How to Make a Lectern
Michael T Collins makes an easily adjustable lectern. Dale Carnegie once said ‘there are always…
Submissions now open for the Mark Baker Woodturner of the Year Competition. Enter HERE for a chance to win prizes
Michael T Collins makes an easily adjustable lectern. Dale Carnegie once said ‘there are always…
In honour of our much missed and respected former Editor Mark Baker, we have launched…
An ‘open and shut’ installation job that definitely needed closure. The space in question was…
Firstly, welcome to the new Woodworkers Institute! It is still the same great resource of…
Dave Western creates from scrapwood a killer whale that is based heavily on a dramatic form…
Ian Woodford shares some ideas for designing and making a nutcracker. Since the early days,…
John Lloyd looks at a 15th-century technique that revolutionised furniture making. No, this has nothing…
Vic Tesolin takes a detailed look at bevel-up bench planes in the shop. Often misunderstood and therefore frequently overlooked, bevel-up planes have a reputation for being a bit of a one-trick pony; a perception that couldn’t be further from the truth. Bevel-ups are truly the most versatile of planes and can be used for a whole host of jobs at the bench. From the coarsest of dimensioning work to bringing parts to size 0.001in at a time, these workhorses can do it all and will soon become the go-to planes in your stable. What’s in the name? It doesn’t help that these planes have been bestowed with two different names, which obviously adds to the confusion. The first and least specific term ‘low-angle’ assumes a certain amount of knowledge regarding bed angles and refers to the relatively low angle of the bed that the blade rests on. Compared to a
No guillotine? No problem. Ramon Valdez uses a dedicated crosscut jig to trim square edges ready for assembly straight off the saw. I love veneer – the possibilities in furniture making abound when it is used. Cutting perfect seams is essential for making a quality product, and this sled makes it easy, repeatable and accurate. It works similar to a crosscut sled with one obvious difference – it rides and is guided by a straightedge. You could use one made of aluminium, phenolic or whatever you have, but it must be straight and true. About my tablesaw I have my tablesaw fence exactly parallel to the blade, so it was easy to set up. By placing my straightedge along the fence, I created a position to allow me to accurately line things up. I used a machine screw threaded into the cast table as an anchor point to enable consistent setups
Guest editor Kevin Alviti introduces the craftsman, teacher and author known only as Barn the Spoon If you’ve ever read any of my articles in this magazine, or other woodworking magazines (Woodworking Crafts, Woodturning, Furniture & Cabinetmaking), you’ll know that my projects always lean towards the practical. I want beauty AND function. I want to be proud of all the items in my house that I use daily. That’s why when I was asked to pick a carver for this issue my mind instantly went to Barn the Spoon. I have his book Spōn on my bookshelf at the top of the stairs, read from cover to cover. It is a book that has been eagerly lent out if anyone ever says they want to start in woodwork but doesn’t know where. What better way could there be than creating a functional object with the minimal number of tools and
In this series, William Barnsley looks back on the journey that inspired his career change from office worker to a professional woodcarver. In this article, William travels to India, visiting the block carvers of Jaipur. The journey Though sad to be leaving Southeast Asia, it was time for a change, and I was excited to be heading to India, a country I had visited twice before. My first trip was in 2008 when I was teaching English in the Himalayan foothills near Darjeeling, and my second was in 2012 as part of a research project documenting the social impacts of tiger reserves on local indigenous communities in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. On both occasions, I had been blown away by the woodcarving and decorative crafts I had seen on display throughout the country. I had hardly scratched the surface of India on these two trips and was excited to explore
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
In an abridged extract from All New Turning Projects, Richard Raffan makes these simple handled bowls. In this project you have two bowls emerging from one turned form. The bowls could be a matching pair or they could have completely different handles. This project involves some large spindlework as you turn a spherical form with handles between centers. This is split in half lengthwise to create a pair of half-turned hemispherical bowl blanks. Each half will be remounted a couple of times before you refine the handles to complete the bowls. The largest I’ve made is 8 in. (200mm) wide and a foot long, but I suggest you work through this basic example before moving on to variations. The blank for this pair of bowls should be slightly over 4 in. (100mm) square by 8 in. (200mm) long. The grain runs the length of the blank. This can be a
Jason Townsend talks us through making a useful sanding bow. Sanding is a job that no one really likes, and yet everyone likes smooth and nicely-finished wood. This sanding bow helps with the sanding down of large curved surfaces and can be used with a variety of abrasives, from coarse to fine. The length of the bow means that you can apply a lot of abrasion with each stroke. When you have finished sanding your item with one grade of abrasive, you can undo the screws and fit a finer grade of abrasive. Tools Materials Sanding bow plan Cutting out the pieces Once your timber is selected, glue the template to the wood using a glue stick or trace it onto the wood using carbon paper for example. Glue up The image in step 6 might look odd, but it is an alternate method to clamping awkwardly-shaped pieces of
Janice Levi enjoys turning wearable art, so here she turns an artistic and functional piece. It is certainly gratifying to turn a bowl, platter or a box, although the task can be challenging, too. There is a drawback however, to turning that bowl, platter or box; no one sees it, except for you and the occasional friend who might drop by. So shake things up a bit and turn a beautiful barrel-shaped purse that you ladies, or your lady, can carry out in public and just wait for the compliments. The barrel purse is actually a fairly simple concept. It is basically a big box with a lid. There are, however, some modifications that are necessary to make the box functional as a purse. Since the purse will undergo some wear and tear, it is important to select woods that will stand up to some everyday use. I have used
