Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i Australian Wood Review

Carpenters and woodworkers often need to accurately drill holes for mounting items or other specialised purposes. For some building work a near-enough round hole may be sufficient, however my quest was for a large hole cutter that would be quick to use and leave a clean finish. My first attempt was an adjustable drill tool purchased from eBay that turned out to be pretty useless. With steel cutters and solid construction it looked good, but struggled in 12mm plywood to drill a hole that was almost round. The Star-M tool from Japan is ruggedly built with a thick pressed steel body that holds two tungsten tipped cutters which are mounted on adjustable arms running on thick threaded rod. The arms can be dialled in to drill holes 25–75mm in diameter.…

Although they may not be your first priority in woodworking tools, shoulder planes are very handy for traditional hand work. Nineteenth century infill shoulder planes were minor works of art, with bronze or steel bodies ‘stuffed’ with exotic woods, but they are relatively simple in construction and do not require any special skills to make. The combination of spectacular wood and brass can make a very attractive tool. There are several ways to make the metal body, but perhaps the easiest way is to cut brass pieces from stock bar and rivet them together. This requires only basic tools and a little care to make a strong, neat plane body. The plane I will describe was fabricated from readily available, standard thicknesses of brass bar. Sides of 1/8" (3.2mm) thick,…

In issues 95 and 97 we looked at methods for joining curved elements and for making curved drawer fronts and rails. In this article we are looking at methods for making a curved door. Two ways The two most commonly used methods for making a curved door are coopering and lamination techniques. Coopering is a process where narrow battens are edge joined together. If the edge is less than 90°, the result will be a staggered curve which can be faired after glue-up. If you intend to use this technique it is a good idea to make the door before making any of the carcase components of the cabinet as it can be quite difficult to accurately fit a coopered door to an existing curve. Much better to fit the…

A place for everything and everything in its place is an old adage that couldn’t be truer than in the workshop. It is a joy to work in a well organised shop. Workflow is improved, and you don’t waste time looking for stuff. In my workshop I have a beautiful vintage Gerstner chest that is home to all my marking and measuring tools. However, I didn’t have a smaller solution for travelling that housed my essential tools. These tools are different shapes and sizes with some tools being quite small. With that in mind, I set out to design and build a box that will keep my tools organised. Start with design First things first, pile up all the stuff you want to store, and then play with the layout…

In the 1980s, the wet tropics of Queensland were placed on the World Heritage List, and harvesting and milling of specialty species in those regions virtually ceased. ‘Going forward from here’, said Curly Tatnell, 68 and director of leading Queensland based hardwood timber millers Dale and Meyers, ‘makers will again be able to buy quantities of red cedar, silky oak, or Qld silver ash. Curly Tatnell has been involved in businesses around Maryborough all of his life. From farming, developing and construction to grazing, transport and tile manufacturing, his experience is diverse. Around 18 years ago he was offered a share in Dale and Meyers, and since taking on the role of director, sawmilling has occupied much of his time. With some 220 people employed in various capacities, Dale and…

My background is 40 years in antique restoration work, the last 15 years of which have included commissions dealing mainly with the English Regency period. While not having undertaken a formal apprenticeship, I was privileged to work alongside a few skilled European tradesman for a time. However my personal knowledge grew over the years with considerable reading and research, as well as discussions with those highly qualified in their fields. All this has been translated into practical skills through much trial and error. The inspiration behind the making of this library table stems from the influence of Neoclassicism on furniture design in France under Louis XVI during the late 18th century, a style I’ve always admired. Makers of the Empire period, during Napoleon’s reign, continued to embrace this classical style…

When I started signing more and more large-scale commission work a few years ago, I knew it was time to invest in some larger equipment to help me process the stock. I chose the Felder AD941 and it has totally transformed my working practices. This is one of the largest production combination machines available. In jointing mode the table length is 2200mm, so any board that length or under will comfortably balance on both the infeed and outfeed tables without further support or intervention. Boards longer than this are also easily processed with careful technique and diligent use of supports at each end of the machine. The Felder 400mm table extension can also be attached to the end of the outfeed table, making the somewhat difficult task of balancing longer…

With a bright backlit LCD display the new Wixey angle gauge is ideal for setting mitre and tablesaws as well as workfences. Simply turn on, zero in and relax, knowing that angles to 1° can be confidently set, plus there are magnets in the base to secure it to the workpiece. Accurate to 0.1°, the Wixey uses a single AAA battery (not included) and also features auto shut-off. Download the Wixey App on your phone (Apple or Android) however and a new function comes into play. The phone will now display the angle readings, with Siri able to talk you through it. This means if you are fixing a cabinet to a wall for example, you can place the gauge on the cabinet and adjust it for vertical whilst the…

ARE YOU A STUDENT WITH A PASSION FOR WOODWORK? Wood Review’s Student Awards are open to secondary school students enrolled in years 11 and 12 in 2018. Send us photos of a woodwork piece you have made for your chance to win some amazing prizes. Students may enter on their own behalf, or teachers may enter on behalf of their students. Total prize pool $9,000+ entries now open Overall Best • Best Design • Best Hand Skills Best Use of Native Timbers • Popular Choice Award enter here ENTRIES CLOSE: 12 DECEMBER 2018 woodreview.com.au/student-awards…

Woodturning is one of the oldest crafts in the world, but in many Western countries it survives mainly as the preserve of hobbyists. However, in Japan woodturning continues as a vibrant trade and almost every home contains many turned wooden objects. In fact there are whole regions and towns where the economy depends on woodturning. It is not hard to find turned work in Japan, but you have to know that the term ‘woodturning’ is not familiar to most Japanese. If you go into a department store and ask to see woodturning, you will be met with a blank stare. But if you ask to see lacquerware, you will probably be guided to a rich selection of work – turned wooden bowls, dishes, platters, trays, cups, lidded boxes and more…

This hall table was made for Chatoyance, Studio Woodworkers Australia’s exhibition that was themed on the way that the grain patterns in wood can change from different viewpoints. My choice of wood for this was jarrah. The wood Two kinds of West Australian jarrah are used in this piece. The legs, top and lower rails are made from commercially available wood that in this case was dark and heavy with lighter coloured streaks. The fiddleback rails and inlay pieces came from a paddock tree grown on private property. I purchased two large flitches of this and resawed them on the bandsaw, quartersawing to my own specifications. Jarrah is structurally very strong and also has a powerful presence, so my design was for a lighter construction and limited the use of…

Adding inlay as a feature detail in your woodwork can be a way to lift an otherwise plain piece of work. Over the years I have often used 3mm thick square and rectangular pieces of wood as inlaid motifs on table- and desktops. The first step is to size the inlay to final dimension, lay it in position and then trace the outline with a marking knife. The inlay recess can then be removed with a router and chisel and the inlay glued in place, preferably with it sitting proud by around one millimetre. After the glue is dry it can be planed and sanded flush. However an alternative that offers an almost unlimited number of design options is to use a template routing kit. Inlay kits are made from…

Diamond Quality Tormek has just released three new diamond wheels and a multi-base for their water cooled sharpening system. Made from the world’s hardest known material, these diamond wheels offer exceptional durability. A further great new development is that blades can also be sharpened on the sides of the wheels to give flat bevels as well. Coarse, fine and extra fine grade wheels will be available in Australia from June 2018. www.promac.com.au Woodwork Central Since its release in Australia late last year, Kreg’s mobile project centre has been snapped up by those wanting an affordable but solid bench and assembly surface. The table opens to 800 x 700mm and supports up to 158kg. Set it up, pack it away or take it with you for convenience, and look to a…

It’s not often you get a client who keeps telling you to add more and more detail to a piece you’re making for them. Yet, that’s how it was for Melbourne maker Simeon Dux, 33 former carpenter and joiner turned fine woodworker. ‘I had these wonderful clients with really lovely taste. They wanted a piece that would match the style of their other furniture and they kept asking me to add more and more decorative features,’ said Simeon. The brief was for a display cabinet to house an eclectic collection of books and other items. It would sit in a home office and was to have a ‘library feel’. With a love of antique furniture and detailing, Simeon’s clients were looking for a piece that would complement and not take…

For some furniture projects, how well the final assembly or glue-up goes according to plan could determine their fate of success or ruin. Some glue-ups are more challenging than others, but seasoned woodworkers always approach each assembly with a great deal of care because they know from experience that some glue-up blunders are too costly to fix. Dry-fitting, as we all know, is indispensable in each assembly job. In a complex glue-up like the speech bubble shelves shown in photos 1 and 2 that included dovetails and angled joinery, I would go as far as drawing up and testing the order of dry-fitting before the final glue-up. If you tend to overstress with your glue-up tasks, I have some favourite glue-up tricks to share with you. 1. Laminating boards To…

If you’re anything like me, and as you’re reading this magazine there’s a good chance you are, then you probably share more than a passing interest in joinery. There are numerous methods to join wood, each one with a number of variations to cover things like work efficiency, increased strength and decoration, or any combination thereof. Wedged tenons The focus of this article is the wedged, through mortise and tenon. Perhaps with the exception of through dovetails, there aren’t many other joints that say ‘handcrafted’ like one of these. More specifically the focus here is on tenons, particularly the kerfs for the wedges and the effect they have on the tenon. The method of wedging can be executed in many ways, and like other woodworking topics the preferences can be…

The roughly triangular region that runs from Lismore to Ballina to Brunswick Heads was once described as The Big Scrub. Once subtropical rainforest, this 75,000 hectare area was largely cleared in the 1800s for dairy farming. Now, those forests are slowly returning, in the form of private plantings of the rainforest species that once grew freely there. Sunday April 15, 2018 in Federal, NSW was a picture-perfect day. Blue skies, rolling hills, green and forested, it was the place that over 500 hundred people chose to gather. The occasion was Woodfest, a celebration of native timbers that marked the creation of a new collective of farm foresters known as Quality Timber Traders (QTT). Woodfest is all about celebrating sustainably grown native timber’, said Kate Love, events manager for QTT. ‘It’s…