Tova's Blocks

  My most recent shop project was completing some blocks to go to my Grand Daughter in Sweden. I make children's blocks from 1 1/4 inch poplar and leave them unfinished.  Poplar is harder than pine and usually has a bit of grain and colour to it.  My Grand Daughter Tova is getting name blocks as well as building blocks.  
  The letters were traced from a stencil I bought at the Dollar Store and then incised using hand carving chisels and a Dremel Tool. Since getting a variable speed Dremel tool I have found dozens of uses for it.  I have found it so useful for carving and craft projects that I don't even put the tool away, it hangs beside my bench all the time.

  I thought I would include the photo sent to me by a buddy.  I don't know where Brian got this picture of the oldest wooden door in England. This door is at Canterbury Cathedral and recently I heard it being talked about on QI, the television show from the BBC hosted by Stephen Fry.

  It is November and time to get working on those Christmas gifts.  Here is a link to a series of photos of past Christmas projects to help inspire you.

Christmas Woodworking Projects.

Lets turn off the TV and turn on the tools.

cheers, ian

Wood Junkie Box + Spline JIgs

 Back on June 6th I wrote about found wood.  The drawers that I found on the roadside were made from maple. Not all road side furniture is good wood, but this is why I stop and check.

  This box is five inches square and three inches deep. It is made from found wood.  The drawers had a spray on stain finish that I easily sanded off to revel clear maple. I have got pretty good at figuring out if the furniture is wood on the road side is real wood or wood/glue.  I sometimes pick up the wood/glue stuff if it is in real good shape.  I use sheet stock for jigs and wood table surfaces, and free is a good price.

  This box has splined mitred corners that I made on my table saw.  The inset wood is not found wood, it is a little bit of Jatoba that I had left from another project. As you can see from the top, the wood had been laminated together from narrow boards. Not my first choice but considering the price I paid for the materials .....

  

 The bottom of the box is also from that haul of found wood. The bottom is made from one of the drawer bottoms, 1/8 inch plywood.

  Since the box is real hardwood I gave it four or five coats of spray varnish and finished with a coat of Minwax paste wax once the varnish was totally dry and hardened. (couple of days),

   My experience with hard maple and hard birch is that stain really only sits on top of the wood, like the previous finish that was on this wood. The lack of penetration means that the stain doesn't really high light the grain, not that there is much to see anyway. Since the stains don't penetrate I just use a clear finish, or sometimes orange shellac to finish this sort of project.

 This little box was just gifted to my littlest Grandchild. Tova Elise and her grown-ups visited us at home for four days last week and her Mum thought the wee box would be a good place to save small special things for Tova.  I think there are few things nicer than making things your family likes.

  As I worked away in my shop and checked around on the Inter net I found a couple of other videos for you to check out.

a: Angle Spline Cutting Jig.

b: How to make a Spline Mitre Jig

 These jigs are both different from the one I made last August 23/2013.  I particularly like the design of the jig in 'a' and I think I will copy that design for my next jig since it is more adjustable than my current one.

Remember:  Get out  and make stuff!

cheers, ian

A Self Indulgent Blog

   This is Tova Elise Jackson, she is Richard and Jen's 14 week old daughter and my latest grandchild.  Tova's parents live in Sweden and so I will probably only see her once a year for a while.  She is visiting today and so shop things have been put on the back burner. 

   Sweden has a solid tradition of wood craft and tonnes of great You tube  videos to prove it.