The Zero Budget build

[Bakersdozen]

Solid work there dude

[G-Axe]

Getting closer and closer on this one.

I mentioned earlier that I made a meal of the ferrule holes. Trying to drill 10mm holes at 11.5mm spacing was never going to work, and it's taken weeks of experimenting to work out how to best hide it. Here's where I landed.



The swirly block design took a few minutes, but then it took half a dozen attempts and way too long persisting with the 10mm holes to get it right. I tried some merbau scraps and some form of red gum both of which were too brittle, and eventually I landed on a plank of spotted gum tongue and groove flooring.

I used some decking nails as locator pins, and cut an outline with a scalpel thing:



Then, feeling brave, I used a dremel router stand my wife got me for my birthday to freehand the shape:



In hindsight, I should have posted to hog out, but here's halfway:



And at full depth, with a bit of trusty ebony timbermate to fill the wobbly holes:



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[G-Axe]

Incidentally, here's the result of my lesson in router safety:



And here's the spotted gum "inlaid", ready to be sanded back:


My freehand lines aren't perfect, (and that little scar toward the bottom breaks my heart) but my plan is to wet sand with tru oil so the slurry fills the gaps. First pass is promising:



Also, subtle bevels:




Next job, a whole bunch of sanding.

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[G-Axe]

So I decided the bevels were too subtle, so now they're tuxedo bevels. I'm pretty happy with the state of things, so here's the first of many tru oil coats:




Really loving the way the timber looks. It has a bit of a tiger eye shimmer to it, and there's a nice contrast between the golden top and the dark honey of the end grain.

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