Three Small Projects - hook, box and turtle

 First project is a rustic hat hook.  

  There remain a few pieces of scrap wind fall wood in the back of the shop. The other day while I was kicking some pieces out my way I small light bulb went off.  I'd seem things like this in lodges and fancy decor places before and thought, I can do that.  Often rustic decor is little more than having materials at hand. I cut the branch off, sanded it clean and smooth and put two coat of shellac on it.  I don't have a spot in mind for this but you can always use a place to hang stuff.

  I have made a variety of boxes over time. Boxes are something I make with off cuts and where I practice hand tool techniques. Since I had my hot glue gun and glue sticks laying around in my storage cupboard loose, I decided to organize a bit.

 I had an existing box, with no lid.  The box  actually has finger joint corners so is fairly well made. What it lacked was a top. And topless it had sat on a shelf for ???, months, years???

Time to actually use it.

  The top also was a practice project.  I began with a board from a pallet. The board is spruce I think, and had a few nails to be removed, hence the many holes.  I used hand planes to square and straighten the edges and then glued three pieces together to get the top. (approx. 8 x 10). Once glued together I planed the top.  To wood burn successfully the smoother the wood, the better the result. For 'grins' I drew the glue gun on and then wood burned it and used water colour paint to paint it in.  After the paint dried I sprayed it with vanish to protect the paint job.

  Hinges were the next order of the day.  Next blog I will show you how I made the strap hinges.

  The third project is another finishing off something that has been around for a couple of years.  

 My Grand daughter and I made four legs, a head and tail to turn this ash round in a 'turtle' upon which a large house plant sits.  Since she was about six at the time she didn't fuss too much about detail, and so the round was still rough sawn,  chain saw smooth, which was OK.  It did look to my eye as though it was a good idea but not complete. I brought it down to my shop and began to smooth it.  Cutting across the grain on hardwood like this is tough.  I've done it several times for several project and have found that an electric planer does the rough work the best.  I have watched wooden boat builder videos and they seem to use a power planer frequently.  I am just beginning to appreciate mine.

  While planing I did knock some small pieces of bark off.

  The edge clamps are the perfect tool for repairing this problem. I bought these clamps 30 years ago when I was putting trim on a table top.  Edge clamps are one of those speciality tools that are not strictly necessary for every shop but.....it sure is nice to have them at hand for their once a year use.

  I has some finish sanding to do and I think I will paint on a few shapes and high lights before finishing and put the turtle back in the living room. It will look good instead of OK.

cheers, ianw

Projects for Friend's and Family.

  This week I have been working on my friends kneeling chair.  All that remains is buying the hardware and putting it together.  It is a slow process because we aren't in a hurry and like to drink coffee as much as work.

  Yesterday I dragged my planer, sander and grinder out to the back yard and smoothed out another of the elm rounds that I gathered up a couple of years ago.

approx.  16 inches in diameter.

  My wife is going to use the round as the base for a wedding cake.  I used my electric hand planer to knock down the really high spots and it give me a mostly smooth surface. Stage two was angle grinder with sanding disk.  I used a 40 grit disk to smooth down the ridges that the planer left and trim some of the bark.  To finish  I used my 3 x 21 in belt sander with a 120 grit belt.  My sander is a Craftsman that I have had since I was doing projects in my parent's driveway. ( in the 1970's)  One day the sander with quit but until then, I use it for dramatic material removal, it is effective but not subtle.  

   

    Eva wanted the big crack left alone. The cake is going to have icing to look like birch bark so the wood goes with the theme. Even with all the power I could ask for,  it still took almost an hour of bent-over time to finish smoothing the piece of wood.

  What else have a done?  I finished my latest spoon/spatula.

  This spoon is made from a piece of fire wood I picked up last June while on holiday. The shape is artistic (not so practical) but the wood grain is interesting and the finish is silky smooth. I am developing a real love for spoon making with hand tools.  I can see a collection of artistic spoons in a cool vase as an object d'art that was tactile, not for eye only. 

  I have begun the mate to the above spoon, split from the same piece of firewood.

  Since so much of this spoon is shaped with my hatchet and draw knife all I need is a basic outline of the shape.  As I work the wood, the grain will affect its lines and final shape.  In contrast if I were cutting the spoon out on my band saw I could impose my idea on the wood, of course the spoon would look like it had been made in a factory in China. That's not the look I am going for, need less to say.

  You can see the process a bit in the photograph. I have taken many small bites with the hatchet to form the handle. This is where the grain comes into play. Those feathers want to follow the grain when they peel off.

  Hollowing the bowl is also a tiny bites process. 

  I'm using a narrow gouge and a hooked spoon knife to shape the bowl.  I didn't make my hook knife, I bought it in Sweden from my favourite knife maker, Mora of Sweden. 

  These on going projects have kept me going at about the speed I can manage.  If I spend too much time in my shop I end up with serious back pain again.  I just can't work standing at a bench for more than an hour or two per day anymore.  Lucky this is a hobby and not my livelihood.  Things like spoons and small carvings are good because I can pick them up and work for a few minutes  or half an hour and can stop almost anytime.

  Oh yes, the olive tray.  It's one the bench waiting, again. I will finish it some day. When I do I will share the news with you. (I wanted to say y'all, but I had elementary English class flash backs).

  Cheers, Ianw

   

Prep Day in the Work Shop

  Even before I could begin today's work I had to clean up last week's left overs.  Building in the shop with my Grand Children tends to be messy.  I used these two tools to roughly shape the hull of our latest boat.  For years the blades have been projected by card board and duct tape. This morning I decided that they deserved more respect than that.  Especially the draw knife, it is many many years old and was made for my late Grandfather by a local smith in Bracebridge, Ontario.  As tools go it is excellent, razor sharp and remarkably easy to control for its size. 

  Today I took the few minutes necessary to make proper guards for these tools .  I ripped some 2 x 3 spruce and used my table saw to cut a slot in the guard. Unlike a stop gap job of cardboard and duct tap, I made the guards fit properly, not just adequately.  Once made I went the extra step to sand the work and break all the edges.  I have a supply of bicycle inner tubes on hand, they make excellent heavy duty elastic bands. 

  A couple of silly little jobs like this can be done with very limited available tools.  When you have a shop it is amazing how many tools come into use, cause they are available.  I used my table saw, my band saw, my 6 x 24 inch belt sander, glue and clamps as well as hand sand paper. Don't forget the drill press and drill bits and block plane.  All those tools aren't necessary but it makes replacing card board and duct tape easy and rewarding.  Each time I reach for my draw knife and push knife I will know the blades were safe and will be sharp. These guards will also serve as a lesson to my Grand children to take proper care of their stuff.

  Yesterday's project was filling in the crack in my ash wood round.  I used a variety of power tools to flatten the round first. I began with my power hand planer to knock the roughest stuff off. I find the power planer pretty aggressive, or at least that's how I use it and it survives the treatment. 

 I next moved to a 5 inch grinder with a 36 grit disk and then my 4 1/2 inch grinder with a 100 grit disk.

  The next challenge was fitting a wedge into the big crack. I decided there was no way the repair would be invisible so I didn't even try. First I traced the crack onto a bit of paper then transferred the shape  to a piece of spruce and cut it out, (more or less) on the band saw. Then it was a trial and error, fit and fuss process until I got the wedge shaped more or less to match the crack.

  I used Gorilla Glue and some filler putty to firmly install the wedge. Then I did some extra sanding and it looked better than I had planned.  Originally the round was destined to be a three legged stool, now it is going to be a side table in our living room.

  The change in plan for the round of Ash means that today I was gluing up some wood to become  four legs. 

 After facing the boards on my jointer I glued them together in pairs. I will cut them into squares and turn them on my lathe.  One pair of boards couldn't be glued to day, they were wet, my out side lumber stack cover leaked. No trouble I will not have time to turn all four legs in one day.  My back is getting better, or I am getting better at coping.  I can work in my shop for 3 or 4 hours in a day now,  which is not perfect, but it is much better than no hours a day which it has been in the recent past.

  

  While I was gluing wood today I also re-sawed some spruce to 1/4 inch for a tea box that I plan to make.  I squared the board on my jointer, then re-sawed the boards on my 14 inch band saw and then planed them to thickness with my 12 inch planner.  If I were doing lots of thin board, small projects I would like to have a thickness sander.  At this point I'm set for tools, but...you never know the future. 

Ash Rounds-flattened

  Back in March I showed a router jig that enabled me to flatten both sides of one of these rounds and to get the sides very close to parallel. If parallel isn't important I figured out another way to get a smooth finish with a bit less effort.

bark off

 

 First I put the round on a non-slip mat on my bench top. Then I begin to rough the face down with an electric hand plane that I picked up at a wood show a few years ago. 

  My planner has a very short bed and throws chips everywhere but it was cheap and I don't mind using it brutally. By the time this set of ash rounds is done, I expect the planer to be done too.  Since rounds were cut from the tree trunk with a chain saw and even though my Brother in Law was careful there is still lots of wood to be removed before the slices are even flattish.

The next stage in the process is either a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder  or my belt sander with a very aggressive disk or belt. I have a 40 grit disk and a 60 grit belt. Both of these tools are older and throw a serious amount of dust.  The next time I do the grinding stage on a round will be done outside.

  After the machines have removed the bulk of the rough stuff I have found that scrapers work better that sand paper to arrive at the final finish. I scrape from the centre outward to get the best results.

 Once the face is scraped I apply salad bowl polish and work it in with my polissoir. These rounds are for serving cheese so I wanted a food safe finish.

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  I have about ten more pieces of ash with which to play. It will be sad when the emerald ash borer has killed off all our ash trees.  

bark on

cheers, ianw