Going to Build

 . . . tie a knot and hold on" Thats how the saying is supposed to go. At one point several years ago I worked for an Operating Room that was going through a lot of changes. Our charge nurse found this cute little saying and thought she would burst morale, little did she fully understand what critics an OR staff can contain. Not that Im proud of it now, but my younger, more passive aggressive self walked around one evening with a sharpie and modified every sign I could to read "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a noose and hang yourself."  The curse is I took what could be an up beat reminder to stay happy and focused and drowned it in my defeatist sarcasm forever. Now whenever I think of that saying, or hear someone say they are at the end of their rope, a noose is the only thing that comes to mind.

I am kind of battling that same mentality right now and all I have to do is convince myself to hold on and well come out the other side soon. I also have to remind myself to stay away from the proverbial gallows pole. In my quest to refurbish, renew and add to my hand tools I am starting to walk the line. Some of these items have been used and abused by myself for a few years, and god knows how long by others before they got to me. I have learned a ton along this curve and god knows they were needed lessons, I see the need for a book out there to help others walk a similar path. (maybe I will write that myself one day because I havent found one that I think does the entire process justice) but the truth is Im not a woodworker because I like to MAKE tools, Im a woodworker because I like to USE tools to MAKE sawdust. And though there has been some of that along the way, I feel like I am putting in a lot of work, and in my conscious mind I know Im making progress and doing well, but in my subconscious mind Im doing a lot of work and there is not much extra or new to show for it. Mostly I am working on the tools I own, not adding new ones, so I see nothing extra or added in my minds eye to prove progress, and I get restless at times when I see no progress.

Its the difference between hanging drywall and finishing drywall. Hanging drywall is very satisfying, you have bare studs before you, and you get to work. Several sheets up and you can see progress. Several more sheets and you have transformed bare studs into a wall. Then comes the muding, taping, and sanding to finish the drywall. You still know you are making progress, but you feel like you are covering the same ground again and again, revisiting the same dimple in the wall over and over. Hanging drywall - very gratifying, finishing drywall requires more persistence and discipline.

I guess I still have to work on the discipline part a bit.

The planes were finished today, just the scrub plane in the mail to go. For good measure I also took apart all my spokeshaves today and sharpened them as well. So the planes are done (again minus 1) so I set up to sharpen the last two saws of the four brothers. Then I made the mistake of coming upstairs to get a drink and take a break. I never made it back down to the shop. Instead my wife and I ended up taking an impromptu Saturday afternoon nap together. (I must admit, that was pretty gratifying as well)

Next on the agenda is remaking handles for my bench chisels. Out with the crap poly-plastic handles and in with some nice oak  wooden ones. The trick will be making them without a lathe set up... Rasp, drawknife, spokeshave, and scraper card I guess. Well see how it goes. Anyhow until then

Cheers

Oldwolf

Good Evening Everyone,

Well, I had a long day to day and by the time I got home around 4 pm I was in serious need of some wood turning time. I have several projects going at the moment and here are some project updates:

Purple Heart Tea Box for Jim

Ive constructed a lid for the box and here are some photos:

I looked through my hickory wood stack and found exactly what I wanted for the lid: a 1 inch thick piece of butter yellow hickory and so I marked off the lid and the wood for the knob on top for cutting on the bandsaw:



Here is the blank after cutting. Ive established the center of both pieces and I am about to drill a hole in both pieces in order to peg them together. The square portion also acts as the attachment point for the lid to the lathe-more about that tomorrow.  I decided to use CA glue to glue them together and it ran all over the place.


Between the above and below photos I managed to glue the small block to one of my fingers. I always keep a can of acetone around just in case I do something stupid like that. You should have seen me walking around with a piece of wood stuck to my hand....

Here is a photo of the two pieces glued together with no fingers attached:


I like to get a very fine joint between laminated pieces of wood so you cant see the glue line and Ive managed to accomplish that with this in spite of myself. Im going to leave this and come back to it tomorrow.

Next-laminated hickory and walnut bowl

You may remember from about a month ago I laminated several turning blocks out of hickory and walnut. The first blank became the nut bowl and this blank is going to become a medium-sized hickory bowl with a walnut rim. I was worried about this blank because the walnut began to crack down the middle while I was clamping it and I was beginning to worry that I might have to cut off the rim. So I decided to at least get it roughly shaped today and take a close look at the walnut rim as I was turning it.

This first photo shows the blank very roughly cut out from the laminated block. As its heavy and rather unbalanced at this time, Im going to use the 6 inch faceplate and 1 1/2 inch wood screws to mount it:



Here is a photo of the blank on the lathe. Im going to turn it between centers for safetys sake. You know this is a very heavy block of wood turning hundreds of time per minute a few inches away from my head--crazy way to make a living when you think about it. But the wood bug bit me early in life and Ive never regretted working in wood. Ive never seriously injured myself either.


Here you can see the blank being shaped from the bottom to the top. Cutting at a diagonal insures that the wood fibers are cut cleanly with a minimum of tear out:




Here is a photo after about 2 hours of turning. There was a lot of wood to remove and the block is probably much lighter in weight now and certainly is is well balanced at this point in time. Im going to deepen the shaping of the layers of wood tomorrow. And Ive added a foot to this bowl as well:


This is good quality wood and because of that, this bowl is going to work out nicely.

Its getting late and Im covered with wood chips from head to toe so its time to stop. Ill be working tomorrow so grab some coffee and Ill do the same and well see how the lid to the tea box works out.

Thanks for dropping by,
VW

The process of creating something has always been fascinating to me. Sometimes you struggle and fight with an idea for a while before sweat and hard work let you eek out a solution. Sometimes an idea just strikes you from sideways and its like bringing your head up above water. The previous is a can be a significant amount of work and the later seems to come unbidden from no where.

I had a box to carve and a short time to do it, but I wasnt sure where I wanted to go with the carving. I knew I wanted to play more with a guiloche design, a series of circle shapes interwoven with each other, and I thought I would do that along the front of the box like I had on this version.


I was struggling more with the panel style carving for the lid. I wasnt sure which direction to go.

Then the Greek Muses struck at a crazy moment. One of my wifes great uncles had passed away at ripe old age of 97 and we went to attend the funeral. It was held in a wonderfully old, ornate Lutheran church in La Crosse. As we sat throughout the ceremony I spent some time looking at the architectural elements surrounding the altar. Running in a great arch was a guilloche. I went back after the ceremony was over and snapped some pictures with my cell phone.






After the ceremony, the family gathered for a light lunch and some time to visit and catch up in the churches basement. As I was looking at the design an idea had started to formulate in my mind about using the guilloche for the panel instead of the front. I didnt have my trusty sketchbook with, even though it follows me nearly everywhere. Thank goodness the little church ladies who helped make the sandwiches and pour the coffee had put out paper place-mats for everyone.

Heres a picture of the sketch I made on my place-mat.


I folded the paper up and put it in my pocket and I let it percolate in my mind for a couple days until it was finally time to build the box.


I start the layout using a couple pairs of dividers to scratch marks in the oaks smooth planed surface. One divider is set to the larger circles and one to the smaller circles. First I scribe a series of circles whose lines just touch along the marked axis. Then I adjust both sets of dividers to make slightly larger scratches around the first series.

After this is done I again adjust the dividers slightly smaller than the first series of circles and scratch marks inside. This puts the first series of scratches in the middle of the thicker overlapping wall.  Its tough to explain in words, if you already carve then my description might help, I should just film a video to help explain it.


I know Peter Follansbee has banished the scourge of pencils from the shop he works from (at least where his period work is concerned) but I find the thin lead from a mechanical pencil helps keep me on track of which line is crossing over the other. (it also helps the layout scratches show up in the photograph.)


The hard part of the layout work is done. Now I just have hit the oak with a "V" chisel and the process has begun.


I really got fixated into the carving that afternoon and I forgot to take any process pictures until the panel was done. The flowers in the circles are all gouge work as is the design that ended up in the corners. Personally I feel like the corners is where this one fell apart on me. I really failed to plan well for them and though I think what developed there on a "spur of the moment" idea is interesting and has a balancing movement to it I think I could have done something better. I wanted to do something like the two columns that flank the original I saw in the church but the space wasnt right for a couple ribbon bands either.

I was very happy with the guilloche and how all the detail in there worked out, looking at it now I feel I could have done something more with them smaller circles, but I do believe the enemy of good is better. I usually try to stop while Im ahead.


As I do more of these boxes I am building a better sense of balance and style to the carvings. I get the feeling you can overwhelm a piece with too much of the same shape. Maybe this wasnt a concern in the 17th century where this style of carving would be more at home, but I am building in the 21st century for clients with a modern eye.

As I read that I think it can be misconstrued that Im saying I have to dumb things down for a typical modern person to appreciate. I am not saying that. I am trying to say that while I am using 17th century carving styles and techniques as my platform, I am not interested in imitating or recreating as much as Im interested in using those things as a springboard to launch me into my own.

The art teacher I spent the most time working with in my misspent youth always stressed the composition of a piece through the use of balance and movement. If theres a busy area you have to even it out with a simpler area or the eyes of the viewer can become overtaxed and overloaded. Its important to me that my work is pleasing to both my eyes and others so I try to incorporate these long ago learned lessons more and more as I get better at this carving thing.


The box was finished with a lightly pigmented Danish Oil. All in all the box went from lumber to piece in around four days. The lid was carved in one evening. Its not as important to me but getting faster is probably a byproduct of comfort and familiarity. I didnt even have time to get very good final pics before I had to deliver it.






 Its funny how things name themselves sometimes. The man I was making this box is the son of a pastor, and hes a very religious man, though not the kind who pushes his views on others. (The right kind in my book) I added the crosses on the front as a kind of a tribute to that. As I finished them up I was amused to find there were seven crosses, something unplanned, the same number as large circles on the top. Gospel stories and parables from my Sunday school days rolled around my head as I was putting the final details and hinges on the box. I started to refer to call it "Seven Times Seventy Loaves"

Ive since gone back and reread the things I was thinking about and realize the name is a combination of a couple of stories, but really thats insignificant. Im not sure I named it at all. I think it was those damned muses again. 


Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf



P.S. Those who know me will understand my sense of humor, Originally I had named this post "A-Mused To Death" which I thought was a clever reference to a moment of inspiration striking while at a funeral. I was kind of proud of my brilliance and shared it with my wife, who calmly convinced me it wasnt really in good taste. Shes probably right, but Im still irreverent enough that I couldnt let it go completely. Its probably the same personality fault that made my eighth grade Theology teacher kick me out of her class for most of the year. In the end I guess I am who I am.

Cheers
D

Here are some details of the indexer I designed. First, the clamps that hold the index bar to the rail are made from 0.75" UHMW. The translucent area in the drawings below are the UHMW. It is in two pieces, the main body and the clamp head. the clamp head has a "V" shaped protrusion that fits into the "V" grove in the side of the guide ridge. It is held in place by the Clamp Knob and Stud. The main body is attached to the index bar with the Attachment Bolt and Knob. There is a small open area between the main body and the clamp head below the Clamp Knob Stud, this allows the clamp head to be tightened against the guide ridge.The index bar is made of 0.375" UHMW and can have two sets of index holes. You simply remove the bar from the clamps, turn it over and reattach. It has been suggested that a strip of pegboard could be used for the bar. I havent tried it yet, but I cannot see why it would not work.

The index pin module is also made of 0.75" UHMW, and has an aluminum Top Plate that traps the pin and spring. The index pin is a 0.25" hex bolt that has had the head cut off and the end rounded over some. The bottom nut on the pin gives something for the spring to push against, the top nut is just to lock the knob in place. The body of the assembly is attached to the SRK with two screws. It sits over the index bar and straddles the guide ridge (for no real reason).

Alignment of the rail to the center line of the holes to be drilled is accomplished by means of an alignment jig made from an SRK and a section of aluminum angle. First you set the rail with the router bit centered on the center line. I use a brass setup bit that has conical points on each end and a 0.25" and 0.5" shaft (one half each). This sets the distance. then I adjust the alignment guide so the edge of the aluminum angle is on the center line. I then set one end of the rail the proper distance from the line with the alignment guide and loosely clamp that end of the rail to the work piece. Slide the alignment guide to the other end of the center line, adjust and clamp that end of the rail. Go back to the other end and reset if necessary.


I hope that this has answered some of the questions that you might have about the jig. If not dont hesitate to ask.

A few months ago, I found this little table on craigslist ...


and Ive finally come to the conclusion that I have no where to put it (I know, you would think that I could fit a tiny table somewhere ... but there really is no place!), so Ive decided to fix it up and sell


Im using SW Big Chill and will be stenciling the top, check back to see what it looks like finished!

Ive just about posted all of the content I created and recorded at Woodworking in America 2013. Luckily, my good friends +Tom Iovino, +Sean Wisniewski, +Neal Becker gave me some photos to share. I hope you enjoy. By the way, if you want to see really good photos of WIA13, check out +David Picciutos blog, Drunken Woodworker.

The Online Woodworking Discussion Panel.

Somehow, the let the Modern Woodworkers Association in.

The Wood Talk and Giant Cypress guys were let in too, to provide actual information.

Yes, Tom talks just as much in person.

Neil Zenuk (@twowheelneil) chops some sweet dovetails.

Tom likes me!

Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.