Make your own furniture wax.

I've always wanted to make my own wood finish and so when a local beekeeper friend of mine gave me some of the fruits of her bees labour I thought I'd give it a go. I found a recipe in a dusty old book, got out mums best pans and started concocting!
So here are my two chunks of beeswax, they weigh approximately 50g each and smell like sweet sweet honey...






Just like you were melting down some chocolate place a glass bowl on top of a pan of boiling water and slowly melt the wax. It may take a little while but its best not to rush it.












After a while it will become a liquid that fills the house with a sweet honey aroma (resist temptation to drink it!). Once it is liquid it is time to add some white spirit, the ratio is 1:1, millilitres to grams so approximately 100ml. Slowly pour it in, stirring as you go whilst still on a gentle heat. If it starts to solidify instantly then crank up the temperature a little till you've added all the white spirit.






Before the mixture solidifies pour it into an old jam jar and put the lid on. It should take a couple of hours for it to cool down and harden and then it'll be ready to use.
This is a great way of using local a ingredient to simply make something useful and it has the benefit of not containing all those horrible chemicals of commercial furniture wax. Its homemade wax finishing from here on in for me!






Sustainably onwards,

The Wood Fashioner

Help keep our furniture waxed... sign the petition to save the bees: Global Bee Emergency Petition

The transformation continues!

So, where were we? My last post finished with me gluing up the poor old bed slats into a wider board. Which, after a bit of sand looks like this! Now I have a board which is approx 36" long and 6" wide, a lot more useful than the narrow dirty planks that I started with.









Next step is to get creative with the jigsaw and router! First I made a template for the shape I wanted out of a piece of scrap, then used the router with a template cutter to copy the shape onto the bits I'd chopped out of my glued up board. As you can see I managed to get six pieces out of the glued up board so this will be enough to make 3 small bookshelves. The shape I've come up with means that the shelves will be stackable should you wish to use them for other purposes other than books ie. spices, herbs etc..





Another grimey old slat, which will form the back and base, and we're on our way to nearly finishing the bookshelf. A sand up and quick chop in half and we suddenly have a back and a bottom for the shelf!












So here we have all the pieces that will make up this wonder of wood work! The ends have had mortices cut into them that match the profile of the bed slats.











...and with a swing of the mallet and a prayer offered up to the gods of tight joints we have a mini bookshelf! Cutting the mortices at the correct angle along a curved edge was somewhat of a challenge but, thankfully, it all lines up and fits snugly.
Look out for the final installment of this epic journey for these tired old bed slats where I will glue it together, put on a suitable finish and laden with books!





Sustainably onwards,

The Woodfashioner

The Wood Fashioner makes his online debut!

Happy New Year and here's to a healthy 2011!

In January I am going to be moving into the online sphere, admittedly with some trepidation! I will be adding some original designs to online shops Coriandr.com and Dawanda.com, these are both forums for crafts people where you can buy, sell and learn, and there is some outstanding talent on them! You will be able to check out my designs and purchase them if they tickle your fancy.

Along with twitter, facebook and my website (ready at the end of Feb) I'll literally be all over the place. I am always up for some feedback or interaction so don't be afraid to get in touch. When the website launches in February along with it will come the Bespoke design section where you will be able to see one off commissions that i have undertaken and get inspired to get something made to your specifcations.

So from the Wood Fashioner to all of you out there, have an Originality Reclaimed 2011.