Completed PM Research Number 1

[propforward]

I finished the engine about a year and a half ago. Since then I've been trying to make a display base for it. I tried various cheap and quick solutions, and they all looked, well, cheap and quick.

In the end I decided the best solution to needing an inexpensive base was to spend far more than the price of a custom base on additional tools and make one. Turns out there is a specialist hardwood lumber supply place in town that has racks upon racks of "shorts" - little pieces of all kinds of left over hardwoods that they sell cheap. These are ideal sizes for model bases and such.

It's been about 40 years since I last held a plane in woodworking class, but I think this turned out alright. It looks good enough that Mrs. Propforward has put it on display in our living room. (No, these pictures are not our living room. In my bachelor days I would have indeed had a surface plate and in point of fact a motorcycle in my living room, but not today.)

Anyway, there it is. Thought I'd round out the build by posting a picture of the final thing. So that's that. I deliberately chose to use two different woods for the base thinking that would make it more interesting. Not sure it quite worked but I like it. The bottom piece of redwood is amazing - no idea what it is but the colour is lovely. It started out twice that thick but my planing made it a wedge initially before I got it back under control. Like I say - 40 years since I last did anything like this.











Of course, now I have this additional equipment I am trying my hand at bits of furniture and small tool chests and such. Nothing like having another project rabbit hole to jump into.

[Admiral_dk]

Beautiful Woodwork Stuart  .... but is't that what you are supposed to get out of   

The Model is very well presented now 

Per

[RReid]

Lovely base, Stuart. I like the contrasting colors and the simplicity of it, so as not to distract from the "main attraction". It's a treat to have a good hardwood place like that nearby, and those "cut-off" bins can be like xmas morning!

[mikehinz]

Stuart, very nice!   I think I like the blue you used better than the green I used on mine.  The base is nice as the contrasting woods look good together. 

Great job!

Mike

[Roger B]

Looks excellent    You should be proud of that 

What's the big crankshaft in the background?

[crueby]

Beauty!

[Michael S.]

Hello Stuart,
a real beauty your machine.
The wooden base is a good choice and very successful.
And I'm curious how big the wooden base will be for the crankshaft in the background 😉.

best regards Michael

[Dave Otto]

Very nice Stuart! 

Dave

[Kim]

Gorgeous model, and the base really sets it off!  Well done, Stuart! 

Kim

[vtsteam]

Beautiful work! 

Looks like teak on top of Honduras mahogany. But hard to tell from just a photo. Great woods and quite nautical choices if they are! 

Need to smell them to really tell! 

[propforward]

Thanks all, your kind comments are very welcome. A wood project like this is pretty easy with a half decent router - definitely not a work of genius but I like the natural look and the way it presents the engine. I had not intended to get into woodworking at all - which is why it took a year and a half to finally succumb. But having tried it and made a few other bits, it seems to me that a simple woodworking project can be made fairly quickly, so that in itself is an attraction. I picked up some oak offcuts today very cheap, and I'm going to attempt a small "chest of drawers" and tool trays for storing lathe tooling. Grizzly used to sell these (in laminated mdf of course) but they have been discontinued for a long time. I think that I can make similar items of higher quality so I'm going to give that a go. Nothing to lose on that, and they are exactly what I want to finish organizing my lathe tool area the way I want.

The big crankshaft is a new crank for my 1960 Matchless G12DL 650 CC twin motorcycle. It is one of a batch of crankshafts made by the owners club - it was a long and protracted affair and took 10 years before it arrived, but potentially I can get that bike rebuilt and running. Yet another project!

[crueby]

Welcome to the woodworking side of the shop!




Those Gerstner style tool chests are great, I have a couple antique ones full of tools. They do have metal bottoms on the drawers, so they are still sort of a metal project!

[TerryWerm]

So Stuart, would you mind telling the name of the store where you were able to purchase those hardwood bits?  I used to purchase small pieces like that in Bloomington at a company that is no longer in business. I would really like to find another place to purchase such things.

[MJM460]

Hi Stuart, beautiful job on the display base for the engine.  Combined with the nice paint job, it really sets it off.  A great conclusion to a build that has been interesting and informative to follow from the beginning.

A router is a tool that you really only appreciate how much you need it when you get one.  Then it gets used on nearly every project.

MJM460

[propforward]

Thanks all.

Chris, I like those Gerstner style boxes as well. I picked up a couple of replicas from Harbor Freight. They kind of sort of are OK but are not like the real thing.

Terry - absolutely - apologies for not just coming out with it - don't know why I didn't. They are Forest Products Supply in Maplewood. https://www.forestproductssupply.com/ Really nice folks. Took me a bit of searching and scouring different lumber supply web sites before I found a little note on their site that read something like "check out our shorts bin for inexpensive offcuts for hobbies" - can't even find the note now. It isn't a bin - it's a huge floor to ceiling rack - lot's to choose from.

MJM - thank you for following the build. It's not the best made engine by any means but the lessons learned really paid off subsequently.