New stand, How-to-101

bonsaial1

I decided to try something really out there. Not to out there for the Japanese and Chinese, who have been using this design for at least a century. But it was something to flex by talant muscles on, so here goes. I decided it was to be a shohin stand, since the current direction of my collection. It was to incorporate a hoop in the design and have room for 2-3 trees and maybe a stone or two. I started by drawing a 34" diameter circle on plywood. I drove 8 penny finish nails around the jig at about an 1 1/4 apart. The wood was sawn into 1/8 inch thick strips to facilitate the sharp bend. I glued them up and bent them around the jig one by one. Plenty of glue, sanding belts are cheap. I let this part dry over night.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

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bonsaial1

The base was to be 30" long and 8" wide. I used a 1/4 inch rip as the legs with a routered out design making the leg cutouts. The shelves are 6" wide at differing lengths. I used a beading bit to make a decorative edge on the shelves.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

bonsaial1

With the hoop out of the jig, I cut the bottom of the hoop flush to fit on the base. I drilled for dowles, used plenty of glue and affixed it on the base. The stand stands 35" tall with the base. The stand sit atop my table saw, awaiting some shelving.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

bonsaial1

In this pic. I am notching the shelves to fit around the hoop. Theh have to be back beveled for the angle of the hoop at the intersection point. I never said I was neat worker, tools and sawdust all over the place.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

bonsaial1

I sawed some wood stock down to 5/8 x 5/8 and ran it through my planer. This was to be the legs. There are 2 shelves in the design, one longer than the other. I again used dowels through the shelves and about 2" into each leg. The first shorter shelf is in place and you can see the notch in the longer shelf. The clamp on the hoop is to get a level point, so I can get a measurement for the legs.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

bonsaial1

I am now getting ready to affix the top shelf. The hrdest thing about this stand is keeping everything level and plumb. The square helps on the verticle, but the horizontal is prone to slipping. I need three hands!

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

bonsaial1

Allright, Now were making progress! All the shelves are in place. We got the legs in the same place, and its getting the final hand sanding. I finished it with a minwax red oak stain. I made this stand out poplar, like I do all my prototype stands. Its soft on the tools and fairly inexpensive. Mind you I didn't say cheap, just less than Black Walnut.

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

bonsaial1

TAH DAH! I couldn't resist loading it up with some plants and stones just to get the full effect. This was a fun project, and not as hard to build as it looks. I sold this stand to the owner of the bonsai nursery here in Fresno, since he almost held the stand for hostage and wouldn't give it back. I sold it for $125.00 bucks which I feel was real fair. I built myself one out of quarter sawn oak, with a deeper red finish on it. Oak would cost a little more.

Best regards, Bonsaial

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It's about time that the proper respect be given to the fine art of balloon animals...

MushaMan

wow, that's pretty nice.