Good enough to eat

Here are some pictures of the chest of drawers I mentioned a few posts ago, the one entitled 'January'.

It is made from steamed pear, walnut and maple.........custard anyone?

To see more of my furniture, have a look at my website and the pictures in the gallery section.

Follow me on Facebook or read my tweets on Twitter.

January

Don't be fooled into thinking that the title of this blog means that I will do monthly updates on what I have been up to. Oh no.

January is an answer to a question. Not the answer to the ultimate question, but the question "How long did it take you to make?"  I can now answer by saying "January" rather than "blah blah number of hours".

What did I make in January? I made a chest of drawers in American walnut and steamed pear.  Here we go with the pictures.

These strips of timber will make the sides of the drawers.
They are the first wood machined for the project, as I want
it to stand and acclimatise for as long as possible.

This is a big plank of steamed pear. I did actually
cross cut it with a hand saw!

Four pieces of wood. These will become the cabinet legs.

I have five of these frames. They hold the sides of the carcass
together, and the drawers run on them.

The drawer frames being fixed to the carcass sides.

Here is the completed carcass (minus the top).

The last drawer box glue-up. This is the biggest of the five drawers.

Here the drawer boxes have been fitted into the cabinet carcass.

The handles for the drawers are handmade from pear.

Using yellow plastic shims while attaching the drawer fronts
to the drawer boxes.

And here is the finished piece.

 

This chest of drawers is currently on show at an exhibition called 21st Century Furniture IV, being held in The Millinery Works Gallery, London.

Please check my website if you want to find out more about my furniture, follow me on my Facebook pages, or see what I am talking about on Twitter.

 

Not so plain Jane

I am building a display cabinet at the moment, something open fronted with glass shelves.

The outside of the cabinet will be from American walnut, but for the inside faces I wanted something lighter and contrasting.

Something like sycamore could be used, as it has a minimal grain patter and is a 'white-with-a-hint-of-yellow' colour. But I thought this will be a bit dull and uninteresting.

A wood I have always wanted to use is something called lacewood. It has a lace or snake skin pattern and is a pinkish colour with brown flecks. A good contrast for the walnut.

Here is a picture of the lacewood I have for the cabinet inside. You should be able to get what I am talking about.

Lacewood showing the striking grain pattern

Lacewood has an interesting background.  Most woods with an unusual grain pattern or colour are exotic timbers, but not this one.  It is a tree that grows very well in this country and exceedingly well in cities.  I am sure you know the tree I am talking about - sometimes called 'lungs of the city'.  Want another clue?  Here is picture of the tree in question.

The source of lacewood

Still clueless?  A hint is in the blog title........yes it is a Jane tree!!

Alright, it isn't a Jane tree, but it is a London plane.  Yes, that tree you see in parks and streets everywhere (and not only in London or the UK, but global).  

The London plane tree is a bit of an odd one...there is some argument as to where it comes from.  It is a cross of two trees, the oriental plane and American sycamore but these are debated. It has been widely planted in England since the late 1600's.

Apparently the tallest London place tree is in Bryanston School, Blandford Forum, Dorset. In 2008 it measured over 48m tall. Maybe fresh air is good for them.....

So now you know all about lacewood and where it comes from.

I will post some more pictures of the cabinet in due course.

For more information about me or my furniture, the have a look at my website.

A smaller collection?

You don't need a large collection of jewellery to have a handmade object to keep it in.


I have just completed some small boxes that are ideal for rings, cuff links or earrings.


The boxes are made from maple with an American walnut lid. Inside, the box is lined with green leather, and the fifteen small compartments are ideal for storing small items.


The lid of the box has a cool opening mechanism. Just push down on one end and it pops-up, and can then be lifted off.


Here are some pictures.

The boxes are made of maple and American walnut

Push down on one end of the box, and the lip will pop-up

The compartments are just right for storing smaller items

What with Fathers day coming up, this box would  make a good present for the man who has loads of cuff links (or anything else in fact).


These boxes can be purchased on-line from my pages on Seek & Adore.


To see more of my furniture, please check out my website.

Repeat....repeat....repeat....again

So all that batch work I was talking about in my last post (which was a while back)...


...here is the 'Airfix kit of parts' I first made.  It took a while as there were 416 individual pieces.

Looking at the picture, it is not clear if I was making a Lancaster or a Spitfire. Neither. The answer is trays with little sub divisions....like this finished one.

I was actually making a batch of 30! 

So making a big batch like that does show that some tasks are quicker, for example when wood is machined in bulk. But some tasks take just as long, for example when a tray is glued up (there is a slight speed gain, as after making about five trays, the best order and method is found).


So there you go.


Time and motion studies.


Yawn.