Here's a little oak coffee table in the Arts and Crafts style that I've been working on for a client. They wanted a crossword puzzle inlaid into the top in pewter (it is a gift for someone who loves crosswords!) together with some classic Arts and Crafts motifs.
I've just finished making a large screw veneer press that has been under construction for the last few months. It will allow me to undertake traditional hide glue veneering, marquetry and inlay on a much larger scale than previously. This opens up new possibilities both in making and restoration; I'm quite excited by the potential!
Here's a fun thing I've been working on for a client over the last few weeks — a crossword puzzle made of pewter inlaid into oak. The piece it belongs to isn't quite finished yet, but should be done soon.
I've had a nice little repair job to do today — replacing some broken beading on a round, mahoganny dining table. Since it needs to follow the curve of the table's rim I had to steam bend the replacement piece to fit. With a small bit like this the steaming is easily done in an asparagus pot with a cloth on top! Then the table itself becomes the 'mold' for the new piece. The green tape in the picture is to protect the finish on the table from any moisture or steam while the replacement bead is cooling off and setting to its new shape. Tomorrow I will fix it in place and set about matching the colour to the exsiting timber.
Today I've been cutting lots of identical 1 inch pewter squares. This is for an inlaid table top I am working on for a client (more on this soon). We have a big old bookbinders' board chopper in the workshop which is ideal for this task. Pewter is surprisingly soft — you can easily cut it with scissors, and you can use normal woodworking tools such as handsaws and planes to cut and shape it. This makes it more straight-forward to work with than some harder metals. It looks gorgeous too! The table top has been in the veneer press for the last couple of days while the glue on some previous inlay dries. Tomorrow I hope to start inlaying the squares.
One of the the things I enjoy most about working with wood is the chance to make my own tools. Today I made three specialised chisels to help with inlay work. It's not possible to buy what I wanted in the shops so it was the perfect chance to get out the blow torch and some tool steel and be a blacksmith for an afternoon. Then it was just a matter of turning some boxwood handles to go with the blades. Tomorrow I'll be using them for the inlay on an Arts and Crafts table — a commission I'm working on at the moment.
Here's a little jewellery box I've been working on recently. The timber is mahogany from a small stock which was left in my new workshop when I took it over. It's many years since the workshop was used for woodworking so the timber is of a quality you don't find very often now. The lining and interior is of english cherry.
One of the advantages of living with a bookbinder, I've discovered, is that you can nick her stuff. Marysa's cast iron book press is excellent for small bits of veneering and marquetry. Today I was using it to make components for a box, using hot hide glue with heated aluminium plates to keep the glue from gelling prematurely. In the old days they used zinc plates, but aluminum is cheap and easy to get hold of, and seems to work well enough.
Other things that seem to make the trip between workshops on a regular basis are leather-paring knives, newsprint, and scissors. I had a habit of losing my scissors but now there are always some to hand. Not sure what the bookbinder thinks about all this though...
I've just finished a small project for an artist who needed a drawing board made but wanted something a little bit different — something so that 'I feel inspired to do my best work when I sit down at it'. He is going to use it at an antique mahogany desk so it needed to harmonise with that.
Fortunately I have a small stock of really exquisite 50 year old mahogonny, and this seemed like a chance to use a bit of it. The T-square is made of mahgoanny and walnut. There are a couple of subtle beads for decoration and it has a shellac finish. We were both very happy with the result.
Here's a characterful little antique davenport I've been restoring in the last few days which is now almost ready to go out to the client. When it came in it had several bits damaged and missing and the finish was in a very poor condition. Some repairs and colour matching and a bit of French polish and it's coming up beautifully.
I am now set up and operational again following our move to Midhurst. The last three months have been a whirlwind of renovation work on the new workshop, followed by turning the building into a working space for Marysa and myself.
In the last few days I've finally had time to do some furniture restoration for a client, which has made for a gentle reintroduction to proper woodworking. I've been asked to fix a couple of Kandya chairs which need to be re-dowelled and glued, and there is also a drawer to fix. It's nice to be working on furniture again as opposed to buildings!
Here's an oak garden bench that was finished and delivered to the client recently.
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