Offcuts - the general chat thread

SpitfireIV

ennisa wrote: »

thanks for the info croppy, chess board/side table is a recognised stage, it's just above spice rack/bird house and below drawer chest/morris chair

good luck with the local nursery shop, out of interest and only if you don't mind answering, how would you decide what to charge for one made the same as what you have done? I understand no two would be the same but just for the sake of curiosity.

Ennisa, its a hard thing to put a price on such a piece, I didnt make it with a price in mind, but, I guess if I were forced I'd imagine I'd have to ask for at least €500, basically a weeks work.

Now, with regard to the price, the Eigse festival is currently on here in town, and there is a great display of green, traditional and contemporary chairs on display (I have some pics, I'll put them up later). The prices for some of those pieces were pretty high! You wouldnt have got any of them for under the 500 mark, even ones priced in the 600 - 800 range were relatively simple.

Fortunately you, I and the others furniture makers/craftspeople here can understand the price because we have an idea of the amount of time and effort that has gone into the piece, so its not as shocking to us as the layman off the street whom cant believe there eyes and may think 'sure I'd get a cheaper chair in arromount or land of furniture!', and perhaps rightly so, we have to look after the pennies too . I think the 'celtic tiger' has reduced our appreciation and expections from a piece of furniture, in the last number of years furniture was cheap and expendable, flatpack and 'self assembly' from some unknown workshop or factory in Mexico or the far east. Certainly not something you'd pass down from generation to generation, we're gonna have to change peoples perceptions of the value of furnishings maybe even revive the arts and crafts movement??! :pac:

jack of all

I went to see the chairs in Shamrock Plaza yesterday, some of them were very nice- I like the "green wood" chairs myself. As you say most of these were around €600, which I wasn't surprised at; I think €500 is a little low for your piece Croppy, it will be passed onto future generations.

ennisa

Croppy,
I have to agree with Jack that €500 seems a little low for something of that quality and beauty. It might be a weeks work and €500 might be a weeks pay for what you do now but that does not mean that the object is not worth more than that. I was and am still an avid recreational photographer and discovered as part of that, that if you don't price your work high enough then people don't value it as much as they should. The only indication that they have of the amount of work that went into something is the price. Because they don't have the skills, time or inclination to do it. And don't think that a weeks work went into something like that because it wasn't a week. it's all the projects that you have done up to now that refined your skill to this point and will continue to refine it on into the future. Every mortive and tennon. Each test or whimsical carving that you did or all the time with the fore and smoothing planes that allowed you to finish the wood to the degree needed to be able to hand it to a family member as a wedding present and as an heirloom.
They would get a cheaper chair in the land o' furniture but the clue is in the question. 'cheaper'. They would also be giving out about the chair from the moment it started to sag or split and what is the gum chewing summer student working in the land ' furniture going to do? Shrug his shoulders and offer another 'cheap' replacement. I have made only one or two things for people but I was present for every moment of that item from the day it was conceived and designed (often not as conciously as that) in my head and then put together and delivered. If something goes wrong with that then I am over there to find out what the problem is and the best way to sort it out yet. There has never been anything significant as the pieces were small and simple but I wasn't about to stand there and shrug my shoulders and offer some crocodile tears. Factor that into your price as well.
The celtic tiger and globalisation have come together to allow people to buy cheap furniture at a cheap price and then throw it away and get some more when either it has broken or they have lost interest in it. And while I hate that I have to say that I would have next to no furniture in my house without that and I am pretty sure that the wife would not be so pleased having to wait for me to skill up to the point where I can start to make things that don't look like I found them in a skip. The problem is that, as you say, very few people other than those that know a woodworker or have done/tried it themselves know the difference. Or even realise how much more is involved making something out of solid wood as opposed to making them out of veneered MDF. A lot of people don't care. If it looks like a duck and quacks like oak then what do they care. The Jone's next door will never know that the 'long boy' coffee table is made from walnut veneer. Or, heaven forfend,, just plastic imitation wood.
I love arts and crafts, I love the mortice and tennons. I love the solid, square, reliable look to it. I like how deceptively simple a Morris chair looks until you realise there are 40 or so mortice and tennon joints in a basic one. I love that you could use it to beat somebody to death with and then sit back down.
Would I like to revive the arts and crafts movement? You bet your ass I would.

jack of all

Great post ennisa!

Double Barrel

ennisa, :cool: post.

Alison Ospina's whimsical chair at the Éigse Festival.



"My hands work as if they had knowledge of their own, creating a chair that goes beyond functionality, into the realms of grace and beauty."
Alison Ospina, Green Wood Chairs

ennisa

I'm always amazed at how strong chairs have to be while also trying to look light and 'whimsical' the amount of load on the joints that join the chair seat to the back legs is enormous. The stress when chubby uncle Bert tucks his thumbs into the waist of his baloon seat jeans and tips the chair back onto the back legs so that he can let rip a good belch after the christmas dinner is much more than any single joint in a dining table has to contend with. Not to mention book cases and furniture that does not actually have to take the strain of any kind of shifting load. I admire anybody that can combine that strength with joints that are almost always at odd or compound angles and then also has to make it comfortable enough so that you are not contravening the geneva convention on torture at the same time. And then to do it 5 more times to match the dinning table. Tough work. When we bought the house we got an 5' oak table with 6 chairs for €600 or around that price. There is no way that I could make that for that price based on the time involved. The bed was the same price (including mattress), King size bed with head and foot board, some kind if pine I reckon, it is hard to tell with all the stain that they slopped onto it while trting to make it look like cherry. I could make that for half the price in about 2 weeks. And out of real cherry.

This seems a little ass about face to me.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the last post. What I forgot to mention of course is that while I would love to revive the arts and crafts movement, I don't yet have the skills. But of course I have time and a lot of good reference pieces and materials. And hey, if nobody wants what I make then I can always use it to beat people to death with.

aerosol

Many wise words Ennisa;):cool:


I've the plans for one of these stools for years,just not the space to grow one,just stumbled upon the site again... http://www.grown-furniture.co.uk/index.htmlI must now get it planted with the kids in the in-laws garden.

You can "grow" some cool furniture,probaly in about the same time it would take me to make a crib like croppys!!;):o
http://www.arborsmith.com/krubsack.html

ennisa

I love those weird little forms that they use to train the tress. I can imagine stumbling across a load of them in the forest somewhere after the apocolypse and trying to figure out what the hell they are for

SpitfireIV

ennisa wrote: »

Croppy,
I have to agree with Jack that €500 seems a little low for something of that quality and beauty. It might be a weeks work and €500 might be a weeks pay for what you do now but that does not mean that the object is not worth more than that. I was and am still an avid recreational photographer and discovered as part of that, that if you don't price your work high enough then

Great post indeed Ennisa, you have the fire burning in you!

Going to have a go at another crib this week hopefully, something a little different to the last one and featuring a little more steam bending and a bit of metal work too.........hopefully.

Have any of ye guys ever had any contact or dealings with the 'Crafts Council of Ireland'??

http://www.ccoi.ie/

Check out the furniture makers, some funky stuff in there!
http://www.ccoi.ie/portfolio/

Click on 'Main Menu' and then 'Furniture'

Fingalian

Afaik they have an annual show in the RDS. My aunt is is a quilter and she had nothing but praise for them. Flicked through the furniture,the adzed serving table by Michael Bell is very impressive,steady hand there or what! Real workmanship of risk. I liked his chainsaw detailing too.

ennisa

Croppy interesting link to the portfolio's where do they get the nice wood is what I always want to know! Some interesting stuff!

SpitfireIV

Here's a little project that I've been working on lately, with the help of a neighbour whom supplied me with a number of the raw materials (pipe, fittings etc) I was able to put this together!

Its a canon that fires offcuts and waste timber! Ah no, its a steamer for softening up wood prior to bending/forming it.

Its 8ft long, figured it'd be better to have it too long than too short! The pipe is 160mm diameter. The steam comes from an Earlex 5 litre wallpaper steamer which runs for about 70mins when full.

It all folds away and disconnects for easy storage. There is a vent on the top to allow the steam to escape (wouldnt want any pressure related explosions! ) and a drain hole at the bottom to let the condensed water run out. I still have to put a few threaded rods through it so as to give the timber something to sit up on and allow the steam to get at all sides.

It seems pretty effective from the quick tests I did, especially on some pieces of oak, about 20mm square and 2ft long, after about 10 mins in the steamer it was easy enough to bend to a right angle by hand!




The rubber was removed from the coupled at this end so the end cap could be easily taken off to allow access. Although the rubber is gone the cap still has a fairly snug fit.


A 3/8" fitting fixed to the rear cap allowed the hose from the steamer to be connected easily.


The steam source! I had considered making a fire box and burning offcuts etc to boil water but I figured it'd be a bit messy, smokey and smelly! A gas cylinder, ring and kettle were also an option, but I think the electric way (although not cheap I suppose) was the cleanest and easiest route.


She's cooking!

dubtom

I've seen similar but far more complicted versions croppy,have to say your looks the easiest to make with the same results. I've been planning on building a banjo for quite a while now,turning the rim was causing me a headache mounting wise.Steaming is actually the prefared method by all the big names like Gibson ect,I'd ruled it out because it looked so time consuming and complicated (for me) to build a steamer.This looks like just the thing.Good man.

?,did you actually make a couple of horses for your steamer to sit on,you certainly don't do things by halves.

ennisa

marvellous, never occured to me that it could be so easy to make one. Maybe mine could double as a cannon too though. Those cats keep crapping in my garden...... hmmmmm

SpitfireIV

Yes Tom I did make the two horses , I might make a third just to support it in the middle. I might get another small bit of pipe also and make a small steamer just for lenghts that are only a couple of feet long as it seems a bit over kill to set the heavy bugger up just for small bits.

Any, heres a cupla projects that I've finished. Unfortunately I have no WIP pics, sorry, I kept meaning to take photos but couldnt pull myself away from the work long enough to go get the camera 8)




The table I've wanted to make for a while, its made of ash and slate. I call this one 'Brígid', many kudo's to the first person whom can guess why I called it that! . I have an abundance of blue banger slates here and figured I'd put some of them to use. I had intended on putting a rim around the edge of the table, steam a band of walnut perhaps, but then I liked the raw edge of the slate when cut and smothed somewhat.

The large candle holder, well, I dont know what to call that 'The Thing' maybe . The centre, barley twist piece was up until last Saturday a piece of oak that I had laying about the shop for a few years, previous to that it was an oak post that held up a fence in the garden for 12+ years! The thing is rock solid!! Wish I had of kept more of it now! :oops:

So I grabbed it last Saturday and had a go at doing a freehand barley twist and then wondered what I could use it as, I thought maybe four legs would work? Then I guessed I could use it as a large candle holder! No planning went into that one at all I'm afraid, just a spur of the moment thing.

Double Barrel

Mantis.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Large_brown_mantid07_edit.jpg


I like the steamer! .....More sophisticated than my fire job for sure ....... Where are the lobsters? I'll bring the butter & libation?

SpitfireIV

Double Barrel wrote: »

Mantis.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Large_brown_mantid07_edit.jpg


I like the steamer! .....More sophisticated than my fire job for sure ....... Where are the lobsters? I'll bring the butter & libation?

Mantis, hmmmm, you might be onto something there! , whats the Irish for mantis? I could just stick a fada on it 'An Mántus'.......:D

ttm

ennisa wrote: »

marvellous, never occured to me that it could be so easy to make one. Maybe mine could double as a cannon too though. Those cats keep crapping in my garden...... hmmmmm

I'm not sure that really is a steamer I think its a wmd (weapon of mass destruction - remeber those).

Compare croppy's picks with these
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun
http://www.members.tripod.com/potatogunwarrior/
it would only take some minor modifications and don't they grow some really big spuds around Carlow?

SpitfireIV

ttm wrote: »

I'm not sure that really is a steamer I think its a wmd (weapon of mass destruction - remeber those).

Compare croppy's picks with these
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun
http://www.members.tripod.com/potatogunwarrior/
it would only take some minor modifications and don't they grow some really big spuds around Carlow?

Better be careful when I have it setup outside so, dont want any of those satellites taking snaps of me and mistaking it for something else! :P

SpitfireIV

Ok, maybe a stupid question, and I probably should know better by now, but there is always one thing that has confused me. Red deal and white deal, they are 'pine', right? Or is 'pine' another type of softwood, or, perhaps a generic term for softwoods?

I've always associated red and white deal as being a cheap, constuction type timber, not that used for furniture making.

The reason I ask is because I'd like to do some work with some softwood (has to be cheap), but the only stuff the local timber yard sells is good, but its very light and for the most part loosely grained, ie, it wont take much, if any detail on a lathe. Is there a harder, denser softwood, or is it just the luck of the draw with this red and white deal?

ttm

CroppyBoy1798 wrote: »

Ok, maybe a stupid question, and I probably should know better by now, but there is always one thing that has confused me. Red deal and white deal, they are 'pine', right? Or is 'pine' another type of softwood, or, perhaps a generic term for softwoods?

I've always associated red and white deal as being a cheap, constuction type timber, not that used for furniture making.

The reason I ask is because I'd like to do some work with some softwood (has to be cheap), but the only stuff the local timber yard sells is good, but its very light and for the most part loosely grained, ie, it wont take much, if any detail on a lathe. Is there a harder, denser softwood, or is it just the luck of the draw with this red and white deal?

Just dug out a wood book to answer you and no mention of Red Deal, which I always took to be Scots Pine.

Yep they are all pine and different species but the biggest differences in quality and cost is where the timber was grown!!!!

You'll only get crap softwood timber grown in Ireland as we have too much rain and the weather is just to easy for the trees, afaik most softwood here goes for mdf and particle board. Good timber grows slowly and under slightly stressful conditions.

OK found a reference Modern Practicle Joinery - George Ellis (1908)

Baltic Pine (Pinus sylvestis),- Other names are yellow deal or fir, red deal or fir, Northern pine, Norway pine, Scotch for and European redwood. So as I said scots pine . I've felled the stuff in foresty and in Ireland and the UK it rarely makes a really good timber, but if you ever watched Doctor Zivago then the Red Deal you want is from the forsests you see in the film.

As I was saying reading on in the same book it says "the best Deals come from the Russian ports of Archangel, ST Peteresburg, Onega and Wyborg", cold places where the timber grows (or used to grow may be all cleared 100 years on) very slowly.

Edit>all from the same souce refering to softwoods "A DEAL is over 2 1/4 in. think and less than 10in. wide"

so Deal has a generic meaning also.

White deal.....

FIRS -Sprice(Picea excalsa or Abies excalsa) generally called white deal. afaik the old latin name has changed and we are actually talking about "Christmas Trees" Picea Abies

As for woodturning all I can say is you'll either get very good at sharpening or give up turning cheap softwood timber. I think the problem is that smaller sizes of timber are cut from smaller forestry thinings which really does yield course poor quality timber suitable for fence posts and battening. I did have a very big bit of what was sold as White Deal a while back 9inch x 4inch x 18ft and that obviously came from a decent sized tree. The timber was very close grained, quite in fact and I kept an off cut for a bowl so there is Deal and there is Deal. Typical timber trade!!!!! "nominal" sizes for what is "nominaly" called timber.

jack of all

The terms red and white deal are, I think, expressions which are (mostly now anyway) peculiar to Ireland- ask an English merchant for "red or white deal" as opposed to "pine" and he probably wouldn't know what you were talking about! "Deal" AFAIK was in times past a "measure" or "description" used for a type or quantity of softwood planks. Deal is pine; in this country it is mostly spruce and other "soft" pines. Red deal is a term which should probably be abandoned altogether in favour of actually naming the species outright- oregon pine or southern yellow pine or whatever! I have that book by Ellis also, as TTM points out the key to good softwood is the growth rate. Slow growing trees, with tightly bunched annular rings results in strong timber. Some of our native grown softwood is fine for (not too pressing) domestic structural use in framing roofs, floors etc where the material is machine graded and spans are pretty small. I suppose it's interesting to note that most of these firs and conifers which make up the majority of our forestation are not native! We should be growing more broadleaf trees.

ttm

I only grabbed for a book as being Autistic I always doubt myself otherwise I'd have said straight off the top of my head White Deal - Christmas Tree, Picea Abies and Red Deal - Scots Pine, Pinus Sylvestris but wanted to check. Red Deal being the better timber all round (pun intended) slightly more durable, longer knot free lenghts and better workabilty (not as soft and pappy as White Deal) I still think the names are relevant......

http://www.sykestimber.co.uk/timber/europeanredwood.html

and more interestingly an Irish site

http://www.woodspec.ie/iopen24/defaultarticle.php?cArticlePath=81_83

....mainly because there aren't that many timbers to name in common use. I know from my backgound there are 100's of different softwoods but you'd be hard pressed to name more than a dozen which are easily available and the top two would be Red Deal and White Deal add in Sitka, Douglas and Western Hemlock and you have (at a guess) the bulk of constuction timber covered.

BUT most timber suppliers wouldn't have a bulls notion of what the timber looks like in the wild and they just go by what it says on their invoice so if that says anything they either don't understand or know they'll stick with what they do know or make up a name then your White Deal could also be Abies Alba (often called whitewood) Picea sitchensis (Silver spruce, Sitka spruce) Pinus monticola (another White Pine) Pinus strobus (yet anther White Pine) and possibly worst of all Tsuga heterophylla (yuky horrible Western Hemlock) which I've bought as White Deal (easy to tell what it is by its smell), Western Hemlock can be OK but it can grow so fast you need a yardstick to measure between the growth rings and even a very sharp chisel will bend the sap wood rather than cut it.

If you look up into a live Scots Pine tree you'll should notice where the Red as in Red Deal comes from - well I can't think of a better reason? Top 1/3 to 2/3rds of older trees will have red bark.

SpitfireIV

ttm wrote: »

Western Hemlock can be OK but it can grow so fast you need a yardstick to measure between the growth rings and even a very sharp chisel will bend the sap wood rather than cut it.

Many thanks for the great info guys! I appreciate it, you learn something new everyday etc . The Western Hemlock must be what I experienced when trying to turn a bit of softwood, should have known by how light it was, but it wouldnt take any detail at all!

I've often cut up pine from old furniture etc over the years and the stuff would be solid with grown rings like a piece of fine oak!! :rolleyes:, but I guess it was foreign stuff. I know pine is often dismissed as a furniture making timber for the most part due to its sometimes lack of workability, but when you think back pine was a pretty popular wood here at one stage for furniture, particularly for the 'ordinary' man! Pine tables, chairs, stools, dressers, cabinets, linen boxs etc etc. I want to make a few items from pine, but want to get some good solid stuff!

I'm going to annoy ye again, but this stuff called 'pitch pine', you'd often here of it being used for church benches and the likes, where does that stuff come from?

ennisa

I have heard that the phrase deal was used to describe a piece of wood of particular dimensions. So I would have to agree with Jack on that one.

an interesting link;
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/SearchView.aspx?q=%22white%20deal%22

and in there i found;
"deal is a plank of pine or spruce that is 9" wide"

ttm

Pitch pine would traditionally be a tree from Southern America, Pinus palustris (+ a couple of related sp) Southern Pitch Pine aka Longleaf Pine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longleaf_Pine but afaik as new timber you'll get Pinus caribaea Carribbean Pitch Pine. Intersting thing while looking them up I spotted these here http://www.woodcomponents.ie/southern_yellow_pine.html and http://www.woodcomponents.ie/pitch_pine.html spot the differnce in the pictures? There isn't one!

I think the wikipedia article is only half right about the name Pitch Pine given to Pinus palustris being changed as it got mixed up with Pinus rigida which is another Pitch Pine as you really can't say if one is the name of the timber and the other is the name of the tree, just goes to show the sort of confusion that abounds. Another example might be Tulip Tree and Tulipwood one is a tree the other wood from a completely different tree.

ttm

ennisa wrote: »

I have heard that the phrase deal was used to describe a piece of wood of particular dimensions. So I would have to agree with Jack on that one.

an interesting link;
http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/SearchView.aspx?q=%22white%20deal%22

and in there i found;
"deal is a plank of pine or spruce that is 9" wide"

I can't see anything wrong with that. So add Red for a pine plank that comes from a tree with red bark and yellow to reddish late wood and you have Red Deal for Scotts Pine then White deal for the Whiter wood of the Christmas Tree naturally follows.

What about a Balk, a Flitch or a Quaterling and I can't agree with the links definition of Scantlings, I've always taken Scantlings to be various sizes, sort of mixed sizes if you see what I mean but not Balks, Fitches or Quarterlings

btw another good link and some good ones to follow up in the Navigation panel. Anyone thought that we could have a pinned resources thread with links like this copied to?

SpitfireIV

Learn a fair ol' bit today, thanks fellas for the great info!!!

ttm

CroppyBoy1798 wrote: »

Learn a fair ol' bit today, thanks fellas for the great info!!!

You really need to go down to the woods some day and give your self a suprise Take a copy of Alan Mithell's Trees of Britan and Northern Euorpe (Collins Field Guide) and see if you can spot some the the trees used in woodworking http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trees-Britain-Northern-Europe-Collins/dp/0002192136 . It doesn't have any woodworking details but at least you'll know what the trees look like. Then find a freindly tree surgeon for a source of interesting timber

jack of all

Great info guys, thanks.

SpitfireIV

Arent ye guys making anything this weather? Lets be seeing some pictures and a few work in progress threads and liven this place up a bit!!

Heres a chair that I've just finished today. She's called 'Dair' and is made of white oak. Last week she was a 5ft long, 2" thick, 8" wide plank of oak which my little Fox thicknesser struggled to get through and the TS, with a new blade, sliced through effortlessy.....niceee!





(dont mind the over shinyness, it had just gotten a coat of Danish oil and was still very wet before it got a wipe down)

Its not really made for comfort, as you can probably guess . The main parts are all made from 45mm square, I had intended on making them 30mm, but when I cut through that wood and seen the beautiful rays I wanted more of them to be seen, so I went with the 'chunky monkey' model . The base, and back are 1" oak board planed and biscuit joined. All the joints are M+T, not a single screw, nail or other form of mechanical fixing to be found anywhere. Majority of joints fixed with 'Magilla' Gorilla glue.

Let me know what you think.

jack of all

Well done Croppy Boy, nice bit of work in that chair! Tell me how the curved "brackets" are secured, some kind of stub tenon? Alos did you hand plane the 45mm square sections after they came off the P/T? Just curious.

ennisa

Very nice croppy, I love oak, how is the little fox working out for you?

I'm just back from a week walking around Washington DC and I'm exhausted and I am being distracted by non workshop things so I have nothing going on at the moment. I am a lazy, lazy man. When I get sick of the shiny thing that is currently distracting me I'm going to concentrate a little bit on shop projects. Fences, jigs, maybe some tool making. I have a small coffin smoother that my father in law gave me but for some reason the iron in it will not hold an edge. I sharpen it up and within two swipes on a board the edge is all chipped and ruined. I cannot find an iron of the same size without having to pay a chunk'o'cash to Ron Hock (I have heard great things about his irons but I don't have the money) and then pay for shipping from the states. So I was thinking of getting some tool steel ( O1/high carbon steel) and building a small flower pot furnace in the back garden and hardening and annealing it myself. Maybe try hardening the old one first for a test. A friend of mine works in a tooling company so he should be able to get me some of the steel without too much outlay.
I'm also thinking of trying to make one of these. Out of wood, not steel. It looks so handy, and so easy. Which I'm sure means it will be a pain in the ass to make and that I should probably just shell out the cash for one but it's apparent simplicity and usefulness intrigues me.

ttm

ennisa wrote: »

I'm also thinking of trying to make one of these. Out of wood, not steel. It looks so handy, and so easy. Which I'm sure means it will be a pain in the ass to make and that I should probably just shell out the cash for one but it's apparent simplicity and usefulness intrigues me.

While on the Bridge City site why not throw some "real" money around and by one of these



A snip at €599 $523

ennisa

Dirty!

SpitfireIV

Hi guys,

Yeah the brackets are secured via a M&T joint, was a bit of a struggle to get them in, had to flex the brackets a little and was afraid they were going to snap, but thankfully I got them in.

I tried to hand plane them, but, I dont think my plane was the sort of razor sharp that you need for finishing, and with all the medulary rays going across the grain it was ripping these, so, I scraped it with a plane blade, that got it pretty smooth.

Ennisa the p/t is working a treat still, she was labouring I tell you with the 2" oak going through it, but she took the heavy stuff off. She makes a hell of a mess, my vacuum is broken, so I have a pile of chipping of all colors around the base of the machine! I tried buring it, but you can only burn a small bit at a time. I wonder is there anyway that you could mix them with some solution and compress them into blocks for burning?? Hmmm....

By the way, that chair, another table I made and the rocking crib are going to be on show at a design exhib in Tullamore next week, there is a possibilty that 'Nationwide' might even be at it, so you might see them on tv!!

ttm

ennisa wrote: »

Dirty!

What as in Woodworker pornography?

btw forgot to add my praise to croppys work, looks wonderful, great form and shape, brilliant use of timber. I'm sure its solid but after looking at the chair for a while I get a feeling that the front legs need bracing (might just be the angle of the picture) I'm sure they don't but on such an othewise solid peice they sort of look too delicate, precarious perhaps? It might be something to do with the leg not being tapered and the joint being the same square dimensions as the leg. However I don't see how you could keep the rest of the shape and form if you were to add a brace. Don't shoot me CroppyBoy1798 did say "Let me know what you think".

ttm

CroppyBoy1798 wrote: »

She makes a hell of a mess, my vacuum is broken, so I have a pile of chipping of all colors around the base of the machine! I tried buring it, but you can only burn a small bit at a time. I wonder is there anyway that you could mix them with some solution and compress them into blocks for burning?? Hmmm....

Yep you can get a burner for sawdust, they work great if you are producing lots of it. I'll find a link for you, they used to be about 350euro (from local builders merchants in Dungarvan) but once you see the design I suspect you'll make your own :rolleyes::D

Edit> There you go http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/Steel-workshop-stove.html

And a diagram to get you going...



And some other links to building your own but different design but to above http://www.hedon.info/TheFulgoraSawdustBurningStove & http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/vita/sawdstov/en/sawdstov.htm

ennisa

Yes, Dirty, dirty, dirty!

SpitfireIV

ttm wrote: »

Don't shoot me CroppyBoy1798 did say "Let me know what you think".

Damn you ttm!!! *fills his flash pan* :mad:


:pac::pac: fair point and any feedback is helpful of course. I think the legs will be ok (or at least I hope they will) they have pretty solid joints and the seat is mortised into the cross pieces via 4, 1 inch long mortices, I was going to go with through mortises and knock in some wedges, but I thought that'd make it look too busy and over complicated, I wanted to keep it as clean as possible. In fact, in hindsight now, if I were to do it again I'd like to have tried M+T'd 45 degree joints on the front legs and where the arms come off the back leg, it would have given it more of a flow perhaps rather than the 'up-stop, across-stop,down-stop' . Not sure how it'd be strenght wise though.

aerosol

Its a fine chair croppy, did you tally how long it took you?

I've not been playing in my shop for a while now,I'm about to strip it all out and start afresh with a better layout to work with. My main problem is where to put it all while I re-design!!:rolleyes:

SpitfireIV

Thanks aerosol! I didnt count the hours I'm afraid, but I'd imagine if I were to add it all up, about 5-6 days.

Sure isnt there plenty of space in the kitchen, bedroom etc to keep the stuff, what'd be the problem?!

Oh, cheers ttm for that link and diagram to the sawdust burner, looks interesting! I wonder could you adopt your average stove to do the same job? hmmm. The problem that I find is that I can only really burn well he stove is in full throttle, and even then I can only put on small amounts as it acts like sand, and nearly smothers the fire.

slowburner

ttm wrote: »

I can't see anything wrong with that. So add Red for a pine plank that comes from a tree with red bark and yellow to reddish late wood and you have Red Deal for Scotts Pine then White deal for the Whiter wood of the Christmas Tree naturally follows.

What about a Balk, a Flitch or a Quaterling and I can't agree with the links definition of Scantlings, I've always taken Scantlings to be various sizes, sort of mixed sizes if you see what I mean but not Balks, Fitches or Quarterlings

btw another good link and some good ones to follow up in the Navigation panel. Anyone thought that we could have a pinned resources thread with links like this copied to?

From George Ellis, Modern Practical Joinery - 1902;
A Balk is the log squared by axe or saw.
A Plank in hardwood is any cut stuff upwards of 9 in. wide and 1 3/4 in. thick; in softwood upwards of 10 in. wide and 2 in. thick.
A Deal is over 2 1/4 in. thick and less than 10 in wide.
A Flitch is half a balk cut in two lengthways.
A Quarterling is 3 by 3 in. to 4 1/2 by 4in
Scantlings - miscellaneous cut stuff

ttm

slowburner wrote: »

From George Ellis, Modern Practical Joinery - 1902;
A Balk is the log squared by axe or saw.
A Plank in hardwood is any cut stuff upwards of 9 in. wide and 1 3/4 in. thick; in softwood upwards of 10 in. wide and 2 in. thick.
A Deal is over 2 1/4 in. thick and less than 10 in wide.
A Flitch is half a balk cut in two lengthways.
A Quarterling is 3 by 3 in. to 4 1/2 by 4in
Scantlings - miscellaneous cut stuff

Then just to confuse matters I'd also say that you could ask "what are the scantlings of the scantlings" as scantlings can also mean dimensions, but I think that would only be in a boat building sence where they definitly also use(d) the word scantlings to mean miscellaneous cut stuff. For example you would batten down the hatches with scantlings as the dimensions wouldn't really matter, but that raises the old carpenter, cabinet maker boat builder joke (which I might have mentioned before).....

Whats the differnce between a carpenter a cabinet maker and a boat builder?

A carpenter works to the nearest eigth of an inch. A cabinet maker works to the nearest sixteenth of an inch and a boat builder works to the nearest boat :P

SpitfireIV

Any of you guys on Facebook? If so have a peep at the below link and become a fan!!

Its a page dedicated to the ol' woodwork, so it'll be updated fairly often.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carlow/Peter-Heary-Woodcraft/188150137625?ref=mf

Thanks!

ttm

CroppyBoy1798 wrote: »

Any of you guys on Facebook? If so have a peep at the below link and become a fan!!

Its a page dedicated to the ol' woodwork, so it'll be updated fairly often.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carlow/Peter-Heary-Woodcraft/188150137625?ref=mf

Thanks!

Repent now, or you many never get out in the workshop again.........

either that or move the computer out there :P

SpitfireIV

ttm wrote: »

Repent now, or you many never get out in the workshop again.........

either that or move the computer out there :P

I think the latter option is the best! I was thinking of setting up an area or desk (sealed and dust free) to keep an old lappy in, may get a wireless card for it. Be handy though to have a computer up there, save me running back down to the house everytime I wanted to look up a particular size of something, or draw some inspiration from some sites!

SpitfireIV

Heres a cupla pictures of some presents that I made for the family this year. I'll get up individual images of the items as soon as I get some image resizing/editing software back on the lappy, just after installing Windows 7! :rolleyes:





I knew I kept all those offcuts for a reason!! All in all, all recipients were very happy, worst thing about it though is that they'll be expecting hand made gifts every year now!! May start them earlier though as I was still working on them on Christmas eve!!! :pac:

ennisa

croppy was looking at a you tube video of the snow in 82 and saw that you were the first to post a comment on it 3 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=Afss7QL4wAc&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3DAfss7QL4wAc

Lovely xmas presents by the way!

Happy Christmas to you all, and a to all a prosperous new year.

SpitfireIV

ennisa wrote: »

croppy was looking at a you tube video of the snow in 82 and saw that you were the first to post a comment on it 3 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=Afss7QL4wAc&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3DAfss7QL4wAc

Lovely xmas presents by the way!

Happy Christmas to you all, and a to all a prosperous new year.

Jaysus! 3 years ago, bloody hell, where did that time go??!! :eek:


Got me one of these Parkside (Lidl) random orbital sanders today, I think one of you guys got one a few years back, at leat I remember someone praising them?! Anyway, for €20 you couldnt really go wrong and it seems a nice bit of kit! Those Parkside tools feel, and look a little better made than Aldi's 'Powercraft' I think.


http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100114.p.Random_Orbital_Sander