Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i Australian Wood Review

Carbatec’s new cabinet saws are on the money. Trialling one at their Brisbane testing workshop it was apparent this new range has had a lot of research and development invested into it. Over the same basic cabinet, table, arbor and trunnion structure, there are four separate options to choose from. With a 30" rail and Beisemeier fence the machine sells for $2299; with a 50" rail and hi-low rip fence $2459. Of course with an additional investment there is nothing stopping the user from having both fences, affording maximum flexibility in terms of ripping and jigging operations. The saw runs on a single-phase, 2.5hp motor which can be run from a standard 10 amp general power outlet, yet still offers plenty of power for most types of cuts. Power is…

When you have a child that is leaving the nest and heading to university, apartments need to be furnished. While much of my daughter’s furniture was sourced from Ikea, she was keen to have Dad make her bed. We worked on the design together and decided that a Japanese-style bed was the way she wanted to go. Not only is this bed beautiful to look at but it is also quite practical. The joinery for the bed allows it to be taken-down easily without tools and moved or stored as required. This was a new bit of joinery for me which was exciting. It’s important as a woodworker to always try new things and expand your palette of skills. The rails for this bed are joined with an edge lap…

Over the past 26 years (seems like 260 years actually) I have reviewed hundreds of tools for this magazine. Some really grabbed me due to their functionality, innovation and/or innate brilliance and have become essential tools in my workshop. But what makes a tool ‘brilliant’ or ‘classic’? Here are my thoughts. 1. Quality manufacturing. If it breaks within a year it’s useless and a waste of time and money. 2. Good looks. Not all things are beautiful. Some hand tools make the cut though because of their design and materials. 3. Value. We all know the adage, buy once and buy well. Usually we learn this by buying cheap and regretting forever afterwards. 4. Functionality. If it doesn’t do what it is designed to do, it’s useless. Does it make…

This bookcase is a 25mm thick ‘wrap around’ rectangle with no back. Its purpose is to hold large books in a lounge room. Figured wood and strong visible joints embellish the case. It has an adjustable 25mm shelf which is visually separate from the external frame, blending in with the books. New Zealand rimu Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum) is an exceptionally beautiful timber which was used extensively here in New Zealand as a structural and finishing timber, much like jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) in Western Australia. However, it has been protected now for many years and supplies for furniture making have become scarce. I was lucky to source only six 900mm lengths of 30 x 150mm sawn heart rimu which had been in storage for twenty years. I would have liked to…

Newborn babies tend to attract plastic until the cot becomes a scale version of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the clutter of shiny gifts meant to delight the little one. Fortunately we woodworkers can make playthings that are truly unique and carry the love of being handmade, as well as being more environmentally friendly. There is currently archeological evidence that baby rattles have been delighting kids for at least 4,000 years, so clearly we’re on a winner here. Not only are rattles extremely simple to make but they can also justify stashes of small bits of wood just too gorgeous to part with. Here I’ll go through the process of making my most recent baby gift. The recipient is named Lucy so I opted for simply making her an…

Made in Austria, the Hammer planer/thicknesser comes in 410 and 310mm widths, but this review looks at the 310mm wide model. Three phase is standard but a no cost extra is the single phase with an impressive 4hp motor. Apparently Hammer and Felder machinery are made on the same production line and there are to my eye many similarities in design and build. The body of the machine is strong and refined, and machining of table surfaces is clean and accurate. At a weight of 290kg this is not a toy. The overall finish and detailing is excellent. Controls are good, although the handwheel for the thicknesser seems a tad light duty. Planing height adjustment is via a simple lever. The Hammer is available with straight cutters, or as reviewed…

Bridge City Tools have a name for high quality, cool looking tools. This mini block plane is made of mostly aluminium with steel screws and knobs. It’s very small at a tad over 4" long, and beautifully made with crisp CNC machining of components. The cap screw pivots on a small aluminium button that sticks to the iron with an embedded magnet, a very nice touch. This is a low angle plane with a 12° bed so it’s always going to work best on endgrain; long grain planing quality will depend on how the straight the wood is. The blade is 26mm wide and 2.5mm thick and was flat on the back out of the box. The factory grind is at 25° with a micro bevel at 30°. The blade…

In the great pantheon of woodworkers, from Nakashima and Krenov to contemporaries such as Brian Boggs and David Upfill-Brown, you consistently find most belong to a particular type of woodworker, which we’ve come to refer to as a ‘designer maker’. This captures the essence of what has drawn me into the field. You’re both – you design, and you make. And yet when woodworkers come to both the study and practice of their craft, their efforts lie almost exclusively on the maker side of the split. When you think of a Maloof chair or a Krenov cabinet – it isn’t purely the workmanship you are thinking of. It is the lines of the piece, the relationship between the parts, a unifying language in the way parts meet or the way…

I rarely work with published drawings. By matching an image of a finished build in my head, instead of following detailed plans, I have been able to free myself from a fixed path of work and allow myself to experiment with tools and techniques. Designed for everyday use and pleasure, this stool is another example of a project I completed using that approach. Step stools are often your trusted helper for reaching hard-to-reach spots. Folding step stools made of polypropylene are therefore popular, and they are functional and economical. But – they have no personality. So, I was intrigued when my wife told me about a foldable two-tier step stool she recently came across. After hearing her out (including her desire for something similar but more elegant), I did my…

Tough and Sturdy The X8-PLUS 200mm Industrial Bench Grinder with 915 x 50mm linisher and mitre table has a full cast iron body and base. There are four rubber feet to help eliminate vibration and allow the machine to run smoothly. This versatile machine has a 0.75kw, 1hp, 240 volt motor with sufficient power to drive both the grinder wheel and belt linisher simultaneously. The grinder wheel comes fitted with safety eye shields and toolrests which are fully adjustable to suit every application and operator. The linishing attachment is perfect for fabricators. Uses include basic tube notching, cleaning up welds, removing scale from steel, as well as quickly and cleanly removing burrs from freshly cut steel. www.machineryhouse.com.au Space Solution MiniMax Genius, Classic and Elite combination machines aim to provide a…

It seems the debate amongst fine furniture makers about the best methods to stop drawers is as old as the one about drawer making itself. Often there is a tendency to invest more time in the quality of the drawer, and cut corners in the design and making of the stops. This story deals with a flip-stop mechanism that stops a drawer from being pulled all the way out. A drawer stop prevents a drawer from being pushed in beyond a certain point, while a pull-out stop prevents the drawer from being pulled right out. In my furniture practice I make two kinds of drawer stops and one pull-out stop. The latter is a relatively complex little device to make, which also allows the drawer to be removed easily when…

I’ve always had a fascination for Japanese style woodworking. When the opportunity arose to participate in a week long course in Kiso, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, I pounced like a ninja. The course, organised by Australian based Japanese craftsman, Shinobu Kobayashi*, focused on setting up three Japanese hand planes (kanna) – a main kanna, a scraper kanna and and compass kanna. These were then used to shape the handle of our Japanese hammer (genno) handle. Eight international students (Australians, Swedish, German, Danish, American, Polish and one Singaporean) travelled to Kiso with one purpose in mind – to learn how to properly set up a Japanese kanna. We ended up with more than that, sharing stories and experiences from our own cultures. Getting to Japan was fairly easy for most of us,…

Decorative edge-treatments can add greatly to the appearance of a piece of furniture, and there are plenty of bearing-guided router bits available in numerous profiles. These can do a good-enough job for you in many situations, but what if the edge you wish to profile is curved? A bearing-guided bit can follow a simple convex curve if it is gradual enough, but it is tricky to pull off without using a jig of some sort to steady the router or hold the piece as you feed it past the bit. Sometimes hand tools trump the electron-burners, and one such situation is when you wish to add small decorative flourishes to parts with complex curves. However the task is well within the capability of the scratch-stock shown in photo 1. This…