Centenary Of ANZAC Honour Board

On the 25th April 1915 members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli in Australia's first action as a nation in war.  The campaign, conceived by the British, was an ultimate failure - but it is inscribed into the hearts of Australians, New Zealanders and Turks alike as story of courage, sacrifice and mateship.

 Anzac Cove at Gallipoli

25 April is a national day in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey for much the same reasons, and our countries have grown to be close friends.

 A Turkish soldier carries a wounded Australian

This year marks the centenary of Anzac and all three countries will mark the occasion with ceremony and solemnity.

The profound words of reconciliation from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

 I was commissioned by our Community Association to build an Honour Board for those names of men who served that were omitted from the original Honour Board of 1919, to mark the end of World War 1.

Telegraph Point Original Honour Board from the end of WW1

The new Honour Board is to house an additional twenty names, and to be made in the same manner as the existing memorial.

I chose Australian Rosewood, as the colour will match the original timber colouring in time.

Only having the current board to work with, there had to be many measurements taken to try to replicate the size and appearance.  All together there were over 130 individual parts that had to be made, cut, shaped and moulded.

I won't bore you with the slabbing, sizing or general fabrication.
The carcass was straightforward but the clamping of the individual mouldings created a challenge.  There are 24 moulding pieces at the bottom of the columns alone.

I hand made all of the mouldings using a combination of blades in the Stanley 45.
The construction picks up at the making of the pediment.

Each block and piece of moulding was cut in a home-made mitrebox.  The pieces were too small to be safely cut on the dropsaw.

The combination of mitred panels and moulding made up the top of the pediment.

You can never have too many clamps

You really really can't have too many clamps

Here is the completed construction before final sanding and finishing
The box section between pediment and carcass is hollow, so I decided to include a time capsule from 2015.  Maybe at some future time it will again see the light of day.

By using a mobile low trolley made from scraps, I was able to have the finished piece at a suitable work height for sanding and final lacquering.

The finish here was sprayed on Mirrortone satin.
All done now - and ready for the sign writer.

The finished board had to be sent off to the sign-writers for completion.  It took several months for the job to come to fruition.
Here is the finished Honour Board ready for display at this year's Anzac Day.

 

Where Do You Get Your Lumber?

A question that we all have to address as woodworkers is one of supply.
Where do we source our timber?
This is a question that I am often asked, and as recently as this morning I fielded a telephone call specifically on this topic.
The obvious places, such as hardware stores and trade timber yards are fine for construction projects, but the choices are limited and prices are high.
My own experiences might be a help in guiding others to find cheaper outlets with wider variety.

Side-o-road-iata

This is a generic "species" term that all my woodie mates use to describe "found" timbers.  The species vary - but usually include branch loppings, storm damaged trees, the results of noxious tree removal, or maintenance clearing.
We have a beautiful timber here on the coast called camphor-laurel, that is a declared noxious tree and is slated for removal everywhere.  This is often available free for the collecting.
I usually keep a lookout for this kind of timber, and people know that I am interested in their tree loppings from yard clean-ups as well.

Eucalyptus train-iata

Our club house - Hastings Woodworkers Guild - is situated in Timbertown, Wauchope and this hosts a working steam train.  Daily, this steam engine uses eucalypt offcuts from numerous mills in the area.  I have lost count of the number of times a beautiful piece from the log-pile has been turned into a box or a bowl.
There are numerous wood-heaps around that are either firewood, demolitions, furniture factory offcuts etc.  All of these can yield timber for small projects.

Mills and Lumber Yards

The numbers of these wonderful hives of industry are shrinking, but there are still timber mills to be found if you look.
They are worth the drive as the selections are wide and the prices are better than retail.
We are lucky enough to have several mills within an hour's drive of here, and the outing is an experience to be savoured.

Here is a one-day outing that we did recently to Botique Timbers of Rollands Plains.

A 50HP bandsawmill makes short work of slabbing this camphor-laurel log.

 Some of the club members add scale to the size of the milling equipment

At Botique Timbers, the slabbed lumber is air-dried in the open - usually covered in old galvanised iron sheeting.  This leads to some interesting warping occasionally, but the timbers are normally surprisingly straight and stable.

Burls - yes there were plenty for the bowl turners to select from.  These are normally sold by the kilogram - unlike the slabbed lumber - which is sold by the usable super-foot, or board-foot as our US cousins call it.
This is a quirky mix of metric and imperial calculations, but we have learned to be at home with them.

Advice is freely given and discussion often ensues ..........

...................... disagreements are handled with diplomacy and skill .................

 A close-up of the bandsaw mill in action - here it is just finishing the cut as the log slides past it.

Discussions about the merits of an unknown timber can arouse interest.  This is a piece of snakewood which became very popular after the briefing ................

I source much of my timber from this mill, as it is only about a half hour from my home and I have known Mal - the owner - for over twenty years.  This outing, which I organised for the club members, might just see them coming back for re-supply of their own timber needs.

I came home with a few lovely West African makore boards and some hairy oak.

A great day indeed

130,000 Visitors - How did this happen?

Time and Tides

Time has passed - three years now - as my woodworking has developed alongside music (ukulele) and a renewed interest in photography.
Serendipitously, it was the photography of the items and processes that I have written about, that re-awakened the photography genie.
It has long been an interest and at times a passion - from my first serious camera - Canon FTb - to the present.

I have tried to share aspects of my own life journey that I thought interesting enough to post.
Of course so much has been omitted.

An accidental introduction to ukulele three years ago has blossomed into a weekly jam, uke-making and several concerts - the next on November 30.

Photography has taken me back into the companionship of fellow shutter-bugs, competition and judging.

And my woodwork morphs around these interests, my family, grandkids and life in general.
Last weekend my youngest son married the love of his life and it was a celebration of family, friendship and hope for the future.

Life always has its ups and downs, but the secret to happiness is - in my view anyway - quite simple:

Have someone to love,
Have something meaningful to do,
and ...........
Have something to look forward to

May your journey be as rewarding as mine, your joys memorable and your problems small.
Happy trails
Tom

Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele - Part 14 - The Finishing Touches

Final Steps

1. Lacquering
2. Fitting the tuners
3. Stringing
4. Play

Lacquering
I have used Mirotone spray lacquer  for this finish.
Because mango is such an open grained timber, I first gave it two coats of sanding sealer followed by Mirocat three coats.

 The beauty of this finish is that it is dry enough for re-coating after 15 minutes.
A light sand of 400 grit paper between coats was all that was needed.

The tuners are added to the head. I had previously spent time drilling out the tuner holes before the lacquering took place.  This gave a handy hook hole to hang the instrument while spraying.

The headstock has come up rather beautifully with the application of the lacquer

Adding ths strings is done incrementally, and the nut and bridge are adjusted for height to keep the strings at an appropriate height above the frets and to prevent buzzing.

I had to sand the back of both to lower the action before I was happy with it.

And finally - here is the finished product.
It is a super-tenor ukulele, as the scale length is 19 inches.

The intonation is spot on, with the 12th fret exactly an octave higher than open string tuning.
It has plenty of sustain and volume, and I will be looking forward to playing it once the strings stretch and keep their tuning, and the timber settles down and gets bedded in.

Happy trails partners

Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele - Part 13 - Nearly There

Fretboard

I decided that the inlaid fretboard would be too busy aesthetically on this mango timber, and have opted instead for a straight plain-jane variety, with simple fret-marker inlays of mother of pearl (MOP)
Marking out the fretboard is very easy once the length of scale is known.
This wonderful online calculator is invaluable:
http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

I mark mine with a scribing knife before cutting them with a narrow-kerf tenon saw.
While the piece of African blackwood is still square,  I mark the positions for the MOP markers - frets 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 in this case.
These are glued in place and left to dry before cutting the tapers on the fretboard sides to match the existing neck.

Fret-wire is simply hammered into position in the grooves cut by the tenon saw, and snipped to size with a pair of side-cutters.

This little wooden mallet works very well.

 

A square file is used to trim the overhanging fret-wire from the edges.

When flush, the top edges are filed at 45 degrees to create a chamfer on the corners of the frets themselves.

I find it easiest to do this on a sanding mat that holds the fretboard in place while I file.
There isn't a lot of room for big fingers, so any assistance is welcome.
Once this is complete, I will seat all of the fret-wires with a straight board and an iron hammer to ensure that they are all straight and parallel to each other.

Here is a trial fit with the bone nut in place to see how well everything is coming together.  I don't glue the bone nut in at this stage, as it may need adjusting in height after the bridge is added - to obtain the correct playing action for the strings.

I have selected a piece of Indian rosewood for the headstock, and this has been glued over the laminated head to add a little beauty - and to hide the strip laminations.

I add tape alongside the end of the fretboard to cover the body from excess glue squeeze-out.  It is also a handy fitting guide when the fretboard is glued in place.

Here we are with the glued fret-board held in place by spring-clamps.  Notice that the bone nut is here to establish the fretboard position - it is removed once the clamps are all secure, as I don't want stray glue fixing it in position just yet.

Here we are then - all but finished.
I will next mark out and drill the holes for the headstock tuners.
Only the bridge to add, then follow that with final sanding and finishing.
Nearly there ................

Making A Boat Paddle Tenor Ukulele - Part 12 - The Parts Come Together

Well, it has been quite a while -  what a marathon - haha.
OK, here we go with the fitting of the back, the front and the neck.
The bridge will be added last to assure that it is square to the main axis of the instrument, as well as the precise distance from the nut for tuning.

The back is fitted first, and acts as a brace for the body while the other parts are glued in place.
The neck has to be fitted before the front (the soundboard).  This is because it is so much easier to trim and fit the neck tenon into its mortice, without the attendant problems of working around a covered in top.
There is enough space for clamps and it is simply easier to accomplish.

The soundboard (the top) also has to align with the upper surface of the neck as the fretboard will be glued over both of these.
So they must finish in the same plane.

I use a scrap of wood from the top as a guide to setting the height of the neck above the body - leaving space for the soundboard.

Once the neck and the front are securely glued in place, the fretboard will be added.
Here is a trial fit.

The position of the bridge determines where the re-inforcing will be glued on the back of the soundboard.

The re-inforcing strips are simply scrap pieces from the body construction which will be glued with the grain running at right angles to the grain of the soundboard.

Here they are in position prior to glue and clamp.


Laying Out the Fretboard
.............this will be the next task while the glued parts are drying.



The final tasks will include:

1. Final sanding
2. Lacquering and finishing
3. Fitting the headstock tuners
4. Stringing ...... and
5. Voila ............... playing