Small Projects and Lessons Learned

 

This is what Easter looked like two years ago.  My sister in law and niece 

are cake bakers supreme.

Alas, no family get together last year or this, next year ....

nice plant.

This is the plant stand finally finished.  I messed up the varnish coat and it had to be sanded stained again and varnished.  I should know better than to experiment on a commissioned project.  I have learned to let my glue dry so I will learn not to mess with finishes, someday.

  This is the first thing I am working on, using up left over and stray 2x4. We have four plastic spools that are about 3 1/2 feet in diameter that came from my brother's workplaces trash. The spools looked too get to throw away so he brought them home for me.  Eva and I decided that they would make really nice little patio tables for little people. (of whom the family is well equipped again) I am ripping old 2x4 into size and putting four in each spool to increase rigidity.  There is consideration being given to covering the tops with tile mosaics.

 

  This is one of those projects at use time to save money.  The fast and easy way would be to buy a bundle of 2x2 strapping and bang these things out.  Since I am using old, stained, weather, cracked wood there is ripping and sawing and fiddling that needs to be done.  Not the least of which is making sure there are no nails/screws in the wood already.  Anyway, this type of job is a relaxing, low stress thing, doing when I want and how I feel.

  The other job is a learning project for me. In October 2019 I made a box for my bathroom stuff.

  Having lived in a wet environment next to my sink this thing has begun to rot away.  I decided to make a new one, that used the space better.  This purple box was an orange crate that I re-purposed. The next unit is designed to fit a specific space.

  I have never made anything with curves before and wanted to try it before taking on a real project.

  It was an interesting little project for me, probably what I learned I should have known years ago but as a self taught wood worker there can't help but be gaps. To get the shape/curve I needed I traced the space on a newspaper, cut it out and refined the curve. I used Baltic birch plywood for all the straight edges and the bottom. The bottom stands on cork feet to try and keep things dry.  The bent wood is elm ripped to less than 1/8 inch.  Needless to say the grain runs the length, surprisingly  the elm bent easily without heat or being dampened. 

   A few years ago I saw a bread box in Sweden that was round for storing their typical round hard bread sort of like this one.

The round bread is about 12-14 in diameter and a couple of inches deep per package.  There are usually 5 - 6 slices in each package. 

  I thought the round container was cool, it was covered with painted and wood burned folk art that made it unique and personal.

  I have some more elm and I think with steam I should be able to bend the sides around without too much trouble. We shall see.

cheers ianw

p.s. It is April 20th and I am looking out the window at light snow.  Jeez.

  

Friday Morning

  The day began with a crash. A large glass vase filled with pine cones crashed to the floor and exploded into about a million transparent shards.  We have been very lucky in the nine years that we've been hosting grandchildren, this morning was the first notable damage.  So before coffee I was picking up the mess and vacuuming up the microscopic bits of glass.

  The cleaning fell to me because Eva was busy.

I know its not wood, but it wants to be.

  This morning Eva is creating a two layer wedding cake that is to look like pieces of birch tree.  The cake is maple flavour and the icing is vegan butter cream and fondant. There is more time involved in decorating the cake than in baking it, including the time in the oven. Pretty much like a shop project.  Building something is much quicker than sanding and finishing it.

  In the shop: 

  The board games are done for the wedding party.  Miranda and William games, with folding legs. 

  What else did I do in the shop in the last couple  of days.  As my back has been giving me trouble the last couple of weeks my shop time is limited to several short stays per day.  One day this week I spent the time sharpening tools.  I have a Work Sharp  system for chisels and narrow plane irons. For knives and gouges I use ceramic stones and the 'scary sharp' system.  I have found that honing with a strop will keep a blade going for a very long time, if you don't let it get too bad.

  I spend a couple of hours this week on house cleaning as well.  I have two tool cupboards that are open.  Without doors the cupboards gradually fill with dust, and all the containers on the shelves fill too.  I took the container boxes and jars down and emptied them out.  While doing this I threw out bunches of short pencils, bits of chalk, string, wire etc. etc. I find that while I am working on a project I do not stop to evaluate weather the small somethings are worth keeping or should be tossed out.   I put the thing back were it came from and leave the deciding to later, sometime later is much later, much much later and the deciding doesn't get done at all. Well, this week I did some deciding.

  What follows are graphic photographs of places and spaces in my shop that still require attention. If you are a sensitive soul, avert your eyes.  I am struggling to over come my wood addiction. ( supplemented and augmented by my disorganized nature ).

my small bench has become a dumping ground, again.
 the planes and chisels need a better storage space.

off cuts of plywood, such a mess.

another pile of 'stuff' and a box of
sand paper bits. 

more wood, scraps and off cuts.

In the back ground is the dowel rack in the window, a beginning.
One tool cabinet in on the wall,  I should rebuild it.

  I am working toward making this a better work space.  I now have less time in the shop and so hate to waste that limited time.  Before I could putter around in a mess and not care about lost time, I really hate lost time now.  I guess there is a bright side to back trouble??

  School starts next week.  The kids return home.  Things return to normal, whatever that is.

  Enjoy the final summer weekend folks.

  

cheers, ianw

  

Other Hand Skills

  Over the weekend my grand kids were here for a couple of days.  My Grandson and I worked in the wood shop on another boat and we built a hand cranked crane together.  This crane clamps to the railing at the top of our stair rails and the kids lower and raise a clamp on the string. 

  The crane pivots on a bolt

  I needed a knob on the handle and I used a twist-on wire connector.  I drilled a hole and put a small bolt through and threaded the twist-on, on.  It was quick easy and strong.

  This project added a new tool to my grandson's woodworking experience.  We drilled several holes using the drill press and he really liked and understands the tool.  Now every hole needs to be drilled using the drill press so that the depth can be controlled and the holes will be drilled at right angles to the materials. 

  I would say that a drill press is a critical shop tool.  It can't replace a cordless hand drill totally but the drill press enables you to drill larger holes safely and accurately.

  The other serious project was with my grand daughter.  We mixed up and baked a cake.  It was a cake mix, but....we did a good job.

  I  covered the cake with icing and a bit of piping and then Clara got going on the decorating.  Clara is five and loves candy but Oma's taste has out grown gummy worms.  Oma likes chocolate, so the cake is chocolate, with chocolate butter cream icing with dark and white chocolate bits and chocolate coated almonds.

  Wood working is good, but it is a good idea to have other tricks up your sleeve. 

cheers, Ian

cake recipes. 

butter cream frosting 

The Three Steps in Making Anything - Step Three - Finishing

 Step Three takes as much time as Steps One and Two combined often. In this case it took just a few minutes to sand the flower box and then only a few minutes to apply the stain and shellac.  What took time was allow the finishes to dry property. On large projects you can pour hours into sanding and finishing.

 There are hundreds of books filled with information about preparing wood for finishing. I am going to pass along a few points that I have learned and adopted.

 1. I always start with 60 grit sand paper. The material might appear to be ready for 120 grit right off but it probably isn't. I have reduced sanding time and use less fine grit paper by starting rougher than it first appears to require.

2 I have cabinet scrappers and hand planes, and still mostly use sand paper. It is what I learned on and know best. Doing what you know best is the most effective use of time.

3. Always sand with the grain, always.

4. When I work my way through the sanding process I use 60. 120, 220 and 400 grit on both hard and soft wood. I use a random orbital sander  until 220 and then I switch to a finishing sander. Often the 400 grit is done by hand. I do mostly small projects so hand sanding is realistic.

5. Buy good quality sand paper, it does last longer and I think it does a better job.

6. Don't ignore a belt sander when doing larger projects, but be careful if you are using course grit paper. 

7. When you are done sanding dampen the wood with water to raise the grain and sand some more.

Before you start putting on any finish rub you work down with a tack cloth or at least vacuum it.

If you are using a open grained wood like oak fill the pores if you want a great smooth finish.  I usually put on a coat of shellac and sand it off leaving shellac in the pores of the wood although there are other fillers on the market. I learned with shellac and know it best.

It the case of this project I stained the wood with a water based wipe on stain, I let it set for a couple of minutes and then wiped off the excess. Next I  gave it 24 hours to fully set and lightly sanded it. Even though I had raised the grain before there were a couple of spots that were slightly rough after I put the stain coat on.

I then put on a 1:2 ( shellac-alcohol) coat of shellac, sanded and followed with two coats of 1:1 shellac.  I allowed several hours for each coat to dry since it has been humid here this past week. Between coats of shellac I use an abrasive pad to knock down any bumps formed by dust. Steel wool also works fine though I find it shreds if I am not careful.

There are hundreds of books teaching, explaining and talking about sanding.  Like sharpening, find a system and products that work for you and stick to them.  There is nothing worse that messing up a project in its final stages with a finish the wrong colour, or that won't dry or something equally nasty.

If this was a baking project finishing is the icing on the cake, or the presentation, size and shape of the cookies. Like a fine finish on a wood working project Stage Three will not change whether the project works, it will change how it looks and what other people think of your work.

See, the icing on the cake can be a big deal. Eva's most recent cake creation for Clara's 4th birthday.

It was a prep, assembly and finishing project. Making things takes attention to all three steps.

cheers, ian

Cactus and Cake

"The environment in which a person works has a huge impact on the quality of the work produced".

   I don't remember which wise old dude said that but it is true.  We do better work when we like our job.  We also put extra effort into a project when it is for someone special.  Most of all it is nice to have encouragement from someone whose opinion we respect.  
   I have the luxury of doing my woodwork in a nearly perfect environment.  It is a hobby so I can pick and choose what I do.  My shop is just down stairs so I can work in my PJs and house coat if I choose, and my wife has opinions that I respect.
   Respect is something that a person earns.  Eva doesn't do much wood work any longer though she did build some furniture in the past.  She is a baker.

Our Grandson's birthday cake, the barrel is filled with chocolate pudding.

 And a gardener.

 Cactus growing in our rock garden behind our house.

It is worth remembering that we live in Hamilton, Ontario.  Not everyone can create a place in their garden for a perennial cactus in our climate.  Unless you are a pretty keen gardener you don't even know that it is possible.

  Someone that does cool stuff in their kitchen and their garden understands about trying to do cool things in a workshop.