bye bye bench.

after what seems to be a million zillion shifts at the cheese on toast factory, and trying my hardest to catch diseases in foreign lands, i've found time to do a new post. woke up too early on a tuesday to drive up to stratford upon avon to deliver the bench to a charity place. did some final adjustments (screwed the legs together and made some plugs) and we lumbered the beast into my mum's car.

 it rattled around in the car a bit before we wedged it in, then i fell asleep most of the way on the journey up. after cleverly avoiding some traffic, we squeezed the car through some tiny gate before we park it in the yard of the old blacksmith, where it's set to rot and fall about the next few months. sorry, i meant decades. it fitted in pretty well, the yard just as ropey as what i'd made. eventually the lady finally let me leave, meet the gayest fenchman i have ever seen, and get stuck in traffice for a few hours before another shift at the cheese on toast place.

tomorrow im going to try and make a table in a day.

o      

x

parsnip horse.

after much intense carving with the arbotech, and swallowing my own weight in wood dust, i finished the legs and joined them today. i used mortise and tenon, they actually turned out pretty sweet and with the added dowel insertion it's solid as. pretty chuffed, i actually made something which turns out like i intended to. the oak on the top has opened up a bit which kinda sucks, but adds a bit of character. thats my excuse anyway.

made a total schoolboy error by malleting the top into the leg joins, foolishly denting it. total idiot. however, nothing that a kettle, steam and a tea towel couldn't fix, all sorted. i think my favourite part about this table is the glaringly obvious, having a super straight table top with some weird legs that look like parsnips. or from some angles, the rear legs of a horse as it walks. it's also possible i've spent far too much time in there and the wood dust has had some odd hallucinogenic effect. whatever, i'm well happy with this and actually pleased to show some pics.

just need to wax it, make sure the glue has fully dried, and off we go.





o     x

new project.

went to the woodyard with no idea really what i wanted to make or what i was going to buy. kind of wandered around it like a zombie for a bit, before finding this rather grubby piece of oak. was only a tenner, so i threw it in the back of the micra and went skating before the heavens opened.

first job, and the main one really, is cleaning it up. not sure where this had been, had a real nice layer of scum on the top but a bit of scraping, sanding and planing sorted it out. although summed up in a sentence, this has taken me a few hours. running along the middle of this particualr piece is the heartwood, and it is one tough motherbitch to try and plane, especially given my current skill set at sharpening tools.

 i wasn't sure whether i wanted to keep the wonky edge or not, in the end i decided against it as hopefully it's going to have some pretty crazy legs. i did want to start making the holes for where the legs go in today, but forgot my drill. couldn't be assed to go back home and get it so i came home and wrote this.

im trying to make it so the top is square (ish) and the legs have all the character, kind of opposite to the bench really. should be cool, will probs end up being a coffee table. watch this space. please.



o.

xx

ready as i'll ever be.

well, i guess i've finally finished this thing. overall i'm pretty happy, in the sense that i made something and it actually feels pretty solid. it is full of mistakes though, some obvious and a few you can't see. some of the joins dont fit quite right, a couple gaps here and there, and i totally butchered it in one area. however, i have learnt an unreal amount whilst making this, what i can do, what i can't, and what promise it shows to me of what i may be able to achieve in the future.

clearly, this stuff does not come naturally to me in anyway, at all. to be honest, at somepoints i was like "seriously why the fuck am i bothering this is gnarly. and i'm getting blood all over it." but i carried on regardless, not even forcing myself, so i guess i naturally wanted to do it. plus it was too wet to skate. i could sense i was getting marginally better though as it went on, so that was cool. plus there were a load of different processes involved in getting to the final piece from the scabby bits of wood tim gave me so it's hardly surprising i'm not great at any of them. it'd definately going to take a while.

even though i'm not 100% with it, i absolutely loved making it, and i am definately going to keep making crappy things until i make something decent. no idea what the next project is yet still.

anybody want a bench??


o      x

no way near

it's very possible you've seen this on my facebook, but recently i "finished" the bench. when i say finished, i mean the joints are all cut and it fits together but its pretty scabby, so i've spent much of the time in the last week trying to tidy them up so it fits together. got a slight problem currently which is that the workshop is like an oven, which means that it is hell to work in currently. it's so hot, and so dry, and liquids quickly evaporate, including the sweat falling off my beard chin as i slave away trying to make this massive piece of crap look slightly more appealing. cracks are opening, some things dont fit which did before and trying to get some of the legs to fit properly is a bit a nightmare as i don't think any of the surfaces in there are actually flat.

cracks.

this is total contrast to the winter, when it was insanely cold and i had to leave after an hour to get warm, now im doing the total opposite. don't read this as a massive moan though, it's good fun and i love how varied it all is. plus i'm a big fan of making things more difficult than they should be.

weather

i also bought a decent camera, need to play around with it abit and learn to use it so i can get the most of its capabilities, but the photos are way better than that of my phone so i dont care.

starting to get ideas for my next project, no clues yet but it's garunteed to look a total mess if this is anything to go by.

o x

ditl

i wake up far too late as always, and trip up over an empty tea mug as i get out of bed. stumbling my way to the kitchen, i fill up on honey nut cornflakes and tea before being ready for the outside world. i gather my bag which i assume has everything in it, hop in my trusty micra and head to the workshop through the backlanes. they've been somewhat eroded during the recent inclement weather, the car slides a bit round some of the corners along with the occasional jump. as i arrive at the workshop, i instantly wish i'd worn more clothes, bloody freezing up there! i open the door, and the instant smell of wood dust and sap hits you straightaway. it's a nice smell, but im pretty sure i wouldnt want my house to have the same aromas. as usual, i begin by looking (i'd say studying but i wouldn't want to pretend im a pro) at the pieces i have, and what im going to do today. cutting i decide is the order of the day, with a bit of paring. i amatuerishly mark out my cuts using my trusty scalpel and my not so trusty square, and using Predator (the name of the saw, apparently) i cut the rebates or notches, whatever they are for one of the legs. this goes well, after i make them as square as i can using the resources i have, which are some sketchy chisels, squiffy eyes and dodgy squares. although summed up in a sentence, this takes me an hour. however now, one side is nearing completion. all i have to do is cut the joints for the other side, and cut the notches from the main beams for it to rest on. weirdly satisfied, and too lazy to do anymore for the day, i head home and eat a bacon sandwich, and write this.

pretty boring this week really, i'm just trying to make sure i have a post a week to keep it semi regular. time to go sell pizza.

o x

ngng

so i haven't posted anything for a while because i've been busy making stuff, and actually finishing them, so apologies to the 2 or 3 people that look at this. No Guts No Glory is a wicked shop in exeter that sells t shirts, zines and prints all designed by some insanely talented artists, as well as loads of other organic and ethical items (non food related.) Nathan wanted to redesign the shop so it fitted his newer stock better, and so that more of it was on the wall rather than on the floor (the shop is tiny as.) Keeping with their DIY aka "i'm going steal as many pallets as i can and make weird things out of them" theme, we very loosely designed a table, a wall display unit box, and some other gubbins. these pics are the making of, getting a sweet badass camera soon so waiting to get some decent pics pics on that.

one table sans drawers.

the table legs were made from old fenceposts, and the top from a pallet we mysteriously acquired. the top kind of rests on the shoulders cut into the posts, afterwards we pegged them in with dowel so it looks slightly more accomplised, and less like the dodgiest thing ever made. i will add however, it is rock solid. somehow. ish.
eventually, i made some drawers which slide into the table top, one doesnt really fit properly currently as the wood has warped to shit, but soon they'll be fine.

one drawer.

also there was a display box to hold zines and prints, this was just two simple frames which were then pegged together after to make it deeper. this wasn't too hard, although because the workshop is freezing, and nathan's house is ridiculously warm, it didnt fit together there. i had to cut the slots a bit bigger in his living room.

the frame bits pre cutting.

the frames after.

 there's still a few little bits in the shop which Nathan and Hayley want to improve, but we'll do them later.
these items were made in time for the first handmade arcade, me and my mother shared a stall, there, didnt sell much but it was a wicked atmosphere, and mother got loads of good feedack about her stuff, so she was chuffed. she can knit any design you want, provided you draw it on graphpaper, email me or contact if your interested, adults jumpers start at around 80 or 90 quid ish. room for negotiation though :) 

been on the bench this week. pics soon!

o     x