Happy Thanksgiving

Friday's blog talked about the Rockton World Fair. I have two pieces of wood working and they got second in their category.

4 by 6, relief carved painted bass wood.

 You can see a dark line in the upper left hand corner, that is a dark strike in the grain of the basswood.  A serious carver would have either discarded the piece of wood or used it for a design that was going to have a painted background. I will not enter a piece in competition with a flaw like that again, I'm sure it didn't help my chances with the judge.

3.5 by 8.5 on Baltic birch finished with varnish

  The pieces that came first in those categories were good, but also at least twice as large as mine. Next year I will enter larger pieces, on better wood and I hope pieces with improved technique. Both of these pieces are going to be lids for small boxes, so though imperfect they have a purpose. 

  

  The Thanksgiving Weekend is over, it is time now to think of Christmas gifts and decorations.  The twisted Christmas tree project by Steve Carmichael is a good looking project that can be folded flat for storage in the off season. 

  The only special tool you'll need to have to complete this project is dado blades for you table saw. A project like this with its many cuts warrants the time needed to set up your dado blades.  I also liked the sled that he made to improve his accuracy and safety (check at 3:17 in the video).  Since the dado he is cutting is 3/4 inch, there will be use for that sled/jig in the future too.

  If you get working on Christmas projects now, there will not be a rush to complete work in December when your schedule fills with family and holiday cheer.  Now if only I would practise what I preach.

cheers, ianw

Jig Saw Project

    I was at my Mother's house last week and when I went upstairs I noticed a woodworking project for years and years ago.

 

you can see the none-shrinking wood filler that I put in the voids in the plywood.  Now I wouldn't use plywood, but this was long before I had a table saw, or clamps or skills.

   This laundry hamper has been in the upstairs hallway since the early 70's and the replacement lid was made by me in the very early 1980's.  It was probably one of my earliest jig saw projects.  I took the broken lid off and used it as a template and cut the top out of 3/4 plywood.  I remember staining it and telling a friend of mine from school that it was zebra wood. 
   This plywood project is also interesting to me because the edge of the plywood was veneered.   I remember buying a roll of veneer and going out of my mind putting it on with masking tape.  However, I must have been successful as the top is still there and the edge is still hidden.


 

Makita 3.7 amp VS. Orbital Jig Saw

  This is actually the jig saw that I have in my shop and while I turn to the band saw often times, I would not be without my little jig saw.  I wrote a blog in April 2012 saying that a jig saw was an important and useful tool for an "Apartment Tool Kit" but it is also useful for any wood shop. If push came to shove the band saw could go and I would keep my jig saw.

 I have another little project to share.

  I really think that every wood shop should have a wood burning pen in  drawer some place. Mine is a  pen with one tip and don't pretend to be an artist, but the burned lines add a bit of eye appeal to simple projects.  In this case there isn't any paint or ink that would last on a fingernail brush, but burned lines will be fine.  

  As you skills improve you may not be able to build furniture because of lack of space or cash.  I believe that if you can't build large complicated things in your shop you should, keep building small projects and add to them with burning, carving or some other technique. Remember much of the shop time is good for the soul as much as anything else.

cheers, ianw 

 

 

Two Small Boxes Finished

   These are two of the wee boxes wood burned and finished.  I think that I like hinged lid the best but I put more design into the inset lid box.

  For the maple leaf pattern I went to the yard and picked three different sized leaves and made templates from them.  I don't like leaf patterns that are artificially symmetric.  My taste in leaves will impact on the sales of the boxes I suspect. There certainly will be people that will not want real life leaf shapes.

24 x 12 x 12 inches

   While I am on the topic of boxes, this is one of my boxes with history and mileage.  I made this box to carry a specific object forth and back to the East Coast of Canada four summers ago.  I am not going to tell you what is in the box just yet.   Stay tuned for further announcements.

  A decent little sander for cheap. I have been using one since last spring, it is my 80 grit sander.  When I use this sander I connect it to my Fein vacuum cleaner and sand away that first rough layer of planer marks.

Rockton World's Fair

http://www.rocktonworldsfair.com/



  My wife and I have been entering home crafts in the Rockton Fair for years.  I have won first with wood carving and bread on several occasions and Eva often wins a dozen or more ribbons in all sorts of classes, including bark carving one year.

  
    This year I took firsts in chip carving and novice wood burning.  I can't really brag, chip carving is a bit of a lost art at the fair just now, though some years there have been super complex pieces entered.  The novice wood burning category wasn't loaded with competition either, but that is the luck of the draw, also next year I have to step up and play with the big boys and girls, it will be nice to come top three next year.

   The Leamington Fair: Held the third weekend each June.. The Leamington Agricultural Society presents its annual fair. Tons of fun for the whole family. Contact: 519-326-8082 for more information. Leamington is the home town of thetoolstore.ca, it would be great to see local folks out and supporting their spring fair.

Fall means some serious yard work, so the spring will really sing. Take sometime over the next week or two to get that pruning done and the yard/leaves under control so that you don't start next year with muck and dead spots instead of grass.

Happy Thanksgiving and: