Every now and then I look at a piece of wood and think, “I wonder what’s inside?”
Last year I made a replica ship’s cannon and a George the Sixth post box. The year before I made a replica tractor seat, all out of wood.
I had a piece of roofing timber left over from a building project, so I looked inside. This is what I found.
A spare roof joist, 2.66m long.
Working out scales and ratios.
Marking out. Have you worked it out?
Cutting out.
Using the waste from the first cuts as templates for the other half. The Green Man on the bench under the window at the far end looks on in awe.
Blankety blank.
Adding a twist with a Draw Knife (followed by flat and curved Spoke-shaves).
Finished shaping.
We like the quirky and unusual, so rather than put a clock or barometer in the middle, we chose a Moon Clock …
to be surrounded by an imitation boss. Marking out positions for eight fixings.
I thought these pipe end caps would make splendid dummy bolts.
I was right.
Hole cut through the middle so I can change the battery, and the whole thing stained with a nice light teak to match the rest of the wood in the house.
TI (Trial Installation) in the garage as a proof of concept.
The only place in the house where it could possibly fit. I think Polly the Mexican Parrot approves.
Like I said, we like quirky and unusual. When I found a few bits of leftover plumbing, I used them to make a brace of brackets by tapping them into the wall.