Thread: Privacy screen WIP

This is looking good. I like the design, and have to say I think the red gum is a better choice for this job than purpleheart. Watching with interest.

Hi all,
Thread has been a bit quiet but plenty going on in the shed.
The privacy screen is almost ready for assembly. All the components have been cut out, joinery completed, the headers have been cut to shape & had their edges rounded over, all the slats & panels have been cut to size. I still have to create a template to shape the outer feet, that's the first pic. Lots of sanding to be done before i start applying finish.

Alex, i think you are right about the redgum, i think its going to look a lot better than the purpleheart.

Nice joinery Starting to look the part

Hi all,
Well the crunch time is here!
Just 6 days to the big Deloraine craft fair, so much to do yet, so little time!
Today saw the first full dry fit up of a wing. It went fairly smoothly tho i found that the center vertical rail that runs between the slats was too thick at 10mm. After trialing a spare rail that i thickness-ed down to 5mm, i was happy with the way the slats laid. Unfortunately it also leaves me with fitting a 5mm thick rail into a 10mm wide mortice. I've made up some wedges that i thought i'd tap in on either side of the vertical rail keeping it centered in the mortice.
I was able to assemble the frame & panels first then put the slats after in by bending them & only broke the 1
Some of the slats were pretty stiff while others flexed really easily. After breaking 1 i found that with the stiff slats if a gave them a good flex before trying to insert them they tended to hold a bit of a bow & were then easier to fit. I also put a bevel on the ends to make them easier to slide in.
After the dry fit up i gave the panels a couple of coats of shellac while the slats will only be sprayed with cellulose lacquer. I'm hoping to get a gentle contrast in colour between the slats & the panels even tho they came from the same tree.
Tomorrow will see this same wing, the left wing glued up, not counting the slats. I'll be using epoxy to do the glue up. The slats will need to be sprayed separately & before they are fitted into the frames.
I also did a trip into town this afternoon to hunt up some hinges, didn't go as well as i had hoped. I had in mind some loose leaf hinges, the sort that can be easily separated but still lock together. These have a threaded nurl that screws in after the hinges are fitted together. Unfortunately the only hinges of this type they had in stock were too big for the job, they had fat barrels which would have left quite a gap & the wings overhung the face. They can get in a simpler version that doesn't lock & is small enough to fit but to be honest i'm not real keen on that idea. I can see all too easily the future new owner deciding to move the screen around, grabbing 1 wing to move it & the damn thing comes right off followed by the whole thing falling down.
The other option is use normal butt hinges but the screen will need to be dismantled to transport, the wings will never fold in on them selves, that will mean selling the screen as 'some assembly required'
I'm going to do some googling tonight to see if i can track down the size i need. They need to be approximately 40 - 50mm wide when opened x 80mm-ish long. The length is less critical than the open width. The side of the frames are 25mm wide.
Thats about it for today.

Cheers, Ratty.

That is looking really good Ratty!!

Wettiing the slats that are stiff will probably help.

Beautiful work. I really like it.

:thyel; I like it too... it looks like a very posh magician's prop.

Did you also round over the middle rail?

Beautifully done.

Thanks guys,
The screen is nearing completion, it needs to be, its gotta be down at the show by tomorrow afternoon! The slats are all finished, i ended up finishing them in wipe on poly rather than spraying them. The weather was just too unpredictable & time left too short. The same for the frames, i ended up finishing them in shellac. They are going to be getting their final coats of shellac today before i install the hinges tomorrow morning. I couldn't find loose pin hinges small enough to suit so i've had to go with regular fixed butt hinges. Not really happy with that but not a lot i can do about it at this stage. If the screen doesn't sell this weekend i'll look at getting some custom built loose pin hinges that will fit.
Christos i didn't round over the center vertical rail, but merely broke the edge with sandpaper. At 5mm thick there just wasn't much to round over & i don't think really necessary.

Hi all,
Well here it is all finished & on display in the showroom of the community shed.
To be perfectly honest i'm not quite happy with it, i let myself down with the finish. The panels came up way too yellow for my liking. I was wanting a gentle contrast between the slats & the panels but this is too much IMO. Also the quality of the finish generally isn't up to standard. This is what happens when i rush to finish a piece, never again - i hope.
If it doesn't sell at the craft fair my plan is to go over it all with a good firm steel wooling then give it a spray with a few coats of lacquer - my original plan. Also i think i'll try to sand the yellow panels back to bare wood before spraying to get rid of the harsh yellowing. I'm not too sure on this tho as it won't be an easy job, but it would be easy to cock up really badly.
Thanks for input everyone, hope you enjoyed the show!

Cheers, Ratty.

That is just beautiful, and you work very fast too.

WOW! Beautiful job. That's come up wonderfully well.

What a great project, turned out really nice! Great colours and timber