turning time

Finally have a clear week to make progress on my giant bird feeder commission. When finished it will stand over a meter high by 650mm wide. It's design is based on a three tier Chinese temple, with each section graduating in size. Made in Poplar, the bird feeder will be finished with a weather resistant black lacquer, with gold lacquer details. Rods of solid 4mm brass will run between the stages to keep out unwanted squirrels, but still allow the birds to enter and exit.

My tasks this week were to create each stages roof mouldings, and the turned Bamboo style posts that sit in the corners and connect the frames together. 

I wanted a good deep curve moulding for the roof sections, something that I could not achive on my spindle moulder because of  limitations in the size of cutters it could take. So I resorted to setting a stop on my table saw carriage and haunching out the curve. This was a bit time consuming, but the reward was a more dramatic curve. 

Then it was time to dust down my old lathe. It must be over six months since I've done any serious wood turning. Just like riding a bike it all comes back to you as soon as you get started. The turning tools I used did need a bit of attention, I prefer to use them straight from a trip to the grinding wheel, avoiding any messing around with sharpening stones. It was a pleasure to spend a day at the lathe. And as I listened to that magical crisp noise of wood againsted chisel, I thought how important these sounds are to the woodworker, they tell us if our tools are sharp,under stress or if work is not held fast. It's these skills aquired over time without us even realilising, that built to make a master craftsman.

contemplation

The analysis into how our society and  economy arrived at its current low will go on and on. A lot of it is pointless conjecture, however every so often a point is raised that can cause you to reflect on your personal charictor and working pattern.

Half listening to the radio as I raced through a current project, caught in the constant need to catch up with my schedule, I was struck by a discussion on the stock market traders culture of quick gut instinct decision making. In an attempt to make faster trades and inturn more cash, traders were incoraged not to reflect on outcomes but just nail the deal. Not surprisingly this practice was rampant in Lehman Brothers before they were declared bankrupt.

Looking around the workshop I came to the shocking realisation that I could accuse myself of having the same work ethic. Taking on too much work and battling to keep up with a schedule can cause risk taking, poor planing and a sence that all is spiralling out of control. 

The answer to this? take on less work? easer said than done these days. One positive step to take could be allowing more time for those long forgotten and much underrated skills contemplation and reflection. Taking time to think a job through, looking for problems that may arise and asking if the techniques you plan to use are the best, or would a different approach work better.

I will try to implement this simple plan into my working life, and if successful I'll give the I.M.F a call

Maple candlesticks

I had a phone call early on in the week from a friend asking if I could create something for his wife to celebrate their wedding anniversary, which just so happend to have wood as its linked material. For a request like this there are only two choices, small box or candlesticks. As his budget would not run to a small box, she married cheep, it would have to be the candlesticks. Normaly I would fire up the lathe and get to it, however having just finished a project that called for lots of tricky, repetitive turning the thought of a return to the drone of the lathe did not fill me with joy. Instead I decided to try out a design based on something I had seen on the net a few months ago. 

The idea was simple enough, a block of timber had random facets planed onto it, with the odd one gilded for a bit of dramatic effect.

 Having first glued and then squared up some nice Maple I had in the store, I started by drilling a 25mm whole in the center of the top about 30mm deep, this tends to be an industry standard for candles. I then set to work planning my faces, which was easy to start but as the work progressed some ingenious cramping was called for. 

When happy with the balance of the pieces I sanded each face, pencil marking them as I went so as not to miss one out. Then armed with my Gesso pot, soft brush ( I use a lady's blusher brush for this, it works a treat ) and some Gold leaf, I set to work on the dramatic effect. 

After applying three coats of Danish oil I was quite happy with the results, let's hope the wife is.

review: Double sided diamond bench stone from Axminster.

Started the week with a tool sharping day. All of my abused chisels and planes were treated to some much needed love and attention. Having been flat out with work any sharpening required has tended to be rushed and lacking in time and care. Setting my bench up as a super sharping station I realised that it wasn't just my chisels that needed sorting out, my stones were looking a bit worse for ware. For many years I have been useing water stones for all my sharpening needs, they give great results. However due to a soft nature after time (even when useing a figure of eight pattern) they will loose their flat surface. Luckily this problem can easy be reamided by dressing the surface with a flattening stone. While carrying out this task I decided what I was lacking was a basic stone that could be slipped into the tool box for site work, and would be more robust for general sharpening tasks.

After a bit of research I went for a double sided Diamond stone from www.axminster.co.uk. Diamond particles are fused onto a Nickel plating which is attached to a 8mm thick steel base. The surface has an etched pattern which helps to remove metal particles created when sharpening. The stone has a good surface area of 200mm x 65mm, perfect for wide plane blades. One face is graded medium at 400g (36 micron) and the reverse face is fine at 1,000g (15 micron).Compared to the water stone equivalent, a Diamond stone can feel quite harsh, but their advantage is the surface cannot be hollowed through use. With a Diamond stone you don't have to control your sharpening technique to keep the stone flat, you have the freedom to concentrate on getting the edge you want.The Axmister stone comes with a rubber surround that help to keep it anchored to the bench, and offers some protection when in the toolbox. 

Whatever the production quality of a Diamond stone it will never match up to superior finish achived when useing a water stone. But at a very reasonable £20.00+ vat this stone works well as a sharpening starting point when you need a flat back to a tool quickly, or as a stone to put an edge on a chisel when out on site.

unstuck

The last job of the day has been glueing up. During the week I have been machining the components for a garden bird feeder. This however in not your normal bird feeder, it stands over half a meter high and is in the style of a three tier Chinese temple.  The next stage of the project required the glueing together of some of the thicker components ready for moulding tomorrow. I could have started with a thicker stock of timber, but over the years I've found laminating timber up to the size required builds in a stability, which is of greater need in an outdoor project like this one. 

The sections I was working with although to large still required four of my large 'G'cramps to give a good even pressure. As I mentioned this was the last job of the day, and this was for no other reason than I knew it was a nasty sticky job that would end as usual with me in a foul mood,cleaning glue from every area of the workshop. 

To start with I was useing Cascamite, which is a great adhesive and hard to match for exterior work, however it has to be carefully mixed from its powder form with cold water. Having left this the glueing up to the end of the day I was in a hurry and as a result my first batch had too much water in it, making it too runny with lots of lumps. After consigning it to the bin I took a deep breath and started again. The next batch was a great improvement, Cascamite should have the consistency of full cream milk for laminating work, and double cream when useing it on joints. 

It doesn't matter how long I spend preparing the working area covering the bench with paper, setting the cramps to the correct size and clearing away any unnessary tools, as soon as the glue is applied my fingers stick to everything, packing for the cramps just seems to disappear and the working area is transformed into one unholy mess.

And how did the glue up go for me today? I have to say it all went surprisingly well......that is untill I upended my full glue pot into the tool well of my bench.

Terry the Blacksmith

Working this week with my friend Terry the Blacksmith. His shop is not far from me in a village called Glynde, next to the world famous Glyndebourne opera house. I have a commission to make a small Oak bridge which I want to inset with Iron fish, hence Terry. The idea is as the iron fish rust they will contrast nicely with the Oak. As some of you will know iron has a reaction with Oak when it comes in contact with water, this is why you should never use wire wool when cutting back between finishing coats on projects made of Oak. The reaction of the three creates a greenish stain that seeps deep into the timber and is virtually impossible to get out. However in this case we want this reaction to be part of the overall design. 

I'm writing a piece for 'Good Woodworking' about Terry, and the ancient working relationship between blacksmiths and woodworkers. As I stood in Terry's beautifully atmospheric workshop, with it's two great forges strung with tongs of every shape and size, and anvils that proudly show the scars of years of hard work, listening to him talk of his plans for his retirement, I was struck by the thought, will their be anybody to take over this place and run it as a going concern when Terry hangs up his hammer? Somebody that I can continue to have that ancient blacksmith/ woodworker working relationship with, or will Terry's forge become one more local trade that is lost? I truly hope not.

exposure

So the Brighton show has come to an end. Today was spent loading my pieces into the pick- up and storing them back at the workshop. Now ideally I would be delivering each piece to its new home and collecting a much needed cheque, but alas nothing sold. Some could say that for that reason the show was a failure, ever the optimist and a glass half full chap I don't see it that way. Apart from the fuel cost in travelling to and from the house, the show cost me nothing. Putting my stuff out there on display gave me the excuse to mail all of my clients and invite them to a great pre-show party, I also placed details on Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn. Along with this the people counter we religiously used at the door showed a footfall of over a thousand people, each one a  potential new customer. The Encounters house was lucky enough due to Milady's hard work, to win first prize for best open house out of two hundred and fifty! This brought with it a lot of coverage in the press and festival linked websites. To get to my point, I didn't sell but I did get a hell of a lot of free exposure. You can be both highly skilled and totally original but if no one knows you are out there you won't get very far.

It is often the case that people who create find self promotion difficult, preferring to hide themselves away in a dark workshop hoping to be discovered. We must be brave, and grasp every opportunity that presents itself to get out there and show the masses what we are about and what we can do.