Woodwright Design | Home improvement

Woodwright Design

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24.01.2022 I've been working on some designs and techniques for Harry potter style magic wands and I am having an absolute ball. The authors and community have built a mass of lore around this stuff so there's a huge repository of inspiration online, and each wand gets its own little back story. From left to right these are White Mahogany, Tasmanian Myrtle, Silky Oak, English Oak, and Swamp She-Oak.... Nice work and lots of fun. These are going to go up on Etsy and some HP groups to see if there's any interest out in the world. Sure hope there is because I'd love to do more

24.01.2022 I just got home after a sneaky drive up the coast. 6 hours on the road to pick up this incredible little table saw. The old fella near broke my damn heart with the little glisten in his eye as we loaded it up. He's clearing out his workshop as he's past using it and has spent 20 years upgrading and customising this saw. It's a real sweet machine with a power linked dust extractor and a nice router table built in. ... This is my first proper saw and first router table and I'm extremely excited to finally upgrade to proper gear after years of struggling and risking fingers with every cut. This old gear is built properly and I hope to pass it on to someone else when I'm done one day in like 80 or 90 years

24.01.2022 This morning's project. I needed to see how an opening roof system will effect the sun exposure on this north facing deck. Pretty fancy drawing and extremely useful in this process of discovery through modeling.

22.01.2022 Can't keep this one off the tools. I reckon he's got a long future ahead spending all his money on tools

22.01.2022 I've been working on toys again. I made three of these little gnome/fairy log houses today, which are both cute as intensely Australian at the same time. using the parts with branch stubs and features really gives you the eucalypt character. It's a nice touch I think. I've just added these to the Esty store too: https://www.etsy.com//81312/large-log-house-natural-branch

22.01.2022 This project is nearing the end of drafting, which is quite exciting. It is an extension on an historic cottage in the heart of Goulburn, which still has the original round wood roof framing and some of the shingles under the tin roofing. The extension will be to extend the living area and add a master suite at the rear of the home. The existing wrap around deck will continue along with the bagged brick exterior and traditional green metal roof. A nice job which will bring extra life to a venerable old home.

22.01.2022 Today i took some time out of chainsawing up all the scrap in the yard for next year's firewood to do an experiment. This is a way of doing a joint for a something like a chair or table leg. Its hlf lapped for mechanical strength and gluing surface for the wood. There is then a steel rod resined into an oversized hole through the centre. This is probably as strong a joint as you could actually make and allows for complete freedom in form and geometry as the steel and resin d...o all the work of holding the two timbers together. This is a combination of styles from a few famous craftsmen and ill be working on making the exposed resin cap more visually appealing. Either black or brass are in my mind currently. I am exposing the resin because otherwise it feels like i'd be hiding the mechanics of the joint and id rather put it on show and make it beautiful. More to cone on this.

21.01.2022 I had to wait till after the wedding for the finished photos on this one, and it's been a struggle sitting on them. This is a little keepsake box in Silky Oak and Walnut, finished with Tung oil and beeswax. The workshop is mostly packed up right now, so this was done entirely with hand tools.

21.01.2022 A whole village load of peg people finished today. I'm using small offcuts and branch sections of interesting timbers for these. In this batch we have Banksia, Silky Oak, black She-oak, Blackheart Sassafras, white Oak, and American ash. I made the mistake of showing the original set to the boy and now I can't get them back off him. His collection of prototypes and stolen bits and pieces is growing :)

20.01.2022 I got slightly surprised this week by getting a table at the local markets. I have some stools and a few toys ready to go, but I've been concentrating on my design project. So afternoons and lunchtimes this week have been spent putting together what I can to see what attracts interest at the market. I'm quite happy with how it's all gone, but we'll see tomorrow!

19.01.2022 If anyone's been wondering what I mean when I say I cut and mill my own timber, here's a sample from today. This is some Leyland Cypress from a hedge a friend of ours is removing at the end of its life. The hedge will be replaced with natives once the Cypress is gone. I cut some parts to see what the timber is like as it should be very nice. The trees are a hybrid of Cypress macrocarpa and Alaskan Yellow Cedar, so in theory it's quite tough for a softwood, should be even grai...ned, and be fairly rot and insect resistant. It split really well, and works nicely, although like macrocarpa there is some issues with wavy grain. The point is though, this little quarter section is about to be a nice box, after carving some boards out of a tree trunk. Lot of work, but it's work the effort for proper local sustainable timber.

18.01.2022 I do all my modelling in Sketchup, which gives nice drawings, but not hi res renderings. The big let-down is the lack of lighting, so I have a basic rendering plugin to work on lighting design. Here is what I've put together so far for the Figlea Hall project, which is looking quite good. This mostly just lets me see the effect of different kinds of light in different locations so I can figure out how the result will look, rather than just winging it in 2D.

18.01.2022 Hi folks, I've just finished this table and stools set and thought one of you might appreciate it. Price is $650 plus postage. ... The set is designed for little people, but at the same time it's incredibly strong and even the stools will easily hold my weight. The table is about 45cm high 50 long, and and 30 wide, and the stools are about 25cm high, 30cm wide. These pieces are a traditional style, and appropriate for pretty much any period back to Roman, from what I know. I felled and milled all the timber 3 years ago and air dried it in my wood store. The English Oak for the slab tops is from two trees which grew on my neighbour's property. The White Mahogany legs are from a friend's property and I hewed these pieces entirely by hand from the log. The pieces are finished with Tung oil, and the surface should stay smooth and unmarked for many years to come. Every face and corner has been carefully sanded and rounded off to be gentle on small hands, and the slabs are hollowed out to reduce weight so they can be moved by even my 2y.o. These are one off pieces of furniture designed to last more than a lifetime and be passed down through generations of little hands. I hope you like these and if you want an amazing piece of furniture for your kid/s (and theirs) let me know :) I can take payment through Paypal. I will need to work out postage based on your location, but for most capital cities and surrounds, it should be around $40.

18.01.2022 Here is the current project I'm working on, which is nearing completion of the design. We are just working out how to manage the council application and then I'll be able to start drafting the plans. The building is an extension to the existing homestead on an old diary in Berry, NSW. The owners are rehabilitating the property with permaculture gardens, a food forest, and a large aquaculture system, along with converting everything to a fully off-grid system for power and wa...ter. The extension is to be used as a living space and kitchen for the large family, with the old homestead being converted entirely to private space. The main pavilion will be a single Great Room with a traditional hardwood frame, over a basement for produce and battery storage. The smaller pavilion will be a large indoor/outdoor kitchen and dining area. In terms of materials, there has been some challenges with a BAL29 fire rating, to the exterior is almost entirely steel and cement sheeting. thick multi layered walls will provide R4.0 insulation with thermal mass blockwork on the interior. Window and doors will all be double glazed composite with timber inside and aluminium outside for fire and weather resistance without compromising thermal efficiency. I've put a lot of time into the detailing to ensure best practice for fire, water, and energy regulation, and I'm hoping to get a great result in terms of building performance.

17.01.2022 Hey folks, As you may have noticed, I've spent the past couple of weeks working on prototypes for kids toys. This has come in part from the resident toddler spending months at home bored, and partly because I made one thing and fell in love with it, and it led to all sorts of other ideas. The idea is to make heirloom quality wooden toys with top quality timber that will last generations. In this time of change I really think we need to look at every avenue possible to reduce... our reliance on massive global supply chains and unsustainable materials. Add to that my abhorence of anything made by factory slaves, and it makes finding toys hard. Well, it's not so hard anymore :) As with all my other work, the timber I'm using is all from tree removals, and in this case windfallen branches. I know where every log, branch and twig lived and died, and I do my best to make sure that care for the material shows through in the work. There are still several things underway, but I'm happy with enough of what I've made to offer to make them for others. Today I set up an Etsy store for the first time, and I can take orders through there. There are loads of photos and detailed descriptions on the store, so if you have little kids, go have a look and see what you think. It would be a huge help if you could all share the link as well, and try to spread the word that I'm working on this stuff. https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/WodineyeNaturalToys

15.01.2022 I'm continuing to work on ideas and designs for some toys, but today I'm putting together a little table and stools for playdough modelling, teas parties, or drawing and painting. Step 2 of working with home milled and reclaimed wood is selection and cleanup. (Step 1 of course being finding it in the first place) There's a lot more waste than a typical maker would get since a lot of material goes to knots, twists, holes, and whatnot. I put fresh blades on my thicknesses toda...y, which planes the timber surface at a specific thickness. Very useful for this first stage of work. The dust collector made a nice bit of sand art during this which was pretty cool. The two timbers here are Stone Pine on the left, grown in Canberra and milled about 2 years ago. It's packed full of resin and extremely aromatic. On the right is Douglas Fir from an old building demolition in Bowral, which I picked up last year from an even older retired builder. Both are beautiful pieces of wood and I hope to do them justice.

15.01.2022 It's taken a while since I saw the Gumtree ad from a farmer down the road. He had some Silky Oak logs for sale but only on principle since he just wanted them used more than he wanted money. Still, a massive log is not a nice pile of furniture grade timber so I've added some sweat equity and just got the last of it home today. ... In two years I'll be able to use this stuff, after it's been stacked and strapped under the house to dry. I've got 12 pieces at 50x4-600mm and 11 pieces at 50x2-300mm. Every single piece is quarter sawn, meaning the incredible rays are on full display and the timber is as strong and stable as it can possibly be. An outstanding result from a random Gumtree find.

14.01.2022 Here are some of the great individual shots we got of the toy set for the new Etsy store. We're currently working on both more toys for the range, plus some awesome pics of them in action out in the wild.

14.01.2022 After an interesting brainstorming session on the weekend regarding outdoor versions of my toys, I put this native bee hotel together yesterday. It turns out there are some pretty specific requirements for the hole sizes and depths. I wonder if there's any advantage to using a branch like this over the standard hardwood block/bamboo pipe combo you normally see in these things.... It looks great anyway!... I'll be making these to order and like everything else, each one will be unique. If you'd like one just send me a message. Price is $55 including postage to anywhere in Aus.

14.01.2022 Here are some excerpts from the plan set which has gone to the builder for my Figlea Hall project. These are not final but are the intended plans and details from which the builder will compile a quote. Once we see where that lands w may adjust features and details but hopefully we wont need to. The two detail images here are the planned roof and wall construction for the main timber framed hall. Insulation all around is about R6.0, with full air sealing for both roof and wa...lls. The floor will also get R4.0 with an enclosed subfloor. The construction methods use a great mix of materials which meet one or more important criteria: Low embodied carbon Sequesters carbon Extremely durable Recycled materials The only things that stray form this are the roof membrane and the thin rigid foam external wall insulation. In both these cases, it is a minimal use of new manufactured material which works to greatly enhance the functionality and durability of the rest of the materials. A small compromise to achieve a very important outcome and allow the other materials to do the heavy lifting, environmentally speaking. Looking forward to hearing form the builder!

12.01.2022 Today's project was a traditional country style side table. The top is White Oak, and the legs are Spalted Red Oak. Joinery is with old English style wedged round tenons. This is a beautiful little table with fantastic cathedral grain in the top, along with some really nice figuring and some incredible colours in the legs. ... I am offering this in a limited run of 6 individual pieces of the same type.

12.01.2022 I started this last week as a practice run for the oak table joinery, so I figured it's worth finishing off. The wood is pretty interesting, it's Stone Pine that I bought 2 tonnes of a few years back to do my upstairs floor. It's extremely resinous and quite tough. I left it outside to dry though and despite my shabby efforts to protect it, the whole pile rotted away to nothing within three months of coming to the site. I rescued about a dozen long sticks and some bits and ...pieces and I've been trying to think of how to use it ever since :) The legs are reclaimed Doug fir from an old builder down the road. Nice stuff but not my cup of tea. This stool/table is about 300mm high and will be a great here's purpose side table/step ladder/camp stool.

11.01.2022 First toy orders on the way out this afternoon. It's been a massive week and I have another post run to do on Monday. It's really great to have had such a positive response early on in this idea and I'm hoping I can keep it moving along!

09.01.2022 I got inspired by this piece of Oak firewood today and turned it into a secret money box. Great result I think and a beautiful finish that will darken over time and add to the awesome character of the box.

09.01.2022 Well, the workshop is looking a bit different this afternoon. I've reset for the next couple of months to work on a house design. The clients are a couple with a large family and they are restoring an old dairy farm and setting it up with gardens and a chain of aquaculture ponds. They have asked for a large hall with a separate kitchen/dining pavilion and a variety of outdoor spaces, all looking east over the pond system.... After much procrastination I finally got some ideas down on paper this afternoon. It's all just bits and pieces at the moment, but luckily the clients have a really good idea of the layout and style already, so they're looking mostly for detail, features, and the integration of the traditional frame. Should be about 6-8 weeks for design and drafting and they'll most likely start work toward the end of the year if all goes well with the council.

09.01.2022 It's not all fun and games around here, sometimes we have important work to do as well. Years of research, millions in development, and literal gallons on intern tears have led to this incredible prototype. Presenting the Sleipnir I interplanetary research and exploration vessel! ... With some adjustments to tooling, process, and timber selection, I'll hopefully be putting these into production soon, along with some other cool and cute as hell toys. As always, nothing toxic and all sustainably sourced local timber, grown and milled right here in the Highlands

08.01.2022 Some highlights of the DA plans for a pair of machinery sheds on my current project. This was a bit of an ad hoc job thrown in the mix on Monday morning, but I'm happy with how the drawings came out. I usually work in full colour but I wanted to keep this plan set very simple to reflect the nature of the buildings as farm sheds. Solid design, simple style, now to convince the builder to use untreated pine framing ...

08.01.2022 I've just launched a small website to host my home design portfolio. I will continue to add projects as I carry on creating things both large and small. Check it out here:... http://www.woodwright.com.au/ See more

07.01.2022 I was supposed to meet with my new design clients on Friday, but they were delayed which gave me some useful time to polish my presentation. Off to Berry tomorrow for a site visit and meeting to go through the concept plan and organise the various outdoor spaces of their new buildings. I'll put more pics and the flythrough up tomorrow after they see it, but for now, here is my toolkit for the meeting. Sketchbook, pens, colours, site analysis, brief and agenda, plan sets, 8 sp...are floor plans, a a tape to investigate the existing homestead. Over 120 pages of plans and documents for this meeting. She's a complex beastie.

06.01.2022 Some renders of Figlea Hall, my big project of the past few months. Looking good, and I'm pretty excited to see it underway in the new year.

06.01.2022 Well, I'm a bona fide local celebrity now. Or something... This shop has opened up for the summer in Bowral to showcase local arts and crafts folk and I have some of my toys in there which is pretty great. If you're in the Highlands definitely check it out, the range and quality of all the products is amazing.

06.01.2022 And that's how we detail a roof! These are to go in a tender package so we can start looking for a builder while the DA is underway. The left side is the cathedral ceiling of the main hall, and the right side is the "standard" truss roof on the kitchen pavilion. Both are getting matt black steel cladding, so along with R6.0 bulk insulation they are both fully ventilated to keep the heat from seeping though. There are going to be a lot more of these coming up as we get into more and more fine detail on the construction of this building. It's a far cry from slapping some mud on a strawbale, but in the end this will be a very efficient building that will last for centuries with some care.

05.01.2022 Bit of a re-band here as I shift focus a little. The accountants said I needed a "real business name" so I ventured down that rabbit hole and ended up with this. It's been a little turbulent round here for the past couple of months as I find my feet. I've left my day job drawing up traditional timber frames, and I'm now spending most of my time doing home design work. This is going well so far, and hopefully I can maintain the workflow in the long term. ... I am still spending every spare moment trying to finish building my entirely hand build house, and I am happy to tackle any wood related projects as they come up. What is it they say about interesting times...?

03.01.2022 Winter evenings in the workshop. Gonna be so disappointing to finish the house and just have a lounge or something in there...

03.01.2022 We've discovered that the absolute best fire lighters in existence are softwood hand plane shavings. This means that when I don't actually get shop time, I'm still obliged to go and practice my planing technique anyway! This here is a piece of Callitris, or native cypress. It's a really nice timber, good to work, extremely durable, and strong. A perfect building timber, but sadly in short supply thanks to it being logged for export. This piece is part of an offcut from a timber framing project, and has beautiful tight straight grain. Due to the oils, Callitris burns fiercely and pops off little explosions which can get very exciting. Amazing fire starter in these thick "curls" though

03.01.2022 After discussing the scope of the Figlea Hall project and the cost/benefit of the various parts, we've scaled the entire project back to a more compact and livable space. The two pavilions have been reduced to a single timber framed hall with the kitchen and amenities included. A new attached pergola has been conceptualised, using an external extension of the Spotted Gum timber frame. This iteration is essentially a distillation of all the great ideas we put into the origin...al design, and it's looking great. (The website link is not working right now, but it will be up shortly, so stay tuned for that.) https://youtu.be/a0Rjd3FMsKg

02.01.2022 I've been sitting on this one all week, but it's just been delivered so it's safe to put up The new owner is obsessed with Harry potter and unicorns so the design was pretty obvious from the outset. The wand itself is Silky Oak with a Casuarina handle. ... The box is a piece of Meranti pulled from the rubbish pile at a local building site, and a piece of maple from a tree on that same site. Linseed oil finish on both box and wand. The details on the card came from some way too in depth discussions on a forum... This was probably one of the most fun projects I've done and I've been giggling to myself all week.

01.01.2022 I've just gotten some good pictures through from the owner of this awesome chair I made about 2 years ago. It was done mostly in various pieces of Aus hardwood, both fresh and recycled, with a Red Oak back. The rear legs are curved both back and out at the tops, which is a bit hard to see here, and the tops are carved with the owner's personal symbol of an eagle head. The whole piece is traditionally jointed and finished with tung oil.

01.01.2022 Stick blocks? Another prototype. They've been quite a hit today, especially smashing down all my cool towers... The uneven ends and random sizes actually make them a lot more interesting than using normal wooden blocks. You never get stuck half way up a building having used the only half thickness block in the set already :)... This is Mountain Grey Gum, one of our local Eucalypt species, taken from a recent council tree removal in the village.