Projects of Hans Linkels

These are the projects of Hans Linkels jlinkels@rnw.an who is from Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles which is a small island in the Caribbean, about 200 kilometers north of Venezuela.

"Since I collect old (technical) books I was in desperate need of some additional storage. The new book cabinet had to have glazed doors to protect the books from dust. The design might be a bit unusual with side surfaces which are flush, but I needed that because in the future, I might have to build a second one which is to be placed adjacent to this one."

"This was my first real large woodworking project, and I spent about 350 hours on the construction, including finishing, and the overall construction time was exactly one year. A lot of hours went in the construction of trial pieces before I dared to do something on the original version."

"The back of the upper cabinet is divided into four smaller areas by two crossing intermediate
rails to limit the size of the panels."

"The wood is Honduras Mahogany, which is about the only decent and decorative wood I could get in this place. I bought the wood as rough lumber and used about 100 board feet of it. The large disadvantage of this wood is that it contains so much wavy grain that it is absolutely impossible to plane with a hand plane. After I glued up the panels I therefore had to smooth them with a belt sander.

"The drawer bottom panels and the back panel of the upper cabinet consist of re-sawn and glued panels of solid wood. The joints of the side panels of both upper and lower cabinets and the drawers are all hand dovetailed."

"The lock on the door proved unusually hard to get. I ordered the most heavy and large lock which I could find at Rockler.com, but it turned out to be something Taiwanese better to be used on a doll's house, not on a solid wood book cabinet. Therefore I designed  catch myself from brass. It was mainly turned on a metal working lathe, and polished afterwards with sanding paper down to 1500 grit and rubbing compound."

"Eventually the entire cabinet was finished with three coats of polyurethane varnish."

"I started only recently with woodworking, mainly because I hate the quality furniture and toys which is being sold in most of the shops. The high chair was the first hardwood project.

I constructed the chair from South American Mahogany which seems to be perfect for this purpose, but I think any other hardwoods would do as well.

It is important that the wood is not too lightweight though. A lot of the stability comes from the weight of the legs, which are not too much slanted: 5 degrees on the front and the sides, and 8 degrees at the back.

All joints are mortise and tenon joints. I attached the table with two "L" formed pieces of wood to the arm rests, and the position is fixed with a bolt running in a nut in one of the "L" pieces. I finished the project with 4 coats of poly-urethane varnish."

If you wish to communicate with Hans regarding his plan or other matters pertaining to his projects, please email him directly at: jlinkels@rnw.an"

"I constructed this box of Mahogany which was left over from the high chair. The dimensions are 200 x 200 x 200 millimeters. The sides are dovetailed, bottom and top are rabbeted and glued onto the sides. The box is finished with poly-urethane varnish, and the lock I filed from a piece of 2 mm brass "L" profile."

"This toy car is made of Jatoba (Red Locus). I was able to buy some beams and cut-offs of this wood from a near-by construction project.

The design resembles a vintage Ford A, and the dimensions were derived from a number of pictures on the Internet. No joinery is used: all joints are simply glued, and I used dowels to keep the parts aligned during glueing. The wheels were turned on a regular metal working lathe, and fixed onto a solid axle of 12 mm diameter which can turn freely in the chassis. The car was finished with 3 coats of poly-urethane varnish. Overall length is 430 mm."

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