Masochism…

Bandsaw BoxesWoodworking

…is deciding to make a batch of bandsaw boxes for your son’s school’s xmas bazaar thingy, while in a shed that’s too small, with a bandsaw that’s not really up to the task, and a sanding arrangement that… well, more on that in a moment.

I mean, I don’t even keep anything other than 4/4 material on hand, thicknessing anything else down to the normal 3/4 width you see in furniture is just too much work by hand (though I do need to get some 8/4 stuff soon for a piece’s legs). So it’s lamination city…

Something is missing….

Ah, there they are. Literally every clamp I have (bar the 5′ cast iron ones that are slowly rusting away outside, accusingly. I’ll get to them this xmas and sort them out, honest).… Read the rest

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Ebonising…

Bandsaw BoxesFinishingWoodworking

Before:

During:
After:
No paint, no stains, no inks or dyes.

I used Richard Maguire’s ebonising method – take handful or two of oak shavings off the floor, boil for ten minutes in a saucepan, paint the resulting tea on the piece, sand down the raised grain, repeat 2-3 times. Then take steel wool, soak in vinegar for a week in a jar with a hole in the lid. Now paint the piece with that solution. The tannic acid in the oak, boosted by the tannic acid in the tea, reacts with the iron in the steel wool solution, and turns jet black.

It’s not a bad result, even on a quickly-done test piece that only got two doses of the tea and not much prep work.

 … Read the rest

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Open box

Bandsaw BoxesWoodworking

The ash bandsaw box is still being finished and this one hasn’t even started the finishing process (I’m going to try ebonising the outside using Richard Maguire’s method and painting the inside with milk paint), but I thought it looked reasonable for a second try:

Finish, fill with jelly beans, give as gift. Sorted.… Read the rest

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