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salt and wood

“Re use it or lose it”

December 5, 2012 Item 30: Tiki Lounge Key Cabin.

Ships window shutter
Shutter frame
Stripping the fittings
Street found Maple shelves
The trim and legs
The legs
The street found body
Found condition
Stripping the fittings
Beautiful brass handles
Secret markings
One part sanded
Doweling the body
Fitting a found bike reflector
Street found bronze hangers
Inventing a rope tension system
Things get complicated
Enter the retro switch
Starboard
Port
Side detail and stamp
Modernist Piloti legs
Sophisticated detailing
Hat hanger and dove detail
Restored top
Zip stick tray innovation
Voila

This was a commissioned piece for a surfer, thus the theme of the detailing. Two old drawers (face timber type unknown) and handles restored and doweled together to generate better shelf depth. And a variety of other street and beach found components have been restored and incorporated. From the coloured rope to the airoplane wing legs (note the grain in this unknown timber) to the islander detail trim from the edge of a little abandoned table to the shelves and horizontal rod hangers. The internal sides and back panel were spray painted blue in keeping with the ocean theme. The back of the drawer faces (now the ceiling) has been left as found to incorporate a bit of the history of the components. The shelf ledges are timber doweled to the sides of the unit generating these tidy little circle details on the outside faces as a counterpoint to the already interesting pine grain formations. This is also the first time I have finally incorporated some of the electric detail that has been a long time evolving in the SALTANDWOOD sketchbooks. With the components picked up from a Jaycar electronics shop. The retro switch was a purchase not a find. But I am on the lookout for some switches to re purpose! So this is AA battery powered (mounted behind the shelf ledge) and the little night access light can be turned on independently for the upper or lower shelf.

 The top shelf is designed with a smooth top edge to aloe wallets and phones to slide easily in and out. The bottom shelf has the upturn to allow a build up of secondary items and bits and pieces/ coins etc without spilling out.  The bottom shelf also has a newly developed feature in the ‘double entry lip’ that provides a spot for say a pen or zip stick not getting lost in the tray. This particular commission also came with a request for a place to hang a hat at the end of the day and you can see here the protruding disc that facilitates this. It is made (as was the switch mounting) from the second drawer backing that was removed and some found pine rod that can be popped out left or right if the unit goes up against a wall on one side. I also added some beautiful molded hooks that I coincidentally found in an abandoned cupboard (circa 1930s?) a few day before and restored well in a jewelry cleaning solution.

You can see the rear of the unit was finished of in a particular way for a bit of fun and colour and is slid in and held with a removable dowel peg if need be.

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October 19, 2012 ITEM 20: Met the Jetsons

1 Legs as found
2 Rails as found
3 Top as found under
4 Top as found top
5 Stamp under
6 Reincarnation
7 Standing height table
8 New orange top
9 Oiled legs
10 Edge detail
11 Shadow form
12 Retained character

This piece of ply with cedar (?) spine was found among the rocks along Botany Bay. It seems like it was some type of storage box cover off a boat. The sea had honed it to a clichéd modernist trapezoid shape. I lightly sanded the underside to remove lose flakes but retain the paint history then stamped and varnished it. The top side ply was not that attractive after cutting and varnishing so it was attacked with the bright gloss orange paint to great effect. The legs were rescued from a table thrown on the street near Enmore road and simply sanded back and oiled. With the internal corner mounting brackets also rescued and reemployed into this item. The timber bracing is cut from two pieces of restored beach found timber. Also likely off a boat given the strong and light nature of this timber (?). The timber bracing was chiseled into the legs. And the little spine cut into the bracing. The odd height proportion is a comfortable standing use table. Say for drinks at a party.

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October 1, 2012 Item 29: Long Toe

Before
After
Port
Starboard stamp
Stern
Aerial
Detail
Aerial
Detail

This hardwood wedge was found washed up along Botany Bay. It is interesting for its long concave elf shoe proportion and was just a sanding and varnishing exercise to bring out its inner beauty. It now takes pride of place as our front door wedge.

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October 1, 2012 R 19: Orange

My dream of happiness: A quiet spot by the Jamaican seashore looking out at the activity in the ocean, hearing the wind sob with the beauty and the tragedy of everything. Looking out over nine miles of ocean, hearing some happy laughter near-by. Sitting under an almond tree, with the leaf spread over me like an umbrella.

 Errol Flynn

September 30, 2012 ITEM 28: SEA LEGS

1 Sea Legs Before
2. Paint and resins.
3. Cutting the top.
4. Wax filling holes
5. Floats for legs.
6. Fitting the legs.
7. Legs in.
8. After.
9. Retained paint face.
10. Detail.
11. Rear face timber restored.
12. Rear face with orange wax fill.
14. Rear face detail.
15. Base varnish over rough sawn.
16. Oiled top with yellow wax fill.
17. End grain restored.
18. Top detail with timber putty.
19. Top.

A Eucalyptus plank washed up after the big storms that swept Sydney in August 2011. It looked like it had been in the sea for a while and before that used as some sort of paint or resin mixing block on a boat. Two things struck me. The satisfying proportions of the block and the thick blue and black colour of the dried substance spilled across it. I immediately had an urge to expose some surfaces and retain others to bring out this contrast. The top is clean sanded and oiled to allow use as a food surface. One edge was very lightly sanded and then stiff brushed to clean but retain the paint texture and colours. The back edge was clean sanded and holes wax filled. The base just lightly sanded but kept pretty much rough sawn finish. Some of the bigger top cracks were filled with wood putty to smooth it out for food, cheese and crackers etc. All except the top are varnished finished and finally a batch of found bright orange fishing floats were utilized to create legs to stand the whole thing off the table. All in all the timber, blue paint and orange legs visually vibrate very well.

August 10, 2012 Boat 32: The Sailor

The makings of
testing in the shallows
Bon Voyage

A ramshackle tub cobbled together from slim pickings along the beach next to the airport. The final design was the result of add hoc efforts to correct shortcomings. The name was the suggestion of a boy walking along the beach with his dad. The first test sail here in the shallows saw her topple over and a second bottle of sand was tied from the hull. As well as a little outrigger added to support the ‘left leaning.’ A sail was added to the outrigger to compensate for drag produced.  She was launched from the point to a great deal of commentary and technical input from the flock of fishermen sitting around the rocks. The outrigger sail worked a bit too well and had the effect of swinging the nose around to the starboard until the wind caught the nose sail. The overall effect was to align the timber tied below to about 3 o clock and cause her to tack across the wind and clear the runway point of the airport. The Coke can and red plastic spade were to provide a better visual contact from further out but also provided some additional sail surface.

August 10, 2012 R18: Blue Yellow

The Sea And the Hills by Rudyard Kipling

1902
Who hath desired the Sea? — the sight of salt wind-hounded —
The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the comber win hounded?
The sleek-barrelled swell before storm, grey, foamless, enormous, and growing —
Stark calm on the lap of the Line or the crazy-eyed hurricane blowing —
His Sea in no showing the same his Sea and the same ‘neath each showing:
His Sea as she slackens or thrills?
So and no otherwise — so and no otherwise — hillmen desire their Hills!

July 26, 2012 Item 25: LD2

1 Before (right) 2
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Long drawer was the first item posted on this blog. It had a brother piece that was found with it and has now finally been converted into a companion CD shelf. Unlike Long Drawer one that was shelved with sides from other drawers, this one is shelved with restored driftwood boards and has a white painted internal surface rather than the paper lining.  

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July 26, 2012 ITEM 26: Ratio 3 to 1

1 Before
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
14
15
16
17 After

This 4 drawer modern beauty on legs was discovered on the streets of Surry Hills in May 2012. A Circa 1965 piece? It was complete with all drawers and these stunning concave copper handles. Except, frustratingly ‘1’ of them. Even the screw was still in place. So as you can see the 4th or bottom handle is a ring in from another street find. The handles and chrome socks were removed and the entire unit was cut back to timber. Then the sides and front were given a fresh coat of gloss white. With the legs, drawer faces and top of the unit retained as exposed timber and varnished. The drawer internals were spray painted bright orange and the fittings all cleaned and reattached.

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July 2, 2012 R 17: Black

“Tell me, patron,” said Peyrol, “is there anywhere near this house a little dent in the shore with a bit of beach in it perhaps where I could keep a boat?”

  “What do you want a boat for?”

  “To go fishing when I have a fancy to,” answered Peyrol curtly.

Joseph Conrad. The Rover.

July 2, 2012 R 16: Black and Yellow

“Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas,
Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please”

― Joseph Conrad, The Rover

July 2, 2012 R: 15 White

“Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you — smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering — Come and find out.”
― Joseph Conrad

July 2, 2012 R 14: White

“I don’t like work–no man does–but I like what is in the work–the chance to find yourself. Your own reality–for yourself not for others–what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

June 30, 2012 Item 17: Now Playing

1 Found
2 Raw
3 Legs
4 Top
5 Stamp and Grain
6 Wax Rings
7 Plimsoll Line
8 Bow
9
10
11 Starboard
12 Now Playing

 

This largish wedge of timber was found along Yarra Bay. The unidentified species has a definite satin to it but seems to soft to have been a chock from a ship. More likely an off cut from work somewhere around the Bay or beyond. The front pegs and legs are all dowel found around the bay, cut to size and varnished or painted with a tin of gloss red enamel paint found in the street and add that certain ‘maritime petroleum exploration oil rig architectonic’. Despite drawing gentle ridicule from all observers this item has proved surprisingly useful for locating the cover of the playing CD. This may have been the tipping point for my wife’s comment  “this corner of the lounge room is looking like a 1970’s JB HiFi.” Despite my initial reaction it turned out this was not complimentary!

June 11, 2012 ITEM 24: Hang Ten

This three-legged marvel of odd engineering was the composite result of a variety of curved timber off cuts and finds. All the timber was street or beach recovered and the yellow rope was donated by a friend from their shed clean up. The little front to back cross-timber is something like Rosewood that was washed up north of Sydney near Fishermen’s Bay. I cut the mortise in adjoining timber to take the existing tenon. The two rear legs are from and old timber chair that was previously restored from the street but finally gave in! You can see the combination load bearing system of the rope and timbers from the side view. The rope end knots are waxed into existing holes that were drilled into the old chair legs. I am not sure what the deck timber is but it came up beautifully.  

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