Rustic wood working requires craftmenship, patience and a love off natural materials. There are several techniques you can use in creating rustic wood work, including a large veriety of projects, from functional furniture to bird houses.
This website is dedicated to rustic creations and includes an extensive variety of work. Several articles are included on this website to assist you in creating your own rustic projects.
Rustic wood working requires several tools, other than the standard wood working tools found in a shop. Some of these include drawknives, axes, knives, tenon cutters, and straps.
The first course of action is to decide what project you are going to attempt. Once you have an idea of what you wish too create, make yourself a rough sketch of your project with accurate measurements.
Next, you must now choose what type of material to use. To obtain your material, a trip into the woods, or to a local saw mill will be required.
If you are going into the woods to collect your material, be sure to take tools that are in safe working condition, and are well sharpened. A dull axe is much more dangerous than one which is finely honed.
If you are collecting green material from the forest, it is important to cut the wood on a decaying moon. Preferably in the last quarter. If the material is harvested during this phase of the moon, there is less sap in the trunk of the tree, making it easier to dry.
The material collected must then be debarked and cleaned up. It is best to remove the bark while in the woods, since it will be less mess in your shop and the scrap material will be left in its natural environment.
After collecting your material it must be dried. The two methods of drying are by natural air, over time, or in a kelm, which takes less time. The wood must be dried to about 8%. A moisture meter is a great tool to use in measuring the percentage of moisture in your wood. For more information, please refer to the section on 'how to prepare wood.'
Once the material has been prepared, it is time to cut it to the proper lengths, according to the sketch of your project. If they are to be assembled using mortise and tenons, then they have to be cut and drilled at the same time.
This process of the project can now be fitted and glued if using the mortise and tenons or joinery. The project must be held in place with straps or clamps until the glue is allowed to dry completely.
If you are using nails or screws to fasten your project, then drying time for the glue, handling straps or clamps are not necessary. It doesn't matter what method you use to put your project together, as long as you remove all the pencil marks, dried glue, and other imperfections first.
A protective finish must be applied to your project to protect it from the elements. The type of finish will depend on the environment you are exposing your project too, and also how you intend to use your project.
If it will be left outside then it should be treated with external stains and finishes to protect it from the elements. You may also decide to do nothing with the surface so that, over time, your project will have a natural weathered look.
Even if you intend to allow your work to naturally weather, I would suggest applying a tung or linseed oil to help protect the wood fibers. You should also pay attention to the type of wood used in your projects, since some types will last longer when left out in the elements, such as cedar.
When you have an indoor piece, there are several options of internal stains and finishes. You should keep in mind that if a surface will see a lot of ware, such as table tops and seats of chairs, then you may want to use a finish with a hardener.
This website is dedicated to rustic furniture and includes many detailed articles on various projects, you can either have made by me , or you can make yourself at home. I would encourage you to go through the many examples provided on this website, and hope that you would find a project that peaks your interest.
www.unique-rustic-creations.com
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