New lease of life to an old chisel

                                       I picked up this old chisel from a local scrappie for 50p.

                                    The blade is not too bad but the handle has woodworm so....

                                         after selecting a block of Ash to turn a new handle...

                                                   with a nice straight and tight grain,

                                                  the chisel is almost ready for use again,

  I just need to enlarge the hole for the tang and it'll be back in use.

Western Red Cedar display shelves

My new display shelves, made to replace the Oak shelves recently sold. This Western Red Cedar wood is not quite as striking as the Cats-Paw Oak but still very pretty. Much larger and better suited to displaying items at craft fairs etc. 

 The joints are made with a double-rebated sliding mortice & tenon (even trickier to make than to say!). It took me longer working out how to cut this joint than it did for me to make all 19 joints thereafter!

 These are available from my Etsy shop by visiting https://www.etsy.com/listing/162755606/large-floorstanding-wooden-bookshelves? or can be custom made to any size, shape or design by contacting me at benjaminsbarn@hotmail.co.uk

Handmade Drawknife

For a long time I've needed a drawknife and always wanted to make one, I decided to re-use an old farm tool that wasn't serving any purpose in my workshop. I don't have a forge so most of the reshaping work was done with grinding and cutter tools and a butane torch was used to attempt to make the tangs. I say attempt as I didn't leave enough material for the 2nd tang and they've ended up very different lengths!

 I decided the shorter tang is still long enough for my needs and as long as I place it on the left side (the side I pull on less when using a drawknife) it should stay in place. The other side was actually too long and I had to shorten it to fit the handle. Unfortunately I didn't get pics of it's earlier form. 

My next attempt will be better but for now I'm going to carry on with this one; The wood I've chosen for the handles are these Cherry offcuts. It looks plain at the moment but Cherry takes on a beautiful rich colour when seasoned, I figure that as the large knots dry they should develop an interesting grain.

  They were actually a bit too green so I roughed them down then put them in a microwave for 1 minute, this allowed me to get a nice clean cut & polish for the finish.....

Which has already given them a nice rich colour. Cherry grain is quite tight and resilient so should work well.

 Before I can fit them I need to harden & temper the steel, this can be done without a furnace but much better results will be obtained with a good even heat source, a butane blowtorch won't quite do it. For now I have to leave them, soon I'll either borrow the use of a potter's Kiln or just have a nice wood fire. With some offcuts.

Cat's Paw (Pippy) Oak Shelves

Just Sold my favourite shelves, these were made from Pippy Oak, otherwise known as Cat's Paw Oak - for obvious reasons!

Trial cut to size and layed out for spacing,  

 followed by the trial fit, 

the difference after a few hours waxing & polishing finally does the wood justice. Even when bare this wood is stunning, after being buffed the grain is simply amazing.

These have been to many shows with me and will be hard to top as display shelves, the wood is quite rare so not easy to replicate.