We had a great week away in Cornwall, not far from the Camel Trail and managed to cycle a good 95% of the main route with Matt. The possible downside was there was no internet where we were staying and so the planned blog entry was missed. On the way down to Cornwall we stopped at Yandles woodworking show, which was as good as ever, and purchased a small bench top bandsaw for the woodcarvers to use. Hopefully this will be a little less intimidating and safer for some of the members to use on some of their smaller projects.
I received a brilliant personal profile from Steve Cox together with a photo of himself with exposed knees, and his recently constructed birdhouse, main subject of his profile. See Below:-
Hi I’m Steve. I got to know about the club via Jim, who is an ex work colleague – I’m also a retired ex-Chartered Surveyor. I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands (so why did I spend 33 years working in an office?!) and am very much into D.I.Y. and old cars/motorbikes. I joined Bowood about 2 years ago, with little experience of Joinery, and everyone has been very helpful guiding me through the intricacies of dovetail joints and the like.
The birdhouse in the picture (for small birds, not pigeons) has taken me several months to complete. It’s the second set of floors (three), the third set of sides, and the third pole.
The floors I screwed together and cut in the band-saw, but each side varied between 151 and 156mm so I cut each side to suit the portion of floor to which it was attached. The sides were also screwed together and cut on the band-saw, so they are exactly the same length, and each side is angled at 22½ degrees so they meet. When I put it all together, the sides didn’t level up because the pole was twisted, as was the second, as was the third, which we put through the planer and straightened up, after which it went together a treat.The roof is plywood, covered in lead, which I had left over from another adventure. The finial is an ex-Wickes post top.
I go most Thursdays – it’s a nice way to spend a day, in a superb location.
Jim's carvings and woodwork 