Woodstock Woodworking Show 2019

Check out the link:

https://www.google.com/search?q=woodstock+wood+show&rlz=1CASUUV_enCA840&oq=woodstoc&aqs=chrome.2.0j69i57j35i39j0l3.4489j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;events&rciv=evn&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt15LBnu_kAhWuiOAKHdw1C34Q5bwDMAF6BAgKEAE#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=fdFr2lV5BseelGBRJpA8-A%3D%3D&htivrt=events&sxsrf=ACYBGNQ5MknQ3ISIzjGoPqCRLY8DCuISqQ:1569526678603

Facebook link:

The Woodstock Wood working Show.


See you there.  I will be in the JessEm booth for Federated Tools of London.

cheers, ianw

Why Wood, again.

  If you've read many of my blogs you know that I have a deep and abiding love of wood.  Wood is beautiful to see, smell and touch.  It also is a material that is easy and cost effective to shape and form as well as a sturdy building material. Know what else? When wood is properly cared for it has a much longer life than most 'low maintenance' materials.  

  What brought this whole thing on was three flower boxes from our back patio.

  In these three boxes live seasonal plants from our living room from late spring 'til late Autumn.  Two of the boxes are cedar and the small one is cedar with oak corners. These boxes have lived outside year round for many years.

 

    First each box needed to be brushed firmly with a wire brush and then the bug bits cleared out from inside.  There was even the beginnings of a wasp's nest in one of the boxes. A couple of the boards needed to be re-nailed and there were screws to tighten but...with a good coat of Flecto Danish Oil the boxes are as good as new and ready for several more years.  Have you noticed how quickly plastic flower pots and boxes become brittle and useless?  I have.

  

  This tin reminds me of a shop tip I want to share.  Whenever I go to the Re-Store, or any place that sells paint and finishes (big box store included) I check to see that they are selling cheap.  I seldom pay more than a couple of bucks a gallon for my utility latex paint.  I use the grossest  purples and greenish greys you can imagine for base coats or to seal the ends on boards.  Why use full price paint when it is going to be covered later or cut away.  Also when I see anything like this danish oil on super clearance I buy it to stain/treat things that live outside.  I have one more part tin on my shelf so I need to actively look out for some more product.  

  That is another bonus to wood.  With careful consideration, it can be a cheap as well as satisfying medium in which to work.

  To go along with my 'I love wood theme', here is a photo showing some of my wife's current set of kitchen tools for souping, stewing and mixing stuff.

  Looking at this I am reminded that  we've got several spreaders that I made and my grand daughters all have scaled down tools too.  Once the cheap plastic handles break on silicon spatulas I replace those handles as well.

  I have a tonne of tools that I have gathered up over time but.....there is lots if interesting and satisfying wood working possible with a few tools and heart felt desire. Nothing feels better on a wet cold day than mixing your home made soup with a spoon you made yourself.

 cheers,

ianw

sturdy veggie soup.

  

 

Oak is a wonderful wood

Before and After

  Last week I replaced an oak spatula that has seen years of work in Eva's kitchen. With a band saw or jig saw and a bit of sand paper you are able to make a new spatula in about 30 minutes, including coffee drinking time.

Sections of Oak church Pew

  Our church has replaced several rows of pews with very nice, comfortable chairs. I was lucky enough to be given six 12 foot sections of discarded pew.  My long term plan is to make an stand up dresser like the one I made forty years ago for my brother.  Only this time out of oak, not plywood.

 Currently however I am making crosses from smaller off cuts from the pews.

  Once finished the crosses will be strung for necklaces.  I think there are people at our church who would like a cross like this as a reminder of their connection to our particular church and their faith in general.

  Carving small oak pieces is not so much carving as it is shaping.  I cut the rough shape out on the band saw and then work with small files and sand paper to smooth out the piece.  It is quite relaxing. There remains several off cuts that will be cut into crosses of various sizes.   

  Another project I was working on, it is really a shop tip for Canadians. One evening while cleaning up my bench I took out my drawer of small washers and make a bunch for future use.

  Now that pennies are no longer legal tender I can punch and drill them making perfectly serviceable washers for wood working projects. 

  The workshop season is returning.  I have several things I want to do with my shop space to make working easier as well as get back to making things on my lathe. 

  Enjoy the autumn weather and carrying on making things.

cheers, ianw

  

 The road less traveled.

So What Have I Been Doing? Not many Blogs but active none the less.

   I'll first confess that I haven't been knocking myself out in the shop lately.  The weather has been great for riding both my eBike and my motorcycle and that has taken me out into the sunshine.

  Secondly I have been doing maintenance things for the last three weeks.  We have a large deck behind the house and it needed to be sealed against the weather.  Usually I seriously soak the deck every other year with sealer. (currently Thompson's ), I skipped last year. The deck soaked up lots of sealer and I think I will have to give it another coat next spring too.  Leaving out a year won't save me any work in the long run. Wood will withstand wind and wet for a long time, if...it is provided with proper treatment. (regularly)

   I repainted the wooden stairs going into the basement as you saw previously.  Since I had a stair them going I varnished the oak stairs inside too.

  The first things I had to do was really get the stairs clean and so I used our floor steamer to lift any and all dirt and crayon marks. Once I got the stairs really clean I did two small test spots to see which of my varnishes would stick and dry well. I had two half filled cans of varnish left from previous projects. I went with the Minwax Oil Modified Poly.  It went on without bubbles drying hard and clear.  Our house is eleven years old and nothing has been done to the stairs until now.  Actually the finish on the stairs was in good shape and I want it to stay that way so a little preventative varnish is a good idea I think.  Once oak gets exposed to the air it can turn grey and that is very difficult to cover.

  Years ago I made a shelf unit.  Before I started this blog in fact.  I made it from pine and painted it white. After some years the unsealed wood began to bleed pitch through the white paint. 

  Last week I took all the treasures from the box and repainted it.  This is one of those little jobs that most people wouldn't notice or didn't know needed to be done. Every time I looked at it I knew it needed attention so this is a personal satisfaction job.

  Another project like the shelf unit  painting was our black flamingo art piece. 

  This is a wind driven mobile art piece that is in our back yard. A black smith made this for me a few years ago and the wind and weather had rusted it in a few spots. Probably I was the only one who was bothered by the rust as it didn't effect the cool way the piece moves with the wind.  Since I was working on the deck I thought I should touch up the Black Flamingo too.  To remove the loose paint and rust I used my 4 1/2 grinder with a 60 grit flap wheel. 

  I have used this type of abrasive for end grain on ash rounds,

in the past too.  The abrasive works well but makes a huge mess, so it best used outside in a stiff breeze.

   I have done a couple of other fussy pants repairs about the place but now I think those jobs are done, the weather is getting windy and wet so the shop is looking more inviting all the time.

cheers, 

 ianw

enjoy the fresh fall fruit. 

14 1/2 inch Spoon - three hours sanding

  I was looking for a smaller project and again one that was quiet.  Carving  wooden spoons verges on therapy , with the added bonus of ending up with something useful.

  Carving a spoon is fairly basic wood working and doesn't require many tools. It is something that I encourage everyone to try. 

  I begin by roughly drawing the shape of the spoon on the piece of wood, after smoothing the wood just to see if there are cracks or knots.  Once I draw out the shape I begin to hollow out the bowl of the spoon. It is my experience that it is easier to clamp the board and gouge out the general shape of the bowl before cutting the outside shape.  This time I used my band saw to rough out the shape and then my hatchet  to get close to the lines and get the basic roundness.

the spoon's overall shape is now set.

I prefer to come to the final shape with blades, knives, draw knives, hatchet etc rather than use the band saw.  When the final shape is arrived at with blades the grain plays a bigger part.  The band saw will cut anything you want were the blades are influenced by the wood grain, so I think the shape is stronger and more natural when the grain is considered in the shaping.

  I figure this spoon to be half way done. The bowl is in its final form and it only remains to shape the handle and do final sanding.  To shape the handle I use various knives, planes and the axe.

 I scraped and sanded this spoon by hand for three hours. I know it was three hours because I was listening to Ken Burns' Roosevelts  mini series on my tablet. It turns out that this stick was really hard wood, maple I think and so it was slow to work. Slow work but the result is silk smooth to the touch and strong as iron, it will mix soup and stew for a very long time.

  The weather is getting cooler and the yard work is winding down so I think I'll get back into the shop more seriously.

cheers, ianw