Re-Purposing a Found Outdoor Table

Last month I made a short but very fun trip back home to Ottawa. We spent quite a bit of time doing projects of various sizes and shapes. This was one of the simpler ones. Earlier in the summer my Mum and Cousin came across this table on someone's lawn. It had seen better days, but my Mum had a vision!

To get it home in the car, she had to sit in the trunk holding it in, as the back of the car couldn't close. Luckily it was only a block or so away from our house! Looks like they had a pretty amusing time getting it home. 

The first problem with the table was that it was too big for the deck area and use that she envisioned. So I started by cutting a few of the boards off the top. I just used a hand saw, but it was pretty quick work. The table was made of really nice cedar which has a lot of good life left in it. 

I cut the matching boards off the other side. We did this one board at a time so we could see the size as we went to judge when it was just right. 

The next problem to address was that it was too tall. So using a square and the hand saw again, I cut each of the four legs to a better height. 

Mum seemed pretty happy with the result so far! The round edges give it some character, with it being more manageable now that it's narrower. 

Finally I trimmed the braces at an angle so they taper down from the table top to look more intentional. And we set it in place. Looked pretty good. In the spring it will get sanded and painted and be a great addition to the deck! 

Combining Turning and Marquetry - A Cavalier Tealight Holder

This was an experiment of sorts I did attempting to combine turning and marquetry. Several people in our marquetry club had shown pieces along the same lines, including plates and boxes. I decided to attempt a tealight holder. The first step was to turn the main body. I cut a small inset around the middle for the veneer, and drilled a hole in the top for the tealight. I don't seem to have any pictures, but it was the first turning I'd done in a while, so it was a bit of a challenge. 

The next challenge was laying out a design that would fit around the circumference, and that you wouldn't see the join line. I chose two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels with a butterfly. I cut them stacked, so that I actually got two copies of it, but in opposite colourways. 

Here's a more detailed shot. The height was trimmed to the exact height of the inset, and the length was slightly longer than the circumference. 

It was at this point that I realized that I'd made my life harder than necessary. While the veneer bends quiet well, especially when covered with glue, the very tight radius I'd chosen, made it very finicky to bend without it cracking. In the end, after quite a while, I got it to work. It gets glued in two stages. During the first step, I put glue on all but the last half inch on each side, to get the majority of the piece in place. When it was dry, I put a straight edge over the overlapping end bits, and made a cut with an exacto-knife through both of the pieces at once. This gives a really tight, perfect fit. I then glued the last bits. Rubber bands are the only real way to clamp it in place. I didn't have enough hands while trying to get everything aligned to take step by step photos, but am planning another similar project, where I'll show this more clearly. 

I stamped my initials in the bottom as a signature. Then added several coats of Waterlox Finish, and buffed it on the Beall Buffing system.

And this is how it turned out. I really like how no matter which way you look at it, there's something to see. So in the middle of the table, it's interesting for everyone. I definitely learned a lot doing this project, including many things I'd do differently to improve on it, and am quite excited to give it another go! 

Winnie the Pooh Marquetry Picture

So it's been a while since I've posted any projects here, but not for lack of making stuff. Things got put on hold for a bit while Jerome and I went on an epic adventure to southeast Asia! (You can click here to read more about this if you're interested) But now that we're back, and have organized all our photos I have a back log of projects that I'll be sharing over the next while. 

I thought I'd start with a pretty simple one I made for a friends baby. Growing up, I had a wood version of this image that had been my Mum's and I always thought it was so cute. So I decided to make a marquetry version. It's a very simple process, just put the two colours of veneer on top of each other, and cut through both to get the perfect fit. I glued it to some plywood, added matching veneer around the edges and back, as well as a hook hole at the back, a few coats of Waterlox and voila! 

Happy Holidays! - Lego Charlie Brown Christmas Edition

Wishing everyone a belated Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year to Come!!

Wedding Logo - Marquetry Coasters

A couple of good friends from school got married this spring. I wanted to send them something special to celebrate! Being a designer, she had designed a really cool logo/crest for their invitations and website and favours. I thought it was really cool, and wanted to use it in some way.

It was a bit tricky, since I had a printed version that was about an inch in diameter. I scanned it and blew it up to a size where I could have a chance at cutting it out of wood. Unfortunately, the outer text was still too small, so I decided to opt for the inner section only. I was originally thinking of doing it as an ornament, but Jerome chimed in that he thought something more practical would be fun. And so we came up with the idea of a pair of inverse coasters, which could be both practical and decorative.

Here you can see the marquetry completed. I didn't manage to take any process pictures as it required a lot of concentration to get all the tiny curved parts just right. But you can see that the cut out of one colour becomes the insert on the other. So by cutting both at once very carefully, I ended up with two! 

Here is a close up of the front of one of them without the tape. 

I cut two circles to final dimension from thin plywood. To make them look nicely finished, I first glued a band of veneer around the circle. You have to do this in two parts. The first is show here, where you glue almost all the way around, and leave long tails. Once this is dry, you cut through both layers at once on the unglued part, so you get a really tight and hopefully invisible seam. You then glue that last little section. The high-tech clamp you use for this process is a bunch of elastic bands! 

Next is gluing the top and bottom on. I don't have any pictures as all you really see is a lot of clamps. The top is tricky because it tries to slip off of center when you tighten the clamps. Luckily, it worked out pretty well on these. This one had slipped by a half mm, but I managed to recoup reasonably, and hopefully no one will mind it being out of centered by that tiny amount. 

After it's all glued and done, final sanding, I put a bunch of coats of Waterlox finish, to ensure it would be okay if any drips from a glass landed on it. And then I buffed it with wax to make it nice and shiny and give it even more protection. 

I also stamped my initials and the year on the backs before finishing. It's a very subtle way to sign a project. 

I shipped them out (several months late) and after a lot of fretting and hoping the postal services would do their thing, I got a call from my friend saying it had arrived and they really liked them and had put them on their newly arranged bar area! I hope they'll enjoy them as fun mementos of their happy day!

Desk Cubby Insert

I've always loved those old roll top desks with the little pigeon holes in them. I like the idea of having little cubbies for everything right where you need them when you're working on something. My desk attaches to one of those Ikea cube book shelves so that I have easy access to my books and such. Earlier this summer I thought It would be cool to build an insert for it where I could keep all my notebooks and papers neatly. 

I measured the books and papers that I wanted to include in it, and made sure there were specific places for each. One day I stayed late after work, and using the measurements I had taken, built up my cubby in Solidworks.  That way I could make a 1 to 1 pattern for cutting out the pieces and routering all the slots for the dividers. I cut all the pieces to size and then set up the back panel for routering. Each divider gets glued into the slot at the back to give it some strength and help with positioning. 

Next I had to work quickly to glue up all the pieces and try and get them all aligned at the front and clamped while the glue was still wet. It took rather a lot of clamps! 

One of the internal ribs tilted a degree or two in the glue up, but overall it worked out pretty well. I had pre waxed all the internal faces of the piece so that papers would go in smoothly, and because it would be impossible to do at this point. I did some finish sanding and waxed the outside. You get a sneak peak of some upcoming projects I was also working on in this picture too!

As luck/design would have it, it fit!! Here you can see it in context with the whole shelf. Things for a bit messy in emptying the spot where it was going.

Now I have a handy place for all my notebooks instead of them being in a big pile. It's great, and at a glance it looks like it was built right in! 

Shaker Boxes

Last month our marquetry club had a Saturday workshop where we made Shaker boxes. This may sound strange for a marquetry club, but the idea was that we could add marquetry to the top of our boxes very nicely, and end up with a very different type of project. I had actually made a set of 3 of these boxes years ago at a Lee Valley seminar, but was anxious to get a refresher and learn new tips and tricks, so that I could make some at home. 

We started out with thin strips of Cherry, one narrow and one wide for the top and body of the box respectively. The first step is to cut the tabs to shape and predrill the holes as you can see here on the top band. You also have to sand the other end of the band to a thinner thickness so that it lays flat when you bend it. 

Next you soak the strips of thin wood in very hot-boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes. Here you can see someone's small band being soaked and the colour that the cherry changes the water! 

You bend the body of the box first. You have a plywood or foam form cut to shape, and you take the piece out of the water and bend it around as quick as you can, and then hold it for a few minutes to let it cool down. This is me holding my box body. 

When your body is done, you repeat the soaking and bending process, but instead of using the form to bend it, you use the body of the box so that the lid fits on perfectly. 

Next we use this cool pipe jig to nail in the tiny copper tacks. They have to be copper so that they bend back on themselves on the inside just like a staple. 

Here I am with the top band around the pipe getting ready to hammer in the last tack. 

And here is the last tack about halfway in. 

Here is my box body with the tabs nailed in place. It is still around the form so that as the wood dries it keeps its shape. 

The next thing to do is to cut a bottom insert to match your body. You then give it a slight angle so that it wedges in nice and tightly. You do the same thing for the top. Making sure to label the parts and how they fit in carefully. 

The final step is to attach the bottom. You carefully drill holes through the side and bottom pieces. You then take round toothpicks with a tiny dab of glue on them and tap them in place. Once the glue is dry you trim them off and sand a little bit. You do this to the top also, but the plan is to do some marquetry on the lid, so it can't be glued in place until that is done. 

Here it is all done except for the marquetry. I'm still working on a design for that so it will be included in an update later. I think I'm going to make some more of these as they are surprisingly quick to make, and a pretty impressive and useful way of giving something with some marquetry on it. As for the special supplies like the tacks, those can be ordered at http://shakerovalbox.com/ where there is also more detailed instructions. There is a whole numbering convention for these type of boxes; the bigger they are the higher the number. It's really cool to think that the shakers have made these types of boxes for 100's of years!