First Project - Rustic Chest WIP

[ro]

As a newbie, I hope no-one minds me posting a WIP thread in here.

I've just moved house and need some new furniture. Having had my wallet shocked by the price of decent hardwood furniture I thought I'd try making some.

Now, I haven't done any woodwork since I was a boy messing around in my dad's shed So I decided to take it slowly and start with something that didn't require a 'perfect' finish .

I'm building a chest based partly on plans in Doug Stowe's "Rustic Furniture Basics".

I picked up the wood (4 planks of 6x1 sawn oak and a waney edged bit of what looks like beech) about a week ago and have been letting them settle in the utility room:

I then stole my father's circular saw and ripped them down to width

A bit of work with the handsaw then left me with what seemed like a lot less wood than I started with - where does it all go?

I treated myself to a small planer/thicknesser from Axminster after reading the reviews on here, so it was time to try my purchase out!

It works beautifully!

 

[ro]

The planer made short work of squaring up the planks so it's straight on to glueing them up into the sides of the chest:

And, amazingly the glue holds and the sides just need a bit of levelling off with the old hand plane and sanding down!

 

[Blister]

hello

And welcome to the forum

Looks like the project is coming along nice

Keep up the photos as we all like to see whats being made

:wink:

 

[Acanthus]

Hi RO
and welcome to the forum. That looks like some very nice timber you have got there.
Thanks for sharing your pictures.
David

 

[TheTiddles]

Hi Ro

There's a nice bunch of us on the top edge of the forest and in the Hampshire/Wiltshire area (so long as you don't use metal full extension drawer runners or walnut sapwood :roll: ) so make yourself at home, we've been known to help out occasionally sometimes too...

Aidan

 

[ro]

Thanks for the welcomes! It's a very friendly place you have here

Well, I had some spare time over the weekend so I got to do some more to the chest:

Cutting the bottom out of 12mm ply, this fits into a routed gap in the bottom of the sides

Cutting the top out of a waney edged plank of what I think is beech

the 2 parts of the top were then planed on the edge and clamped together.
They required a bit of planing to level though.

Put the chest together, all the pieces fitted like a dream, and secured the sides with screws

Added feet and wiped the whole lot down with an ebonizing solution (steel wool dissolved in vinegar) to darken it

I ran the sander over the rough sawn surfaces to show up the saw marks against the ebonizing. I did the same with the top, but stained it with tea instead on ebonizing it.

Finally, I filled the screw holes with beech dowel, added brass hinges (aged with ammonia fumes) and put LOTS of coats of oil on it

Please forgive the cobwebs on the last picture, I only noticed them after I took the photo.

Thank you very much for looking through this thread!

 

[Mcluma]

Very nice indeed

Like the way you used, thea, vinegar, ebonizing solution and the ammonia

quite clever =D>

 

[joiner_sim]

It looks great, well done and I hope to see much more as you have a good potential.

 

[OPJ]

Very interesting. It's certainly got character and it works quite well.

Are those circular marks from a saw blade or from your sander? Or... Is that the grain in the wood??? :shock:

 

[ro]

Thanks guys. I was quite pleased with it - moving onto some bookshelves now...

OPJ: the marks are saw marks from the sawmill I got it from. I kinda liked them and thought I'd try to emphasise them.

 

[9fingers]

I too like the novel home brew finishes.

Have a book of spells for such things or have the recipes come from internet searches?

I'm based in Romsey - so not too far from you.

Bob

 

[planetWayne]

I treated myself to a small planer/thicknesser from Axminster after reading the reviews on here, so it was time to try my purchase out!

Do you mind if I ask which one it is?

I haven't got anything like that at the min and have to buy my wood planed all round and would guess there is quite a premium in doing so.

Wayne.

 

[9fingers]

the marks are saw marks from the sawmill I got it from.

Are you using a local sawmill? if so which one please as I'm always on the look out for local wood suppliers and I like to buy from mills if possible.

Cheers

Bob

 

[ro]

I too like the novel home brew finishes.

Have a book of spells for such things or have the recipes come from internet searches?

I'm based in Romsey - so not too far from you.

Thanks, the finishes come from varying books and from stuff I worked out when I used to do a lot of black and white photography - I'm trying out various chemicals and homemade concoctions on random pieces of wood to see what the finish is...

I'm down by Beaulieu, so not too far from Romsey (in fact, I used to live in Romsey - it's a lovely little town).

Do you mind if I ask which one it is?

I haven't got anything like that at the min and have to buy my wood planed all round and would guess there is quite a premium in doing so.

I've got the MB9020 from Axminster. It's working really well, and I reckon that it just about halves the price of the wood so it should pay for itself after a couple more projects.

Are you using a local sawmill? if so which one please as I'm always on the look out for local wood suppliers and I like to buy from mills if possible.

I'm using Rob at http://www.alaskanmill.co.uk/ which is in Silver Street just behind Lymington. He uses all local timber (the oak for my chest came from a tree in Lyndhurst) and mills and dries it there himself. If you speak to him tell him that I told you about him

 

[9fingers]

Are you using a local sawmill? if so which one please as I'm always on the look out for local wood suppliers and I like to buy from mills if possible.

I'm using Rob at http://www.alaskanmill.co.uk/ which is in Silver Street just behind Lymington. He uses all local timber (the oak for my chest came from a tree in Lyndhurst) and mills and dries it there himself. If you speak to him tell him that I told you about him

Thanks, I expect I'll establish contact to get a feel for what he tends to stock although I don't need anything right now having just bought about 6 cube of oak for projects.

Who shall I say recommended them though?

cheers

Bob

 

[ro]

Who shall I say recommended them though?

Just say Ro from Park Shore said they were the best sawmill in the county!

That should get me a discount next time I get some wood from there

 

[9fingers]

Who shall I say recommended them though?

Just say Ro from Park Shore said they were the best sawmill in the county!

That should get me a discount next time I get some wood from there

OK will do. I did not know if Ro was your name or or something else.

A few months ago I went to see another forum member who calls himslef 'Froggie' as he lives in France. Strangely enough I was reluctant to turn up in a French village with my poor schoolboy French and ask for 'Froggie'. They might have thought I was taking the pi88!

What are his prices like by the way? I've been paying around £20-£30 for waney edge KD oak boards elsewhere.

Bob

 

[ro]

I paid £10 a board for 6"x1" by 3 meter(ish) sawn and air dried oak - no waney edge.

 

[9fingers]

I paid £10 a board for 6"x1" by 3 meter(ish) sawn and air dried oak - no waney edge.

That is a very fair price for air dried -£24 per cube

(don't tell him!!)

Bob

 

[Benchwayze]

I had a link to a blog (Now gone along with the hard drive it was on).
The blogger used rough-sawn panels in cabinet doors quite a lot, and using coloured dyes, they were quite a novel approach to woodwork.
So I like this chest too.

Nice work...

It should outlive us all!

regards
John