Post your woodwork here

[Rocket-Boy]

Can I ask why you do not butt the two timber sections together once you have book matched them, and then turn the shape on the late?

 

So doing you will get a nicely aligned grain?

 

Asking from a design perspective, as I have personally not turned wood on a lathe yet.

What pants said, you turn the edges to the bushings for sizing purposes and the middle section is up to you. This pen was for a girl with fairly small hands so I made the lower section a little thinner and the top section a bit thicker so that the weight and balance feels better when writing with it.

[LeTurbo]

Yo! Ahoy! Life got in the way of my Hubbing. It probably still will, dammit.

 

The past year or two involved moving the workshop from Paarden Eiland to Kensington to Woodstock to Bellville. At the same time, moving home from Greenpoint to Rondebosch to Century City and then also to Bellville. Among other things.

 

The old Woodstock workshop didn't have room to swing a cat, even a dead one. Somehow, I managed to make a bed in there, but only by moving the entire place from one side to another. There was also a dude - the landlord's son - living in that space behind the partition. Fully awkward.

 

 

 

 

[LeTurbo]

I feel a bit of an imposter coming on Bike Hub when I haven’t ridden further than about 5km at any time during those two years.

 

Anyway, good to be back. And though I’ve only gone through the past 8 or so pages, it’s good to see familiar old names causing the same old ***. And making some very nice things too. (Still miss old Tumbles though.)

 

These days, I’m mainly just doing the woodwork for my own amusement and education (which means it’s now actually silly having a big workshop; I should go back to Woodstock).

 

I guess it’s just part of the commercial world that it’s easier to make money putting up a few towel rails, changing lightbulbs, and fixing kitchen cupboards than it is by making furniture.

 

 Although I over-complicate that too. Nobody makes money out of hand-made furniture. All the big boys locally – Pierre Cronje, David Krynauw, etc - are using CNC these days, and the carpenters job is purely to glue and clamp.

 

I’ll try to put up something entertaining in the way of a few projects completed over the past months.

 

Good to be back! This is the new(ish) workshop I moved into in September or October.

 

[LeTurbo]

One of the few projects at the old place – and I hope I haven’t posted this before, because then I’ll know that my 54 years are catching up with me – is this asymetric table.

 

I was left with some oddly shaped ash wedges from the bed I made, and I had a hickory top floating around from 2 workshops earlier (stillborn side-tables that had a sprayed mdf base in very ugly yellow).

 

So I chucked the wedges on the floor and decided they had to be joined pretty much as they lay, give or take 360 degrees in the round. Interesting cutting some of the angles and then also trying to make a kind of joint that would have mechanical strength without slipping and sliding during glue-up. The doweling is ordinary saligna dowels with an ash wedge for dekorasie.

 

Remarkably, it’s less unstable than some of the other odd stuff I’ve made.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

I feel a bit of an imposter coming on Bike Hub when I haven’t ridden further than about 5km at any time during those two years.

 

Anyway, good to be back. And though I’ve only gone through the past 8 or so pages, it’s good to see familiar old names causing the same old ***. And making some very nice things too. (Still miss old Tumbles though.)

 

These days, I’m mainly just doing the woodwork for my own amusement and education (which means it’s now actually silly having a big workshop; I should go back to Woodstock).

 

I guess it’s just part of the commercial world that it’s easier to make money putting up a few towel rails, changing lightbulbs, and fixing kitchen cupboards than it is by making furniture.

 

 Although I over-complicate that too. Nobody makes money out of hand-made furniture. All the big boys locally – Pierre Cronje, David Krynauw, etc - are using CNC these days, and the carpenters job is purely to glue and clamp.

 

I’ll try to put up something entertaining in the way of a few projects completed over the past months.

 

Good to be back! This is the new(ish) workshop I moved into in September or October.

Been a while since I saw you posting on the hub so welcome back. Thats quite a workshop you have there!

Those chairs in the one shot, did you make them? Some seriously skilled work those.

[Rocket-Boy]

One of the few projects at the old place – and I hope I haven’t posted this before, because then I’ll know that my 54 years are catching up with me – is this asymetric table.

 

I was left with some oddly shaped ash wedges from the bed I made, and I had a hickory top floating around from 2 workshops earlier (stillborn side-tables that had a sprayed mdf base in very ugly yellow).

 

So I chucked the wedges on the floor and decided they had to be joined pretty much as they lay, give or take 360 degrees in the round. Interesting cutting some of the angles and then also trying to make a kind of joint that would have mechanical strength without slipping and sliding during glue-up. The doweling is ordinary saligna dowels with an ash wedge for dekorasie.

 

Remarkably, it’s less unstable than some of the other odd stuff I’ve made.

Must have been super interesting getting all the angles cut at the correct angles to make it work. Looks really cool as a finished product. 

Im super jealous of you guys being able to get hold of all that cool wood, here in EL the variety is limited to mostly pine and meranti.

[LeTurbo]

Been a while since I saw you posting on the hub so welcome back. Thats quite a workshop you have there!

Those chairs in the one shot, did you make them? Some seriously skilled work those.

 

Thanks, Rocket-Boy! It has been a looooooong time. A year maybe? No, the chairs are an old set that I grew up with, so they date from the 50s or thereabouts. Standard ball-and-claw imbuia, but all the joints are broken so I need to fix that up so I can pass them on to my niece. 

[Rocket-Boy]

Thanks, Rocket-Boy! It has been a looooooong time. A year maybe? No, the chairs are an old set that I grew up with, so they date from the 50s or thereabouts. Standard ball-and-claw imbuia, but all the joints are broken so I need to fix that up so I can pass them on to my niece. 

Time away isnt a bad thing so long as you pop in here and say hi from time to time.

Furniture resto seems like tricky stuff, matching wood tones to fix things cant be too easy unless you can hide it inside joints.

[Capricorn]

One of the few projects at the old place – and I hope I haven’t posted this before, because then I’ll know that my 54 years are catching up with me – is this asymetric table.

 

I was left with some oddly shaped ash wedges from the bed I made, and I had a hickory top floating around from 2 workshops earlier (stillborn side-tables that had a sprayed mdf base in very ugly yellow).

 

So I chucked the wedges on the floor and decided they had to be joined pretty much as they lay, give or take 360 degrees in the round. Interesting cutting some of the angles and then also trying to make a kind of joint that would have mechanical strength without slipping and sliding during glue-up. The doweling is ordinary saligna dowels with an ash wedge for dekorasie.

 

Remarkably, it’s less unstable than some of the other odd stuff I’ve made.

 

If you could give the legs a more 'organic' look, that thing would draw some serious attention.

[LeTurbo]

Another project from Woodstock. I’d forgotten about this one, mainly because I’m not really happy with how it turned out. The handle could’ve been a lot more elegant and its base should’ve been wider. Probably more like a split fork; something that was a compromise between the square lines of the trolley and the OTT of the present handle.

 

It was a little trolley for my great-niece’s first birthday. One of those you fill with wooden blocks. It also helps her learn walking, I gather.

 

The wheels had to be reasonably big because they live on a farm in Robertson so it’s a 4X4 trolley.

 

The axles are just coach screws – they have the smooth upper shank – with a washer. Like the wheels, the hubcaps were turned on my sanding machine (one of Dad’s creations, with a 70 year old Hoover motor). I drilled the back and chiselled a hexagon for the nut and glued them on with epoxy.

 

[Lotus]

 

 

Good to be back! This is the new(ish) workshop I moved into in September or October.

 

I usually follow this thread because it's great to see craftsmanship.

 

I'm particularly interested in your workshop setup. I've got this idea to return to CT and  build a sailboat in the not too distant future, and I've been wondering where to do that. Some people build a big tent in their garden, but I think a workshop like yours is way better, especially in winter. And the size of yours looks about right for a forty foot boat.

 

May I ask what the general availability of workshops is like in CT (thinking Paarden Island, Woodstock or any area where the rents are relatively cheap, but the place is secure). And what sort of rental is likely for a place like that?

[DJR]

Yo! Ahoy! Life got in the way of my Hubbing. It probably still will, dammit.................

It's good to hear from you Le Turbo. 

[dev null]

That sucks bro, IT is a pretty soul destroying profession, I have been a linux admin of ~110 odd servers for the last 12 years.

 

I concur. Have been a developer for the past 28 years.

[kosmonooit]

FYI: for Makita 18v power tools aficionados, I have started sourcing deals off e-bay in the USA and bringing them in for resale here. Some very decent tools, like the latest brushless and compact drills etc, at reasonable deals!  prices here are just silly. Then you can buy chargers and batteries of ur choice here, good place is Adendof.

 

Most are brand new, and of course there is a bit of risk / unknown factor but I do test them and supply in good faith. I will be putting up an paid ad shortly in the classifieds, I have two brushless beauts in stock, and more on order.

[LeTurbo]

I usually follow this thread because it's great to see craftsmanship.

 

I'm particularly interested in your workshop setup. I've got this idea to return to CT and  build a sailboat in the not too distant future, and I've been wondering where to do that. Some people build a big tent in their garden, but I think a workshop like yours is way better, especially in winter. And the size of yours looks about right for a forty foot boat.

 

May I ask what the general availability of workshops is like in CT (thinking Paarden Island, Woodstock or any area where the rents are relatively cheap, but the place is secure). And what sort of rental is likely for a place like that?

Lotus, things have changed since you were last here. Paarden Eiland, Woodstock and those areas around the CBD are sky-rocketing rent-wise. Woodstock is becoming gentrified, so many of the smaller businesses and craftsmen who were there are moving out so the web developers and ad agencies can move in. 

 

Some guys have found space in Paarden Eiland, but the rents there are going up like hell too, because the agents have seen what's happening in Woodstock ...

 

You have to go further out to find a decent rental, which is why I'm in Bellville. The space is just over 300 sq m at about R45/sq m. But when you add in the electricity, services, security, etc you come up to about R53/sq. m, or around R16 000 per month. 

 

Actually, I saw an article recently that, certainly as far as residential property goes, Cape Town has the fastest rising rates in the world. Well, at least we're number 1 at something!

[Rocket-Boy]

I concur. Have been a developer for the past 28 years.

I busy moving more into devops now, all of my formal qualifications are in dev but it isnt something I feel I could do full time. Im probably going to start working remotely for a company based in the states if everything falls into place.