Thursday 14 April 2011

Do you like my draws?






I spent 2 hours cutting up board and machining to include a groove at the bottom of the front and two sides to accept the 4mm ply bottom. I made each draw set as a kit and when that was finished, I started assembly.

In the best traditions of Blue Peter (a long running BBC kids programme which included DIY projects featuring egg boxes, yoghurt pots and sticky backed plastic with a catch phrase) ‘Heres one I made earlier’

These are not your common or garden factory made draws but bespoke, hand crafted, one of a kind, unique, individual works of art.

Note the slide in bottom, a tribute to glue and pin, not a screw in sight.
I owe everything I know to Norm Abraham of ‘The New Yankie Workshop’ fame, where ‘We like to take a minute to talk about shop safety’ Hmmm, NOT. We dont subscribe to that round here, we just get on with it. This aint no Shaker revival, time is too short and ive got a boat to build.

I can hear all you Discovery channel freaks chuckling to yourselves, but don’t knock it, I learned a lot from good ‘ole Norm in those bad old days when I was laid up in bed with a bad back, just yearning for the chance to make my own home some day, and now I have, without the shop Full ‘O’ Donated state of the art gizmos to make every chippies wildest pervy dreams come true.

Ah yes, if I had a shop like that I could have been a Chippendale but im happy just knocking something up out of scraps

The woodshop





Do you like my woodshop?

Its so convenient having this old cowshed adjacent to the boat and the couple of leaks in the roof dont cause as many problems as the Swallows which nest in the beams, dropping their crap on everything below.

This seasons breeders made an early appearance two weeks ago when the first couple arrived all the way from South Africa. They have already made a tour of the shed so I need to get a move on and ship out before the eggs hatch

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Captains Chest






A Captain needs a chest, so I thought it was time I made one.

Slightly taller than most to fit under the gunwhales, big enough to go the distance and not too fat. Thats enough about me. The chest is designed to fit a specific space at the foot of the bed to maximise the room and opportunity.

A face frame of 2x1 pine with ply sides and back, draw runners and guides and a top, as yet undecided. Thats the easy part which I knocked up in a couple of hours but making the draws will take a little longer I think.

Comfort






There is nothing like comfort to make a place into a home, and having spent the last 22 months living in a flat with cold hard floors, I MUST have carpet.
So I set off with a handfull of cash, cos we all know deals can be done with crisp currency and I came home with enough carpet and underlay to cover almost 28 sq mts, allowing for wastage.
I have a go at most jobs but I hate fitting carpets. The chance of cutting it too small is always the worry and carpet fitters earn their money. Anyway, I had to just get on and do it. Two lucky carpets, at least they got laid.

Sure enough its made all the difference and within a few hours its changed the whole outlook and feel of the place.