Designer Dining- A Venezuelan Creative Odyssey (part 1)

Just before Christmas I was commissioned to fabricate a dining table with six chairs. My client had seen some of my work and decided that it would suffice simply to send me a few photos of furniture he’d liked whilst browsing the web accompanied by the following conditions:-
The furniture would comprise a combination of steel and wood, the furniture would spend the larger part of its time outside in the brutal Caribbean sun, all must be ready by the 15th of January

And that was that.

An order like this is gold to me. It basically means that I have free reign to create whatever I want with little or no input from the client. Aside from the obvious freedom; it is a great compliment to be trusted in this way.

The photos provided were these
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I decided to start with the table but set out to find the requisite materials for the entire project. The encroaching Christmas vacations added a certain urgency to my search, and a search it was indeed. As many of you know, we are experiencing an economic meltdown here in Venezuela. I’m not going to go into details or express opinions as to why or how but I will say that these problems affect every aspect of life here and added an extra element of challenge to my mission.

I managed to find the steel, electrodes, paint, cutting discs and sundries I required but since 99% of the products available these days come from China; their quality is questionable to say the least. I am used to dealing with this but even I was unprepared for the difficulties this project would manifest.

The steel and other materials in hand; I began.

The first stage was to clean all the rust and grime off the steel and this in itself was a job of work. First I laid the steel out in the sun for 3 days; from the mill it is covered in a film of oil which attracts all the dust and dirt it encounters on its journey to retail. This must be removed, along with the inevitable rust, before the steel can be worked. 3 days was enough to dry out the oil making it easier to sand, grind and clean off with a gasoline soaked rag.

Once all was clean and dry it was necessary to prime every piece immediately as leaving it unprotected for even one day this close to the sea would enable a film of rust to appear, almost while I watched.

With all the steel painted I could begin the long, boring process of cutting. By now all the hardware stores and tool repair shops, such as there are, were closed for Christmas and would not open again until mid January at the earliest. I wasn’t worried as I felt confident that I had all I needed to continue.

There were a total of 167 pieces so I set up my steel saw ready to make the first of the cuts. Laying the steel tube against the stop I gripped the trigger, pulled and..... nothing. Click, click, click the motor wouldn’t turn. This has happened before and is usually because the carbon brushes which deliver power to the motor are either worn and need tightening or they may need replacing. I always keep a few sets of brushes for most of my electric tools as it’s a common occurrence and a simple fix. In this instance I found that I needed to replace the brushes so set to. In short order all would be well, I was sure.

Repairs completed, I re-set the saw and steel, gripped the trigger once more.... nothing. I wasted a further hour dismantling the motor but to no avail, my Chinese steel saw was buggered.

Knowing there was no point in trying to find an open repair shop I knew I had to come up with a solution on my own. I have a hand held angle grinder but the thought of making over three hundred cuts with this tool was not even to be considered. I would have to find another way.

To be continued.....