Projects of Anthony Simpkin

These are projects from Anthony Simpkin anthony.simpkin@ntlworld.com of North Staffordshire, England,
United Kingdom.

"I got into turning pens and I think that nearly all my relatives has a pen now. Here are a couple of pictures of the various pens I've made in various woods and combinations."

"I made a pair of pens in Irish bog oak for one of the men with whom I work, the bog oak was found close to where his father was born, so he was thrilled with the pens, the case was done in Thuya burl."

"I turned a set of Jewelry, ear-rings and a necklace, for one of my daughters in East Indian Rosewood. This was a trial in minuature turning, very fiddly."

"My other turning project was a chess set for my son, I decided to make the design smooth and modern looking."

"Finally here is another clock I made. I used Australian Silky Oak and Honduran Mahogany. I presented this to the rig as a prize for their annual raffle. The mahogany was an offcut I got from someone who was refitting a bar and had a piece left over."

"My father-in law, gave me one of those digital weather stations, which give the temperature, time, air pressure, etc.  So in return I made him one with old style dials. It's made of mahogany, boxwood, rosewood and cherry pieces glued together. I then cut the combination board to shape and cut a 10 degree angle to the bottom edge which I connected to a base of cherry. Cut holes for the various dials. There is a clock, barometer, hygrometer and thermometer. He was well pleased with the result."

"My other project was a jewelry box for my daughter's 18th birthday. This is made from mahogany and cherry, the bases of each compartment lines with baize. I made a simple box then cut a hole into which I fitted a drawer, inside the box I fitted a divider and an extra lift out compartment. The little drawer pull was turned from a piece of Tasmanian eucalyptus burl. When I presented it to her the box had rings, pendants and necklets in each of the compartments so each one had an extra surprise."

"A friend asked me if I could make him a gate. He's building a high wall to form a Victorian style walled garden and wanted a gate to suit. We decided on Iroko for durability. I picked some up at my local wood yard and started into construction.

Nice wood, but not as easy to work at the other woods I've used. I built the gate with a rounded top, all mortice & tennon joints using urethane glue (he lives near the sea and this stuff is supposed to be seawater proof). I routed out his house name "WESTGARTH" using a set of letter stencils. Stained the name with a 'gel stain' and added a bit of Mahogany moulding as contrasting decoration. He was very happy with the result, and I learned a few more things during the job. One thing was that a gate 6 ft 6 inch tall by 3 ft wide by 2 inch thick is very very heavy."

"When I was buying the Iroko from the wood yard, I noticed an offcut of wood with an interesting grain pattern. I was told that the wood was KURA, I'd never heard of it before, but I thought it would turn nicely, the guy gave me the piece to try it. Every year at work we have a raffle in aid of charity, so I decided to turn a pen and pencil set in this Kura and donate them as one of the prizes.

The wood was easy to cut on the bandsaw, easy to drill, but unfortunately when I started to turn on the lathe, with my usual enthusiasm, it shattered. It seemed to be very brittle. I managed to turn a nice pair on my fourth attempt. I then made a box from a piece of cherry wood, mainly using my router to shape it and bandsaw to cut it. Several coats of wax and 'elbow grease' manage to get a nice finish to the box."

"This is my version of a Shaker Mantle Clock. I received a "free download" plan from an online e-zine and modified it slightly to fit the hardware I had on hand.I used the same cherry floorboarding that I used for the bookshelves. I resawed and thicknessed some down to 12mm & 6mm on the bandsaw & planer/thicknesser. The 12 mm I used on most of the construction, the 6mm I used for the drawer sides, back & bottom. Two pieces, the top & bottom I left full thickness (22mm), and ran through the router with a coving bit. The back door is a 6mm sheet of MDF. I used dolls house hinges I got from a model shop.

The clockface is a ceramic tile with the numbers already on. I was intending to put a brass knob on the drawer, but I'd recently bought a lathe and hadn't really "had a go" yet, so I turned a couple of small knobs. The first one split when I tried to fix it with a screw from inside the draw. The second one I predrilled with a larger pilot hole, it didn't split. I coated it with one coat of the cherry wax, and two coats of clear wax. Didn't want it as dark as the bookcase.

A quick buff up and that's it. Another first, first clock, first go on a lathe. I'm getting to enjoy this woodworking stuff. Wish I had more time spare to do more of it."

"Last Christmas my daughters gave their grandfather some books and his comment was that he now needed somewhere to keep them. A big hint I thought. I was going to make a bookcase from pine boards but then I got a good deal on some 22mm thick cherry floorboarding from E-bay so I decided to use that.

I selected some of the boards, edge glued them with biscuits, cut them to size, planed and sanded them. Cut housing joints (dadoes) in the sides to take the shelves. Made the back from more planks of cherry, rabbeted it to fit the sides, glued it all together. Gave it two coats of cherry wax and then one coat of beeswax which I left to dry then buffed up to give a low sheen.

I decided then to personalise the bookcase by adding a small detail - I carved his initials, coated them in black wax, glued these to a small semicircle of cherry which I then attached to the top with glue and one biscuit for added support.

By this time it was close to his birthday, so I gave it to him as a birthday gift. He was pleased and his books now have pride of place on his new bookcase."

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