Author: Chris Wells

I have been polishing up a few of Dad’s woodworking tools.

Here is one of the saws: a formidable instrument, which came out well. It didn’t need sharpening, and is now ready to take on the fine joinery.

 

I am working on three fronts at present: the entrance, the northern weatherboards, and the cypress lining.

I proceed cautiously with the entrance; it is unfamiliar territory. The cladding for the doors (10mm tongue and groove Cypress) arrives this week.

Weatherboard goes up easily enough on the fine days.

The cypress lining can be tricky. I have had my moments; a few boards had to be removed and replaced, with much ado. You may be wondering why the lining stops at about two metres (six feet five inches), and there is a simple explanation – that top point marks the extent of my ‘current financial capacity’.

Later on I will be able to climb to the ceiling, if some of those wooden spoons can find worthy homes….

 

 

 

WOODEN SPOON TRYING TO BECOME A BOAT

An ocean breeze
and ocean currents
carried this wood
to a particular shore.

In search
of its true nature
I shaped and polished it
with love

and now choose to launch it
once again
on the high seas.

….and the ocean delivers a variety of treasures, large and small.

 

 

 

 

It has been interesting to watch these doors emerge – from where, I cannot say (perhaps from a sort of internal blueprint, the details of which come to light as required).

There are sixteen half-lap joints in each door.

The screws are made of silicon-bronze, and will be hidden from view.  I hope to use cypress or baltic pine floorboards, fixed vertically within the outside frames of the doors, for cladding.

Every day, a new aspect of the blueprint is revealed. I am assuming that it is, indeed, a workable and coherent Plan….

Woodblock print by Tomikichiro Tokuriki (1902 – 1999).

 

I am constructing  the first of the double doors, in a roundabout sort of way. I have never made a door, and don’t have a set of construction plans. No doubt there are plenty of plans online, but somehow it seemed easier to not find them, and just muddle through – so that is what I am doing: making it up as I go, and just muddling through.

Let’s hope it works out….

From time to time I tackle the cypress lining, for a bit of light relief. I want to get the southern and western sections of wall properly covered, before we install the work benches – otherwise, it will never be done.

(While building the little wooden cottage on Fork Tree Road, I moved in without finishing the details. That was a mistake – a big mistake – which I hope to avoid this time round.)

I will post photos of the door when there is a door to photograph.

 

Woodcut print based on a painting by Ogata Korin (1658 – 1716).

Back in January Sam and I collected seed from the Banskia Scrub, and now we have a small forest of seedlings.

The Wirilda seedlings (Acacia retinoides) grew quickly; we planted them in the Paddock a few weeks ago.

Here in the photo, on the left, is a pot of the Southern Cypress Pine, Callitris preissi; in the middle, Drooping Sheoak, Allocasuarina verticillata; on the right, a miscellany including sheoak, and Moonah, Melaleuca lanceolata.

The grass trees, Xanthorrhoea, have not emerged – yet.

Muntries, Kunzea pomifera, failed – but I can propagate it from cuttings, with a bit of luck.