Going up in the World

Looking back a year on my life the picture below is a great testament to how far I have come in a professional sense.

View first thing Thursday morning at work

This is the view from the porch roof of my latest project.  I am currently repairing some fascia and sofit, as well as installing new drip edge, eaves-trough and downspout.  A year ago I would have been doing similar work in the middle of a big city where the view would have been very different.  Now instead of hearing busy streets and car engines I hear birds singing and wind rustling leaves.  And instead of seeing asphalt and row after row of houses I see trees and wide open fields.  For me this is a great improvement and I find that I enjoy the work I love even more in these beautiful settings.

 The job on the farm house has expanded slightly.  Starting Monday I will be replacing the wood siding on one side of the house above the porch.  I have to build a work platform before all the work can begin and that means some demo first.  If the weather holds I should be able to get the work done this week, and have a great time doing it.

The new wood fascia board installed

Being on a site means little shop time.  Classes are still underway at Rosewood Studio students finished up the mastering machinery course this week.  When at the school I am working on a blanket chest restoration.  I began by stripping all the paint off the chest, with scrapers and chemical strippers (as little as this as possible).  

Under the white paint there was green paint and under that there was some very brown shellac.  And under all of that there was walnut, I have no idea who thought it was a good idea to cover up the walnut, non the less the paint is all off.

Though it took a fair bit to get it out of the moldings.

Recently I finished a small and simple project.  A set of coasters for myself, made out of scrap walnut.  Fun to do and super easy.  The set of eight are book matched and sequential from piece to piece.

Cheers

Hans Christopher

New Semester

The Fall semester has just gotten under way at Rosewood Studio here in Perth.  The students for the six and twelve week classes settled in this week and right away began learning about handplanes and sharpening.  While I, at the back of the room, began work on my next piece of furniture.  Still in the design process, I am hoping to receive a commission for a hall bench (should know by next week if I have a go ahead).

Last week I delivered my latest build, a painted blanket chest.  The new owner is thrilled with the piece and while it is not being put where it was initially intended to go it has found a good home non the less.  The chest its self was a great build and rather fun, a much simpler build compared to the coffee table I recently finished.

I wanted the build to be simple and a relatively quick process so I choose not to dovetail the corners of the chest and instead used a locking rabbet.  Much faster then cutting dovetails, and the piece still feels plenty strong enough and should last for years.

The finish is (obviously seen in the photo) latex paint and while I am fairly happy with the final look (the colour is perfect) the paint was a pain to apply.  For my next painted project I am going to try another type of paint and maybe spray instead of brush it on.

My hope is to be able to sell more of these chests, as the are quick to build and can be adjusted in size fairly easily I can build them to order in a short turn around.  And once my official website goes live there will be a way for people to contact me and place an order.  Which brings me to the other project I have on the go right now, a website.  I am still just getting under way with the site, but I hope to launch the site the end of this month, so check back regularly for a link to the new site, and do not worry the blog is staying.

Cheers
Hans Christopher