First Project - Rustic Chest WIP

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ro

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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 :D .

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:
4906800521_3c940efa70.jpg


I then stole my father's circular saw and ripped them down to width
4906800779_2853e39fa6.jpg


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?
4906800975_03801ffc7e.jpg


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!
4907390838_6a4e11d4c2.jpg

It works beautifully!
 
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:
4906801447_73040f2da0.jpg


And, amazingly the glue holds and the sides just need a bit of levelling off with the old hand plane and sanding down!
4906801649_c806223478.jpg
 
hello :p

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:
 
Hi RO
and welcome to the forum. That looks like some very nice timber you have got there.
Thanks for sharing your pictures.
David
 
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
 
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
4915607222_2f42b6e951.jpg


Cutting the top out of a waney edged plank of what I think is beech
4915005083_edfb71a327.jpg

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
4915018389_15d812aa7e.jpg


Added feet and wiped the whole lot down with an ebonizing solution (steel wool dissolved in vinegar) to darken it
4915007641_9d3abddca2.jpg


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.
4915015983_d5f6ddbfc1.jpg


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
4915624008_67072f0322.jpg


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!
 
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:
 
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.
 
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
 
ro":3o4wfutn said:
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.
 
ro":2r71ut15 said:
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
 
9fingers":hfkv6wtc said:
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).

planetWayne":hfkv6wtc said:
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.

9fingers":hfkv6wtc said:
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 :D
 
ro":2q62y1um said:
9fingers":2q62y1um said:
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 :D

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? :D

cheers

Bob
 
9fingers":1246axl3 said:
Who shall I say recommended them though? :D
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 :D
 
ro":11c3xh37 said:
9fingers":11c3xh37 said:
Who shall I say recommended them though? :D
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 :D

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