Project Information
I have finally finished my chevalet! I used "Shipwright's" aka Paul Miller's excellent Sketch Up design with some tweaking to fit my available raw materials which were essentially pieces of an old oak doorframe that had been destined for the fire, supplemented by various off cuts I found.
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I estimated that the wood could have been up to 150 years old based on the annual rings I counted and the likely time it had been in situ in whatever building it was used in.
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The wood is as hard as nails and was very time consuming to work with some machine help, but mainly hand tools. In all it took more than a year to complete, but that included a move to a new house and a new workshop!
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The build was done on a piecemeal basis by creating the various components and then finally assembling them as a completed whole. The thumbnail pictures show the finished article and some of the major components. The major components were oak but the saw frame was a pice of maple which had been lying around for a few years (it seems to be keeping stable and has not distorted so far) and some iroko in the slider mechanism. I made the blade locking mechanism by hand, learning a lot about metalwork and threading in the process. The knob on the saw frame is African Blackwood turned by an old friend as I do not have a lathe. Thanks Dennis.
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Throughout the build process I have had enormous advice and encouragement from Paul and have also closely followed other builds on LJs. Many thanks.
Now I have to work out how to use this wonderful machine. While I am doing that I have as visible reminder by my side with these two drink mats that Paul gave me when he visited England last year.
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Apologies for the pictures but I hope they give you enough detail. Any questions or comments will be much appreciated.
I estimated that the wood could have been up to 150 years old based on the annual rings I counted and the likely time it had been in situ in whatever building it was used in.
The wood is as hard as nails and was very time consuming to work with some machine help, but mainly hand tools. In all it took more than a year to complete, but that included a move to a new house and a new workshop!
The build was done on a piecemeal basis by creating the various components and then finally assembling them as a completed whole. The thumbnail pictures show the finished article and some of the major components. The major components were oak but the saw frame was a pice of maple which had been lying around for a few years (it seems to be keeping stable and has not distorted so far) and some iroko in the slider mechanism. I made the blade locking mechanism by hand, learning a lot about metalwork and threading in the process. The knob on the saw frame is African Blackwood turned by an old friend as I do not have a lathe. Thanks Dennis.
Throughout the build process I have had enormous advice and encouragement from Paul and have also closely followed other builds on LJs. Many thanks.
Now I have to work out how to use this wonderful machine. While I am doing that I have as visible reminder by my side with these two drink mats that Paul gave me when he visited England last year.
Apologies for the pictures but I hope they give you enough detail. Any questions or comments will be much appreciated.
