Feb. 1, 2025

This week was a week of woodworking, the business of wood. Only one splinter was gotten. The timber delivery arrived on Monday afternoon, so I got started on Tuesday. I made the two smaller frames for the sides. Wednesday, I didn’t manage to do much, but I ramped up on Thursday and Friday. I cut the feather edge boards to make up the panel and assembled the frames into a square box. It actually began look like a box, which was so exciting. I’m making a thing! And it feels nice and sturdy. The feather edges look great, I like the colour on it.

Check out that joinery. I did a 45 degree slope on the base supports. I made it up, not sure how common it is to do, but worked out!

Then I cut out the base out of chipboard. I did have to do some back and forth trying to make the cuts-out fit the frame. It was hard to actually fit the base in; too many angles. In the end, I had to cut the base in half so I could place each half individually, otherwise it just wouldn’t go in.

After the base I worked on the lid, which was just another frame with a chipboard top. I did the frame with the half-lap joinery again using a saw and chisel. Still working on improving that skill. I put two stabilising beams through the middle of the lid and screwed the top in place. I’m so gleefully excited about how it’s turning out. The chipboard lid isn’t very aesthetic, maybe a wood stain will make it a bit better, or maybe I can add some detailing, but I love the look of the feather boards. It’s now sitting out in my garden. What a job!!!! This might be the first wood project I’m genuinely proud of. TBD on functionality and if it will be able to weather the rain (varnish still to come).

I still have a longish list of tasks to do before it’s complete, but hopefully it shouldn’t take too long:

• Sanding
  • Chipboard Base
  • Lid
  • Feather edge?
  • Any other hazards
• Wood preserve coating on lid
• Rip cut trim for lid
• Apply trim to lid
• Sand trim
• Apply stain on lid
• Apply varnish
  • Base piece on both sides
  • Lid
  • Panels?
• Attach hinges
• Consider a rope to catch the lid
• Look into inner shelves

Aside from that, which took up most of the week, progress has been made on the jumper of course. I’ve had to spin 2 or 3 balls of wool to continue with the knitting. I am getting near the bottom of the body, where I’ll start the ribbed edge. The pattern and the wool are a bit tiring on the hands and fingers, so I’m purposefully not speed knitting.

I don’t think I worked on anything else… I’m starting to think about seed-starting for my garden. I didn’t visit the field this week, though I will be delivering the storage box next week and probably planting some more onions. Last visit I noticed the dogwood hedge had started to grow new shoots, which was exciting. Didn’t think anything would be starting this early. Though the garlic is also already starting to shoot, I could see it just poking out of the ground. I’ll probably see another visible step change when I go back this week as it’s been about 10 days, I’ll take some pictures next time. After the storage box is settled in the field, I need to make a second one… I had planned to make two all along, and now it seems like a bit effort. The first box was already such a journey, and it looks much bigger than I had originally imagined. It is the size it’s supposed to be, it just looks big when fully assembled. The second box is to store blankets and soft furnishings for when my campfire gets built… So maybe that could be a smaller box. I was also considering adding some shelves on the inside to segment / organise the storage a bit. I don’t want to buy new materials so still need to figure out what I can repurpose.

Second quick aside, I made some semi-successful bread rolls this week, after a second attempt. I've decided I'm going to do an online bread-making course I found online to understand the theory and principles a bit better. Maybe next week or the week after.

Anyway that’s all for now folks. See you next time.

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