"We Live Like Castaways" and the art of design

The majority of this topic is largely based upon the musings of David Pye, creator of the bowl at left and author of The nature and aesthetics of design. I'll pull some quotes from the book and just ramble on about what they mean to me; all while I wait anxiously to hear what they mean to you. Hopefully we won't go off the deep end!

I'm probably not the first nor the last to stand on Pye's shoulders and expand on his philosophy, but I'll do it anyways. I just hope you get as much of a good kick out of the book as I do.

Just a Shelf

Nothing too fancy here today, just a small shelf built out of some 18 gauge mild steel I had on hand. I needed a shelf to get my music player off of the workbench. This is one of those things that shows you don't need all of the fancy tools to get something done - it just might take you two hours instead of 20 minutes.

The Almost Cube - Nail it Down

Everything should be in place now to join the two pieces that you've labored over for hours and hours.. There's one problem, the top fits just inside the cube... If only we could weld some tabs in place to support the top and allow for seasonal wood movement at the same time....

An easy step by step and metal finishing techniques after the jump.

The Almost Cube - Topping it Off

Last but not least - finishing and installing the table top. The fat lady has sung, and now it's time to finish this. Literally, we need to apply the finish.

Don't despair, the clown striped wood on the left is the bottom. The light and dark contrasts are from the heartwood and sapwood variances. This is why it's on the bottom. I'll show you how to decipher all of this after the jump.

The Almost Cube - A Close Shave and a Flat Top

Caul: [kawl]

noun 

A form or plate for pressing a veneer or veneers being glued to a backing or to each other. Origin- French [cale] shim  

It's finally time to glue that nice, flat walnut board stock into something that resembles a table top and not a potato chip. This should be easy, right? Not so fast - there are a ton of options and techniques to get it done right, unless you like Pringle shaped table tops..

Clamping with cauls after the jump.

The Almost Cube - Walnut and Wood Glue

It's time to make some sawdust and spread some glue to create the walnut top.  Create is a good word to use when woodworking, because, unlike steel, you aren't just welding and grinding and pounding on it with a hammer.  Wood has a mind of its own, which varies from cut to cut, species to species.

Because there is a lifetime of things to learn about working with wood, we'll cover the basic stuff, emphasizing how it relates to American Walnut, our chosen species.

The Almost Cube - Steel and Sparks

The Steel

It's been a long hiatus since the last post on this table - but - we can finally get to cutting some steel now that you've bought yours and it's been waiting to get sliced like a smoked ham at Christmas.  The 'best' way to do that is using one of these: