An artist in my circle wanted to make a frame on which to stretch a canvas.
The joint in the corner of such frames is a complex thing that is not to be tackled by a beginning woodworker. I needed to simplify it.
In the hope that beginners will give it a go I have reduced the joint to four slats. The ends are cut square, at 45 degrees and at 15 degrees.
These slats are layered and their ends combine to make up the interlocking, wedge operated stretching mechanism.
This is how the kit looked when it was ready for canvas.
Layering gives neater and cleaner joints that any amount of machining.
Mitres create a neat square frame to staple a canvas to.
As the wedges are hammered against the 15 degree ends the frame expands.
Four slats are clear in this view. Two outer slats are cut at 45 degrees and the inner cut at 90 and 15 degrees. Mess from the glue is hidden by the canvas.
Another rescued lathe stand. This steel construction makes a rigid scaffold on which to mount a work top. The surface is an oregon timber beam removed from a house during renovation. There are splits and twists, but to remove them would have lost 20mm in thickness and 70mm in width. After judicious machining, the bench…
Pallet wood has challenges.If patina tells a story, this is a saga of neglect.The milling process was rushed, the drying stage left twists and warps, and nails fixed the stigma of an abusive past with rusty stains.With such baggage, construction needed to compensate by accepting skewed realities. All timber in this table was rescued from dumping…
This is a celebration of end grain. When sanding end-grain to a polish, there is a lovely moment when you stand back to look at the figure. It is always beautiful. The hand cut chain is a fervent hope that the enjoyment never gets away! Human hands don’t seem to be able to create lines…
It has been a long absence from blogging. To explain would take a box of tissues and a patient listener. …suffice to say, I lost my workshop, but am now close to finding it again. A workbench on castors suffers from lack of mobility when small diameter wheels bump into chunks of stuff on the…
The last couple of months have been dominated by the fire engine and clocks, so this blog has been a little quiet. It is good news that we sold thirty clocks with money going to my friends’ care. To keep the blog active, here is an entry about The Trolley. Its creation occupied lots of…
Sharing with Good People Sam is a wonderful helper in my disability woodwork lessons. This basket is her idea. She rattled her head until the idea came then generously passed it on to me. Woodwork is fascinating and sharing it is rewarding. BUT the reward is doubled when people in the workshop are enthusiastic. When the enthusiasm is…
