Oiling Recycled Oak

 Watching the sunset over the Gembrook hills after a day of fine sanding and polishing.

The first coat of oil has really brought out the life and warmth in the french oak sideboard.

The timber has such a lovely honey coloured hue.

The contrast of the light and dark with the golden flecks throughout the timber amaze me, you could just look at it forever and still spot character you hadn't noticed before.

The Kallista Kitchen

The clients brief for this kitchen design was classic with simple, clean lines.

We've used a plain framed door, laminate bench tops with fine elements of recycled Tasmanian oak throughout.

The framed doors have been hand painted in a classic cream. The technique of hand painting gives the doors a lovely texture and replicates an older style of finishing.

The kitchen features a beautiful handmade plate rack created out of recycled Tasmanian Oak machined with a very fine moulding.

The clients brief included that she would like a rack made to display her cool old rolling pins.

 The top of the mantlepiece features a nice thick slab of timber to match the other highlights.

All of the details in this kitchen, the hand painted panel doors, the carefully chosen door and drawer pulls, the use of timber for the mantle, the leadblight panels and the elegant display racks combine to create a very unique and beautiful piece of joinery.

A pleasure to build.

Spring time Creations

 One of our very special commissions for an important client in Thornbury. We are currently finishing off is this amazing 6.4 metre long sideboard. It will pass along a side wall travelling between a dining room and a lounge room, through a purposely created window in the dividing walls. 

The length of the unit will connect the 2 rooms and the proportions create the effect of it been a large timber beam laying on its side.

The beautiful timber is recycled Oak previously used for wine barrels, this timber has so many different grain effects and variation in tone, I just love it.

The unit is also a practical place for storage with 6 x wide drawers along its length. 

Some final sanding, a few coats of oil to bring out the grain and this unit will be ready to be installed into the space it has been designed for.

The Workshop

We are very priviledged to be able enjoy this inspiring view looking out from  the workshop.

Turn around 180 degrees and walk into the workshop. This is the space where the timber guides and inspires us.

 

A little about Timber Joints

Here we have through mortise and tenon joints, one of the strongest joints 

used for the construction of table frames. As you can see the vertical piece of 

timber has a hand cut slot chiselled into it enabling the end of the horizontal component to be cut to slide through it.

The joint creates this lovely contrast in grain colour.

 We've used dovetail joints to construct the drawers for this set of bedroom drawers. The dovetail joint represents fine hand skills, patience and are also extremely strong. Commonly used on elegant antique furniture they are rarely seen today.

This French Oak side table is constructed from recycle wine barrel
staves (sides). The joint featured in the centre is a four sided mitre joint which
is 300mm long and finishes into a through mortise and tenon joint.

This view from underneath shows the long mitre joints required to connect the four legs into one before it passes through the tabletop in a mortise and tenon.

You can still see the staining present from the wine the barrel was ageing, this is a real delight to work with and the aromas are sensational.

Picture below show the table fine sanded and ready for a coat of oil.

Even during the first coats of oil you are able to see the amazing grain in this french oak. The wavy light fragments of grain is all of that beautiful fiddleback found in oak.

Reclaimed timber

I love to source old timber like this mixed hardwood framing from a 1950's
house. This is the timber in its rough sawn state, in others words it would have
come out of the timber mill looking exactly like this approximately 60 years ago.

After running the timber through some woodworking machinery and joining the boards we see all of the warmth and spectacular grain appear. As no two pieces of timber are the same this is always exciting and rewarding. 

Beautiful.

Once the timber has been jointed it's ready for final sizing to become one of the components that will make up a piece of work such as this character filled contemporary kitchen in Thornbury, Melbourne.