More Workbenches
Another rescued lathe stand.
Another rescued lathe stand.
Three Variations of the Same Theme There is a tradition in Melbourne secondary schools that has twelve year olds in their first woodwork lessons making a pencil case. Regardless of how ordinary the results may be, these things end up with magnificent decoration. During boring lessons they are canvas for expression of everything from undying…
Everything my friends make begins with best laid plans. But they do go astray! In this case there were aspects of the construction process that were so difficult that I needed to invent some extra help. Here is little bench clamp that holds up the basket end. At the beginning stage the unsupported end won’t…
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…
Sometimes a piece of wood is too good to throw away. Here is the end result of pushing a piece of blackbutt from one end of the wood rack to the other for about three years. It coincided with the acquisition of a long plug cutter. These tools can cut plugs over 100mm long, that…
Wooden hand plane aficionados (ambiguity intentional) make much of the fact that they can use words like “frog, cutting angle and throat” with confidence. That confidence is proof that they must be experts! If you add complexity to the activity then great reverence must be assumed. Much is made of achieving chisel cuts at particular…
I Broke a Promise… …but I also made a discovery. When I began doing wood projects among my disabled friends I made some promises to myself. The promises were a personal, but unwritten, statement of policy. I promise to: do work that is engaging because the thing we make is interesting, never to do all…