Great day at college today. Very productive and a good laugh to boot. As we have a break next week, the focus was on getting elements glued up and ready for when we come back in two weeks time.
Category: College
College course: Day 6
I’m almost embarrassed to add this latest post and call it an update. A very slow day at college on Friday, not helped by random ‘non-day course’ people taking up space in the woodwork shop and taking up the tutors time.
Well, the side panels were test-fitted together anyway, and I finally cut the veneered walnut board to drop into the frames. (Apologies for the terrible picture quality, I literally have the cheapest phone in the world).
[notice]This week’s update is sponsored by the ‘Carry On’ series of movies. If you don’t appreciate unjustified innuendo and double entendres, you should stop reading now.[/notice]
All good with the fit. The project was then pretty much abandoned, as I had a go with another couple of machines (spindle moulder and bandsaw) and did a quick build for something we needed in the house. Despite all that, I decided it wouldn’t be long before I’m gluing up these side panels, so I need to give thought to giving them, a GOOD RUBBING DOWN, and then OILING THEM UP. The tutor figured it made sense to get the boards finished, drop them in, then oil the frames.
The above shot is the panels having already been RUBBED DOWN with various grades of glasspaper. The tutor recommended ‘Osmo oil’, but having seen the prices, and talked to my friend Robert Vialle, I just went with what I had in the cupboard, a decent Danish Oil. Robert recommended at least five coats, so best get on with it.
Wow, this wood is going to look beautiful, even the woman in the mag looks impressed. Right, well the pictures aren’t going to change much from here on, so I’ll post some new stuff next week, once the boards are in. I’ll also have a bit more energy, hopefully, and will start dimensioning timber to create the cross rails to join the two side panels together. See if you can keep your excitement in check until then!
College course: Day 5
Good progress today on this little cabinet. The side panels are pretty much together, just awaiting the boards that will be cut to size and enclosed by the framing. Next time I’ll be cutting the board stock and will start thinking about making rails that connect the cabinet together, one side to the other, and getting this thing standing on it’s own feet.
I started out with setting up a router, to cut the rebates for the boards in the legs and also the cross rails. If you have ever read the blog before, you’ll know I try to do everything with hand tools. But, as in previous days, I need to take the opportunity to learn the set-up on these machines, as I’ll no doubt need to use them again at some point.
College course: Day 4
Interesting day. If you are the one person that reads this blog, you’ll remember last week I was feeling a bit tense about my first ever mortise and tenon joints, and whether they would fit together. By all means scroll to the end of the post, but here’s how it went.
My inbox has been flooded with two requests for an update on my college course, ‘Intermediate Furniture Making’. It’s a CASS course, run at the London Metropolitan Uni in east London. This course is possibly the best thing I’ve ever done, in a work sense. I’d recommend going back to college to everyone who has ever thought about it. Here’s a synopsis of my project so far.