TrollSpiel

My bitch, Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan Leader of the Rebel Alliance...

Brushcutter, you fancy doing my sales mate?

Well Tommer, I ain't made a chair before, nor steamed/bent timber, and if I could get the labour time down, I'd likely sell something like that at 500 a go.

Thanks Bart.. steaming,, I welded this one up from stainless last week. You can make simpler versions of the same thing using plastic / and a wallpaper steamer - which is what I use. Hour per inch of timber (thick). The yew can be really hard to bend - being so knotty, you wont compress those knots, the wood just snaps. I snapped 2 for the two backs of the chair. The smaller curves (arm rests) are glued 7mm strips that were steamed and bent. throw all your timber in the jigs you've set up, clamp it down, wait 24hr... I wont say it's simple but it aint rocket science either

Thank you kindly, Yewhunter, Mr.Thompson. That's the meat of the job done - Some gold leaf to go in yet, with a 2-part laminating resin coat (ie, flashy woodfiller). Then wax it up.

A few other views

My latest Alaskan miln piece. I started out thinking Lord Elrond, but it soon turned into Sauron the dark lord - which is cooler anyway 3 days from milled boards, including the steaming/bending etc. Don't have to tell you boys what wood it is...

really nice to see what someone else is doing. I do like that elm.

Thanks for the website tip, Len

Mine is a big old lump of sweet chestnut Rob - I've another bit the same size of Ash to do, but cos I want thinner boards, I think I will take it to a mill. I'm in Rochester.

Did you cut that with a SPOON? Hey mr, I've found it's all about the feel. You'll sus it. My first boards were bloody awful, and I'm still getting the hang - esp solo with a 48" bar at chest height on 1m wide boards! Can I say, don't use timber for your first guide cut. I did that, and all the warp and twist in the old board I used was transferred to all my timber. I also found, the wider the guide you use, the better. Ladders! Can't beat em. I either use L brackets I screwed to them, or drilled down thru the steps to hold it all solid and level. I've also found a pref for milling slightly downhill. I don't know about other millers, but my boards aren't perfect or without scoremarks. Sometimes even something nastier where I've been too heavy handed 'tip' end and put a gouge out of the board edge. But I've a nice workshop and lots of nice finishing machinery, so I don't mind too much. Chains? I'm not knocking the granberg chains, but I've found a pref for the standard Oregon cut at milling degrees - they just rip it up on my 880. It may be that I didn't really know what I was doing with that other chain, but I found the clearing teeth dulled quick and got a shiny edge - I was new to it then, I will try them again, I suggest you do. All I can say again is, Setup is everything. Take your time, use a good guide - few more goes and you'll be knocking out some super boards.

A bit in awe of the work to be honest Bart. I can see I'm going to have to up the anti with my own creations, I'm thinking too plain.

I know one. Aggressive. Competitive. Butch. Opinionated. Lesbian. & Rubbish

mm, nice.. thoughtfully done.

yep, I use a pre filter on the 880 too. still clean it twice a day when milling and a full jobby on it at the end of the day

this place is full of great ideas:biggrin: top tip mate

no defence needed mr, that's lovely stuff! The inlay / fill is very nice.. what are you doing, crushing that tourqouise and mixing it with a 2 part filler? ive been experimenting myself but not done anything as nice as that

those shells are bloody lovely! good stuff mate!

what do you think I am? ..'kin Ikea?

Thanks again Rob... The speed thing? I'm doing carpentry 80% of my working hours, so like anything you do all the time... If I was doing a reduction on a 120ft beech, I'd be mincing about on it all day yet my mate joe would do it in a third of the time.. anyway, too old for all that! Biscuits..ever glued and screwed something? It's a whole lot more solid isn't it?, than just screwed. If you're joining big boards for table tops etc, you'll certainly want to biscuit or t&g them before gluing / clamping. You need to be accurate and can do it with a router; me, I've a nice biscuit jointer and can do my joints pretty quick - but 300£ is a lot to spend if you don't use it a lot. Good luck with the Oak! I know there's guys here with a lot more knowledge & experience than me re: drying timber, but I've had mixed results so far with it. Ive some oak I cut 20 years ago, that's lovely. But some 3" slabs in my kiln, and they've cupped! Yet the 2" ones on the bottom of the stack are looking ok. I think it's a temperamental wood. Besides, since I started milling, I found some other really nice woods, so I'm veering away from oaky stuff at the mo.. I'm going to build a twin pedestal desk for my reading room, from a load of incredible yew I cut - and i'm going to take a month to build it ! I added a pic here of some of that yew; incredible looking stuff, wild magic grain. I made a wall hanging from a bit of it (cut about & shaped) - but useless with a camera! Copying is a great form of flattery mate - take my ideas and build on them, you'll probably make something nicer! Lastly - cos this post is turning into a bit of a Book! - a pic of some big slabs of chestnut (some others I have are 108 across) and these are going to get turned into big tables, I have enuff 2 & 3" slabs to make 5 tables. Get your hands on something this size for your wifes table!

Thank you Rob! - it's one of those things that's been hard to get a good picture of. Those pics seem to make it look different and show none of its tactility / warmth as a bit of furniture

& thank you all for the good comments..

Rob, screws are all just hidden, countersunk. I didn't bother to put cedar dowels in. I don't usually like to use screws, prefer biscuit joints, rebates & glue.. but I only gave myself a day to get this done from ruff sawn, so no time for all that messing about with biscuiting. Are you drying the oak before you use it?

I do like that bird table! Any chance of a pic of the top of the yew table, for the grain?

If I was any closer, I'd come give you a hand & an 880. How? I tend to view a bit of timber with what I'm likely to build from it according to the shape of the butt/trunk etc. Looks like you've got an interesting top to it. Sometimes it's hard to get the best out of a lump - size restrictions etc. Sometimes, until you've cut it, you don't know what you're going to build with it - an interesting shape or bit of grain can dictate that. Sometimes you can see you're going to have a nice bit of ripple etc (ash) from the outside, other times it's not till I've cut it - like a bit of yew recently, wasn't until I got inside it that I realised the grain was on fire, stunning. Slab it up, see what you've got. And then what you do with it depends if your skills & tool set are of a carpenter, joiner or cabinet maker.