Here is a box I have just completed. It is made from a piece of Tasmanian Blackwood that was lying in the scrap box. Why the scrap box? Well, it really didn’t look like there was much colour for interest. It was just a nondescript tan. It is nice wood to work, and stable (I have used it as infill in planes), and hard.
I splashed on a little Danish Oil, and suddenly the wood was transformed into the most gorgeous array of colours. These photos do not come close to doing it justice.
The purpose was to built a presentation box. Here it is… the join is so hard to see that it looks like a solid block of wood.
The present is actually a couple of chip carving knives. One is She-Oak and the other is Jarrah.
These are the first chip carvers I have made. They are for a chip carver. I hope they are OK. I have ground and honed the blades to a single bevel. They are Razor Sharp.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Replies
Derek,
Exquisite, absolutely EXQUISITE!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Derek,
Your knives and presentation box are as gorgeous as my chip carving knives are big. Now that is a compliment. The lines on your knives look to be very comfortable. The presentation box is beautiful.
I had limited myself to pine, oak, walnut and maple for far too long. In the past year I have worked with padauk, canarywood, claro walnut yellowheart, purpleheart, etc, and am enjoying it immensely. I just carved a bowl out of canarywood and put some oil on it and the colors and grain jumped out, just as it did on your box. It sure feels good when that happens.
Keep on posting. Your work always gives me new ideas and motivates me to try something new. I will make a fine box for my normal set of chip carrving knives to sit in. There is not enough wood in the world to make a box for my big knives. They hang on the wall when not in use.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Derek -
That's a beautiful piece of work! Ain't it amazing what can be done with a few pieces from the scrap pile?
Here's a chisel box I made a few months ago - also from scraps. I prefer a sliding top since I'm prone to losing tops like yours. - lol
Great box, Dave. I don't recognise the make of chisels. What are they?
Of course, if I were to begin keeping all my chisels in boxes, and ones as nice as yours, I'd be spending all my time building boxes and nothing else (no, don't ask how many chisels!). :)
Regards from Perth
Derek
G'Day, Mate -
If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll confess that those are Buck chisels. I have another box for my Stanley chisels. The other box is about 25 years old and looks like it's been used, abused, and mistreated..................because it has. - lol I have another box similar to the "new" chisel box that holds all of my 1/4" drive sockets, ratchets, etc.
I've never been really into the expensive chisels. Mine get an occasional touchup using the scarey sharp method on a piece of manmade countertop material with some automotive wet/dry sandpaper. Not particularly elegant, but it works fine for me.
How is everything in Perth? I have a Zippo cigarette lighter with an engraving of the HMAS Perth. I won it on a bar bet with an Aussie sailor in Hong Kong sometime in the late '60's. Actually, I only think that it was a bar bet. There was quite a bit of booze involved; time has faded that memory, and it's accuracy has always been questionable. - lol
A Bar in Hong Kong ;-) Wouldn't have been the China Fleet Club ??? Oh, the memories you have aroused. I was there about the same time. The Aussie ship I saw there was about the size of a US Destroyer.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
It might have been, Bruce. My 36 years of wedded bliss since those days have (in the interest of self preservation) driven those memories (and most of the specific details) deep into the recesses of my (alleged) mind.
I have vague memories of drinking with Aussies and Limeys in several Asian ports , but my favorite memory is a drinking bout with my own brother. We were in Subic Bay and I saw my brother's ship pull into the carrier pier. I called over there later that day and we arranged to meet at the Acey-Duecy club before we hit the beach. When I (and 4-5 of my buddies) got there, he was there (with 4-5 of his buddies). We hoisted a few as a tuneup for the evening and then crossed the bridge into Olongapo.
As we walked off the bridge, some genius suggested that we have a beer in every club and see how far we could get. The rest of us agreed that it was a splendid idea and the journey began. IIRC, about half of us made it to the East End Club and started the trip back toward the base. Our merry band of idiots dwindled as the quantity of beer increased - or as the lassies became even more attractive. I dropped out soon after we made the turn for reasons which will remain unsaid. - lol
We both wrote home about meeting up in the Phillipines, but left out many (most, actually) of the details. A few weeks later, I got a letter from Mom which included a clipping from the local paper saying that we had met up there.
Several months later, we were both home on leave and Mom said something about us getting together and asked what we did. Before we could make up any serious lies, Pop gave us "the look" and said something about there not being much to do in those foreign ports. He also swore to Mom that the coughing fit he had was caused when he swallowed something "down the wrong pipe". - lol
Oh Yes! Olongapo! The carnal pit of wayward sailors. By the way did you eat any of that very tasty BBQ from the street vendors ? I loved it, and then found out it was monkey meat. And would do that again, good stuff. Oh, while crossing the bridge did you through coins into the sewer river for the kids to dive after? I regret doing that now. Luckily I didn't have to hide anything I did from my Mother.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Actually, I did eat quite a bit of that BBQ and really liked it. One of the bar girls swore that it was really beef or pork stolen from the base.
Oh yeah, I tossed coins to the kids - although many of them had net baskets on the end of a stick.
After one cruise, I was going on leave as soon as we tied up so I got stuck manning the rail when we came under the Golden Gate Bridge. Several people were on the bridge watching us come in and as we passed under, I yelled "Hey sailor, throw me coin". The skipper ordered silence over the 1MC...............but he was trying not to giggle while he did it. - lol
One of my shipmates was a Phillipino who had enlisted in the USN from near Olangapo. And he is the one who told me it was Monkey meat.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
It certainly could have been, but after several San Miguels, it all tasted like chicken, anyway. - lol
Derek
Very nice. The knives look very well balanced, and are beautiful as well. The Taz Blackwood looks very much like our Texas Mesquite. It is also very hard, but very beautiful. Tom
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