Roland Rolson

Designed for use with hand towels, each rolled up and suspended onto 2 dowels. A light-duty construction made with good quality materials and simple enough to not overwhelm the beauty of fresh towels. It’s built to stay in the background, not showing its structure and playing the supporting and not the leading role. I started by ripping the thickest one exactly in half and roughly cleaned the surface with a block plane. Then I attached a fence extension which worked as a stop block and cut 5 rails that were further processed in the next step. I wanted a partial…

This may be the smallest, the lightest and the most delicate project I’ve ever built. Scrap wood pieces I used, were very thin and tiny. However, they were straight, flat and relatively smooth, which made the project easier. Even still, I had a chance to practise my skills and learn something new. It turned out very good, but the feature I like the most is the large space for ashes. I cut pieces to size using an oscillating tool. Sanding was also done with the same tool. That was the last time I used it, it was sold the next…

It didn’t start as a project. I was just practising my power carving skills, I also wanted to try out my new carving disc. I have a couple more of them, different shapes for different uses. I picked up that old tabletop, it was dumped in the corner and covered with dust. I pulled it out and clamped it to my workbench. I discovered that this particular carving disc couldn’t be used with a guard, it simply didn’t fit. Even though there was no physical barrier between me and the disc, it was reasonably safe as the carving itself didn’t…

This project is entirely made from scrap material – timber off-cuts I acquired last year and a wooden dowel. The off-cuts had different lengths, from 60 to 90 cm (2 – 3 feet) and I had to get shorter pieces out of them, anything from 10 to 50 cm (4 – 20 inches). I tried not to cut them into 2 identical lengths, also not to produce too short pieces. All that came down to the planning which took much longer than cutting itself. Anyways, eventually I had it done and the next step was to recreate the rounded over…

I’ve always wanted to give those corners a shot and see how they perform. I still had some scrap material to build them from and also I had a 6 mm MDF board (1/4″) that was perfect for the walls and the bottom. The corners looked a little complex to build, but when all the cuts were done in the right order, there was really nothing complicated about them. Easy and safe to cut, using just a couple of basic tools like a table saw and a router. Here’s how it started. First I rip-cut the timber to the desired…

It’s like addiction, making these heads of The Wall Heads series. There was no plan for this one, just a blurred vision that changed a few times during the build. It’s got its name because it looks like a flute and it uses the colours of a clown’s make-up. I started with drilling holes, the eyes were first, then the finger holes and lastly the mounting holes at the back. Each group of holes was drilled with a different bit – 30, 15 and 25 mm. Once I finished with the drill I pulled out my circular saw and cut…

That sycamore (maple) tree was cut in late 2018. I saved a couple of logs, split in half with an axe on a site. I’ve never considered milling them into boards just because they’re so irregular, and I’d need a jig, or a fixture, to cut them with a bandsaw. They seemed to be perfect for small projects using block-shaped wood, single-part projects, art etc. Just like coasters. Yes, another set of coasters, with no holes in the bottom for a change (see “3 button coasters”). They should be great for drinks, hot and cold, but also for large candles…