Oven Mitt Hanger, whittling project

  We've had a busy weekend with the fair and the grandchildren and family and all so it was nice to get back into my workshop yesterday for a while.  All the activity mixed with a bunch of sitting, eating and drinking means that my back is a bit sore and my temper a bit short.

  When my back hurts I like a small project that is a distraction without be a serious challenge.  If I am too tired or sore I am not up to the challenge of making a new design or working on a long drawn out project.

  So yesterday I experimented with my Kreg Rip Cut jig, I am impressed with its accuracy and consistency, a pleasing addition to my tools. 

  I also spent some time cleaning paint brushes, sharpening tools and generally cleaning the place up.  There had been a series of quick little jobs, toy repair etc. that left a level of chaos that needed attention.

 Once I got things put away I started on a silly little scrap wood project.  This is a project that serves as a distraction, can be worked on standing up or sitting down and gets done quickly enough to provide immediate satisfaction for guy that whines about back pain. 

 A couple of weeks ago the hooks on the side of the fridge that hold the oven mitts started letting go.  The metal hooks are attached with super duper two sided tape, but even that goes weary with time. I tried replacing the tape but I didn't get the back of the hook clean enough for the new tape to stick, it appears as though it would be an ugly solvent job.  My shop is in our basement and so I have a limited supple of nasty solvents and glue dissolving potions. 

 I decided to hold the hooks on with rare earth magnets. So opted to whittle a hook from wood and put an strong magnet inside.

  The last of the metal, tape type hooks on the 

fridge beside my first wooden hook.

                                                         

  Up close this hook is no beauty but I like the design enough to refine it and make three more. I wasn't sure that it would hold the oven mitt securely until I got it made and put to use.  I used a pretty big magnet in the body of the hook but it was still only a buck or so.  The whittling was done with a Bessey utility knife.  The knife is too heavy to be an everyday carry knife but it makes a great shop knife and one that I have used to shape, carve and whittle in my shop by the hour.

  I originally got this knife years ago to cut card board boxes apart at wood shows but soon promoted it to shop knife. I slash at boxes with something much cheaper and more nasty now.  If I working on a project like this from scrap wood I don't like to risk a good carving knife but I hate dull tools so this knife is the solution.

cheers, ianw

Now that's a knife!

Broom ! Broom.

 Occasionally creative work (?) has to stop while maintenance is done. One of my maintenance responsibilities is our two car garage. The garage is home to several bicycles, kids wagons, gardening gear including a wheelbarrow, a freezer, several metres of shelving and a motorcycle.  

all those stones, two yards worth were carried in
buckets from the front of the house. We worked hard and so
did our neighbours. Hidden under the stones is two yards of gravel, ditto.

  Lately we have been working on a big landscaping project which has mobilized all the gardening gear and dragged mud and dust into the garage. Yesterday was the finally day of earth and stone moving and so seemed like a good day to make an effort on the garage. Since the garage is a busy access to the house if it gets too mucked up, the mess gets tracked into the house and unhappiness ensues.

  Cleaning the garage is not a bad job on a nice day.  Late in the season when we put most of the gardening stuff and bicycles out of the way so that we can bring our car in for the winter the garage work is not as nice.( I always leave it 'til it is cold) Yesterday was a good day, the sun was shining and for a change it wasn't too hot. What do you do? Drag most of the stuff out onto the driveway to make room to work (and let the neighbours see what you've got), don't do it on Saturday or someone will stop thinking it is a garage sale, and set to work.

  The first and most important thing for me when doing nearly any job are tunes. Yesterday was Scott Joplin's Greatest Hits of Youtube. Once I get the music right I clear away a flat safe spot for my coffee cup.

without hot beverages,
 there is no civilization.

    Then I am ready to get to work.  I begin by sorting though nearly empty bags and boxes. Our garage is the place were half used bags of potting soil, and fertilizer gather.  Their natural allies are the cardboard boxes that 'we may need one day'.  By the time I was done with the boxes I had a Blue Bin filled with recycle-able material. (a knife like this is the tool for the job). There were several bags of potting soil and an assortment of plastic flower pots that were also amalgamated or discarded.

  Doing that made room for the next stage of the job. I got serious about gathering all the like things together, bungee straps and gardening gloves seem to form into small tribes and hide away in corners from their friends and relatives. By the end of the morning I had herded these two tribes into one place and found 10 pairs of garden/work gloves  (nice gloves) and a 6 quart basket filled with bungee cords of all lengths. This happens because both of us are guilty of not putting things back where they belong when we are done with them, I'm afraid.

 The final act in the drama is the BROOM. Several years ago I bought a couple of good brooms. Not only do they make for smoother and faster commuter flights but they make sweeping the dirt and wood shavings out of the garage easier. A light weight 'sweeping around in the house' broom is just not up to the challenge of the garage or workshop. We also have interlocking stones for our driveway and a frail little 'in door' broom doesn't cut it when there are fallen leaves and light snow to move.

  Another part of the job is to re-stack the lumber that is stored in the garage.  I have a smallish pile of lumber against one wall. Have you ever noticed that the piece of wood you want for the current project is always half way down the pile. Once I retrieve the wood I want, I kind of re-pile things and promise to return soon to do the job properly. I guess soon is a relative term so yesterday I returned to straighten out and re-pile my wood.  

  I knew that the space had not gotten totally out of control because all I needed was a dust pan to gather together the swept up debris.  There have been times when I needed a snow shovel to scoop up the sweepings. I our defence, our garage faces into the prevailing wind and as the sub division's houses have been built bushels of clay and stray bits of building material have blown into our garage for the past six years. I am not Martha Stewart but neither I am Shrek. Since the house are all built, I am hopeful that the only mess to collect our space will be our own.

  In the wood shop I actually have a project that warranted my drawing up a plan and a cutting list.  I am making and Eva is painting a Puppet Theatre for our 3 year old grand daughter.

  Our design is similar to the one in the photograph. The section behind the blue board on ours has 15 cubbyholes to give the troupe of actors a place to live when not employed.

  The pieces are cut out now and since they are mostly Baltic birch I need to thoroughly sand and seal all the edges and faces before they get painted. 

  cheers;

Pocket Sized Wood Working

6 3/4 by 2 3/8 by 1 3/4

  In the summertime there is lots of travelling about, lots of sitting around with friends and family on the deck and lots of out of the shop time.  Part of the reason I make things is that I have always needed to be doing stuff. I have tried nearly every crafts that you can imagine to keep me busy.  I even used to knit mitts and scarves while sitting in lectures at university. Polite folks call me a fidget, when I was little kids like me were called 'High Strung' or brats and people tried to keep our troubled little hands busy. 

  Little has changed, and so I still need to try and keep my hands busy. Keeping my hands busy keeps my feet out of my mouth, too. 

6 3/4 by 2 3/8 by  1 3/4

  This box, which once held a wrist watch maybe my woodworking salvation for this summer. It contains enough stuff to keep my hands busy and my mouth shut, and the out put is useful too.

  Full credit goes to my daughter-in-law Jen.  I did not think of this craft myself though I did turn it into a travelling woodworking system

  

Beads in various stages of completion,
 from bark still on to ready for paint.

  In this box is all a simple fellow like me needs to keep himself amused, because it has all the ingredients of a wood working shop.  There is wood, in this case short bits cut from shrubs in the yard, mulberry and cherry. A sharp blade, with which no wood working shop can exist. And two grits of sandpaper for finishing.

  I do one part of work in the shop at the end of the process.  I drill through the pith of the sticks so that the bits of wood becomes a hand shaped bead.  If you have Granddaughters you know that there can never be too many beads. I will make them and they can paint them and everyone is a winner.  Since I am a slightly obsessive Opa I will seal the beads with a water based product before giving them to the kids to paint.

  As a wood carver I have several very good knives and as a general knife lover I also have several really nice folding knives.  I opted for the utility knife because I doesn't need sharpening once dull.  I can carry a couple of extra blades in a much smaller space than a strop or fine stone. I have taken carving with me on holiday in the past but this set up is even smaller and lighter.  

  The trick is to not get too serious about the carving project, it is not art, it is a way to quietly pass the time while hanging out with folks.  The art is in the painting, isn't everyone's grand children great artists?  Our's are.

when a penguin likes rock n' roll.

cheers, Ian W

More Stuff for the Grand Kids.

    I have been struggling to get back working in my shop.  Today was the first day in three months that I was able to really take on a serious project.  And at that,  it is tough to work when hopping around on one leg part of the time or resting on a walking stick. Soon I will be better and/or more use to limited mobility, (no heavy lifting and almost no bending down to get stuff off the floor) and maybe only small scale projects from now on.  Time will tell.

   Anyway, I started work on a jewellery box made from oak and roasted maple, once today's glue dries you can see some photos of the project as it develops. 

   The minion and the penguin, that is the type of thing I have been doing while laying on my back for the last couple of weeks.  I carved the two little fellows in basswood and then painted them with craft paint. I also carved a couple of Santa Claus and a couple of snails, and a space shuttle and a wee boat and messed up a couple of other things. 

   If you have been debating wood carving, give it a go.  You don't need expensive tools.  I do lots of carving with my Bessey Utility knife.

   Remember any shop time, is good time.