Table top ready for sanding

  Or is it going to be  an large interesting wooden serving platter?

  

never too many clamps 

  The top is glued together and been cut on the band saw to rough shape.  I laid out the circle with a pencil and a string. I plan to refine the shape once the glued edging dries.

  The edges of those boards were not very strong and prone to splintering too and so I opted to glue a re-enforcing section around the edge.  Once the glue is dry I will begin the process of making those old pallet boards look cool.  There is going to be lots of sanding and a bit of knot filling before I stain the wood to bring out the grain and then give it a weather/food resistant top coat.

 As a wood working exercise this has been interesting and challenging and I would do many of the stages differently a second time. Would I do it a second time, maybe but on a smaller scale, it will definitely be a small serving tray.

  Just a seasonal foot note.  All the snow is finally gone and we are living through a day of heavy rain. Some of the local lawns are beginning to look a little more green and a little less dead. I guess spring is finally coming, finally.

cheers, ianw

Part One - material prep, initial gluing and clamping.

I saw a patio table made from reclaimed lumber on the net a while ago and thought it was a good idea.  I've made a couple of small patio tables in the past, one that folds up. 

  This time the table will be round and the top is going to made with wedges.

  At least, that is the plan.  I began with a small pile of lumber from two pallets I found dumped in a parking lot a while ago.

  The first part of this project was material preparation.   

pieces cut with parallel sides

cutting stop set up to cut the pieces to length,
note the stop is Jig Red.

 The next challenge(nightmare) is the edge gluing and clamping of the pieces.  

  This part of the build is one were I needed lots of clamps and gallons of patience.   I ran out of both before all the pieces were glued up.  I have four wedges to glue into a section before  all sections can  glued together.  

  

   If I were planning to make more than one of these I would create a clamping table that would hold the whole thing in place and then weigh the middle down with lead.  As it is I plan to put a frame on the under side to support the edge gluing.  I would like the top to show no fasteners but I am okay with nailing it from the underside.

  With the preparation you can see I did not plane the boards.  My plan is to use a disk sander/grinder and create a finish with dark stain in the swirls and clear varnish on top. 

  Tomorrow I will see how successful the edge gluing has been.

cheers, ianw

not yet, but soon.!

  

Changes in the Family, make for small shop projects.

  A few weeks ago my Mother took a nasty fall and has been recovering well but will need some help with her balance and walking for a while, so she has a wheelie walker/scooter thing as a travelling companion now.

  Of course it needed to be accessorized. We are tea drinkers and so I made a tea tray that sits on the seat allowing Mom to move about with a tea cup and small plate without worry about spilling things.

10 x 16 inch tea tray

   My plan was to have the tray as light as possible so it is made from a piece of door skin that I had laying around.  ( I'm going to have to buy another door skin soon.  It gets used for lots of light weight projects.) A tip with door skin, I don't cut it with a saw anymore, I score it with a straight edge and a utility knife, a few passes with the knife cuts through and leaves a usable edge.

  

  The handles are a pair that I bought at a yard sale a few years ago for cheap, cheap.  I think I got an entire kitchen's worth of handles/drawer pulls for a couple of dollars.

  To drill to fit the handles I made a jig this time. 

   Since I still have eight pairs of handles this jig will make lay out in the future quicker and accurate.  Why didn't I do that before?...I don't know.

 The white on the tray is three coats of spray acrylic and the handles are cedar with paste wax. 

 Two days from now my Mom moves to respite care for two weeks; that's a lot of tea drinking  and then.....home again, good as new. (or as close as possible).

 cheers, ianw 

Shop Jig

   I recently saw a video on making a hand sanding jig that used sanding belts.  I have a belt sander as well as a variety of other sanders, and at first didn't think much about making a jig.
   As I was doing some shop clean up I came across my small collection of-

  broken sanding belts. I've used these belt for a variety of things over the years and still have six left. Should I throw them away...or make a jig to get use from the belts?

  Went back to the video, decided what suited my needs best and made my own version.

  I started with a piece of 2 x 4 and planed the faces smooth and ripped it to width.

  Since the belts are broken I didn't need to develop a method for tightening the belt on the wood block.  I just used thumb tacks on the least useful end of the block. Now I have a 150 grit sanding block with a wedge shaped end to get into small places.  I will use a crape block to clean the sanding belt  as I use it and so will get many, many uses from this simple, useful jig.

  Last week I saw a cool cat silhouette, it was cut from pine and had been very artfully painted. I borrowed the piece for a hour and made a pattern for my future use, I think I better paint this cat pattern red like my other jigs.

  At this time I don't plan to make a cat but having a pattern like this at hand enables me to make something in a hurry for a Grand Daughter to paint.  Over the years I have been collecting patterns for arts and crafts and this latest pattern makes me think it is time to gather the items together and see what I've got.  Fear not..the organizing bug has not beset me, I'm too old be begin organizing now.

cheers Ian

Who me! ?

 I'd never do that.

Finished Scoop and Almost Finished Box.

  There is the scoop in the ice salt.  I finished the scoop with two coats of shellac and then laid a heavy coat of house paint on it.  Since it is in salt there is no fear that it will rot in the wet. 

  

  I wood burned and painted this plywood slab and finally got around to making it into a box. 

  The box is about three inches deep and will be used to hold various loose drawings, painting  and sketches. I began art lessons about six years ago and have collected a small pile of pictures that I want to keep for posterity. 

  I cut the lid off free hand, usually I cut lids off on the table saw.  I like the result and being able to have a face hinge.  Cutting the lid free hand made for some challenges, mostly in the clamping.  I used a thin blade Japanese style hand saw and next time I will go with a back saw with a much stiffer blade, the thin blade wanted to wander and so this cut isn't really good.

  What remains to be done is varnish and some sort of latch. 

  Since the box is cedar it should be a really good place to store paper for the long run.

in the garden beside our hotel, last week.

the view out our window today.

 should have stayed in Ponta Delgada.

A re-post and a prototype.

   Sometime ago I wrote a fairly wordy post, that only a mature individual would have the nerve to write.  A young man needs a few years and a couple of battle scars before he can seriously talk about the search for balance in his life, or workshop.

http://blogthetoolstore.blogspot.com/2011/04/wisdom-du-kannst-nicht-alle-hasen-jagen.html

  I think it is time for me to re-visit 2011 and check which rabbits I want to hunt now.  I am just as happy trying to draw and paint as make saw dust most days.  Secretly I think it is because it is quiet, cost effective, portable and the product of hours of work fits into a folder instead of me having to find a home for that I have made.

  The drawing process is not that different at the craft level from wood working.

                               Graphite

   I then draw the same subject  in pastels, then charcoal looking to see which appeals to me most. 

 Recently I have to trying to get comfortable with chalk pastel. 

  It is like deciding that you are going to learn a new finish in you shop.  It takes some practice before the lacquer finish is as good as your old standby.

  The wood shop prototype is a scoop.  It has been a particularly challenging  winter and the other day I needed to spread sand and salt on the driveway and front steps.  The plastic scoop that was in the bag let me down.  I love it when there is a good reason to make something.

 This scoop is make from scrap 2 x 4 but...I like the size.  I tried drilling out the void with a forstner bit and cleaning it up with chisel.  The general shape was cut on my band saw. I may try other ways of forming the scoop(s). Once the glue sets I will shape this scoop so that it is comfortable to use.  The size and shape suits me and I will pick some quality material and make a couple more.  Everybody I know needs a salt/sand scoop. 

  If I find a nice piece of wood I may make a nice scoop just for the heck of it.

cheers, ianw

Back in the Shop - a box!

  If you are a follower you'll have noticed that I took a month off from blogging.  Actually my wife and I took a month off from Canada. We traveled to Sweden for a break from winter and a visit with family. After Sweden we took a real break from winter and went to Portugal. In the past I have taken a camera and  computer and tried to keep up the flow of blog entries, this year I just took the month off.

  So this morning I returned to my shop to gesso some canvasses and found this forgotten work table mess.

These are great low weight clamps.
 Clamping pressure doesn't always need to be huge.

  Clearly, before leaving I was making a box. For the life of me I could remember the particular purpose for this box. Until I turned it over....

  This is a wood burned and painted panel that is not showing in the other photo.  It will be the top of this box. I did this panel  three years ago and it has wished to be useful all that time, now it will be.  The finished box will be used to store completed paintings and drawings on paper.  The cedar box will help protect the contents and enable me gather up and organize my stuff.

  While I was away I spent lots of time drinking coffee and thinking, about projects to come.  I am curious to see what will happen and what will drift away in the fog of reality.

cheers, ianw