Hood

Coat Rack

Here's the beginning of a custom coat rack for Complete Spine & Headache Center in Ames, IA. The form is made from four layers of 3/4 in. MDF ply. Initially, two points were chosen an a straight line and two nails were driven into those points, approx. 40" apart. A thin piece of wood was pulled to determine the radius of the curved part of the coat rack. The form was then cut with a scroll saw, starting down the intial straight line and then the corresponding arc. One of those pieces was taken and used as a guide for a router to follow and make four corresponding sets. Thus, obviously, the initial shape.


Here's the material to be used: six pieces of re-sawed maple and walnut cut 3" wide...




...and in their nightlong dwelling



Straight out of the form...



...and into a rough-sanded finish. More to come...

Alloy 385 Architectual Brass

This was a job I was working on last year for the City of Des Moines' City Hall...This entire job was TIG welded using straight Argon as a sheilding gas and a Thoriated Tungsten electrode. I can't recall the alloy of the filler rod. Using the TIG process made this job difficult due to the high composition of Zinc in Alloy 385. With a composition of 40%, the Zinc would quickly burn and collect within the puddle. A soft start would almost immediately contaminate the weld. With a beveled butt-joint, the heat was cranked and the pedal was put to the floorboard. No more than an inch bead was likely to be run due to the zinc. Absolutely ANY debris would mess these welds up. When/if attempting, have a stainless steel brush handy at all time.