Wood-fired!

Hollow Huon

July 19th, 2008

The cube I made for Jeremy’s 60th birthday present represents my passion for woodwork in general and fine small-scale work in particular. The whole cube is made from some very stable Huon Pine that has been in my workshop for over 10 years.

The whole cube is 65mm (~2.5″) on a side. The “60″ face was done simply by drilling the two digits using two drill sizes.
The top face is based on a design for a shoji panel¹ that is on the cover of a book by Toshio Odate (that I’m still trying to aquire). The elements are 2×3mm sticks of Huon that are individually pared to the appropriate angles and lengths.

For those interested… the angles were cut using a simple paring jig set up for the three angles required.

The stock was prepared by thicknessing a sheet of Huon to 2mm (using a false bed in the thicknesser to bring the stock close enough to the cutters) then ripping with a bandsaw to 3.4mm strips which were then planed down to 3mm using my jig for planing thin stock.

The third side is a simple sun design utilising some 2×3mm stock that was steam-bent using a heavy soldering iron. The stock was soaked in hot water for 10 mins or so and then quickly bent around a 40mm iron. The first batch bent flawlessly but the second lot burned a little as can be seen in the photo. I suspect these may have been soaked for a shorter time. I am very pleased with this design and the bending technique and will use similar constructs for open lids on future small boxes.

The other sides include a 3×3mm version of the shoji pattern, a “J” for Jeremy, and a simple carved southern cross to represent Jeremy’s adoption of Australia in all things other than cricket and rugby (and possibly certain sweet confections).

1. this is a traditional shoji design called asanoha or hemp leaf pattern [↩]

Entry Filed under: Wood