Feb. 8th 2012 - Spoons and Spoon Hold Down

  I took a week off.  I spent part of it away from home. And then I spent a couple of days not working my my shop.  My back likes to have a few days now and then to just relax and read a book.  

  When I returned home I saw a post about a foot operated hold down for spoon carving. I had recently been fiddling with a small spoon and thought a hold down was just what I needed.

Then I remembered I had a foot operated hold down hanging on the wall.  My hold down uses rope instead of a wooden lever but it works fine and stores away in almost no space at all when not in use. Stores so well that it can be forgotten.  I need to paint it red and hang it with my other shop jigs.

 Once I  I got the spoon clamp back into action I completed the centre(walnut) spoon and the right (pine) spoon quickly.  I used my hooked knife to clean out the bowls and then basic tools and sand paper to finish the spoons.  I put hemp oil onto my finished spoons, two treatments seem good enough. These spoons are used to scoop stuff like coffee beans or oatmeal, stuff that is dry.

 The fancy spoon (bass wood)  on the left just needs finishing  work.  It was started before the Covid-19 thing when I was going to a carving club at the Ancaster Seniors Achievement Centre.  I found it, in a drawer awaiting completion. For the spoon to be useful it needs some more shaping and final sanding.  I am eagerly awaiting the reopening of clubs and social centres, and when they reopen I will start some new things.

  The other thing I am working on is an 18 inch hex topped plant stand. I opted to make the top from two pieces of Baltic birch plywood rather than solid wood. Now I am end gluing real wood all around and will then decide what to do about the top. Dark stain seems the most likely possibility.  A plant stand needs to be sturdy and low key. 

 I started carving the spoons while the glue dried on the edges.  There are quicker ways to edge this project, I am just not in a hurry right now.  I nearly always have a couple of things percolating in my shop at any one time.  That way I can distract myself enough to let the glue dry properly.

  Anyway, I am back and covered with saw dust.

 cheers, ianw

spring is coming, it was 12 Degrees on the back deck this afternoon.

 

Dremel/Carving Project - Maui's Hook

  I have a grand daughter that has nearly memorised Moana and so I thought I would make her her own magic hook.  I started with a piece of maple and cut the basic shape on the band saw. Once the basic shape was established it became a carving/shaping project.  This type of project is always a challenge to clamp, this is where my foot powered vice earns its keep. I made the foot vice/hold down several years ago .

  The wooded frame clamps to the work table, in this case my KREG Klamp table. I hold the rope down with my foot and that provides enough clamping pressure to enable me to use my Dremel tools to shape the project. 

  If you look closely you can see a work station that features all the tools that you need for shaping a magic fish hook.  I have two Dremel tools, needle files, sanding blocks and card scrapers all of which I can roll into the best light in the shop. If I am working on two projects at once I can roll this entire work station out of the way and carry on with out having to put all of these tools away.

  I have to do some wood burning on the hook and lay on couple of coats of vanish and then we wait to see what sort of magic is in the hook.

cheers,ianw

Foot Operated Hold Down or a Carver's Hold Down

  In the last week or two I have been working on my  shop environment. Recently I made the saw bench from the Unplugged Workshop which was long over due.  The bench inspired me to think about some other workshop jigs or appliances that I could build that would improve my working situation and posture.  Since I am finally back to firing on all cylinders after months of back problems I want to stay that way, and have become much more aware of aches and pains that can come from working and playing. As the hair on my head grows thinner and my beard gets greyer aches and pains are ignored at personal peril.

 Though the saw bench is low, it is so efficient my bent over time is shorter and more productive.  Also I am doing more carving, both relief and carving in the round on projects from my shop. Things that require a very careful touch with the chisel need to be clamped/held in place while hold the cutting or anding tool with both hands.  It is best when the wood to very secure so I  can then  use two hands to accurately control the Dremel, knife or chisel.

  I happen upon an Instructable showing how to make a foot operated hold down.  I quite liked the design and will probably make one like in the video for working on larger items but first I modified the plan for use with on my carving projects.

hold down holding a carved spoon.

  Instead of the appliance being held in a bench vise as in the Instructable.com video I made a smaller version that I clamp to my work bench.

   I used a piece of oak, because I still have a bundle of oak shorts around and to held stabilize the hold-down I screwed a cross piece onto the bottom.  It is not a big project, I drilled and counter sunk two holes, rounded the end off the hold down and threaded the rope through.  The biggest trick was getting the rope the length that suited me the best.

  The cross piece is probably over engineering the project but that is my nature when I comes to this sort of thing.  The clamps keep the hold-down from moving one way and the cross piece keeps it from wiggling the other.  I have a spare KREG KKS-BK Bench Klamp that I will probably mount on the top of my carving bench next.

  

   I threaded the rope through the holes and tied a knot at the bottom.  If I want to work with this hold down while sitting I can tie a knot in the rope to shorten it or leave it long for standing.

  As you can see the rope will hold fast to non-square shapes and shouldn't cause damage to the wood, it I am sensible and careful.  To hold round stock I would only need to add a V block.

 cheers ianw

'stepping out!'