Pochade Box

  I have been drawing and painting for a couple of years and now and I've got good enough that I am not embarrassed by my efforts.  Sometimes I try to on paint outside  and have decided to make myself a Pochade Box.  If you do a search of pochade box plans or complete boxes for sale on the internet there are 100's of different boxes available.

  The first part of the project was deciding what I wanted included in the box.

  In my box I want water colour paint, water bottles and the leather pencil case has pencils, pens, brushes and other tools.  I decided that I needed a box that was 10 inches by 12 inches.

  

  To make the box I used a piece of 2 x 4.  Once the 2 x 4 has been jointed, sawed and planed it is actually pretty nice wood with which to work.  I used all the power tools at hand to get the wood ready. I used my King Jointer to get a flat face and edge and then cut a parallel side on my table saw. Once I had a square board I sliced the 2 x 4 into 1/2 inch boards on my band saw I ran the thin boards through my Planer.

  I have my box nailed and clamped together while the glue sets.  I will cut the box apart tomorrow.  At this point I like the grain of the sides, this 2 x 4 was a nice bit of wood.  Once I get every thing sanded on the out side I will glue dividers on the inside and then I have to decide what I want to to about the lid.  I don't think I am going to hinge the lid, thought that is the traditional method. I think I will making the lid a 'fit over' type.

 Tomorrow I am at the kids house for a birthday so it will be Sunday before I can get hardware and carry on with this projects.

cheers ianw

Easy Easels

 One of my fellow art students asked me to copy our studio's table top easels for her

new easel on the right

 So I did, I copied the studio's easel in poplar, using an off cut from the table top.  The poplar is strong and easy to work either by hand or machine.  After cutting the three legs to length with my mitre saw I did the rest of the work with hand tools. (just for fun). I used a back saw, a block plane and a bit of sand paper. I did use a cordless drill to make the holes for the threaded rod that holds it all together.  I do have a brace and bit if I need be.  I actually use it when the forstner bits aren't long enough.

  After I got the commissioned easel make I decided to make one from my self. Mine is made from:

from this:

  One of the car load of 2 x 4's that I brought home a few weeks ago from our kids house. The board was weathered and a bit twisted but after I cut it to length on my mitre saw, joined one face and one edge, then ran it through the planer and ripped it on the table saw:

to these:

 I even went to the trouble of putting a round over bit in my router table and smoothed all the edges. It took longer to rout the edges and sand everything nice than it did to cut and drill the thing. My easel doesn't have a cross piece like the others, it has two dowels upon which the canvas or book or what ever will sit.

 The only trick in making this....

The angle where the three pieces come together.  To move the easel around, just undo the bolt at the top.

cheers, ianw

Oopps I did it again. cut my finger again that is

   I had a little production line going making 3/8 inch quarter round.  I needed about 30 feet of that stuff to hold the 12 stained glass window panes in the door for our down stairs bathroom.  This door project has been on going for a few months but now the glass is ready and the door and frame painted, all that remained was for me to make a bunch of 1/4 round to hold the panes in place.

   A job like making wee pieces of trim is why I keep off cuts.  I had a pile of 18-36 inch pieces of poplar, 2 inches wide (more or less) and 1/2 inch think.  The process was assembly line perfect.  
First, the planer.

   I make an effort to be careful with the planer so I only plan pieces at least 12 inches long and usually 18 inches and up.  Aside from the safety aspect short pieces suffer from snipe big time.  I planed half a dozen boards and then went to work on the router table and table saw.

  First I cut a round over profile on the boards at the router table, at all times showing that whirring blade the total respect that it deserves.   I never let my fingers get close to the blade, never, the router table sort of scares me.

   After cutting the profile I went to the table saw and ripped off a thin piece.

    Then I would go back to the router and cut another profile, and then rip off another thin strip.  

    I was  very careful with the planer, and super careful with the router table and well, I've used a table saw for years.

    Years of experience can just lead to carelessness.  I cut the tip of my left index finger really well trying to get one more thin strip of trim, one too many it seems.  I lost about half of the finger nail and have a serious slice in the ol' digit.  Lots of blood and lots of feeling stupid.  

    This afternoon I  made  a splint to protect the tip from being bumped, which was happening every few minutes.  The splint is a good idea, bumping, not so much.   Another good idea is I put the guard back on the table saw, and it is staying there.  If I can't make the cut with the guard on, I am not making the cut.  I have a router table, a band saw, a jig saw, a circular saw, a reciprocal saw, several hand saws etc. etc.  there will be a way for me to do a job with out getting bitten, again.  This is the worst injury from a table saw and the second in four years, that is a message to smarten up. I guess I was just too obtuse to get the message four years ago.