What did you do in your workshop today ?

[garethharvey]

What type of wood is that garethharvey?

It's Western Red Cedar

 

[SteveF]

This week/today I've been working on this camper conversion. Aiming to have it at least completed enough to sleep ion for a trip to France by August. First coat of paint has gone on today as well as some various tidying up of panelling etc. I'm not aiming for it to be the most exquisite piece of craftsmanship, but it's difficult stop focussing on details sometimes. All in all it's great to be back at my bench.

nice project
hope we get updates

Steve

 

[El Barto]

This week/today I've been working on this camper conversion. Aiming to have it at least completed enough to sleep ion for a trip to France by August. First coat of paint has gone on today as well as some various tidying up of panelling etc. I'm not aiming for it to be the most exquisite piece of craftsmanship, but it's difficult stop focussing on details sometimes. All in all it's great to be back at my bench.

nice project
hope we get updates

Steve

Thanks! I'm definitely going to try and post updates. It feels like it's at a stage now where it'll progress quite quickly and be more interesting. Rather than waiting for paint to dry or getting rid of rust

 

[Fitzroy]

Looking forwards to seeing that glasshouse going up, will be fascinating.

F.

 

[MikeJhn]

Isn't a glasshouse what the armed force's keep their miscreants in. (hammer)

Mike

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Just finished making this sort of puzzle bandsaw box out of spalted beech for a friend of the OH

In case you wondered 'Diolch' is the Welsh for 'thank you'

 

[Bm101]

Lovely. Like to see more of this one Sawdust if you have any info to share. Far above my skillset but I like to plan for the future fella. (*yn fawr)

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Lovely. Like to see more of this one Sawdust if you have any info to share. Far above my skillset but I like to plan for the future fella. (*yn fawr)

Thanks Bm101. To be honest it requires more patients (and time) than skill, it's only the 2nd bandsaw box I've ever made.

Didn't take any WIP photos unfortunately.

Well how I did it step by step was..

- With a ripping blade cut the base away on the bandsaw.
- Also cut off a thick enough piece for the lid.
- Then, using the router table, use a straight bit to remove the bulk of the centre of the sliding dovetail of the body.
- Swap for a dovetail bit and cut the angles of the dovetail.
- Then, do the same for the lid, but obviously the outside. But creep up for the fit (mine ended up a bit too loose though - note to self, improve router fence adjustment).
- Once you're happy with the dovetail (or kicking yourself) go back to the bandsaw, swap the ripping blade for the thinnest blade the bandsaw can take.
- Pick a corner of the body, try to follow the grain for the entry cut (less likely to be visible once glued) and cut out the inside of the body as cleanly as possible.
- Using the 'waste' of the inside, cut out the inner lid. I didn't swap back to the ripping blade, so rather than messing up a straight cut of a thin blade I went for a purposeful wavy cut. I also drilled out the finger hole of the inner lid at this stage.
- Now it's time to glue the main body back together at the entry cut.
- Once the glue's dried do some sanding of the inside at the oscillating spindle sander (quicker than by hand)
- I used self adhesive felt for the bottoms of the inside, so I used the body as a template to pre-cut out the felt at this stage.
- Using the waste of the inside, cut out a little 'shelf' at each end (profile should be almost prefect fit to the inside of the body.
- Tip body upside down, drop in the inner lid upside down (which is protectively taped up to protect from glue), then glue the little shelves in place with CA and activator. As the inner lid is down flat with the body the shelves should then be at the perfect level to keep the inner lid flush with the top of the body, and hence keep the sliding dovetail working too.
- I then sanded the base of the body and the bottom cutout at the belt sander to ensure flatness (could be done by hand by fixing sheets of sandpaper on a flat reference surface)
- Glue the bottom cutout to the body with many clamps...

- Once dry it's time to drill holes for the keys (aka dowels) using forstener bits. Clamp lid to body for this to keep perfectly aligned. I drilled mine all the way through to bottom, as it's easiest to get the dowel keys out by pushing from bottom.
- From the inside offcut, I used hole plug cutters to cut out the tips of the dowel keys, trying to match the grain as perfect as possible.
- Now keeping it all 'attached' and held in place it's time for lots of sanding and shaping.
- Sanding sanding and more hand sanding.
- At this point I tried out my new dremel sander to carve the 'Diolch' to the underside of the inner lid.
- Lots of even fiddlier hand sanding for the inside.
- Once you've gone through the grits and are happy, then it's time for the finish (I did 3 coats of danish oil).
- I used libreron clear black bison wax over it all (apart from where the felt will go on the base), but the buffing (by hand) took a while as it's all fiddly nooks and crannies! But was worth doing in the end.
- Stick in the felt to the bottom, and job done

(Apologies for the essay)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It requires more patients? Hell, I'm not trying that, then.

 

[Bm101]

Thanks Sawdust. Very kind of you.

 

[AJB Temple]

This weekend I dug out foundations for my utility room. Having booked a 3 ton digger I ended up with a 1.5 ton one due to breakdowns. Turns out that tree roots from two large bay bushes are much stronger than a mini digger, and that mini digger's cab is much stronger than my wrist. ;-) Digger tipped forward alarmingly. Broke wrist, somewhat curtailing my piano playing for few weeks. Hospital had me plastered up and home inside 3 hours. Top job.

Yesterday I also managed to roll a 5 metre heavy oak beam (lifted up there on a dumper truck) off the top of a single storey frame. This landed on the hardcore and luckily did not hit my team of wife and son. No harm done apart from one of my lovely oak dovetails had a corner knocked off. Beam is now in place. Building timber frames is a bit more of challenge with one arm in plaster - eldest son has had to do most of the heavy lifting and has earned a bonus as building number 2 is now erected and ready to put the rafters up.

Framing thread (illustrated) will appear in the winter when it is warm enough to type but too cold to work outdoors.

 

[NazNomad]

Messed about getting this downdraft table up & running.

Place it upside-down on a table and connected the extractor... Picked the table up off the floor. :-D

Guess it's reasonably airtight then?

 

[MikeJhn]

Four more wardrobe doors sprayed and fitted.

OH very pleased with the results. Phwee. :lol:

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

Further refinement to my Bandsaw extract:

Mike

 

[El Barto]

Just finished making this sort of puzzle bandsaw box out of spalted beech for a friend of the OH

In case you wondered 'Diolch' is the Welsh for 'thank you'

Love the finish you've achieved. Top job. Is there anything out there similar to Black Bison but more eco-friendly?

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Love the finish you've achieved. Top job. Is there anything out there similar to Black Bison but more eco-friendly?

Thanks El Barto. When you say more eco-friendly what do you mean about the black bison? I did look before for ingredients to see if there were any animal products in it - as the OH is veggie :x

 

[El Barto]

Love the finish you've achieved. Top job. Is there anything out there similar to Black Bison but more eco-friendly?

Thanks El Barto. When you say more eco-friendly what do you mean about the black bison? I did look before for ingredients to see if there were any animal products in it - as the OH is veggie :x

Just something with less chemicals etc, not necessarily animal products (although I suppose that's a bonus!).

 

[skipdiver]

Spent about 4 hours straight, cutting parts on my bandsaw. Had to stop when the motor started to get very hot, which was a blessing as i was bored rigid by then.

 

[NazNomad]

I did look before for ingredients to see if there were any animal products in it - as the OH is veggie :x

Pretty sure it doesn't contain actual Bison. :-D

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Pretty sure it doesn't contain actual Bison. :-D

I did wind her up about that
But she's not even happy with me using bees wax for things I make for us... so I haven't shown her the new leather strop I've made!