V & A table

 Nearly a year in the making and just a few months late for the intended 30th wedding anniversary but it is at last finished.

It all starts with a monogram made famous by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. With a little help from my friends a suitable font, design and size was agreed upon to meet the finished tables dimensions. The monogram will become the legs.

The design was printed out and stuck to some scrap pine boards to make a prototype to test the design. Two boards were screwed together so both legs were cut at the same time.

The large external curves were cut on the bandsaw.

The smaller internal spaces were cut on the scroll saw.

Two finished legs

Which could them be offered up to an existing table to test for scale.

Next up a number of 4” wide, 1” thick oak boards were glued together to make the table top and the legs.

The pattern was then stuck to the glued oak boards and the monogram cut.

The table top was then squared up on the table saw.

The edges of the top were rounded over with the router.

Holes and dowels were made to attach the rails and stretcher.

Oak buttons were added to cover the dowels

And further “buttons” were made to attach the top to the frame and allow for movement.

The legs were finished with equal parts of polyurethane varnish, white spirit and tung oil mixed together and brushed on. The top had 3 or 4 coats of Patina, a hard wax oil.

 

Ever wondered how I make those clever Celtic Knot Pens

Each pen is made up of two perfectly square, in cross section, pieces of wood (blanks) each about 2.5 inches long.

Having decided where on the pen the knot should go, in this case near the top, a 45degree angled cut is made across the blank. Note the piece of wood to the right of the the blank. this is there to make sure that each and every subsequent cut is made at exactly the same distance from the end of the pen. The saw cut is stopped just a mm short of cutting right through the blank to make clamping a lot easier

Next small pieces of veneer are cut. If this can be done without slicing off the end of your thumb it makes life a lot easier.

The veneer is then glued into the saw kerf made earlier and clamped up.

When dry the excess veneer is cut flush with the blank. The blank is then rotated 90 degree and a second 45 degree saw cut is made. NB it is critical that this cut is made at EXACTLY the same distance from the end of the blank as the first cut or the knot will not join up evenly when turned,

A piece of veneer is then glued into this saw kerf and clamped up.

After each of the four sides have been cut and the veneers glued in place the blank looks like this.

The two blanks now need a hole drilling along their length to hold the pen mechanisms. This is done on the lathe as it is easier to hold the blank and centre the drill.

                                

  Brass tubes are then glued into the holes

 

The blanks are then held in a mandrel which is held in the lathe while they are turned to the required shape.

 

And as if by magic the Celtic Knot appears. 

Apply a suitable finish and fit the mechanisms and voila

 

Prima Ballerinas

End of year dance spectacular for Emma and Valerie. Shame about the pillar that obscured Emma (white shorts). Valerie on the right at the front

Valerie aged 6 or 7

Valerie yesterday

 And a video. 

More wildlife

 A buzzard

Who needs Russian gas?

 We burn carbon neutral locally sourced wood to keep warm. 10 steres there just waiting to be carried up 8 steps to be neatly stacked for drying. 

With a lot of help from Anne and Emma it all got neatly stacked in 3 days without a drop of rain either.

Present for Claire.

 Not our Claire but Claire’s teaching assistant, who is also called Claire, who has been with Claire for the past 3 years. 

The 3 Ps. a Pot, a Pen and a Pencil.

The pot is made of willow from the garden with walnut spots to hide a knot that had to be drilled out. The pen and pencil both made of yew.

Anne and Tom

At Roland Garros.