It was the week of the spoke shaver! Blimey, two days spoke shaving the back rest. Such a good workout, and when all goes well, hugely satisfying... A couple of templates were used as aids, but most of it is reliant on touch and look. You would think that slogging away at some pretty tough oak for two days would put you off, but weirdly, the spoke shaver is currently my favourite hand tool.
Another template was used to mark out the corner details. Because the back rest is curved along its length, it needed a flat piece of wood as its base, so when I put it through the bandsaw I can guarantee a square cut to the rest of the bench. More spoke shaving to get that lovely smooth finish, as well as the subtle transition from flat to rounded edge on the top and bottom of the back rest.
A quick dry fit and the curve and joints worked out OK.
Now it was time for the nitty gritty finishing touches, as well as the happy job of clearing away all the MDF jigs that have been camped under my workbench. All the screw holes have been plugged with that lovely dark Walnut... Oh Walnut! It was an exciting week at the timber yard ... milling a big English Walnut, I'll post about that some other time...
So here it is. All the finishing touches, cleaning up and final sanding done. Here's the oiling stages. Oak is one of the few types of wood I enjoy oiling. The colour really deepens and develops a rich shimmer. (Sycamore and with other the light woods, the grain comes out beautifully, but yellows in colour.)
I had hoped to have finished it this week, but my leather never turned up. So Monday - more oiling and, hopefully, adding the strips of dark leather. Watch this space...