Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 174 i Australian Woodsmith

Coping saws are poor cousins in the world of saws. They often spend their lives just hanging on a peg or gathering dust in a drawer. In this issue we show how handy coping saws are. The first point in the conversation is to explain what a cope is. In bricklaying terms, it is the top run of bricks. Usually, a decorative round nose brick and often in a contrasting colour. In woodworking terms, it is the profile on the top of a skirting board. Installing skirting boards is easy when it is an outside corner. All you do is treat the skirting board like it is a picture frame and cut mitres with a drop saw. Inside joins are more of an issue. The first thing you realise when…

Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) trees, also called Spanish chestnuts, are thought to have been introduced to Britain by the Romans, probably to provide a source of food. Although rather bitter when raw, the nuts become sweet and floury when cooked and are used in all sorts of puddings and desserts. Roman soldiers were fed on a boiled sweet chestnut mash they called ‘polenta’ – a variant of the boiled maize meal we now know under the same name. Even today culinary uses still constitute the major commercial reason for the cultivation of the trees and globally the demand for the nuts exceeds supply. There is an avenue of huge pollarded chestnut trees at Croft Castle in Herefordshire, said to originate from nuts taken from the wrecks of the Spanish Armada,…

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Lignum vitae is an amazing timber. It is not only dense, tough and hard, but also self-lubricating, making it the perfect material for ship bearings. No wonder the slow-growing tree that the timber comes from is now endangered and trade in the timber much reduced. The lawn bowls above were purchased for $200 at the last members only Traditional Tools Group tool sale. Fellow member Eric had them sitting proudly in their original leather case on his table. He had bought them years ago with the idea of turning them into carving mallets. Just like me he could not bring himself to ruin a set of lawn bowls that are still able to be appreciated as bowls. When I got the case home, I did some research about the markings…

The lowly skirting board is a piece of trim that cleans up the transition between the walls and floors in your house. Even more than its cousin, crown moulding, skirting boards intersect all manner of items as they journey through the room, so you’ll have a chance to hone your woodworking skills in a whole new dimension. Learning those skills, combined with the rigour of getting up and down a lot is why “running base” is assigned to the young apprentice on trim crews. There’s a top view of a room on page 26 that will show you the different tactics you use to install skirting boards. But first, let’s look at the tools you’ll need for the job. THE TOOLS & MATERIAL It doesn’t take a lot of equipment…

If a feeling of déjà vu rolls over you while pondering this attractive cabinet, it’s okay, there’s a reason for that. In Issue 128 we built a gentleman’s dresser, the matching bed in Issue 147 and in Issue 173, a chest of drawers and a mirror. They all highlight similar Arts and Crafts features. There’s the solid-wood construction for the whole project (well, a plywood bottom for the drawer is the one exception). And the joinery you’ll employ here follows the same path as its larger predecessor. There’s stub tenon and groove joinery that brings together the sides and back of the case for the bedside cabinet. This simple but stout joinery is quickly done at the table saw and makes frame and panel construction the most logical choice. As…

EQUIPMENT USED • 3mm parting tool• 25mm skew chisel• 13mm bowl gouge• 6mm bowl gouge Ashley Iles 6mm bead forming tool Plane or planer to smooth cut surfaces before gluing PVA adhesive Stained sycamore veneer PPE: facemask, respirator/dust mask and extraction AN ‘ART DECO’ CHESTNUT BOWL The blank for this project had no striking features, I decided to jazz it up a little by adding some black veneer lines across the bowl to give it something of a geometrical, Art Deco look. My first thought was to have two lines at right angles, one running with the grain and one across the grain, but this would have involved gluing end grain sections together and that never seems like a good idea, so all the cuts were made at a shallow…

In the past, a sea chest (or seaman’s chest) was used by sailors to store their personal property such as clothes and toiletries. Now, I don’t know many lucky ducks who get to spend their lives on boats and need a sea chest, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give yourself the experience of building this fun piece of history. FUNCTIONAL CONSTRUCTION. One thing that’s fascinated me about utility pieces of furniture, such as a sea chest, is the no-nonsense construction techniques that are used to build them. And our designer, Dillon Baker, kept with that theme. A solid-wood case is assembled with rebates, and the tongue and groove bottom is nailed directly to the case. This would make it easy for the sailor to replace the bottom if the slats…

Most of us would love to save steps in the workshop without sacrificing quality. With glue line rip blades for the table saw, the promise is that you can do exactly that. The manufacturers of these blades claim they make rip cuts so smooth that you can get out the glue and clamps without any additional surface prep from a hand plane or jointer. It’s a great concept, but I have pretty high standards, especially when it comes to the quality of my glue-ups. Simply put, if the glue lines of my panels are visible, they’re not good enough. To find out if these blades can truly produce glue-up ready edges, I decided to try one out for an upcoming project. ANATOMY OF THE BLADE. Upon first inspection, it’s clear that…

BECKETS AND QUOITS Sisal and hemp ropes are the best ropes to make beckets and quoits out of. Polymer ropes tend to unravel too easily and are not as tactile as natural fibres. Self-amalgamating tapes (and 16mm sisal rope) can be found at Bunnings or your local boating store. BRIDLE JOINTS The jig on page 20 uses a hold down to lock the stock in place. Carbatec, Timbecon and McJing can supply the hardware required to make your own bridle joint jig. Carbatec and Timbecon can also help you upgrade your table saw with a set of dado blades. All you need to do is measure your saw’s arbor and make sure the dado set you are purchasing has a matching arbor size. SEA CHEST The 9” fishtail hinges on…