Things have been pretty quiet from this end - but all for good and exciting reasons. I've been cooped up hunched over a computer for my next project, and it's a biggun! Snippets and teasers to come soon enough. But there's no excuse for not having updated this blog with my last project - the TV Console. The brief was for a self-contained TV Console to consider wires as well as existing furniture in the clients home.
Cumbrian Oak felt like the obvious choice of timber for such a stylish home. As the side of the Console will be seen from the stairs, along the corridor and in front of the TV room door, the design revolved around this vista. Using vertical slats, reminiscent of the Macintosh style, a back panel to hide any wires was incorporated into the look, but still retaining an open appearance.
The details definitely threw in some challenges , but overall this was a joy to make. Becoming completely absorbed into a piece on the workbench is something I'm very much missing right now, 5 months later.
To keep the design simple and open looking I decided to do away with any rails and use the thickness of the shelves to create tenons and join the whole piece together. The legs are set splayed outward, so when cutting out the tenon the octagonal join had to be cut at the correct angle. The legs had to be mortised with an angled jig. A bit tricky and with its fair share of head scratching, but massively satisfying when it all came together. Over extension of the edges of the shelves around the legs meant I could mark and plane them back to meet the corners of the octagon later on.
