Merry Christmas 2020

   For only the second time in my long life I have not shared a meal with my Mother and Brother on Christmas Day.  The only other time Eva and I were in New Zealand on holiday. Fresh local strawberries are traditional on Christmas day there.  This year it is Eva and I. No extended family, I am lucky to have Eva with which to share the day.

  This year we are in lock-down because of Covid-19, however, everyone in our extended family has remained healthy and almost fully employed so in the grand scheme of things we are Okay.  I truly hope that you are too.

  I have been working on some small seasonal things over the last week or two.  This is a candle holder idea.  The bottle is used as a chimney to protect the tea light flame.  As a prototype it is clear that the wooden backing needs to be reduced in size. 

  

  In the back of the photograph you can see last year's nut cracker and a carved bowl.  It is pretty tough to find a view in our house with no shop projects in the frame.

about 2 x 4 inches

  Two small scroll saw/carving projects, awaiting varnish.

If you are hot chocolate drinker, a serious, old school hot chocolate drinker you know what this is.  I turned this hand mixer from hard maple and burned a few lines into the handle just for fun.  Used correctly, with the right rich creamy ingredients your hot chocolate tastes like a holiday in Barcelona. ( note: hot chocolate, not cocoa.)

  Two bowls, the tall narrow one is from wormy wood. It was fun to turn on a face plate but tough to finish since it has voids. 

  This bowl is still on the lathe, I am trying to fill all the voids on this one before final sanding.  It is taking time,

  It has been a busy December what with shop things, binding books, painting Christmas cards and searching for the perfect surprise gift.  

  We all look forward to the New Year with bated breath.  Please be wise, be safe and be kind.

Merry Christmas from Eva and I.

cheers ianw 

Why Wood ? - a bit of personal history in wood.

   In the summer of 1972 my father had earned one months vacation and the family decided that we were going to travel to Prince Edward Island in the big old family car.  I had just competed gr.8 and my little brother gr. 2.  There was no way on earth that I was going to be trapped in a car for days with a little brother and parents. (and besides I just like to be at home best).  The result was that Mom, Dad and brother had a great trip to the east coast and I got to stay with my Grandparents for a month. I didn't get to stay home exactly, but I always had my own room at Grama and Grampa's house, so it was the next best thing. 

   My Great Grandfather was the mason/bricklayer that built the building with the clock tower in this photo. My Mother's father was an electrician on that job too.  Once a bank and once the town hall and now I don't know what is using the building.  I've not been back to the town in a few years.

 I remember that month as a great time filled with cookies, ice cream, wood chips and a mighty and frightening thunder storm.

  My Grandfather was a wood worker, he renovated a couple of houses and built wooden runabouts, similar to the one in this photo, and just generally made stuff out of wood, he even made skis. 

      One of the tools that my Grandfather had was a wood lathe, it was a home made affair and the chisels were made from leaf springs and old files but it worked. I thought is was the best lathe in the world. Grampa had the lathe to make cant hook handles and ladder rungs, very old school and very practical.

a cant hook, a tool used to control and roll logs.
My Grandfather worked at a hydro electric power house  sometimes the workers pulled logs from the river that got caught in the boom above the dam.

   In shop class that year I had turned a bowl and so knew everything about wood turning. ( isn't youth great).  And after much pestering I was able to get Grampa to let me play with his lathe.  We went to the local bush and got some white birch and I went to work making wood chips in the garage. The other day I was rummaging around in a storage drawer and found this:

not the soda can, the candle holder!!

    which brought back happy and vivid memories.

   That little candle holder is a project dating from that summer in Bracebridge in my Grampa's garage.  I think my Mom has the other candle holder and I remember making a bigger spindle but don't know where it ended up.  Maybe my other Grandma got it.  

my lathe,  the model is no longer available

    If you are looking for a small, quiet shop tool it is hard to complete with a bench top lathe.  A basic lathe and a hand full of serviceable chisels does not have to break the bank.  You can spend all winter making a set of chessmen and only use a couple of board feet of lumber, so materials don't have to blow your budget either. 

   I now have two grand daughters and fully expect that my candle holder will find it way into one of their households and be a presence long after I am gone.  That's why? Wood.

Candle Holder

     This is a candle holder from Mother's house. It was a prototype, and as you have read, family and friends get the prototypes.

  The prototype is made from spruce 2x8 that actually cleaned up pretty well.  The one great virtue of softwood is that it often  takes stain wonderfully.  I was able to toss some walnut stain onto this project easily and then put a couple of coats of clear shellac overtop.  You can see the different rates of absorbtion when you look at the hardwood ball, it didn't take the stain nearly as well.

 I can't take credit for the design.  In fact I design almost nothing that I build.  My experience has been that just about everyone else in the world has a better eye for design than me.

 This idea come from a book that I picked up at a wood show one time.

 

  The Nelsons, John A. and Joyce C., have written a good little book filled with projects that are sort of folk art in style.  The drawings are very good, the cutting lists are accurate and the instructions clear and easy to follow. A book like this can provide patterns and ideas to woodworkers with a wide range of skills and tools.  I have made a few things from this book and also used it to inspire other small projects.  Often a little project is a good way to use up off cuts and fill  an evening, or rainy afternoon.

The Big Book of Weekend Wood working,150 easy projects
John A and Joyce C Nelson
Lark books, a division of Sterling Publishing Co.
!SBN 13:978-1-57990-600-9