A Live Edge Bowl

  First a photograph showing the two tools from the last blog. The large sander is more than twice the weight of the 4 1/2 angle grinder.  However it spins slower and is not inclined to burn the wood.

   The current project is designed to feature the worm tunnels that were under the bark.  Since this round of ash is nearly three inches think I decided to make it to a bowl.

   The first thing I did was trace the shape onto a scrap piece of  plywood and screw the round onto the plywood. 

  This way I can clamp the project to the work table in the garage and use my arbortech  turbo plane tool to wear away the inside of the bowl

    This is actually the quick part of the job.  Once the bowl's insides are roughed out it will take some time to sand everything smooth.

  To finish the inside I will use every sort of sander in my shop, next post : met the sanders.

cheers, ianw

Opa's Workshop Christmas 2018

 I have settled into several jobs with a Christmas dead line.  

  Pettson and Findus are in the mail to Sweden as this is being typed. One job done.

 While working on other things in the shop I made a quick side trip and made this for Eva.

 

  If the yarn did not give it away, for you non knitters this is a jig for making pom-poms.  You don't need a shop to make a jig like this but having the materials and tools laying about makes it easy to do.

 I used my drill press to make a quick jig for use in the art kit.

 

  I bought two replacement erasers, needless to say they did not fit into the holder that I had.  Who would have thought that eraser producers would make none-compatible parts.  So...I threw the plastic thing away and made two wooden holders. I will spruce up the final product later, since I  needed an eraser right now. 

  The nail keeps the eraser in place and having a drill press meant that I could drill the hole in the center of the dowel and have it meet in the middle.  I could never have drilled that accurately free hand. The drill press was one of the game changing tools for me early in my workshop days.

  The actual serious project, upon which I have spent 5 hours since yesterday and made vast amounts of saw dust is a bowl. ( gone are the days when I could work hunched over the bench all day, a couple of hours a day is my max now.)

  This is a burl bowl and it is not going to be round.  I had the burl on a shelf, for several years and had planned to turn it on a lathe someday.  I had the burl, before I had a lathe.  Turns out my mini lathe is just a little too small for this chunk of wood.  The more I looked at the wood the more I wanted to go 'free form" anyway.

  Needless to say I was well into the project before it occurred to me how cool this is going to be and so photographs are not available for the first part.  Initially I blocked out a basic shape with chalk and began work with my Arbortech Turbo Plane . I've used this tool before to clear away large amounts of wood in short order.  It is however, aggressive.  

  Using the 4 1/2 inch grinder with the turbo plane and various sanding disks requires both hands, three would be better still.  To be able to safely work on the burl I screwed a block to the top first and gave the outside a basic shape as well as created a flat bottom. What you see in the photo is the block screwed to the bottom so that I can work to hollow out the inside.

  By clamping the block in a hand screw then clamping the hand screw to the bench I am able to rotate the bowl most any direction I need.  I can also hold it at a level that lets me sit while working. Sitting is just that little bit more stable while using various power grinding tools. After roughing the inside out, with the turbo I switched to various bits in various Dremel tools and hand drills.  I've done a number of bowls through the years and have a small tool box filled with dozens of burrs, rasps and grinding tips. In my experience power speeds the job along but quality results still require patience and steady hands. Rushing or lack of attention can make for a serious ugly gouge in an instant.

  I think I have at least 3 more hours of sanding with the final sanding having to be done by hand.  This afternoon I soaked the bowl with water, once it is final sanded and varnished, it is going to look cool.

 cheers, ianw

21 days 'til Christmas.  If asked, you can remind your family that a wood worker can always use more clamps. (or sanders).

What a Mess !!

                             

  I don't do much large scale wood carving and so while my shop is often a mess, it usually doesn't get into this shape so quickly.  If you really want to create chaos get into heavy duty carving, chain saw carving has to be the only thing that sends more chips flying, more directions.

 Our back yard has a small water feature and my wife wanted a medium sized tree branch turned into  an open channel for water to run from our upper pond into the lower pond. 

  I did a project similar to this ten years ago so I knew what needed to be done, and I do have all the tools.

  First I used a small axe to knock off the unwelcome high spots, then I used my bow saw to cut the branch to length and cut off a couple of smaller side branches.  The next tool I used was my draw knife, I used it to flatten one side of the branch.

  My draw knife is an heirloom.  It came from my Grandfather's tools via my Dad's tool box.  I hope some day that a grand kid will have an interest in tools too.

  After I laid out a basic line for the trough I drilled a bunch of holes in the tree branch with a spade bit. That was the beginning of the serious wood chip blizzard. A spade bit rips a big hole in the wood and if you choose to be careful a large spade bit will do a good enough job for a reasonable price.

  After I drilled out a bunch of wood with the spade bit I switched to my 4 1/2 grinder and my Arbortech  grinding wheel. It makes short work of bark and whatever else you may find on reclaimed wood and branches. 

  After I had drilled and slashed away with the grinder I cleaned up the rough spots a bit with a chisel and mallet and voilà,

 there is the trough awaiting installation. I have done my part, now Eva has to make it work. There are rocks to move and concrete to form. I am sure that the end product will be lovely.