WHAT DID YOU MAKE TODAY?

[Falstaff]

One of the things I like about this site, is that there is probably nowhere else on the internet where someone starts a message with “I've been tanning Cow Bladders”.

Disappointed, saw the pictures before the title and got excited, Giant Haggis!? I thought....but no..

 

[Kadushu]

All the spoons I made through September, one per day, using a different knife for each.

 

[William_Montgomery]

View attachment 106329

All the spoons I made through September, one per day, using a different knife for each.

Very impressive. Good job.

 

[demented dale]

View attachment 106329

All the spoons I made through September, one per day, using a different knife for each.

Now that is cool, creative and magical work. well done xxx

 

[Kadushu]

Thanks chaps

 

[forrestdweller]

View attachment 106329

All the spoons I made through September, one per day, using a different knife for each.

that's what i call "serious talent"...

 

[hughtrimble]

View attachment 106329

All the spoons I made through September, one per day, using a different knife for each.

Astonishing work.

More details on the bottom left if you please?
And was the second on the top left a SAK? How did you get those small perorations?

 

[Kadushu]

Astonishing work.

More details on the bottom left if you please?
And was the second on the top left a SAK? How did you get those small perorations?

Bottom left is a shrink pot, green hazel and seasoned laburnum. The pot was made with a bandsaw and a big forstner bit, so not a lot of carving there except for fettling. The spoon is ash IIRC all hand carved with a Spyderco Resilience and hook knife.


#2 was indeed made with a Victorinox Farmer



The awl on that is friggin amazing. I had a bit of a rollercoaster with it because I went to a shop with a decent selection of SAKs hoping to buy a Farmer X but they only had the Farmer. So I bought that but always felt annoyed that I hadn't got the X version. Then I kind of fell in love with it, then I dropped it and dinged the blade. Sharpened that out and over maybe a year it's just been a great little tool so I'm fully in love with it now.

 

[Sooty22]

The first cuts for the lapped joints on the oak base beams of a log cabin!
Circular saws rock, going through oak like butter with great control.
Now to make the thing totally flat!!

 

[Tengu]

Thats a job. Just hammering nails in Oak is a challenge

 

[Sooty22]

Thats a job. Just hammering nails in Oak is a challenge

There won't be any, I am only using it for the foundation beams, sitting on built-up piers well off the ground (like half a metre), but still I wanted something that is maintenance free, thus the oak.
The cabin is spruce, first logs will be bolted to the oak with stainless steel coach screws, then the rest nest on each other without fasteners.
It's actually pretty easy to work with. I made a couple of rifle stocks before, inletted by hand with chisels and lamp-black, out of beech. Now, some of those cuts were white-knuckle jobs
Only trouble may be to make the mating faces 100% flat, but I should manage! I think I'll start a thread on it.

 

[Tengu]

Apart from the expense, a good idea

 

[Falstaff]

The amount of seasonal swelling and shrinkage amazes me, and the space required within window and door frame heights to allow for it. Same for my oak barrels, and my oak bucket simply fell apart when I let it accidentally dry out.

 

[grainweevil]

Ah, but the smell. Just thinking about working with oak, I can smell that wonderful aroma.

@Sooty22 You want to invest in a slick; be a lot less frustrating fettling those joints than trying to use those toothpicks.

 

[Sooty22]

The amount of seasonal swelling and shrinkage amazes me, and the space required within window and door frame heights to allow for it. Same for my oak barrels, and my oak bucket simply fell apart when I let it accidentally dry out.

When I was a teen, we found a boat while on holiday, apparently sunk in a little harbour, around 4m, wooden. We tried to pull it out of the water, and the locals started screaming; they had just recaulked it, and it was sunk intentionally to swell its timbers and make it fully watertight, then they would pull it out enough to empty the water with buckets and refloat her.
Wood is amazing.

 

[stonepark]

Dozen Goose burgers

 

[Sooty22]

Ah, but the smell. Just thinking about working with oak, I can smell that wonderful aroma.

@Sooty22 You want to invest in a slick; be a lot less frustrating fettling those joints than trying to use those toothpicks.

Thanks for the tip. For now, my plan is to just rough it with the chisels, and make the mating surfaces totally flat with my router by taking out the last few mm. I know it's not traditional, but this is very late in the season to be wasting time and there are another 15 joints to prep

 

[Sooty22]

Dozen Goose burgers

I am salivating!

 

[TLM]

The cabin is spruce

Interesting, that would not be the first choice here.

 

[Sooty22]

Interesting, that would not be the first choice here.

It is a 'kit' cabin, from the floor level and up. Your first choice would likely be larch? I would prefer it too, but my choices were limited. But, from previous experience, spruce is fine as long as you treat it properly and build it with decent roof overhangs and well above the ground.
My problem with previous cabins was the foundation beams starting to rot well before there were any problems with the walls, thus this time I opted for oak.