Woodworking Tips & Ideas

Sun Terrace

I've been a bit lazy lately in keeping up with the website but fortunately I have had my camera in my tool bag to prove I've not been as lazy with my woodworking.

This is a small sun terrace I built for a client earlier this season, it's approximately 4m x 6m and tiled to match the house roof and adds a pleasant indoor/outdoor room to the house.

 

Making and fitting an Oak Door

I was asked to make a rustic looking Oak door to fit into an old window opening that had been turned into a doorway.

This is the finished door which is made from Oak boards that I joined with biscuits and braced.

The boards were deliberately cut to taper and were all differing sizes to give an original effect.

The making of the door was quite straightforward and quick, what made the job awkward was the frame making and fitting and then getting the correct shape of the arch on the door.

The problems were that the opening was far from level and there were large gaps between the newer stonework at the bottom of the opening, additionally some of the cut stones had slipped out of place over the years, so there was to be much profiling and fiddly cuts and fitting.

 

 

Making Double Garage Doors

 

I have recently finished making and fitting this set of garage doors.

They are made of African Iroko timber and took the best part of 3 days to convert from the rough sawn planks I purchased for the job.

My planer/thicknesser has certainly been put to the test and will need a good service and some new blades after this job.

Horse Field Shelter

 As the winter nears there seems to be a bit of a panic to get some shelter prepared for the many horses locally, I have been asked to build 3 different sized shelters lately, including a small one for our own 2 horses.

We drew up a basic design using a CAD programme for a shelter 6 metres by 3 metres which was only required to be clad on 2 sides because of it's location and also to allow good access and egress.

Corbels ! Rustic Oak supports

I recently made a pair of rustic Oak corbels to support (not structurally) an Oak beam that had to be replaced. They were rustic in appearance, deliberately so to match the character of the building in which they were installed. 

I used the offcuts from the Beam which were 200mm x 250mm and drew a design on the side, then quite simply I cut down to the line with a chainsaw and chiselled off the waste. 

It was then a simple case of rough cleaning up the front surface with chisels and power sanders. I have an electric carving tool which took most of the effort out of the work.

The Corbels are basic but effective and were sunk into the wall beneath the beam for aesthetic effect only. These I left plain but would like to carve a decorative finish into any future ones I make.

I was pleased with the result and subsequently made a couple of plyboard templates with differing designs so that I could replicate them in the future.

Kitchen units

 Not the greatest photo of these kitchen cupboard doors alas but it does the trick.

They are simple softwood (pine) doors made to fit into the sink unit.

They are surface mounted onto a frame and the handles I made from pine also. 

I constructed the frame and doors in my workshop and making all components slightly large so that I could trim to size on site.

I fixed the frame with simple pre screwed shelf blocks to hold to the sink support frame.

The doors are tongue and grooved boards which I morticed into a top and bottom rail.

Built-in Wardrobes

 My latest work is this double built-in wardrobe which is made of chestnut. The wardrobe is built into an alcove in the bedroom and is backed with a second cupboard which is inside.

I made up 4 panels with chestnut boards, biscuit jointing and fitting a top and tail rail to each board to stablize against warping.

Again the request was for a rustic look which allows for shakes in the timber and slight indifferences in the sizes of the boards and also the standard of finishing.

I simply cleaned up the boards and sanded smooth but did not apply a finish, leaving this job for the clients.

This is the 'secret' cupboard underneath or behind the one above, it is a simple plasterboard stud wall with purpose made pine doors, fitted with a clasp lock and hand made pine handles.

The finished article complete, both cupboards in view.

Additionally I built in shelves and hanging rails in each side of the cupboards.

Rustic door

This is a door I made and fitted recently for a client which as can be seen fits into the roof timbers of the house.

The customer requested an old and tempered look that would compliment the character of the room, hence it had to be made of 'reclaimed pine'.

To enhance the aged look I used handmade nails as fixings that I had salvaged from an old barn door. By chance the barn door had been burned so the nails were rusted looking and pretty rough.

They were also too long and protruded through the door so I bent them over and hammered them into the timber as they would have been used originally, this really helped to make the door look old.

I jointed the planks with biscuits in the first place but left as many impurities and splits and warps in the wood as possible.

I cut the profile on site after offering the door up and rough marking as best could be done by tracing a pencil mark along the beams.

Mushroom Garden Ornament

I had some log offcuts laying around and had seen some woodland carvings of mushrooms in the past, so decided to have a go at making a couple.

This is the one I have made to date photographed from 2 different angles.

I made it entirely with a chainsaw, simply drawing a basic shape around the log and shaping with the chainsaw carefully.

It took me about 30 minutes to make to this standard you can see in the photos, however I do plan to smooth it down with a power sander and maybe then give it a coat of sealant.

Kitchen work surface in Oak

A kitchen work surface made of seasoned Oak. For this job I jointed 8 pieces of 50mm thick x 150m wide boards together with double sets of biscuits to get a good strong joint.

I set the sink slightly higher than the work surface and covered the surrounding join with Oak beading which moulded into the edge of the sink and provided a nice feature in the process.

Treated initially with 4 coats of Danish oil but I think the clients will eventually use an anti bacterial sealant which is more durable and less maintenance.