Oak

   It has been a while since I posted.  No real good reason, I guess I just needed a break there are now 1,178 published posts on a blog begun January 2011. Over the course of all those months and years many things have changed but one thing has remained constant.  Wood, I love the smell of it, the feel of it and the nearly endless number of possibilities for creation that wood presents.

  The other day while I was cleaning up stray tools in my shop I picked up a piece of wood that had been part of a shipping pallet.  The wood was rough sawn and had been slammed together with big nails to make a skid.  I had a piece about the size of a hard cover novel that was laying under the work bench and when I picked it up I meant to throw it in the burn pile. Something stopped me, the piece of wood was too heavy for its size to be some kind of scrap softwood. 

  The bit of wood turned out to be Oak.  I'm guessing the tree was cut down in the United States somewhere and turned into a skid.  Sad, as it was a really nice bit of wood.

eight inch oak spoon and shallow scoop.

  Both projects were time killers in the evening, and neither really had a fore ordained purpose, but...the wood was just so lovely that burning it would have been a waste.

  Oak is hard enough that these two projects were shaped with power tools, except the bowl of the spoon. * Oak sands beautifully and still maintains the feeling of the gentle ripples in the wood grain.  After shaping and sanding to 600 grit I soaked both pieces with hemp oil, giving it time to soak in before buffing it off.  The finish is slightly golden and silky to touch.  The other thing is my hemp oil is food safe and easy to re-apply down the road.  

cheers ianw

* I have found nothing better for carving a spoon bowl than a hook knife. 

  

small April things.

  It has taken a little while to get back under full steam.  This morning I tested negative for Covid-19 after a couple of weeks interrupted social and personal life.  My nose is still a bit stuffed up, but, that is normal for me in seasonal transition times.

  So, what have I been up to. Nothing big naturally but  an assortment of smaller things.  The soap dish below has been in use for a few years (July 2019) and when I decided to scrape it clean I added some tail detail.  Basic objects used to enjoy a craftsmen's attention in the olden times, I think I like a bit of carving on my projects.

  Aromatic cedar is a lovely and interesting wood, also prone to cracking and splintering. I was asked for some interesting buttons to adorn hand knit slippers. 

  It is easy enough to shape some buttons using needle files and a bit of patience. 

  The last wee thing was a couple of white oak spatulas.   This is the last of a small bundle of 3/8 oak, I don't remember whence it came. I have used this quality wood for small boxes and things over the years.  Many years ago I cut out a spatula from the wood that is used most days in our kitchen and looks to be good for years yet to come.

  Oak is a great wood for kitchen tools.  It is strong and doesn't suffer terribly from being wet and wears  like, like 'oak'.  Plastic melts and metal scratches 'non-stick' surfaces, it is hard to beat wood.

  Currently I am cleaning up and re-shaping a wooden bowl and then, I guess it is time to find an important project to undertake,I guess.

cheers ianw

 

What takes time in the Shop

 First thing to remember, it is summer and summer is about being outside.  This is motorcycle and bicycle riding weather and so the shop is of secondary interest.  As my wife noted last evening however I do like to putter around in my shop.

 So, what am I puttering at? I have three/four sort of on going projects currently.  One is trying to save chairs from the church's Sunday School room.  

  These plastic chairs crack over time from being bent back so much. As you can see this one has been glued, unsuccessfully.

  I am going to try a combination of glue and re-enforcing wood.  I hope the wood will reduce the flex and get a season or two out of the chairs, before they go to hand fill.  Clamping was a challenge since none of the surfaces are flat.  Anyway, that is why you always need more clamps. If this works it will save our church a few bucks, since there are many of these chairs that need to be fixed or replaced.

  Another thing I am working on is another box top.  This one features an oak lid that was a glue up of off cuts.  After the lid was glued and squared I hand cut the rabbets.

  Hand cutting rabbets uses a bunch of tools.  I made the original marking/layout with my marking gauge.  It is easier with a marking gauge than with a ruler and pencil. I then cut the rabbets with a small cross cut and rip set saw and cleaned the cuts up with my 1/2 inch rabbet plane. The rabbets could have been cut on the table saw or router table, I just felt like a quiet time.

  I am working on a carved top with an inset knob to complete the lid.  I don't have a use for the box right now, but....it at least has a lid.  I think I have finished all the box that were setting on the shelf at the back.

  Also:

I was given a really good book of children's wooden toys a few years ago and finally am getting around to using it, thanks Rich and Jenn.  I am making a rolling hippo whose jaws opens and closes as it rolls.  

  These are most of the parts, the sides of the hippo's jaw remains and I need to buy (or make) so 3/8 dowel for axles etc. 

  I am not seriously applying myself in the shop currently but fiddling with one thing or another helps fill my days.  It would have been an especially tough year without the available distractions of wood working and water colour painting.  

 

cheers ianw

Pochade Box - Large

 A few years ago I started taking art lessons for several reasons. One is drawing is a small, light weight hobby to take with me when travelling. The other big reason was Grandchildren, they love to draw, colour and paint, They don't know that Opa has limited skills so they innocently asked me to draw things, cats, boats, cars trains, gerbils, flowers etc. This Opa does't want to disappoint the Grandchildren.  So....I began taking art lessons at our local seniors centre.  Progress was slow and I still have a lifetimes work ahead of me to become competent. 

  Art like everything 'Maker' related thing has its own special tools and equipment. An Artist's tool box is called a Pochade Box, a large scale Pochade Box is often called a French Easel. 

French Easel, opened and 

closed for travel.

  For a couple of classes I carried my stuff around in a school bag, or shopping bag or back pack or whatever.

  What I found with time, is that all those other artists who had gone on before me actually knew what they were doing and made my first art tool box. 

17.5 x 15.5 x 4.5 inches

Opened and set up like a desk easel.

  I used this box for an oil painting class.  The Baltic birch plywood has an oak frame and plenty of storage for all the gear a student needed including slots in the lid to hold canvases while they dried. 

  This was the first art box I made and from it I learned a couple of useful lessons.  

1. oak is not necessary, my box is bomb proof and its weight reflects that.

2. it is almost a portable studio not a portable sketch on site kit, so the next box was smaller.

3. the wooden latches might be cool but..they are over engineered and heavy like the entire          box. 

4 I really didn't enjoy oil painting at all.  I like pencil crayon, graphite and watercolour so many     of the tools are different and usually you paint on a smaller less vertical surface.  

    I don't use this large box for much other than storage now.  It does a good job of storing and protecting water colour papers and other less used supplies. 

  Next time the Mid sized box, the one most used and why.

The mid-sized box, in the large box. This box is 

actually a true Pochade box.

   

Sanding and Drilling and Tapping, Oh My.

  The sanding story is nearly always a cutting board story in my shop.  Everyone I know needs a cutting board and I like making them. 

 These boards are oak, sanded to 400 grit and finished with Hemp Oil.  I like Hemp Oil as it is natural, food safe and grown locally.  As with any cutting board these will need to be re-oiled over time.  In a busy kitchen a wooden board can be re-oiled with just about any cooking oil since it will not have time to go rancid before it needs to be renewed.   Maple makes a very nice cutting board too, I just don't have a ready supply of maple handy.

  The other project was another nut cracker. 

  This version got sort of antiqued finish.  No, I don't really like it and no I won't do it again.

  This is one of the few things I make in my shop that  requires special tools and doesn't have a variety of ways to be made.

  I use a big forstner bit to drill the vertical hole.  I mean big.  In this case 1 3/8 inch big.  To drill the hole I hold the wood in a large wooden hand screw, which I clamp to the drill press table.  If everything goes well, you could hold the wood with your hand.  If things don't go well...well.  Just clamp things down when drilling a really big hole.

  The horizontal hole is another story altogether.  I drill that hole with my brace and bit. I threaded a one inch dowel and so needed a 7/8 inch hole in the side of the piece.  I prefer to use the hand drill because it is really slow and there is less chance of break out or splitting.

   Once the hole is drilled I use the tap which matches the threaded dowel and slowly tap the hole in the side.

  I have used this tap and die set several times over the last couple of years and here are a couple of tips for threading and tapping wood.

  -soft wood is easier, so if you can get away with poplar or pine, this latest nut cracker is cedar, use it.

- soak the dowel for a couple of days in food safe oil, the threads will cut better, not perfect, but better.  If you have the time and have planned ahead turn your own dowels from quality wood with straight grain but still oil it.

- when tapping the hole, oil it and the tap too. Dry wood is more likely to splinter. A dry tap more likely to stick.

-go slow, threading and tapping wood takes time.

- clean up and oil the tap and die box when done so it will be perfect when you come to use it again in ten months.

 

  This is one tool  for which there is not a work around.  There are multiple ways to cut, drill, shape, plane, fasten and finish,  only one way to cut threads and tap wood.

  It is January 11th and we have no snow.  That is a good thing.

cheers ianw

An Atypical Week.

  This week there were family things to cause stress and upset schedules but they have been resolved and life returns to what passes for normal.

  I found an interesting You Tube video to share:

DIY Concrete and Wood Table

   The project is interesting and the quality of the video production is quite high.  I could see trying a project where there was a concrete element to it. I think a patio table might be a natural for a combined effort.

  My  bench is filled with glued up 3/4 oak.  Many of the pieces that I cut out for the kneeling chair are to be 1 1/4 inch thick so we had to rough up, then glue pieces together to get that thickness.  Once the glue is set David and I will square up the boards and plane them to the require thickness. 

  We used nearly every strong clamp in my shop.

  I'm also working away on my pickle tray thing. I have discovered several thing about this project.  I am able to clear wood with a carving gouge quite easily in the dry, dry oak by going cross grain. 

 I have gouges in three sizes and so begin with the smallest chisel which leaves obvious marks but is easiest to use without a mallet. The middle size chisel lets me flatten thing somewhat and the widest chisels can make things pretty smooth as you can see in the photo.  With sharp chisels of the correct size much of this carving task can be done without a mallet.

  The other thing that I've learned from this project is that this is  learner piece.  In the past I've used band saws and grinders and Dremels etc to make thse olive trays. The commitment to  learning hand tools is newly developing thing .  

  Clearly carving this project is slower than using power tools and at least in this case the end product won't be as good as my previous trays.  However this is a sustainable working method.  One can't assume that one will always have a large well equipped power tool shop at hand.

    cheers, ianw

from Eva's Garden

  

Walking Stick-Oak

  I have to walk.  It is about the only exercise that doesn't bother my back, and I do need to exercise because I continue to eat and drink. As a minor foot note, a bit of exercise also helps me sleep better and makes me less cranky generally, so I walk.

  I have found that if I walk with a long stick, not just a cane,  I stand up straighter and have less back pain.  I encourage anyone with lower back pain to give it a try, there are tonnes of places selling hiking staves, trekking poles etc.  because I am cheap, and have a work shop I decided to make my own.

  Years ago I bought a aluminium walking stick and have been using it but I decided as a wood worker I should get busy and make myself a stick.  The one I made a few weeks ago was just a bit too short to serve my purpose. 

   This project began with a six foot long piece of oak that had been used as trim in an old house.  My guess is that this piece of wood was used to fill a gap beside a book case or cupboard, it was slightly tapered over its length so it had been used to fill an uneven space.  This piece of wood also had a few nail holes in it, as a Wood Junkie  I had saved it because I knew it would be useful one day.  

  The first thing I did, you may be able to see if you look at the far end.  I tapered the end that was going to get the rubber foot.  Once I got that end sized properly then it was easy to taper the length of the stick using a long straight edge to mark it and my band saw to cut it.

   Once I had the  shape trimmed on the band saw  I used my planes and sanders to round over and shape the edges of the walking staff.  This stick doesn't have any carvings or curly Q's just smooth rounded edges.

  There is no question that this is not a high tech, or high skill project.  So the question is, "Why do walking sticks like this cost $50.00+ in stores?" I think that I will make a few more of these and have them available in the back of each of our cars so that I won' t get caught out.

   

  Initially I thought I would leave the stick with out a handle but then decided that the wood was a bit slippery.  What I ended up doing was putting bicycle inner tube onto the shaft and then wrapping the tubing with hemp twine and hurricane tape. The tape gives good coverage and helps keep the twine in place. The handle is slightly soft and comfortable to hold the black tape is mostly a design feature, it just looked like it needed something!

 As a follow up many months later. ( we don't even have the car that the stick is  leaving on any longer)

   I have walked with this stick long enough that I just replaced the original rubber foot. Also the handle has been replaced, the tape handle while soft, began to slip and roll.

  

  My final solution was to glue cheeks of bass wood onto the oak shaft and shape them to be more or less round. Now the handle is large and smooth enough for a comfortable grip.

  Making stuff in the shop makes me happy, making something that has an immediate use makes me even happier and when it turns out to still be useful a couple of years later, well that is just a bonus.

cheers, ianw

  

 

Hose Guides

 As you can see from the photo we have a hose that runs beside a garden in our back yard. When working in the yard you have to be very careful when watering or the hose gets dragged into the herb garden and knocks things down. I decided that I needed a more efficient way to roll out and roll up the hose. 

 Since I don't work with metal, and still wanted the guides to be strong I turned to one of the good all weather hardwoods, oak.

   These guides are 5/8 oak with 1 1/2 inch holes. I drilled the holes with a Forstner bit in my drill press and cut the balance of the guide on my band saw.  I rounded the corners of the guides in case someone bumped into them while working in the garden. I rounded the inside of the holes with my Dremel tool so that the hard oak edges wouldn't abrade the hose.

 Now the hose runs along the top of the 2 x 8 board edging, when I pull it off the wheel or wind it in the hose stays out of the garden.

 Since oak is hard and stands up pretty well to weather I don't expect to have to replace these things for many seasons.

 cheers, ianw

Build a Wooden Passive Speaker System for your Tablet or Phone

 A week or so ago a email arrived in my in box from Popular Woodworking Magazine showing a plan for a speaker system, with no wires or batteries. 

Passive Wooden Speakers

 It was a good looking project and one that I figured would be useful. As is often the case I used what I saw as an inspiration and set about making my own set of speakers.

  I used my tablet to decide the size I wanted to make this project. As you can see my plan was a rough sketch only. The speaker was made from real wood, though I did consider using up some left over plywood and held together with glue only. Making a project like this is about straight lines, glue and lots of small clamps.

  Once the glue set I sanded and planed the speakers I tried them out and discovered that as the article claims, it improves the tone of the sound coming from my tablet very noticeably.

Passive Speaker complete

speaker made from spruce finished with Tung oil

cheers ianw

 

Keepsake Boxes Complete

keepsake boxes beside a wine bottle for scale. (10x10x16)

box open, showing top lining and a symbol for Peace.

  These two boxes were a commission that I just finished. A customer asked for two keepsake boxes for her twin granddaughters.  I made the boxes from 3/8 oak with an aromatic cedar floor and 3/4 one piece oak top.  After sanding everything to 400 grit I sprayed shellac, one coat, followed by vigorous sanding again to 400 grit, then three coats of wipe on varnish.

  The name, symbols and butterflies are burned onto thin panels then glued to the boxes.  I found that the oak was a bit tricky to wood burn neatly and so opted to burn panels which let me discard unsuitable results.  I was very lucky to have decided to do a couple of tests because that is when I learned how tricky the oak was to burn cleanly.

   I deliver the boxes on Monday and hope that the customer is happy.

SD Card Case

   Sometimes I make big things in the shop.  This time I made a very small thing, in fact  am going to make a bunch of these very small things.
  
   Rattling around in my desk drawer is half a dozen SD cards filled photos, data and music.  None of them have their original flimzy plastic cases and all of them need to be protected from the hard knocks of life in my desk.

   So, the other day I decided that I had a solution to the card's protection. 

  It wasn't a difficult job, it was actually one that was a pleasant distraction from noisy machines, other than reducing the oak to less than 1/8 inch with my planer.  Everything else was hand tools and hand sanding.  Now I need to make at least five more.

Pate Knives, 3 dozen

36 pate knives for Pavlo Pottery

   I was lucky enough to find a local potter that needs small spreaders (e.g. pate knives).  This is a good fit since Pavlo the Potter doesn't want them to all look the same and I don't ever made two things the same.
   I was able to use up a variety of little pieces that I had saved from other tasks for this batch of knives.  The  next order is going to require that I use new wood.  The grain in the oak and the elm make for a much more interesting knife that maple.
   Maple is hard, straight grained and mostly boring.
   Elm is tough, stringy and filled with crazy grain patterns.
   Oak, at least the oak I have is interesting to look at and not too bad to work with.  Ash would make a good little knife too I think.
   This was an interesting learning experience, I spent lots of personal time with my various bench sanding tools.  It was a noisey work environment but since it was a production situation I just stuffed ear plugs in and went to work.
   It appears that I will have to make 4 or 5 dozen knives a few times a year for Pavlo.  I don't think it will be a hardship.

Projects: Great and Small

This morning as I was having a coffee and was thinking about today's blog when I thought about last evening's small project. 

Oak Book Marks, homemade walnut stain

  I was sitting in my big chair reading and set my book down for a minute suddenly I  needed a book mark.  Since love wood and keep all sorts of little pieces and off cuts I went into the shop and found a strip of thin oak that I had saved from some thing. (in the container on the window sill) (we save all wood don't we?) Then I sanded it a bit, stained it, over night the stain dried and this morning I waxed the book marks.  Oak looks good, smooth waxed wood feels good and now I have wood workers book marks.

  The great project is one that I completed a couple of years ago and that has become an eveyday part of our lives in our family room.

  This is our coffee/occasional table from the family room.  I bought three off cuts like this for cheap, they had been sliced from a soft maple stump I think, with a chain saw.  To say that the wood was rough was a huge understatement.  After hours with planes and grinders ( I made two green garbage bags full of shaving and dust) and two quarts of varnish the grain came through big time. The top is not perfectly flat, I keep thinking I could spend some more time and make it perfect but....we love it just the way it is.

  I still have one slab left, it is slightly smaller but I am sure it is just as interesting.  One of these days I'll have to do something with it.

  Neither of the projects was rocket science, (note they haven't exploded or crashed killing people and costing a fortune) they are just things made from wood.  Both of the projects required basic tools and some application of force. 

  The book marks could be made by anyone, anywhere, as long as they had a source of oak sliced to the thickness of card stock.  The wood was a left over, probably from a cutting board that I had trimmed to size sometime in the past. Stout scissors and sand paper were all the tools needed to finish the project.

   The table required a few more power tools, an electric plane, a 7 inch grinder and then all the other finishing tools.    The stump was in the back corner of a lumber store and they were quite pleased to make some money on it, actually it was on its way to the fire due to lack of interest from customers.  Lucky timing for me.

  I like wood, be it large or small. I perfer to be surrounded by wood, leather, glass and material fiber when ever possible.

Oak

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak

   It is nearly impossible to add anything to what Wikipedia has to say about oak. 

    Having come into a large amount of oak for a very reasonable price I have lately been making things from oak.  If you read back you'll find I have also used poplar, for the same reason.
 
   When the reserves of cheap oak run out it will be interesting to see if I will bear the cost of buying it at full market value.  I suspect I will move onto something else that comes at a good price. I do have my eye out from some cheap walnut, (if there is such thing).

Oak Door Mat

See the rest of the story is at walwoodwork.blogspot.com

Cutting Boards



detail of the board



    A couple of posts ago I said that I liked to build to a purpose.  That means that I like to make things that people find useful.  Cutting boards are useful and so much nicer than plastic or bamboo for China.



  Making a cutting board is not terribly challenging but oddly they can be satisfying.  Let me explain why I find gluing three or four pieces of wood together, sanding them smooth and waxing the final product so satisfying: 

  First; is is time in the wood shop, anytime in the shop is Good time.

 

 Second; it is wood, often really nice hardwood with an interesting grain.  Wood is lovely stuff  with which to work.  It feels nice to the touch and smells good.

 

 Third; making a cutting board is a chance to try new router bits, or clamping techniques or practise with card scrappers or hand planes.

  Fourth; when it is done it is before your eyes in the kitchens of your family and friends reminding you of how good your life really is.

 

   Today's cutting boards were on a shelf waiting for my attention so today, as the spring sun shine streamed into my work space I scrapped and sanded and fussed away until I had two very nice little projects.

  Over the course of finishing them I used a new router bit, (a 15 degree camfer bit, it is OK. I think it would be better on thinner stock). I used my old Stanley hand plane with the replaced blade as suggested by Rob Cosman, wow it works great.  Finally I got organized and made a box to go on the bottom deck of my router table so that everything is easier to access. ( My plan now is to make a custom cabinet for the router table)

elm and oak and maple

oat and roasted ash

Inspired by Roy Underhill

   I watched a Pod Cast of the Woodwright's Shop and saw Roy Underhill make a tallow box from a block of walnut.  After a couple of tires I arrived at a version that suited my tastes.    My boxes are oak or butternut when I plan to put a clear finish on them, poplar if the boxes are to be painted or stained.