude bending form....

I get the steam from an earlex steam stripper, connected to a very crude plywood box.
G

 

[Cabinetman]

Thanks Garf, definitely enough force there! The bit that I steam bent was 3/4 “ square-ish by about 5 feet long and when it came out of the box it was like wet spaghetti – almost -ish.
Important thing Garf, is that it worked.

 

[Illy]

Unavoidably spending more time sitting and less time doing at work this year. Getting a bit fed up with dull and not terribly comfortable chairs I decided to make my own. Currently plotting a garish paint job which will hopefully keep my colleagues off it!

View attachment 94278

I hope the painting comment was in jest ? I love the look of ash. Love the design, very funky and perfect for modern uneven floors !

 

[Dr Al]

It's my OH's birthday on Monday. She casually mentioned on Thursday that it would be nice if I made her some "pattern weights" for sewing (for holding down the pattern while marking out or something ). Basically some lumps of metal or other heavy stuff, somewhere in the 70-100 gram area. She emphasised that she didn't expect me to make them in time for her birthday, but I thought it was worth a go anyway as they're not a complicated thing to make.

Rather than just making what are essentially thick washers, I decided to give them some very rounded edges and drill a hole through the middle. That hole meant that I could also make a stand for them out of some walnut & stainless steel. It was nice to have an excuse to get the lathe up and running again as it's been a while since I had a project that needed that much turning.

The bits:

The underside of the stand before the uprights were glued in:

The finished article - just needs a bit more time for the finish on the wood to dry and then I'll wrap it up:

 

[Blister]

Very nice project , The wife should be varry happy

 

[Benchwayze]

Walnut, brass and steel. Nice contrasts. Lovely work. Happy Birthday to your your lady . John

 

[George..]

Hi all, this is a Hawksbill Turtle I’ve finished recently, it’s about 9” long and carved out of Lime,(which I buy from G & S in Penrith). Now working on its big brother also in Lime about 12” long. The markings are done with fine tipped Sharpie pens. Finished with one coat Danish oil after a few days then three coats clear liquid wax.

George

 

[Steliz]

Still a work in progress, the panels to fence the sides of the Pergola I've just finished.

 

[Cordy]

Hi Steve
Will you be showing us your pergola when finished ?
I need ideas to make a small pergola - limited space -
For climbing rose Gertrude Jekyll Due mid November from
David Austin
cheers
John