Monday 14 January 2013

Some of my recent projects

Here are some of my recent pieces of woodwork.

Pair of random-strip chopping boards:

Chopping boards

I was really proud of how these turned out. Here's what I did:
  • Start with boards of different coloured wood.  I used walnut, purpleheart and maple.
  • Plane them all to the same thickness.  Tip: run all the boards through the planer without changing its height, you won't be able to find the precise height a second time.
  • Rip to random widths using the table saw.  Start by ripping thin widths ff the side while the board is still wide; it's much easier than trying to split a thin strip into two.
  • Spend plenty of time arranging the pieces for the best effect.  I think I spent more than 30 minutes on this step and I feel like it paid off.
  • Glue and clamp (I used Titebond III).  Tip: the ten-minute working time of the glue passes very quickly; try a dry fit first and consider gluing the board up in two halves and then gluing them together.  I wasn't quite quick enough on the bigger board and the first joint wasn't as tight as it should be.
  • Plane the glued up board.
  • Cross-cut on the table saw to trim the ends.
  • Use round-over bit in the table router to round over the corners. Tips: 
    • If your boards are as thin as mine, use the fence rather than a bearing to set the round-over distance.  If you don't, the bearing will be in empty space when you flip the boards over to do the second side.
    • Do the endgrain first.
    • Follow the piece with a scrap block to prevent tearout.
  • Sand to desired grit.
  • Finish with butchers block oil.

Christmas snowman ornament:

  My, that's a nice scarf

This is one of my favourite turnings.  I finally got the hang of cutting beads and then finished him off with a pyro pen and a purpleheart hat.

A bowl and turned apple:

Yesterday's turnings

2 comments:

  1. Those really look nice Shaun. I didn't realize Titebond III setup so quickly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Yes, iirc it has a 10 min open assembly time, then 20 minute closed assembly time. However, if you only clamp towards the end of the 20 mins then I found I didn't get a good glue bead.

      Delete