Large Flower Pot Cover

  Few things are more enjoyable than making something that someone needs.  My daughter has a container plant on her deck that gets blown over regularly so the request was made for a large wooden box to contain the plant pot and ballast against the wind.

  The only thing more enjoyable than making useful things is making it with the help of a Grand Kid. This weekend my grand son and I used reclaimed lumber to make a big box.

The base of the box is 15 inches square with 15 inch sides. 

 The skids I picked up last week are now turned into something useful. My grandson did the majority of the work on this project. He cut a skid apart and did most of the measuring, drilled all the holes and drove all the screws. 

 

  My role was to be the extra set of hands that held things while he drove screws, or measured. This was a great project in which he added the use of two new tools to his experience.

  I introduced the bandsaw and drill press a few years ago but this time I thought he was ready for the sliding mitre saw and belt sander.

  

 My grand son is a big boy just finishing grade seven, also he is thoughtful and cautious, so I am pretty comfortable showing him power tools, knowing his nature.  First we talk about safety, what to do and what can go wrong.  Then I give him a slow motion demonstration of how to use the tools.  On the sliding mitre saw for the first few cuts I held the wood for him so he could concentrate totally on the blade. By projects end he was making cuts by himself.  Things aren't to the point that he can use those tools alone in  my shop but I'm confident that he can manage without me having to hover over his shoulder.

  The belt sander smoothed the worst spots on the box and we then used gel stain to sort of even out the colour.

  Not only was this a great way to spend a while in the work shop it continued Kieran's  workshop evolution.  In the past he was impatient to finished and never bothered to sand or stain/varnish his work.  The sanding wasn't great but it is a step toward greater pride of purpose. 

  Next time more attention to detail will make for a more attractive result, I am sure.

cheers ianw

  

Pigs and Skids

 I finished the two little boxes for my Grand daughters. The boxes were inspired by bandsaw boxes.

 When all was said and done the wee boxes are sort of pigs

  They will serve as a small hiding place, for a treasure or a treat.

 

  The props are for illustrative purposes only. The pig on the left is Ash, and the freckles are were the Emerald Ash Borer did its business. The right hand pig is a true bandsaw box.  On the left is a version were I carved out the inner space with chisels and forstner bits.

  As I use forstner bits regularly for waste removal a while ago I modified a 3/4 inch bit by grinding the center point off.  This way I get a flat bottomed hole, which makes clean up quicker.

  I was out and about recently and came across a small stash of light weight wood skids.

  I hate to pass up free wood.  I picked up four skids like this, the planks are about 3/8".  The wood is rough but cleans up not bad and will make a couple of small boxes or pots to hide plastic inner pots. 

useful boards

BBQ starter boards

  All that is not re-used are the terrible rusty nails. 

  I use reclaimed wood regularly in my shop and I have a saw that I use to cut unknown and dirty wood.

  A few years ago I bought this, it is a rough carpentry/pruning saw. This is the saw I reach for for fast rough cross cutting of all sorts of material.  I think its design was for cutting plastic pipe, but it tears though wood.  I have a set of really nice hand saws and several power tools as well, but for quick cuts this is faster than getting my reciprocating  saw out of its box.

cheers, ianw

  

 

Opa Fix?! & Why wood is Great

 Since the Grand children have been born I have been making things for them and repairing things too.  Many family visit began with me be handed something broken and someone saying "Opa fix". It was an order, a request and a question all rolled into one. As the kids have grown the requests continue. And I love it.

  My recent trip to visit netted me a chair and a hot pad that needed repair.

 

  Wood is great because I can repair, replace and re-glue that wooden chair and make it as good as new. 

  I cleaned the old glue off the tenons, cleaned out the mortises and glued it all back together.  It is easy to do, with the correct tools and work space. "Opa Fixed!"

  The hot pad is wine bottle corks glued to a piece of plywood. Not fancy but with sentimental attachments. The plywood broke, under mysterious circumstances.  I opted to glue the board together and then support it with another thin layer of plywood. Once again clamps come to the rescue, good glue and lots of clamps flattening things out and job done.

 

 LET GLUE DRY: my work table with corks being glued into place on the hot pad, held with gravity clamps. The white board is a piece of foam core that I put a one inch shoulder on to stop jig saw puzzles pieces  from sliding off. This provides space to layout puzzle pieces. The LET GLUE DRY box is filled with lead making it a gravity clamp and an admonition to leave well enough alone so that the glue can do its job.  I am historically impatient. 

  This morning I picked up a drawer from a side board needing repair  from a sister-in-law. On to the next job.

  CLAMPS: GO HERE FOR 25 PAGES OF CLAMPS  

cheers ianw

it is peony season. gotta' love it.

 

Inspired by the Net

   There are several woodworking sites that I follow regularly, and most days I spend sometime wandering through the World Wide Web looking at other folks' projects.  Today's blog is inspired by two videos that came to my attention recently.

  The first video is from "Zack of All Trades" .  As a lone wood worker I am always looking for new and better (also cheap) ways to hold work still for planing or drilling.  To that end I have many clamps and jigs. "Zack" had a very good instructional video that mostly stated the obvious. It was of course one of those forehead slapping moments. The video shows a very tidy way to live without a tail vise.

These are my new solutions to work holding without a tail vise.  Needless to say they get my safety red, or they'd get lost amidst all the other bits of wood.  I made a thin and a thick dog and a long thin wedge. After drilling three more dog holes in my work top my set up works well now for planing small boards.

  June 2017's blog talks about tool trays and shows a couple I made with duct tape and coffee bags.  I am still using my trays for loose bits and pieces on the bench.

  I just included this to show that a good design and project continues to be useful.

  The other project was inspired by Jimmy DiResta, a talented and versatile maker.   In this video he made a rustic band saw box.  His project inspired me to follow his lead, but on a small scale.

  I had collected some tree branches over time and let them dry in my shop.  The plan was, walking sticks, or a lathe project .... ?  Anyway I've used some of the wood to make 'band saw style boxes'.

  The box is 5 1/2 inches long and is about 3 inches in diameter. I think the wood is cherry from in front of our house. I haven't decided exactly what hinges I will use.  This is a situation where hinges need to be either hidden or....in your face.  I await fulfilling inspiration.

 cheers ianw