Hello everyone,
I'd been wondering where a couple of regulars on a certain other forum had disappeared to and I think I've found them so decided to join this forum too. Hopefully I'll be able to add some things of interest to others here, although I'm very new to woodwork so I suspect I'll learn more than I'll contribute.
I've spent a lot more time over the years doing metalwork than woodwork, but I'm trying to adjust that balance now! My woodworking area is very small. My workshop is a single garage. Half of that single garage is allocated to metalworking tools (mainly a big metal lathe). Half of the remaining half is filled with a motorbike, which leaves quarter of a single garage for woodworking. Most of that space is a bench:
- Woodworking end of Workshop
- (58.04 KiB)
I started woodworking last year in lockdown. My very first (and still my biggest) woodworking project was a small side table, made following lots of advice gained from @MikeG (and others) on the other forum.
- Side table
- (64.74 KiB)
It was made with a mixture of hand tools and power tools. All the mortice joints were hand cut, but the breadboard ends on the table top were cut with a router as I didn't have any suitable hand tools at the time (my collection has grown since then, so maybe next time...)
My next project was a monitor stand made out of lots and lots of little bits of maple, oak, European walnut and American black walnut, along with a stainless steel frame.
- Monitor Stand
- (43.66 KiB)
For a sense of scale, it's about 800 mm long - big enough for two 24" widescreen monitors to sit on it. The legs are splayed out at 75°, which added some challenges from the metalworking part of the project, but I think adds to the style of it.
- Monitor Stand
- (41.47 KiB)
Since then I haven't tackled anything big, although I have a few things in the "thinking phase". I have just made a set of grooving/plough planes and also what I'm calling a "kerfing saw":
- Home-made Planes & Kerfing Saw
- (46.5 KiB)
With hindsight I probably should have taken them off the drawer unit to get a better photograph!
The planes are made out of beech and walnut, along with some gauge plate (O1 tool steel) for the blades. They're in pairs, two 3 mm and two 5 mm. The pairs are mirror images of each other so I can pick a different one depending on grain direction. Here are the 5 mm ones:
- 5 mm Planes
- (46.9 KiB)
These two cut a 5 mm wide groove, 5 mm deep and 5 mm from the edge of a board. The idea is that they're used to make grooves for box / drawer bottoms without having to faff around setting up a plough plane (which I didn't own at the time I made these anyway) or router. This in-progress photo gives an idea of how they're constructed:
- Inside the Planes
- (46.59 KiB)
Most recently I finished making a "kerfing saw" out of oak, brass & a saw blade I bought for £10 on a well-known auction site:
- Kerfing Saw
- (31.72 KiB)
- Kerfing Saw
- (41.3 KiB)
It is used a bit like a plough plane crossed with a marking gauge to run a saw kerf (up to 16 mm deep) all the way round a bit of wood at a fixed offset (selected by picking one of the inserts, which I've made for 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm and 8 mm so far, but they're easy to make so more will probably come) from the edge of the wood. Having made that kerf, it's really easy to follow with a handsaw to cut the rest of the way through. In the first test of it I cut a piece of 9 mm thick cherry into two 3 mm thick (after planing) pieces, which felt to me like fairly minimal waste (especially considering my sawing skills!)
Anyway, that's me. Hello to everyone on this forum. I haven't actually had any issues personally from the other forum (and learnt a lot from some people over there), but I figure it would be good to see whether the grass colour looks any different over here, as long as I can manage not to get too frustrated by phpBB...
Hope this wasn't too long for a "hello" message!