Woodworking

It has been a very long time since my last post; I have spent relatively little of it in the workshop, other than to make some scabbards, but a while back my friend Heli asked me to make a meditation stool for her. I jumped at it as a cast-iron excuse to potter about with … Read more

I have taken to wearing a sword more often in class. It’s bound to become all the rage once people realise how exceedingly comfortable and useful they are. That being the case, my utterly lovely, but scabbardless, Arms and Armor sharp rapier and dagger set got to feeling left out, and that I could not … Read more

It has been a busy autumn, though sadly not much of the busyness involved wood. But calloo callay, my beloved nieces are coming to Europe for Christmas, so I will get to see them for the first time in about 2 years. Knowing well their doting uncle, they asked for Harry Potter broomsticks. Nimbus 2000s … Read more

 My sister, a writer, is marrying David, a historian and writer who has a special interest in 18th century France. So what could be more fitting than a Roubo bookstand? I came across it in an article in Popular Woodworking Magazine (Feb 2011), picked up on a trip to the States. In the article, Roy Underhill not … Read more

I left you on tenterhooks waiting for the dovetails; I have been a lazy woodwork blogger but productive as hell in other fields, so forgive me. The box was finished on time, and delivered to my Mum when my folks visited last month. The stages of production were: Planning the pattern of the dovetails. I … Read more

This morning’s meeting got shifted to Monday so I spent the time in the shed. Much progress was made! First, I finished thicknessing the parts: Which required touching up the plane iron. To polish the flat on my 8000grit waterstone I use a variation on David Charlesworth’s ruler trick. My shed does not abound with … Read more

Planing the sawn side of a thin bit of wood (about 15″ by 6 1/8″ by 1/4″)  presents some challenges as the wood will buckle if clamped in the width or length, and there’s not much edge to grip anyway. My snazzy solution is to use double sided sticky tape to make a temporary full … Read more

Another project commissioned by my dad for my mum. Here’s the problem: A 20 year old shoe box with their shoe cleaning kit in. It is falling apart. So will be replaced with a similar sized box in oak. We start with a piece of sawn lumber from the woodyard.  I don’t much care for … Read more

The last of the daggers is done, so I’ve trimmed the ends, sanded and oiled them, and here they are 🙂 All a bit different, but all with about the same proportions, and the same overall dimensions, more or less.

About a year ago, my colleague and fellow Fiorista Bob Charrette kindly agreed to let me use some tracings he had made from Il Fior di Battaglia,  originally for his book Armizare, in my own little book of mnemonic verses, the Armizare Vade Mecum. As a token royalty payment I offered to make him four wooden … Read more