Timber
Wherever
possible I use reclaimed timber for furniture, craft and artwork.
This not only makes environmental sense, it also gives the pieces
a history, of previous use, which is something lacking in highly produced
store fare. My materials come from real estate development sites,
farms, tree pruning, rubbish dumps, firewood merchants and demolition
sites. House removal operations, now so common in Toowoomba, provide
a good supply of hoop pine(Auracaria cunninghammi), silky oak(Grevillia
robusta), mixed Eucalypt hardwood and sometimes rosewood( Dysoxalum?)
and cedar(Toona australis).
Reclaimed
timber from these sources can be recycled into many useful and beautiful
objects, from bookcases to wind operated xylophones, coffee tables
to stop-motion mannikins, letter openers and CD racks. I believe that
to trash this so-called rubbish is a crime , considering the plight
of our native timber resources. Whichever timber I utilize I find
consolation in the fact it was saved from being burnt, dumped or pulped
to make paper with a short lifespan.
Off the soapbox now, I occasionally do buy new timber,
usually favouring camphor laurel (Cinnoniumium ?)and spotted gum(Eucalyptus
maculata). Camphor is a recognised pest in some areas, a highly successful
colonizing exotic, but it produces a timber that is easy to
work, aromatic and available in decent width slabs. It is quite beautiful
in a raucous sort of way. More of it should be cut down! Spotted Gum
is in reasonable supply and planted commercially. Although hard on
tools it is worth perservering with for furniture. It steam
bends very well, which opens up design possibilities. I have
used these two timbers together in a couple of pieces, and found they
work well.
Photocopier
Parts
Do
not reject the offcasts from such mundane things as photocopiers!
Some of the larger companies trash very useable equipment and it can
be obtained gratis. The motorised lid sections alone are a fount
of small scale mechanical parts. There are numerous steel shafts with
reusable brass bushes to suit; a bewildering variety of springs, gears
and cogs, chains and belts, rollers and motors. (The electric parts
should be treated with caution, and a matching transformer used.)
These
parts are ideal for making small scale kinetic artworks, like wind-driven
pieces, and also toys. Physics experiments and even engineering prototypes
are possible uses for recycled photocopiers, as the manufacturing
tolerances seem quite fine. The bushes, in a series of standard sizes,
can be punched out of the aluminium frames and inserted in other applications,
even timber. There are ratcheting rollers, and long rollers that can
be fitted with handles for printmaking. I even found a small
pump in one machine, but the original contained liquid was something
to avoid.
The shafts can be grooved for circlips (and there are heaps to reuse)
wherever you wish. If you don't have access to a metal lathe, use
a wood lathe, or even a drill press, with a section of ground
hacksaw blade for a tool. Failing that, passable circlip grooves
can be fashioned with just a vice and a hacksaw. The steel used in
the shafts is soft enough to drill and file readily. It can be successfully
welded with a MIG but I wouldn't put great faith on it ... I don't
know the composition of the metal.
It
is possible to combine the machine parts with lathe-turned wood. Custom
pulley diameters can be produced.
Pipes
and Tube
I
have a small collection of pipe and tube in a range of diameters and
of various metals in a cardboard box. There is copper and brass
plumbing stock and auto brake lines, stainless steel aircraft fuel
lines, push bike frames, aluminium TV antenna tube and the odd
bit of black steel pipe, including old furniture legs. I use this
stuff all the time. For instance, makeshift bushes can be produced.
The
aircraft stainless is handy for tool handle ferrules because it is
thin walled, although hard to find in useable diameters. I've also
used pushbike frame tubing for this and copper pipe is good too, although
not overly strong. Auto brake line material is useful as a spacer
sleeve over wire when making small kinetic pieces. As a spacer
sleeve over threaded bar or bolts on toys I use stainless or the aluminium
TV antenna tube. Using spacers cut from tube or pipe saves a
lot of wasted washers!
The
difference betwen pipe and tube is in the ratio between wall thickness
and outside diameter. Thinner walled stock is tube, thicker is pipe,
but I can't tell you the exact difference! The important thing to
me is keeping a range of sizes on hand, including wall thickness.
The
"Gash" Tray
Perhaps
a legacy from my past life as a mechanic , I find the gash tray an
invaluable part of everyday work. This is a container that I throw
all the odds and sods; unused, spare and found items that gather on
the workbench and floor. If I pull apart some found object the little
bits go in the gash tray. Maybe detritus gathers in your vehicle
ashtrays and dashboard...in they go. And when you are completely stuffed
to find one last washer to complete a job on Sunday night, just
before a deadline, look in the gash tray!! Of course you could have
time up your sleeve and sort through the tray, putting all the bits
away in designated jars or drawers, but somehow my workshop doesn't
always work that way. Anyway, no matter how conscientious you
are there will always be left-overs, for which you still need
a gash tray.
Disclaimer
With all recycling of materials there can be health risks (like lead
paint on old timber), so take precautions, and wear suitable PPE.
I take no responsility for any mishap or consequence of recycling
material.
©
Andrew MacDonald. 2000
(No part of this material can be copied or used without written approval.)
Produced with the Assitance
of Arts Queensland's
Regional Arts Development
Fund and
the Toowoomba City Council.
