I haven’t written much about woodworking for a while. As you’re probably aware, I moved home not long ago and, for an indefinite amount of time, I still have access to the place where my tools are currently stored… I just don’t seem to have enough of the time, money or weather at the moment! But I am still keeping two projects on-the-go and, to be fair, they’ve been in said state for a while. This is what I wanted to share with you this evening.
On a bit of a sad note to start with; I have to reveal that the 2in thick walnut I was saving for a Gibson SG guitar build has been ripped and planed down in to something else… (See above.) You see, I have these two chess boards that I’d like to finish sometime this year and without wanting to buy more walnut, this was my most economical solution. Thicker stuff is for the lippings to fit around the edge of each board and the thinner ones will create a kind of plinth of stand that’ll bring the boards up nearly 3in from the base.
Did I blog about this already?!?
There was a point where I’d gone through the hardship of creating the grid-like pattern (don’t worry, it’s all being filmed) only to decide that my board was too thick. So, in order to reduce the total thickness by about 3mm (and, lacking in access to a drum sander…), I decided to try and use my router table!
Along with the ‘patch work’, there’s also this burn mark that’ll need to be scraped, planed, sanded or sworn away!
On a positive however, the undersides (in sycamore) are looking lovely indeed!
There’s also the case of these two book boxes, which don’t require anything more than a couple of holes each, some sanding and then my choice of finish.
I should have these finished in time for March and I’m delighted with how well the page-effect has worked. I’ve been avoiding the workshop recently and perhaps using my new home as a convenient excuse… Yes, there are things I intend to finish but I hate the feeling as though I’m already on borrowed time.
But I have been able to do a bit of finishing work in my new home and, at some point over the coming months, you’ll get to see a video on how I made this magnetic knife block!
Thanks for reading and happy woodworking for 2014!
