woodwork - Monk at Keyboard

Christmas Manger with the Child Jesus

22 December 202215 December 2022Monk at KeyboardLeave a comment

This Christmas manger is something I did before but just unpacked. It is made with recycled timber from old fence pailings that I sanded all the old paint off.

The goal when making it was to create a manger that needed no screws or nails to hold it together but could be assembled something like a jigsaw puzzle, and when taken apart, could be compactly stored away. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos as I was making it, so all I can show is the parts being put together.

Christmas manger with just the ends together — Christmas manger in parts

I am at least very pleased with the result. It only fits together in one way, so I have numbered everything to find what pieces match together quickly. The cloth is just a bit of white calico on which I machine embroidered the Star of Bethlehem. For the straw, I am using wood wool from here. The Baby Jesus is from here.

Christmas Nativity Scene

15 December 202215 December 2022Monk at KeyboardLeave a comment

This is pulling out a project from a few years ago, a wooden Christmas Nativity Scene I made. With this project, I was aiming to make something easy to store during the year, so it has to be able to be quickly taken apart and put back together again, with most of the parts being somewhat flat.

This is not the first or last Christmas Nativity Scene I have made. The first was way back in high school and was much simpler, and the most recent was something like this but scaled up for use in a Parish Church. This, however, is by far my favourite.

Nativity Scene Walls in Place — The parts of the Nativity Scene

The Nativity Scene is made from pine from the local hardware store. I did not have a pattern I was following, but I just guessed what I would need for what I wanted. I got very close using everything I brought, but I needed a few more pieces to finish the roof. After assembling the nativity scene, I stained it (I remember mixing a few different ones) and then oiled it with some outdoor furniture oil. For scale, it is 65cm wide, 40cm deep, and 40cm high.

All the parts lock together, so there is nothing to screw or unscrew to turn it from the parts to the full standing stable. There are also strips of LED lights attached to the roof.

The figures are the ones I got from here, with a few additions.

Some Simple Woodwork

10 October 202221 October 2022Monk at KeyboardLeave a comment

Again another project was done during a short holiday at the parent’s. This time I made some wooden crosses that I will use when I make some large rosaries that could be worn with a habit.

Not much to this, just cutting up some 12x12mm Tasmanian Oak and doing a simple join between them.

Cutting out the join — All the pieces being put together

It could have been a little tidier if I was not using a full-sized Tenon saw and had something smaller, but it is what I had. I did the first few, one at a time, but then started cutting them out in batches of four. I used a Mahogany stain on them at the end with a coat of varnish.

When I use these crosses, they will appear again in a future post.

A simple project, but I needed them for the next part. However, I have done other things before that had a little more to them, such as a box for a chalice and a book stand, which I will share the photos of here. I also got some Christmas-themed things I did, but I am saving them to share in December. Next time I am on holiday, I want to try making a prie-dieu/kneeler.