Saturday in the Woodshop - How Was Yours?

The day passed all too quickly as we busied ourselves in the work of the day. I suppose going to a car boot sale can’t be considered work, but then again, neither can making a craftsman-style lamp. I picked up many bits (pun intended) on my way past the booths and car boots. A screwdriver and a steel tube for making ferrules from. A tiny file and a couple of handles. Oh, and a steel and brass plumb bob and line. As I wandered and chatted with the booth holders I saw a some items I thought might be useful. This very ugly low angle bevel-up plane for instance came in at £1 and the four Ridgeway Jennings pattern brace bits £1 a piece. Believe me when I tell you these bits are just pristine and sharp. It took me about half an hour to make the new wedge in ebony and john spent two hours working the steel into flatness and squareness for me and also fettling the Ward iron. Funny how this week I was working on Bevel-up and bevel-down planes and I come across a a bevel-up, low-angle plane at a car boot sale. by the time we were finished the plane was working like no other. two taps and the wedge locks and the iron is set. The shavings just peeled off the wood like an onion peel. I picked up an old Ward firmer 1 1/4” chisel because I needed a ferrule for a new secondhand Marples I bought on ebay this week. It was the exact size I needed to replace a broken one. Then I put a new secondhand chisel handle on the Ward and I ended up with two good chisels.

The new oak lamp is coming nicely now and soon it will be the series on making via masterclasses.com online broadcast. I’m enjoying making the lamp and you can see how it will come together. At least you can see the base. I love stained glass as most of us do, but I especially loved this colour here. It so complements the oak grain and I will be fuming this with ammonia when completed so it will have that deep brown we get through the chemical reaction between the tannic acid in the oak and the ammonia fumes from sudsy household ammonia used in general cleaning products.

I have always liked working with materials other than wood too. Metals and glass, leather wherever I can and of course paints and finishes. There’s still much to do on the lamp as it has a hipped roof type top I have yet to frame in oak and attach, but I would like to introduce some metal work at some point in the future. 

Copper looks lovely with oak, as does wrought iron and brass. The cottage I live in isn’t that old, about 150 years. But the walls are 18” thick stone and the interior has beamed ceilings so whatever i make will go. That’s if we don’t sell it. We are just about to enter our busy season at Penrhyn castle

My Saturday went well. I hope that yours did too.