Coat Rack

After only just noticing that me and my partner have an ever increasing pile of coats laid across the top of our shoe chest in our hallway I thought the time has come to make a coat rack. I wanted to make something quick, simple, different and interesting. It didn't take me long to cut and shape something out. I chose a dried 30mm thick oak board with an attractive grain pattern. I shaped the corners different from each other also for something unusual. This is what I came up with:

Once sanded smooth I decided on only oiling the raised face side of the oak and the outside edge. A clear wax coat for the rest of it. The idea being a darker warm coloured face sitting on a lighter back. As if the front has been fixed on after.

I had this finished and waiting to go for a good few weeks while trying to find some hooks to use with it. I didn't want to go for new, bright and shiny hooks in a light finish. I was more looking for old, patina, worn, dull. At the start I was thinking a distressed bronze but after seeing a few examples I thought the golden bronze would not suit the look I was going for.

So a darker finish was the way forward. Many charity shop visits and car boot sales later nothing seemed to appear.

I had a massive stroke of luck when speaking with my partners mum about the hooks. She had an old coat rack in the shed with hooks matching what I was trying to find.  They were perfect. I could finally finish this small project that I though would take maybe two days to make, find hooks and put up. It was more like 6 weeks.

I gave the hooks a little scrub in some warm soapy water and dried them off thoroughly before mounting them. I decided on placing the hooks unevenly again for something different. And finally the finished project (before fixing to the wall) photographed by my partner Louise. (See her blog here http://www.dearestjackdaw.com/ )

Bench refresh.

I was asked by my partners Gran to take a look at her garden bench as she was worried about it collapsing if someone sat on it. Sure enough it wouldn't have taken much for it to collapse under a little weight. The bench itself had two cast iron ends with wooden slats bolted to each of the ends. The slats were rotting at the bolts which meant it was not very safe at all. On top of this many of the slats had been replaced before, but only with softwood.

So I obviously said I would sort it out for her. I didn't want to have it collapse with her sitting on it one day very soon. I showed her what the problem was with it and she gave me permission to do what I wanted.

I had no doubt that Oak would have looked great with the black cast iron ends.

We were invited up for a lovely roast dinner at the weekend so I thought I would get the bench done while we were there and this is the result:

Looking fresh, bright and new. It has made a massive difference to the overall appearance and strength using Oak. I used new stainless steel dome headed bolts and used a wax coating on the end grain to seal it up a little. I left the rest as it was as the oak I used was green. I just scrubbed it with a hard brush and some warm water. I used green oak as the bench is always going to be outside in the elements,so with no finish applied the oak will not require any maintenance and will turn a lovely silver over the years.

I am very happy with the way it has turned out and now safe in the knowing that my partners Gran will have a solid garden bench to sit on with friends while they enjoy the sunshine and the garden.

Mallet!

I have been looking for a while now at getting a nice wooden mallet for fine chisel work instead of using a heavy hammer. While on my search for a decent mallet it seemed that all I found was either way to over priced for what it was or very cheap and tacky which and would fall apart after a few projects.

So I decided to make my own! That way I could make it to what I wanted it to do and what I wanted it to look like. I had a rummage around it my stack of small oak off cuts and found a nice chunk of kiln dried 4x2 and a perfect piece for a handle.

I started by cutting the head to size and giving it a 5 degree angle on each end. I took the handle piece and a plane and started to taper it gradually testing the grip until I was happy with the thickness. Next came the measuring and marking out as the idea was to make a mortice right through following the exact sizes of the handle and ensure a perfectly tight fit. I marked the center of the head, top and bottom and sent a 4mm pilot drill through the make sure the hole was straight before sending a flat wood bit through to remove most of the waste.

Next job was to clamp down to head and begin the chisel work to remove the rest of the waste wood and to form the tapered mortice. Once I got to the inside edges of my marking lines I began testing the fit regularly to keep on top of the perfect fit I was after. It wasn't long before I was happy with the fit.

I grabbed a bottle of wood glue and a rubber mallet and placed to head in a vice and roughly worked out where the glue would need to be placed on the handle to sit inside the head. I applied the glue to both pieces and started to tap the handle down from the top until it wedged firmly inside the head piece. The fit was perfect and didn't really need and glue but it is in there anyway for added support.

Waited a few hours for the glue to set before taking some sandpaper to it and taking off all the edges and corners. A nice small coat of Danish oil to bring out the grain and a small amount of wax after it dried finished it off nicely.


 This is the finished mallet :

I am very happy with the result, the weight is just right and it looks a hell of a lot nicer than everything else I was looking at. After a few weeks of use it is still perfect. Still looks brand new and still solid.

It was an easy tool to make which I urge people to try making themselves instead of purchasing those on sale at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure many on sale are fine and perfect for the job its meant for just in my mind they just didn't work for my personal tastes. So why not try making one!? A basic tool kit and knowledge is all that's needed. Plus it will surely add to the satisfaction of using a tool you made yourself to complete a project!!