Woodworking

Made from spalted birch.

Recently I posted a video covering common woodworking joinery ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqXLYe783qw ) with the help of a few friends. In that video I talked to you all about making finger joints on the table saw and showed you a finger joint jig in the process. Well as I promised, here is the complete build process of that Jig. Table Saw Finger Joint Jig Also a little reminder about the 2nd Annual Whirligig Wars. It is almost here!! The event Runs from July 10 – 23, 2013 Click here for more information Whirligig Wars 2013 event information and how to enter

In early Feb when it was too cold and wet to do anything outside I was wandering thru one of the BORG’s and happened to take a look at their storage shed display. I found that they could build out to a 16’ x 24’ building. I went home measured out 16×24 in my garage. While my garage was about 6’ wider and 5’ deeper my tools would fit in a building 16’ by 24’ and I would no longer have to move vehicles in and out and tools around to work. To keep the BORGS from getting their cut I visited Tuffsheds and StorMor and got estimates from them on a 16’ x 24’ building on a concrete slab. I went home measured out where I wanted to put the slab found I had plenty of room. I talked to the power company found that to bring power from my existing service on my house to another building would require upgrading to a larger wire from the transformer to the house. My subdivision has all underground utilities the cost of doing that was prohibitive. The back of my lot has a 10’ easementand an overhead powerline. The cost of a transformer and overhead service to a building (the existing power pole was 15’ away) was well within my budget. I just needed to remove a small tree. This is the site cleared and waiting for the slab. I decided to go with StorMor they gave me a quote with the slab and followed up. Tuff Shed couldn’t or Wouldn’t give me a price on the slab and their concrete contractor never followed up. (StorMor’s price with the slab was less than Tuff Shed without a slab.) I called the power company had them hang a transformer and sheduled StorMor in to start as soon as power company had the transformer hung. transformer going in. slab poured Once the slab cured and forms were removed. StorMor came in and in a day this is what I had.

In this time lapse woodworking video I’m using a vacuum bag to laminate 2 panels together, to create a single 3/8’’ thick panel with Bubinga and Walnut on either side. I had the 2 different veneers already on a mdf substrate, so it was simply cutting to size applying glue and turning on the press. Hope you enjoy and thanks for watchingPaul

A little more's been done on the Japanese lamp, namely the internal lamp fittings which have been made in 6mm acrylic (Perspex). The reason for doing it this way is that any shadows cast by the lamp will be kept to a minimum. This stuff is easy to work but doesn't like edge tools so a disc or belt sander is the best thing I've found for smoothing edges...then finish with a bit or sandpaper and a cork block. The fitting consists of two 'L' shaped pieces with a bridge across the middle with all three bits being bolted together with 4mm nuts and bolts.Firstly, assemble all the bits and pieces that are needed. A bending jig (left) and a heating mask (right) with cramps set to the right opening, together with a chinagraph pencil (excellent for marking plastic).A better shot is shown below of the heating template. A standard hot air gun (paint stripper sort of thing) is best to apply localised heat from underneath......so that once the plastic has come up to about 140degF it goes straight into the bending jig.If it's too hot, the acrylic will start to bubble (bad) and if it's too cold it will crack (even badder) when it's bent, so a little practice enabled me to find the 'Goldilocks' temperature when it was just right.Once everything had cooled down and had been cleaned up, drilling the holes for the nuts and bolts was easy...no more than a couple of hours work all told for the whole exercise.Shoji panels next...

This is my first handrail and was commissioned back in february. Its about 38ft long total; the grip itself is about 2” x 4”. I probably used 3gallon of glue and approximately 240 clamps. I made master copies out of cheaper wood which I can use as patterns for future projects. Also used the pattern as the router guide to carve out the grip for the thumb and the 4fingers that wrap around it. I had to make samples first for the client to approve the grip Note that the steps are not mine and were installed 2years ago when the house was constructed. Prior to this, I also make customized door handles with bent lamination. When the client pass by my showroom and saw the door handles, she then inquired about a snake-like handrails for her house. The main wood pieces I recycled and cut to thin slices were Narig, Molave and Mangkono. Though this was a very interesting project, it required a lot of reclaimed old wood which is limited. I do the thin slices to remove the cracks, nails and salvage what I can.

This is a gavel and coffin(box) that i recently made for the Chef de Chemin de Fer Barry Bovee (Pronounced Chef dee Sha Mon dee Fur) of the Forty et Eight Society. He is like the president of the United States, and all other countries involved. The box carcass is made of walnut with 1/8” maple surrounding trim, the top of the box is a special piece of walnut crotch wood that has been waiting in the shop for years for this special project. The inside and outside bottom of the box is lined with pigskin leather. There are supports to keep the gavel and slapper disk in place in side the box, and everything is self contained. The gavel itself is segmented, and made up of 112 individual pieces of walnut, Bubinga and curly Maple. The slapper disk is made from solid end grain Honey Locust. C&C welcome

First jobs tend to run the gamut of bagging groceries, babysitting or working at a local pizza shop. Some turn into full-time gigs, but most taper out after a passion is realized and a career goal is chased. When Chris and Alix became friends in high school over 20 years ago they decided to jump right into what they loved – custom jewelry making. The two friends started out small making beaded jewelry for kids and eventually rolled out an adult line. They continued working through school and treated their growing line as a side job when they landed positions as Jewelry Assistants at fine jewelers. While working at the fine jewelers, both Chris and Alix noticed a big gap in the customization process – the jewelers weren’t incredibly receptive to new ideas because they were set in traditional ways. Very much the opposite of traditional, and equipped with “can-do” mentalities, Chris and Alix the friends/part-time jewelry Makers became Chris & Alix Jewelry Inc. about six years ago. They dove in with experience under their belts including 3D-Design proficiency, gemology studies certificates and a vast familiarity with jewelry construction. Now, six-ish years later, Chris & Alix Jewelry is considered one of the most successful Makers on CustomMade with over 50 completed Creations and an evolved expertise in precious metal jewelry. Despite their huge portfolio, Chris and Alix are still faced with design and construction challenges daily. At the beginning of the year the longtime friends received a request for a cremation pendant to hold the ashes of a couple’s son who had passed away.  They had never been tasked with making a like pendant before, but they eagerly stepped up to the plate and set to work figuring out how to make the customized pendant hollow and include a screw-in closure. It’s those kinds of mind-expanding and unique requests that Chris & Alix love about CustomMade. “We’re open to anything and everything a Buyer comes to us with,” said Chris. “We piece the puzzle together which makes our days more interesting.” “The further out that we reach and the more people we can hear custom requests from, the more we’ll get challenges,” added Alix. “[With CustomMade] we have accessibility to people who are looking for all sorts of custom projects.” To check out some of Chris & Alix’s great work, scroll to the right or start a project to challenge them and make your vision a reality.  The post Chris & Alix Jewelry: Friends into making appeared first on CustomMade Blog.

Track Saw on Sale Seems like a good deal for anyone interested. $119.99. Today Only. This site is legit, I have bought many things from them, they are like a ‘deal of the day’ website. They offer one thing for sale daily in each of their categories.

Lets see, where do I start? A lot has changed since I was last on here. I cannot remember the last time I was on here, and I have not looked. Since I last was on, we sold our home, moved to another one and in some ways I think it will be better for my wood working addiction. We sold our home in 5 days and closed on it at the end of November. We moved into my wife’s childhood home, we are doing a Rent to Own, and will eventually buy the place. We now have a 2552 sq ft house on 2 acres of land. It has 3 bedrooms, formal living room, family room,kitchen, game room (converted garage) a master suite that has an office. The house sets on the front acre and we mow that. Behind is another acre and so far we are letting the grass grow for a back up to dad’s 15 acres, so that he can bring his horses over from time to time. We also allow the neighbors to run their horses over to eat the grass. Out in the pasture, is a barn, it is not really large, but can be built larger if I want. I do plan to build a metal building on the existing slab (removing what is there for barn) and making that into a workshop eventually. Currently, I have a storage room in the carport that I have a space for my tools. I will use it until I can build the workshop. I want to take the carport, and convert that into a full 4 car garage. I will have to add a bay and convert the storage room into one bay and part of another. Of course, these are some short term and some long term plans. The best part is that we are out of the city and can do just about anything we want to do out there. Dreaming of the possibilities is a great thing. We are working on the garden, and building flower beds and trying to clean up the place. It set empty for a few months before we moved in and it also set empty for about a year while my wife’s parents were on a mission. We have fruit trees and a kennel, which I will be removing and squaring off the yard. There are a lot of projects to work on.