One week to go!

Well there is one week left to get all the stools done and ready for our exhibition. So the pressure is on. And to put more pressure on myself, I've decided to go to the wood show in Hobart for the weekend. So tomorrow morning (Friday) I have my Uni class in the morning. Which is a web design class. And I have to say that I love that class. I think it has to do with all the design stuff I am learning here. But the coolest thing that I think the class is offering my is, that not only do I design all the content (i.e. I design all the furniture and make it) I also design and control the way in which it will be viewed on the Internet. So be on the look out with in the next couple of months for fouronefive designs website. (at least that's what I am calling my potential company right now.)

But where was I, after that class in the morning I will have a couple of hours before we leave for Hobart. It's a 2 hour drive down there. I know what you are thinking " 2 hours that's nothing." You are right normally. But he in Tasmania with little one lane roads and tons of road kill and the most curved roads you will even see, the trip is not that fun. So we are going to stay there for the weekend.

But then that leaves me Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to finish. Because are suppose to present on Thursday and prepare for the exhibition. Also the National new team is in town that day and are going to come and due a piece on us. So I might get on Australian TV. Wooo Hooo.

But as of right now things are looking good. I have all my timber ready and at it's final dimensions. I have cut all the joinery. All I have to do is assemble the frames and glue them up. Then I have to laminate the seat with some nice bending ply and saddle leather on top. Then cut them into slats and attach them to the stool. I am pretty confident that I will get the set of four done, and hopefully one extra in a different timber also. We shall see.

Please to be enjoying some pictures.









Picture 1: This is my bench at the moment. Full of all the parts to my 4 stools.

Picture 2: One of the stools that I have already glued the side frames together to test strength again. This is because I have thinned the entire stool. Originally the uprights of the frame where 80 mm wide. ( alittle over 3 inches ). Now all the pieces to the outside frames are 55 mm wide ( 2 inches). So I wanted to make sure the that they would be strong enough. And they are, believe me.

Picture 3: Just a different view of the stool. The slats on this stool are made form MDF just to so me what they are going to look like.

Anyways, have a great weekend and play nice.

Kaleo

Who says there's no evolution...

Well this past week was a really good week. It ended with some final design decisions on the Cantilever Stool. I guess at the moment that is what I am calling. Only because I have yet thought of a better name. But as soon as I do I will rename it. This stool has evolved from a stool with arms and a back, to a chair and then back to a stool without the arms and back. As my instructor said it, " your design has evolved more than any other in the group." He's told me that I have bitten off the biggest bit in the class, by attempting to build seating in this unit. So I took that as a compliment since he really likes my design.

I guess some of the major changes that have about about are: I have raised the seat to about 610 mm which translates to about 24 inch's. The stool is a kitchen stool rather than a bar stool. I also shortened the width of the stool from 440 mm to about 410mm. I know that doesn't sound like much but that about 1 1/2 inches. I also had to add a foot rest. This was the hardest thing for me to do. Because to this point I have been resisting doing this. I was resisting more for designs sake than anything else. But once I made a full size prototype, and saw that the stool racks from side to side alot, I knew that I needed something that would stabilize it. Once I added the foot rest all the rack disappeared. Which is really good, because I think that this stool visually give you the appearance that it will not be stable. So the last thing that I need is for not to be. But now it is solid as a rock.

But being the minimalist that I have become, by adding one thing I had to get rid of something. So the bottom back foot bar, that ran between and connected the bottom feet at the back is now gone. Which from a design aspect is great. Because that bar across the floor really grounded the piece and made it look really heavy. I have also decided to make a special bracket that connects the slats to the seat, but gives the impression that the seat or slats are floating above the frame.

So starting tomorrow I have until Thursday of the following week to produce at least 3 of these stools. My goal is to make a set of 4 of them. And also to try to make one other one in a different timber so one can see them in different timbers. So I hope to get them all done. I am rather confident that I will get at least the 3 stools done. But wish me luck anyways. I'll post some progression pictures during the week when they become available. I am heading down to Hobart ( the capital of Tasmania) this upcoming weekend for the regional wood show. I'll let you all know how that goes also. So until then, from the inspired words of one of my classmates, " I made it alittle bit bigger, or it will be to small." So simple, why didn't I think of that.

Smiling from ear to ear!

I know that I said that I was going to try and update this every week. I apologize for the fact I haven't been very good at it. But I promise to be better. Especially since I found that Fine Woodworking's website has put a link to my blog on there site. So first I would like to thank Fine Woodworking for doing that. I hope that I can help inspire others to follow there dreams.

I have to be honest, this evening I went out to dinner with a guy named Chris that I met on a Australian woodworking forum. He was the one that told me that Fine Woodworking had put a link to my blog up. I haven't stopped smiling yet, thanks Chris!

So where am I with my latest projects. Well right in the middle of things. The class has voted and I will be making my bar stools for this unit. Which I am very pleased about. But the design has evolve greatly since I last posted. I have gotten rid of the back rest and arms. It was becoming to much of a chair. I have lowered it so that you won't need a foot rest. I also plan to laminate some slats, so that they curve down in the front ( making it easy to get out of ) and curve up in the back ( so you know when you have gone to far back ). But I also plan to laminate a really nice thick piece of leather on top of each slat. I think this will give it a really nice and elegant look.



I plan on putting a nice curve in the front legs, because they are being made really wide. And I don't want them to look chunky. So I feel that putting the curve in them removes a lot of the size, but gives me enough meat at the finger joints where it will be needed. Also I'm going to curve the top and bottom arms. But the curve will start out at 60mm wide and then curve up and through to a 20mm wide section. So the curve will flow through and not come back on the ends. (like the pictures show).
I will be making an actual prototype hopefully by Wednesday.



Other than that things are flat out here. We have about 3 weeks to make all the jigs and produce at least 3 of everything. I hope to make 1 set of 4 stools all the same. And then make just 1 stool different. I plan on using celery top pine for the set, which is a very blond almost white timber. And then have either a nice dark brown leather or a jet black piece of leather. The the one extra stool, I want to make in Tasmanian Blackwood. I will use the same leather for that one. I just want to be able to give people a choice and a visual of the same stool in different timbers.

I had a discussion with on of my fellow students today. He's a really good kid, but he is an 18 year old kid. He was complaining about the timetables for this project that we are doing. Telling me that it is impossible to get these things done with the time that we have. And that why should he even try when he knows he's going to fail. I felt so sad for him and this thought process. I know that it is a valid defense, but I guess I have never felt that way before. So I guess my little fortune cookie message for you all is this.

"By trying you either succeed or fail, by not trying you just fail". And personally I would rather fail trying then just fail.

By the way if you like that little saying it's mine so don't forget to quote me. I hope to get some more pictures up soon of my final prototype. Until then.

Here are some pictures

I know I posted yesterday, but I finished the prototype today. Mainly I wanted to test the strength of the finger joint at the bottom. So I really have done all the thing to this that I wanted to. But this was just to let me know if it was possible.



But as designs evolve, this one has already. The problem that I am finding is with the back and arm rest. I've been moving the seat up and down and have finally found the best seat to armrest ratio. But the problem is that the stool is getting to low. And when you sit towards the front, your feet touch the ground, and it's like your in a stool. But when you push back and sit against the back rest, your feet come off the ground and it gets uncomfortable.



So what's happening now is that this stool is becoming a chair. And I'm not sure that I want it to become a chair. So I am going to spend some time this weekend and redesign. I have a good idea for both a chair and a stool. But the one thing that will remain both will have slats. The chair would not be a dining chair, it would be more of a lounge chair. But you wouldn't normally think that a lounge chair would have slats. But what I plan to do is apply leather to each slat. I think that I will do this to which ever design I end up going with.

The best part so far of this project it that even though I will only get to make one of the design, at the end of it I will have 3 fully resolved and possible design. Anyway I will post soon whatever it is that I decide to do. Have a great weekend all.

The Stool...

Well this week has been very interesting. We finally started officially. Our first lecturer has arrived. His name is Jono Everett. He is a designer maker from Canberra, which for those of you that don't know is the capital of Australia. He has done a lot of design work and making of fine furniture all over Australia, but right now works under contract at the Parliament house in Canberra. But he is a great teacher and is very inspiring.

So we have to come up with a production item. The good things is that it can be anything and cost whatever we want it to. I was under the impression that we were going to have to make some small for the tourist market. But luckily that is not the case. But we have to come up with three different things. So I have thought of my "8" table from last year, but redesigned a bit, another chair that I don't have any pictures of yet and The Stool.





Now I know what you are going to say. Is that even possible. Well first off, in these pictures there is no seat or back rest. But there will be, and they will be slats that are shaped. They will be attached to the front rail and float off the back. There will be one that attaches all the way from the back to the front. Thus give the whole stool alittle more strength. The joints on the front legs fro both the arm rest and the feet are finger joints. The reason for this particular joint is the fact that it gives the most long grain to long grain glue area. This the strongest type of joint.

By the way, the pictures are computer rendered and the stool in the picture has a chrome effect on it. So I know that it looks like it's metal, but it won't be. That is the beauty of this stool. Is that if it was made of metal then nobody would question the strength. But with wood, well lets just say we are pushing some boundaries on wood design with this one.

Now will it work I don't really know. But today I actually made the two front legs exactly the size that I want the stool. I glued the joints together and tomorrow I will be putting the whole prototype together and I will make a mocked up seat and sit in it. And if it holds all 110 kilos ( 240 lbs ) of me. Than I think it will hold almost anyone. But we will find out tomorrow. So I will most likely update you all again then.

Wish me luck, I will post some pics of the whole thing. Until then?????

The next big thing...

Well first of all I need to say sorry for having not updated my blog for awhile. There really hasn't been much to report on. Although we are back at school, our lecturer doesn't show up until Monday. So the last few weeks have not been to exciting.

The Lumber Jocks online contest came and went, and sadly to be reporting to you that I did not even place. Needless to say there were days of crying and gnashing of teeth. But I am finally over it and am ready to start making some more furniture. So THE NEXT BIG THING.... What could it be??

I have been spending these last 3 weeks designing a piece that is for what we call our production unit. A piece that can be reproduced rapidly. And I have come up with something that is going to blow your minds. It is a..... ( wait for it ) bar stool. That's right can you believe it. I bet you weren't expecting that.

Anyways at this point I have been doing a lot of drawing. Right now I am getting ready to mock it up to see what it will look like and make some final design decisions. Sorry I have no photos of this yet. But needless to say they will be something that you have never seen before. My goal with this production unit was to come up with something that if someone wanted to by it, they would have to buy more than 1 of them. Nobody buys one bar stool for there kitchen counter, they buy 3 or 4.

But today I took a break from mocking up this stool, to think of THE NEXT NEXT BIG THING.... (your thinking what could it be this time) here we are:





That's right Chopsticks. I had an idea today to make a set of chopstick. So the first ones that I did I tried to turn on the lathe, lets just end this part of the blog right here. And never talk about it again.

The second set, I developed a jig to hold the wood and then pass them through the spindle moulder ( for you in the states it's called a shaper ). Thus allowing me to make hundreds of these things in a matter of a couple of hours. Then I thought that I needed a way to hold them together. So I fashioned a piece that has a small groove cut out of the back. Thus the set of chopsticks slide up and because of the taper in the shape on the sticks they wedge themselves against the sides of the groove. The holder also becomes a place to set your sticks at the table.

I am going to take these to a couple of the tourist shops around town here and feel out the market. I think that they would sell, especially if I ask like 20-30 bucks for them. This allows the gallery to make it up alittle bit more. I'll will let you all know how things go with them.

Well until next time my friends, Happy Valentine's Day. Give that loved one in your life a special set of Kaleo's chopsticks. Nothing says I Love You better.



Kaleo

Voting starts soon!!!!!

I thought that I would let you all know that I have entered my hall table into a online contest.



It's at www.lumberjocks.com Go there and take a look. I don't know if you have to sign up to vote or not. But for those of you that are interested in woodworking it is a really good site. I always go to fine woodworking website, but have found that the people at this site are friendlier. So go there and vote, of course I want you to vote for me, but look at the great work and vote.

I'll let you all know the results in a couple of weeks.



Kaleo

Let's get started

Well finally it is time to get back into it. I have been looking forward to this week for, well at least 4 weeks. On Monday we were allowed officially back into the shop. What a great felling. But it surprised me to only see 4 other on the 12 classmates in total. I guess some are just enjoying there break to much. Any who there have been some changes, of which I'm sure there will be more to mention next time. As this week has only been for us second years. So the new first years don't start until Monday. Then is when we will here all the changes that are happening.

But the major change that we know about is the addiction of a new director. The University has gone with one of it's own on this. They brought in a guy by the name of Simon Ancher. A young ( maybe the same age as me ) designer. And I say designer because that is what he is. None of us are to sure about what kind of maker this guys is. Which bothers me some, but also knowikng that it shouldn't really effect me what he does. This because of the guest lecturers that we are going to have In the second year program.

But I have been busy this week. Busy with whatever it is that I wanted to do. So I have been making another hall table. This one is the big brother to the "8" table that I made last year.



But instead of using solid timber I have veneered the entire thing so far. I did this for a few reasons. By veneering I can guarantee that the table is not going to move. As in wood movement, there will be none. Another is because it's environmentally better. I use less timber when I veneer. But I know that you want to know the real reason. And that is because I didn't want to spend any money. The school provides MDF and other man made timber product and veneers. So nothing out of my pocket.



Well I also thought I would post a few pictures of the new tool cabinet that I made. It is just made out of MDF but it is nice to have a little extra space.



I found this great podcast for those of you that know what that is, it's called The Wood Whisperer. Go to Itunes and look it up it is really good.

Well until next time, keep in touch and play nice with others

Kaleo

Isn't this break over yet?

I have to admit I thought that I coould make it through this break. But man it has already been a really long break. Of course it started early in December. But it started great with the trip to New Zealand, then there was Christmas and New Years. But now it's just plan boring. I looked for some work. I appliked for anything even fast food. But nothing came about. The only thing that seemed like there could be some hope was fruit picking. But that required either a car to get there or a long bus trip or a ride. But that didn't pan out either. Can you believe that with skills like these that I couldn't find any work.



I finally got a call from a former student from the school, asking if I could give him a hand with a public art project thta he was doing. So I got about 2 days of workk out of it. He paid me 15 an hour cash. But it got me out of the house and out of Jana's hair. I have disrupted her and Kai's schudule. Then after that I spoke to our teaching assistant, that is backk at work. I asked if it would bother him if I came in to the shop and muck around for awhile. He said that it would be fine as long as I didn't tell the other students, because he didn't want all of us in.



So then I spent the next few days cleaning up my new bench area and getting everything organized. Then I decided to build a tool chest. Nothing worth bragging about. Just a cabinet made of MDF, just to hold all my hand tools and some of my markking devices and sandpaper and some router bits.

School doesn't start officially until the 29th of January. And out first guest lecturer doesn't come until 19th of Febuary. So there still is awhile to wait to really get this year started.

I'll check in again with all of you later.

The New Year!!

Well we here in Australia are now 12 hours into the new year and to you back in the states the future looks good. Not a lot has happened since the last post. We had a wonderful Christmas. We had some good friends come over for dinner on Christmas eve. And we had a really good time watching Kai open the presents. As we predicted he ran out Christmas morning and said "WOW lots of presents" Even though there were only 4 or 5 presents under the tree. But when he went to sleep there was only one. He got a Thomas the Tank Engine train set and a mini basketball and hoop, and a little "working bench" that's what he calls it, with some plastic tools.



So it has been a nice break. But I am starting to get a little bored. I think that I'll head over to the school tomorrow and see if it is open. The teaching assistant has to be there. So when he is around, he doesn't mind if a few of us show up. That basically means the Americans, because we have nothing else to do.

We hope you have had a good holiday season and wish you the best for the new year.

New Zealand WOW!!!

Need I say more.....

Well we just got back from our 10 day tour of what I call God's greatest work on this earth. If you only can afford to go to one place In your entire life, that place needs to be the south island of New Zealand.

We left little old Tasmania on a Monday afternoon, and arrived in Christchurch at about 11 pm. It was 12am by the time we cleared customs and got our bags and got to the hotel. We spent the next day just walking and touring the city of Christchurch. It is a very nice city, there are only 4 million people in all of New Zealand. About 3.5 million of those live on the north island. Christchurch is the biggest city on the south island with about 300,000. It's a relatively big city with alot of tourist shops and things to see.

We left Christchurch via a wonderful passenger train that went to the west coast of the island. The trip took about 4 hours and went through some on the most breath-taking view you could ever imagine. We ended up in a little town called Greymouth. We did stay there long, we basically picked up the rental car and drove about 3 hours south to Frans Joseph.




Frans Joseph is part of New Zealands Glacier region. And man is it stunning. We took about a 1 hour hike to get as close as we were allowed to get the glacier with out having to pay a guide to go on the actual glacier. ( which if we had been kidless we would have done.)

Next we drove drove to a town called Queenstown. This a little city towards the southern end of the island. It was a really nice little town, but it's a huge tourist destination, so there were just to many people around. But we went on a little boat ride there over to a farm. Where we watched a sheep farmer do his thing, by gathering all the sheep and sheering them. After we watched him sheer the sheep, Kai decided he wanted a haircut. But we wouldn't let him.

Then it was off to Milford Sound, or the Fiord lands of New Zealand. Not knowing what Fiord's where myself, they are bays of water that we craves through mountains by ice. There we went on a 3 hour boat ride through the Sound. To me this was to me the most beautiful spot that I have ever seen on earth.





We left there and went to Mt Cook. I think that it is the highest point on the island. But what was so incredible is that it was like 75 degrees out side, but you stepped outside your room door and there was this mountain full of snow. Mt. Cook is the picture at the top of the blog, and yes all the lakes, rivers, streams and ocean that we saw really are that blue. You can see right through the water and depending on how deep things are you can see the bottom. Almost all the water is some of the purest in the world.

Then it was back to Christchurch for a day to relax and walk around and get ready to leave.

This trip has made Jana and I start to seriously contemplate moving there. New Zealand just seems to have some of the most untouched places on this earth. There were countless places that we saw that there was no public access. The only way in was to hike, no roads and no real trails either.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, and have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Kaleo

End of a Long Year

Well the year is just about done here at the school. As of right now there is not much going on. We are building a set of 8 "Uno" chairs to try and sell them next year to help fund our final exhibition. So that is keeping me busy enough.

As for much else there isn't alot. The 2nd year exhibition was really nice. I was told at the last minute that my table was not going to be displayed. The reason was it was thought that it would look funny if only 1 first year was displaying. Needless to say I was really disappointed. Actually that's not true I was really pissed off at the whole thing. But it's over and all is well. Now it's nothing to do for a few days amd then we are off to New Zealand for 10 days. After that I will be looking for a part time job. So wish me luck.

I'll let you all know how the trip goes. Until then be good and eat all those veggies.

Kaleo

FINALLY!!!!

Well it's finally done. I spent the last 3 days sanding and touching up and oiling and repainting that then oiling again. Only to find that I missed a spot and had to sand back and reapply paint, only then to oil again. I'll tell you this, I will never paint again. It has been a nightmare. But I have it done in time for the exhibition, and that was the goal. Only other 1st year student finished there table. Although there are still 3 unofficial weeks left in the semester. So I guess they could get them done. But we had the critique yesterday and the grading happened.


So anyways let me give you the write up about my table.

Wanting to challenge the look and feel of a traditional hall table I embarked on designing something unique, something that you might not have seen before. Not wanting to have 4 distinct legs, I turned to the design of the Uno chair by Neil Erasmus. Drawing from that chair, I decided to use frames as means to support the table. I was also turned on to Charles Rennie Mackintosh. His use of strong rectilinear shapes suited my own design aesthetic. This is where “Stark” was born. Named “Stark” for it’s stunning contrast between the ebonized Tasmanian Blackwood and the jaw dropping Huon Pine top. With this piece I wanted to let the design talk for itself and not let the timbers do all the talking. My desire was to have people be drawn in by the design and then notice the little beauties. Things like the beautiful bird’s eye huon pine top, the hand cut dovetails that cut ever so slightly through the front of the drawers. I especially want people to notice the back design and see the very intricate array of pieces that were each cut and hand fitted together individually, then left with a slight bevel on the front edges. All to subtly highlight the beautiful bird’s mouth joints.


Sounds pretty nice huh? Well it is pretty nice, there are somethings that I would change if I did it again. But for being the first major piece of furniture that I not only built, but completely designed, I am really happy with the results. I have already received really good feedback from it, the head of the school of architecture was in the other day and I overheard him tell my instructor that he thought it was just stunning. I hope all goes well Friday night at the exhibition. I'll let you all know. Until then

Almost there

This last week was a really long week. I think it has to do with the fact that I am completely tired of this project. All I have thought about for the last 8 weeks has been this bloody hall table. Now don't get me wrong I have enjoyed building it. But for the last week I have been so ready for it to be done.

But to report it is almost there. The project is due on Tuesday morning. And as of right now all I have left is to glue up one drawer and fit it in. And slap on a couple coats of oil and she will be DONE. So by Monday night, if I drank I would be at the pub celebrating.


As it look right now I will be the only person in the class to finish this project on time. The good thing about that is that I will be able to show this table at the Graduating students exhibition next Friday. This exhibition will be held at the Design Centre in Launceston, Tasmania, and will go for 2 weeks. So hopefully it will be a good experience. I'll post more on that next week. Here is the website address for the design centre ( http://designcentre.com.au )

This weekend there is a craft show in Deloraine here. It's said to be the biggest craft show in the southern hemisphere. We laugh because almost everything here is said to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere. I think that Australians forget about other huge countries like South Africa, Argentina, Chile and what about Brazil there are like 200 million people there to Australia's 20 million. Anyways, the school has a booth there and I am showing my box and "8" Table there. Which from what I here is getting a lot of interest. Because I priced it at 350.00 dollars.


Well I'll leave you now, until next week, be good have fun and don't forget to wash behind your ears.

Kaleo

Melbourne Trip

Last week I set off to Melbourne to go to The Working with Wood Show. It was a really good trip. I couldn't believe how fast it was to fly to Melbourne. Almost as soon as week reach flying altitude we were heading back down for landing. The flight was 46 minutes. So the traveling wasn't bad at all.

The show was pretty good. It was like almost every show that I have been to, but a little smaller. It was full of different displays, things like people selling wood, to new clamps and router bits. To big machinery and small handheld powertools. The most interesting part of the show was the exhibition. The Victorian woodworker Asso. held an exhibition. It was really interesting to see the work. It really gives me a lot of hope. As I looked through what was there (being a furniture maker) I had a really critical eye. And what I saw gave me hope that I will be able to make it in this business. Most of the pieces were really good. But all of them except for about 3 had what I would call, "only because I built furniture" mistakes. A little chip out here or a joint not quite all the way in, cabinets not finished underneath. Little things that the normal eye wouldn't pick up.

My favorite part of the show was the schools booth. I loved talking to people and explaining what we did at the school. Showing off my box and explaining the details. I especially liked when people asked how much my box was and the look of disbelief when I told them. I was asking 1200.00 for my box. (only because I really didn't want to sell it.) I was told though that it should sell for around 800-1000.



It was really nice having a few days off. But now I feel so far behind on my Hall Table. I have to make up some ground this week. As of today, I have finished gluing up the back design and dry fitted everything except the drawers together. By the end of this week I hope to have the entire piece expect the drawers glued up and stained pure black. (except the top of course that stays natural) So until next week.

This weeks progress

This has been a really good week. I have been really worried about getting this project completed on time. There always seems like a lot to do and no time to do it. But this week things seemed to fall into place. The beginning of the week I made the top to my hall table. It's 1340 mm long by 400 mm wide by 19 mm thick. Which is about 5 ft long by 18 inches wide by about 3/4 inch thick. The top is made from MDF, of which I put a 8 mm lipping on all the edges and then veneered the top with some beautiful birds-eye Huon Pine. The top came out really nice.



Then I had to build a few frames to enclose the area that my drawers will sit. There are two frames, the top frame will be covered by the top on the hall table. The bottom frame will have panels in it so that you can't look under the table and see the drawers. I have yet to finish the panels, I cut them to size but still have to veneer them and cut a rebate into them so that they can sit in place.

I then had to rout a rebate into the back frame of the table. There is a panel that has to sit in the frame in the back so that you can not see into the drawer cavity. Also there will be a lot of decorative squares that will be inset into the back. So I had to make the room for those.


Next I cut the first half of all my little squares. They are made up of little pieces of timber that have two 45 degree cuts on both ends. Then 4 of these pieces will be placed like a cross forming the squares. These are called birds mouth joints. I had to come up with a couple of jigs to make the job easier and faster. The first jig is this one. It has a stop that is the exact length and a fence at a 45 degree angle. You place your piece of timber in and lock it place with the cam, and the over hang gets cut off at the table saw at a 45 degree angle. You then flip and cut the other angle to give you an arrow looking piece. Then you flip again and do the other side.


The Second jig is for cutting a groove on the ends of the pieces. This groove is there to accept a floating tenon. Which is a piece of timber that will be glued into the 4 pieces to hold them together.


I fly out to Melbourne on Thursday for the working with wood show. The school is going to have a booth there. So my box will be on display at the show. I'm happy about that. Hopefully I will be able to get as much done in the upcoming week before the trip and keep on schedule.

I'll tell you all about the show next week.

Kaleo

Hall Table Progression

Well things have been really busy these week. I finally got started on my hall table. And when I say started I mean that I got to start making it. I guess I really started about 2 weeks ago. But with the timber sitting for the week, it feels like I just got really started. So I spent the week first planning out a timetable. The project is meant to be finished by the 7 of November. Which is about a month away.

So this week I got all the mortising and tenoning done and made the entire frame. I actually got it standing this weekend. Here are a few pictures of the table so far.

Presenting "8"

Well like last week this week has just flown by. I started this week to mill up all my timber for my hall table. The dimensions are 40 mm wide by 30mm thick. For those of you in America that converts to about 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/4 inches. I think, all I know is that I will be working in the metric system for the rest of my life. It is so much easier. Anyway, I finished planeing and thicknessing all of my timber and then I have to let it sit for at least a week. In order for it to do all the moving it is going to do. When you mill rough timber, it will move almost right away because you are relieving a lot of internal stresses in the timber. So I did all that on Monday. That left me the rest of the week to do something.

So I decided to make this:


I call it "8". The side table stands 550 mm tall and is 320 mm wide and 270 mm deep. It is made from Jarrah, which I had left over from my box that I made. Jarrah has to be one of my favorite timbers ever. It has such a beautiful dark red color to it. I also added a inlay of huon pine, which is a very blonde timber. It is very old and is only found here in Tasmania. Some of the huon pine trees date back as much as 3000 years old. On the top inlay the 4 piece meet in the middle and there is a 4 way miter joint there. Hard to take a picture of.

I call it "8" for 2 reasons. First because it has 8 legs that are pinned together with little pieces of huon pine. And secondly because it took me a little less than 8 hours to make.



Well hopefully next week I can start full steam ahead on my hall table. Thanks for looking.

Kaleo

The week after

Well this has been the week after holiday. It was nice to get back to the workshop. But at the same time it was a little bit hard to get back into the swing of things. There isn't really much to report on this week. I spent most of the week finalizing the planning stages of my table. I've drawn up all the plans and gotton all the joinery worked out. Figured out all the procedures in order. That is one really good lesson that I've learned here in the past years. Planning is so important in fine furniture making. I think like before school, a lot of woodworker like me just figured it out as they went along. And I would make a lot of mistakes and it never quite came out right. So planning makes the process a lot easier. Believe me. Anyways, I'll get back to you next week with more.

Kaleo

The week off

Well the week off of school is coming to a close and man was it needed. You know I live in such a fantasy world right now. All I do is go to school and learn about something that I already love and can't wait to do full-time. Even though when I am at school I'm there 9 hours a day. But we get a break inbetween semesters and once in each semester. So you wouldn't think that a week off was really needed. But it was nice.



We had a great time camping. We took our tent and sleeping bags and some great hopes, and headed for the great unknown that is Tasmania. We headed up to the northeast coast, and man can I tell you that it is absolutely beautiful up there. The air is fresh the water was beautiful to look at and very cold to touch. As we are just getting out of winter and starting spring. But we had a lovely time, we ate PB and J's and lot of home made muffins and sandwiches. We played on the beach and went hiking to see a gorgeous waterfall. It was a very nice trip and a great break.

Only to head back on Monday and start on this next major project. But like I said it's a fantasy world right now. I go and play outside for a few days, and then I get to go and play inside with some wood. To bad this life can't last forever.



By the way the last picture is of my greatest creation to date.

Peace,

Kaleo