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