Publication OTM – Handmade Furniture Projects

To kick off a new “***** of-the-Month” topic, I have been meaning to have a “Publication of-the-Month” segment, and there is a significant amount of products out there worth highlighting (many already in my library!)  this section is called “publication” and not just “book” because I intend to cover magazines, books, DVDs, woodworking plans etc, so didn’t want to have to limit what can be included.

This month, I received a copy of Handmade Furniture Projects by Rafael Nathan at the recent Brisbane Woodworking Show, so that will be our first cab-off-the-ranks!

It is published by AWR, and is part of their series of “The Best of Australian Wood Review”. Written by furniture designer/maker Rafael Nathan, this book contains 23 furniture and woodworking projects, complete with both metric & imperial cutting lists, colour photos and instructions.

Projects in the book include:

Each project is comprehensively covered with photos of the final product, an exploded isometric, dimensioned drawing, written decriptions of the steps, and plenty of colour photographs to illustrate the techniques and details as required.

Wonder if I would ever be able to make that bow?  Looks interesting (although I hear that it took a couple of goes to get one that could take the tension 😉 )

Quick Toy Prototype

Materials for Project: $1

Tools for Project $substantial!

Total manufacture time: 12 minutes (inc wheels and axles)

Tools used: Bandsaw, Linisher, Drill Press

The feeling from making a wooden toy for a child (especially your own): $Priceless

For everything else, there’s Chinese mass production (and lead based paint)

Toy Car Prototype

Some fine-tuning required to get it looking a bit better, and on the real model all the edges would have a fine round-over bit.  Axles are thin wooden dowel, but should be pretty strong.  Wheels were cut using the original 40mm Carb-i-tool wheel cutter.  The entire construction is wood (and a little glue).

First tests of the prototype were quite promising.  More ‘testing’ required though before relinquishing ownership! (Because they are fun to play with!)