Now to Finish up.

  I think I have the cleaning part of the wood shop done.  This cupboard that was in the back corner has come down .

  The small shelf unit is gone and the brown low boy went months ago. Now the back corner looks like this.

only rotated 90 degrees. I don't know why the computer software won't work today.

 It appears  there are  several small projects that were begun and then shelved, for various reasons. As well as things to finish there are several outstanding tasks.  I have a set of doors to fix, door knobs to turn and install  and a handle for a chisel.

  I bought this un-handled mortise chisel a while ago.  It looked like the perfect tool for cleaning up and squaring hand cut mortises, several of which I had just made.  Of course once I bought the chisel I didn't need it, and it slid to the back of the cupboard and was mostly forgotten.  This morning I quickly turned a handle for the chisel on my lathe. With the correct tools it is a quick process to knock out tool handles.

  Or in this case In the rummaging around I found a mallet handle awaiting a head.  Next project, laminate another head to fit this handle, I've got some maple that should be great for this.   The round handle lends itself to a carver's maul with a round head. 

  There is a lovely elm box, with a poor lid.  I cut a slot in the lid from the wrong side when I was working on this project. I've got a real nice elm board that I will glue up and make a proper quality lid for my box.  

  I have two drawers that were part of a modular desk. The desk is long gone, the drawers will be made into a free standing unit, on wheels that will be useful in our home office. Again the pieces had drifted into a back corner and become hidden from view by dust and lumber. 

  There are a bunch of partly finished tea boxes, pencil boxes etc that were in a banker's box back in the back of the basement.  It appears that these were things I started  when I didn't really have anything pressing, and then put them aside when something came up. 

There are an equal number of wood carvings that fall into the same category as these boxes.  Also I have a plan for an artist's travelling paint pallet or two amongst the various projects on those two shelves.  

  Time to carry on and finish a whole bunch of this stuff off and find it homes.

cheers, ianw



  

Box Repair for 10,000 Villages

 10,000 Villages is one of my charities and the great thing about this charity is I donate skills, workshop skills instead of money.

  The most recent challenge is a box with a top that doesn't close properly. 

this is a similar box to the one that I am repairing.

  When I picked the box up yesterday I thought is was going to be an easy fix.  I would just plane a bit of wood away and the lid would slide into place,...I am an optimist.

 Closer examination showed that the hinges had been inset too deep and so the joint was sprung. Not a big deal, until I looked at the hinges. 

  You guessed it, the hinges where attached with nails, not screws. How do you get it apart with out destroying the box trying to pull out the nails? How do you do it?  You drill the nails out using your drill press, patience and slow drill speed.

    I have a floor model drill press but almost never need the capacity that it provides, a bench mounted drill press with a half dozen speeds and a good chuck is all most people need. I have floor space and also got a good deal on my drill press at a wood show years ago.  A drill press is one of those tools that immediately improves the quality of work you produce in your shop.

light weight clamps.

   Once I got the nails drilled out on the body of the box I cut a couple of small pieces of soft wood to glue into the spaces cut in the box for the hinges.  Once the glue has set I will trim the wood, drill holes, (using the drill press) and use small screws to attach the hinges again.  With a bit of stain the box should be as good as new.

cheers, ianw

Boxing Day

   Today in the shop has been all about Square Corners, and boxes.  Recently I have made several boxes of various sizes, some of the boxes have been sold and others have been absorbed into everyday life.

  This blog is about the evolutionary process from 2x10 by 16 inch cast off to cute little box.

  I began at 3:30 with a piece of wood and an idea.

a piece of spruce stud from a dumper.

   The first thing that I had to do was flatten the piece of wood so that I could saw it into useful pieces.  Since it is 1.5 inches thick I was able to flatten both sides in the planer.  I used several shallow passes and got results good enough to make it safe to take the board to the table saw for ripping. If the board is too cupped even if I could rip it safely the edges would not be parallel and it would make for extra time at the joiner to get things sorted out.

  Once flat I ripped the board into 2 3/4 strips.  After ripping the boards I re-sawed them on the table saw. I have an older version of the Bosch contractors saw.  (I took the guard off, made the cuts and put the guard back).  When doing this sort of thing I find that the lost material is not a big deal and the narrow boards can easily be re-sawn on the table saw, quicker and straighter than I can do it on the band saw.

  

     That is some of the dressed lumber that came from the 2x10.  This the photo of what is left after I made two boxes.

   These are two boxes that are glued and drying as I am writing.  One box has mitred corners, the one with the green tape and will get an inset lid.  I am using lead weights to hold the inset bottoms on the boxes and elastic hair bands from the $ Store to hold the sides together while the glue dries.  The second box has butt joints on the corners with extended ends, I plan to put some sort of hinged lid on that box.  Both boxes will get wood burned, or carved designs on them once I sand them down.

   The time spent sanding and finishing will be as great as the time spent building, as is always the case.  As you can see I have enough material to make at least two if not three more boxes all for the cost of $00.00 in materials.  

  The next step is to set up stops and jigs and cut out several boxes at once to speed up production.  

  

   

Keepsake Boxes Complete

keepsake boxes beside a wine bottle for scale. (10x10x16)

box open, showing top lining and a symbol for Peace.

  These two boxes were a commission that I just finished. A customer asked for two keepsake boxes for her twin granddaughters.  I made the boxes from 3/8 oak with an aromatic cedar floor and 3/4 one piece oak top.  After sanding everything to 400 grit I sprayed shellac, one coat, followed by vigorous sanding again to 400 grit, then three coats of wipe on varnish.

  The name, symbols and butterflies are burned onto thin panels then glued to the boxes.  I found that the oak was a bit tricky to wood burn neatly and so opted to burn panels which let me discard unsuitable results.  I was very lucky to have decided to do a couple of tests because that is when I learned how tricky the oak was to burn cleanly.

   I deliver the boxes on Monday and hope that the customer is happy.

Treasure Boxes by Gene

The Leamington Home Hardware Tool Expo is coming up Feruary 3 and 4th. This is a chance to see many of your favourite tools in action.  Each year Gene has a booth at the Tool Expo, as well as being  a bandsaw set up guru, Gene sells these boxes.

The boxes are made from reclaimed or salvaged wood, re-sawn and the cut for box joints.  The hinge that Gene uses is a custom design but the box joints are cut with a table saw.  The selection of boxes and woods covers all shapes and sizes

Box-Joint-Cutter-Set by Freud

Ten Thousand Villages

   Ten Thousand Villages is a wonderful organization that is out there doing good things for  hard working people  and so is worthy of encouragement in my book.  Ten Thousand Villages has a store down the street from the Craft Co-op Textures in which I am a member.

   

  A while back my wife got the idea that I should spend some of  time volunteering in the community, a good idea. My problem was finding a place/organization for which  I wanted to volunteer. Eva had working with Ten Thousand Villages in the past and we had been often purchased things from their stores as gifts and many of our Christmas decorations are from there too, so it seemed like a place to check out.  The process was quite painless, I wondered in to the store and volunteered to repair any of their wooden boxes that had been damaged in shipping or suffered from the humidity changes.  If you go to their web site you can see there are many wooden objects for sale through their stores.  Nearly all of the wooden boxes and things are from different climates than ours and so the wood suffers for the transition.  

     After a chat with the manager I am repairing, re-glueing and rebuilding pieces for Ten Thousand Villages and I enjoy doing it.  That is a win - win situation for everyone.

tea chest 5x8x12 inches

the corner that needs repair/gluing

 The gap in the top is pretty pronounced but with a little bit of wood dust mixed with a super glue it will be as good as new in no time.

tenthousandvillages.ca

Red Elm Mirror Frame and box

     Recently I got 120 board feet of Red Elm (slippery elm) that was to be flooring but ended up as misc. shorts at a lumber yard.  I confess I didn't know anything about elm until I got it to my shop. I took it 'cause it was a real good price.
    I now know that is gives more than its fair share of splitters, the cuts will be fuzzy if your tools aren't sharp and that the projects turn out pretty nice, if you like grain.  The mirror frame on the left is destined for sale.

     I made the frame with 12 inch mirror panels and you can see from this photo that the grain is quite pronounced. What isn't as obvious is the colour range from nearly white to reddish.  Someone will love it, or not.  Once I got the wood machined initially,  it was fine to work, and took the Rub On Poly finish quite well.

 This is the left overs.  I used a clear finish on the mirror frame and so thought I would see what happened with a Watco Danish Oil finish on the off cut box.  I like the Danish Oil better.  The brown tone in the Danish Oil  muted the red just a little and made it sort of "walnutish" in colour instead of the old style red mahogany colouring. 

You can see the variation in the grain patterns if you look closely. (one day I'll get to be a better photographer and get a better camera). Shop tools and techniques are more important right now.

Altogether I have been pleased with the results and look of the Red Elm.