Geelong area Newbie

[Lplates]

Hi Folks,

My name is Mat, i'm 32 and I've got a healthy appreciation and respect for all forms of woodwork.
My experience is somewhat limited and i tend to refer to youtube and forums quite a bit when i'm attempting something i'm not entirely sure about, hence i've decided to take the plunge and join this forum. I've used it several times in the past when buying new power tools and it's saved me one or two dodgy purchases.

My interest in woodwork comes from my dads furniture attempts and successes when i was growing up. We came to Australia during the late 80s and because we weren't very well off financially my dad made a lot of our furniture including beds, cabinets, etc.

So i guess you could say i continued the tradition. Whilst i can now afford to buy retail furniture i am not too impressed with quality of the work in most cases. Most often though I just can't find the sort of things that i want. So nowadays I just make them. Also the money i save when i build something instead of purchasing it I put towards new tools. I'm getting to the point where i need to move house because I want a proper workshop so i can get a proper table saw, bandsaw, etc. The garage i work from is very much a compromise in space. Anyway i'm starting to ramble.

I've attached some snaps of my most recent piece. It's an outdoor table made from recycled ten pin bowling lane maple (the urethane finish was a pain to remove). The frame was welded up for me by a mate. I then cleaned it up and had it powder coated in grey metallic. I mounted it on castors for ease of movement which is a good thing because you would need four people to lift the thing, it's not light!


Cheers
Mat

[munruben]

Welcome aboard Mat. the table looks great. One thing I have found over the years. no matter how much space you have, its never enough. have fun in the forum.

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum.

Lovely table, but are the arrows?

Hoping you find this forum informative and organized fun and mad house.

[crowie]

G'Day & Welcome Matt.
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies and for the most very willing to assist.
Good to see you're already showing off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork.
Cheers, crowie

[issatree]

Hi Matt,
I read you Thread a bit to late last night.
The Barwon Valley Woodwrights were to meet at the Gordon Tafe in St.Albans Road, East Geelong 7.00pm.
Last night was a work night.
They meet again Mon. Sept. 3rd. & that will be a Meeting, Project, Show & Tell Night, in the same place.

[JJF]

Welcome to the forum.

[tdrumnut]

Hey Matt welcome to the forum - nice job on the table mate.

[Lplates]

Thanks for all the welcomes folks.

The pieces of lane that the table was made from didn't have the arrows included. They did have the dots that follow them though. I had a painful time trying to remove the urethane finish and even when that was off there was some parts that are oil affected from the continual oiling (where there were cracks in the finish) but alas it is an outdoor table so i just finished it in Danish Oil and hope for the best.

I think i will need to re-sand and re-finish soon anyway because i stupidly didn't clean the top after I spread some iron-oxide weed killer in my garden and some of the dust settled on the table. When moisture got to it, it formed black spots so now i have lovely dots covering the thing, *sigh*....

Never mind, one more sanding will fix that, when i get the time....

Cheers
Mat