Bandsawn Castles

One of my work colleagues bought one in for me to have a look at. I have a book with plans for a few, but had never seen one in-person before, so thought I’d put some photos of it here for you as well.

This one starts off as any other lump of branch, with a few bandsawn squiggles running through it. (The base is cut off initially, and glued back at the end.) The timber is Tasmanian Huon Pine.

Here you can just make out that the cuts have been made at a slight angle – 1/2 to 1 degree or so.

When you open it up (basically by tipping it upside down), the castle suddenly appears! (The windows have been burnt in with a pyrography pen) What I like is different layers of the castle have different amounts of extension, because of the variation in the angle they were cut. Very clever and effective!

This last view is from the back, just to give you a better idea on how it all works.