The Award for the Best Supporting Craft Material goes to Wood

  My wife is a talented and creative person in the kitchen and glass studio.  Most recently Eva completed a glass sculpture of a cedar ( cedrus) tree.

  As the tree neared completion the question of where and how to mount it came forward.  I had in a back cupboard a piece of walnut that caught my eye in a cut off bin at a wood show, at least five years ago.  Some shops have no extra wood laying about without purpose, my shop has too much wood laying about with no assigned purpose, but sometimes a random piece of wood is just what the doctor ordered.

  To make the sculpture stand on its own I had to set the four glass sections into slots in the wood.  I began by tracing the glass base, each piece was a different length and width. I drilled out sections of the slots and then cut the rest of the slot with a coping saw.  Once the slots were cut I cleaned them up with needle files, rasps and a 1/4 inch chisel.  A coping saw is a good little tool to have in your shop for a job like this.  After the wood work was done I sanded the board to 600 grit and gave it two coats of spray vanish and a coat of wax. 

  A unique piece of glass sculpture reserves an unique base to finish it off.

  

note: measurements in centimetres. 

   The other knock off I am doing while hanging out with our grandchildren this weekend is a puzzle.  There bird cut outs are wood burned and will get a frame  17.5 by 19.5 cm. It is a surprising  challenge to fit all the pieces back into the frame.  My grandson likes to do puzzles. 

  It is great when a wood shop can provide support and entertainment for other people as well as pleasure for me.

cheers, ianw

  

Fifteen

  Yesterday was our fifteenth wedding anniversary.  Eva gave me a cool card, treats and some interesting beers. ( thank you Sweetie)  I gave her chocolates, a glass pitcher for summer drinks and a maple 15. I'm not much for cards.

 The 15 is nothing clever but...the vise I used to finish the 15 is.

  This vise is my DIY version of a  Moxon Vise.  My vise is strong and flexible and can be mounted almost any where using a variety of clamps. 

 Because of the design I could slide the "15" down in the jaws and have it supported while I filed the saw makes away.

   The other bonus is I mounted the vise on my stand up bench section so that I was working at chest level while filing, not hunched over.  My back troubles me less when I stand up and sit up straight.

  That is the assortment of rasps and files I used to remove the saw marks and smooth the wood.  One of maple's great virtues is that it will finish as smooth as glass if you take the time.

  As a foot note:  here is the Wedding Guest Board that I made a couple of weeks ago.

  I hope they still have it 15 years from now.

cheers, ianw

Craving Knife Handle Upgrade

  Two of my 'go to' wood carving knives are actually just blades wrapped in painters tape. I bought the blades a few years ago when I began wood carving at the Seniors Centre intending to put wooden handles on them....some day.  

  Today seemed like a good day.  We are having the biggest snow storm of the winter and at my age that means it is a play inside day. 

    First thing I did was use a rasp to grind the tape off the spine. Someplace, some time ago I bought a horrible, ultra aggressive rasp for cheap. I truly do not know what  the intended use is for this heavy duty, super coarse rasp, I use for the really ugly and un-natural tasks.

  I have made handles before for knives.  These knives are my glue gouging, paint scrapping, staple prying knives.  They are actually good blades but are so  thick and robust they can take the punishment with out being ruined.

  After peeling the tape handles off I glued wood scales (wooden slats) on to the blades with Gorilla glue.  In this case I dampened the scales to make sure that the glue reacted most efficiently.  I am confident enough in the glue that I did not drill the blades and rivet the scales on, this time.

    When working on edge tools always tape the blade to protect you while you work.  Always.  To protect the tool I face the vise's jaws with card stock (cereal box) as well.  I shaped the handles with chisels, knives and rasps.  The card stock means that if (when) the chisels slips it doesn't run against steel jaws.  There are few things more frustrating than damaging a edge tool while working.

Top View

Front View

  Since this is a carving knife I didn't make any effort to make a showy handle.  I made a handle that fits my right hand very nicely and will enable me to work with it for extended periods of time. The handle is slightly out of round so that it will not easily roll of my work table.

   I included this picture so show my work table after making two tool handles. Only one of which I finished today, jeez. There are knives, rasps, needle files, pencils, chisels, vises, rags and finishing wax.  It seems like a real rigmarole just to finish off a couple of knives, doesn't it?

  But....the knife feels really nice in hand now...

cheers ianw