Crafts / Craftsmen / craftswomen (craftspeople, I suppose)

more making. there should be a making thread as opposed to craftspersons.

needed a star for the tree so repurposed some battery powered lights. laser cut, sprayed and assembled.

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was very proud of how well my 10 x 10 laser cut grid was fitting together. was to be used to make pixel art.

anyone have 81 thimbles that need a holder?

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So I've become a bit obsessed with woodworking over the last 6 months, but have only worked with mdf, plywood and oak so far. I fancy making a TV console table for my dad out of walnut veener mdf and solid walnut for the legs as he really likes darker woods. It's bloody expensive stuff though so want to make sure I don't cock up my cuts. Is walnut hard to work with? (relative to oak) I need to rip a 44mm thick walnut board into various sizes on my table saw, and am thinking of upgrading the blade for the job. Would a 24T work better than my current 60T?

IM (limited)E walnut is not that hard or dense. I've recently worked on some small bits cut out of work top off cuts. It's softer to the tools than oak and more porous than beech too.

Check out four eyes furniture on YouTube. He seems to pretty much use walnut or ply exclusively so will probably have some good tips. Pretty sure he made a nice tv console table recently, you can get the sketch up files for design ideas.

This is the one I was thinking of: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FJZpus9agjU

Ha, I'm literally combining bits of 3 of his builds together for my purposes. Good tip, I never thought to look what kind of blade he uses.

I was getting burn marks when ripping oak recently. I suspect I should be using less teeth for rips.

Yeah, look's like he is using a coarser tooth set up. 24T it is.

Nice, he seems to have every possible tool combo in that garage but it usually comes down to the table saw and not much else!

bit more making, knocked up a paper lined MDF box for displaying little art prints. laser cutting is so satisfying, and cutting paper is whoa! fast.

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Cool, is that 12mm mdf? Are the edge black from paint or is that the laser burning it?

6mm mdf. yes the edge is black from the laser. contrasts quite nicely to the face

I'm usually not a fan of burned laser-cut edges, but that does work quite well, I must say.

Just got the plywood today to make this bench. Had the poor guy at B&Q (I know) rip and 8x4 sheet into 100mm strips. Was very accommodating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yuHeKnhWs

^ thats pretty good, some nice techniques like making a jig for the tenons. Suprised a man with all those tools and a workshop that size wouldnt have a workbench already.

batch production. i'm the local fake railway sign magnate.

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Christmas gift for my parents - box for chess pieces. Cherry with walnut splines at the corners. Needs a closing mechanism still, probably going to use magnets.

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That's lovely.

indeed, very nice. show us the mechanism when done please

Will do, probably just a couple of blind holes in the lid and sides and some little cylindrical magnets off eBay..

Visiting parents means I can use their little lathe, made myself a bradawl today :) walnut with copper ferrule.

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Where are y'all getting your sexy hardwoods?

I've just used sl hardwoods in Croydon and had a good experience.

Cool. And do you get it planed?

It was already planed square! Although it wasn't perfect. They have q huge workshop there so I'm sure of I'd asked they would have done it. They are closed until Jan 3rd.

What do you need?

Oh just curious really.

I'm only getting into woodworking now and just noticing the disparity between the timber American YouTube woodworkers use vs. what's actually available and affordable in the UK.

And also I'm no longer in London, so looking around Manchester for decent suppliers. I like the idea of using mainly reclaimed timber, but can't justify buying a planer/jointer etc. I looked at how to square up stock by hand, and it's doable, but a faff.

My mate's dad sells logs and he said he'd let me know when he gets big loads of hardwood in. But honestly this is all just speculation because I have very little time to actually do woodworking.

It's noticeable that the wood floor shops have huge amounts and variety of hardwood while the timber merchants have meranti and pine. It's possible the suppliers don't advertise much, I found 1 in the Lake District when I was on holiday there.