Charity Auction Piece

[Cauldron]

A friend of mine knew I did woodworking and ask if I had something I would be willing to donate to a cancer benefit silent auction. As it turns out, I knew the person the benefit was for. It wouldn't have mattered whether I knew the person or not of course, it just hits home more to hear news like that when it's someone you know personally. A super person in a very bad way. I told my friend I'd be more than happy to make something.

This project was especially fun in that I bought the raw cast iron hooks and did the Hot Japanese Brown patina myself. Maybe a tip for others as I was not aware of this... After putting on the patina I was faced with "where do I get hardware to match that?" The patina process does not work on a zinc plated surface.

As the Internet knows everything, I learned to heat apple cider vinegar (I think most vinegars would work) in the microwave to near boiling. I then dropped the shiny new screws in the vinegar. The stripping process began almost immediately. Once down to bare steel, I could then apply the matching patina.

The mounting holes for the coat rack reside in pockets under the 2 inner hooks to keep the rack as clean as possible. To do it over, I would have used a maple or cherry for the scene to avoid the oak wood grain competing with the carving.

Anyway, Thanks for looking...

Pete

[tom klass]

very nice well done!! thoughts and prayers for your friend hope things can get turned around for him/ her

Tom K.

[Cauldron]

Thanks and the thought is very much appreciated... Thanks again..

[gordread]

Nicely done. I truly hope that your friend makes a quick recovery.

If you don't mind, how did you do the hooks?

Gordon

[dhellew2]

My guess the hooks are purchased already made. Check places like http://www.wwhardware.com/cabinet-knobs ... coat-hooks
Dale

[Cauldron]

I purchased the hooks as raw castings on Ebay.. much cheaper. But more important to me was that I could use Sculpt Nouveau's Japanese Brown Patina for steel. The patina is suppose to work cold or hot but the effect was pretty minimal when I used it at room temperature. Heating the cast iron with a propane torch to where the patina just sizzled had an immediate effect. I know I could have found hooks that would have looked similar but this was a good test of the patina process. I'm doing some work for a new restraunt/saloon that has an old west theme and this will be handy for a lot of custom fabricated metal items.

PS. Thanks for the best wishes. The benefit is this Sunday and its looking to be a good turnout. Lori has not been doing well at all so its good to see the locals stepping up.