Welcome to my new blog ...

So whats all this about? Well, wood working has been an interest of mine for quite some time, but living on a small boat doesnt really (in my opinion) lend itself to a suitable environment - not for a complete beginner anychoice. Now I am land based and living in a house with a free room I have the perfect opportunity.

Why blog? Up to this point I have been an avid armchair wood worker, All the Gear and No Idea!. But I have found that reading other peoples blogs has helped me learn some of the theory behind wood working. So if other people just starting out can learn anything from me or most likely my mistakes then its worthwhile. Also, by documenting my progression it serves as a motivator to continue when things go wrong, not to mention input and comments from readers.

So where are we? Like I said I own a small number of hand tools, some inherited from my boat and some purchased new. The tools that came with the boat are a bit old and not in the best condition, most being rusty. I will spend some time cleaning and trying to make these usable. The new tools have never been used and are still preserved in polythene bags smeared with Vaseline - tools rust on boats! I will post in detail about the tool collection soon.

The initial plan is to sort out a work area with some kind of bench. Store and (learn to) sharpen my tools. Then make a few small bench tools as beginner projects.

Anychoice, the first post has been made - here we go!

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My latest creation - a Pine Coffee Table.

I am quite happy with how this project has turned out as it does actually look like a piece of furniture.

 The whole thing was designed around the Pine (although it looks a bit like Spruce) top which was salvaged from a crappy bolted together IKEA type piece of office furniture that was being thrown achoice at the local dump. This same piece of furniture also provided the base to my Cutlery Tray - recycling at its finest.

As the top had four dowels and holes already in it, I decided to reuse them and measured the remaining table frame based on their spacing. The frame is made from 50mm x 50mm Pine from the local wood yard.

I decided to try and make the table without any lower bracing and therefore used big chunky Mortise & Tenon joints for maximum rigidity. The tenons were so big, they had to be mitred inside the Mortise and I was quite impressed with myself for cutting quite a complex joint completely by hand using only a brace and chisel.

As mentioned previously, the top is attached using four dowels and the whole thing is glued, there are no screws or nails whatsoever.

I finished the top by sanding and using boiled Linseed oil mixed with turpentine and light rubbing with wire wool in between coats. There are a few marks on the top but it was not possible to plane them out as the wood is really knotty.

The anaemic light coloured pine legs and frame were stained darker to closer match the top but came out quite patchy.  Even with some rubbing of the darker patches with wire wool the finish is not ideal, Im sure they will look fine once the table has aged a bit - its rustic.

All in all I learnt a great deal building it and enjoyed the process. The cost of the wood is probably less than £10 and actually seeing the finished table that I built with my own hands being used on a daily basis is very satisfying!

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