Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 95 i Australian Wood Review

Lake Erie Toolworks of Pennsylvania, USA have recently released their ClampGAUGE system, which is designed to deliver the precise amount of clamping pressure at the correct locations to ensure the strongest, longest-lasting glue bonds. The staff there liaised with glue manufacturers to determine the best clamping pressures for various wood densities and subsequently undertook an extensive research and development program, resulting in this new product. The gauges are basically engineered cauls that are CNC-machined from high grade aluminium bar stock, then anodised and laser etched. As pressure is applied from the clamps, the concave profile on the inside face flattens out until it physically touches the edge of the panel. At this point the correct clamping pressure has been reached according to their formula. Three sizes of gauge are available.…

Remote On Top AUK Tools fixed router table motor now comes with a remote speed control that operates from above via a knob mounted on the switch box. This eliminates the need to fumble around underneath. Connection to the router is via a 1.2 metre shielded cable, making mounting of the switch simple in any convenient location. ProRouter Switches are made in Australia to Australian standards and feature illuminated buttons, including a large mushroom headed stop button. Being a true no-volt release switch avoids the inadvertent restarting of the router if the power supply has been interrupted. www.woodworksupplies.com.au Water Blocker This product claims to extend the life of your interior and exterior coatings. Water Blocker from Whittle Waxes is formulated to provide long-lasting invisible protection for all untreated, impregnated, glazed,…

A wind* is a twist in a board. To test for twist, winding sticks or strips are commonly used. But any two pieces of material that have parallel edges can also be used to diagnose a twisted board or assembly. I have seen, for example, journeyman levels, extruded angle aluminium, steel rules or even framing squares used as winding sticks. Many craftspeople, however, take great pride in making their own winding sticks from choice hardwood. My first pair of winding sticks – two straight, parallel battens cut on the tablesaw – has seen its fair share of use as I moved to dress more of my own wood in recent years. I decided to design and make new, more eye-catching winding sticks, this time mostly by hand. Choosing the inlay…

I greatly admired the late Western Australian craftsman Greg Collins. He was internationally renowned and received many awards for his innovative and artistic woodwork1. When I visited him in his Margaret River workshop he kindly shared with me techniques used to make his beautiful and finely detailed furniture and objects. I was so inspired that I then planned to make a table influenced by him and his body of work. Later on, after discussing my idea with him, Greg offered me several flitches of figured bird’s eye Huon pine from his personal collection together with some ebony for my table and other projects (photo 1). That was just before I moved to New Zealand. After eight years and staying in contact with Greg, I built up enough courage and skills…

Life altering moments aren’t always pleasant, in fact times of suffering can often teach us more. For fine woodworker Shinobu Kobayashi, 34 it was a slip with a razor sharp chisel that not only severed three tendons in his arm, but totally changed his outlook on life. By the time his partner got him to casualty he was almost unconscious from blood loss. Two days later he was home after surgery but then calamity truly struck. Shin’s family home in Japan was destroyed in the 2011 tsunami, and the trials of his own injury were compounded with an overwhelming disappointment and sense of failure at being unable to help out back home with ‘just one left arm’. But let’s step back a bit. Shin came to Australia from Japan when…

In what is both a testament to the times and to its pre-eminent management, teachers and curriculum, Sturt School For Wood remains as virtually the only school of its kind in Australia. It is a registered training organisation that offers intensive full and part time tuition in fine woodworking. It resides within Sturt, a craft and design centre founded some 76 years ago, making it the oldest in Australia. There are wood, pottery, jewellery and weaving studios, and on top of that a gallery that attracts over 30,000 visitors a year. In 2006, Sturt held an exhibition of work by past graduates to celebrate its 21st. This year marks the second such exhibition, appropriately titled Alumni. The 14 makers featured graduated within Sturt’s first 20 years. Some studied with the…

Last issue I outlined the construction of a tool chest suitable for any number of storage solutions which in my case was aimed specifically at housing an assortment of carving tools and chisels. In this follow up article we’ll explore some methods for fitting typical brass hardware to a chest of this sort and an option for efficiently constructing internal tool trays to keep everything in fine condition. Fitting the hardware The half mortise lock has been the lock of choice for the majority of quality case furniture for centuries. On a chest like this a variant of the half mortise lock called a chest or box lock is used which includes a keeper for mounting to the chest lid. The main benefit of half mortise locks are the flush…

In 2017 on a long weekend in mid- February when much of mainland of Australia sweltered in a record setting heatwave, Tasmania was a cool and pleasantly chilled out place to be. Since its appearance in 1994, the biannually staged Australian Wooden Boat Festival has gone on to win tourism and community awards while attracting steadily growing attendances from local, mainland and international visitors. Reaching depths of 40 metres, the Port of Hobart is one of the deepest in the world. Situated at the mouth of the Derwent River and in the shadow of Mt Wellington, the harbour has great natural beauty and a maritime history stretching back to the 1700s. This year an estimated 220,000 people flocked to the stage of the picturesque Hobart waterfront to soak up all…

Many woodworkers use water for wet grinding and for water stones so rust is a potential risk. Here is a product that makes water rustless. You add 40ml to a litre of water and use that mix for both grinding and honing. To test its efficacy I got out a couple of my KD chisels (Kitchen Drawer chisels that are dedicated to rough work such as chopping off hardened glue) and did the comparison between plain and the green coloured water. Each was honed up to a good edge and then left without wiping dry for 24 hours. Sure enough rust appeared on one but not the other with treated water. Next I ground them on a dry wheel to get them hot, but not blue and then dunked them…

The first time I saw a picture of a Japanese dovetail joint was when I was studying at the College of the Redwoods back in 2002. It blew me away that a joint like this was possible and at that stage I didn’t have a clue on how it went together. Many years on I saw another photo and decided to give this intricate joint a try. This article shows some of the techniques and tools that I used. Prepare yourself For this kind of joinery it really does help to have a steady hand, good eyesight up close, and a pinch of patience. They’re not essential but they sure do help. It may help to use the techniques outlined to make a rough joint first, just so you can…

My work revolves around beauty. I have no patience with ‘deep and meaningful’ stuff, with its requisite post-completion-rationalisation, often detailed in a little essay tacked up on the wall nearby. For me to like what I make, it has to be something that I believe is beautiful. I also find that I do my best work when I am just having fun, because it is light hearted, stress-free, whimsical – just doodling about. My mind is free to simply play. But at the same time, I am able to bring to bear everything I have learned about what I find to be beautiful, and I use this to refine and judge the lines and forms that my play produces. There is this little dance, with the play of free creativity…

The starting point for Israeli designer Hilla Shamia’s acclaimed furniture works is nature, which is full of seemingly imperfect and unpredictable processes from which creativity emerges. Hilla, 34, first started working with this unique technology of casting metal into wood in 2012, as part of her final project in the Department of Industrial Design at Holon Institute of Technology. Her initial thoughts and obsession were the connection made between two materials, without any mediating factor, as well as the contrast between two very different substances. Wood casting (a term which Hilla has trademarked) involves the use of whole trunks of locally grown trees that may include cypress, carob, olive, cape lilac, oak and even eucalypt. The wood is sawn lengthwise and placed into a mould. Metal is then poured and…