Jarrah Modem Shelf

My ADSL modem was sitting on a music stand in the laundry And looking rather untidy with cables going every which way. A friend gave me the idea of making a custom shelf for it.

I have a load of jarrah paneling which was recovered from the Port Adelaide wool sheds in the 80s.

I took a piece of this, about 100 wide and 1200 long and cut it in three and jointed four edges. I then glued the two pieces together to make a piece that was about 250x400. I wanted the shelf to be about 200x300 wide. After resurfacing the faces on the thicknesser I cut out the piece to length and then cut it length wise which  gave me one piece for the top then another which I could glue to the bottom of the back edge which I could use to secure the shelf to the wall.

I wanted a cut out at the back to take the cables so I made a template which would make about a 25x50 mm  cut out on both pieces. This would allow all the cabes to be routed via the back of the shelf to keep it tidy. I had to buy a 40mm x 12 mm patten bit since my patten bit was not long enough. I secured the patten to the pieces using double sided tape and then routed out the recess.

I then routed a 12mm round over on all of the edges except for the front top of the rear piece and rear edges of the front piece where they joined and the back of the rear piece which sat against the wall. I then glued the rear piece to the bottom back of the top at right angles. Once the glue dried I Used a couple of pocket hole screws to reinforce the joint.

After scraping off the excess glue I used a small block plane to clean up any slight overlap of the joint.

I finally sanded to 320 grit using a random orbital sander and applied 2 coats of a home made wiping oil varnish mix. This left a film of oil after it dried so I wiped that off using a clean cotton rag and then applied a finishing wax which I buffed in by hand using a cotton rag.

I mounted it to the gyprock with  some wall board fasteners. I did not bother locating it to the studs since the modem is just a few hundred grams.

The wood ended up with a nice deep red look with a natural finish. It is not subject to rough treatment so I thought that this was sufficient.

The finishing touch was some flexible cable ducting to keep it looking tidy.

It still has the marks of the various uses that the wood has had over the years which speaks of the history of the wood. I took no pains to disguise that since it does not detract from its purpose and adds character to the whole project.

I have more ideas for how to reuse the wood I have recovered as well as other unused pieces that the original owner and builder (now sadly passed) has left behind. All of the projects will have a similar character and I may even make a mounted plaque telling the story, just an idea at the moment.

My next project using this wood is a little more ambitious and will be a bathroom cabinet with glass doors.

My first project - ancient history

I took woodworking at school where I learned basic skills such as sawing, chisel, planing, sharpening and carving. After I left school I had some of my dad's tools which I supplemented with some basic tool purchases from an engineer's supply company where I worked at the time.

After I married we were not particularly well off so I decided to build a lounge suite to replace the various "fall apart" hand me downs. Since money was limited I used construction pine and selected pieces for their purpose. The lounge suite has long since gone to meet its maker so I cannot show you pictures of it.

The arms were wide 5x2 and the legs were 3x1 1/2. The cross members were 3x1 1/2 and the back frame was about 3x1 I think and the slats for the back were 1/2" by 2" and morticed into the frame for the back. The joinery was all mortice and tenon. A lot of the wood sizing is guesswork at this stage since it was built over 35 years ago. It consisted of a 2/3 seater and two singles. The 2/3 was wide enough for 3 average sized people or 2 larger built people. The image here is vaguely similar in style just to give you an idea. The legs were set back. The legs were narrower than the arms and the arms were curved in at the front outer edges to make them narrower at the front which gave it more of a sculpted look.

All of the joinery was hand cut and used resin glue for strength. It was finished with several coats of clear semi gloss poly.

The front and rear cross members were slotted using a circular saw for seat bottom straps and the wife made cushions for it using blocks of foam.

As I recall it did not cost a lot to build, the timber was extremely cheap. I spent more on the glue, poly and sundry tools than the timber. I was rather pleased despite my rather rudimentary skills. I recall that my joints were not particularly skilfully done but they were sound. The only annoying aspect was that the slope on the back was too steep and when you sat down and leaned back it was difficult to actually get out of it. You did not have the web sites specifying good furniture angles and dimensions as you do today. I used a lot of guess work. However I was really pleased with it as a first attempt and there were some design aspects that I was rather pleased with.

It actually (IMHO) looked quite nice and with nice cushions it functioned quite well except for the too steep back angle. It looked in proportion and did not look either clunky or spindly. It looked and felt solid. I made the arms especially wide to take a cup of tea or glass of beverage so they were in effect mini tables. It held together quite well considering the battering it got from one house move, two adults and four children. I had it for maybe six or seven years before being replaced by another second hand hand-me-down, and maybe for some time after to server as a backup.

I have rather nostalgic memories of it despite its limitations and I may make another attempt at re-making it this time with a better ergonomic design, nicer wood, more skilled joinery and nicer cushions.

Turning wooden mallets

I have some old wooden mallets of the rectangular head style with through handles, one of which has definitely seen better days and the other in the need of some attention. I thought I would try my hand at turning some carvers mallets.

I found a branch of an old gum tree (not sure of the species but it is quite resinous and extremely dense) that had fallen and dried. I cut it up with the chain saw and trimmed the side branches and made it more or less roundish. I then turned the mallets to the right on my lathe, one larger and the other for more delicate work. It is a long time since I have done any serious turning on the lathe and even then I was not that good. Hopefully I will get better with practice.

The larger one had a serious crack which I filled with epoxy then used a scraper to smooth. One of the characteristics of this wood is that it tends to shrink considerably as it dries leaving some quite significant cracks down its entire length. I turned my wife a dibber from a piece of green wood and after drying it now has some cracks, although not serious. I did finish it with oil although I probably should have used a sealer to slow the drying process.

The smaller mallet was made form a section that was mostly crack free. When the wood splits the crack seems to spiral slightly and only appear on one side. Unfortunately the tree does not grow that large and is extremely brittle and drops branches all over the shop.

I finished them by applying a coat of shellac then a couple of coats of a 321 wiping varnish (3 parts thinner (gum turpentine in this instance), 2 parts poly and one part boiled linseed oil) rubbed in with 600 grit wet 'n dry then finally a coat of wax.

I expect that these will be extremely durable given the toughness of the wood. One is about 600 grams and the other about 350 grams.

I am not entirely convinced by my first attempt and with what I have learnt may try again this time using greener wood and a more refined shape. I think if I can get a larger piece and use only one half of the branch (slice it down the centre before I start) It should not want to crack so much, just oval as it dries. Also finishing it while green may slow the drying process and hence it may want to crack less.