yunika.dk » Accessories

Upgrades to my Japanese tool collection and making knifes

tmk — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 21:39:03 +0000

It has been quite a whiles since my last post. I've started working again so I have less time (and desire) to sit in front of the computer when I get home. But I've been doing a lot of projects over christmas and before - I think I have 10+ projects that I would like to show you! My latest thing are making knife handles for damascus steel blades that I've found on eBay and the likes. This particular example is currently in process and the images are from last Friday. I recently broke the blade for my "cut straight" japanese saw so I have ordered new supplies from my friend with japanese connections. So instead of just getting a new blade I also got a coping saw (which I used for this project), two chisels and a new marking knife. The funny thing is that the blade arrived from India on the same day - and then I just felt like playing around with the new tools. What I have basically done is to take a piece of ebony and cut it through in arcs and gluing it back together with veneer inside each cut. Interresting and clearly hand made - looking forward to showing you the final result.

Fixing up the knife that i got from my grandfather as a teenager

tmk — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 22:35:04 +0000

When I was a teenager I remember me and one of my school friends being fascinated with knives and we even started making our own ones (of cause never finalized). My mother was extremely affraid of my with tools and knifes so I wasn't even allowed to have it anyway. When I became a "boy scout" and got the "knife certificate" I was allowed anyway and when my grandfather found an already old knife in a dumbster and gave it to me as a gift. I was thrilled! Of cause it wasn't really sharp and the blade was almost black already then. Then a month ago in my workshop I realized that was missing a real knife - simply for cutting wood and shaping edges - and started considering buying one. Then I remembered my grandfathers old knife and crazily enough I even knew which old box to look in to find it. I'm sorry to say that in my eager to work on it I forgot to take a picture of the old knife - but I'm very pleased with how it looks today! I replaced the old broken blade with new one made of mahagony and then i sanded and polished the blade until I could see my own reflection in it. I re-found my childhood fascination with "knives" and has started looking for damascus steel blades on eBay. Making the handles are small managable projects that can be completed quickly and can be done even when you are tired. My next problem though is getting it razor sharp - even if the guys on YouTube says it's easy - I do not agree - its hard and another fresh challenge. Original blade after a little polishing - the blade looked like the bottom before I started. Gluing the handle. A little more shape. Finished handle close up - quality German steel. Finished knife and blade.

Size really does matter!

tmk — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:26:54 +0000

While being very satisfied with what I've built so far in my tiny workshop in the kitchen I've found that it has limitations. Working on pieces longer than 60-70 cm is a hazzle due to the limited space around me and the dimensions of my workbench! On a happy night out I promised a friend that I would make him a picture frame for a poster - we're talking 80x60 cm or bigger and I was confident that it wouldn't be a problem! While talking to another friend he challenged me: "make it as thin as possible" - and that's what I set out to do:

Create a picture frame 80x60 cm with a frame as thin as possible.

I took out my sketchbook and started drawing up lines for the joins - and I even did so in 1:1 as I knew the size limit would be 2 cm in width. So with high spirits I started with the saw, the planes, the ... and found that my workbench will only handle wood at lengths of 80 cm if I added another dog hole and had the vise turned out to its limit - and the edge of the workbench is so close to the fridge that planing the pieces was like "oops there is the wall" and then doing it again - but I got there... At least until I started doing the joins. The outer parts (the dovetail) is along the grain of the wood and was fairly strong, but the outside pin on the inside... So little wood and so much tension. Bottom line - after completing 1/2 of the joins they where all broken - and when I started doing an alternate version the wood itself cracked!

I think I was feeling a little bit hopeless but carried on...

I had the wood but as one of them was broken I cut the other piece in halves - and changed my strategy for the joins. I was down to a frame size of 60x40 and it really made life easier on the workbench. I completed all the joins and the finishing work in a short evening - and it looks great and still has the finesse of the "Touch Me" series even if the joins are not dove / fish tails. For the glass I wanted to use a piece that I picked up a couple of months ago on the street. It was enough for two frames that size - so I set out to cut the glass on my kitchen floor. The first one cracked because I didn't have a soft enough surface underneath - I fixed that! The other one was perfectly cut... but was 2 mm too wide!

Guess what happens when an amateur glass cutter tries to cut off 2 mm excess glass on a kitchen floor?

If you didn't guess he yells our "DAMMIT" at 11.47 P.M. in the night! The aftermath is that I need to acknowledge the physical limitations of me and my workshop - or change them! In a couple of days the people in the neighbourghood will leave stuff on the street as trash and maybe I'll get lucky and find another piece of broken glass - and Kasper will get his (smaller) frame... In action [caption id="attachment_329" align="alignnone" width="770"] "L” of the frame.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_331" align="alignnone" width="770"] Planing the pieces succeeded and least it looks cozy in the workshop :-)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_327" align="alignnone" width="770"] The ones on the right - thats the ones that broke![/caption] [caption id="attachment_328" align="alignnone" width="770"] The glass for the frame - before it cracked![/caption]

Softening the edges

tmk — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:25:55 +0000

One of my central ideas for the "Touch Me One" furniture series are the contrast between hard edges on the inside and very soft and smooth edges on the outside. I want the pieces to be tactile, delicious, beautiful and loveable. When I worked on the chair I chose to complete it as raw prototype without softened edges. Its main purpose was to let me see how the proportions work in real life. For the footrest the purpose has been to test shaping the soft edges and making a piece much closer to something real and finished. Soft meets hard In the process of planing the edges. One side A finished raw side of the footrest. The raw pieces All the raw finished pieces almost ready for glue and assembly. A little helper I made this little helper when I was cutting the dovetails - an adjustable ruler with screews allowing me to set it to a specific depth and just mark a line. I think it took 45 minutes to make and literally saved me more than 2 hours of measuring. Tool construction is an essential part of woodworking!

A systematic approach – design and templates for the footrest

tmk — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:00:27 +0000

When I was building my first chair I was amazed that I used a lot of time just measuring and drawing up each piece on the wood - and I didn't even know if the visual ideas would work out in live size. Inspired by my skills as a programmer and a logical thinker I set out to solve the task systematically and faster - without loosing the fun. Still sketching up the pieces in 1:10 and 1:5 on paper - but instead of drawing 1:1 sizes directly on the wood I drew it up on cardboard and cut the pieces. It allowed me to draw up the pieces on the wood much faster but also let me test the "shapes" and their harmony and composition without actually building it. I think it removed some "stress" from the building process as I didn't need to "run" towards the final product to see if it worked. Furthermore, it helps control the process while building - dividing it into smaller bits. Sketchbook, design and templates Template detail on cardboard Templates cut out Testing the shape