Wednesday, July 27, 2016

one for monsieur du Bois

After seeing that I decided to make this


I have a glass in my room that gives to the kitchen, and haven't finished it yet (what a surprise) since I wanted to make a moulding but didn't really know how, or what to put. Inspiration grows slow on me. The other problem was that I didn't have any cheap wood to use. (I'm repairing the house only with wood I've found on the streets of valparaiso, don't like to spend money on a house I'll leave sooner than later, and it's more fun also to tell people this piece comes from there, this one Keiran found, etc.)

So, my plan was to save enough wood to make a laminate and then mould it. Too many steps to accomplish it though. After seeing the video I found a 2"x3" piece of poplar that I had laying around and since poplar is the cheapest wood in chile, I just gave it a try. I liked the round and hollow mix and on the bottom used a 3/8th beading plane I got from UK before brexit.

I ploughed two channels where the flats are. Since I only have a small record plough plane I needed to make a big rebate before making the second channel. Then a lot of jack work to finally use the japanese round plane. I found that using them on a horizontal surface was easier than at 45 degrees, you only turn the plane on the final passes. It took like an hour for the 1m piece I was working on.

It's surprisingly accurate considering that everything was free-handed save the plough plane. That gives you the only references you need. The finish is straight from the plane, and I love to see those little flames of the poplar running through the moulding while in bed.

The profile was just sketched on the endgrain but I let the planes decided where they wanted to be. It's funny to see, how the proportions start to look right, just like the finish on the wood, it becomes a second nature, a way of living in the world. It starts to become difficult for me to leave a less shiny surface because my planes are well set and ready to use, and pretty much any one I take will work fine. The thing, then, is just a mere reflection of a deeper order, of a way of organising life, of what and who you are. I guess that's what really turns me on.

4 comments:

  1. Poplar I'm using a lot for carpentry in house, barn , etc. There is plenty of it growing around here and it's not expensive to have the sawer come and mill it. Nothing wrong there. Since proportion is not really my strong point and it is so important in moulding work I'm usually working off of patterns already worked out or right from a single plane. You've got a nice highlight on the edges of the hollow. It is certainly getting away from Japanese work as I know it since they don't seem to have much use for the concept.

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    1. Not japanese at all. The only mouldings I've seen is a round edge with a hollow underside on tables. The planes do seem to work better than the tall english ones, you can more easily be on top of it while pulling or pushing. The single planes I have are not working that great, have a lot of trouble to align toe and heel of the plane to cut straight. They are pain to sharpen too. Glad you like those edges.

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  2. I was recently asked about making trim for an arch top entryway door, so I've been thinking about moulding profiles a bit. The arch I would need to make has two radii that define the curve, so no custom sun moulding planes. Apparently its either hand carve the thing, or build a tilting router table. I do not feel passionately towards my router, kinda look at the thing out of the corner of my eye even though its useful. I would much rather just do the work instead of building a machine to do the work. Have you tried hand carving curved molding profiles? I seem to remember you getting a book on curved work.

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    1. you mean it's a "complex" curve? I have no experience, was thinking to make a moulding on the handrail I made but since I'm not living there is a bit difficult. I can check the book, I remember something about trimmings there, but my first bet would be a scratch stock. That's something I really want to try actually.

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