January 1st 2019

  Happy New Year one and all.

  Over the holidays I have been able to work on one project.  I saw a pattern for a wooden puzzle on Pinterest and decided to make a prototype from available material. ( skid wood)
  The first thing I did was make a full size pattern.

  The puzzle is an 8 by 8 square.  It turned out to be a band saw project for the most part.  I ripped a board three inches wide and cut the three square pieces, and then two inches etc...

  Once sanded I stained and varnished the pieces slightly different colours at random. If the wood were nicer I would make a frame and have the puzzle as a coffee table ornament, perhaps.  These pieces will instead get put into bag. One thing I did was stamp how many pieces completed the puzzle (13) and what shape it is to be 8 x 8. Knowing how many pieces make up the puzzle at clean up time a piece is less likely to get forgotten. ( I hope) My grand kids like puzzles, though my wife found it a bit of a challenge to assemble when she tried the other day, they can try it next time they're here.

  It is now going to a quiet couple of days before the typical routines resume, and I am going to take advantage of the quiet to read, listen to music and putter about.

 I hope you had a good holiday season and are looking forward to a fine 2019.

cheers, ianw

When dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and Workshop

  When the time comes, which is most assuredly will, and you are downsizing your life, it is likely that your woodworking shop will have to downsize too.  Your new digs will probably be in a condo, or an apartment someplace convenient to your day to day needs and not out in the country on a lovely concession road far from the madding crowd.  You will no longer have to shovel your own snow or mow you own lawn but the total freedom of wandering into your shop and making saw dust any time you'd like will also pass away.  Or must it?

  Elements of our far flung family are currently visiting and my little grand daughters are filling my days will delight and confusion. Have you ever noticed how much a three year old has to say,  how difficult they are to understand and how frustrated they become with your lack of understanding? 

  What I did understand is that the big one (3 year ) likes dinosaurs.  In ages past I scroll sawed many 5 and 6 piece dino puzzles. This afternoon I cut out a puzzle, the first in a couple of years. And I discovered that I enjoyed it again.

   Purely by happy accident I made a brachiosaurus, (more or less) and its her favourite.  I think the brachiosaurus has been discovered/identified since I was into dinosaurs as a kid.  

  

  This little project reminded me how much satisfaction can be derived with so few tools and so little space.  I used my table top scroll saw to cut the puzzle out. I had a piece of pine that was a couple of feet long from which I cut the puzzle, there is room left for several more.  This sort of wood can be bought in any size at big box store and they'll even cut it into bit sized pieces if you can't fit full length boards on the back of your bicycle, or on the bus.

  After the dino was cut out I used a couple of files and some sand paper to smooth down the imperfections that come of lack of practise and shazam....a toy for a little person, a very happy little person.  That is as satisfying as any project I have done in some time.

  A scroll saw or small band saw, a couple of hand saws and an assortment of other hand tools can be used to make small projects with large satisfaction quotients and don't you forget it.

cheers, ianw

 

  

Lap Joints, a Puzzle and a Relief Carving.

  Over the last couple of days I have been nursing a sore back but still trying to do some things in my shop.

 I am taking another painting class, this time oil painting and need a way to move damp canvases from studio to home.

  My plan was to make a frame that would go in between the face of two canvases. That way the wet paint would be protected and hidden.

 The frames are made from 1/2 poplar with lap joints for strength without nails.

I cut the joints on my table saw by making multiple passes while holding the wood on my table saw sled. After cutting the joints I used a rasp to clean up the little bits left over. I keep a fairly course rasp close at hand and use it often to tune up little details when working in my shop. I opted not to use dado blades for the few small cuts that needed to be made. If the project had been any bigger I would have taken the time to put in dado blades, they are the correct tool for the job. 

The stop block limited the width of the cut.

  The frames were glued together and left to dry over night.

  Canvases of two sizes ready to go to art class next week. I had the straps in a box in my shop. They are old straps from camera and tool bags long gone. 

  The other two projects are a puzzle for a grand child and a small relief carving I was working on yesterday between laying on my back trying to find a comfortable position.

  When I am finished there will be six different pictures on these blocks, therefore six puzzles.  If the puzzles are too much challenge just now, then the blocks can be played with just as blocks.

  The relief carving is just a time killer.  

 I think it is a Dogwood. (sort of). I need to add some refinements and then paint it. As I am painting the rest of the puzzle I will get around and finish this.

  

Two Small Projects Done

  It has been a tough week.  I had a good day on Thursday, well an improved day I got a bit active and now I am having a few really difficult days as punishment.

  Over the course of the week I did a little bit of gardening and a little bit of work in my shop. Yesterday I gathered together energy and did some painting on this week's small projects.

  The Thumb Stick was sanded smooth and then finished with opaque walnut glazing stain. The stain will project the stick from drying out and help resist smudges and dirt from dirty hands.

  Two blogs ago I showed pieces, this is what the pieces look like finished and assembled.

  I saw this little puzzle on Pinterest and made my own version. This is a four piece puzzle for a two year old girl that likes Owls, (Uggla in Swedish). I often go to Pinterest for ideas and inspiration, there are photos of anything you can imagine.  For example if you search 'bookcase' there are 100's of photos to inspire you. Most photos link to web sites or blogs with plans, or instructions to help you copy or create your own project too.

 The old saying, 'cut your coat to suit your cloth,' when you are having trouble getting around, do smaller crafty things, but keep doing things.

cheers, ianw