Strap Hinges

 

  One of my earliest wood working projects dates from 1966. My friends: Mike, Bradley, Stanley and I gathered together scrap wood and railroad ties to make a 'fort' behind our garage.  To hold the door on we used hinges made from old fire hose.  The fort had a flat plywood roof that leaked, no windows, a dirt floor and we loved it. We actually planted 'flower???' in a garden around the back.

  If you search 'strap hinges' now they are almost all metal, DIY the hinges are probably leather.  I have used leather for hinges plenty of times but recently have arrived at a new recycled type of hinge material:

 inner tube and duct tape.

The hinge is two layers of duct tape with a bicycle  inner tube core, 

cut with shears.

I cut the inner tube slightly smaller than the tape.  That way I fold over the edges, just for aesthetics. 

  The inner tube adds some mass to the tape so that nails or screws won't pull out as easily. This makes for a light weight hinge for a box that is used infrequently, like the glue gun box. If the hinge was to get more action I would use a washer with the fastener to distribute the stresses better. 

  Some times I do projects that are fine wood working, other times my projects are carpentry. Most workshop storage things are....carpentry.

cheers, ianw

Three Small Projects - hook, box and turtle

 First project is a rustic hat hook.  

  There remain a few pieces of scrap wind fall wood in the back of the shop. The other day while I was kicking some pieces out my way I small light bulb went off.  I'd seem things like this in lodges and fancy decor places before and thought, I can do that.  Often rustic decor is little more than having materials at hand. I cut the branch off, sanded it clean and smooth and put two coat of shellac on it.  I don't have a spot in mind for this but you can always use a place to hang stuff.

  I have made a variety of boxes over time. Boxes are something I make with off cuts and where I practice hand tool techniques. Since I had my hot glue gun and glue sticks laying around in my storage cupboard loose, I decided to organize a bit.

 I had an existing box, with no lid.  The box  actually has finger joint corners so is fairly well made. What it lacked was a top. And topless it had sat on a shelf for ???, months, years???

Time to actually use it.

  The top also was a practice project.  I began with a board from a pallet. The board is spruce I think, and had a few nails to be removed, hence the many holes.  I used hand planes to square and straighten the edges and then glued three pieces together to get the top. (approx. 8 x 10). Once glued together I planed the top.  To wood burn successfully the smoother the wood, the better the result. For 'grins' I drew the glue gun on and then wood burned it and used water colour paint to paint it in.  After the paint dried I sprayed it with vanish to protect the paint job.

  Hinges were the next order of the day.  Next blog I will show you how I made the strap hinges.

  The third project is another finishing off something that has been around for a couple of years.  

 My Grand daughter and I made four legs, a head and tail to turn this ash round in a 'turtle' upon which a large house plant sits.  Since she was about six at the time she didn't fuss too much about detail, and so the round was still rough sawn,  chain saw smooth, which was OK.  It did look to my eye as though it was a good idea but not complete. I brought it down to my shop and began to smooth it.  Cutting across the grain on hardwood like this is tough.  I've done it several times for several project and have found that an electric planer does the rough work the best.  I have watched wooden boat builder videos and they seem to use a power planer frequently.  I am just beginning to appreciate mine.

  While planing I did knock some small pieces of bark off.

  The edge clamps are the perfect tool for repairing this problem. I bought these clamps 30 years ago when I was putting trim on a table top.  Edge clamps are one of those speciality tools that are not strictly necessary for every shop but.....it sure is nice to have them at hand for their once a year use.

  I has some finish sanding to do and I think I will paint on a few shapes and high lights before finishing and put the turtle back in the living room. It will look good instead of OK.

cheers, ianw

Finished Rocking Chair and New Plant Stand

 I got the little rocking chair repair complete, save painting.  I decided to leave the chair unfinished since I think it needs to be painted, and of course I have no idea what colour the next owner will want.  The replacement part is made from oak and cut with the band saw and shaped with rasps and files. I had to bore out and replace 8 or 9 dowels to put it all back together. Ya got to love Gorilla Glue.

Last Tuesday afternoon my friend came with another excellent plan.

  I have made a few things for D & E and always I am supplied with a very, very detailed plan. D and I worked away for about 90 minutes, including coffee drinking time. This planter used two 2x2x8 and two 1x2x8 and when we were done there was less than 12 inches of left over wood. A really good little project for a shop the size of mine and.....easier with a good plan to follow.

  I am  working on finishing up things that have hung around. Next some box tops.

cheers, ianw

Small Rocking Chair Repair

  A while ago my Brother picked this chair up from the side of the road.  It is not too badly broken except it is missing the connecting piece from the back,  a missing and a broken spindle on the bottom section too but that is the easy repair.

    

  The broken spindle is easily repaired with glue, I believe. I put a replacement in on the other side and 

  

  glued the bottom parts together with Gorilla Glue  For things like this I like a glue that expands to fill voids. I have also found that bungee  cords as well as clamps hold legs while the glue dries.

  The missing piece is cut from a piece of oak and ready to be ground into shape. Maybe tomorrow.

  cheers ianw

Before there was Plastic, there was.....raw hide

 A few years ago my Uncle showed me this shop tip.  Raw hide will keep its shape, and is tough so it is good for things like knife sheaths.

  I bought a bag of raw hide pieces at a pet food place for cheap.  The hide is hard but not brittle once dry.  To shape the piece of hide, first soak it over night or longer in clear, clean water.  Once the hide is soft it can be shaped or cut to suit you need, then the hide piece needs to be allowed to fully dry in that shape.  I allowed my two pieces of hide to dry while on forms.

Once dry I wrapped one of the pieces and used glue on the other.

  These are two carving knives I use all the time.  I bought the blades without handles.  This is the second set of handles for these knives.  I began with tape wrapped handles, mostly from eagerness to get using the knives and no clue what I wanted for handles anyway.  A couple of years ago I got around to making decent wooden handles for the knives, which lived in my tool box.  A couple of weeks ago it was a lovely day and I took a kit of knives, chisels and rasps out to the yard.  Those knives are razor sharp and were unprotected rattling around in the bottom of the kit.   Not a good idea.  So I made two, different raw hide blade covers.  The round cover has a cork in the end, and it is the better design.  Next time I will know.

  The other thing I've been doing is more spreader knives.

  These two knives are copies from the. Butter Spreading knife that you see everywhere in Sweden.  The top knife is roasted maple, lovely to look and easy to work with rasps and sand paper. The lower is oak with a textured handle, something I've just begun to try.  The longer spreader is specifically designed to get to the bottom of the jam jar. Each knife is sanded to 800 grit and then finished with several coats of paste wax.  They are lovely to the touch and will last for ever.

  cheers ianw