Big Flowerpot

Hooray for found wood.  A couple of weeks ago this construction grade spruce was in a pile by a dumpster. I couldn't let it go to land fill.

 

  What to do with the find?

  What indeed.  A large flowerpot, actually a large wooden pot to cover a smaller plastic pot or, in this case a large pot to be filled with weights to hold  our Norfolk Island Pine from being blown over.   

  This is another project that will cost almost nothing but time. The base is a case off piece of MDF and the sides will be found wood.  I began with a circle and I then cut it into an octagon. My first error was not to mark out the octagon very,very carefully and so all the eight sides are slightly different widths. 

  I made four sides rectangles and 12 inches tall. What then remained was to fit the other four sides.

  I realized as I began fitting the tapered pieces in place that had I made all the square sides the same then all the tapered sides would have been the same and all the angles could have be cut with jigs set on the table saw, or jointer.

  Anyway, I didn't plan that far ahead.  Originally the pot was going to have vertical sides but as I thought about the project I decided it was time to push the project a bit. I cut a 5 degree angle on the bottom of each side which gave me a about a two inch flare for each piece.

  

  I cut and installed each wedge shaped section one at a time.  As with so many of this type of job.  By the time I was finishing the last couple of pieces they were quick and easy. I hand ripped the boards and hand planed each board. By the 7th and 8th it was easy.  The first couple took a tonne of fussing and fooling.  You can see the copper staples I made to hold the top of the boards together. 

  

12 inch base, 12 inches tall and 16 1/2 inches  

across the top.

    I cut two dadoes on each side in which I glued a stretched nylon strap to help hold the container together in use.

  I  may do this again. I have the materials and having learned from this experience the next one will take half the time and be twice as good.

  Anyway, mother nature will batter the pot and not care if it is adequate or a work of art.  I like making stuff with found wood.

cheers ianw

 

 

  

Bird House - Tea Pot

 Having written 1128 posts over nearly a decade I have never really broken into the "Big Time". I am not surprised, I chose not to get involved in Video Blogging six or seven years ago when that was the coming thing, and I know that I am not so skilled a craftsman that the internet hangs on my every word.

  Today's blog is a clear example of why I am still here, but not a big noise on the net.

   A coupe of weeks ago I picked up an armful of discarded cedar deck boards. Cedar is nice to work with, especially with hand tools. I used some of the boards to knock out a planter for our back deck and now I am making a bird house.

  This bird house has been put together with glue and finishing nails and soaked with 1/1/1 finish.($). I enjoyed making this bird house which I will have my grand daughter paint when she is here for Christmas holidays. Why was the such an enjoyable project? I only used hand tools.  Cedar is wonderful to cut and plane. While making this project my shop smelled of cedar and the floor was covered with sweet smelling shavings. My shop looked like something from a children's story where a white haired Grampa is making something for someone special. Well....I am a white haired Grampa (Opa) and I was making it for my oldest grand daughter. 

  I have a shop filled with tools, some good, others excellent, both modern and traditional. With my full 'power tools' shop I could have knocked dozens of bird houses out in time it took to make this one.  All the saw dust would be collected in my shop vac system from my table saw and random orbital sanders and the product would be excellent. It would be efficient and praise worthy,  every yard has room for another bird house.

  Instead the process became the goal, not the product.  As long as a bird house emerged from the time in the shop, how fast it happened did not matter.

  So, I began rough cutting out the wood to length with a hand saw from my Grandfather's work shop, I'm 63 and I'm sure the saw is 25 years older than I am.  That saw built houses and boats, boxes and furniture when my Father was a little boy.  Once I got the boards roughed to length I used my Jack Plane to flatten then.  I created mounds of feather-like shavings and filled my shop with the aroma of  dry cedar. After I got the wood splinter free I cut everything to size. I have a rip saw from my Father's shop that is a joy to use and in dry soft wood, quite effortless.

I drilled some holes, drove some nails and used a nail set to sink the heads.  And voila a bird house is born.

  When you make a bird house don't just drill a random hole, find out what birds are in your area and drill an appropriate opening.  

 ***Also don't put a peg below the hole.  The birds that live there fly in and so don't need a peg, that don't climb into their homes. All the peg does is provide a place for a predator bird to perch while attacking eggs or baby birds.***

 The other thing I did was put a good, useful handle onto my lovely new tea pot.

  I have a copper wire core surrounded by small branches from our Mulberry bush wrapped in hemp cord. I'm not 100% convinced that this the the best look, I think the handle is too heavy for a delicate little pot but...it will do from now.

  The more I work in my shop lately the more and am moving away from noise and dust. It don't know if this is a fad or evolution.

cheers ianw

($) 1-1-1 finish is one part varnish,one part linseed oil and one part turpentine. It dries slowly but soaks in really well.

In the Shop Today- Oct. 2019

  Today I planned to spend more time in my shop. I am returning to my 'work 30 minutes, stretch out 60 minutes-repeat often as possible' schedule.  I have things I want/need to do and I really don't want back pain to stop me. 

  First thing I did was sharpen one of my wife's fine serrated blade kitchen knives.  To touch up the fine serrations I needed my triangle needle file and my magnifying headset .

this is another of those tools that I only use a few times per year,
but would be stuck without.

  After I sharpened the knife I set to work to up grade my bathroom caddy. 

  I had up cycled as orange crate and have been using it since December  2016. Over time I got tired of bottles and stuff falling over and getting trapped underneath the handle. The caddy needed a couple of internal dividers added to the design.

  To make the dividers I used my rip saw, planes, drills, dowels and bench top planning jig.

The wood began with a piece of reclaimed lumber from a skid.  First I ripped the board it to width with a hand saw, holding it on the new raised bench top.  Now that is much easier and at a better height.

  After I used a hand saw to  rip the wood  to width I hand planed the board holding it with my planing jig. I used my mitre saw to cut the wood length, hand tools are nice, power tools are quick. 

  I glued and pinned the dividers in place with 1/8 inch bamboo skewers cut to one inch dowels.  Dowels are used because I don't want rust stains from screws in the caddy/tote  which will get damp in the bathroom.  I have made several projects with the 1/8 bamboo pins, the pins really are just for alignment 'til the glue dries, but they are cheap and available. 

    The caddy was painted bronze last time, purple this time.  When I am out and about I pick up cheap cans of spray paint for jobs were the colour  doesn't matter, currently I have purple.  I added the two internal dividers to keep things from falling over while I move the caddy around.

  The planing jig is something I made in May 2017 and used on my lower work table, but really like on the raised work surface.  

I added a couple of semi-permanent dogs
 to the end of the jig. 

  Just for an update:

planter with foam box insert
back on my Mom's patio.

  The cheap paring knives that I sharpened can be replace for a couple of bucks, the planter uses a discarded foam packing box and the bathroom tote thing is an up cycled orange crate and skid lumber.  I like to be able to repair and remake things to keep materials out of the land fill sites as much as possible.  

  I have a couple more knives to sharpen and a small box I am gathering nice wood for to keep me occupied for the next few 30 working-60 stretching days.  The larger raised work surface seems as though it will make a big difference in the long run.

cheers ianw