Summer's End Projects

  Kieran and I worked on his sail boat model and finally the paint is dry and the boat is its stand. He designed all aspects of this project and did nearly all the work.  I was just a technical advisor in the back ground.

  K and I have made many boats in the workshop. This project is his most careful and most finally finished yet.  The boat is based on real dimensions and actually sails, the hull and dagger boat keep the boat on an even keel, with the sail up without any extra ballast. I am so impressed and pleased.

  While Kieran was shaping, sanding and waiting for paint to dry I was making a small picture frame.  I have a very talented sister in law and we wanted to frame one of her small paintings, an original painting deserves an original frame.

I began by making the frame stock on the router table.

  I always find the biggest challenge is clamping the mitre corners together while the glue dries.

put waxed paper down on the work surface so 

you don't glue your project down by accident.

   I am using my Kreg Klamp table, a bessey clamp and my lead gravity clamps. Bessey has clamps for all occasions, they're not cheap but are also a lifetime investment.  Don't buy cheap clamps, they will let you down at the most inconvenient time.  

   A while ago I started strengthening my picture frame's mitred corners but using a dowel to reinforce the joint.  I do that almost all the time now, it improves the joint and doesn't really show.

  Once the frame is sanded and varnished the dowel is not visible, In this case the wood, which was reclaimed has a couple of small flaws in it adding colour, wood can have character in our house so it is not a problem.

  With luck the weather will cool and working inside will be more pleasant soon.

cheers ianw

    

  

 

 

Laser Sailboat Model

 In the summer, while at camp Kieran learned how to sail using a Laser sailboat. During this visit he and I made a wooden model of his summer sail boat.

  K looked on line and got the basic dimensions of a Laser class dingy and so we set out to make a scale model.  The hull is quite shallow and so 1 inch bass wood was all that was needed to make the hull. 

  A combination of small planes, chisels and sanders were used to shape the hull. A wedged board held the bow of the boat while Kieran worked shaping the hull.  Interestingly the bottom of a Laser is flat.

  The cockpit was initially  cleared out by drill press using a forstner bit. I ground the tip off a 3/4 inch bit years ago so that I could get a flat bottom, and have used it many times. The the final shaping was done by hand with chisels. 

  

  Sanded, sealed and drying before paint. The mast and boom are to scale and on deck you can see the material that will be used for the dagger board and rudder.  All the wood is sealed with wood conditioner. Incidentally with the dagger board installed the model floats on a very even keel and is disinclined to tip over. 

  There remains several coat of high gloss white and a stand to show the boat to be made.

cheers ianw

 

  

More Gecko Stuff

  On July 30th I posted a blog featuring the travel box for Nacho the Gecko that Kieran and I made while he was here.

  He then went home for a week and while he was gone. I decided to make a solid home for Nacho that could be left here. We had a card board gecko house that K had made a while ago. A gecko likes a cool damp environment, he is misted several time per day, good for a lizard, not good for his card board cage.

 I followed the basic size and shape of the card board effort and used softwood lumber and screening to make a home away from home for Nacho.

 I made the frame from 7/8 inch spruce construction lumber and used screws and glue to assemble the frame.  My gravity clamps are holding the screening down while the glue sets.

the finished unit

  The finished unit fully decorated and ready for habitation.  I have it on good authority that he likes his home away from home. 

  Another D.I.Y task I completed this week was the deck sealing of the out door benches at the Ancaster Senior Achievement Centre.  Couple of years ago the centre was renovated and a very nice court yard was added.  In the court yard are three U shaped benches made from 2 x 4 lumber.  The contractor varnished the benches, which looked nice for about a season and a half. Now the varnish is gone and the wood is exposed. I spent nearly three hours thoroughly cleaning and soaking the boards with deck sealer.  It is one of those volunteer things that guys with shops, drop cloths, brushes and gear can do for their community.

  

  I think that we should support our community and if I can be supportive while doing something satisfying it is a win/win.

cheers ianw   

 

Gumball Machine

 One of my Grand daughters has a birthday this month and she has a sweet tooth, so I made her her own gumball machine.

about 10 inches tall and 5x5 at the base.

The real challenge of making this gift was the slider that dispenses the gumball. I wanted the slide to come forward and drop the gum into the hole, and also it not be possible to pull the slide out and have all the gum tumble out. I included a short nail on the slide to act as a stop when the slide is pulled.  You can see slots cut into the plastic to align the nail as the slide is pushed in and out.

green layers in the finished version.
3.5 x.3.5 inches square

  This is the top two layers the black plastic top from the spice jar provides the threads to connect the jar to the base.  I wanted the container to be firmly attached so that if the gumball machine was knocked over there wouldn't be candy all over the floor.  Also I wanted it to be easily refilled. The second layer has the slot for the slider.

  

  The bottom layers show the hole and trough for the selected gumball. This hole is slightly forward of the one in the jar. The slide has a hole which collects the gumball from the top section, then slides forward to allow the gum to drop into the base section.

  I screwed the layers together rather than glued them so that I can take it all apart and repair/fine tune it in the future.

  At this time the gum ball dispenser  works, OK. The gum doesn't feed downwards all time, nothing a shake can't fix but not perfect.

  I hope she likes it.

cheers, ianw