Western Red Cedar Bookshelves

 Just finished these western red cedar bookshelves for a customer, at 2m tall and 1.5m wide they're my largest piece of furniture commissoned yet. Very pleasing to make a large set of shelves although I had to move my workshop around to make space to put them together!

Shame it's such a dingy pic and they're not yet waxed in the photo but I stayed up till 2am to finish them. Contact me for a quote on custom made shelving in any size and any wood or visit my Etsy shop; BenjaminsBarn Etsy shop

   

Yew, Oak & Elm Stools

Some of my stools and small tables recently finished, this Oak & Elm table is my 1st try at turning bracing as well as legs and the criss-cross design presented quite a challenge, considering the positiong of the legs being random it wasn't possible to work out the angles on paper - trial & error was the only way! 

        The Oak top is highly figured with a very rustic feel, the bark has been set in place to leave a natural look and cracks have been left open for effect (but reinforced to stop them opening further or weakening the structure).

 This next is also Oak & Elm, the top is a reclaimed Oak plank (approx 60-70 years old). The legs are English Elm, turned and highly polished with a shellac finish.

       Made as a kind of side-table/ occasional table. As with most of my stools and tables the legs are fitted using traditional mortice & tenon joints and fixed with split wedges.

 3-legged Yew milking stool, very pretty wood with lots of flaming red inclusions and interesting grain. Again, as much of the natural shape of the branch as possible has been left.

                          The legs were made with a draw-knife to follow the shape of the grain.

 This next is 130 year old Oak plank reclaimed from a barn, the beautiful dark patina comes from age, not a stain!

 The legs are Bone-Oak (branches which have died and seasoned still attached to the tree, the wind and rain strips all the soft sapwood and gives them the unique 'bone' effect. 

All of these are currently available from my Etsy shop, follow the link: Etsy shop

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.

Wire Scorpions & Spiders

Unable to use my wood-working tools I decided to try some wire sculptures, these small Arachnids are the produce of idle hands. Fun to make and (I think) beautiful results for my 1st attempt at wire sculptures. Great way of using up my old craft wire! 

                                                Made from Gold, Silver & Copper wire.

                                 The Bodies are intricately plaited and very decorative.

  The 10p piece shows how small they are. The Scorpions are smaller, most have approx 1" leg span.

        These can be purchased from my Etsy shop (link at top of the page) or by contacting me.