Fresh

007 Mirror Frame

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:41:29 -0800

This is the second project for my first term at Northwest Woodworking Studio. There were no guidelines, it just needed to be a mirror frame and should have some hand shaping.

The inspiration for this piece came from two sources; first the lid of a public trash can, second the opening credits from a James Bond movie... see if you can figure it out.

This piece started a a 2” thick, glued up block of basswood. The outer and inner diameters were cut by machine, and the rest of the shaping was done by hand. The inside frame edge is a full 2” thick then tapers out to ½” at the outer edge. The spiral “rays” were then hand carved. More pictures in Else.

Sushi Box?

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:40:00 -0800

Ok, so it may look like I have not been up to much based on what you see here, but that’s not really the case. Much of my work these days is practice and prototypes, which will not make it on here.

This is my first class assignment for Northwest Woodworking Studio. Although the title of the assignment was a “sushi box”, I took it a different direction to more of a “wine sarcophagus”. The only requirements for the assignment were hand-cut Halved Joints and a shaped lid. Although perfect Halved Joints can be cut on the table saw in a matter of minutes, cutting them by hand is far more difficult.

The box is solid walnut with a slight convex hand shaping of the sides. As I mentioned the joints are hand-cut with not much more than a small tenon saw and some sharp chisels. There are eight birch pins in the joints for additional strength.

The lid for the box is is solid basswood, hand-carved to the silhouette of a wine bottle.

The finish is tung oil, shellac, and wax.

Bent Base Console 2

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:44:34 -0800

The second in a series. This console is the same bent metal base with a unique figured walnut top.

More pictures in Stay.

Bandit Shelving

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:57:13 -0700

It is difficult to come up with a unique design for something as basic as shelving. This turned into a bit of an engineering challenge... to come up with a light and airy feel and still be strong enough not to collapse under its own weight let alone in use. To accomplish this I used a combination of modern and traditional joinery techniques to lock all of the pieces in place. I knew I got it right as I dry fit (no glue) all of the pieces and it held sturdy.

The piece is made from two walnut bands (thus the name “Band” It shelving, get it?) surrounding three solid slabs of madrone. Each band is locked together with hand cut dovetails and the shelves are locked in-between the bands with floating tenons.

The rich color of the walnut is contrasted by brilliant blond and orange-red color variation in the madrone. To bring out the vibrant color, I finished the shelves with my usual oil-wax.

More pictures in Stash.

Serving Tray Revisited

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:00:07 -0700

If this piece looks familiar it is because I have done one of these before. The basic tray is the same, walnut with a 3form “Mari Seamless” bottom. I made a few changes that set it apart from the first one. The sides are not as tall and their top and bottom edges have been rounded over to give it a more flowing feel. The handles are bloodwood and the walnut in this version is highly figured, which you can only somewhat see in the pictures. Anyone who has ever bent wood will tell you, never use figured wood for bending, and for good reason. The wood has a mind of its own. Every time I went back and looked at the parts, they were a different shape. But I had the wood left over from a previous project so I thought I would give it a shot and see what happened. It was a good exercise--and the final piece turned out well--but I will not try bending figured wood again.

More pictures in Else.