| This blog is written by BritBoxmaker | 188 entries so far |
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EZ Mitre #2: Board holder for router mitring
I thought it might be a good idea to post the board holder that I use for safe and sure router ea...
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I have a little vise #6: Los Endos
Well it’s been a week and the paint, as they say where I come from, is well ‘ard. Har...
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I have a little vise #5: The big cover up
There have been a few days off whilst I’ve been ill with diarrhoea (British spelling). Well...
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I have a little vise #4: It gets worse before it gets better
Well the large parts came out of the vinegar OK. The main casting cleaned of rather easily and ( ...
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I have a little vise #3: Getting pickled
I really have cracked on today. A lot more done, or started, than I thought I would. So to clean ...
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I have a little vise #2: Strip down
First thing to do is strip this little beauty down to its component parts. The bolts out of the j...
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I have a little vise #1: Intro
Recently I helped my friend, Laurie, set up a lathe and workbench in her shed/ workshop. F...
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General musings #8: Five Years!
Well I missed the anniversary date but it has been, just slightly, over five years that I have be...
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Working title - LLB #8: Closing Time
Just a short blog as there’s not much left to do. I need to cut the slots to accept the bot...
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Working title - LLB #7: So much to do ...
... so little time. Why do weekdays crawl by and weekends go before you know it. Well Somethin...
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Working title - LLB #6: Rationalise
This thing is getting covered in more and more layers of masking tape. It won’t do. ...
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Working title - LLB #5: A momentary lapse of reason
Happened during this, more later First thing to do is make up some legs. Padauk, 9 mm square. ...
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Working title - LLB #4: Old red eyes is back.
Short blog today. Not much shop time. Cut the 60 degree angles on the sides of the box inner. ...
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Working title - LLB #3: She's got legs.....
....and she knows how to use them. But first to make up the top. Those three pieces at ...
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Working title - LLB #2: So the story begins
The box walls and lid are going to have two layers The outside, Mondo (I still don’t...
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Working title - LLB #1: Well lookie here
I’m starting another box. Possible the most complex construction I’ve attempted to da...
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Multi-layered box #1: And so it begins
This is a real time blog of a project that I am presently making. If you wish to copy it please w...
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Finally 'some' of my boxes are on display
Not anywhere special, just at home but here we are Yes, all of us seem to submit to IK...
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Applique #1: Testing, testing
Not sure if applique is the right term here. I’ve started exploring designs with a basic ba...
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Moving #3: Workshop progress
Over the past four or so days I’ve made some real progress. The open spaces (soon to be par...
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Moving #2: OMG!
It’s been four weeks since I moved my shop tools over to the new place. Other, last minute ...
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Moving #1: .............Just keep moving...........
http://youtu.be/WRtHGQ63XjY Sue and I are moving. Ten years here and we need a change. Found a...
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Do NOT try this at home
Take a look at this for an invention http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&...
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UMS - A Box #3: I'm on fire
Not literally. Today was one of those of solutions not problems. I left you with this Next...
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UMS - A Box #2: I have a plan
Yes. Well. I’m going to have to relent and show you the plan. I looked at all the progress ...
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UMS - A Box #1: So the Story Begins
This is a real-time blog, that is I am blogging as I am working on the project. As it is my own d...
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Garden Avenue #1: Going 3D
This is a real-time blog, that is I am blogging as I am working on the project. As it is my own d...
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Fibonacci Mosaic box #6: Results of caulk experiment
Firstly it occurred to me that although I needed a pattern to experiment that it didn’t nee...
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Fibonacci Mosaic box #5: Further grouting experiments
It only just occurred to me that the store I work in sells this According to the data shee...
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Fibonacci Mosaic box #4: Just what I always wanted
I went into the shop tonight. The little piece of the toffee-like stuff I had cut off of the rema...
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Fibonacci Mosaic box #3: The best laid plans of mice and men
often go awry. I had decided to experiment with the resin grout idea. There were things I was ...
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Fibonacci Mosaic box #2: Pattern glue-up and ideas for experimentation
I left you with this All the pattern pieces neatly laid out. Now to get them glued down to...
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Fibonacci Mosaic box #1: Design and piece cutting
This is a real-time blog, that is I am blogging as I am working on the project. As it is my own d...
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In the light #3: Precision sizing and clean-up of pattern pieces
When I left you I was just about to cut all the pattern pieces. Well I did this successfully and ...
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It's clever but is it art?
The time will come when the tail wags the dogAnd the horse will be drawn by the cartBut the devil...
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In the light #2: So the story begins
Starting to cut all the pattern pieces today. This is the pattern Shown in plan and end el...
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In the light #1: Everybody needs the light
I’m back in the shop after 44 days absence due to back injury. Check; clear bench, tea, ...
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Routing #2: Micro adjustment for a router table fence
I’ve wanted to be able to do fine adjustment to my router fence for ages. Apparently I coul...
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Routing #1: An old and faithful friend - my router table
I’d like to introduce the router/table combination that I use for all my projects. I...
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Intarsia (not mine)
Sue and I spent the weekend in a very nice hotel in Boscastle, Cornwall In the bathroom there was...
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Burlesque - cut sequence
I’ll let the pictures tell the story. Holes drilled using Forstner bit in drill press. ...
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Workshop #3: Infinite curve
For a while now I’ve been using A1 size (metric) heavy gauge art paper for the infinite cur...
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Workshop #2: Extension bars for lighting rig
These are simple really. Just a 450 mm length of 70 mm x 20 mm with a 70 mm square screwed to the...
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Workshop #1: Hang 'Em High
I recently found some LED spotlights. 50w (equivalent, so they say, to 500W incandescent) Cool Da...
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Wooden Hinges #4: Retrofit - Preparing the way
A short blog today as its bloody freezing in my workshop. The original state of play with the box...
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Wooden Hinges #3: Retrofit - making the new hinge
A busy day and that’s just making the hinge. First thing to do is cut up the material into ...
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Wooden Hinges #2: Retrofit wooden hinges
We all make mistakes. Yes even me. I’ve been working on the design and build of a box for t...
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Dance on a Volcano II #4: Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day
At three o’clock in the morning my brain usually wakes up. It then starts to worry about ra...
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Dance on a Volcano II #3: The big cover up
Well the top pattern was successful and now I have this board which I need to attach the b...
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String Things
I just found this. Its a jpg of the TurboCAD drawing where my ideas for a lot of my square boxes ...
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Dance on a Volcano II #2: Cutting Arcs in Wood Veneer
Hello again. I printed out a plan and side elevation 1:1 so The first thing to do is make ...
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Dance on a Volcano II #1: Design and material selection
When I made the wall hanging, Dance on a Volcano I considered at one point making it into an EZ M...
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Dye Another day #2: Glue line method
I decided to see if a glue joint would present an adequate barrier to dye. Thus enabling me to cu...
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Dye Another day #1: Cut method
I’ve been experimenting with spirit based wood dyes, as in the project ‘Any Colour Yo...
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Any Colour You Like #4: Brain Damage
The board from yesterday’s glue up was a success To trim this to size I cut the inne...
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Any Colour You Like #3: Us and Them
How to make and fit the top. Initial thoughts were to go back to the CAD model and produce a temp...
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Any Colour You Like #2: Breathe
The board came out of glue-up OK...First thing to do, trim the excess off the bottom edge...Now t...
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Any Colour You Like #1: Design and experimentation
I like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. This is amongst my favourites to play in the sho...
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Chronology of a woodworker
Grand title. Every time I glue up a multi-layer board for EZ Mitre or veneer a pattern I use my v...
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(In the) Court of the Crimson King #3: The outer shell
This is the interesting bit. First the top, the easier part?! I cut the centre sections ou...
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(In the) Court of the Crimson King #2: Lets get this party started
First the wood Top is the Sycamore for the 1st shell, drum sanded to 2.5mm thick. Right is...
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(In the) Court of the Crimson King #1: Initial concept, drawings and how am I going to do this one!
As I said in the project post…. In 1969 a group call King Crimson recorded an album call...
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Theres nothing like a bit of confusion
I seem to have caused some of this. I will continue to post my own projects under the name Bri...
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Another milestone
As Floridart put a link to the EZ mitre technique in his post yesterday, I decided to follow it a...
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General musings #7: Then again, sometimes you win.
I wrote last year about getting stuck, no ideas, no drive and no interest. This time its diffe...
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I've got wood!
Just for those of you in the States who think your wood is expensive. The little beauty in...
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Oddballs
I’ve been asked how I make these, fewer times than I care to mention. The materials for the...
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42 #7: So long and thanks for all the fish
This is going a lot quicker than the last version. The pin groove went well as did...
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42 #6: Late as in the late Dent, Arthur Dent
Its supposed to be a threat, I was never any good at those.- Slartibartfast Well I am. This me...
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42 #5: Disaster Area
Its been a mixed experience, today. Some things went well and others went….......well not s...
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42 #4: Magrathea (Inside the legendary planet building planet)
Here we are again. This time its time to cut the fingers on the two remaining pieces, F and B. B ...
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42 #3: Heart of Gold
Hello again. First thing to do today is mark out all the hinge fingers on L,R and T. Pretty mu...
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42 #2: One sunny afternoon
Hello again. Now the ‘boards’ you saw in part one were oversize at 45mm wide, purp...
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42 #1: The Answer
To life the Universe and everything. As all you readers of Douglas Adams’ Hitch-Hikers̵...
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Wooden Hinges #1: Clam Shell Hinges - yet another different wooden hinging method
This blog details how I made the hinges for my latest project, ‘56’ (also now used in...
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Accordion Refurb #2: Some bad news
Well I’d done some work stripping down the box to make re-covering it a little easier ...
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General musings #6: Two years on
I looked in at my home page, today. I’ve been here two years. The figures say it all...
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Jigs etc. #4: Snakes and Ladders - Hinge Template Routing Jig
I’m just going to let the pictures tell the story here. The only things I will say is that ...
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General musings #5: I'm still here. Just working on something.
I’ve not posted a project for a few days. I’ve not even got started on the Accordion ...
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Accordion Refurb #1: An interesting proposition
A good friend of mine and local Accordion player of note, Tom Pearce, has ask me to collaborate o...
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Celtic NOT - a journey
This is the blog of how I built Celtic NOT. The design is one of a recent series of overlapping c...
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General musings #4: Zen and the art of woodworking
I re-discovered some of the reasons I don’t tend to make things for people, yesterday. I ha...
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General musings #3: My new Website - at last!
Hello all. I’ve been promising to do this for ages and now I have finally committed to it. ...
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Mondrian (inspired) #5: I get knocked down, but I get up again
You ain’t ever gonna keep me down. Lyric spotters please feel free to comment. I left yo...
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Mondrian (inspired) #4: Neoplastic 'C' - Oh well
I had a funny feeling about this. I first made a mask to put over the board to measure it up f...
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Mondrian (inspired) #3: Neoplastic 'C' progress
I’ve decided to make this one with wood from from my scrap bin and my ‘Ebony B...
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Mondrian (inspired) #2: Neoplastic Experiments
Having a play with the Neoplastic style, as used by Piet Mondrian in the early 20th Century. N...
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General musings #2: I'm back
After a minor setback during the week, on Wednesday, when I walked half a mile to get some milk a...
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General musings #1: Now that was scary
Not wood working related, so sue me. Yesterday evening I was minding my own business when a sh...
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I'm nearly famous
I had hoped to leave this announcement until the relevant issue of Wood Magazine came out. Howeve...
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Am I Bi-polar ! ?
I don’t know whats going on at the moment. Project ideas coming so thick and fast I can bar...
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A year ago, today
Its hard for me to believe but a year ago, today, Zee escaped from my fevered brain into the real...
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No Quarter #4: You say tomato.....
So do I it just sounds different. Did it fit? The bottom shell into the top shell. Well sort o...
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No Quarter #3: Top to Bottom
Well the top shell glue up was successful but I’m not going to show you yet, you’ll h...
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No Quarter #2: Learning to walk again
That’s just the Foo Fighter’s track playing endlessly in my head ATM. Good enough tit...
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No Quarter #1: Shell box - Intro and pattern
Hello here this is my second attempt to blog shell boxes. The last one ended up in the wall art &...
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Inverted World #5: Trim and Cleanup
Well its going to be a box. It will be a shell box of the EZ Mitre type. This enables me to go in...
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Inverted World #4: All Together now
I left you with all the pattern pieces, their curved sides routed, and no idea of how I was going...
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Inverted World #3: Cutting Curves
So the tools are prepared, now the materials. I would love to have used Bloodwood, not so ...
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Inverted World #2: Pattern Reduction and Tooling Up
Hello again. Lets start with a reminder of what the Inverted World pattern looks like I do...
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Inverted World #1: Introduction
I was looking through some of my old blogs and it occurred to me that what I most enjoyed about o...
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Re-use, Renew, Recycle #1: Stereo/Entertainment Centre Stand
A little over 25 years ago I made a Stereo Racking Stand for my 80’s stereo separates. Its ...
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Drum Sander #8: One Year On
Its been a little over a year since I made this Drum Sander. This update shows minor modification...
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EZ Mitre #1: Update - Using router bits
Since the original EZ mitre blog there have been variations added. To formalise the adding of new...
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Box Display Cabinet #1: Well, its a start
For some time now I’ve been needing a display cabinet for my boxes. They are taking over th...
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4 Colour Toad - mini blog
Firstly, no-one is obliged to read, learn and inwardly digest this blog. Its there for those who ...
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Museum Microscope Box Conservation
Hi there. About a year ago I posted this as a restoration project. After some discussion with Jen...
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One to keep an eye out for #1: Four Colour Hypnotoad
I’ll be attempting this in the near future. Keep an eye out for the project post. Oh...
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Wardrobe
Hi. We rent and built-in wardrobe space can never be relied upon to be there. Its not at our pres...
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Jigs etc. #3: Simple Circle Cutting Jig for the Routing Table
Hello all. I’m about to make a small box featuring curves. Something I don’t do often...
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The Matrix (box lipping)
Last chance. “Take the blue pill and the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whate...
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Omega
This is my latest and possibly last foray into the world of miniature box making. Hence the name ...
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Circle Cutting Jig ( for the bandsaw) #3: Recent modifications
One obvious failing on the jig was pointed out by Trevor (tdv) in that with the sliding table awa...
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Circle Cutting Jig ( for the bandsaw) #2: Of slidey things
Right having got the sliding table to run in it’s runners properly, with the application of...
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Circle Cutting Jig ( for the bandsaw) #1: The urge for greater accuracy
This is my second attempt at this blog after loosing the first two thirds last time, whilst blogg...
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Thankyou
I just looked at my homepage. I can’t believe it. I’ve been with LJ’s for a who...
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Do yew see what I see?
Hi all. Just sanding a piece of English Yew and in the grain pattern what do I see Some ki...
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Atom #4: Good News, Bad News
My hands stopped shaking long enough for me to pluck up the courage to tell myself I didn’t...
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Atom #3: Mice with tweezers
Back in my computer days thats how we thought the Japanese put their kit together. They used mice...
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Atom #2: Zen and the art of jig making (or Getting Jiggy with it)
I lay awake desperately for two hours trying to figure out how I was to cut four sides and a top ...
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Atom #1: is coming
Hello all. A little while back someone came up with a box that was 2 cubic inches in size. I look...
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Xee - construction
Xee is the third in the series of my EZ mitred boxes. There are one or two wrinkles to this one s...
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Stuck
Hello all. This doesn’t usually happen to me, as you know. I’ve lost the flow. ...
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Rambling on
Not much in the woodwork line today. Its Sue and my 15th wedding anniversary today. This coincide...
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Quick Tip - Extending knife blade life
I use an Xacto Knife for veneer and fine cutting. The tip of the replacement blade wears out all ...
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Clipboard #5: Ah, there's me clipboard
Last part. Varnish dry. Time to position and fit the clip. First decide which end to mount the cl...
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Clipboard #4: Two Outta Three Ain't Bad
Just a mini-blog today as I’ve found out the yacht varnish takes 12 hours to dry. Two coats...
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Clipboard #3: Tumbling Dice (blocks)
Yesterday I left you with a pile of wooden diamonds. Now to make the pattern. I use a template to...
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First project over 2000 reads!
Woo hoo! My snakes cutting board has topped 2000 reads. Didn’t think I’d see that hap...
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Clipboard #2: Old Friends
Before I start. All the pictures in this blog (and all my blogs for that matter) are left handed....
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Clipboard #1: WHERE'S ME CLIPBOARD!
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before I do a fairly mundane day job, stacking shelves. On...
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Jigs etc. #2: The old 60°
Some of you have been wondering how I finish pieces to exactly 60° for my Impossible series. Basi...
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Project SC #5: The long and winding road
Hello all. The first order of the day was to route the bottom pieces and the lipping slots in the...
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Project SC #4: Its like that and thats the way it is
So 1st fallback reached yesterday. I have to border the pattern. For the pattern glue-ups I used ...
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Project SC #3: Come together
Hello all, feeling better today. Did the glue-up on the patterns. This time using a trick Patron ...
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No woodwork today, but......
.....I hadn’t noticed until today that I’ve passed the 1000 post mark. I seem to be a...
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Project SC #2: Got to get it together,now
All those sticks. Laid out like the DNA sequence of something. I set to work decoding and ...
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Project SC #1: Tightrope walking for beginners
In my last blog I showed a pattern which I am determined to try. It is made of rectangles ...
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Playing around
I’ve been playing again. with CAD this time. I’ve come up with this. Not original by ...
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Impossible II
Hi everyone. Here is the method for making the Impossible II. Before we start I didn’t take...
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Happy, progress.
Hey all. Yesterday was a doubly eventful day for me as my ‘Snakes’ cutting board topp...
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The EZ mitre technique
Hello all. Well I seem to have whet the appetite a bit so here goes for a ‘novel’ tec...
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Now I've gone and done it.
Hello all I have a box design I want to do and it involves inlaying small irregular shaped pie...
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Oh lucky man!
I am a lucky man. I have a good woodworking buddy. He is a generous man. You all know him as Cozm...
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Exhibition #3: Pictures of an Exhibition
To paraphrase the composer Mussorgsky. (Pictures at an Exhibition) Here are the promised pics....
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Exhibition #2: Ready, Steady, stop er go!
Hello all. The time has finally come around for my ‘Mini-Exhibition’ at the local mus...
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Stairway to Devon
Excuse the pun on an old Led Zep track. Just a quick one. This is how I’ve chosen to enj...
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In moments of crisis.........
For those moments of crisis which I suffer from, every now and again (yes I am human too). I̵...
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The Impossible #6: Its high time, Cymbaline
You are not going to believe how simple this glue-up is going to be. Some of you will not believe...
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The Impossible #5: Fearless
Today I sanded, I sliced, I diced and I shaped. I was not at home to Mr. Cockup. Today I’m ...
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The Impossible #4: One of these days (I'm going to cut you into little pieces)
Not a threat. A lyric from an early Pink Floyd album. But I am going to do it, to the blanks. The...
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The Impossible #3: MI-2
Hello back again. I really don’t like glue-ups with pieces that have angles other than 90°....
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The Impossible #2: Mission Impossible
I’ve accepted the mission and the secretary has already dissavowed all knowledge of me (for...
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The Impossible #1: Escher Vibe
Following on from yesterday’s ‘Trip to the Wood Shop’ let me show you where the...
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Trip to the wood shop
Day off and so a trip to my ‘local’ wood shop, about 60 miles (yes we still use those...
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Snakes Pattern in Solid Wood #5: The final scene or Cleopatra's Asp
I took the board out of the clamp, today. Relatively easily as it happened. Sanded both sides up ...
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Snakes Pattern in Solid Wood #4: The Union of the Snake
Well part of it anyway. A new set of eight clamping sticks, waxed this time and polished. Major s...
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Snakes Pattern in Solid Wood #3: Preparation or Going for the Big One.
Right I’ve re-arranged the dark and light maple to different areas of the board, matched gr...
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Snakes Pattern in Solid Wood #2: Puzzling
Hello again. The glue-up went well. So did the cleanup and sizing of the smaller squares. So I de...
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Snakes Pattern in Solid Wood #1: The Challenge of the Snakes
After posting the ‘Pattern of Four’ aka ‘Snakes’ box it occurred to me th...
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Milestone reached
Little did I suspect, 54 days ago, when I posted my Vanishing Point box that it would be viewed 1...
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Drum Sander #7: Stuck on Yew
I bet you’re all thinking “That darned fool has forgot to cut the little circular den...
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Drum Sander #6: I hear the sound of distant drums
Interesting couple of days. Did a slight remake to the motor bracket and coach bolted the whole i...
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Drum Sander #5: Result!
After some thought and more than a little scribbling I came up with this bracket to hold the moto...
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Drum Sander #4: Pause for thought
Hello all. Been a mixed day today. Pist that I have a problem deciding how to mount the motor. My...
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Drum Sander #3: Zen and the art of Bandsaw Drum part making.
Looking back I really don’t know what I was worried about. I fettled the bandsaw, with a 1/...
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Drum Sander #2: Fixing a hole
Hello again, fans of the drum sander. Yesterday I wrestled home an 8’ x 2’ sheet of 3...
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Drum Sander #1: From Micro to Macro
Having thoroughly enjoyed making the Little Bess Ring Box, the smallest project I’ve ever m...
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A personal challenge - The make #5: Day 5 . Much trepidation!
Hello all this has been the most fraught day of this make and the most exhilarating. The cramp fr...
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A personal challenge - The make #4: Day 4
Hello minature box junkies everywhere. I was going to take some good advice and close it down for...
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A personal challenge - The make #3: Day 3
Hello againWell having retrieved the missing piece of SycamoreI discovered that the saw must have...
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A personal challenge - The make #2: Day 2
Hello again. Day two of the challenge. I decided to measure up everything and arrange it before m...
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A personal challenge - The make #1: A personal challenge - The make #1
Well got all my little bits from the personal challenge pic a home. As you can see the box is now...
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A personal challenge
I like the way LJ’s have been re-cycling and using offcuts for projects. I’ve decided...
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Making a Red Star for the Red Star Kim box
This was a challenging commission from a very dear friend. Make a box containing her Red Star.Wel...
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Restoration #1: Microscope box for Museum
The local museum I volunteer at has just acquired a microscope, late 19th or early 20th century. ...
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Jigs etc. #1: Mitre Jigs
Here are the mitre jigs (sleds) that I use for my box sides. The first is a typical 45 degree job...
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Bandsaw boxes #2: Tiger Tiger
Outside my comfort zone again. This is my second experiment with the bandsaw and patterns. Mat...
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Exhibition #1: An Opportunity presents itself
The local museum, which I work at as a volunteer part time, puts on month long exhibitions of loc...
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Vortex 4 Pattern
This is a bit of an experiment. I usually use Ebony and Sycamore for my geometric wood pattern. I...
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Black and White Dots inc. Basic Mitred Box
This is an earlier project of mine that also neatly shows one of the simpler box making technique...
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Mondrian (inspired) #1: First attempt
I’ve always liked the early 20th century artist, Piet Mondrian’s Neo Plasticist style...
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Bandsaw boxes #1: The Eyes Have It
Inspired by the work of Patron I have recently rescued my bandsaw from its dusty corner of the wo...
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Garden Avenue boxes
Thirty years ago three of my work collegues and I rented a house in a place called Garden Avenue....
