Thread: Mantle piece with a twist

I would say that your doing fine and I dont think you need much advice on the 'how to do it' side of things, as for finish better ask your mum what she prefers some shine no shine etc

Pot purri box, well the shavings wont give any long lasting aroma but it would be a nice gesture

Nice work, great to see some larger spindle turning.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Nice work, great to see some larger spindle turning.

I know one fella who would be proud to see some spindle turning that isn't another 'bloody pen' - not that I consider pen turning spindle work, but to the letter if the law I guess it is

I like it Gab, but I thought that you would use a small power carver to do the job. I have the small Ozito that would have removed most of the bulk quickly before hand finishing.

Some more info on the HDPE centre would be interesting, is it similar to the one made by Rubber Chucky in the US.

Also if after your finishing you want a real shine on it you're welcome to come and use my buffing machine, 5 minutes will save you hours of hand buffing.

Peter.

Cheers Peter !
In my initial testing, I did use a Dremel to try sanding the curves but found that unsuccessful so figured I would stick to hitting things with a hammer and sanding by hand. I actually quite enjoyed the carving bit more than I than I thought I would!

May have to have a snoop at your carving machine someday though as I have a few other ideas to explore (when time permits).
I will question mum on the finish but I'm pretty sure they would be after a more satin or mat finish to suit the rest of the kitchen.

The centres I got are these
https://www.cwsonline.com.au/shop/it...thread-3pc-set
I originally thought the large cone one would work well in the end of a pepper mill but haven't had a chance to test that theory yet

Well that should well and truly take care of any outstanding nappie credits you had outstanding with your mum.
That looks fantastic ,you do seem to like diving in head first tho.
But ,I do the same lol
But ,you seemed to have turned up alright in the end pun intended lol.
If the other half has issues regarding you ,must having a big shed just past her my details.
I get that sorted out for you In know time.
Can't wait to see the finished mantle piece.

Cheers matt

Originally Posted by Gabriel

Cheers Peter !


May have to have a snoop at your carving machine someday though as I have a few other ideas to explore (when time permits).

I'll try to remember to bring it to the Stephen Hughes demonstration in a fortnight.

Peter.

Ok, I've found a little more time to get closer to a finished project.

After quite a bit of hand sanding around the carving, I am happy to say that it is an 'acceptable' level. As its my first time carving, there are a couple of shallow knicks in annoying places and slight unevenness to the twists, but as a whole piece (and its for family who have accepted me for my many failings already) I'm damn happy/proud of the corbals.

Next came the shelf preparation. I obtained this slab from ebay (you can get good stuff on there if you know what you're looking for) at a very reasonable price. For natural edge, it had one fairly straight side, and one that I thought would look great as a feature.

Raw Slab 02.jpg
Raw Slab 01.jpg

So after squaring one edge, and again, a butt load of sanding, a nice looking shelf was forming. This was the point that my folks came around for a visit. I had a conversation trying to push my idea/need for the natural edge shelf. Whilst they were open to the idea at first, as soon as mum saw the shelf she mentioned that if they were to have a natural edge, there couldn't be any bark on it......

Square edge and sanding.jpg

Test look 02.jpg
Test look 01.jpg


Bugger..... Using a scribe like tool, I got to pulling the bark of the slab - piece by bloody small piece. After about 4 hours of continual scraping, the bark was removed and natural edge intact!! I also decided that given the shelf width (220mm +) the bearing on the corbals alone could lead to instability in the final piece. Especially after discovering that my folks intend to load the shelf with old oil/kero lamps (could get very messy if my shelf were to fail). For this reason I thought to add a backing board to increase the depth of support to the shelf. Given the Melbourne wood show was coming up I waited to pick up another piece of huon to complete the project.

So after creating the backing boards, attaching them with screws (unseen) I believe I'm ready for a finish and then an install!!!

Backing plates 02.jpg

Backing plates 01.jpg

I believe I will use danish oil as a finsih. This is because it will keep the timber feel, is quite durable and my mum goes over all their timberwork in the house once a fortnight with a timber polish so it should last quite well. I believe to obtain the best result I need to apply some metho to the timber just before I apply the danish oil because of the natural oils in the huon reacting with it otherwise.

Ready for finish 02.jpg
Ready for finish 01.jpg

Anyhoo - will throw up a few completed shots in a few weeks when its all done and dusted......

Cheers

Gab

Hi gab , looks good mate , well done , I have used
Danish oil on huon pine and thought it yellowed
the timber quite a bit , just thought i would mention
It in case that is not the look you are after , maybe
try a test piece first , hope this helps

The yellowing will match their kitchen I think - Baltic pine...
Danish it is.... Cheers for the reinforcement of my thoughts!!

MASOCHIST!!

It looks wonderful.

So what else is one to do on a (I say useless) public holiday.

Finally got up to the folks place to install the mantle piece. I had to face fix 2 screws in each side as their last one fell off so I thought better to be safe than sorry. I plugged them with offcuts from the same blocks so after 2 weeks of dust hopefully they're unnoticeable.

Parents are happy, I'm happy and the whole project only took about a year to complete (though I suspect I had been asked regularly for a couple of years prior to commencement)

Thanks to all here who have helped along the way with tips, enthusiasm (I do lack that quite a lot at times) and general all round conversation.

Installation:

Before.JPG
Shameless Advertising.JPG

Final product:

Full View.JPG
Front On.JPG
Side View.JPG

Cheers
Gab

Hi gab , looks good mate , a few brownie points there
I hope you got a lamb roast or something for your trouble

Originally Posted by smiife

Hi gab , looks good mate , a few brownie points there
I hope you got a lamb roast or something for your trouble

Cheers smiife, yes it's a few brownie points - but I think it's more working off all the ones they built up whilst I was an outta control know it all youngster