In the (real) Workshop with Julia Dunnit

I wonder if you'd like to have a quick look at some of the work I did last week. At work. Rather than at my lovely, warm, well equipped, quiet desk with a CHAIR. Look away if you're bored by shop talk!

We spent a few minutes in the 'other shed' selecting some oak. The shed should really be called a 'wood store', but somehow just isn't up to such a title! We 'ripped' the oak on the 'big saw'. You know, the one that is really scary.  That oak was then pushed through the four sided planer and joined a huge pile of already planed Sapele, waiting to be turned into something.  Now this is where I excel, everybody. A big pile of stuff that needs a fairly straight forward action to reduce the pile of unfinished and therefore create a pile of finished. It gives me enormous satisfaction to see the 'pile goes down/pile goes up' thing. Literally seeing my achievement I guess! So, Mr Dunnit removes himself from the picture and I put each length of timber through the Spindle Moulder. Another fast turning cutter, this one set up to add a profile to to the top and face of the timber. Mr Dunnit has already determined which is the best face for the moulding (and we've stacked the pile appropriately) and so I'm masked and ear defended and doing a routine...bend, pick up, feed, three paces left, retrieve, bend, stack. Three paces right and start again. Yes, it is mind numbing after an hour or so, but it's also very free-ing. I think over everything, sort out my mental lists, consider meals, holidays, craft ideas..you name it. And when it's finished...I've helped!

In the meantime though..scroll back to the picture of the scary saw...see the oval window in the background? I had no input into that. Likewise, I had little to do with this bathroom vanity unit..because I was busy ripping  planing and moulding about 3 miles of architrave. Sounds better than saying that the skilled work is done by Mr Dunnit whilst I do the labouring, don't you think!