Sunday, November 28, 2021

Hanging Shelf (WiP)

 

Being accumulators of books and knick-knacks and things as we are, we have an ongoing need for more places to display that sort of thing, and this is another part of that process. It's the first of a pair of small hanging shelf units, made from recycled rimu.

In this picture it's just propped up on the end of a shinai, to hold it in place for fitting. I discover that I have not taken into account a notch in the lower shelf to accommodate the paneling batten, and I also need to make and inset a couple of hanging plates on the back of the stretcher. And looking at it now, I think it could do with some titivating of the leading edges of the uprights... maybe a relief bevel on the outside edges or something, though being at this stage of assembly I've made that sort of thing a lot more difficult for myself.

Also, before I finalize everything, I should probably make sure that it's not going to catch people in the back of the head, who are sitting on the sofa immediately below — if so, they'll probably have to go on the other side of the room. The shelves, that is, not the people.

Hopefully, having worked out all the quirks on this first one, the second should go more smoothly.

Next day:

As I suspected, it hangs a bit low over the sofa for head safety. It could go right up above the dado, but that's lath & plaster under there, and trying to find studs to hang it from would be a nightmare and would inevitably leave so many holes the wall would look like the site of a machine-gun massacre.

I'll just put it on the other side of the room, over the telly.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Don't Go Alone

 


This is a digital chalk drawing I did in 2009 in Krita.

I like the idea, in my AD&D campaign, of the darkness of the Underdark being an almost sentient thing that resents the intrusion of light-bearers into its domain.

The picture was published in Knockspell, S&W fan-mag of lamented memory.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Router Plane #03

 

Fancy-schmancy thumb rests at the back

Oak, all oak. Except the steel bits.


This is a more compact tool than the first two, and probably the last one I'll make (for a while, anyway). I have the hardware for three routers, and three routers are what I've made.

I wouldn't have thought I'd ever say this, but I think I now have more routers than I really need.

Monday, November 22, 2021

Knobs of Oak

 

Another couple of knobs for another router plane, turned from oak this time.

I just cannot turn consistent, repeatable shapes to save my life. Fortunately, for this particular project it doesn't really matter that much. If it did, I think I'd have to make a couple of profile scrapers to get myself into the ballpark, and then finish them off with a shameful amount of sandpaper.

For what it's worth, the one on the right is the shape I actually wanted, and it was the first one I turned. The other one is its hideous misshapen sibling that is kept in the basement chained to a radiator.

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Router Plane #02

 

I've made some changes with this one after the experience of the first, the main being that I've lowered the cutter angle to 40° instead of 50° — as a result, it cuts much more easily than Router #01.

To accommodate the lower blade angle, I've let the superstructure down into the body of the plane by about 7mm, to keep the blade tip at a manageable distance. With my elongated hole, I've got plenty of room to see what's going on down in there.

I've made this one out of some Southland red beech. It's not as dense or close-grained as English beech, but it is a very nice timber to work.

At the moment I've only got one set of knurled elevated nuts to hold everything together, so I can't use Router #02 and Router #01 simultaneously. Hopefully I'll be able to get another set fairly shortly.

Saturday, November 6, 2021

The Paul Sellers Router Plane

 


I've finished building a new router plane, following along with the instructions on a couple of videos by Paul Sellers: Part one, and part two on Youtube.

Yesterday I finished shaping a pair of cutters with the help of my friend Nick Turner. I had to leave his workshop early, so he offered to take care of heat-treating them, and will drop them off here sometime. Then I can give them their final sharpening and try the whole thing out.

I don't really need another router plane, but I like the idea of using tools that I can make myself. And I also like the idea of sticking it to the bottom-feeding speculators who have driven the price of second-hand router planes sky-high over the last few years.

Knobs turned from beech

Knobs stained and polished, oak baseplate begun