Post your woodwork here

[eccc whippet]

Leka when you have the right tools for the job...now i know how many i have got and where they are.

[LeTurbo]

*** jobs to avoid at all costs: chairs. An old oomie in Hout Bay inherited this dining set from his grandfather and wanted to pass it on to his son. Nothing special, they're mass produced numbers from around the 1920s. 

 

First, I wash chairs. No sanding. Just Handy Andy and a pot scourer gets most old varnish and shellac off. Rinse and wipe well, because runs will show up when the wood dries. But that's all you need do, as the chair on the left shows.

 

All the joints were wobbly, and the dowels had to be drilled out and the joints separated. Sometimes you need to add new floating tenons; you usually have to cut new corner blocks, and there were several mortises that had split (stop kids rocking on the back legs, dammit!)

 

The old hide-and-bone glue had broken up ... but I used it again. Why? First, new animal glue sticks to old animal glue, so you don't need to clean the joints. Second, it can be steamed open if there's a mess up. Only old glue makes a piece restorable in the future. 

 

What you're going to face is hundreds, if not thousands of staples in the fabric. That's a few hours of mind-numbing work to remove. And when you get the first layer off, there are more staples in the foam. And then more on the fabric support. And the cross-straps. And ... and ...and ...

[LeTurbo]

Next comes replacing all the broken surfaces with new wood: plane them smooth, add new sections, shape them by plane, spokeshave, rasp, file or sandpaper, cut new joints.

 

We're probably into day two by now. The chair now costs a lot more than a new one.

 

Lay all the cleaned and restored pieces out, check the fit of each joint. Cook a small amount of animal glue in a double boiler, test the consistency ... then take a deep breath, get everything else out of the way aaaaaaaand ... work at a furious pace because everything needs to go into the right hole at the right time before the glue gets too sticky, go, go, go!

 

then find interesting ways to clamp up all the awkward angle and pieces. When it's all dry-ish (about 24 - 36 hours), you can unclamp it and insert new dowels.

[LeTurbo]

Voila! Restored chair with nice tight joints, several good coats of RLO (I prefer to BLO), two coats of Woodoc 10 with a rubdown of steel wool between coats, and finally finished with a waxing of Cobra polish. Total time per chair about 3 days, but that would make them unreasonable so you can only really charge for about 2/3 of a day. Damn.

 

Oh, and the oomie decided to bring the matching table through to me on the back of his bakkie. He stopped off in Wynberg, and wondered why it wasn't there when he got back after an hour ... 

Edited July 1, 2016 by LeTurbo

[jimmycool]

Voila! Restored chair with nice tight joints, several good coats of RLO (I prefer to BLO), two coats of Woodoc 10 with a rubdown of steel wool between coats, and finally finished with a waxing of Cobra polish. Total time per chair about 3 days, but that would make them unreasonable so you can only really charge for about 2/3 of a day. Damn.

 

Oh, and the oomie decided to bring the matching table through to me on the back of his bakkie. He stopped off in Wynberg, and wondered why it wasn't there when he got back after an hour ...

Very nicely done.

[DJR]

Did a chair restoration like yours recently, Le Turbo, but I have to admit a few screws slipped into it while I wasn't looking. You are right about 1 thing, it is massively time consuming and I'll only do it your (right) way for something with high sentimental value.

[dev null]

Nicely done.

 

I know about chairs myself. Bought some nicely looking beech chairs in Cape Town in 95. Well, they turned out to be only nice looking, but not well engineered. How do you design a chair with M&T joins that are not pinned or wedged? I had to repair them at least once every 2 years. Even tried epoxy in the joints.  Well, they are now cut up for scraps, which is all they were good for.

 

Now, when I buy chairs, I first look at how the M&T are secured.

 

EDIT:  I thought about adding pins to the joints, but there were just not enough wood for that. Besides very thin legs, the tenons were also very short.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Moridin

[Tromp]

Next comes replacing all the broken surfaces with new wood: plane them smooth, add new sections, shape them by plane, spokeshave, rasp, file or sandpaper, cut new joints.

 

We're probably into day two by now. The chair now costs a lot more than a new one.

 

Lay all the cleaned and restored pieces out, check the fit of each joint. Cook a small amount of animal glue in a double boiler, test the consistency ... then take a deep breath, get everything else out of the way aaaaaaaand ... work at a furious pace because everything needs to go into the right hole at the right time before the glue gets too sticky, go, go, go!

 

then find interesting ways to clamp up all the awkward angle and pieces. When it's all dry-ish (about 24 - 36 hours), you can unclamp it and insert new dowels.

Next comes replacing all the broken surfaces with new wood: plane them smooth, add new sections, shape them by plane, spokeshave, rasp, file or sandpaper, cut new joints.

 

We're probably into day two by now. The chair now costs a lot more than a new one.

 

Lay all the cleaned and restored pieces out, check the fit of each joint. Cook a small amount of animal glue in a double boiler, test the consistency ... then take a deep breath, get everything else out of the way aaaaaaaand ... work at a furious pace because everything needs to go into the right hole at the right time before the glue gets too sticky, go, go, go!

 

then find interesting ways to clamp up all the awkward angle and pieces. When it's all dry-ish (about 24 - 36 hours), you can unclamp it and insert new dowels.

Nice .Pity about your workbench .Lots of potential. Edited July 2, 2016 by Tromp

[Ed-Zulu]

Weather turned really Cape Town up north today with very cold wind and rain...

 

finished some minor prep work on the hull and finished these two mast collars for attachment once the weather improves, epoxy likes warm dryer weather

[Ed-Zulu]

Voila! Restored chair with nice tight joints, several good coats of RLO (I prefer to BLO), two coats of Woodoc 10 with a rubdown of steel wool between coats, and finally finished with a waxing of Cobra polish. Total time per chair about 3 days, but that would make them unreasonable so you can only really charge for about 2/3 of a day. Damn.

 

Oh, and the oomie decided to bring the matching table through to me on the back of his bakkie. He stopped off in Wynberg, and wondered why it wasn't there when he got back after an hour ... 

The love of labour, or the labour of love...lovely work!

[Skylark]

Leturbo what is Rlo and Blo, some kind of wood sealer?

Edited July 2, 2016 by Skylark

[jimmycool]

Leturbo what is Rlo and Blo, some kind of wood sealer?

Raw vs Boiled linseed oil.

[@ndy]

I finally finished my Christmas holiday project. Table has been complete for a while but getting the pool table playable has been phase 2.

[Ed-Zulu]

I finally finished my Christmas holiday project. Table has been complete for a while but getting the pool table playable has been phase 2.image.jpegimage.jpeg

Nicely done @ndy!

[i24]

I am looking for some 2nd hand wood for an outdoor project. I want to make a work table for potting seedlings and cuttings. This will stand outside, un-painted, with maybe sheet of black plastic to keep off the worst of the rain.

 

I am looking for something like 2nd hand pallet  wood, floor board, ceiling strips or roof timber etc. It can be very rough, nails and knots not a problem. But must be solid wood, board or plywood wont last. Just material that is not fit for better purpose but better than braai wood.

 

I can collect in from Cape Town, southern suburbs, up to 2 or 3m lengths and will pay fair price. PM me if you have some wood that you might want to get rid of.

 

Thanks!

[LeTurbo]

Nice .Pity about your workbench .Lots of potential.

 

Ah! The workbench. It was put together by my Dad and my Grandad in about 1955, when my folks moved into their new house. Nobody could understand why they'd live so far out in the sticks as Linden - all those sand roads ...

 

And now I'm so used to using an engineer's vice too, I don't know if I could change.