Bear

Paddington Bear 

lives in our basement family room and has done so for years.  He arrived for a visit on Christmas when my Brother was small and stayed. Our Grandchildren currently use his chair but as they out grow it he will surely get it back.

  I have been working on a companion for Paddington as a surprise for the family room, now my brother's Man Cave, it has used up shop time but I couldn't share the progress at the risk of ruining the surprise.

  Yesterday I delivered the Bear.

  His job is going to be to hold a beverage glass while my Brother watches television in the evening.  Standing on his rock Bear is nearly three feet tall.

I began making Bear by cutting out the basic shape from a 2 x 9 inch poplar slab on my band saw. 

 The arms were cut out separately and attached with glue and long screws. That was a task requiring four hands, thanks Sweetie. You can see the right arm is just a bit lower than the left, if I do this again I will attach the arms before I do any shaping of the bear's body making the arms easier to align and clamp. I would also make the arms longer than needed and cut them down to be flush with the ears once they were attached. 

  With the tail there was no good way to lay the bear down to to extra shaping and sanding. I used files, rasps, and power tools to smooth the edges and give the bear a bit of shape. So, I would add the tail very last, even after the bear was glued to the rock.

  

I am pleased with the way the feet turned out, though I realize they probably don't look like real bear feet.  Cut me some slack, he isn't a real bear. To attached the bear to the rock base I used two part plumber's epoxy, I mixed up a pretty good sized lump, smeared in onto the stone, to try and create a flat surface and then clamped the bear's feet down for 24 hours.

  Ultimately the bear will be painted, have eyes either painted on or attached and I don't know if he will get clothes or not.  That part of the project is not my department.

  If you are thinking of this project here are three hints, from my experience.

 1.  Since it going to be painted away, use pine or spruce, they are softer and easier to shape than poplar.

2. Glue the arms onto the body before doing any shaping, it is easier to shape the shoulders than to fit arms to a shaped body.

3. Do all the body shaping before attaching the tail or the muzzle, it is easier to clamp flat stuff.

  If I could find a purpose I would make another bear quite happily.

cheers, 




*foot note:
  I stained the shoe shine box with the boiled down walnut stain.  It isn't any darker, the time spent boiling it down was time wasted.
  

Another Tote

 I sometimes get side tracked as I work on a project, I'll begin to wonder about history or tradition and when I work on a blog I wonder about words.

 On my bench at this moment is another tote box, and I have discovered that Wikipedia and I don't actually use the word in the same way. Now I wonder why I use the word tote to describe a box with a handle used to carry wood working or gardening tools, or other stuff.  I suppose that tote is quicker and easier than saying a 'wooden box with a handle for carrying miscellaneous stuff'.

 Recently I have made a couple of tote boxes for hauling or organising 'stuff' around our home.  I also made a bunch of 'carrier boxes' to go on the back of bicycles this summer. A they totes without handles? If there is no handle I guess it is just a box. 

the box is carefully designed to carry two Six Packs securely.

  A while ago I made a tote for myself and used it as a practise for cutting dovetails.

tote finished with natural walnut stain.

  
 These projects usually have a simple purpose and are really just boxes, of which I have made 100's.  At this time in my wood working life when I make these boxes I use them to explore or practise a technique, dovetails, or a different finish and so the tote moves from a quick cut and hammer project to something more. I have made a couple with carvings or cut out making the box ornamental as well as useful

  The current wooden box with a handle's simple purpose is to contain shoe polishing related stuff. 

   All these bits and pieces are shoe related.  The bags at the top of the photo are filled with laces, there is a bag of running shoe/boot laces, a bag of pairs of dress shoe laces and a bag of single laces, mostly heavy service type laces that tie up plants and things well.

  When I went to polish my shoes the other day I found a battered card board box and a cookie tie filled with this stuff, very randomly. The cookie tin had a couple of draw backs, first it was with out cookies, second it was round, round stuff does not make efficient use of shelf space. The discovery of the mess was  when I sorted and bagged the laces and decided that a shoe shine box was necessary for further peace of mind.

  

  The box is a nothing, a mere bagatelle, 1/2 plywood with butt joints hammered together with brads. The interesting part of the project is the handle.

  The handle is shaped from basswood and follows a design that I created using a French Curve.  I actually took longer to decide on and design the handle than it did to make the box.

  Basswood is a popular wood for carvers since it has almost no grain and is very easy to work with hand tools.  After I got the design cut out on my band saw and I went to work with shaping tools.

 This is a list of the tools used to shape the handle:

1. sand paper

2. needle files and rasps 

3. 4 in hand rasp/file

4  Fein multimaster.

 Like so many people I came home from a wood show with a MultiMaster kit, amazed at all the things it could do. Then I put it on a shelf and didn't do much at all with it. When I decided to work on the handle I decided to learn what this tool could do for me.  To sand I turn the variable speed way down, the lower speed makes the sanding more manageable and the machine quieter. Once I got the dust collection connected, that involved a couple of adapters, it works very well too.  Having  taken the time to learn to use the tool it will be kept handy and become a 'go to' detail sander.

  The last part of the box will be the finish. The dovetail tote is stained with natural black walnut stain I made my self. The shoe shine box is going to be stained with natural walnut that has been boiled down and concentrated. 

 The basic stain is made by putting black walnuts in their green skin into a bucket of water and being left over winter to rot and leach out colour.  Next I peal the skins off the nuts and crush the pulp from the skins and let it sit some more. After a few more months I strain the lumpy bits out and filter the brown stained water through cheese cloth. I tried coffee filters but they clogged up.

  The dovetail box is stained with the straight brown stained water that was left.  This next box will be stained with concentrated stain, I boiled half the water away and now have a much darker stain with which to work. 

  I expect that staining the box will be a messy business and so have to put it off for a day or two while I go about in public trying to appear civilized. Yes, I know I could wear gloves, and I will, but that never seems to be enough. When I work with glue I get sticky, with paint-coloured, with stain-stained, it is just a gift I guess.

 I'll keep you posted.

cheers, ianw