And so it begins!

I've finally pulled my finger out and gotten started! I had already glued the two recycled planks together, and since I don't have any clamps to use, screwed them together so that there was a strong bond between the two. There is a slight variation in the colour of the wood but at this point I'm not sure if this is just down to how the wood has been exposed to the weather when it was used as part of a compost bin! I'm hopoing that once it has been sanded, it should be fairly matching. and once the stain has been applied it should be ok. Here is what the planks look like.

 You can see a bit of what is already going on but it gives you an idea of how the two planks look. Where I have already started cutting a groove for the barrel at the top, you can see the somewhat imperfect join of the two bits of wood where one is slightly warped. Again, i'm hoping this won't matter to the finished piece.

 

Here you can see the rough outline of the stock shape, its kind of basic but one its cut out and the edges shaped and sanded it should look pretty good.

 

 

I marked out a 13mm slot on the top of the stock for the barrel to sit on. The barrel will be made from 15mm copper plumbing pipe which, unfortunately, I don't have yet so i'm working on theory in some regards. I marked out a 13mm slot so that the barrel would sit on it, rather than in it. I know it sounds silly but I don't know if 15mm is the internal or external measurement. in the grander scheme of things, it could make all the difference. The 13mm groove can always be widened. if its too wide I'll figure something out later. The groove was cut with a long slanley blade and the chiselled out with a very small wood cut chisel, which is really designed for decorative work (I've blunted three of them already......). once a basic 2-3mm deep groove was cut I started to use a 13mm wide Dremel sander which was labourious work but effective. The groove doesn't extend to the front or back of the stock at this point, I wanted to get the bulk of it done quickly and concentrate on the detail at the front and rear of the stock later. This way i'm hoping the barrel will look flush at both ends.

I've called it a day for tonight as there is a glass of wine waiting for me, i'll hopefully finish the main groove tomorrow and then cut the template out with a jigsaw.

More to follow!