Richard Findley
Established Member
Hi all,
I had a commission: To make a signpost similar to this:
The idea is it is to celebrate the couple's anniversary and should have their names and their childrens names on the signs.
I decided that mine would be rather more refined than this picture, the client was fairly open with the brief but went with a turned column and a more traditional point to the sign rather than the fingers of this one.It should also be free standing. It is made in AWO.
Started out by gluing up 2 bits of 2" thick by 4" wide Oak to give me 4" x 4". I was a little unsure how big to make the post but as 2" was what I had I just went with 4" as a starter. Ended up at 3 1/4", judged by eye.
Mounted up on the lathe, this is the first time I've pushed the limits of my new lathe bed extension:
Got it round and then put in a series of cuts to help guide me to an even thickness all along:
Then just "join the dots"
There was a simple ball finial to turn for the top (also glued from 2") and a simple cross halved foot/base for it all to stand on. The base has a hole drilled through and a larger hole to take a turned tennon (adout 45mm diam) I later fixed it all in place with a Stainless Steel 6" Coach screw with Ext wood glue on the wood joints and Epoxy on the metal screw thread. The finial would be attached by a Stainless steel treaded rod (12mm) and a good dollop of Epoxy.
Now for the signs. Wizer was going to cut the lettering on his CNC set up but he managed to break it so I went with plan B and bought the Milescraft Letter jig from Rutlands:
http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/1262 Currently on offer for £50. It worked pretty well. There were a couple of little niggles which I managed to overcome and the result was good. I think. I sprayed then completly black with Chestnut Ebonising Lacquer:
Then passed then under the P/T:
Next was to cut mortices. I set up my Router jig on the lathe and used a new 3/4" by 1" long router cutter to give me the mortice I was after:
And repeat 4x:
The indexer on the lathe is handy for router work!!!
Next problem is fixing a square shouldered tennon to a round post. I mulled it over in my head over my lunch and decided the easiest way was a sharp chisel and to cut some flat shoulders:
I then cut the tennons. I used my new Tennon Cutter Router bit from Wealdons. I had played with it before but never used it for a job. My advice: even if you cut tennons only occaisionally you need one of these in your life!!!!!! The cut is soooo clean I can't believe it!!!!!!
I then just rounded off the ends of the tennon with a chisel:
Glue up time!!!!
Been a while since I've done a complicated glue up and I'd forgotten how fraught they can get.... not that this is particularly complicated, just called for me to have 4 very long arms!!!!
The signs are supported by Stainless Steel screws inside the mortices/plugged from the other side. Will photo them tomorrow when I do my final clean down. Just needs a light sand, screw holes plugging then lots of coats of oil before delivering later in the week.
I hope you enjoyed my post. All comments and questions welcome as usual.
Cheers
Richard
I had a commission: To make a signpost similar to this:
The idea is it is to celebrate the couple's anniversary and should have their names and their childrens names on the signs.
I decided that mine would be rather more refined than this picture, the client was fairly open with the brief but went with a turned column and a more traditional point to the sign rather than the fingers of this one.It should also be free standing. It is made in AWO.
Started out by gluing up 2 bits of 2" thick by 4" wide Oak to give me 4" x 4". I was a little unsure how big to make the post but as 2" was what I had I just went with 4" as a starter. Ended up at 3 1/4", judged by eye.
Mounted up on the lathe, this is the first time I've pushed the limits of my new lathe bed extension:
Got it round and then put in a series of cuts to help guide me to an even thickness all along:
Then just "join the dots"
There was a simple ball finial to turn for the top (also glued from 2") and a simple cross halved foot/base for it all to stand on. The base has a hole drilled through and a larger hole to take a turned tennon (adout 45mm diam) I later fixed it all in place with a Stainless Steel 6" Coach screw with Ext wood glue on the wood joints and Epoxy on the metal screw thread. The finial would be attached by a Stainless steel treaded rod (12mm) and a good dollop of Epoxy.
Now for the signs. Wizer was going to cut the lettering on his CNC set up but he managed to break it so I went with plan B and bought the Milescraft Letter jig from Rutlands:
http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/1262 Currently on offer for £50. It worked pretty well. There were a couple of little niggles which I managed to overcome and the result was good. I think. I sprayed then completly black with Chestnut Ebonising Lacquer:
Then passed then under the P/T:
Next was to cut mortices. I set up my Router jig on the lathe and used a new 3/4" by 1" long router cutter to give me the mortice I was after:
And repeat 4x:
The indexer on the lathe is handy for router work!!!
Next problem is fixing a square shouldered tennon to a round post. I mulled it over in my head over my lunch and decided the easiest way was a sharp chisel and to cut some flat shoulders:
I then cut the tennons. I used my new Tennon Cutter Router bit from Wealdons. I had played with it before but never used it for a job. My advice: even if you cut tennons only occaisionally you need one of these in your life!!!!!! The cut is soooo clean I can't believe it!!!!!!
I then just rounded off the ends of the tennon with a chisel:
Glue up time!!!!
Been a while since I've done a complicated glue up and I'd forgotten how fraught they can get.... not that this is particularly complicated, just called for me to have 4 very long arms!!!!
The signs are supported by Stainless Steel screws inside the mortices/plugged from the other side. Will photo them tomorrow when I do my final clean down. Just needs a light sand, screw holes plugging then lots of coats of oil before delivering later in the week.
I hope you enjoyed my post. All comments and questions welcome as usual.
Cheers
Richard
