Two Videos and What I've been Up To, too.

 As I wonder about the world wide web I occasionally find a longer video or two that I feel are worth watching all the way through.

  This first video is in Swedish with English sub-titles. If you know anything about Sweden you know they are serious about wood working with knives and axes.  In this video a team of four woodworkers split out eight 13 metre ( 14.2 yards)  beams from a spruce tree. 

My arms were tired just watching. 

    It seems like a great deal of work, but remember those beams will last for hundreds of years. Split wood has the extra strength gained by working with the grain verses wood that has been sawn to size.

  The next video is a long bow maker.  He works with patience and care and all hand tools.  It is sort of a gentle massage for the wood worker's soul watching him work.

 It is a weapon but its creation is high craft.

    The production values of the video were high and without commentary it is less informative but more entertaining.

  What have I been doing?  Well, the weather has improved so I have been trying to ride off some of my winter fat on my new bicycle. The shop projects are small and mostly personal.

  I repaired a wobbly chair for 10,000 Villages.  It was suggested a couple of metal brackets would do, but.... I decided some carefully placed screws with plugs to hide the holes would do better.  Once the plugs are cut flush and a bit of stain is applied the repair will be much nicer than metal brackets.

  My Wife's cousin provided me with some antler and I have been thinking about and working on a handle for a knife for Steve.  This morning I got down to the nitty gritty of actually drilling the horn and fitting the blade.  I spent a great deal of time designing in my head before I drill for the blade, since there is no going back once the hole is drilled.  

  The request was for a 'cool' knife not a working tool.  I have a design for a finger guard made from copper or brass in my head, now to source the materials.  I don't make enough knife handles to keep a variety of specialised and interesting materials on hand. As it is my shop is stiffed with stuff for woodworking.

  To fit a handle like this I use needle rasps, files and my bench grinder to shape both the tang of the blade and the hole in the antler. 

  The bench grinder is one of those tools that every shop should have but get used twice a year at best.  My grinder was in the back of a bottom shelf so covered with dust that I couldn't see it.  I don't use the grinder for anything delicate but I'd sure miss having it.

  The small project that created all the wood shavings is yet another box.  

  Occasionally I just need to plane a board by hand.  I made the planing jig a while ago and it makes planing small pieces safe and easy.

   

  This small box is going to go into a book cover creating a secret compartment for things like pass ports and emergency cash.   I used skid wood for the frame and once it was planed it looks good.  Ultimately I will paint the frame creamy white, sort of book page colour. 

  I have a couple of other small things I want to make, maybe if it rains for most of the weekend I will get around to them. If it doesn't rain,well them there are bike things to do.

cheers, ianw