The trouble with Stop-Go projects is that one can lose one's thought pattern and this is guaranteed to invite the CUF along
I'd created the tangent handrailing drawing for the volute wreath....dead easy...just follow along the excellent ThisIsCarpentry feature (mentioned in earlier posts) and I'd even cut out a model from thick polystyrene foam together with a model foam volute. And it all looked good.
I've made the volute, as you know, so time to cut out the face-mould pattern and glue it to my chunk of ever-decreasing stock of walnut. So ....
I should have known better. Even the markings on the paper were screaming out to me 'This is NOT it' but I pressed on, and as soon as I'd cut it out of the lump of walnut and compared it to the polystyrene model, I could tell it was wrong.
So back to first prinicples. Rechecked my drawing and found the error (apart from not using the correct version in the first place). The centre-point for the two ellipses was in the wrong place. No wonder it didn't look right. Thing is I only now have enough walnut of that thickness to make one more wreath and if I cock up the next one then
This is what I am aiming for
and this revised drawing looks the Dogs.
You may be wondering why and how it is up at that strange angle. Well that angle is the angle of the staircase. You cut a piece off the bottom of the timber along the line that is the bottom of the handrail. That angle on the block now gives you the right angle for the wreath to be cut to shape. The piece you cut off is glued temporarily to the underside to give it more support but I like to add a second piece further up because this is going through the bandsaw to have the sides cut along the top view of the mould and it I didn't adequately support that far end then chances are the bandsaw would snag it downwards.
So ....this extra block
I also need to fix a template to the end that will be bolted to a straight part of the handrail.
So very carefully cutting the outside line and checking it's vertical.
and the inside line
Yes, I was too lazy to put a thinner blade in the bandsaw
Offering it up to the volute....looks OK.
In the background of the photo, you can see my homemade Acme heavy-duty aircleaner. Just managed to buy the last pre-filter from Axminster. It's driven by a bloody great fan sucking the air through the front and is great for hoovering up all the dust from the mould when I use the Saburr Tooth burrs.
You can also see where I've started to hog off the excess on the top of the wreath.
Starting to create the actual moulding of the wreath - using a mixture of SaburrTooth burrs, Flexcut chisels in my elderly Bosch power chisel, Auriou rasps and copious sandpaper.
The key is to take things slowly and constantly take the wreath out of the vice, offer it up to the volute, look and feel to see if it's right.
I'm also still a beginner at cutting out the wreath in the first place. You find that parts are thicker than they should be and one of the best ways I've found to get the line is, once you've established the underside of the wreath, is to take the spindle cutter and use it to mark the line.
To be continued...
If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.