Recent Works

Just a few images of my recent works.

Scots Are Frugal,Not Mean

At first glance this might seem like just another ordinary bench grinder.Well,that is exactly what it is.In fact,this particular grinder is considerably simpler in structure than the machine I pulled out of the box.

Both tool rests & cowls have been removed,the coarse left hand wheel has been replaced by the finer right hand & the right hand spindle is left bare for attaching various accessories,faceplates for turning,sanding discs & my version of a jewellers texturing or Fibral mop.

It was reading the latest blog entry of Nick Carter http://mechanicalphilosopher.blogspot.com/ on making your own abrasive buffing wheels for the Dremel that led me to publishing this post about my grinder & specifically my abrasive wheels.

Since I started working silver in earnest I have always prefered a matt or brushed finish,for me the form of an object can be lost if the surface is too shiny,you can't see the true shape.Not always but most of the time.I found that the quickest & easiest way to achieve this finish was to use one of these...Fantastic piece of kit,readily available,works on wood,metal,bone,only £4-6 each & fits directly onto the spindle of the grinder.

But wait....

5 years or so ago whilst enjoying an excursion to http://www.billstoolstore.co.uk/ I discovered packs of 10 of the same material in rectangular sheet form,225mm x 145mm for the bargain price of £2.50.I knew all I needed was to make a simple mandrel to extend the M12 threaded nose of my grinder & for £7.50,the price of 3 packs,I would have 60 individual Fibral-like discs that could be sandwiched together to create 10 complete mops!

Ludicrous bargain!!!

Since then I have discovered the Chinese supermarket round the corner sells the exact same abrasive pads for an even more pocket friendly £2!!!

Inflation,where?????

I'll finish this post with a few images of me renewing a worn out mop.

Shoulder Plane

After much ado here is my Boxwood,Blackwood,Mopane & Lignum Vitae shoulder plane.

I intended to make this plane 15mm wide but a moments distraction on the sander resulted in a width of 14.6mm,not a huge deal but enough to unleash some spectacularly colourful language & a small but steady stream of self flagellation.

She is constructed with slabs of Boxwood over a Mopane core with the Lignum Vitae sole rebated down the center to accept the Mopane & the Blackwood border is dovetailed into the ends.The blade is 3mm 0-1 tool steel honed to a single bevel of 25 degrees & the bed is angled at 28 degrees.

Like many of my projects she was started over a year ago,possibly close to 2,but I was put off completing her by how flexible she was once I had opened her mouth up.

However,I saw her sitting on the shelf this morning & thought,

"Hey,let's see if I can get her to make shavings..."

A couple of hours later,a new blade,cut,ground & heat treated,a wedge out of Lignum,cut & fitted & lo & behold the Mahogany shavings surrounding her are evidence of her worthiness.

Her blade is ground a whisper wider than her body,about 1/5th of a millimeter & she is 61mm high & 107.5mm long.

Although I'm satisfied with her performance I will be making subsequent planes with slightly smaller cut outs in their bodies to reduce some of that flexibility.

I've called her Bethsheby after one of Karens ancestors & one of the kittens we had to return because of my accursed alergies.

Travel Carving Tool

This post features my prototype Bocote,brass,stainless,mild & high carbon tool steel,travel carving tool.The tip of this tool is interchangeable thanks to a clutch mechanism that locks the cutting tip in place.This allows many different tips to be carried in a relatively small space,say a leather wallet & the handle may simply be stowed in a pocket.

I am 95% happy with how it turned out,just a minor tweak to sort out repeatable blade alignment but all in all it's almost retail ready.

Hand tool versus Power tool,Tradition versus Progression

To my mind the hand tool versus power tool debate is primarily about control & involvement.

Many power tools remove that involvement,once you set them up it's simply a matter of feeding your timber through so there's more involvement with the machine than the timber.If you are a professional woodworker who relies on speedy production so that you may eat then chances are that you will be won over by the most efficient way to complete any said task,this usually means some form of powertooling.

Of course,there are some professionals who market their work as handmade with handtools & are fortunate enough to thrive doing this but I suspect that they are in the minority.

If you are a hobby,or escapist,woodworker then chances are you want to be more involved with the wood,to have a more therapeutic experience.This involves using not only the hands but also the eyes & the ears,well actually,the whole body(should we call them bodytools then?).You know when a plane is correctly set by the feel of that first shaving & the sound it makes as it is peeled from the surface(hiss-swoosh).

When I think about the hand tool versus power tool debate it makes me think about the past & the future,tradition versus progression.

Being self taught I am not what could be called a traditional craftsman.In fact I eschew the very term "traditional" & prefer "proven",it's a semantic quibble but I feel an important one.

The term traditional means to me"the way it was done by our progenitors".

Now,I'm sure our progenitors were sensible people,the course of technological history has proven that.I just wonder at what point did people start to look to the past in a more favourable way than the present?In my opinion a belief that things were done better in the past negates the possibility of advancement & that just doesn't make sense.Of course it would be utter foolishness to ignore the past,it is a treasure trove of ingenuity & invention but it doesn't hold all the answers simply because all the questions haven't been asked yet.There are techniques that work but I believe in finding a way to make things work better.

I have no time for romance in woodworking,I have no time for tradition for its own sake.

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."
Frank Zappa US musician, singer, & songwriter (1940 - 1993)

Focusing

I have decided that I need more discipline & with that in mind I am going to start & finish at least 1 item per day,be it pendant,cufflinks,earrings,small box,etc.

My usual script is to work on a large number of items at once,drill a hole in a pendant then do the metalwork on a set of cufflinks then apply finish to a box,I am usually actively working on more than 30 things within a 1 week period.Because of this fact a large number of items tend to take months,even years to complete (not very lucrative!!!)as I am always starting new & exciting projects & "forgetting" about older ones.I'll still be doing this,I enjoy flitting from project to project but I need to have "production".

I am also going to make at least 1 mushroom a day to keep my skills honed & also to sell.I haven't sold my wooden mushrooms for years,but if I am going to be making them for practise it won't be long before our house is overrun with the little,pointy blighters.

Starting price will be £2 for a 40mm or 1.5 inch tall version & will increase in price depending on which wood I use & what size they are.Not more than £5 or much bigger than 70mm 0r 2.75 inches tall.

Mahogany Mushroom

In the first video I will show how I prepare a piece of square section Mahogany to be turned into a mushroom.
First of all I round & taper one end on a sanding disc then turn a corresponding socket in a Birch ply faceplate then glue the Mahogany into the socket with medium viscosity cyanoacrylate.I would normaly use the thicker CA as it has better gap filling properties but the shop was out & medium is sufficient if not ideal.I warn you to be very,very,very careful with THIN viscosity CA,it is incredibly fluid & can give a nasty burn if spilled onto skin.
The sanding disc has 80 grit paper PVA glued to a Birch ply faceplate.
The turning tool is a 2.5mm square graver that is sharpened like a parting tool on one end & like a round scraper on the other.It has a friction fit into the mahogany handle & is easilly swapped end to end when required.
You will notice that I sprinkle some dust onto the base of the blank after gluing.This is to soak up any spare CA making the bond stronger & it also speeds up the curing time.
I will usually leave the blank for a minute or so to cure but Mahogany seems to react slightly with CA making it take a little longer to set.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ajbbbt#p/a/u/0/Jmus9Dq5yOc


The second video is of me turning the actual mushroom.
I must confess,I didn't use the Mahogany blank I mounted in the previous clip as that one took me a tad over 10 minutes to turn & I didn't realise that Youtube has a 10 minute limit for videos.I'm actually happier with this mushroom though,only took 7.5 minutes to turn & is a slightly better shape than the first.
As well as the 2.5mm graver I used to mount the blank I also used a 1/4 inch spindle gouge sharpened to a ladies fingernail profile.I parted the mushroom with a piercing saw fitted with a 3/0 blade.
Much of my work is finished to 600 grit then given a wipe with good old petroleum jelly.Not the most durable finish in the world but it is easy to reapply & allows the true texture & warmth of wood to shine through.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ajbbbt#p/a/u/0/3D1jEsj3w58


I need to have a word with the director & lighting technician of the video as neither of them seem to have much of a clue...


Here's a pic of the finished article.

Drum Sander

I've just completed a quick & dirty drum sander out of some recycled Beech butchers block,Birch plywood offcuts,hinges,skateboard bearings,8mm 0-1 drill rod,M6 cross dowels & bolts,6mm diameter,green,heat weld,lathe belting & a grinder that is close to death.

I've made it to be completely collapsible so that I can adjust or replace components if need be.It may not be pretty with rough sawn edges & worn out grinder but it runs very smooth & quiet & the only further work I'm planning on doing is to add a 10mm thick plate of tool steel to the ramp as the ply has a little too much flexibility to be really accurate.

I won't take full credit for the design of my sander,I think I took most elements from a lad on Lumberjocks although using skate bearings & the redundant grinder are my ideas.It's actually my old lap lathe,used for at least 15 hours a week for 5 years until the constant switching on & off melted the switch.

What's a lap lathe I hear you say?

Well,it's a lathe that is actually a grinder mounted to a laminated block of plywood 60mm thick by 450mm long.The right hand wheel & all cowling for the both wheels is removed to reduce vibration(no such thing as good vibes in turning).The last 2 grinders I had utilised an M12 thread to secure the grindstone to the spindle so it was a simple matter to just make up a bunch of little faceplates using extra M12 nuts.I simply roughed them up with the grinder itself then superglued them into holes I had drilled into some Birch ply discs making them into perfect little gluechucks.I do practically all my small turning on this setup just sitting in my lap.

Why do you have it in your lap in the first place?

Well,I'm something of a night owl & at first it was so I could work at night.Even turning something as small as a 10mm Padauk mushroom was so noisy that I was curfewed by 10.30pm,we live on the top floor of a Victorian tenement building & I feel it's only fair to the neighbours that I stop the heavy,percussive noise at that time.Mounting the grinder on the plywood & turning on my lap is so quiet that I can work through the night even with Karen lying asleep less than 6 feet away in the next room.

I actually prefer turning this way now,you're much more involved with the work,like whittling as opposed to carving on the bench top.I also use this setup as a disc sander,leather faced wheel for honing,fibral mop(non woven nylon abrasive for matt finishing silver)& standard stitched wheel for polishing.I retain the smooth stone on the other side of the spindle.This not only gives me the ever ready ability to sharpen my gouge & chisels but also acts as a gyroscope stabilising the whole contraption.I've been meaning to put some turning demos on my blog,think I'll start tomorrow....

Carving Tools

Been meaning to make some carving tools for a while so here we are....Made using a O-1 tool steel,brass tubing ferrules & various woods.Top row,Maple,Mahogany,Beech & Yew.Bottom row,Sapele,African Blackwood,Boxwood,Walnut & Piquia Amarello.The gouges were made on the lathe by drilling a hole the appropriate width for the chosen sweep down the center then half the material was ground away to leave a U shaped cross section that is easilly sharpened into a gouge.The largest gouge is also forged a little to open the sweep so that an 8mm diameter drill rod yeilds a gouge with a 9mm sweep(I'm not that enamoured with this tool,I'll be making another 9mm sweep gouge when the 13mm drill rod arrives.)The straight chisels were 5mm drill rod that I heated in a propane/butane torch until red hot then hammer forged to rough shape then ground to final dimension on the lap grinder.The skew & fingernail chisels were simply ground.All have been successfully heat treated & take & hold an edge that is "shaving sharp".I thoroughly enjoy making these wee tools & imagine I'll have a lot more before very long!

Kokeshi Doll

Hey folks,it's been a wee while,again.Hope you've all been well,having fun doing the things that you love with the people you love...

Sorry about the quality of pics,I can only think it's the swimming pools of coffee I consume on a daily basis that are making things so blurry!

Anyway,this is one of my turned,carved,burned & painted Kokeshi Dolls.She is a solid billet of Scottish Sycamore that was first roughly hewn from a 9 inch diameter log using my Gransfor Bruks Forest axe,the ends squared on the bandsaw then mounted on my engineers lathe to be turned to a cylinder.This allows a perfect cylinder to be achieved very quickly & accurately.The dome of her head was finished with skew chisel,gouge & sanded to 600grit,the base finished with only skew.

Once I had the basic shape I started work on the features with my 0.5mm 2H pencil.There is minimal carving,basically just enough to define the jawline & the sleeves of the Kimono,just under 2mm deep.I did this using all 5 of my Pfeil palm carving tools & my trusty Swann-Morton No.3 scalpel with a No.11 blade.

Once I had the carving complete it was onto the Pyrography.This is a technique that involves burning a design into a light coloured wood with what is essentially a soldering iron.Some of them can be a little more sophisticated with adjustable temperature but mine is essentially a tiny wee poker with changeable brass tips.Although I only created thin,uniform lines in this doll,in the right hands Pyrography can be used to great effect in creating shade,depth & form.I burned in the hair,eyes & pattern in the Kimono,if there's a line it's burned.

I used model makers enamel paint,matt for the hair & trim on the Kimono,gloss for the face & checks.There are still a few wee patches that need touching up but I've been wanting to post this for some time (I took the axe to the log over a year ago & although she only took about 25 accumulated hours to get to this point it seems a whole lot longer....).

She is 402mm tall & 77mm in diameter.

Recycled/Reclaimed Boxes

Here are a few boxes I have made using wood that I found on the streets of Edinburgh.The Mahogany I used was found just outside my flat in the form of a discarded mantel 6 foot long,8 inches wide by 1 1/4 inch thick.The 22mm Baltic Birch Plywood I found in a skip outside a flat that I presume was getting underfloor heating considering the shape of the offcuts.Not sure how much I scored but it was enough to fill the boot of our Peugot 206.I’ve made loads of stuff with this from these boxes to jigs,sanding discs,new top for my beatup workbench & faceplates for my lathe/sander/grinder.The Oak came from some old kitchen doors & drawer fronts I found a couple of streets up from mine.Once the doors had been dismantled the stiles bore about 60 feet of 15mm by 50mm strips & the drawer fronts yielded 30some feet of 100mm by 20mm boards,perfect for boxmaking. They were glued together using p.v.a.,sanded to 600 grit then finished with Liberon finishing oil. There are a number of great things about using reclaimed wood. Firstly,its free meaning all the more money for tools. Secondly,you know the wood is well seasoned,especially if its the remnants of a home remodelling. Thirdly & lastly,as far as I’m aware,is you are slowing our ever increasing rubbish tips from becoming continents in their own rights. Oh,the suede that I take my pics on is also salvaged,this time from an old 3 seat sofa. The one at the front is 120mm long by 57mm high.

Absent Earrings

I mentioned in my last post that I have been making the usual cufflinks, pendants & earrings & I realise that I haven't posted any pics of earrings,so,here we go...

The first pic shows 2 pairs of drop earrings made from Turquoise, Blackwood, beef bone, African Padauk, Osage Orange, Malachite & Black Walnut.

The second,third & fourth pics show pairs from my Quadrant range.These are made from Turquoise, Blackwood, Tagua nut, Mahogany, Pink Ivory & Leadwood.

The final pair are traditional bezel set Carnelian, gold & silver studs.

I'm rubbish

Yet again it's been 3 months since my last post,I really do suck at keeping a journal!

It's been a busy 3 months,along with the usual earrings,cufflinks & pendants I've made a replacement electrical component for my father in laws old Rolls Royce using a piece of copper tubing (free),a sandwich board (all materials scavenged from skips & the roadside,well,apart from the glue & panel pins)for my artist friend Deborah Cameron,she paints the most amazing seascapes,http://deborahcameron.com/,started work on a pair of Viking shoes & made a few more custom tools.

This little smoothing plane has to be my favourite tool so far.She's 130mm longs by 51mm wide with a blade width of 34mm.She is constructed primarily from African Blackwood,a stable timber as hard as bone that glues to itself with little or no seam & is capable of taking a mirror finish,my favourite wood by some margin.The wedge is curly Sycamore with a ring of Blackwood,Sycamore,Black Walnut,Turquoise resin & finally beef bone holding in a 13mm Lapis Lazuli cabochon.

Her mouth is quite wide at the moment,1.5mm with the bevel down,4mm with the bevel up (I modeled her on Karl Holteys 11-SA & although she is a little shorter the blade & bed geometry are the same).This will close up once I get round to replacing the 2mm thick stanley block plane blade with a 3.5-4mm 0-1 carbon steel blade of my own creation.I'm not too bothered at the minute as I've only had to plane some very sedate Oak & Mahogany & these particular timbers seem to cooperate without a fuss producing some very woolly shavings.I'm sure once I have to plane some African Padauk or pippy Yew I'll be looking for that smaller mouth.

I've made a couple of planes before but none of them turned out as well as this one,it seems to me that Blackwood is the wood of choice when planemaking.

You may have noticed I am refering to this plane as she?I tend to name my favourite tools/machines & I've named this little beauty Charlize...

Mallet from a Bowl

For the past couple of years I have been slowly but surely replacing my shop bought tools with a collection of tools that I have made myself.
There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from making things using tools you have made yourself that is difficult to put into words,it's just awesome!!
My latest tool creation is this lignum vitae mallet.
For years I have been using a 2.5 lb club hammer to drive my chisels but after seeing various beautiful examples of lignum mallets on the web I convinced myself that such a thing was essential.
Now,my first port of call whenever I'm looking to buy wood or supplies these days is,of course,eBay.
The first suitably sized piece of lignum listed (5"long cylinder by 5.5" diameter)seemed,at £27.50,a little too salty to me but 3 listings below it there was a set of 4 vintage lignum vitae lawn bowls,buy it now £10.
"Drat,pick up only,knew it was too good to be true!"
Click on it anyway -item location,City of Edinburgh
WHOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!
BUYBUYBUY!!!
Send message to arrange pickup.
I have only ever worked small pieces of lignum in the past,small turned inlay & the sole of a tiny smoothing plane so to say I was unprepared for the edge destroying abilities of this ferocious timber is an understatement.I swear it felt like I was sharpening more than turning.
That said lignum vitae is a beautiful material to work taking a crisp,glossy finish.
I decided to use maple for the handle as it is a lovely creamy white which will contrast even better once the lignum oxidises to its eventual deep,leafy green.
The finished mallet is 275mm long & the head is 100mm at its widest.

mokume gane & blackwood cufflinks

Here is a pair of Mokume Gane & African Blackwood cufflinks.
Mokume Gane is a Japanese technique involving the lamination of 2 or more contrasting metals,in this case 8 layers of copper & sterling silver,then cutting into those layers to reveal a pattern then flattening into a sheet to create a smooth,uniform material.
As far as I'm aware Mokume was first used to decorate the hilt & scabbard of Samurai swords but now is mainly used in the manufacture of jewellery,most notably by James Binnion & Steve Midgett.If you Google either of them you will be amazed by the work of 2 modern masters of an ancient craft.

pendant or brooch

When I started this piece over a year ago the intention was to make a pendant.I didn't complete it straight away because I'm atrociously unfocused & if I have a new idea then whatever I'm working on gets put to one side until I satisfy my creative urge.This is a common theme with my work,probably why I'm usually working on 20 plus things at once.
Much of my work has a modular nature,earrings can become cufflinks or bracelet components or 2 bracelets become a necklace,you get the idea.
Now,because I have been looking at this piece for over a year I'm not sure what to make it into,a brooch or a pendant.
Of course the most likely reason it hasn't been completed is because I really,really like it & if I complete it then I have to sell it!
Woe is me...
The main body is Bocote which is inlayed with 17 different materials including organic cow bone,turquoise,lapis & malachite resins,African Blackwood,Pink Ivory,African Padauk,Cocobolo,Black Walnut,Boxwood & Yew.
It is 76mm long,15mm wide & 5mm thick.

First Image

I had a funny feeling my blog entries would be few & far between but I didn't think the first image I uploaded would be 3 months after my first entry!

Anyhoo,here's a wee pendant I made for a long lost friend who I have tracked down on facebook.

The main bulk of the piece is African Blackwood,the blue is turquoise resin which is marketed toward pen makers,then we have Mother of Pearl,difficult to see from this photo but it has some lovely flashes of pink & green.The brown you see is American Black walnut & then there's the tiniest hint of bone just around the silver tubing which holds a 5mm Tigers Eye cabochon.The whole thing is finished to 400 grit then given a light buff with a fibral mop(more on fibral in a later post.)before being wiped with vaseline then buffed to a soft sheen.

More much sooner,promise...

And so it begins..

Hello to anybody who happens across this wee online diary.
Chances are if you find yourselves here it's because you know of my work as a designer/maker.
Chances are it's my work as a jeweller that brought you here as that is what I spend probably 75 % of my time making,although,as you will find out over the next few months (if i can hold your attention...),I feel inspired to make all manner of things.