If you ever decide to make the transition from office worker to wood worker then expect some aches and pains. My left hand has taken most of the punishment presumably because my right hand is holding the tool and keeping out of harms way. Mostly just nicks and scratches and dry skin. Back ache from standing in weird positions for a long time is a common problem. I might be marking out a joint or planing a piece of wood and be completely absorbed in what I’m doing but when I’m finished and I stand back there will be a cramp in my shoulder or back. A bit of stretching sorts it out. Generally my back has been feeling better than when I sat staring at a screen all day. Standing up all day is something I’ve got used to pretty quickly.
I’ve finished the frame and panel mentioned in the last post. Here it is:
The joints took a lot of work to get them to fit snugly. One of the tenons was a bit twisted when I first fitted it so had to be trimmed and ended up rather loose. We glued on a piece of veneer to fatten it up again as the contact between the cheeks of the tenon and the walls of the mortise is important as it gives the joint most of its strength.
We’ve made a few tools including the scratch stock and bench hook I’ve mentioned in previous posts. This week we mad a veneer hammer which is not really a hammer but a thing for squidging the glue under some veneer. Have a look here.
As you can see the handle was turned on a lathe. The lathe we used looks very much the one I used at school in the mid 70’s:
A solid piece of machinery that’ll probably last another 50 years. Wood turning is very rewarding, think I might have to do some more.
And finally a dovetail at a 70 degree angle:
Nor bad for a first attempt although there are some gaps around the pins and there is a small split on one of the outer pins on the inside that you can’t see from the photos. The tails are marked up as if from a square end while the pins are just marked as usual from the cut tails. I’ll be doing the angle the other way round tomorrow and then a joint with both pins and tails at an angle.
Baylis Handmade 