A fault box! not because of any faults as such - more geological.

Back to the workshop

Yesterday I assembled for the final time the visitors book box. Only it wasn't the final time. There was a piece that didn't fit properly. So it's back to the workshop. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't stick to desk boxes. But then life wouldn't be a challenge.
On a happier not I got a very nice letter this morning from Councillor Tom Hargreaves, Mayor of St Helens thanking me for " all the hard work you put into the design and production of the caskets for the Freedom Scrolls, which were presented to our newly conferred Freemen of the Borough.  Everyone commented on how beautiful thy were."
So that was a bit of good news!

mirror on the wall

It's lunch time! and I haven't even been into the workshop yet!
I've been all morning messing about with PAPERWORK, computers, posting stuff,banks and so on and so on.......
People ask how long a box takes to make  - I sometimes think the actual making is the quick bit!

Anyway here's a pic of the mirror - I did get that finished off this morning.

hinges

I didn't get any photos taken but more oil was applied and I've now started in earnest on the next box which is a box for a wedding album.

These pics ar the strap hinges for that box beginning to take shape.

Today - more on these hinges, more oiling, waxing and then photographing.

I imagine that thousands of people around the world are on the edge of their seats as their computers warm up waiting to read the next episode in the life of a box maker...

lots of cramps but no stick!

well - In the morning , exactly as planned, I clamped up the beading around  the glass. In the afternoon, again, exactly as planned I made a mirror frame for Chris' B&B guest bedroom (don't tell her - she hasn't seen it yet) and then in the evening I took the cramps off the beading, sanded it flush, and then it fell off! It hadn't stuck properly. The glass was fractionally too thick for the rebate. 
I'll glue it again today. And then oil it as well as some dovetailed boxes awaiting their next coat, and, of course -  the mirror frame. I'll photograph the new dovetailed boxes for the website and that just might be all I get done today.

Trying to keep posting . So what happened on Friday? I managed to get the workshop tidy and vacuumed - it's been deep in sawdust for too long now and I finally fitted the glass to the upstairs landing . I think that job has been waiting about a year! so -not much in the way of boxes...When you're self employed you have to be ultra disciplined - I really shouldn't have worked on the stairs but they had to be done because we had nine guests over the weekend!
Maybe I should write in the morning what I hope to get done that day and then the following morning write what actually got done...

So, today I'll try to finish the big secret opening box which will house the visitors book. I really ought to make the long mirror for one of the guest rooms - but that's not boxes so I guess I should do it tonight - but going back into the workshop  after dinner doesn't appeal....

I'm Back!

The longer you stay away from diary or blog writing the harder it is to restart - unless it's months and months, in which case you just start again... so I shall.

From ungloved to gloved!

Yesterday I handed over my commissioned jewellery box to Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery - finally... It was about three months late! Life is getting the better of me.

shelf unit

A shelf unit with a difference! Unbalanced was a couple of comments that I've had but I don't agree. In fact after the second remark like that I balanced the little model I'd made on a knife edge and it's fine!

A little while ago now I said that I had got distracted into making shelves so I thought the least I could do was post a pic!

Don't worry - I'm back on jewellery boxes now and there will be more updates soon.

spaceman

I really wish I'd bought a powered respirator 20 years ago.
But I've got one now!
And the Tullie House jewellery box progresses.

dust!

Why oh why didn't I make one of these 20 years ago? It only took 10minutes to make and it works beautifully .
I do a lot of sanding using a rotary sanding machine with the wood held in the vice and despite the sanding machine being connected to an extractor there's  always dust that flys up into my face. So I made this little hood , connected it to an old vacuum cleaner (one that I picked up from outside a bank that had left it out for the bin men - recycled!) and it works very well.

check for squareness...

A tipette this morning! A good way to check if your box is square  - measure across the diagonals. I try to get mine to within 0.5mm of each other. It's a very satisfying smug sort of feeling when they come out spot on!

jewellery box progress

The base of the jewellery box is covered with moire - glued on and cut to size.
Moire , so far as I understand, is not a fabric itself, it's a pattern on the fabric - a watermarked or wood-grainy sort of pattern. The fabric itself can either be silk or a man made fabric like rayon or polyester.

best laid plans

A loud crack - a whole day fixing it...
The rack on which I store all my sheet material hangs from the ceiling. It's a great place to store stuff if you've got the height. The glue joint suddenly decided that enough was enough and gave way with a loud crack. I'd only used scrap wood and hadn't really built it well enough so I only had myself to blame.

It took all day to unload it, fix a splint and reload  - but at least it's tidy now...

creeping cutters

How can router cutters decide, halfway through a job, to creep up out of the collet! it defies all rules of logic and physics!
I know some of the reasons - dirty shanks, damaged shanks, insufficiently tightened collets, even blunt cutters I think but it still remains one of life's little mysteries.

Jewellery boxes for next Christmas

An eight foot board with boxes 'mapped out' and ready to cut up.

This is the result of going off in a different direction. Lots of box pieces all roughly cut and waiting to emerge like a butterfly...

I really must get back to the jewellery boxes I started...

Tullie House jewellery box

I started the day in one direction and ended up going in a completely different direction. I'm making a jewellery box for Tullie House so I'll take pics of that as it progresses but yesterday I was ambushed by two huge planks of burry oak. For some reason I just took it into my head to dig out these planks and start to map out a large box for a photo album - also due for January...

Maintenance

What joy! What unalloyed bliss! 2012 has finally got underway with a bit of serious maintenance of my machines. And what a difference a well oiled and greased planing machine with new blades makes. Something like the difference between cutting a loaf of bread with the back of the knife and the sharpe side.
New years resolution: Maintain machines more frequently....
I know I should but when there's boxes to make...
Happy new year faithful readers. The life of a boxmaker goes on..