Homemade Flatpack

I put together the desk-counter this weekend as it stayed dry. In previous posts I have made the sides and counter top, so armed with my homemade flatpack parts the project came together. Here's how it went .
 I fixed the legs to the top and cut a board for the back to keep the legs from splaying out. A drawer was needed so I set about this task and knocked up a big drawer, for pens, papers and pencils along with anything else that should live in a drawer!!
 Then I had to mark out a shape on the counter top to be trimmed off, once its off I can't put it back. So when it looked good I committed myself- there's no going back now! I trimmed the ends off, these cut ends got a little scrape with a spoke shave and a good sanding .
There is room above the desk for a shelf so I got this finished too ,this will wrap around the corner like the counter top.
  I even managed a few coats of wax on the counter top, the wax really brings the wood to life . Nearly done now, in a few days the desk and shelf will be in their new home :)

Sanding On Sunday

I didn't manage to assemble the counter outside this weekend as the deck was still wet with snow, and that was the flat level base I needed for assembly.
 So I gave the counter a good sanding, its not done yet, but it's nearly there. I also put together a shelf using a couple of biscuits, this shelf wraps around a corner like the counter top. This will go above the counter ,this still needs to be trimmed to size but you'll get the idea , take a look :)

Colour On A Grey Day

We have a little touch of winter here again, so I hit the trail and headed out for a while. The fields I walked past have all been ploughed, and with the snow lying in the furrows it gave me some nice pictures. Birds are struggling trying to find a bit of grub, I watched a few of these. Further on I found some little spruce seedlings in a small wood . Some oak, ash and beech, no big spruce in here so maybe a squirrel or bird has planted these by accident, hiding these seeds and forgetting them. Lots of things caught my eye,, including this old stump like a plant pot for a scrubby bush. Gorse with its little yellow flowers gives some warm colour to a cold grey day, and finally some snowdrops carpeted a little gorge and this finished off my walk :)

Organic Geometry

I started putting together the end panels which will hold up the counter top. Using some rebated timber I made up two, three part frames.These both hold two spalted beech boards.
These boards all have one waney edge which makes a little feature in the centre of each panel  . These wide boards  also give the ends a lot of strength.
 I decided to cut a little semi circle out of the front edges to relieve  knee's from getting knocked on the corner this also gives a little organic geometry to the straight lines of the end panels.
 A little bit of progress this weekend, and hopefully some dry weather next weekend so I can take it outside and put it together and turn it the right way up, as theres no room in the shed to do this but I like a challenge:)

An Important Job

I had a little job to do for my old Da this weekend to repair his walking stick . The stick has had a hard life, in service for the last dozen years or so  . I stripped the handle from the stick bored the handle to clean the old glue out, and give the new glue a key.  Then I cleaned up the top of the stick and the base of the handle with a rasp , for the glue to get a good hold.
 I pushed these together to check the fit, then mixed up some two part adhesive I spread this over the threads of the metal rod which acts as the dowel and over the ends then pushed the two together wiped away the excess and left it to cook over night. This morning a light sanding and some oil revamped the old mans stick :)

Big Top

I glued up the boards this weekend for the counter top that I started a few posts back, using some of the biscuits that arrived this week.
 I piled lots of heavy timber on the top of this to keep it flat as the boards set. We had a little covering of snow this morning as I cut a few biscuit slots and finished gluing up a bread board edge along one side of the big top. Lots of sanding and shaping to do after the glue sets.
 Then I will start on the side and shelf unit that will hold up the counter top , along with a little drawer , so I have a few new challenges for the weeks ahead :)

No Biscuits

I tried to buy some beech biscuits this weekend one shop used to stock them ,the other had never heard of them and looked at me as if I was going to eat wooden biscuits like a crazy man !!  I cut the slots in the oak boards anyway, for the biscuits when I source them. And I laid out boards for the end panel that will hold one side up , these boards are spalted beech, I gave these a little scuff with the block plane to knock off the high spots. Now these will be sanded with 2-3 grades of paper to make them pop. I will try online for biscuits this week :)