Ten Times Table

In my last blog posting I highlighted the fact that I hadn't been out and about much over the Winter months. Now that it is Spring I have been out even less (Thank You Covid-19). I was hoping to bring you some stunning wildlife photographs and videos, but I am afraid not.
I have however been keeping myself busy during this "lock-down" by doing a bit of woodwork. I hadn't done proper woodwork (other than a few bits of basic DIY) since I was at high school........ which was many moons ago.
About 18 months back I started attending woodwork classes on a Tuesday evening at the local high school and have really enjoyed it. I have made many different things, but mostly I have made tables of some sort, so I thought I would share my table making experiences with you:

1. Oak Table/Bench
My first table was really made as a bench, but we use it as a table in our conservatory:

Bench or Table?

Side View showing Wooden Nut

Rustic Oak Table

End View showing Joints

It is basically three pieces of Oak that I bought from B&Q, roughly shaped then joined together with a few simple mortise joints, with additional support provided by a cross-beam made from an old piece of banister. I fashioned a couple of wooden nuts to go on the ends of the cross-beam to make it look a bit fancy and then applied the "rustic" look by attacking it with an angle-grinder? A drop of natural finishing oil and some beeswax and hey presto! a table strong enough to be a bench.

2. Ash Plant Stand Table
My second table was a bit more delicate, made from a piece of Ash I bought and some old legs I had from a rustic stool (also in Ash). I turned the legs down in a lathe to make them a bit fancier and attached them to the top using split, circular joints with a hardwood wedge.

Plant Stand with Fancy Legs

Small Ash Table/Stand

The hardest bit was trying to get the four legs to look the same, but it was good fun on the lathe. I also enjoyed using a router to give a sculptured edge to the table top.

3. Spitfire Wing Coffee Table in Elm
While browsing in the timber yard at Scottish Woods (near Oakley) I came across a plank of Elm which I thought looked a bit like a Spitfire aeroplane wing.
I bought this plank and started to form the shape I saw in it, which left me enough wood to also make the sides and a shelf (it was quite a long plank!).
This was definitely a return to my 'rustic' period and not at all like the delicate plant stand I made of Ash, but I reckon it turned out pretty good:

Spitfire Wing or Surf Board?

Spitfire Wing Coffee Table

Front View Showing Construction

Lovely Grain and Colours

I retained the 'waney' or natural edge to the table top, cleaning off any loose bark using my trusty angle-grinder, making a few extra 'waney edges' where required. I really love the gold, brown and green colours that occur naturally in Elm and simply highlighted them using a natural oil and beeswax finish.
This now has pride of place as our coffee table in our living room (I had planned to sell it but Moira wouldn't let me)

4. Boat Shaped Table in Elm
My sister liked the Spitfire Wing Table so much she asked me to make an occasional table for her which would sit between two chairs. She gave me rough dimensions and I headed back to Scottish Woods to see what off-cuts they had in their timber yard shop.
I found a chunky piece of Elm which I thought looked a bit like a racing yacht, so I bought it along with a couple of pieces of Elm to make a base. I thought this would be ideal as my brother-in-law has a naval background (more frigates and destroyers than racing yachts though!).
I trimmed up the boat shaped wood and made a base that looked a bit like a boat stand, I even made a keel for the boat.

Boat-shaped Occasional Table

Side View showing Stand and Keel

Stern View

Bow View

My sister and brother-in-law seemed to like it, and even offered to pay for the wood, my labour and creativity came free (which was a fair price!).
I was starting to think that Elm was my favourite wood to work with.

5. Pine Workbench
This was a 'no-frills' practical table to use as a workbench at home and all the wood was sourced from B&Q. I got the vice and fixing bolts online from Amazon, so overall it wasn't very expensive.
Basically it started by measuring the space in front of my shed (where it would sit) and sketching what I thought it should look like, then making a simple drawing of the workbench:

Drawing of Workbench Construction

This allowed me to work out sizes of the main items of wood that I had to purchase. I then did some more detailed drawings of how the vice would be held in position and the main timber joints, which meant I could order up the fixtures and fixings I required:

Vice Fixings

Main Joints

Then it was only a matter of getting the materials, cutting and drilling the wood and throwing all together.............. Simples!

Pine Workbench

Workbench Top

Shelf Added

Finished Workbench

Finally it was only a matter of moving the blue cupboard shown in the photos and sliding the workbench in to position.
The workbench has been well used since I made it last year and it has allowed me to do more elements of my woodwork projects from home.

6. Hairpin Leg Table (Elm)
I offered to make a table for my son and daughter-in-law to hold their fish tank when they moved in to their new house......... which was only fair as I had left behind their original fish tank base in London when they moved house.
I reverted back to my old favourite of Elm for the top, but instead of making the legs I ordered up some hairpin legs from Amazon. Once again it started with a basic sketch/drawing of what I thought it should look like:

Drawing of Hairpin Leg Fish Tank Table

It had to be big enough and strong enough to support a 40 litre fish tank (which weighs approx 50kg when full of water) but high enough to keep the top away from the prying hands of a 2 year old. It also had to have a shelve to hold all the electrics associated with a fish tank.
The finish product looked like this:

Hairpin Leg Fish Tank Table

Fish Tank Table

Elm is such a lovely wood

Once completed I tested it by sitting on it with my massive 65kg weight and it didn't fall apart. That was a testing factor of safety of 1.3 which I thought was perfectly adequate.
I forgot to get a photo of the finished table with the fish tank on it; but I can assure you that it was well received and still does the job it was designed for.

7. River Table
Never knew what a river table was until the teacher at my woodwork class mentioned that he would like to make one someday. Had a look at them on-line and thought.......... "that's quite simple, two pieces of waney-edge wood with some epoxy resin in the middle" ..........how difficult could it be?
As it happened it turned out to be the most complex table I had made so far.
I started by getting a piece of waney-edge wood (Elm of course) that I could cut in half and I ordered up some epoxy resin compounds (which were way more expensive than the wood!). I watched a few videos on you-tube on how to make a river table, which started with the construction of a mould (which had to be water-tight):

River Table Mould

The two halves of Elm were clamped into position in the mould, then I had to mix up the epoxy resin, which was tinted blue using colour pigments. The epoxy resin hardener was added to the first batch and then poured in to the mould (if the resin is too deep it overheats and doesn't cure right, so you need to have several pours)

River Table after First Pour

After about 12 hours you reach "stage B" were the resin if firm but tacky and you mix up some more and do a second pour:

River Table after Second Pour

Luckily I only needed two pours, so after 48 hours of curing it could be removed from the mould:

River Table Removed from Mould

Now the hard work begins!

After hours and hours of sanding (over a period of several days) and the table top was almost finished:

River Table Top almost finished

Next I had to make some legs for the table, designing them so they didn't interfere with the transparent part of the table (i.e. the river):

River Table Legs

Legs designed to match River Table

Finally the legs were attached using wooden dowels and glued in to position.
I then had to finish the table top using very, very fine sandpaper (2,000 grit!), followed by an application of yacht polish and buff up using a car polisher.
I think it came up rather well:

River Table Finished

Finished River Table

River Table Close-up

I was quite pleased with this one, it now has pride of place in our conservatory.

Table 8: Spalted Beech TV Table
My next door neighbour asked if I would make a small table for her to hold a small flat-screen TV so she could watch it in the bedroom. She offered to pay for it but since she had just given me her old lawnmower (which wasn't that old and much better than the one I had) I agreed to do it for nothing.
I visited my usual timber yard and found a lovely piece of Spalted Beech which I thought would make a great table top. I also bought some Ash to make the legs.
This was a relatively easy build and I thought I would make it a bit less chunky that some of my other tables by tapering the legs and curving the top.
The final product looked like this:

Table for Small TV

Spalted Beech Table with Ash Legs

The Spalted Beech has a great Pattern and colour, which is attributed to a fungus living inside the tree as it is growing. It doesn't harm the tree and the wood is just as usable as normal Beech:

Spalted Beech Pattern and Colour

Spalted Beech Pattern and Colour

A quick application of beeswax, a buff up and the TV table was ready to go:

TV Table Finished

Spalted Beech and Ash TV Table

Needless to say my neighbour was quite pleased with her new table.

Table 9: Graeme's Desk
I had a piece of Spalted Beech left over from the small TV table I made for my neighbour so I thought that I would a little desk/table for my grandson to use.
It had to be small enough for him to use with his little chair, but rugged enough to take the treatment dished out by a two year old.
Here's what I came up with:

Spalted Beech Desk

And just to prove it fitted his little chair:

Graeme's Desk and Chair

Spalted Beech Desktop on Oak Legs

Once again I was pleased how the Spalted Beech top polished up.

Table 10: Elm TV Unit
Arguably this was a bit more than a table as it has shelves and a drawer, but some tables have drawers and some have shelves, so I think it qualifies.
This was designed to replace an existing TV unit (you know the kind with metal legs and glass shelves) and it was quite challenging to build.
Firstly let me show you what I started with:

Two Planks of Elm

Yes it is two planks of Elm, and I also had a block of Ash to make the legs.
So I had to draw up a design that could hold the TV, Sky Box and DVD Player (I know very old school) and also make best use of the materials I had.
Here is my initial sketch of what I wanted:

TV Unit Sketch

From this I was able to roughly mark out what I wanted on the wood and draw up more detailed design drawings:

TV Unit Front View

TV Unit Plan View

TV Unit Joint Details

I was now a position to mark up the wood and cut to size, shape, drill, plane, make joints, etc. Most of which I done on the large saws and other equipment at my weekly woodwork class, with some little bits and pieces done at home.
The TV Unit was just starting to take shape when "lockdown" was announced and my woodwork classes were cancelled!!
This made things a bit more tricky.
I wanted to finish this project so I created my own little workshop; which was basically a combination between my shed, a bit of our garden and our conservatory. I had most of the equipment I needed, albeit smaller and less powerful than those at the woodwork class, but I did have to order up a router from Screwfix.
I fitted and glued all the bits together that I had already made and then faced the challenge of making the drawer. I had never made a drawer before, let alone one with dovetail joints, but I had a go:

TV Unit Under Construction

Making good use of the Conservatory (sorry Moira)

Dovetail Joint on Drawer

The proof of the pudding was that the drawer didn't fall apart and it fitted in the hole I made:

Drawer in Position

Once I had made the drawer and fitted in place the next task was to complete the table top and fit it to the unit. Luckily I had cut the top to size at the woodwork class before I finished up, it was just a matter of sanding it down and finishing it off. I wanted to give the top a profiled edge, hence the reason for purchasing a router; so I chose a profile cutter and after a few test pieces I worked on the table top:

TV Unit with top fitted

Profiling of edge on table top

I was surprised how well that went, it was good little router I had bought and it was relatively easy to use. All that remained now was to finish sanding the unit down, then treat it with some natural finishing oil and beeswax to bring out the colour and grain of the Elm:

TV Unit Finished

Even the drawer looks good

All that remained was to changeover the glass and metal TV unit for a shiny new Elm and Ash Unit:

TV Unit in Position

Very pleased with the final result, although it took a good few weeks getting there.
So that is my Ten Times Table.................. but I haven't just produced tables in the last 18 months................ I also tried my hand at a few other woodwork activities.
I did some turning on the lathe:

Small Birch Bowl

Birch Cake Stand

I also made some wooden animals:

Wooden Giraffe (you're having a laugh!)

Nativity Animals (for wooden people to sit on)

More Nativity Animals

Woodland Creatures

The Nativity Animals were for my son, daughter-in-law and grandson to create a nativity scene. Once my daughter-in-law had painted them (and the wooden people) they looked spectacular, must ask her to send me a photo of them.
Oh! and I also made a wooden Vannie for my grandson to play with:

Vannie at the paintshop

Wooden Vannie

Some chimp in a convertible almost ran into me!

That's all Folks!

Hope I didn't bore you too much
I promise a return to views, wildlife and a bit of history soon (hopefully)

Cheers

Teddyedward

Only a Winter's Tale

As we say in Scotland "it has been a very dreich winter this year" with lots of wind and rain and very grey skies. Subsequently I have not been out and about as much as usual.
It isn't that I am getting too lazy to throw on my anorak and get out there, it's just that on the odd occasion I have ventured out there hasn't been much to see. The strong south-westerlies  and the rain has put off a lot of the migrants from visiting us, especially those from Scandinavia. I haven't seen one Fieldfare or Redwing and birds like Brambling and Waxwing seem almost non-existing in my local area.
This however hasn't stop me from birding............... I just do it even more locally................ from my kitchen window as a matter of fact. So I will now bore (or delight) you with some of the characters who have ventured in to my back garden. First up is a little gem of a bird, often seen flitting about in the undergrowth and hence very difficult to photograph......... ladies and gentleman I give you the Wren:

Wren on Birch Tree

Hanging Upside-Down

Upside-Down Again

That's Better

I even managed to capture this Wren on video (no mean feat):

At the other end of the size scale is everybody's favourite (not) the elegant Woodpigeon........... or as some birders call them, Goshawk Fodder.

The Woodpigeon

Did Someone Say Goshawk

You lookin' at me?

I won't show you a video of a Woodpigeon, simply because they are always either chasing each other to mate, or actually mating!
Here instead are two of their prettier (and slimmer) cousins, a pair of Collard-doves............. (being watched curiously by a Robin):

Do you want more Robin pics?
Okay you win:

From the Side

Face the Front

That's it! We have the Xmas card photo.

I have to confess that these Robin photos were not taken in my back yard but during one of my rare trips out this winter. They were taken at Pepper Wood near Kirkliston using my old steam-powered Canon camera; and that was about the only bird I saw that day?
This Robin video was however taken in my back yard:

Another little bird that dots about the ground looking for scraps to eat is the Dunnock, which can often be seen below the bird feeder picking up bits of seed the other birds drop. When on the grass or under the tree it is surprisingly well camouflaged:

Dunnock on Grass

Dunnock, still on grass

It is quite an inconspicuous little bird, but it does have a great singing voice in springtime. Here is a little video of the Dunnock below the feeder (not singing):

A very thorough search for scraps I think!
Another regular ground feeder is the Blackbird, we often have two or three in our garden, and when there are two males they spend more time chasing each other than feeding:

Male Blackbird on Shed Roof

Male Blackbird on Decking

Male Blackbird below Feeder

Here is a short video of a Male Blackbird having an argument with a Starling, caught on my trail camera:

My money was always on the Starling; they usually have a few dozen friends around should they need to be called upon, as the following video demonstrates:

Different Blackbird at the Starling party this time, younger male, slightly browner and with less pronounced orange eye rings.
I love Starlings (probably told you that before) they are so full of character; they always check out the Starling nest box we have on the tree at the side of our house but seldom nest in it. They are great impressionists as well, I have heard them imitate Curlew, Buzzard and even car alarms. Here are a few snaps of some:

Starling on Nest Box

Starling in Tree

Starling on Bird Bath

Having a Drink

Checking for Blue Tits

The number of Starlings certainly swell in Winter, we often see flocks of 50 or 100 flying around the houses.
Another regular Winter visitor to our garden is the dainty Pied Wagtail, but we only see one or two of them. They don't usually visit us in the spring and summer months:

Pied Wagtail looking for food

Pied Wagtail n the grass

They are a bird that seems to be comfortable on the ground, walking around looking for insects or scraps of food to eat, they soon fly away if you open the door though:

Another Winter visitor we can rely on is the Siskin, but we have only had one or two coming to the feeder this year:

Male Siskin on Feeder

Male Siskin on Apple Core Feeder

Male Siskin

It is hard to get a sense of scale from these photos; so if you have difficulty in distinguishing a Siskin from a Greenfinch (for example) this video probably is more helpful:

That's a male Greenfinch on the left and a female Siskin on the right if you are still not sure!
Here are both sexes of Siskin for comparison (with a female Chaffinch at the start):

I understand that Greenfinch numbers have been down in recent years, but we always have a healthy number of them visiting our feeders in Winter:

Two Male Greenfinch

With the dark mask around their eyes and a serious looking beak I always think they look quite menacing. They certainly are very protective of any seed they find:

Our feeders are quite well attended in the Winter months; by far the most populous bird we get on the feeders is the Goldfinch, there are usually about a dozen of so of these birds visiting at any one time:

Goldfinch on Feeder

Goldfinch waiting to get on Feeder

Still Waiting

Finally, a space is available on the Apple-core Feeder:

Space at the feeders is always hotly contested.......... when you finally get a perch you spend so much time defending it you never get a chance to eat.......... as this time lapse video taken on my trail camera demonstrates:

Some birds just bide their time and sneak in when all the others are scared off by someone passing by; such as this patient female Chaffinch:

Female Chaffinch waiting

Male Chaffinch on Feeder

House Sparrow on Feeder

Female Chaffinch still Waiting

She did eventually get some seed.
Well that's just about it for my Winter Tale, but I can't go without featuring our all year round regulars............. firstly the maniac of a Blue Tit that roosts in our birdbox and chases every bird (no matter what size) away from the feeder:

Blue Tit on Birch Tree

Are you in my territory!

Here he is patrolling his territory making sure no-one has sneaked in when his back was turned:

And the one you have all been waiting for........... Backyard Personality of the Year..................... Duncan the Carrion Crow (with Duncanson of course)

Duncan the Carrion Crow on Fence 

I am Duncanson actually!

And here they are in action with their award winning performance:

That's all Folks!!

cheers

Teddyedward