Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Walls are Up (almost)



I started this project just over a year ago. Finally the front and back wall are up and cut to shape. I had about six strips of wood left over.  I mentioned earlier that this wood was Douglas fir, but it is spruce. The curve was cut using a plunge router mounted to a pivot, simple in theory, but tricky. Key to making this device work well was using bronze bushings and drilling the pivot hole absolutely dead on perpendicular.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Long Summer Hiatus and Revisions


 
After a long break, and time to think, I have decided to abandon the idea of the fold-down design. Its just too complicated and I have many concerns about how watertight it will be. So I tore down the back wall and have begun rebuilding it on a rigid frame. I'm also roughing in some of the interior features and figuring out how the potbelly stove will fit..





This shows one of the benches. It is wide enough for two people of modest girth and the bench doubles as storage. The curved back is made from African mahogany. The square hole to the left of the bench will house a cabinet with drawers.