Home Accessories - handmade - built-ins etc.

[glenn-k]

Cecilia said:

I was actually wondering if it would be appropriate to ask for ideas on some 'non mainstream' furniture like bookcases and cupboards etc. Sometimes people seem to be able to create such lovely rustic and functional stuff.

I said sure -it's all part of what makes a house a home.  Anybody can buy particle board furniture.  How about your special creations - rustic to fancy

[glenn-k]

Here is one I did - it's been seen here before but is appropriate for this topic.



The pine table folds up against the post when not in use.  I used piano hinges and fit the size to the available space.  When lowered the bottom remains attached to the post, the leg flops out to stand vertically and both leaves flop down to make a table about 4' x 4' square.

[glenn-k]

Nice, PEG --just what she was looking for.  I knew you would come up with some great stuff.  I'll try to get a few more original photo's in soon - much more rustic but functional - that's me.

[Sassy]

Nice work, the woods you chose really brought out the beauty in the pieces...  I remarked to Glenn about the craftsmanship...  Glenn said "Peg's is craftsmanship, mine's crapsmanship!"   Being a log cabin, ours is the more "rustic" look but I really like it.  

[jb52761]

PEG...I am very impressed. You can send that small table my way any time...  ...BTW, I have access to some dried log pieces that have been halved, so that one side is very flat and somewhat smooth ( they are at a pallet factory here). I want to use a few of them to make a bar top. Do you think it would be easy or worth it to build some kind of base and attatch them on top, then epoxy the top surface ? The bottoms are still round and have the bark, don't know if that would make it hard to sit on a base or not.

[Jimmy_Cason]

Wow! Glenn and Peg.....Just Wow!   When do you guys start your own book?
put me down for two copies...
As a plastic fabricator I envy these wood working projects.
One day I will be able to do small wood working projects
like the pictures you have posted.
As soon as I get finished with this
large 2 story wooden project!

[peg_688]

 couple of more ,

 

 teak cane shaft , the lady didn't like it who asked for it.

 So she has the handle it's bored for , and I got the shaft

 

 Pine night stand.


JB sure go for it . what do you have to lose The epoxy part I'd think about , another finish might be better.

Good luck , PEG

[glenn-k]

More useful Items built out of scrap lumber.  The average building time on each of these was about 1 or 2 hours.  My time was fairly fast as I left the finishing to Kathy.  Most of the boards were run through a surface planer and all were sawn on my sawmill.  Each was built to fill a space or satisfy a need without costing anything other than time, brads and finish materials -a few dollars each.  Sorry about the angles -most areas were rather tight.

All of these items were cut square -layed out with light pencil lines then shot together with a 2" air powered brad nailer.  A finish nailer would be better but I don't have one.  Weight on the shelves is not enough to cause problems with the brads.  No glue was used.  No problems.  For more durable furniture add glue.



Utility shelf on the bridge -room for kitchen overflow



Spice shelf between table leaves - a useful area near the kitchen range



Another kitchen shelf made of blue stain pine.

[dail(Guest)]

I don't really have much on this workstation, except this photo. But a poor one though.
All my extra money goes into tools. I scrounge for wood for projects. This piece was built from resawed 2x's.
The beveled glass is what cost. $400. Good thing the frame was cheap.
It was this piece to my wife that, ...finally sold her on the idea of letting me have all those expensive tools!

[glenn-k]

That's a beauty, Dail.  I think you deserve more tools.

[Sassy]

That really is beautiful!  Yeh, with women, it's all in how you approach them!  

[peg_688]

  Progress?

eigth grade shop class , pine pump lamp / oak book shelf ,

 
about 1970 .

 Pine dry sink  senior project 1974 , Mr Yabrodie , AKA Uncle  Ed , the shop teacher teased me that he  was going to give me a incomplete on this project as I ponyed it onto a "Career english " class open house/ expo , based on a career in wood working ,  I go  a 95% on both. IIRC.

 The high chair was made in 1985.

 

   Kitchen table built about 1986 or so , Pine . A cat or dog now RIP/ dead chewed off the details on the lower ears , not due to the chewing , natural causes / old age , they used to match the upper "ears".

 


 Shoe box 2003 or so . pine

 


  Tall clock 80's pine with oak crown mold , well I had it left over.  The clock works and glass came out of a old Korea  cheapie clock , still works great

 


   Cedar head board , left over 5/4 x 4 cedar decking  

 

   Oak desk with babinga leg extention add when the kid grew  

 

 


 The point is we all start some where , where we end up,,, is partly choices along the road.

   PEG

 

[Amanda_931]

Nice stuff

And here I thought I done good to make shelves out of the Nomadic Furniture books (these are the ones that talk about "a young fellow named Frank Gehry" who was making corrugated cardboard furniture) and 2x2's with a couple of zillion holes drilled in them so you can make, say, a stand for a small refrigerator (with a bit of counter space and a few shelves) that was extremely sturdy when bolted together with shelves but no diagonal bracing.  

Hey, that thing got moved to four different houses, and it was still sturdy when I retired the refrigerator.  

And I had a loft bed made the same way.  In one house it even had a TV shelf.  

[cecilia]

Hi Folk

I really enjoyed seeing all the photos of hand made furniture which were posted last week. You just can't buy that sort of thing from a shop can you?

I might have to borrow that good idea for keeping shoes in - could mean the end of risking wearing two different shoes because one of every pair in the cupboard seems to have gone missing.

Has anyone made things from found materials? We bought several items on the day we moved (!) which were part of a collection of a retiring Austrian woodworker. His name is Frank Wimmer.

I'll see if I can work out how to add some photos of his stuff into this message.

Well, I hope I did that right!
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond

[cecilia]

I tried to put up four photos, but only one appeared, so I'll try it this way.






cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond

[glenn-k]

Neat looking stuff, Cecilia.  Nothing like one of a kind items.  Looks like you got the photo thing figured out.

I looked at the shoe thing also.  It's just that I don't have time to build one with a hundred compartments right now--and where would I put it??? :-/  Note that I only wear one pair of shoes all the time.  The spare set is not broke in yet.

I was just thinking today while I was sawing lumber how satisfying it is to know you made it yourself --even just boards.  Many of the things I make for the cabin are not fancy.  There is a need for the item, --it is made -- the need is filled --the wood supplies the beauty with no two being exactly the same.  Swirls, knots, cracks, bug holes and trails-- they all serve to make an item that is truly unique and one you will not tire of looking at.  If that is not enough - hit it with the hammer a few times-- a bit of distressing will make it look old.

[Amanda_931]

Neat chairs and bench/table.

One of the seven zillion things on my list to learn about.

Life is too short.

[jb52761]

Curiosity has gotten me...what are the short pieces sticking out from the legs for...one on the chair and one on the table...?.....

[PEG688]

Curiosity has gotten me...what are the short pieces sticking out from the legs for...one on the chair and one on the table...?.....

 Looks like where the maker signs his work,

         

 Frank  Wimmer

 PEG

[cecilia]

Yes - you are quite right. The little pieces of timber attached to the legs of the chairs and tables are indeed Frank Wimmer's way of signing his work.

I was so pleased to read Glenn's words about knots and bug holes in the timbers which become part of our homes and furniture. I always love to see the evidence of  the tree's original life and the scars it bears a as testament to this.

There's something so indescribeable about living in a home where you can look at a wall and remember just what the weather was like on the day you were erecting it. As I sit here at my computer I can look to my left and in my mind's eye I see the last of the heap of mudbricks which we were using to enclose the walls of this room, and I can still feel the comfort of the recently boiled kettle which I clutched underneath my jacket, sitting on those bricks as I waited for Jonni to do the last of the washing off of my mortary fingermarks from the timber posts, before we finished work for the day and made our way home.

I also love that I can still remember the beautiful grain patterns that are now hidden behind the brickwork.

Up on the tallest wall, on the east end of the house, when I was standing on top of our tallest reaching ladder, finishing off the mortar joints while Jonni worked on the inside from the scaffolding tower. I stood there waiting for the next brick to go on my mortar bed, and couldn't resist writing along the angled edge which was almost dry - "Cecilia was here", and wondering how many years before anyone (if ever) gets to read it!

cecilia

[glenn kangiser]

Interesting information about and from Frank Wimmer.

http://ourhouse.ninemsn.com.au/ourhouse/factsheets/db/artanddesign/06/601.asp

Cecilia said,

I was so pleased to read Glenn's words about knots and bug holes in the timbers which become part of our homes and furniture. I always love to see the evidence of  the tree's original life and the scars it bears a as testament to this.

A thought about this point comes to mind.  A native American friend came over and looked at a log beam on the ceiling of our bedroom.  He showed me how the side of the log I had faced down so we could see it when looking at the ceiling, showed signs of 2 forest fires that had partially healed over.  He has a degree in Botany and works in Yosemite.  Without his comments I would never have realized what made the log interesting to look at.

Mike Oehler mentiond that if you leave the logs sitting for 6 months or so the bark will come off easier and the bugs will have time to work their magic on it carving all kinds of interesting trails and designs.  I agree that he is right.  Some of the bugs are very interesting too.  



I've seen a lot of these cuties.

From here - http://www.buginfo.com/articles/facts_beetles.cfm and http://www.durable-wood.com/termites/index.php

Nearly all leave when the bark is off and the wood dries out.  Most live in the cambium layer right at the surface of the wood.  Termites will go on into the wood as long as there is enough moisture.  Scorpions are often found under the loosened bark as they love to eat termites per my Indian buddy, Ben.

[PEG688]

 When I was in France I went into a small French furniture shop . And tryed to chat with the two guys who ran it / built the stuff. Very nice stuff 8-) in a basement shop , really small , cramped , dusty etc .

  It was antimated conversation to say the least , my French sucks and they're English wasn't any better than my French . But as wood workers can do , we over came that by showing each other stuff / what we meant.

 They did  lot of work in "wormie wood"  , Walnut IIRC, I got across how do you get all this " wormie wood" !!!

 

  They pulled out a needle gun , air driven , like the black shoes on the boat used to chip paint off the hull , they made there own worm holes where and how often they wanted 8-) 8-) 8-) with the needle gun   It only had a few of the chippers in place so 3 or 4 holes per ramming it home .

 Smart in a simple way as well Some days it's good to be French ISH

PEG
 

[glenn kangiser]

The cute fat worm above makes the neatest trails - up to about 1/2 inch wide and about 1/8 deep making many square and odd turns like a pac-man as it eats.

Here is an article telling many details about blue stain which shows in the cabinet/shelf I made on the other page.

http://www.durable-wood.com/pdfs/Bluestain_properties.pdf

Your France trip sounds like ours , PEG.  Our French was so bad they would always talk English if they could.  

[John Raabe]

It's great to see the fine work folks are doing... and to see the character of the different craftsmen get expressed through their work. Not everybody can build their own furniture, but when you do it really enriches the home.

[PEG688]

 Cherry bed and foot stool,

 

 Pine veggie bin ,

 

 Pine "Cranberry picker" mag rack , 8th grade ,

 

PEG