Carpentry
Read MoreThe sunroom step
the timber was actually two pieces jointed together. i was determined to use the main piece for the step as the natural curve matched the position of the doorway and the fine crack across the heartwood was perfect for some inlays and epoxy fill.
3 coats of Oslo Poly X clear gloss and it's doing its job to welcome visitors into the home.Maple, Black Walnut and Purpleheart end grain board.
Gift for my brother and sister in law. I kept the shattered piece of walnut to one side and soaked it in epoxy to stabilise it..
The purpleheart was pretty tricky for the bevel edge, tending to tear.. but addressed through bump cutting and then a reversed 'climb' cut on the router table. finished to 400grit sanding and then soaked in Mineral oil overnight and a beeswax finish.A first proper try with the scroll saw.. ended up looking quite Harry Potter style which wasn't intentional, but no bad thing for a 10yr old :)
Absolute sod to finish, sanding was fine, but I used polyX hardware oil which tended to pool and run with the complex forms.. I'll try danish oil next time.Exotic end grain boards
A real mixture of timbers, Maple, Black walnut, Ash, Bubinga, Purpleheart, Ebony, Wenge, Cocobolo, tulipwood.
the cocobolo and purple heart tended to tear on routing... so best to cut the handholds before final trimming. again finished to 400grit and soaked in mineral oil with a beeswax finishOak Windowsill
A simple piece of English oak that took ages to find as I wanted a cleanish grain but ain interesting knot that could be braced. the knot was cleaned out with files and sandpaper, aged to darken it up, a base of black walnut was installed to again keep it dark.. then it was braced with two inlays of lighter oak.
Stair bannister / handrail
I wanted a nice clean simple handrail up the stairs, but once it was made it felt a little flat.. so I sketched up some swallow silhouettes as they often fly around the house in an evening... these were made up of sycamore and black walnut and placed to match the grain of the oak so it looks like they are rising on the thermals from the mountains below :)