ucoulddoit

Came across these pics while looking for something else. An offcut of spalted beech, about 1.3m long, made at least 15 years ago. Not sure though if I can claim to have made it, as it’s a natural sculpture and stands on the floor without any support. This was the first piece sawn off an odd shaped log with twisted grain, probably a leaning tree as the pith was way off centre. A good example of a log to reject when looking for timber suitable for milling, according to the books and experts …… When my wife saw it she pointed out , ‘that looks good!’ It’s been standing in a corner of our sitting room for a long time now. Bought this log almost 20 years ago from a firewood merchant, together with several other bits of ‘firewood’, maybe a couple of tons, all for £100 including lifting it into the truck I’d hired to deliver it to the local mill with a woodmizer. An experiment in my early days of milling and drying different types of timber when I was reluctant to invest a lot, buying prime logs, until I knew how to do it successfully. And it was a success! A few years on I had a pile of air dried burr elm, spalted beech, sycamore, cherry, cedar and larch which was all quite different to what you might find in the average timber merchants. Which inspired me to start buying some larger, proper milling logs. Back then, when I was daydreaming of turning a hobby into a business of designing and making furniture, milling timber and traditional timber framing, I often wondered about trying to sell stuff like these ‘sculptures’. But the daydream stayed a dream, as work took an unexpected turn for the better, and happy now I’m retired to pass on these photos in case anyone out there has the marketing skills to turn stuff like this into actual money…….. Andrew

If you scroll down to 31st Jan there’s a short thread and I’m sure as mentioned there was a thread on the milling forum, but can’t find it from a quick scan through the last few pages. Andrew

I have to admit the inspiration for it was a piece at the Cheltenham furniture show, maybe 12 to 15 years ago. Can’t remember the price on it though! Andrew

What do you do with your offcuts? Been sorting through my pile of offcuts as the midges on the West coast of Scotland have almost gone for another year so we can enjoy getting the firepit out again. Each year, as I decide what it’s time to let go, my wife has a look through the firewood pile and puts to one side a few pieces she has had her eye on. Pieces worth keeping, as she is better than I am at seeing what has potential to be a bit different, a nice shape, aesthetic, good colour, etc. So here are a couple of bits of ‘scrap’ she liked this year, which were shaped, sanded and had a first coat of oil yesterday, and will soon be hung on our outside walls. The rest was sawn into short bits, and enjoyed on the firepit last weekend, on a starry night, bringing back memories of where and from whom the trees were bought, who milled them, the furniture made with the rest of it, etc. First piece of ‘scrap’ is yew, a thin slice just 15mm thick by 1.8m long, cut off a thick plank with my chainsaw mill as it was just too thick for a table top I made a few years back. My wife has had her eye on this piece for years. Next one is burr oak from a piece of scrap about 1.1m long by 0.45m wide and wedge shaped, varying in thickness across it’s width from 50mm down to 5mm. It was destined for the firepit as it was hard to see it being much use for anything as it was so thin on one side, had a large hole / ingrowing bark and was more or less flat on one side. But it did have potential which is why it’s been in the wood store for about 10 years. I decided to experiment and see if I could deep rip thin pieces off the thicker half. So, after cutting it lengthwise in half, flattening one face and an edge on the planer, it was sawn on the bandsaw into two thin book matched planks. Final thickness after planning was 9mm. After gluing them together, they were glued to a piece of 9mm ply to give a bit of extra strength. This one will go on the wall outside my workshop, under cover and sheltered from the rain. So pleased we kept this bit of scrap! Andrew

Sounds like case hardening caused by drying too quickly if the two thinner boards cup significantly. I find the old rule of thumb for air drying of a year per inch thickness plus a year for hardwoods up to about 4" thickness works pretty well, regardless of what the moisture meter tells you sooner. I remember seeing a kiln dried perfectly flat plank of lovely walnut being ripped into two thinner boards which cupped so badly it had to be thrown away! And there are other issues to consider. How many folk use 1/2" stickers for oak for instance instead of the usual 1"? That helps to slow the drying and also avoid other defects such as surface checking and internal honeycombing. Further drying after air drying also needs to be slow and dehumidifier kilns are better for this than a steam kiln. But only a small proportion of wood will be split into two thinner boards, so that's not a reason to be negative about steam kilns. Overall, I'd say, it's a matter of pre-planning which boards will be milled thick, for future re-sawing, and dry them accordingly. That's what I do, but only on a small scale for my own use. I've found it works well and gives good flexibility to re-saw for designs that have not even been thought about when timber is first milled. Andrew

Got around to sorting out the problem with these steps. Photo below shows the underside of the top step / platform which now has a 3/4" square (19 x 19mm) brass bar each side. So, the timber step with the grain direction side to side spans onto these two bars which in turn span onto the round brass bars front and back which are supported on the legs. Feels very solid! The screws are just to hold each bit in place and take no load now, and the back screws are in slotted holes in the square brass bars to allow for movement in the timber step which could be 2 to 3mm if they are moved from inside the house to an unheated garage / outbuilding at some point (over the next 100 years or so). Still annoyed with myself for getting this wrong, but with hindsight, I prefer the top step having the grain side to side instead of front to back. So, it's worked out OK in the end. Andrew

I used concrete breeze blocks left over from a building project. About 50 to a ton. Andrew

The steps are pretty chunky. In fact my wife seems to be struggling to move them about. So maybe they will get a home in my workshop! But, joking apart, although some projects might be over engineered with components that are too large, structural safety comes in part by having clear load paths and simply making everything bigger isn’t necessarily safer. The top step doesn’t in my opinion have a good load path to the legs. So I’m going to change the design by adding the brass bars and will post a picture in due course. This really got me thinking about my design objectives. I’m sure I’ve developed a track record of making stuff that ‘won’t break’. Thinking about that, I recalled a pitch pine cupboard we have for our bed linen. I first saw it as a child and the key has a hand written label with the note ‘Made from a pitch pine tree bought standing’. It’s dated 1895. It’s been in the family since then and we now have it, 127 years on! That label was part of what inspired me at a young age to dream about turning trees into beautiful furniture. I now dream about what I make being treasured by my grand children and their decendents. So, the aim of things I make is for them to stand up to a long life of use and abuse. As well as a design which hopefully stands the test of time, rather than chasing the latest fashion. Time will tell if I manage to achieve that, but I’ll not be around unfortunately to enjoy going into the next century! 127 years from now is 2150, a century on from the date being talked about to be carbon neutral. Maybe these steps will still be used by a family member? The timbers may have worn, but there should still be enough section left to be strong enough. There is no reliance on glue, tenons are wedged. All the holes for bolts and the brass rods have brass bushes to minimize wear. I've done what I can to give them a long, long, life. Not sure where those thoughts came from. Maybe the bottle of wine I just enjoyed sharing with my wife! Off to watch a film now and fixing the steps is for another time. Andrew

Pretty much spot on! So pleased someone worked it out. OK, so here’s an explanation of the mistake I made. It’s the top step / platform as mentioned. It’s especially annoying given my working life in industry as a structural engineer. I tried to fix it, so what doesn’t look like it was intended? The mistake is, the grain should run front to back, not side to side, as the platform is supported by the brass rods on the front and rear edges. When I realized it was the wrong way round, I went back to the photo on the internet, used as the basis for the design, and it had the grain front to back! Just hadn’t noticed that, but should have worked it out. Looking at the photos below showing the underside of the top step, you will see it is supported by the brass rods at the front and back. But the grain runs parallel to these supports instead of the board spanning front to back onto them. So, my weight of 15 ½ stone standing in the middle of the platform could cause it to split suddenly along it’s length and maybe I’d break a leg or worse? There is a joint along the middle where I ripped and rejoined the wide plank after machining to just over an inch thickness, so that might be an additional weakness? The two bearers screwed to the underside of the platform were an attempt to strengthen it. If they had been part of the original design, they would be on each side and supported by the brass bars so that the loads would transfer from the platform to the bearers then to the brass bars and finally into the legs. But, fitted as an afterthought, they couldn’t be supported by the brass bars. Also, I realised they couldn’t be glued across the grain due to future movement that might occur, so they are screwed into the platform with a slotted hole at one end to allow for the movement. But there isn’t much thickness to screw into and will the screw pull out capacity in tension hold my weight? Need to sort it properly. I’ve thought about making a new platform with the grain turned 90 degrees. But it’s a lovely piece of wood and took quite a while to make it. Am now leaning towards re-using the platform with bearers on each side, made using brass bar, probably about 1” deep by ¾” wide, instead of mahogany. But I need to check that size is strong enough and stiff enough to carry a person. So, the two short brass blocks at each side will be replaced by brass rectangular bars spanning front to back between the brass round bars with the platform supported on top, spanning side to side. That will work with the existing holes in the legs and platform height as I can get a much smaller edge distance on the holes through brass compared to mahogany. I'll get rid of the two mahogany bearers. It might even look as though it was intended to be made that way! All very annoying and the brass rectangular bar will be an unforeseen additional expense, but looks like it will work out fine in the end. Could have happened to anyone? Thanks for all the comments. Andrew

All good comments, but not what concerns me. I hope the brass bars supporting the top platform and attached to the legs are enough to prevent them splaying under load. That’s how it was done on the one I more or less copied from a photo on the internet. Now wondering if it’s a construction flaw, not design, as I now realise the mistake goes back to when I selected the timber for the platform? Just to confuse everyone even more. Andrew

I had wondered about a highly valuable mahogany stair tread as the prize, but they are just too valuable to me...... Andrew

Surprised no one has figured out the design flaw. To narrow it down, it’s the top folding step / platform. I’ve tried to fix the design flaw, but what did I get wrong? Answer tomorrow if no one gets to it first. Andrew

Especially as I've tried to sort out the problem! But I still have a niggling doubt. Andrew

That was one of the details which took a while to sort out as it wasn't obvious from pictures on the internet. As well as the legs spreading apart, I realised the top step might flip up, like a see saw if someone stood on the front edge. Photo below ( a bit blurry) shows the L shaped grooves for the brass rod at the back of the top step. Fingers crossed, that seems OK. But I might recess a couple of 3mm brass plates around the bottom of the groove as the brass rod will wear the wood over time. Andrew

No guesses yet? It's potentially quite serious and given how I used to earn my living can't quite believe I got it wrong. Andrew

Spot the design flaw. I decided to resurrect this thread as it had quite a lot of viewings about a year ago when I asked for opinions about the reclaimed mahogany I’d acquired and I thought there might be some interest to see the first project completed recently. It is folding steps for my wife who struggles to reach the top of our kitchen cupboards. I pretty much copied the design from photos online and copied the sizes from some steel folding steps we have. But it was surprising how much still needed to be worked out. I like the fact that the reclaimed mahogany came from a staircase my dad made almost 60 years ago, and some of it is now a step ladder! I’d been given the reclaimed mahogany, but still spent a fair bit on this project. The brass rods and square bar, plus silicon bronze coach bolts (couldn’t source brass), nyloc brass nuts, washers, etc. all came to over £70. And I needed a beading router cutter for the steps. Not used any tropical hardwoods for years and had forgotten just how good mahogany is to work with and what a colour and finish! My wife is delighted with them and it’s good to be able to tick off one more item from our ‘wish list’. When I mentioned I might have an occasional use for them in my workshop she wasn’t happy about that at all!!!! Anyway, there is a design flaw, discovered towards the end of making the steps and still wondering whether to just leave it as is? Any guesses as to what I got wrong? I'm afraid there isn't a prize. Andrew

Well, that was a much harder job than expected! Not much spare rod, so I tried a fine taper about 12mm long and that was enough for the die to get a bite onto the brass and pull itself in. Used parafin as suggested as lubricant, but still found it quickly jammed if I wasn't careful. Could only manage about 1/8 of a turn, then backed off 2 or 3 complete turns to clear the cutter. Seemed as though the brass cuttings jammed inside the cutter instead of peeling off. For the second thread, I lightly filed the rod all round to reduce the diameter by about 0.1mm and that seemed to help. I'd thought about buying a good quality 10mm die instead of a 'cheap set', but had thought that would be fine for brass. Now regretting that. But that's life! Thanks again for the advice. Andrew

Thanks for all the replies. I checked the rod diameter with a vernier gauge this morning and it looks to be spot on 10mm. It’s a new tap and die set from Machine Mart, first time used, but I suppose you get what you pay for! I’ll persevere and post an update in due course. Andrew

Making steps for our kitchen using some reclaimed mahogany and struggling to cut the threads on a 10mm brass rod to support the folding top step/platform. Is brass usually more awkward to thread than than steel? Years since I've done this sort of metalworking and only had a brief go at it last night. Have chamfered the end of the rod and maybe need to do it a bit more. Any suggestions? Andrew

The desk project is now complete, having taken about 9 months from initial sketches to delivery. This thread is about timber from a large oak burr and as the frame used timber from another oak tree, I wasn’t going to show the finished project. But it’s pretty quiet on the woodcraft forum, so here’s a few pics. Also, some notes about the design of the frame and milling the oak for the frame. Good to have used timber milled 10 to 12 years ago instead of just daydreaming about using it! Very pleased with the final outcome and so is my son. I particularly enjoyed seeing how the design evolved through a process of ‘form follows function’, rather than starting out with a fixed idea about the final appearance or using a standard design. Having said that, I’ve no doubt a search on google would bring up desks with some similarities, so I’m not claiming this is an original or innovative design. But my starting point was a blank sheet of paper and then used what’s in my head and that contributed to the fun of making this project. After making stuff in my spare time for over half a century, I look back and wish I’d been encouraged to be more interested about design earlier. So, happy to pass on these thoughts as others might be interested to hear how the design developed. Quite a long post though…… First pics are the finished desk. Then three sketches showing how the design of the frame evolved. Can’t find my initial hand drawn sketches unfortunately, but it was a lengthy design process and at times it seemed as though the design was taking almost as long to finalise as it took to actually make it! The second sketch, although not a finished design, was along the lines of what I’d decided I wanted the frame to roughly look like with angled legs, rails and drawers plus the overall sizes. I’d deliberately avoided thinking too much about construction details at this stage as I find that can stifle my creativity. I find it’s too easy early on to focus on simplifying the construction of ‘details’ instead of exploring what I can achieve with the overall design, and end up with something a bit different. I find there is almost always a way to solve problems later on, in the context of the overall design, rather than just thinking about the individual details. This sketch was used to create an approximate cutting list so that I could select suitable pieces of air dried oak that needed to be re-sawn into thinner planks, then stored in the workshop for a few months to lower the moisture content to about 10%. Third sketch was developed several months later, just before making the frame. I’d been conscious that the angled legs, rails, plus drawer carcass would complicate the jointing. Then hit on the idea of making the drawer carcass a separate ‘box’, just sitting on top of the front and back rails, and clear of the legs. That was a real breakthrough and obvious with hindsight, but it took a while to realise it was an option. Fortunately there was enough of the re-sawn oak in suitable sizes. My son is 6’ 4” tall, so the overall desk height is 31” to match his adjustable desk at work which is set to a comfortable height. That’s higher than a ‘standard desk’ but even so, with the drawers plus a rail underneath the top, it was going to be pretty tight to be able to get leg room. Hence the shape of the front rail, curved on the underside to get a bit more space. That curve, changed my thoughts about the legs, so their shape was changed to also incorporate curves which then became a theme throughout the design. The top already had a curved front edge plus a curved joint. The wide single rail in the end frames was changed to two narrower rails, placed at levels which ensure the mortices don’t clash with those for the front and back rails, plus the bottom rail has a slight curve too. The front rail and drawer fronts are concave to match the front edge of the top. The offcut from underneath the front rail became the top part of the drawer fronts which were burr oak offcuts from the top. Almost nothing was wasted. The quartersawn oak for the top part of the drawer fronts are also concave shaped, but outwards, creating space underneath to router a groove for a finger pull to open the drawers, avoiding the need for handles. So, from the initial ideas in the second sketch, there is a clear logic to the final design in the third sketch which evolved through resolving problems and construction details. I’d say it’s an engineered design which is quite functional in terms of how the desk will be used. Personally, I think the aesthetics of the final design are far better than the second sketch, but that wasn’t something that drove the design forwards. I didn’t start, just thinking about how to make it look good. Also, the final design was relatively easy to construct with minimal waste as already mentioned. I’m very pleased with the final design, but to be honest, it’s not (quite) perfect to me when I see the finished project! I won’t tell you what I think could be improved and anyway you may have your own thoughts which differ from mine. Maybe I should invest some time in learning 3D computer modelling so that it is easier to visualize a complete design? Anyway, I find that thinking back like that about how a design developed, what wasn’t quite right, what could be improved, helps me when starting on the next and future designs. I daresay some folk can get straight to a final design. I can’t, but fortunately I’ve learnt how to enjoy the process of getting to a final design in a ‘round about way’. Moving onto the oak for the frame, I started with 80mm quartersawn oak slabs which had been air dried outside for about 10 years. The pics below show the log I bought from a tree surgeon a few miles from home. It was about 30” diameter by 7’ long. He had already cut the bark off the top and sides using a chainsaw freehand, and sold the pieces to a florist for a window display. I was limited to about 6’ length to fit in the back of our estate car and the yellow marks were the cut lines I marked on to shorten it and split it into quarters. He cut it freehand into the four smaller pieces so I could transport it home in the car, over two trips. Then I milled it outside, at the side of the road, using my MS171 (14” bar) in an Alaskan small log mill. Some was milled as per the sketch which yielded almost true quartersawn slabs with lovely ray fleck on the surface, some of which was used for the angled legs with plainer planks for the rails, drawer parts, etc. Hope you managed to get to the end of this! Next project with the burr oak will hopefully be later this year and probably a large dining table using the best slabs of the burr oak for both the top and frame. They are large enough for a 6’ x 4’ table top with solid burr over the whole area, so looking forwards to sketching some initial ideas. Andrew

That looks great. But is it a habitable house? I wouldn’t want to make the large investment of self building a whole house without some certification as it would probably be very difficult to sell later on, especially if a potential buyer needed a mortgage. Andrew

Brettstaple is a form of construction that uses ungraded timber. Solid timber panels are fabricated using hardwood dowels to hold the timbers together. I’ve no experience of this type of construction though, so can’t give it either thumbs up or down. Andrew

Thanks. I’m really pleased how it’s turned out and good to do it with not much more than a router, hand plane and sander, and mainly working outside in the garden. I was set on having a slightly concave front edge, but that was at odds with the convex natural edges. So the initial idea was to add a triangular piece both sides, which led onto the single piece across the front with the curved joint to the main slab behind to keep it’s basic shape. The curved joint further back on the initial design spoilt matching the grain, so that was changed to a traditional straight book match. Took a while to work it all out though, and quite conscious it would be easy to spoil two great slabs. Andrew

This is the second project using some more of the burr oak planks. It’s a desk for my son and making the top from two largish slabs might be of interest. First picture are the two planks chosen for the top. Nice planks, but I had a shape in mind for the desk top and simply edge joining the two planks wasn’t what I wanted to achieve. The burr is great, but I felt losing some of it would overall be better. Following pics are the trial and error process using paper templates and chalk to find what might work. Took quite a while but found a solution that’s was obvious once found! Then onto initial flattening and thicknessing the planks with a router, further trial fitting to find the best match for the joints and final flattening of the planks once glued together, using a very sharp jack plane and a random orbit sander. I made the edge joints using a router with a kitchen worktop bit and running on a sheet of mdf on top of the burr oak. So, the slightly rough surfaces on the planks at this stage, pre gluing together, weren’t an issue as the router ran smoothly on the mdf which also acted as the guide template for both the straight and curved joints. The curved joint was quite a challenge, but the finished joint is barely visible as shown in the close up pic. Final picture is the top with a coat of oil. Still need to cut a hole for the computer cables and managed to find a bronze ‘desk cable grommet’ for these to match the resin bronze filler used to fill holes in the burrs. Progressing now with the legs, frame and drawers which are way too complicated and just as well it’s a present, not a piece to sell. Andrew

Not relevant to the original question, but regarding green/wet versus dry timber, pretty sure there should be less in service movement in timbers that absorb moisture compared to wetter wood that has dried down to the same relative humidity. The equilibrium moisture content of wood which has been kiln dried to say 12%, then left outside to acclimatise to the ambient relative humidity, will be lower than wet wood left outside to air dry and acclimatise down to the same ambient relative humidity. No matter how long the two pieces are left outside. Probably not relevant for a ‘rustic gate’ but could be for an external door and more so in furniture making. I aim to dry timbers for furniture making to a moisture content which corresponds to less than the expected ambient indoor relative humidity. Then store the wood for a while to acclimatise to a slightly higher relative humidity which in theory makes the wood a bit more ‘stable’ and the subsequent furniture better able to tolerate variation of relative humidity indoors at different times of the year. Andrew