A Gate

Hi all,
In my last post I told you that I was working on a commission from "the management," (my wife) who asked me to make her a garden gate to hide the alleyway behind the shed that leads to the water butt.
Here's the view she was complaining about.

It seemed like a simple request even though she said she also wanted a panel on the front with some decoration on it. This would provide me with an opportunity to exercise my carving and pyrography skills, so I was eager to get on with the job and set about it the very next day.

The most boring part was going to Wickes to get a load of roofing lathes and other wood to make the actual gate with. This type of wood comes ready treated with preservative but I painted it again with some Forrest Green preserving stain made by Ronseal.

Using mostly roofing lathes is a very cost effective way to make a gate. The wood, hinges and latching mechanism only cost me about thirty quid in total. Buying a ready mad gate would cost a lot more and I would have also had to modify it to get it to fit the size of the hole.

Here is a picture of the gate in after installation and I must say it does improve the look of the garden.

The framework for the panel was originally the door of a bedside table that I took apart a few weeks ago. I don't like chucking wood away and I'm pleased I kept this bit. In the centre of the panel I did a oak leaf and acorn design. First I cut out some oak shape leaves on the panel with my scroll saw then I cut some more out of plywood and stuck them into position. Then I cut out some acorns and carved them to shape with a rotary tool.

The next thing I did was to finish off the design with my pyrography iron. The whole panel was then screwed to the gate and given several coats of yacht varnish to make sure that water doesn't get into it.
Here is a photo of the panel.

I attempted to give it a multi layered look, but to be honest, I'm not sure it all works. If I was doing it again I would not bother with the three cut outs and relied more on my pyrography skills to give it a bit of depth. You have to try these things sometimes to see if they work and on this occasion it didn't. However, having said that, I'm very pleased with my carved acorns.





In my next post I'll show you my new toy. I bought it after several years of thought and splashed out a bit of my pension lump sum on it. So what does a newly retired man treat himself to after slaving away for years in a factory? An open top Mercedes perhaps or what about a Harley Davidson, wouldn't that would be a step up from the Honda 90 I used to seek thrills on.

To find out what I lashed my money out on please watch out for my next post.

Box Rescue

Hi all,
 It seems a mighty long time since I made a post, but now that I'm officially retired I'm trying to change my lifestyle. For the last 60 odd years I've been dashing about like a blue arsed fly trying to make a few pounds and make people happy. Well, other people's happiness will always be high on my agenda but my blue arsed days are over, it's time to grab a hold of mellowness and dance off with it into the sunset.

Anyway, in my last post I showed you a picture of the oyster box that I was making. It looked great but the hinges didn't work how I expected them to. Okay at the front when open, but

this is what it looked like when viewed from the back when shut. Not good.

It just goes to show that anybody can make a mistake and I don't mind sharing mine. It taught me a lesson, which was to be more careful with my designs and make sure I've thought them through properly. It was a shame to see all that work go to waste so here is what I did.

I removed the hinges, glued the lid on and did a pyrography design on it. Then I gave it three coats of lacquer to make it feel really gloss and it became an ornament for the sideboard.

It has now been re christened by my wife who said it looked like a peanut and I guess she is right. It looks very tactile and one can't help picking it up and giving it a fondle when one goes past.  Sad I know, but getting old isn't much fun, so you have to grab any pleasure you can no matter how well it tries sneaks by unnoticed.

In my next post I will show you the plaque that I'm working on. It was a commission from my wife and it is coming out well.

Just one last thing. My book, "Bossyboots" which is one of my favourites, is free today on Amazon.

 If you would like a free download, just click on the books tab at the top of the page and click on the cover. It is very funny and down to earth type of read.

The Match and a disaster

Hi all,
There are times when all goes well, but there are other times when you may just as well chuck your plums at the clock. I have just had one of those days in my workshop and I'm a little bit fed up. You may recall the oyster box I was making. I'd done the base.

And I was about to go into serious sanding mode on the lid.

I did do the sanding. Firstly, I shaped it out roughly with my belt sander before attacking it with my Dremel. This took about an hour and I then began sanding by hand. I started of with 120 grade and slowly worked my way through all the other grades to 400. By the time I'd finished it was really smooth and very tactile. The next thing to do was drill holes in the lid and the base to take the special hinges that I'd bought especially for this box.

This was the first time I'd used these hinges, but I thought I knew how they worked so I didn't pay much attention to the detail. This was a big mistake because they didn't work how I had expected them to and I'd now drilled the holes in the wrong places. Whats more, my design wouldn't allow me to put the holes in the right places even if I could work out where that might be.

The box was a disaster because the hinges did not allow the lid to sit flat on the box. Here is a picture of how it looked when I put it together. Not bad when open, even if I say so myself. I could imagine the inside covered with a nice dark blue flock.

However, when I tried to close the lid  you can see the problem.

Not a pretty sight is it. I guess it's no good crying over wasted saw dust and I have learnt a lesson. In future, I will make double sure I know how the hinges work.

The question is now, can I save the box and some of my hard work? I will show you what I've come up with in my next post.

By the way, I have another free book for download from Amazon today and tomorrow, 7th and 8th of April. It is called "The Match" and is a good read even for non anglers.

 Please grab a copy and enjoy it while you can.

Oyster Box

Hi all,
I'm finally making some headway with the oyster box. The base is done; it was cut out with the scroll saw set to a small angle and then sanded on the belt sander and by hand.

I am now working on the lid, which is made up in layers like this. These were the first three layers glued with wood glue and clamped. I have also done a bit of rough sanding on the belt sander to reduce the corners on the second layer to see how it looks.

Here I have put the last two tears on the lid and, although it looks a little bit like an ugly duckling now, I'm confident that it will turn into a beautiful swan.

I will show it you in my next post.

When I was doing this oyster box it brought back memories of my time as a "Reluctant Pom" in Australia when 16 years old. An Aussie friend of mine had heard that a shell fish called Abalone was worth a lot of money to high end eating places in Melbourne. He said he knew where to find some, so off we went Abalone fishing with two kitchen knives and bucket.

If you would like to find out how we got on with this money making caper, you can find out for free if you download a copy of the book, "The Reluctant Pom" from Amazon on either the 31st of March or the 1st of April.

To get your free copy, click on the books tab at the top of the page and then click on the book's cover. Please enjoy.

Buns

Hi all,
I will be doing a scroll sawing and pyrography post soon now that the weather is warming up. I have done a bit of work in the workshop recently and have made an extractor for when I'm sanding with my rotary tool. I made it from an old washing up bowl and a brush attachment from the vacuum cleaner. My wife won't find out because she is a stranger to the hoover. Anyway, I will show you the finished article in my next post.

What I wanted to share with you today was a couple of things to do with buns. Tomorrow is Good Friday, so I decided to have a go at making some hot cross buns in the bread maker that my wife got me for Christmas. I kid you not, I have been making all our own bread this year and very good it is too. The bread maker cost only £50 and I would recommend it to anybody. It is so easy to make a loaf, it saves money, you know what ingredients went into making it and it tastes amazing.

Here is a photo of one of my loaves.

Not bad looking even if I do say so myself. The hot cross buns I made today don't look bad either although I think I could have used a better recipe.

The other bun I wanted to tell you about is my second book in the Fishing Detectives series, "Bun In The Oven" is free today and tomorrow (24th and 25th March 2016) to download from Amazon.

To get your free download, just click on the books tab at the top of the page and click on the book. I hope you enjoy it over the Easter hols.

A Staffordshire Boy, Free Copy

Hi, just a quick between post to let my regular readers know that "A Staffordshire Boy" is free to download from Amazon today and tomorrow (17th and 18th March) please grab a free copy. This is the first time I have offered this book for free on Amazon, so please enjoy.

To get your free download, click on the books tab at the top of the page and then on the book cover.

Good News

Hi all,
I've got good news and bad news. First the bad news. I'm afraid I'm going to have to increase the price of my books, I have been selling them at silly prices that couldn't last forever.

The good news is that I am doing it slowly by changing the price of one book each week. The other good news is that several of my books that have never been available for free on Amazon will be doing exactly that in the future.

This new regime will start today with a price increase on "The Fishing Detectives: Carp Rustlers."

However, for those of you who are following this blog, you will find "Carp Rustlers" will be free to download from the 9th until the11th of March, so please grab a copy while you can.

"Carp Rustlers" is the first of three books in the "Fishing Detectives" series so it make sense to offer that one for free first. The other two books in the series will have their prices increase shortly so if you would like them at rock bottom prices, please download them soon.

If you are wondering why there isn't any news on the scroll sawing or pyrography front, it's because there isn't any. My work shop is still colder than an Eskimo's mitt and I'm not working in there till it warms up a bit.