The Occasional Masthead

Well, the portable holes are progressing reasonably well. Apart from the pieces where I measured once and cut twice. I was making a tall thin box with locking tongue-and-groove butt joints at each corner. Of course, on two sides I routed the groove on the wrong side, didn’t I. Fortunately I’ve got the technique down, and once I grab another length of the requisite timber, it won’t take me long to finish.

The sign-post is progressing, but not as well as I would like. The old radiata pine is doing it’s usual thing of breaking out and splintering, but in the context that’s not a disaster. The biggest problem is my inability to cut straight to save myself. Around the edge of the frame are five joins, three of which need a 45 degree mitre. The cumulative error in my wobbly saw cuts means that I’ll have to muck around and hide the gaping gap at the top under a piece of molding. Blah.

On we plod. The little flag is inching toward completion. If I never appliqué again, it will be too soon. On a brighter note, the latest 6-plank stool/chest is done, pending some hinges. I’ve rubbed it up with several coats of teak oil, and it’s looking quite nice.

I’ve got an idea for timber portable-holes — flag etc stands — that can be pegged down and double as a stand on a flat surface. If they work to plan, they should be quick and cheap to knock up.

I’ll also finally get around to banging up a sign-post to put outside the camp. A fairly simple thing like a shallow tray, upright, with a peaked roof. Again, it should be fairly quick to knock up, now that I’ve thought about how to build it.

The six plank stool is almost finished. I finished putting it together today, sanded it to a nice level of smoothness, then oiled it with Watson’s Teak Oil. All that remains is to find and attach some hinges.

I also knocked up a little wooden horse, very crudely shaped, after the style of all those Trondheim horse reproductions that are out there.

I’ll go back to the little flag now. Do I really have to go to work this week?

Robyn and I went to see “The Day After Tomorrow” today. Burning books to stay warm featured in the film. Later we discussed what we’d throw on, and agreed that Wuthering Heights would be the first to go.

The 6-plank chest/stool is progressing reasonably, apart from a few hiccups. I seem to be incapable of sawing a straight line, so every joint is a bit skew. Oh well, it works ok in this context. Still, it does suggest strongly that the next purchase will have to be either a table saw or a bandsaw.

I decided in the end not to get an electric sander for the chest — sanding by hand is working fine. I started gluing up today, after cutting some gothic arches in the legs. I’ve glued up three sides, then tomorrow I’ll cut the base to side and slide it in, before gluing up the other side. That only leaves final trimming, clean up, and fitting the lid.

On another note, the little flag is going reasonably well. I bought an embroidery frame, and some embroidery thread, and will whip around the edges of the appliqued bits. This is fairly slow, but the frame makes it a lot easier. Going around one fusil took about ninety minutes, and almost 7 meters of thread.

Arms? Back? Neck? I spent the day being serenaded by Robyn on guitar, and working on the six-plank chest. After chatting to someone who knew at breakfast yesterday, I decided to perservere with smoothing the rough-sawn Tasmanian Oak planks with the little plane I’ve got.

I wound up sharpening the plane about three times through the day, and was pleasantly suprised at the results. The planks certainly aren’t flat and true — the plane is too short for that, only about 6 inches — but they’re quite smooth. I’ll possibly splash out on a cheap belt sander to do some more finishing, before switching over to hand sanding. Tests of vigorous hand sanding on an offcut resulted in a really nice finish. I’ll probably complete the job by rubbing it up with tung oil.

The construction is really straightforward. The planks on the side will fit into rebates on the legs. I’ll dowel those joints, for strength, but hide the dowel inside the joint. I’ve routed dados and grooves on the sides and legs into which I’ll fit the base. And I’ll probably put a rebate around the lid so it sits into the body of the chest a little.

It should look reasonably medieval when I’m done. I’ve deliberately left the planks thick and chunky, and they’ll look hand-smoothed. Of course.

I also finished sewing one of the scabbards last night, and have dyed it with spirit-based dye. I’ve developed a technique that seems to work, and is a best-guess for period scabbards. I start with soft thin timber, and cut two halves in roughly the right profile. I then cut out a hollow in both halves for the sword — I’ve done it by hand with a gouge, and using a router, and it’s about as easy either way — and glue the two halves together. Once the glue is dry, I pull out the spokeshave and shave it down to a pleasing curve.

Finally, I wrap the scabbard in wet leather, and clamp it up the back while it dries. Once dry, I saddle stitch up the back, trim the seam, and dye the leather. I found that using spirit based dye works well, as it causes the leather to shrink a little, making it a firm fit.

All that’s left is to organise getting some furniture on them.

Is it really months since I wrote? I need to be a bit more disciplined. I blame three things: overwork, other committments, and Halo. Since I’m now a little less overworked, and playing less Halo, time for me to start writing again.

I think I’ll refocus this a little as well, and use it to concentrate on things that I’m making. Rather than musing on Halo.

Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoyed banging away with Halo for a while, but I’m a bit over it. It was an interesting experience, despite being a terrible player, but the multi-player games tended to be swamped by folk with terrible people skills. Eventually the irritating players spoilt the gameplay. One exception was the MacAddict dedicated server, but I seldom got to play because of the time difference with the US.

So. What projects have I got on the go at the moment?

I’m chipping away at a small Burgundian flag made out of some linen offcuts. It’s the basic blue-and-white with a big red St Andrew’s cross, and will have four fusils scattered about it. I’m quite looking forward to getting it up on a pole, as it will flutter nicely, and be a nice counterpoint to the Really Big Banner.

I’ve got several scabbards in various stages of completion. One is ready to take to someone to get metal furniture added, one needs a bit of a repair first. One is about to have a leather cover sewn on — I’ll do that this evening — and the other is a naked wooden core.

Finally, I started making another six-plank chest today. This is exciting, because it’s the first piece of woodworking I’ve done where I went out explicitly looking for some decent hardwood. I picked up four meters of Tasmanian oak, in two different widths, and spent today preparing it. One thing that I’ll have to explore a little is the best way to dress rough sawn timber. There’s a place on the south-side of town called “Wood-n-you” where apparently you can rent time on their machines, and that might be the optimum way of doing it now.