Picture Frame and Flower Box

  My eight year old Grand daughter loves to crafts and make pictures for Eva and I.  We have a couple of her paintings in our bed room and recently we were given two more pictures to put up.  All pictures look better mounted and framed and so I retired to my work shop and make our drawings a frame.

  I glued the two pictures to new watercolour paper and to a section of foam core.  The frame is made from thinly sliced 2x4 spruce.  I used my thin strip ripping jig on my table saw to make the the pieces.  Often cheap wood has character that makes it unique and interesting, as in this case.

thin strip jig, Sept 12, 2013
(all my jigs are red or orange )

Next I sanded  the wood, then stained it and glued it to the foam core backed paper. I decided that I would not make the typical frame and am pretty pleased with the result.  

  I am polishing clear guards from glass grinders for my wife's stained class group.  It is a slow job using a soft polishing wheel, white compound and lots of patience. Again it is because I hate throwing things away when they can be repaired.(with some effort).  The easy solution is to buy new guards and throw the pitted ones away, making for more plastic trash.  I'm planning to invest the time to renew the life of the safety guards.

  A few years ago I made a fairly large planter box for my Mother's patio. The size was based on a foam shipping box which made for a water tight, fairly light inner liner to hold the soil and water.  After all these years sitting in outside in the sun and winter snow the box was looking pretty shabby.  Remarkably the foam liner box is still in good shape and usable. 

  Originally the cedar box was varnished with a couple of coats of outdoor varnish and then ignored for years. This summer its age was obvious and that most of the varnish had worn away.

  First the  box was sanded vigorously to remove what remained of the varnish.  Since unprotected cedar turns greyish over time I opted to stain the box 'walnut' before varnishing it this time.  Cedar has a good track record of weather resistance, this planter box was still perfectly solid, just tired looking.   I'll put a little time into this project over the weekend and take it home to my Mom early in the week.  That's what sons do.

 cheers ianw

Another Work Bench Blog

  Since hurting my back a few years ago I have been on a seemly endless quest for a comfortable work shop environment.  I have  raised my work bench/table on blocks, and then taken it down.  I have made a small version of a bench top bench that clamped into my bench vise and still I continued on my quest.

  

  This version was solid but the work surface was only 8 1/2 by 29.  It was just not quite large enough for most needs.  The height was good and I did like the  available dog holes, but it had no vise or real clamping ability.

  In 2013 I tried a version I called "the box":

  I don't remember what was lacking in this design but clearly it didn't last for very long.  I suspect that it was not large enough either. So, the current effort at the perfect work station for me is: The Pew Bench, so named because it is made from 3/4 laminated oak from a church pew.  

  It has a work top that is 40 x 19 x 3/4 inches that adds  5 1/2 inches of height to my solid work table. The working height for my new work station is 39 inches, which is high but I am 6 feet 1 and have real trouble working bent over.  This bench top bench is pretty solid but can be lifted off if  the other  work station is needed.  Also I have a second smaller work bench in the corner at which I can work while sitting on a stool, its a good spot for carving/wood burning etc. 

  The underside of the Pew Bench: 

  The ultimate type of legs remains to be decided but the trestles that were used with the small bench are solid and the right height so, for the time being I screwed them to the  the pew bench.  I put sand paper on the bottom on the feet too. I may need to make a couple of trestle supports that will match this bench height for projects that are just little too long

   The board with the holes enables me to use the pipe clamps as a vise, an idea that I saw somewhere else, I didn't invent it.

  I can hold material for edge planing while moving the clamps from as close as 4 inches to as wide as 14 inches.  

  On the one end of the bench top is room for my Home Made Moxon style vise for end grain work. 

   The other end features my bench vise.  If I were building from scratch I would buy this vise

  

  However I already had a heavy duty vise on the work station and though it is overkill, I moved it to the pew.

   So far the Pew bench is heavy enough and stable enough that it doesn't need to be clamped down except when I do heavy work on the vise end.    To give the acme screw and runners room I had to move the leg closer toward the middle than is optimal.  I may replace that side leg or drill some holes in it so that I can move it closer to the edge.

  The next stage is to do a few jobs on the bench and see how it feels.  It is not designed for heavy hammering and big jobs,  so I am hopeful that I will have a work station what will  enable me to work longer in my shop.  Who knows this maybe the holy grail of work benches.

cheers, ianw

P.S - Happy Thanksgiving, we've got lots to be thankful for.

and our friends around the world.