Illustrations By Simon Rodway
hese bookcases were made for a regular client who also commissioned four partners' desks see pages 50 and 56 . They were ordered at the same time as the desks so the planning and design was done before my move from Yorkshire to Shropshire. The actual making was done some time later so the time lapse and the distance from the client made careful notes and measurements essential The client lives in a beautiful market town in the upper reaches of Teesdale in North Yorkshire. His substantial 18th...
Main Illustration By Ian Hall 1
ABOVe The challenge of batch production - but a more than satisfying result The second of the two-part project to make four partners' desks first stage in this small batch production of partners' desks, we are now ready to move into the final stages. The plinths are made from 16mm by 100mm in by 4in pieces, with an ogee moulding cut on the top edge with a router. The pieces are cut to length and mitred on the radial arm saw, and adjusted by hand, where necessary, on a shooting board. I used a...
Door And Drawer Pulls
I turned a batch of sixty or so pulls for all the doors and drawers. As I don't do a lot of turning I find it important to really standardise and repeat each action. I find the sizing tool from Craft Supplies invaluable and have at least two set to the relevant diameters to get them spot on. A piece of hardboard with the profile on one side, and the positions for marking the major cuts on the other, is also very helpful. I always do extras for matching and insurance.This leaves me with a box...
You rang
How to make a butler's tray drinks cabinet WHILE 'RESTING' between orders some years ago I decided to make a speculative piece on the lines of a butler's table, examples of which I had seen in antique shops -they are made up of a large tray, designed for the butler to carry to and from the pantry, which fits on top of a side table. The sides of the tray are hinged so that they can be locked into an upright position when the tray is being carried. These special spring-loaded hinges are known as...
Llustrations By Simon Rodway 1
Side, showing recessed brass handles Originally conceived as travelling chests for the military, they can make attractive storage pieces I found the prints and worked out the measurements from what I remembered, and what I could deduce, by scaling and measuring the photos I made an English military-style chest in oak Quercus robur several years ago for a client and when he rang to ask for another one, to be an exact copy of the first, I was pretty confident it could be done. I went to find the...
Acknowledgements
Turning the raw material which I supply into the superbly presented articles in F amp C magazine is achieved by the hard work, charm, courage, humility, unarmed combat skills and psychological warfare proficiency, of all the staff at GMC. They are all a pleasure to deal with, from Jill who womans the phones - delightfully, to Paul who emperors the universe - masterfully. I'd like to thank them all individually - Alan Phillips for the money, Paul Richardson for getting me started and guiding me...
Safety And Security
I tried to imagine all the things which could happen - fire, electric shock, minor and major injury, break-in and so on, deciding what I would need to do, and what I would need to do it with in order to deal with the situation. Then I thought of what I could have done to prevent it happening in the first place Fire - precautions, extinguishers, alarms Electrical - cut-off switches, notices, correct fusing, first aid and immediate action training for shock Medical - first aid training, medical...