A Japanese timber framed garden shed

[GRadice]

Both doors are now fit. I'm very happy with their motion.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Lv5XlKzfe-w

If anything they slide too easily but that will be dampened when I add the weather stripping and have extra mass when I install the glass. That should happen next week.

[r3nov8or]

Nice!

[GRadice]

I've been working on a potting bench for the shed. The goal for this piece is to mostly use up scraps from around the shop or construction grade timbers, make it sturdy and durable, draw bored M&T joinery, minimal glue or metal fasteners. Not particularly Japanese esthetic except for being simple. The base is done and the top will be done this weekend.

The legs are western red cedar, rails and aprons are Douglas fir. The top is laminated from a mix of boards from my stash that were too gnarly for furniture but fine for this. It includes black cherry, butternut, sycamore, white oak, and madrone. Plywood shelves will drop in the rebates in the rails.

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[r3nov8or]

Love that top!

[GRadice]

Top is fit to the base, plywood shelves fit to the rails. Still need to sand and finish the top, tack down the shelves with bamboo pegs, and make the border boards for the top that will keep the dirt and mess confined.

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[GRadice]

Potting bench is done. I oiled the top (commercial linseed oil, pine rosin, beeswax, citrus oil mix) and milled, joined, and finished the border boards. The border boards are giant chinkapin, an uncommon wood even in the USA because of its narrow distribution along the Oregon coastal mountains, down into northern California, and up into Washington states. Its properties are usually described as being between chestnut and beech. I got several boards from a friend.

https://www.wood-database.com/giant-chinkapin/

It worked wonderfully but was a little plain. I added a little repeating decoration made with a square hole punch.

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I'm leaving it outside until I finish the floor, but it will go against the end wall by the window.


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[Optimark]

That really looks too good to start throwing pots and earth around, but like a new workbench, once the first nick or scar is made, it doesn't matter.

I've never heard of Chinkapin, the link was interesting; to say the least.

I've been following this since the start, its been a great journey.

Mick.

[GRadice]

Yes, I actually think it will look better once it ages and gets dirty. The wabi sabi esthetic is what I'm after but that takes time.

Here is a better link to info about giant chinkapin:

https://owic.oregonstate.edu/giant-c...s-chrysophylla

[Optimark]

Thanks, that is certainly a link with more information.

It would seem that this species is virtually irreplaceable due to the slow growth, among other things.

From seedlings, 6 to 18 inches after 4 to 12 years, plus its life expectancy appears to be somewhere around 500 years, with maturity seemingly measured in centuries.

The fact that honey from the flowers is thought to impart a bad taste to honey; at least the timber in the form of your furniture looks magnificent!!!!

Mick.

[GRadice]

I've been working off and on around summer (for us) travel with friends and family. The latest project is to make three sash to fill in the transom spaces above the window and doors.

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My original plan was to make lattices for the sash to provide extra light and ventilation. But the more I thought about it the more I thought that would be superfluous, and look too busy, and be more work than I wanted to take on. I also had one more clear vertical grained cedar board from the stock I used for the doors. So I decided to fill the spaces with frame and panels. Here is one dry fit. The others will be identical.

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[GRadice]

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[GRadice]

And one better pic of the finished panels trimmed out.

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That is it for the shed project this year. I still have to plaster the walls, make the permanent steps, and put in a finished floor but the cold and rainy season is about to start here so I'm going to shift to a furniture project for the next few months. I expect to be back to the garden shed in April.

[r3nov8or]

Thanks for all the updates!!

[mic-d]

It's beautiful and very wabi sabi. It's a tribute to your skills and persistance.

[GRadice]

Well, one more little task before I wrap up for the winter. I am making some screens for the gable end lattices to keep flying creatures outside. These are bronze mesh on Port Orford cedar frames. The frames have glued bridle joints at the corners. To make the screens removable I'm mounting them with three bamboo pegs left proud so they can be pulled out. I have two screens done and should finish the other two tomorrow.

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