Hi,
After I finished the bowl session today I took out the spoon and took a long look at it and did a little carving and discovered that my carving tools probably wouldnt cut soft butter so its time to stop and sharpen everything up. Heres some photos:
Here is the spoon blank from last night. Note that its squarish in shape. I like my spoons to be more rounded so Im going to shape the bowl a little bit:
I have a gouge that I very much like using for the exterior surfaces of spoons and other things and here is a photo of it. Poor thing is as dull as a tool can get and still be considered a tool:
I also have a small draw knife that Im partial too. Same dulled edge...gee I wonder who owns these tools...?
Here is the bowl after several fruitless minutes trying to shape it. I might have done better had a bitten off the corners with my teeth:
I have a number of carving tools that have curved cutting surfaces that cant be sharpened on a grinding wheel or a flat sharpening stone. A wood carver in England named Sean Hellman has a really good video on sharpening a hook knife, which I have. The video shows a very simple method for sharpening and Im going to post a link to his blog so you can see it too: http://seanhellman.blogspot.com/2012/02/sharpening-mora-164-hook-knife-and-how.html.
Ok, Im going to sharpen everything tomorrow and continue on with the spoon. Thanks for dropping by and Ill see you soon.
VW
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After I finished the bowl session today I took out the spoon and took a long look at it and did a little carving and discovered that my carving tools probably wouldnt cut soft butter so its time to stop and sharpen everything up. Heres some photos:
Here is the spoon blank from last night. Note that its squarish in shape. I like my spoons to be more rounded so Im going to shape the bowl a little bit:
I have a gouge that I very much like using for the exterior surfaces of spoons and other things and here is a photo of it. Poor thing is as dull as a tool can get and still be considered a tool:I also have a small draw knife that Im partial too. Same dulled edge...gee I wonder who owns these tools...? Here is the bowl after several fruitless minutes trying to shape it. I might have done better had a bitten off the corners with my teeth:I have a number of carving tools that have curved cutting surfaces that cant be sharpened on a grinding wheel or a flat sharpening stone. A wood carver in England named Sean Hellman has a really good video on sharpening a hook knife, which I have. The video shows a very simple method for sharpening and Im going to post a link to his blog so you can see it too: http://seanhellman.blogspot.com/2012/02/sharpening-mora-164-hook-knife-and-how.html.Ok, Im going to sharpen everything tomorrow and continue on with the spoon. Thanks for dropping by and Ill see you soon.
VW
The Three Sisters Project Finish Sanding and Oiling
Hi Everyone,
I had a little spare time this afternoon and we all know that I cant resist working in the wood shop even its only for 5 minutes. So I decided to finish sanding the square and the ash plates.
Here we go:
Here is the finished ash plate. Ive sanded it to 400 grit and polished the surface with 0000 steel wool. Its ready for oiling at this point:
I love oil finishes. They make wood look so beautiful and you can feel the wood with your hands when its finished. There isnt a layer between you and the wooden object. I like to use Tried and True varnish oil. Its linseed oil with a dryer added to it. Linseed oil finishes are an old time type of a finish but the bad part about them is that it can take several weeks to a month for the finish to dry and cure. The dryer in this cut that down to about 24-36 hours.
The trick to using this is to use this product at room temperature (since its so cold here I keep it in my house. I dont think storing at really low temps is good for this), and to apply multiple thin coats of oil with at least 36 hours of drying time between coats of oil. This product is the consistency and color of honey so it doesnt take a lot to oil something.
The surface should be free of all wood dust and so should your hands. You should only rub in enough to barely wet the surface and then set it aside for about an hour. If after an hour there is any wet spots on the surface, you should take a clean cloth and gently rub that away and then let your item dry:
Ok, time to oil. This is always my favorite part of any project.
Drum Roll!!
Here is a photo of the ash plate with half of the surface oiled and the other half still un oiled:
And here is a photo of the cumaru plate:
Im going to let both just sit for an hour and then Ill take another look at them and if they need it, Ill rub down the surface to take away any excess oil.
The walnut plate has some tear out and that is going to have to be sanding completely away before I do the finish sanding and oiling. I will take pictures and post them in a day or two when thats done.
All of the plates will get two coats of oil and Ill post finish photos before I mail them off.
VW
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I had a little spare time this afternoon and we all know that I cant resist working in the wood shop even its only for 5 minutes. So I decided to finish sanding the square and the ash plates.
Here we go:
Here is the finished ash plate. Ive sanded it to 400 grit and polished the surface with 0000 steel wool. Its ready for oiling at this point:
I love oil finishes. They make wood look so beautiful and you can feel the wood with your hands when its finished. There isnt a layer between you and the wooden object. I like to use Tried and True varnish oil. Its linseed oil with a dryer added to it. Linseed oil finishes are an old time type of a finish but the bad part about them is that it can take several weeks to a month for the finish to dry and cure. The dryer in this cut that down to about 24-36 hours.The trick to using this is to use this product at room temperature (since its so cold here I keep it in my house. I dont think storing at really low temps is good for this), and to apply multiple thin coats of oil with at least 36 hours of drying time between coats of oil. This product is the consistency and color of honey so it doesnt take a lot to oil something.
The surface should be free of all wood dust and so should your hands. You should only rub in enough to barely wet the surface and then set it aside for about an hour. If after an hour there is any wet spots on the surface, you should take a clean cloth and gently rub that away and then let your item dry:
Ok, time to oil. This is always my favorite part of any project.Drum Roll!!
Here is a photo of the ash plate with half of the surface oiled and the other half still un oiled:
And here is a photo of the cumaru plate:Im going to let both just sit for an hour and then Ill take another look at them and if they need it, Ill rub down the surface to take away any excess oil.The walnut plate has some tear out and that is going to have to be sanding completely away before I do the finish sanding and oiling. I will take pictures and post them in a day or two when thats done.
All of the plates will get two coats of oil and Ill post finish photos before I mail them off.
VW
Bowl o rama and hand carving a spoon a 2 part posting today
Hi Everyone,
Well, today was a very productive day in the wood shop. There is a series of bowls that I began making last month that have been drying out and need to be re-cut today and well be doing that in a moment and I also have decided to try to do some hand carving again by carving a wooden spoon for a friend of mine. Since there are so many photographs, Im going to do this as a two-part posting.
Part I - The bowls
Last month, I began a series of bowls that were ordered by a friend of mine for her family and I made the bowls out of hickory, pecan, red elm, camphor, and some other wood whose name escapes me at the moment*. The hickory and pecan bowls have been completed and delivered and this leaves the last three bowls still being worked on. I rough cut them last month and placed them in drying bags and I took them out last night to look at them and to see if they have cracked or distorted.
Good news-the bowls have all survived the preliminary cutting and drying with minimal distortion. So its time to re-cut them again.
Bowls made out of unseasoned wood will shrink and distort while they dry out. Lets take a look at one of the bowls:
This bowl is the red elm bowl and you can see that its a little longer from side to side than it is from top to bottom. The bowl shrank some while it was in the drying bag. This means the bowl is no longer round in shape but has become oval. Turning it on the lathe will re-shape it and make it round again. Fortunately the there is enough wood in the walls of the bowl to re-shape it.
This photograph shows the bowl after its been re-cut and made round again:
And I spent a portion of the day re-turning all of the bowls in the drying bag:
You can see how the bowls in the bottom photo have been rounded and the walls and bottom of the bowls thinned out.
These bowls are 10 inches x 3 inches. Here is a photo of a large hickory bowl from last month:
This bowl is longer than it is tall and it still has the potential to distort while drying so I didnt cut it too much.
All of the bowls above will be going back into the drying bag for another month and then Ill take them out and cut them to their final shapes and sizes. Well do this at the end of June.
Ok, my next posting is about the spoon Ive begun making so lets go on to part 2.
VW
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Well, today was a very productive day in the wood shop. There is a series of bowls that I began making last month that have been drying out and need to be re-cut today and well be doing that in a moment and I also have decided to try to do some hand carving again by carving a wooden spoon for a friend of mine. Since there are so many photographs, Im going to do this as a two-part posting.
Part I - The bowls
Last month, I began a series of bowls that were ordered by a friend of mine for her family and I made the bowls out of hickory, pecan, red elm, camphor, and some other wood whose name escapes me at the moment*. The hickory and pecan bowls have been completed and delivered and this leaves the last three bowls still being worked on. I rough cut them last month and placed them in drying bags and I took them out last night to look at them and to see if they have cracked or distorted.
Good news-the bowls have all survived the preliminary cutting and drying with minimal distortion. So its time to re-cut them again.
Bowls made out of unseasoned wood will shrink and distort while they dry out. Lets take a look at one of the bowls:
This photograph shows the bowl after its been re-cut and made round again:
And I spent a portion of the day re-turning all of the bowls in the drying bag:You can see how the bowls in the bottom photo have been rounded and the walls and bottom of the bowls thinned out.These bowls are 10 inches x 3 inches. Here is a photo of a large hickory bowl from last month:
This bowl is longer than it is tall and it still has the potential to distort while drying so I didnt cut it too much.All of the bowls above will be going back into the drying bag for another month and then Ill take them out and cut them to their final shapes and sizes. Well do this at the end of June.
Ok, my next posting is about the spoon Ive begun making so lets go on to part 2.VW
Celenas Cookbook Stand
The first neander project I tried after the ledgendary "St. Roy Encounter" (see The Whole Story In Three Pictures post) was the book stand from one board. I followed the guidelines from a handout, and tried to remember the hints he had added during the demonstration. Results were exciting but not exactly great. It sat in the shop doing various light duty work: "Now where am I going to sit this screwdriver/photo/sandwich where it wont disapear in the next 5 seconds? Ah-ha! You there..."
Sometime later I decided to give it another go using some sassafrass that I had picked up somewhere. Results were much better.
Heres a shot of the two iterations:
Sometime later I decided to give it another go using some sassafrass that I had picked up somewhere. Results were much better.
Heres a shot of the two iterations:
It was nice, visible, evidence of actual progress in my skills. It had been about one year and I had obvioulsy gotten better at a lot of stuff such as layout (I actually had a marking gauge by this time - shop made no less :), sawing (and saw sharpening), paring with a chisel, and some basic (real basic) chip carving. Plus, Celena really seems to enjoy it.
Finally, heres another couple of shots - at work (What? Doesnt everyone read Joy of Cooking in their shop?), and at rest:
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Sabtu, 16 April 2016
Change in plans
Hi Everyone,
Were going to make left turn and set some of our wood turning projects aside and, heavens to betsy, make some square shaped items.
My oldest son is moving out and getting a place of his own and that poor critter doesnt have any furniture. I used to make furniture and Ive made a lot my furniture here at home and so Im going to help him out. Im going to make him a coffee table using plumbing pipe (see my other blog Piperooo for all the stuff you can do with ordinary plumbing pipe) and inset some tile into the top, so it will last and look nice.
Im going to need a work table for all this so Im gearing up to make one over the next several days and then well get going. I might even make him a bed frame too.
So look out world! Selkie Wood Works takes on the "square world!"
See you later,
VW
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Were going to make left turn and set some of our wood turning projects aside and, heavens to betsy, make some square shaped items.
My oldest son is moving out and getting a place of his own and that poor critter doesnt have any furniture. I used to make furniture and Ive made a lot my furniture here at home and so Im going to help him out. Im going to make him a coffee table using plumbing pipe (see my other blog Piperooo for all the stuff you can do with ordinary plumbing pipe) and inset some tile into the top, so it will last and look nice.
Im going to need a work table for all this so Im gearing up to make one over the next several days and then well get going. I might even make him a bed frame too.
So look out world! Selkie Wood Works takes on the "square world!"
See you later,
VW
Im a sucker for Trebuchets
As much as I tried, a last minute "homework" assignment from work meant that I wasnt able to write a post last night. Ill try to write a full post this week some time, though looking at my schedule, it may take until next Monday for a proper blog update.
In the mean time, I offer this great video to hold you over. Its one of the now typical "our job site radio is tougher than your job site radio" video all the tool manufacturers are producing. As much as I like the Bosch radio (I own a 1st generation one), the thing that makes this video outstanding is the trebuchet. Whats not to love about a wooden contraption that hurls a job radio 150 feet?
Id like to thank Tool Snob for first bringing this video to my attention. Keep up the good work, fellas.
How would you like to abuse your toughest (or least favorite) tool?
Purple Heart Tea Box for Jim Discussion Plans and Photos
Hello Everyone,
Well its an absolutely gorgeous day here in Minnesota. We have had temps in the high 70s and I think we may have hit 80 degrees this weekend. This is phenomenal weather for the northern midwest at this time of year and it has been perfect wood shop weather.
My husband Jims birthday is coming up and Ive been wanting to make him a special present. He has had a very rough couple of years and the past several months have been especially difficult for him. So he gets a one of a kind, super duper tea box out of purple heart wood with a butter yellow hickory wood top.
Purple heart wood is indeed purple-its the color of purple cabbage. Its expensive and a little on the rare side and so since I usually confine myself to turning domestic hardwoods, this is a wood that I havent used before. I was at Woodcraft this weekend purchasing some new scrapers (see below) and I stumbled across a chunk of purple heart and I immediately thought of Jim. So I bought it and brought it home and decided to set everything else aside and make this. So we have a new project to work on.
Here we go. The block is 6x6x3 inches and so I cut off the corners on the bandsaw and mounted it on the lathe. Instead of hiding the foot underneath the tea box, this time Im going to leave it showing on the bottom of the box.
Heres some photos:
The photo above shows the bottom of the blank. You can see the purple color and a quilted-looking grain pattern.
This next photo shows the finished bottom. Ive cut a tenon on the bottom for the 4 jaw chuck to attach to and Ive also turned the center into kind of a wavy shape (the belly button thing in the center). Ive finished sanding the bottom and it feels like satin. Wow. Time to flip it over and work on the sides and foot.
This photo shows the blank from the side. On the left you can see the rudiments of the foot. The sides are roughly parallel with each other. Im going to canter them inwards a couple of degrees towards the foot in just a second:
You can see above that the sides are sloping inwards towards the center of the piece. Ive also taken a few minutes and used a scraper on the sides to smooth them.
One of the last tools Ive mastered are lathe scrapers:
This are heavy, blunt-ended tools that have a sharp edge that scrapes a surface smooth while its turning on the lathe. The square edged tool on the left is for convex or exterior curved surfaces and the rounded scraper on the right is for interior bowl work. These are made out of heavy, high speed steel so as to maintain a sharp edge and to dampen the vibration that is generated as the piece of wood spins. These tools are very helpful as finish tools and are worth their weight in gold.
Now its time to begin hollowing out. I like to drill out the center of bowls and tea boxes. This helps to establish the lower limit of the turning surface and it also removes the center of the work. Since the center turns more slowly than the sides of the piece, it can "grab" the tip of a turning tool and twist it in your hands and that really hurts.
Here I am drilling out the center:
This has produced a lot of purple shavings. Maybe I should put them in a bag and send them to Prince, the rock star who uses the color purple a lot. I bet you didnt know that hes from Minnesota.
Im going to stop here--Im tired and its time for dinner. Next time well finish hollowing out the interior and well scrape it smooth with the bowl scraper.
On another note: the lazy susan is coming out well. I remade the top and used a different stain and Im much happier with this and I think my friend will be as well.
Ok thats that for today.
More later,
VW
Read More..
Well its an absolutely gorgeous day here in Minnesota. We have had temps in the high 70s and I think we may have hit 80 degrees this weekend. This is phenomenal weather for the northern midwest at this time of year and it has been perfect wood shop weather.
My husband Jims birthday is coming up and Ive been wanting to make him a special present. He has had a very rough couple of years and the past several months have been especially difficult for him. So he gets a one of a kind, super duper tea box out of purple heart wood with a butter yellow hickory wood top.
Purple heart wood is indeed purple-its the color of purple cabbage. Its expensive and a little on the rare side and so since I usually confine myself to turning domestic hardwoods, this is a wood that I havent used before. I was at Woodcraft this weekend purchasing some new scrapers (see below) and I stumbled across a chunk of purple heart and I immediately thought of Jim. So I bought it and brought it home and decided to set everything else aside and make this. So we have a new project to work on.
Here we go. The block is 6x6x3 inches and so I cut off the corners on the bandsaw and mounted it on the lathe. Instead of hiding the foot underneath the tea box, this time Im going to leave it showing on the bottom of the box.
Heres some photos:
The photo above shows the bottom of the blank. You can see the purple color and a quilted-looking grain pattern.This next photo shows the finished bottom. Ive cut a tenon on the bottom for the 4 jaw chuck to attach to and Ive also turned the center into kind of a wavy shape (the belly button thing in the center). Ive finished sanding the bottom and it feels like satin. Wow. Time to flip it over and work on the sides and foot.
This photo shows the blank from the side. On the left you can see the rudiments of the foot. The sides are roughly parallel with each other. Im going to canter them inwards a couple of degrees towards the foot in just a second:You can see above that the sides are sloping inwards towards the center of the piece. Ive also taken a few minutes and used a scraper on the sides to smooth them.One of the last tools Ive mastered are lathe scrapers:
This are heavy, blunt-ended tools that have a sharp edge that scrapes a surface smooth while its turning on the lathe. The square edged tool on the left is for convex or exterior curved surfaces and the rounded scraper on the right is for interior bowl work. These are made out of heavy, high speed steel so as to maintain a sharp edge and to dampen the vibration that is generated as the piece of wood spins. These tools are very helpful as finish tools and are worth their weight in gold.Now its time to begin hollowing out. I like to drill out the center of bowls and tea boxes. This helps to establish the lower limit of the turning surface and it also removes the center of the work. Since the center turns more slowly than the sides of the piece, it can "grab" the tip of a turning tool and twist it in your hands and that really hurts.
Here I am drilling out the center:
This has produced a lot of purple shavings. Maybe I should put them in a bag and send them to Prince, the rock star who uses the color purple a lot. I bet you didnt know that hes from Minnesota.Im going to stop here--Im tired and its time for dinner. Next time well finish hollowing out the interior and well scrape it smooth with the bowl scraper.
On another note: the lazy susan is coming out well. I remade the top and used a different stain and Im much happier with this and I think my friend will be as well.
Ok thats that for today.More later,
VW
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