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Wooden bird sculpture on a bright background.
Alexander Thomson September 15, 2024

This week from the WWI

Firstly, welcome to the new Woodworkers Institute! It is still the same great resource of…

Wooden hand plane, spiral carvings
Alexander Thomson September 14, 2024

Stylised Killer Whale

Dave Western creates from scrapwood a killer whale that is based heavily on a dramatic form…

Furniture & Cabinetmaking

Person framing a woodworking tools picture in a workshop.

How to Make a Quality Picture Frame

Cutting joints by hand challenges your skills. Charles Mak illustrates the technique of cutting a half-lap mitre joint that gives a rock-solid picture frame. Don’t be fooled by the simple look of a half-lap mitre. The half-lap mitre may not sound as sexy as a dovetail, but it is by no means an easier joint to cut – even for a skilled dovetailer. It requires the same kind of attention to detail and sawing skills to make as any other taxing joints. Your skills and patience will be rewarded with tight corners and flush joints that are the hallmarks of a well-made frame. Are you ready for the challenge? Picture frame exploded view Mitre joinery Mitred frames are usually toughened up in their corners with some kind of fastener, such as loose splines or brads. When good appearance is also required on the edges, loose tongues or biscuits can be

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Man sailing small wooden boat on blue water.

Building a Dingy

If you have ever dreamt of building your own boat from a kit, then take a look at the 9ft Nutshell. Richard Johnstone-Bryden is given a lesson in how to put the kit together, by Greenway Marine’s Jonathan Greenway and fellow boatbuilder Dean Baldry. The delightful 9ft Nutshell dinghy was designed in 1983 by the Wivenhoe-based boatbuilder, Malcolm Goodwin and has been built under license by Greenway Marine Ltd since March 2003. The Nutshell’s clinker planking, varnished wood and tan lug sail may look traditional, yet she relies on modern techniques for her timeless lines. Unlike conventional wooden clinker dinghies she does not rely on either timbers or stringers as part of her structure, thus simplifying the building process and producing a lightweight, yet very strong hull. The strength usually provided by these components is achieved by using epoxy between the planking. Epoxy is also used to glue all of

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Woodcarving

Close-up of polished wooden chair with cloth.

Types of Wood Finishes

Andrew Thomas looks at using wood finishes Wood finishing is an important and extremely enjoyable skill to learn. If accomplished correctly, these processes greatly enhance the natural beauty of wood, and consequently, the overall attraction of the finished form. This is, of course, a very personal matter for which we all have our own individual preferences and favourites. Finishes also add a layer of protection that reduce moisture ingression, UV degradation, and to some extent, denting. In this article I will outline and demonstrate some of the finishes that are available to purchase, and evaluate their effectiveness for the purpose of application to woodcarvings and sculptures. There are literally dozens of prepared wood finishes available that are appropriate for woodcarvings and sculptures. These basically fall into the categories of; oil, wax polish and bleach. These can be traditional or modern formulations, with either a hard durable surface, or a softer less durable

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Wooden owl sculpture in a rural outdoor setting.

How to Carve an Owl

Given their natural affinity, it somehow feels appropriate to carve an owl from wood. With this example, our author teaches you how to create this charismatic charmer. Seated on your patio, or perhaps carved into an otherwise inanimate tree stump, this owl carving is a great way to liven up your living space. Like a stale bread roll, the longer you keep your carving timber, the harder it gets, and when wood is hard, it takes longer to carve. But when can you carve it? Carving with green wood Some of the alder (Alnus glutinosa) trees we planted some years ago were felled last spring, producing logs up to 405mm diameter. We stored them leaning on one edge vertically, utilising gravity to drain down moisture and reduce shakes and cracking while they dry. General advice is seasoning should take a year for each inch of thickness – that could be

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Woodturning

Woodturning on a lathe with carving tool.

How to Turn a Perfect Sphere. Part 1

Richard Findley shares a simple technique for turning a perfect sphere. Turned wooden spheres hold a certain fascination. It is almost the perfect shape. A continual and constant curve that must surely be one of the most challenging objects to craft by hand. They demand to be picked up and rolled in the hand, they show off the figure of the timber and they also hold a mystery to turners and non-turners alike: just how do you turn this perfectly symmetrical shape without marking it? It’s actually not that difficult to do, but there are several stages involved. The method I will show in this article is the simplest way that I have found, but it is by no means the only way. I’ve seen lots of variations, some involve some very careful marking out, some involve some mathematical formulae or the use of jigs. The beauty of the way

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Close-up of dark, abstract ceramic sculpture with gold detailing.

Red Rum Jug

Andrew Potocnik creates a piece inspired by a Cornish ceramicist. I’ve had an idea sitting on the back burner for quite sometime for a tall and slender jug inspired by a glimpse of an Alessi product several years ago.I have many of these ideas sitting there just waiting for something to trip the switch and get me focused on converting an idea into a finished product. Watching a Rick Stein travelogue recently where he visited a ceramicist in Stein’s home county of Cornwall, I noticed a ceramic jug with what was described as a ‘rocking base’. However, it wasn’t the base that caught my attention, but the fullness of the jug’s body and the slender curve to the spout as it opened to a broad mouth, along with a sympathetic handle. The image stayed in my mind for a while until I finally got around to sketching out how I

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Woodworking Crafts

Black egg cups with red egg.

Disappearing Ball Trick

In an abridged extract taken from Turned Toys, the author turned a toy for a disappearing ball trick. This is a four-part, spindle-grain project that will test your skills in working to fine tolerances and disguising the joins. To help with this, you need to have some detail that will hide and obfuscate what is going on when various parts of the trick are lifted. The cup has a hollow interior, into which is placed a loose ball. Over this is placed a false cap that fits on top of the ball – it has a hollow underneath, while the top is shaped and coloured to look just like the loose ball. Therein lies the illusion at the heart of the trick. Over the top of this, the lid is fitted. For this project, it is important to work in clear stages, and to constantly check measurements and fit. It’s

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Woodworking tools and dovetail joint pieces on dark background.

The Modified Gottshall Joinery Exercise

Never heard of the ‘Gottshall Block Test’? It is an exercise for beginning woodworkers included in Making Antique Furniture Reproductions by Franklin H. Gottshall, a period furniture writer. The key value of this exercise lies in understanding that grain directions play a critical role in how you use a chisel. Your goal is to keep the chisel edge from digging in and splitting the wood. After teaching classes modelled after Gottshall’s exercise to woodworkers who are not beginners, I can safely say that the Gottshall exercise is a worthy pursuit for the average traditional woodworkers as well.  The modified exercise and the tools When I teach, I follow a slightly different approach from Gottshall’s as our focus is on the chisel. First, I replace the round and mitre corners with a tail (see diagram). Second, the only cutting tools we use are the handsaw and chisels – no drill or

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