After a couple of days trying to piece together something to turn the altar’s columns (and one very bad experience with a wood blank coming off the lathe’s spurs mid turning!) I’ve got something that works and which I’m dubbing the “Frankenlathe“.
After making all the pieces and carefully fitting everything together, the final feet for the altar in in place … And, I’m quite pleased with how they turned out.
While most of the altar is being made with 1½” lumber, there are parts of it that will be ¾”, so Adele and I needed to resaw some of stock into thinner slabs. I was really grateful for the help today, as balancing such long lengths by myself would be very difficult.
I think I’ve already mentioned the challenge of building an 8′ altar in a space that’s 9′ wide … When adding the structural cradle today, I was very glad of the nice weather so I could roll the work out into the back alley and complete it without the studio’s space limitations.
… and they’re right—There are never enough clamps for a project. Although the altar’s bottom corners went together incredibly well, getting an even pressure on each glue seam takes a lot of setup. I’m now wondering if the studio may need to invest in additional clamps before the project is done.
It’s been a long search, but today I finally found the most beautiful stone slab for altar’s table outside Calgary.
Mocking up the altar’s structure (and holding it together with straps.)
Loading up all the lumber needed for building the structure of the altar (with my wife’s car!)
One of the problems I’m facing in making this altar is my need for more space. Currently, my woodworking space is only 9 feet wide, and with the altar being 8 feet wide, I needed to devise a way of getting around it. My solution was to build a table for the workshop that I …
After letting the structural wood dry over the weekend, I’m faced with a significant problem. Every length of the lumber I prepared has twisted, warped, and bowed (as you can see from the winding sticks, which should be parallel but definitely aren’t!) While I could probably pull the wood straight using lag screws, this wouldn’t …