Cornerblocks...I think.

[artful bodger]

Ah, the good old cornerblock eh? Personally I'd never heard of a cornerblock, but know 2 chippies here who have.
This particular building (renovation) had a different style of cornerblock on each of the 3 floors. (yep missing one pic)
Original items were made from Australian cedar . These(reproduction) ones from kalantis. ( later on stained and french polished to match)
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The job required several for each floor of the 3 story building.
Tried to handball the job onto others(fricking too hard basket,if yer know what I mean)..... no takers.
Ever tried lowering your calipers with left hand over kalantis while sizing with parting toool in your right ln this diameter stuff? Got some pretty deformed calipers now.
Tip, you have to be careful.
Yeah I know, there is daylight to be seen between template and job in spots.(if ya look really hard). But the joiners were stoked.
The cornerblocks were only on the floor.
The decoration continued up the walls.....
If I can find the photos from up the wall i will post them.

[Rod Gilbert]

Well done they look great it is very difficult to work to close tolerances of a hard template, how many did you have to do in total.
Regards Rod.

[chuck1]

Well done! I would of turned them for you! Once you get over 4 and a half inches I always stop to measure! And kalantis can be Grabby depending on the calipers! Hope you find the other photos!

[Christos]

I think you have done a wonderful job.

Would I have taken on the job, not sure, I don't like Kalantis as I find it too had to get a really good finish cut.

[artful bodger]

Unearthed a few more pictures.
The first shot is of a polished up corner block with matching architrave installed. I didn't do the installing, it was done by fit out carpenters.
327676 This picture, which although in focus is a terrible example. It's on a sort of double corner. They don't make em like that everyday now. Don't really know why they made them like that back in the 1840's.
The vast majority of the other cornerblocks were fitted to your regular 90 degree type corner. The blocks have a 90 degree segment cut out of them so they fit snugly into the corner.
So that's what happens on the floor.
You can see in the picture a white vertical round molding going upwards from the block, this continues up the corner where it explodes into a rather overly ornate 2 piece decoration of some sort for which the joiner had no name. So they made up their own names, a "handgrenade" and a "flying saucer". In the next picture the handgrenade and flying saucer are on the far left..........
327677 The original ones were made from Tassie blackwood. They are the reason the joinery doing the work for this job initially got in contact with me. They wanted a quote to make 2 dozen of them. I hate quoting because I usually get burnt, so I suggested to them that I make a trial one so that I know roughly how long it would take and could therefore quote with some confidence.
Tasmanian blackwood is not famous for its carvability, in fact you hardly ever see anything carved from it. As I didn't even have a suitable bit of it kicking around for the trial I decided to use a more friendly carving timber, King Billy Pine. Thinking that if they could stain kalantis to look like cedar then here's hoping they can stain king billy to look like it as well.
So to make the thing the first step was to turn the profile and mark out the carving lines.....
327678 Then "simply"(yes, a slight understatement) carve out all the detail!
Got a good result on the finished product except it took 14 hours to make and that was in King Billy not orrible blackwood.
The joinery boss and the client then dropped in to evaluate the result.
I figured I had no chance at 14 hours per bit x 24 and wasn't bristling with confidence.
So when I told them how long it took I was a bit taken back when the client said enthusiastically "yes, go ahead and make them". More than taken back really, a sense of dread suddenly overwhelmed me. A bit like winning a quote to mow a few acres of lawn...with a pair of tweezers.
Struggling to find an easier way out of the situation, I suggested perhaps I could make them a bit quicker in a really carvable timber like Jelutong?.
The unexpected reply was, "we don't care what sort of timber it is as we are going to paint it anyway"......
That was the game changer. My long ago patternmaking training surfaced at once like a shook up can of beer being opened.
"How about we cast em"? stuff carving them.
The client of the job who was an engineer (and an unbelievably successful one) doubted you could cast such a shape easily if at all.
Luckily, Arthur Fullham Bodgerio (yours sincerely) frequents a certain fibreglass supply shop here in Hobart and had seen extraordinary examples of flexible mold materials that make undercuts obsolete displayed on the front counter. I suggested to the doubting client the job probably could be done this way and thankfully he gave approval. The joinery boss went pretty quiet.
First step was to seal the trial King Billy piece with automotive undercoat.....
327684As you can see its not a shape that lends itself for an easy cast. However the flexible mold compound,that is a 2 part mix is pretty darn good. If you go back to the second picture you can see the 2 molds that were made up for the job.(those blue things).
The casting material was a special type of stone plaster, that had a certain amount of building cement mixed in with it to make it harder and therefore make it easier to get out of the mold once set. Don't think normal plaster of paris would have been up to it without breaking. It was quite an effort to get the bits out if the mold but they all came out intact.
End result was that all the plaster handgrenades were finished in a couple of days. For a fraction of the price of carving em in blackwood, king billy, jelutong etc.
Here is a picture of the handgrenades and flying saucers installed....
327685 The flying saucer component was just turned wood, no big deal.
Not really sure why the owner of the building went for a painted white finish on these bits as the originals were in polished blackwood. But sure am thankful they went that way.
Makes one wonder about the blokes who made the original ones back in the 1840's, with no electricity! Wonder how long it took them to make these things? They might have even been convicts making them reluctantly getting whipped if they were bludging.
It was a heritage listed building.
And a bit of fun.

[chuck1]

That's awesome! Shame they didn't go with the timber!

[JDarvall]

Looks very nice.

enjoyed seeing your process.

[Bob38S]

Great solution to an awkward problem.