I have started working with wood some 8 years ago, when we bought a house that came with a garden and a little shed. I thought I had to buy power tools to be able to cut wood straight. So with my first build, a laundry bin, I bought a jig saw :D. Not that great for a straight cut, right?
So later I bought a miter saw but again this saw had some limitations. I did not proceed to buy a table saw as I am quite scared of it and I had no space for it anyway. Even the miter saw was quite a courageous step for me. Later, I also bough pocket hole jig and made some nice pieces with it.
However, it was during first UK lockdown that I started to have the desire to improve my hand skills so I looked into cutting dovetails and found Paul Sellers videos on youtube very useful. I made a couple of dovetail chisel boxes and bought a dovetail saw and a gents saw. With spring and summer approaching I wanted to build a sun lounger for my wife as the one we had started to fall apart. I researched loads of youtube videos but none of them quite convinced me that that is the design and method I wanted to go for.
So I looked on the internet and found this design in an online shop, read about its history and really liked it. It was designed by an Italian designer and you can buy the actual piece as Tribu Vis a Vis Sun Lounger. I studied the photos and then made my own sketch up design. And to make it "easier" I have decided to build it just with hand tools (apart from drilling as I do not own a brace yet). I Bought the wood in Wickes but it was too thick so I ripped it all down with hand saws and smoothed with planes. It was a lot of work but great for learning hand saw skills and a workout too. I came up with all the moving joinery by myself and only hoped that it will work ok and it did.
Anyway I think this is probably the only Sun Lounger on youtube made just with handtools and I think it is the best looking too.
11 сен 2024
