Edwardian cycling bracket

[scrimper]

Just been finished cutting these brackets, one is made from mahogany with the cyclist overlay in Maple. The mahogany panel is made from 4 strips joined edge to edge making a 10 1/2" panel to cut the bracket from. The maple was just a short off-cut found in a skip from a kitchen fit I ripped it edgeways to make three 1/8" small panels and cut the cyclists from this.

The second panel is cut from 3mm birch plywood which came off an old wardrobe that I broke up. I haven't applied any finish yet but I may just use water based clear varnish, (any other suggestions welcome).

The coloured backgrounds are not definite yet, they are just being tried out and not fixed.

The brackets are approx 10" high and 11" wide, strangely enough the part I found most difficult to cut are the 7 round holes in the corners! I cut these with the saw but when doing so wished that I had used a drill bit instead!

 

[Claymore]

They are lovely! i prefer the second one but both work well. love the design even if the first thing i thought was "were Ladies!" from Little Britain (Matt Lucas and David Walliams dressed as two Victorian ladies on their bicycles) lol

 

[8squared]

They look fantastic, great job.

 

[Bryan Bennett]

Very nice pattern John,pattern from bygone days :wink: thank you for showing.

Bryan

Looks like I missed a newbie,8squared Welcome aboard :roll:

 

[jonluv]

Really lovely -- sharp and pristine

John

 

[ChrisR]

Scrimper.

Nice pieces work. =D>

I think I would go with the clear water base varnish, this is my preferred finish because I am rubbish at using stains/paint etc.

Chris R.

 

[scrimper]

Thanks for the kind comments.

 

[scrimper]

I think I would go with the clear water base varnish, this is my preferred finish because I am rubbish at using stains/paint etc.

Chris R.

Glad I am not the only one, I make these things and enjoy doing so but when it comes to finish I am useless, I understand the some folks dip them in oil etc but when I trie this they go all greasy and attract dust and dirt, clear water based varnish is the only thing I manage to get any results from. I have a drawer full of fretwork plaques and things I have made but have not put any finish on, I often end up spoiling the item with my ham-fisted attempts at applying a finish!

 

[boysie39]

Lovely work ,very well cut and would be an ideal present .

Im afraid that like others I have no idea what or how to finish them .

 

[martinka]

I really like those, John. If it's got two wheels, engine or not, it does it for me.

I have a drawer full of fretwork plaques and things I have made but have not put any finish on,

Snap! I've got lots of things I made and never even glued together because I don't know how to best finish them.

 

[Claymore]

.

 

[Stooby]

It looks really good. How do you stick the strips of wood together to not leave an obvious job line?

 

[scrimper]

It looks really good. How do you stick the strips of wood together to not leave an obvious job line?

The mahogany panel is made from an old door frame that was destined for the skip by my brother in law, I ripped it into small strips approx 3/8" thick then using a router table and a straight bit smoothed the edges so that they were clean and straight and at 90 deg, I glue the edges with PVA and clamp for around 12 hours after which I run the panel through a thicknesser. On wood like Mahogany or similar with no knots or prominent grain it's almost impossible to see the join.