Another Introduction

[Robynb]

Hello Everyone,

I'm Robyn from WA. I've been lurking here for a while, but have not posted before.

I've been playing with woodwork for a couple of years, but still very much a beginner. I've had no previous experience - I come from the era when I had to do embroidery at school while the boys did wordwork! I never finished that embroidery piece, and never did it again - I hated it!!

I started woodwork because I needed something to stand on to mount my horse. Milk crates work well, but one ends up putting one's foot through when the crate gets a bit old. I made that piece using a hand saw, glue, screws and a book on joints. Then I made a taller one for hubby to put his welder on. Then I made another one as a stand for the pump on the fire trailer. Then I made onother one as a step to get up into the back of the big ute (F150). Then I decided I better make a workbench. The rest as they say is history.

Now I have a collection of hand planes (including a record 045), 3 routers (1 of them in a table I made), some Japanese hand saws and a heap of other power and hand tools. Hubby is now confined to one small corner of the shed and he's not happy. I've made some decorative boxes, a coffee table, some carved figures, and other bits and pieces. Currently I'm working on a chest of drawers. I decided I needed some dovetail practice, so the carcase and the drawers are all joined with hand cut dovetails.

I've joined a women's woodworking club here in Perth, and I'm learning some laminating and inlay techniques for jewellery making. Next stop - turning!

I love this forum, so much really good help and advice. So many great people.

Cheers, Robyn :)

[echnidna]

Welcome Robyn,
show us some pics of your work

[Robynb]

Thanks Bob. I'll do some pics as soon as I sort them out and figure out how to put them here!

Cheers, Robyn

[Doughboy]

Welcome Robyn

'Tis a good place to learn woody stuff, is this place.

[David L]

Welcome Robyn it is good to see more women coming out of the wood work so to speak
and identifying themselves it will encourage others to speak up I am sure.
It sounds like you have been working your way up through the confidence levels,
good on you.

[rona]

Hi Robyn, and welcome to the woodwork forum. I am sure you will enjoy some of the items that appear on here and some of the comments that accompany them from our members.
All the Best,
Cheers,
Ron.

[Robynb]

Thank you all for your warm welcome. I'm working on the photos.

Cheers, Robyn

[Robynb]

Here is the coffee table I made. Mine is the one with the backgammon insert. As you see, I still have a lot to learn about veneering.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s108/robynb_album/WoodworkPieces/CoffeeTables.jpg

Cheers, Robyn

[rona]

Hi Rob,
I wouldn't be knocking your veneering, it looks great, not the easiest thing in the world to do, especially the pattern you have chosen there. The last time I saw inlaid work of this nature was when I was in Jaycees Club in Maryborough, we visited the Castlemaine prison for a debating competition, and one of there pastimes was veneering and all types of inlaid work. It was not uncommon for them to spend up
to 100 hours on a job like yours, they were perfect not a mistake anywhere, as one prisioner said to me, 'we have all the time in the world to get it right'.
Keep up the good work, and keep sending in those pics !
Cheers,
Ron.

[AlexS]

Welcome Robyn - looking forward to more pics. Love the coffee table.

[jmk89]

Good to see your work - never having tried veneering, I can't comment, but it looks good to me.

Like the rest I look forward to hearing from you in the future and seeing more of your work.

Cheers

Jeremy

[echnidna]

It sure looks great to me.

[watson]

G'day Robyn.
Welcome and have fun here......there are some really good people in here......and I really think that your table is grouse!!
I only veneer mdf for box lids and bottoms.......no shapes.
More power to you!!
Regards,
Noel

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Robyn

Welcome!! :) Wonderful to hear that your journey into woodwork started from necessity. Great story - do you still have all of the stands/steps still?

Beautiful work on the table. How long did it take to build the hand-dovetailed chest of drawers? I have a dream of making something similar in the future too, just for the point of cutting all the dovetails by hand.

Thanks for the laugh re hubby getting pushed into a corner of your shed. :D

Looking forward to seeing more of your work

cheers
Wendy

[Robynb]

Thank you all. I still have the stands, they are very handy bits of gear. They get used for all sorts of things. The chest of drawers is still in progress and has taken months so far. I've done the dovetails on the carcase and all but one of the drawers. The later dovetails look better than the first ones. My camera is in hospital at the moment - I'll post some pics as soon as it comes home.

Cheers, Robyn

[lubbing5cherubs]

Welcome Robyn, very nice job indeed. I like your table
Toni

[Cabinet Girl]

Hi Robyn. It sounds like alot of us had to take sewing in school! Your table looks great.

[Robynb]

My camera has finally returned from hospital, so here are some boxes that I made.

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Robyn,

Lovely boxes, especially the inlays. It was worth the wait for your camera to come back :)

How did you finish the inside of the boxes?

cheers
Wendy

[AlexS]

Nice boxes Robyn, let's see some pics of the insides please.

[sea dragon]

Robyn,
According to the number of posts, you are "novice". BUT the quality of the veneering and the boxes asserts, rather than merely suggests, otherwise.
I think everyone is glad you have come out of the woodwork, so to speak. Hubby is probably intimidated by the value-added elements you provide from shed use, so is happy to be confined to a corner.
Keep posting the pics, inside shots and close-ups, please. Very uplifting.

[Robynb]

Thank you all for your kind words.

The insides of the boxes are nothing fancy, just sanded and finished like the outside. I'll post some pics when I get a moment. I must say that I had a lot of help with these. I made the small jarrah box at a course, so some of the work was done for us, and there was plenty of help and supervision along the way - as well as access to machines which I don't have at home. I was my first decorative piece after I made the workbench. The backgammon table was also made during the course.

The small Tas oak box I made myself at home, copying the jarrah one and mostly using hand tools. I had a router by then, but I had to do the mitres for the lid and the dovetails by hand. I'll have to make a new lid for it because the veneer has split and lifted in a couple of places.

The larger document box was a club project. We had a veneering day where we made the lids, and then a box day to make the boxes. Again, there was plenty of help and access to machines. The wood show here in Perth was two weeks after that, so our club stand was full of decorative veneered document boxes.

[Robynb]

Here are some more pics - some close ups and insides of the boxes.

[Moo73]

Hi Robyn, Great work - particulalry like the doc box!
Leanne

[rona]

Hi Robyn,
I like those boxes, you are progressing very well indeed, I used to teach hobby woodwork classes in the tech system a few years ago, mainly men, but did have three women in the class as well and some of the work they were capable of producing was excellent, to say the least.

Keep up the good work,

Cheers,
Ron.

[Robynb]

Thank you. I'm really enjoying my woodwork, but don't get as much shed time as I'd like. This is a great forum and I'm learning heaps.