Best selling wood projects - Plan 1 Adirondack Chair

Best selling wood projects

This chair is great for patio or lawns and is quite comfortable to sit on.

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Best selling wood projects - I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Best selling wood projects

The ladies have arrived and are settling into their new home.  All are quite young and none of them seems to know how to perch for the night as yet. Maybe perching kicks in as they get older and start to lay.
They also dont seem to know what to do with fresh greens - laying pellets ... yum!  - fresh greens .... what the?  Its the same everywhere - how to get kids to eat their veggies ......!
And - yes - that is where I dump my sawdust and wood shavings. The girls seem to love it.

 Meanwhile back in the shed, work proceeds apace on the planes cupboard.

There were a few details to attend to before the carcass was ready to assemble.  Since the sides and middle would be resting on the benchtop, they needed some "feet" to give them stability.  Normally there would be a base, but I wanted the benchtop to be level all the way to the back, so feet would suffice.

These were made from old 2x1 radiata pine.  It needed to be reduced in size to fit the existing dadoes.  It was quicker to do this with my jack plane. It has a generous mouth and a radiused blade that takes nice thick shavings. Done in no time.

These were then glued to the sides to create the feet of the cupboard.

Next, the shelves needed attention.  Much easier to do this before assembly than afterwards.

Assembly comes next. If everything is prepared well beforehand, then assembly is quick and easy.

Like I said - I love it when a plan comes together.

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Best selling wood projects - Building the Wall Mirror part IIa

Best selling wood projects

I really thought that I would be finished this project by now, but the fates have had other ideas.
A solid stint of babysitting with the grandchildren as well as the things that needed to be done by Xmouse, have all contributed to the delay.
As Old Blue Eyes would say ... Thats Life!

I briefly re-visited the shed today on my way to other chores, and found a solution to my clamping problem.

I have been tossing around various ideas to solve the short clamps dilemma.  I just dont have enough clamps long enough to span the length of the mirror - essential for the glue-up.

Here is what I came up with:

This is a long mirror, so the table saw and router table were pressed into service as benchtops, and the gap between them became the pivot point for the solution.

I clamped a pair of cauls across the middle, and used my longest clamps from this point in both directions.
 The clamps pull against each other - with the top caul in between them to keep them straight.  One happy side effect is that I have adjustable clamping pressure at every corner.
I only had time for a dummy run this morning.  The real thing will have to wait until after Xmouse.
Cool!

I do hope that you all experience the love and fellowship that family, and this time of the year offers to us.  And remember ... nothing comes before family!

Happy Xmouse to all!

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Best selling wood projects - Plan 8 Book Case 1

Best selling wood projects

Like the books it’s designed to protect and display, a well made bookcase is a classic in its own right. At home in almost any room of the house, few pieces of furniture embody such a blend of form and function. This do-it-yourself version is no exception: as versatile as it is handsome, it will accommodate any reader’s prized collection in style
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Best selling wood projects - Fireplace Surround for a Heritage Building Restoration

Best selling wood projects

These kind of gigs dont come around very often...



Earlier this year I had the privilege of making a fireplace surround for "Hill 60", a heritage building being restored in Rivervale. Working from only 6 old photographs, the task was to re-instate the fireplace surround. The original had gone missing some years ago while the building was derelict.

At over 9.5 feet tall and 5.5 feet wide, it was made in 10 components which finally went together beautifully like a jigsaw on site after 3 months of work.

These four photos by NK Photography.

I asked well known Woodcarver Jenny Scrayen to work with me on the more complex carving aspects, like the dragons on the columns, the front panel, and the floral wreath on the pediment. It was a pleasure to work with such a talented person. Thanks Jenny. I did all the planning, joinery, turning, basic carving, and finishing. It is all made from jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) primarily using traditional woodworking techniques.

Making this stuff is so good for the soul...

and what a joy this job was!

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Best selling wood projects - Plan 2 Bird Feeder

Best selling wood projects

The bird feeder is simple to make and really ads attraction to your back garden when the birds come to feed.
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Best selling wood projects - Plan 3 Birdhouse

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This bird house is simple to make and compliments the bird feeder. Don’t just feed the birds have them living in your garden

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woodworking plans box - Plan 5 Blanket Box

woodworking plans box

Finally you can store your extra blankets neatly in a corner… no more cramming them in a cupboard.

The final finish can be any colour you like so you can match it up with your existing furniture.

woodworking plans box

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Best selling wood projects - A Saw Stool on Steriods!

Best selling wood projects

Those who have worked with me know how much I value traditional Saw Stools. I use them in the workshop and out on the job all the time. In fact I am lost without them! I usually have several sets, some low ones at around 21” high and some taller ones at 30” high.

I am not talking about those crappy folding metal and pine things, which wobble around and carry warning stickers saying you should not stand on then. I am referring to properly made traditional saw stools. Traditionally made from jarrah in Western Australia, these are rigid and can carry considerable loads. I have in use some that are well over 50 years old and which have worked hard all their lives. These type of saw stools were standard equipment for carpenters, joiners and cabinet makers for generations.

I had a big job to do recently, which involved working on site in Kalamunda for 3 weeks solid. I took a portable jarrah work bench with me, as there was a fair bit of bench work to do over those 3 weeks. Of course I also needed to use 2 pairs of low saw stools and 2 pairs of taller saw stools on site for that period as well.
While I worked on the job, I got thinking: How can I create a saw stool X workbench hybrid, which would be more portable than my portable work bench?

So I have played with the idea, and the result is a Saw Stool which looks like it has been on steroids:

View of the beast - a hybrid between a saw stool and a bench.

Here are the specifications:

Height: 880mm. The legs have a 10 degree splay to the ends and to the sides.
Length: 980 (plus tail vice outer cheek equals 1030mm overall.
Width: Pine 220mm, including jarrah front edge equals 260mm.
Tail vice: Maximum bite 240mm
· Minumum bite between dog holes: 240mm
· Maximum bite between dog holes: 1040mm.
Front vice: Maximum bite 140mm
· Minimum bite between dog holes: 110mm
· Maximum bite between dog holes: 390mm.

View with the Tail Vice extended.

A 25mm square Tuart guide rod maintains the orientation of the vice cheek with the single vice screw.

Almost whole thing is made from recycled salvage material :
· Pine top – from a 10” x 3” solid pine beam.
· Legs, rails, and other odds and sods – from some 3”x2” jarrah wall studs.
· “Breadboard ends” - from an old jarrah door sill. · Jaw cheeks of the front and tail vices – from a jarrah 8”x2” ceiling joist.
· Vice handles made from Peppermint (Agonis flexuosa) I milled years ago.
· Tail vice guide rod made from a piece of Tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala) leftover from the making of the Endeavour Replica.
· The tail vice screw and front vice are those imported ones from China or Taiwan, bought from my local woodworking shop. The front vice is the smaller of the two models available locally, and is pretty disappointing. Its guide rods and screw are not square to the metal vice front and rear, and are barely parallel. However the tail vice screw is a ripper. These metal components cost less than $100 in total. I put the additional bit of jarrah onto the front side of the pine to beef up the work area a bit and provide a more durable front edge to the work area. The only reason I used pine was to help keep down the weight!

Putting the beast to the test.

I had a job to do on a different site straight after I have made the beast, so had a good chance to road test it. I was not disappointed. It worked brilliantly.

This job involved removing a customers front entry joinery, then installing and modifying a beautiful old piece of art deco joinery obtained from a demolished building and adding two more art deco side light sashes either side. This involved lots of tricky hand work on site, where the beast proved to be invaluable.

The holding capacity of the dogs worked really well, and both vices worked well holding components as I made them.

The only change I will make will be to add a removable shelf underneath, sitting across the spreaders, as there is nowhere to put tools being used.

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Best selling wood projects - Plan 6 Ornamental Garden Wheelbarrow

Best selling wood projects

This particular wheelbarrow is an ornamental, decorative planter box and is also fully functional and can be wheeled from place to place.
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Best selling wood projects - Plan 7 MISSION STYLE BOOKCASE

Best selling wood projects

The bookcase has multi paned glass doors, exposed tenons and quarter-sawn oak construction work together to create a sense of seriousness and an air of solidity that are unusual these days. This overall design is a synthesis of several
traditional Arts & Crafts pieces
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Best selling wood projects - Plan 4 Bit Shelf

Best selling wood projects

Here’s an easy-to-build organizer you can customize to hold as many bits and shanked accessories as you need by simply varying its length and number of holes in this handy project. Angled for better accessibility and visibility of your accessories, our shelves hold router bits, sanding drums, flap sanders, and other drill press and shanked accessories.
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