A Bit of This and That

This weekend turned up some unexpected treasures, I was asked by the chair lady of our club to go and look at some tools at an estate sale of a miniaturist that passed away last year, somebody I have never met as he only lived here for the last few years of his life to be closer to his family and he wasn't active in the local clubs. He was well known in Cape Town though and much loved by the members of the club there.

This man was a furniture maker and there were these chests of drawers mostly filed with all kinds of woods, both exotic and local woods, many that I would like to have but are difficult to come by either because of cost or rarity. The family seemed to be hoping that the wood would go to a good home and be used for miniatures. Well, I am saving for my trip to Denmark later this year and was torn in two....and then hubby came to the rescue and offered to buy it for me, the deal included the chests of drawers, a good thing because I wouldn't have known where to put it otherwise, there were ten drawers!

The two woods I was most happy to find was birdseye maple, hard to find in SA and expensive and the second stinkwood (so called because of the smell it gives when cutting it), a local hardwood that is protected now, it was extensively used in Cape Dutch furniture, a very dark and close grained wood...and I was just wondering last week where I was going to find enough of it....plus a kind friend has some that he can't use because of faults in the wood, the good parts are big enough to use for miniatures, so he is going to give it all to me when I see him again. I am really happy about all this as I like to use if I can the woods that were originally used for the antiques.

I spend some time over the weekend cutting more wall panels for the Cape Dutch house. View from what will be the front of the house, I had time to cut door openings in the one wall before the sun set, as I do this outside.

This will be the center wall of the house, fitting all those different roof lines are going to be an interesting exercise.

I also started a piece of embroidery last year for my newest sewing table, this one will be mine, I am copying an old English piece, you can see the original here, I used a different border from another antique sampler and moved it to the bottom as the bottom will be hidden when the screen is pulled up. I am cross stitching it on 75 count silk gauze with Pipers silk.

Well, that is all my news for now, have a great week everyone.
Elga  

Wood and Glue...

Both of course are important to a furniture maker, so I am always on the look out for special pieces of wood and better glues.

Yesterday I went to a lumber shop to pick up a piece of Cherry that I need for some turnings, they have lots of small pieces of exotic woods in the reception area intended for full scale vase and candlestick turnings, of course I had to browse there ;-)))

And look what I found!!!! I oiled it a bit otherwise you won't see the markings but I haven't sanded it or anything.

I hope you can see all the tiny markings in it, it is a piece of Madrone, I have never heard of it before, but it grows along the west coast of the USA and and just look at this stunning spice cabinet where they used the wood for the drawer fronts. I am not sure what I will use this for, probably an 18th century secretary like this one, isn't it just gorgeous.

And then on the subject of glue, I often have to glue hinges and other hardware to furniture and I just hate super glue, it just dries too fast for my liking, so yesterday I found a Duncan glue called Liquid Fusion,

I tried some on a hinge yesterday and it seemed to work great although some reviews that I read said that it failed on metal. It is recommended for metal use though, has anyone used this glue before and what were your experience of it? I like that it doesn't dry immediately and that I have time to position my piece of hardware, so often with superglue it just ends up not quite where I wanted it and any excess glue mars the finish on the wood, so I hope this glue will be a good substitute for super glue.

Have a great day
Elga

Lots of Wood

I went to my local saw mill today to buy some African Blackwood that I want to use in turning knobs for the sewing table and for the chairs that I will start in the new year. It sure was my lucky day, the manager at the mill gave me a bag full of African Blackwood offcuts and one with the Mopane wood that I have been using for the sewing table. This mill specializes in supplying wood for the making of musical instruments so it is choice wood and well seasoned. The best thing is that the mill is only 10 minutes drive from my home and they asked that I give them photos once my tables are finished to put on their website.

Elga