Tas Oak hanging wall shelf

[LanceC]

This is my first piece of what I guess would be described as “fine woodworking”. It is the project I am most proud of to date, partly for the range of new techniques I learned, but also because I consider it truly beautiful.

This follows the "Hanging wall shelf" project by Paul Sellers. It held a lot of firsts for me, namely:


Stopped housing dado

Stopped stepped housing dado

Through Mortise and tenon

Stub mortise and tenon


The material was sourced from the last of the floor boards we had left from building our house. It is Tasmanian Oak, and it was wild. Lots of knots, spalting, interlocked grain and areas of fiddleback. There was a reason this piece was never used on the house, and has thus far been neglected when selecting timber from the rack for projects. None the less, it was what I had on hand, and with some time, and a hand plane tuned for wild grain I think it produced a beautiful result with plenty of interest.

Considering how all of the joints were new to me, and I’m still becoming familiar with hand tools I quite surprised myself at the final quality. Whilst I know where there are a couple of looser fitting joints, by and large they are crisp and tight. Yay for me. This is no doubt a consequence of patience and attention to detail (I hope, and not he workshop elves who came in at night and fixed my work).

I finished it with my new favourite process; French Polish (ish), followed by 0000 steel wool and wax. I know it’s ornamental, however the surface feels so good that I can’t stop touching it. And the wax smells nice too.

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Lance

[Wongo]

Nicely done. Its beautiful and I like it.

[Stratman]

Great job, Lance!

The Tas Oak looks amazing (as does the joinery :) ). I really like the spalting and knotting etc. I think makes it look better than plain Tas Oak. And I think it looks great where you've hung it too!

I enjoyed making the two I did. All the same 'firsts' for me too.

I'm going to make another one now (yours as inspired me), with some nicer timber as mine were just radiata pine. I'll make it the same size as the original too (like yours). I made mine wider for my boys, but really do prefer the dimensions of the original as the scalloped rails suit the size and shape (I didn't scallop the rails as the boys preferred the 'chunkier' style).

The timber you used would have been 'gnarly' for sure! Worth the effort though! What plane and configuration did you use?

Regards Adam

[LanceC]

And I think it looks great where you've hung it too!
So do I, but it was only temporary. I finished it last night, and was desperate to hang it up somewhere, so removed the clock and hung it in its place. Before we went to bed though Maja made me put the clock back, as the kids rely on it to leave in time to catch their bus. We have another nice spot picked out, I just need to put a fastner in the wall. Funny thing, whilst I was building it, I really didn't think it was going to turn out this well, so had already proclaimed that it was up for grabs, and if no-one wanted it, I was sure to find a spot in the shed to hold something or another. I think it was after I had added the rails that I realised it may turn out far better than I had expected.


The timber you used would have been 'gnarly' for sure! Worth the effort though! What plane and configuration did you use?
It really was, on all accounts. Following the thread about how high angle blades worked, and all the information therein, I had spent some time experimenting with chip breaker settings on some interlocked grain. This was all done with my #4. I tried closing the mouth right up, but it kept clogging, so in the end, ended up with a fairly open mouth (though no all the way). I also spent a fair bit of time getting the chip breaker as close to the edge as possible, and taking very shallow cuts. It worked well for the most part, but some areas still needed sanding, though not much which was nice.

Lance

[Treecycle]

That timber had been left for just that project. The rustic look matches perfectly with the style of the piece and your French polishing has come up a treat. I can see why you are proud of your efforts.
Was this one of Paul's paid subscription projects or one of his public ones?

[Stratman]

Another paid one, unfortunately Dallas

Regards Adam

[Stratman]

Good to know, Lance.

Thanks very much for the info :2tsup:. It will help me in my future endeavours.

Regards Adam

[LanceC]

Was this one of Paul's paid subscription projects or one of him public ones?

It was one of his free ones at https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/hanging-wall-shelf/.

[Stratman]

It was one of his free ones at https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/videos/hanging-wall-shelf/.

Well, don't ever listen to me, Dallas! :doh:

[Treecycle]

An interesting site. Are the projects all by Paul and does he lead you right through all the details of the project? Is the free membership worthwhile?

[Stratman]

It's the site (and videos) that got me into woodworking so I'm definitely biased, Dallas.

Yes, they're all by Paul and they're extremely comprehensive. E.g. his workbench build (the original from a few years back, but same principle applies to just about all videos) is 10, 30+ minute episodes or so and goes through the entire build (except for things like; one leg... repeat for the other three etc.).

The production quality of them has increased over time too.

The free membership is absolutely worth while, in my opinion. Especially for a beginner. It's mostly all up on YouTube though, so the videos can be accessed without membership.

The subscription membership would only be worthwhile if you are a beginner and can keep up with the output of projects. Otherwise you can purchase a particular project if you're interested. That's what I've been doing.

But for me, I've watched everything on YouTube that I can find about a particular topic and his stuff resonates with me the best. Highly recommend for hand tool enthusiasts.

Regards Adam