I bought this old lectern, most likely originally from a church, from the reclamation place in Three Holes.
The guy that runs that place asked for £50. I believe I paid £25. It was in a pretty sorry state. Evidently it’s been outdoors a good long while.
Made of oak. It’s been heavily weathered. Some of the timbers have dried out, bowed, and even cracked.
Before removing the standing platform.
Originally, or at least when I first got it, it hated a kind of platform, for standing on, when at the lectern. I didn’t like this; it made the whole piece both unwieldy and space-consuming.
So the first thing I did today was cut that off, and use a part of it to strengthen what remained, and became the new and smaller footprint.
I decided I’d try and rescue this, my recent first attempt at a bevel-plane.
Before addressing the damaged sole, I tidied up and enlarged the waste vent, above. After that I thought about how I could retrieve this tool. A wider angle on the sole, perhaps?
Marking up for the new wider sole.
I also used my second more successful bevel-plane to knock the edges off the first one. I think the results look fab!
I then used my Kity table saw to cut the new wider angle on the sole. There’s still a wee bit of visible damage on the sole. But it’s tolerable.
I’ll need to make a new iron and wedge for this one, soon.
I learned about this particular combo’ thanks, I believe, to James Wright, of YouTube channel Wood by Wright. It’s his go to method for finishing most wooden stuff.
Googling the subject ‘linseed oil paste wax’ this morning brought in a result from lostartpress.com, whom I also learned of via James Wright.
My bevel-plane is now finished. It took two attempts. But I’m happy with the overall outcome. It works!
Functionally finished.
In attempting to finesse the overall form, I screwed up. To correct the mistake I wound up passing the body through the drum sander multiple times. The resulting tool is thinner than originally intended.
The cutting zone…
Another nice view, above. Not sure how or when the dent in the sole, on the right side, occurred. Hopefully it’ll disappear over time, with use?
Having tested it at Shedders & Fixers, where I got the f-functional essence f-f-finally f-f-f-finished, once home, I used it to finish off the mallet I recently made for our pal, Yanni (must post tomorrow!). The pics above attest to it working as intended.
Shavings…
I love the results so much I took the mallet outside, for a photo-shoot! Yielding the images below:
Having used the bevel-plane on Yanni’s mallet, I tried it on my oak mallet. It was harder to use, cutting into the denser oak. But it still worked. It would doubtless benefit from further sharpening, to get a slicker cut in hardwoods. But it still did the job, much to my satisfaction.
I adjusted the iron, to cut a little deeper into the oak. That was a bit dumb! I should’ve dialled it back, if anything, and done the deeper bevelling in several passes.
Buy it still worked, albeit hard going, and not the smoothest cuts. But the tool basically works. Result! Plus you live n’ learn; the whole build process has been both fun and highly educational.
I finished today shaping both the body of the plane, and the wedge, to add a little finesse (!) to the overall look. It’s not all that funky looking. But I’m very happy with it.
I reckon I’ll make another, and bigger, when time allows.
Every now and again something catches on this chandelier light, and sometimes that cause a bit of damage. I’ve already had to repair one dangling set of ‘crystals’.
It’s now happened again, but affecting a different strand of ‘crystals’. So today I fixed it.
Making new links… and string the ‘crystals’ together.
Finished. In both off and on states. Much better! It’s always satisfying, in a Loki way, getting jobs like this done.
A little while ago Sally, at Shedders & Fixers (poss’ at Chloe’s suggesting?), asked me to do this shopfront.
It’s part of some local Wisbech arts project, about which I know next to nothing.
Anyway, it’s turned out to be both more time-consuming and yet more fun than I’d anticipated.
The above images are from Monday. The local mayoress visited! The pics below are from later in the week, up to and including yesterday.
And today (Sunday), I installed the ‘glass’. I think I’ll prob leave it at that?
MONDAY
It’s now Monday. I’m off to S&F soon. Can one discern that I lightened the bricks and skates a touch? I also photographed the final piece at an angle, trying to capture the ‘glass’…
I reckon that’s it now. Enough is enough! And hopefully it’s fit for porpoise? I have t added any brand specific shopfront lettering. Will that be an issue? I hope not!
Having butchered my first attempt at a bevel plane, I’m trying again. This is gluing up the new one. I didn’t take many pictures of the building process, sadly.
The new bevel plane.
I cut all the internal parts in advance this time. I’m a bit miffed I didn’t snap these steps. Hey ho!
Old and new.
The first one was walnut and white oak. This second one is keruing and white oak.
As can be seen above, the new bevel plane is going to have a bigger, deeper cutaway. I cut the 45° angles on the two side ‘cheeks’ in advance. These can function as guides for cutting into the central oak segment.
Wish I could put the blade in the new plane.
The central oak segment is slightly thinner this time. The wedge from the first plane fits. But the plane iron is a fraction too wide. I’ve been sanding it down like Billy-oh, but I’m still not quite there yet…
