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…
Designer-maker Brendan Devitt-Spooner has a love of home-grown timber, as expressed in this beautiful waney edge desk project. This desk came about when a client visited my workshop looking to have one made. They had seen my work at a craft show I was taking part in and liked the pieces I had on display. What was particularly nice about the initial meeting was the fact that they did not have any preconceived ideas on what it should look like. Looking at some of the pieces in my showroom they expressed a preference for a natural edge to the top. As luck would have it I had some ash (Fraxinus excelsior) from a tree we took down about 18 years ago. One of the planks turned out to be ideal – wider at one end, no splits or shakes and to clinch it, it was a single slab that had
Chris Grace cuts to the chase with some safe and useful advice on using a chopsaw. The chopsaw or compound mitre saw is probably more useful than many other machines, but dealing with dust and working safely present a variety of problems which are not easy to solve. Having worked with this machine for some time, I have come up with a variety of ways to improve working with these saws which can be adapted to suit your own particular machine. Further reading
Steve Bisco makes a lime wood foliage carving in the style of Grinling Gibbons. Grinling Gibbons’ projects are always popular with carvers who want to take on the challenge of a lime wood (Tilia vulgaris) foliage festoon. This project is composed of elements featured in the overmantel festoons of the King’s Apartments at Hampton Court Palace. Hampton Court was a favourite residence of Henry VIII, but its Tudor buildings were old and out of date. King William III decided that this palace, 13 miles from London, was safer from the Jacobite mobs who plagued his reign after he ousted James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. William set about building a large new baroque wing on to the old palace, fitted out in the current fashion with elaborate carved festoons decorating the state rooms, and there was only one man for the job – Grinling Gibbons, Master Carver to
Peter Benson looks at keeping tools sharp for carving figures. For this article on queries I received at the European Woodworking Show at Cressing Temple Barn, I will deal with a third general area that visitors were worried about: how to deal with carving figures in the round – animal and human. For figures in general, it is most important to study the basic skeleton first, and then look at as many pictures of your subject as possible to get an idea of what sort of pose and position is typical of that subject. Many carvings of animals and humans are basically accurate but don’t sit right. The balance and centre of gravity are all wrong. How many carvings of birds have you seen that are falling backwards off their perches, or people that are supposed to be moving but look like statues? Such errors are nothing to do with
We look at a tree that is often seen as just ancient and venerable. The typical place to find an old, wide, open-trunked yew (Taxus baccata) with expansive branches that drop red fruits all over the ground, is a churchyard. But there is a lot more to the yew than just an imposing presence among the gravestones. Trees generally can live 400–600 years, but exceptional examples have been claimed to have an age of up to 2000 years old. English or European yew The English yew is one of a family of species Taxus that exists in various parts of the world. The word ‘yew’ has ancient European origins and while ‘baccata’ is Latin for red berries, it is in fact an evergreen softwood. This tree has long been part of mythology and folklore and seems to echo an ancient time, especially as so many are found located in churchyards. Nowadays it
John Swinkels and Bernie Leadbeatter make wooden train whistles on a lathe. Bernie brought some wooden train whistles to the club – Woodturners of the Hunter – and was happy to share with us how to make them. The whistles have four holes, and Bernie designed and built a jig that made drilling those holes in a blank an easy procedure. We made a few from radiata pine (Pinus radiata), but found the sound seemed to be richer if they were made from hardwood. So we made four whistles from local hardwood. We made the whistles using jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), merbau (Swintonia floribunda), coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalem) and macadamia (Macadamia ternifolia). Things you will need Materials Bernie’s jig 1. There is an unseen piece of wood that just fits between the lathe ways.2. Under that is another smaller piece that can turn and lock the jig in place.3. The visible lowest piece is fastened
Dave Western shows the techniques required to create a double-ended spoon. A couple of years ago I came across a lovely little double-ended spoon held in the collection of the extraordinary Skansen Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. The spoon itself was modest and simple with no flashy adornments, but it was nevertheless a wonderfully evocative object. Not much seemed to be known about its purpose, but it was suggested that it was probably used at a wedding celebration, perhaps for the couple to eat a first meal together. With the bowls placed so close to one another, using this spoon would certainly be romantic. The memory of this elegant and mysterious little spoon stayed in my subconscious until I realised that a couple of exquisite little pieces of wood I had been saving, despite being too small for my regular spoons, were perfect for my version of the Swedish double-ended spoon. I
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
