TimberBits Blog

It’s been raining for the last 3 weeks. Haven’t had much dry weather to finish the roof.

In my depression I went into the workshop to make another piece of furniture.

I wanted to make a display cabinet for a few pieces I have been collecting.

I started with a few boards of Tasmanian Blackwood. I love the process of woodworking where you start off with a few sticks of wood and you transform it to a wonderful (and hopefully an heirloom) piece of furniture.

Front face and side face of the cabinet completed.

Back face done. Only top and back raised panels left to do. Oh also forgot about the sanding. I hate sanding – I think sanding is the worst part of woodworking, but it’s the most important bit. Plus there are the doors to do as well, hanging the doors is the most scary bit of this piece of furniture. Wish I could send the piece away to a professional door hanger. I have night mares about hanging doors. Last bit of the making the piece but the easiest thing to stuff up.

I’m going to make the back panel from a slab of birds eye Tasmanian Blackwood. I have been air drying this slab for over 6 years. It was a salvaged log which was cut up into 8 slabs. Another piece of furniture that was made from the same log had tremendous amounts of figure in it. Can’t wait to rip it up.

I have waited over half a year to get possession of the building. We finally got the keys for the property on the 7th of December. Plans were then drawn up on what we needed to do on the property.

1st job – remove the old asbestos roof and reroof with a new colourbond roof. We had to give work cover the mandatory days to inform them of the work we intend to do.

Roof removal was commenced at 7am on the 19th of December. I was a cloudy gloomy day but that was better than a hot 40 degree stinker. At about 12.30pm when half the roof was removed, the heavens opened up and downloaded 60mm of rain in under 2 hours.

From then onwards, it has been raining on and off everyday. The delay has meant that we were unable to get the new roof sheets back on. I don’t think we will have it on until well after the New Year.

Should of listened to the wife and waited until after the New Year to remove the roof. Knowing my luck, it would of been fine sunny days if we waited.

This Medical, Pharmaceutical and Food Grade, Mineral Oil is food safe for use on chopping boards, bread boards, salad bowls, and all wooden food utensils where you want a natural and safe finish for raw timber.

Because of its properties that prevent water absorption, combined with its lack of flavour and odour, this food grade mineral oil, is an ideal preservative for wooden food utensils, butchers blocks, chopping boards, bread boards, salad bowls, wooden spoons, etc.

Rubbing a small amount of mineral oil into wooden kitchen items periodically will prevent absorption of food odors and ease cleaning, as well as maintain the integrity of the wood, which is otherwise subjected to repeated wetting and drying in the course of use. The oil fills small surface cracks that may otherwise harbour bacteria

PLEASE NOTE: This oil has no fragrance and will not taint or change the taste of food the way some other oils may. It will not go rancid and does not contain lead driers, wax, polyurethane, tung oil or any other pollutants as some others oils.

A FEW OTHER USES

RUBBING OUT A FINISH Use this oil for wet sanding a finish prior to rubbing out a finish, instead of water which will allow the abrasive to cut too quickly. Using this oil will slow down the cutting process and make it easier to get a great, even, result, without as much fear of cutting back through the surface of the finish.

FRENCH POLISHING Use this oil when French polishing as the lubricant for your polishing pad. Because it is a non drying oil it can be left on the surface for a long period of time and will not skin on the surface like linseed which is traditionally used for this process. This oil is also the recommended oil for use with our Hard Shellac as it works much better than any others.

ON METAL – Tools, etc. This oil can also be used as a coating on metal tools, as it is an excellent way to inhibit oxidation. It can also be used on guns and other metal weaponry. When mixed with 1% oil of cloves oil it is used by Japanese sword makers to protect the sword blades.

ON STONE This oil is used to darken soapstone countertops for aesthetic purposes and has similar affects on a number of different
stone bench tops.

CLEANING This oil can be used as a “de-gummer” to remove the adhesive residue left on a surface from price tags, adhesive tape,
etc. This oil can also be used to clean heavier oil stains by diluting and liquefying the other oils, rendering the oils more easily washed away with detergents.

OTHER STUFF This oil has a myriad of other uses including baby oil and much more.

We have introduced the Spring Blossom Rollerball Pen Kit into our range. Introductory Special at only $13.99AUD each.

With the popularity of the higher end pen kits, we have been asked by numerous pen turners to design a pen that has the features of an upmarket pen without the hefty price tag. The pens are large and feature lots of engraving through out the pen. These kits are only a third to a quarter the price compared to other higher end pen kits like the Emperor and Lotus.

If you purchase a kit for over $50, you will need to sell the finished pen for over $150 retail. If your starting point is only $13.99, well then you can get your finished highly engraved kit onto the market for under $50 – a price point that will include the majority of buyer in the craft markets.

These pen kits are plated in Platinum with Gold Titanium highlights.

To keep cost down, we have have decided include a generic Rollerball refill rather than a branded refill. You can still purchase the Schmidt branded refills for only $1 each, and yes, also to keep costs down, these kits they were made in Main Land China.

Large pens and large brass tubes will also mean you will require large drill bits. For these pens, you will require 14.5mm or 37/64? and 11/32? (8.7mm) sized drill bit.

Postage amounts is only $5AUD flat rate shipping (regardless of how much you buy) to the US, UK, NZ and Canada – this is economy airmail and can take up to 20 working days. FREE postage for all order over $200AUD to these 4 countries. Expedient shipping is also available at a higher rate.

FREE shipping for order over $200AUD within Australia.

$12AUD flat rate shipping to most other European countries.

Thanks for looking and I hope you take advantage of this great deal.

We have just introduced 3 new Australian Made pen blanks into our range.

Pixie, Crumble Violet and Pearl Opal. These 3 blanks have very striking colour and would be an excellent complement to your pen range.

Fountain pen Cartridges.

When you purchase the higher end fountain pen kits (eg. Baron II, Sedona and Roman Harvest Pen kits just to mention a few), you will notice that you get 2 additional parts in the set. The first part is the disposable ink cartridge and the second being a Piston Pump Converter.

1. Disposable ink cartridge – use this if your not a fountain pen expert. Just push it in the back of the fountain pen nib until it clicks. When it is empty, just throw away when empty and buy a new one.

2. For the fountain pen connoisseur. Its called a plunger unit. You use it if you purchase your own ink (eg. http://www.timberbits.com/parker-quink-inkbottles.html ) in bottle form. You suck up the ink into the plunger unit. Connoisseurs have their own favorite bottle of ink. The ink comes in different colors and viscosity, you eventually get use to using a particular brand and end up swearing by the product.

To refill a plunger unit, watch this video. The video is a bit dark and poor quality, but it will demonstrate how it is done.

I was asked by a friend to go with him to Vietnam because he couldn’t work out why they could supply plywood cheaper than the Chinese.

Well this is the plywood plant.

As you can see, it like going back into the stone ages.

Logs are loaded in by hand, machines are crude and parts of the machine are homemade. The machine has no guards or safety devices. Notice the open chain and sprockets. If you accidently put your finger in there, kiss it goodbye, no microsurgery in Vietnam.

I hope you find the video entertaining. I certainly found the visit to the factory an eye opener.

In this video we glue the box together using a piece of rope and 8 blocks. I use Titebond to glue the box together. I like using this glue and have been using this glue for box making since it was introduced to me a few years ago.

After we have glued the box together and let the glue set, we sand the box down ready for veneer keys to reinforce the joints.

We have introduced the SN (Senior) Gent Kits into our range.

With the popularity of the JR Gent pen kits, we have been asked by numerous pen turners to design a pen that looks similar to the JR Gents but more suited for the larger stronger men who generally has much larger hands.

These pen kits are available in 2 different platings – 24ct gold and chrome, with a fountain pen or rollerball option.

The Rollerball version features a Schmidt West German refill and the fountain pen featuring a Iridium German Nib.

To keep cost down, we have have decided not to include a fountain pen pump converter in the kits. Yes, to keep costs down for these kits they were made in Main Land China.

Large pens and large brass tubes will also mean you will require large drill bits. For these pens, you will require 14.5mm or 37/64″ and 11.5mm or 29/64″ sized drill bit.

After cutting up the Huon pine logs into veneer flitches, we sent them down to veneer slices at Britton Brothers in Smithton.

After soaking in the vat for a few weeks to get the fibers nice and soft, they were put through the veneer slicer.

We have finally got some back from the veneer plant. What was received was nothing short of specular.

We will start selling these absolutely stunning veneers as soon as we move into our industrial  property. We were suppose to take possession of the building on the 15th of this month but the Chrome plating business that is currently in there is unable to move out until the same date next month.

When we take possession of the building, we need to get someone in to remove and replace the asbestos roof. After that has been completed, the walls and floors needs to be painted, security systems installed and a new glass showroom door.

Its going to be a long hard slog moving into this property. We have hundreds if not thousands of boxes that needs to be moved from my place, my parent’s place, my brother’s place and the various storage sheds into the property. Not to mention the pallet racking and shelves that needs to be installed. We need to do this all while still running a mail order business.

I think I will need another holiday as soon as all of this is completed. I am tired just thinking about it. Anyway back to turning some more pens.