Bedside lamps

About the time Nicola moved into her own home she mentioned that she needed a pair of bedside lamps.  She bought the shades that she wanted in navy blue velvet, soon followed by a request for me to make me a pair of lamp bases to go with the shades.

That was just at the start of our lockdown in March.  She told me the sort of design and style she had in mind, but left me some latitude to apply my own creativity, however she was fairly sure she wanted a light coloured wood.  I told her it would have to wait a while, probably till after lockdown so that I could go and find some suitable wood of the right size and colour.  A few weeks ago I started looking around for wood, but the timber suppliers I found were quoting exhorbitant prices.

Then I shifted my search to carpenters and joiners in my neighbourhood and found a carpenter who works from his home just up the road doing mostly bespoke jobs.  Last week I went along to rummage through his offcut box, in which he had a perfect piece of American Oak, which he planed and cut to size for me.

So I spent several hours over the next few days making these lamp bases.  I'm very happy with the results, but more importantly Nicola likes them too!  See the photos to see the stages of the build.  Bases are about 125mm high and the square of the footprint is a little more than 100mm.

New Barbeque grill

We are enjoying some beautiful weather here this weekend.  Clear blue skies; lovely warm sunshine; gentle breeze from the north-east to prevent it from becoming too hot; temperature around 23-25°C (75-80°F).  Around lunchtime last Friday we saw that the weather forecast looked good so we decided to prepare for a barbeque.

For many years I have not had a decent barbeque grill - always reverted to building a fire at ground level with a simple mesh grill placed on top, as you learn to do in the boy scouts.  So we decided now was the time to get a better option, given that I now have the large gas bottle for fuel, thanks to the heat treatment forge (see www.kayfaknives.blogspot.com).  The hardware store up the road had some ideal looking ones in stock at a very reasonable price, so later that afternoon we went up and bought one.  As it turns out, it was their last one of that model, so we made it just in time.  Yesterday we spent the day in the garden and used the bbq for its maiden outing.

It's fairly small as these things go, but for the most part it is just the 2 of us, unless Nicola comes to visit, so an ideal size actually.  There is the main grill area with 2 burners, which can be operated independently, even at different temperature settings.  There is the "keep it warm" shelf just a little above that, shielded by the lid.  On the right is a shelf for utensils etc. and on the left is another shelf that has a third burner built into it, suitable for a small pot.

Judging by yesterday's results it works really well.  The meal was delicious, the weather was glorious, the day was very relaxing.

Enjoy the photos!

Mobile phone stand

During Covid-19 lockdown we have all been using technology to stay in touch, with a noticeable increase in the use of video chats.  Recently Ann commented that she has to prop her phone up on books, boxes, or whatever is available, but it frequently slips or falls down during a chat, which is irritating.  So I made her a phone stand ...

Using scraps and leftovers that I had in the workshop, this is what I created.  The base is a block of wood ("Kerto" - thanks to a sample from Metsä Wood).  The vertical tubes are telescopic, allowing for height adjustment by securing with the black tightening screw.  The top is copper plate, which is adjustable for tilt with the white tightening screw at the back.  At the bottom of the copper plate, a grooved plastic tube pressed onto the front of the "shelf" prevents the phone from slipping off if bumped inadvertently.

The size of the copper plate is suitable for a mobile phone in either portrait or landscape orientation, and also perfectly sized to hold a tablet - although it was not an intentional design feature!

I think it has turned out looking quite nice, and most importantly, Ann is happy with the result.  At least now she can chat with the confidence that her phone will not suddenly fall over.

Enjoy the photos.

Now that's a knife!

I'm back again after a long period of silence, mostly taken up with work travels, job change and domestic chores.  However, the current social isolation imposed to manage the Covid-19 pandemic has provided some additional time at home that I have used to finish my latest knife.

I took the inspiration for the design from the "Razorback" made by "Down Under Knives" in Australia.  It is the biggest one I have made to date and is slightly smaller than the one made famous by Crocodile [Mick] Dundee in the movie by the same name.  The blade is 304 Stainless steel, polished to a mirror finish.  The handle is walnut with the guard and pummel made from brass.  I chose the walnut because I wanted the greater colour contrast between the dark wood and the lighter brass and steel, however in the photos it appears lighter than in reality.  I still have to do the final sharpening of the blade but did not want to wait any longer before publishing this post.

Dimensions are as follows (all taken at the widest point):
The blade is 185mm long (7.3") x 50mm wide (1.2") x 5mm thick (0.2").
The handle is 118mm long (4.6") x 37mm (1.5") wide x 26mm (1") thick.
The guard is 65mm (2.6") tall x 25mm (1") wide x 16mm (0.6") from blade to wood.
The pummel is 35mm (1.4") tall x 24mm (0.9") wide x 16mm (0.6") from wood to end.
Overall length is 303mm (11.9").

The hidden tang runs through the full length of the wood to provide maximum strength, but unfortunately these large chunks of metal do make the finished product fairly heavy at 570 grams (1.26 pounds).  Not a problem for me as I do not plan to carry it around.

Enjoy the photos!

I'm sure that even Crocodile Dundee would be proud of this one!

And finally, just for comparison, here are 3 together to show the size difference.