What to do with an old rimu dresser… first find suitable pieces. Dodge as much borer and imperfections as one can. But hey it is recycling after all.
For any over seas followers of my projects.. maybe 1 or 2 of you, why recycle this Rimu (pronounced Ream-uhoo) and not just go and get more. Well Rimu use to be plentiful it s not so much the case now.
Historically, rimu and other native trees such as kauri and totara were the main sources of wood for New Zealand, including furniture and house construction. However, many of New Zealand’s original stands of rimu have been destroyed, and recent government policies forbid the felling of rimu in public forests, though allowing limited logging on private land. Pinus radiata has now replaced rimu in most industries, although rimu remains popular for the production of high quality wooden furniture. There is also limited recovery of stump and root wood, from trees felled many years before, for use in making bowls and other wood turned objects.
30 October 2011 – FAIL
The type of glue which I am not a big fan of anyway whilst it holds, it did not not hold the join as good as it should have, the edge is not holding and not sure why. The joins were not as clean as I wanted either… mmmm triangle clamping… not fun… lol. So have decided to get a friend with a table saw to rip a few more lengths and we have another go, and I will do a few things differently.
If I had my own table saw I would rip them myself. But alas I don’t (yet) so therefore I can not, whilst I do have work arounds for many things this is one I haven’t sussed out yet to get a clean (and straight) cut.
8 November 2011
My failed first attempt was I think a mix or errors. But that is okay as that is all part of wood working and it cost me nothing… Ok, thanks to Ken a really cool friend of mine (keep an eye out as we may be doing a project together soon) he was able to rip some boards for me from the pile of rimu I had. This time round I am going to try to do it differently. I thought about it and thought well clamping triangles is right royal pain in the “Be You Tee Tee”. So have come up with a plan for that as well (hopefully.)
Not only the dowl, but the way I cut the sections this time are much better. Each section is exactly the same size, which should make a perfect triangle. It will also make it look tidier overal. Don’t know why I did do this in the first place. This could be one of those projects that the failed attempt was for a reason to make this final 100% better.
9 November 2011
Today is basically just glue the the bass to the actual board. Believe it or not I need another 3 F-Clamps…
Before gluing I tex screwed the 3 corners, then gave a pretty darn good sanding. Then glued and clamped. The main reason I tex screwed this was because there was a dirty great hole already in one of the corners. The joys of recycling.
Anyway while that was drying off I went upstairs with a handful of tools.. then back downstairs to get the ones I forgot…
11 November 2011
Templates for where the holes are going to go. That’s a lot of drilling. Took a bit to get the spacing. But now should be pretty even(ish)
Lets see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5×2=10. 10×6=60. Round your section of the board twice is 60×2=120 which is a standard cribbage board. The three games in the centre well one is obvious Tic Tac Toe. The pyramid is a quick game. The game to the left is 14 holes and can be used to invent a game (this is what its all about) . Could be used for scoring could be used as a brain teaser, basically anything you want…
Once holes are drilled. More sanding… and maybe a bit more after that. And then varnish of some description. Now then off to buy pack of cards and some golf tees as pegs and you have yourself a game board (technically speaking) and it is made out of recycled wood. To finish off get some felt stuff from Spot Light and maybe make some feet… will see how it goes.
12 November 2011
Over all I am happy with it, just not 100%. I would do a few things differently if I was to make another. Using the recycled wood, was well, you can never get rid of all the imperfections, sand out one, only to sand into another borer dwelling… But that was also expected. The Drilling of the holes by hand cordless drill I should have technically made a jig and used the press.
Just needs a varnish of some description and maybe a lid. But it is still a pretty cool little project.
14 November 2011
I decided not to put the Tic Tac Toe cross hairs on as I thought it would look tacky… I dunno. Anyway first coat just plain old varnish, and it brings out the reason why we love Rimu so much. Has a beautiful grain. Even if this is recycled wood.
Two coats. Now this project may have seemed it took a while in reality it may have only been 5 hours work in the actual making of it. Was fun, and even though it is recycled wood and you can still see some defects, and even though I stuffed up the first one, it was a bit of a challenge thinking of how to fix the issue of clamping a triangle, and do the dowel in the joins.
Overall I had fun…
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Sliding Compound Mitre Saw. Cutting most of the lengths and mitring.
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Scroll Saw. Cutting out the backing and part of the middle section.
Table Saw: Friends table or bench saw to rip a few more lengths of recycled rimu. (Thanks Ken) -
Belt Sander. Ummm sanding off paint. Needs heat gun.
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Orbital Sander. Ummm finer sanding.
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Mouse Sander. Even finer sanding
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Cordless drill. (both of them) One with pilot drill and one as a screw driver for tex screws..
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Strop Used on second attempt to hold the pieces together while glue dries.
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Steel rule. measuring stuff
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Hole Punch: Marking drill hole points.
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Hammer: Marking drill hole points.
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Craft Knife: Cutting Felt.
Extra Materials
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Golf Tees
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Playing Cards
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Stick felt sheet.
Would have like to have had.
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Table saw: Whilst didn’t need one, it would have been nice to have to rip more boards without asking for help. It is the one thing I haven’t been able to come up with an alternative and still get the clean cut. (I am not that good with hand ripping…)
