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  • lew

    Seam Rippers For My Sister And Mom

    By lew

    My Mom is 91 (this past Monday) and she still sews and makes clothes. I noticed she had an the same seam ripper for years so I thought I'd make her a new one for Christmas- but it turned out to be a birthday gift. However when making one it's just as easy to make two so the other one will be for my sister for Christmas.    I bought the kits from Craft Supplies because I needed some other stuff that I can only find at their site. Making the rippers is pretty straight forward, especially
    • 8 comments
    • 1,821 views
  • lew

    Part 5:

    By lew

    Part 5:   As “Norm” used to say- “We’re gaining on it now.”   Time for the first dry fit to make sure all the mortice and tenons fit together.     Had to futz with a few of the tenons but overall everything went together nicely. You can see why I’m limited to the size of my projects. This is the only assembly space available- add clamps around a piece and things really get tight.   There were still a few more things left to do with the apron and
    • 0 comments
    • 1,276 views
  • lew

    Part 1- the concept

    By lew

    The Pastor’s Table or I Think My Sister Is Trying To Buy My Way Into Heaven -  (borrowing a title concept from Rocky and Bullwinkle) Part 1: I think my sister believes my past transgression’s slate can be, at least in part, wiped clean by building furniture for the church she attends. The latest installment is a kitchen island/work table for the church’s kitchen. The pastor emailed me a picture of a table he thought would work but wanted something larger and with slightly di
    • 1 comment
    • 1,108 views
  • lew

    Part 3:

    By lew

    Part 3: The work space in my shop is so small that I needed to build this project in stages. With the top finished, it was time to move on to the legs of the base. The entire base frame is made from poplar and the minister is going to paint it white. His specs were for full 4” x 4” legs. I suppose I could have gotten 16/4 poplar boards but those pieces would have been so large and heavy that I don’t think I could have manhandled them through the milling processes. I started with 5/4 boards
    • 1 comment
    • 1,135 views
  • Smallpatch

    Retirement

    By Smallpatch

    I had enough time working at the fire dept to draw a small pension when I turned 55. Being 41 at that time something kept telling me to go and do something else with the rest of my life... My wife was an RN but not working so she could raise the kids so I knew she could go back to work if my ventures went bad.   I want to build a nice,big go-cart track. WHAT, say that again. There aren't any go-cart tracks around here, how do you know you could make any money was my kids questions
    • 10 comments
    • 2,579 views
Drying Turned Wood

Six methods

Drying Turned Wood by Gerald Lawrence   I will cover the method I use as well as some other methods which have been up and down in popularity in the woodturning world to dry a blank in a method of turning called Twice Turned. First what is Twice Turned (TT) . TT is when you rough turn a bowl (usually only green wood) down to a wall thickness equaling one-tenth of the diameter of the bowl, the turn again when it reaches moisture equalization (MEQ) to final finish.   1. Ba
Gerald

Gerald

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Shopsmith lathe setup

Shopsmith lathe setup, Part 3

One headache to me is adjusting the movement of the tool rest in and out.  There are newer screws that use a lever.  At the moment, I cannot find them.  But, this is what we SSer's do.       It cannot be overemphasized, to make these adjustments, please turn off the machine.  After making your adjustments, spin your wood by hand to ensure that there is sufficient clearance between the turning stock and the tool rest.  Also, ensure you tighten the height adjustment sufficientl
FlGatorwood

FlGatorwood

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Shopsmith lathe setup

Shopsmith lathe setup, Part 2

Now that the tailstock is installed and aligned, it is doubtful that you will ever have to do this again for many years.  Only the tail stock has to be adjusted to the headstock.  Now, we have options of tools to look at.       Whereas the previous pictures showed a dead center, this is live center.  This has bearings in it and the tip and head spin.  I sometimes put oil in the back while the tip is down.  I hope the oil runs in.  These are found on various woodworking sites.  All
FlGatorwood

FlGatorwood

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Shopsmith lathe setup

Shopsmith lathe setup

So you get a Shopsmith and it is new to you.  This versatile machine will do or help you do many things in woodworking.  Some folks think that this machine is only a lathe, but it is so much more.  This is dedicated to the Mark V (500 series - 500, 505, 510, 520 including the Power Pro).  You should inventory to see if you have the following parts.     In the lower left is the powerhead with the quill showing.  On the masonite board are the tool rest, live center, dead center, box
FlGatorwood

FlGatorwood

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Small Patch Musings and Such

How I go about getting wood ready for carving

Wood is ready for the pattern with the backer board attached in the 4 corner with counter sunk screws... I first roll out Scotch Brand packing tape to cover all the area.......There are lots of types of Scotch Brand packing tape. Storing, Packing and Shipping and maybe more but the shipping is thicker and doesn't tear apart as easy you are removing it off the wood. I then spray temporary glue on the tape then lay on pattern. Duck brand clear tape leaves too much stickum on the wood after it is r
Smallpatch

Smallpatch

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Thickness Sander

Part 9- Finishing Up

Better add some sort of dust collection to this thing before I do anymore testing! This is what the finished “hood” looks like- (in place,top view, underside)         Had the ½” plywood from another project. This is just a simple box. I wanted some way to hold it in place and be able to remove it without tools. Made two brackets from 1” aluminum angle “iron” to catch one side and some button magnets for the other side. Dust collection is a 2 ½” a
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 8- Some Refinements

Most of the photos used for this part of the blog were taken “along the way.” As with everything made in my shop, there are always changes, modifications and “S**t! I should have….”.  The first thing was when Mimi passed by and said, “it’s nice but where are you going to put it”? Anyone who has been in the shop knows you need a road map and a course in choreography to get around all of the stuff crammed in there. OK, we are gonna need some wheels to move this thing out of the way. (whe
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 7- Adding The Sandpaper

It was finally time to add the sand paper to the drum. Having decided on a Velcro (hook and loop) system, it was off to Super Grit http://www.supergrit.com/ . Their store is only a half an hour drive from here. The hook portion required 5 feet of material. This PSA stuff is 4” wide and is $2/foot. Also bought 3 different grits of the 3” wide loop paper. Their minimum purchase is 3 yards but at between $1.50 to $2.00 a yard it is reasonable. It took about 73” to wrap the drum but I think I can ge
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 6- Mounting The Table

The final major part of the assembly is the table. The piece of ¾” Melamine is from the scrap box at the local Vocational School and the piano hinges are pieces left from a project made for my brother in law. The top is reinforced with a frame of ¾” plywood on three sides and a 1” piece of oak on the hinge side. (top and bottom w hinge)       The hinge is then screwed to a mounting/adjusting bracket that fits between the two sides of the frame. A slotted hole i
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 5- Mounting The Drum And Motor

Time to mount the drum and motor to the frame. The choice of 2 x 6 sides was made to hopefully eliminate any flexing when work pieces were in contact with the sanding surface. However, that lead to difficulty in figuring out how to be able to mount the drum bearings to the sides. Long carriage bolts can be expensive! The sides are counter bored about 3” and then drilled to match the bolt diameter. An area around the mounting surface was mortised for an aluminum plate. The pillow block beari
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 4- Building The Frame

Now that the drum runs true and the table lift works, it was time to start building the frame. My intention was to use mortise and tenon joinery but my choice of material was 2 x 6 for the top and bottom of the sides. This was larger than my mortiser could handle. I know, I could have chopped them out by hand. I opted for half lap joints. The overall width of the frame is 23” and the table height is about 31”. The length, at the bottom, is about 36”. The table is 16” x 24”. The frame is mad
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 3- Table Adjustment Mechanism

After researching many sander designs and knowing my tendency to over engineer everything, there was only one choice for the table adjusting/lifting mechanism. The source of the lift came from this site and I give the author full credit- http://home.mchsi.com/~woodywrkng/DrumSander.html. The only change/addition I made was to add springs the help eliminate any “backlash” in the movement. The author of the site felt this mechanism gave more support over the full width of the table. The
lew

lew

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Thickness Sander

Part 2- Testing The Drum

After building the drum, a test was in order. After all, if this part didn’t run true there was no sense in moving forward. Using a piece of Corian, the motor and drum were clamped down in position. The motor is a 120v 1/3 HP motor salvaged out of our old furnace. The belt is the one from my table saw- a link belt replaced it.   (fire in the hole and Test 2)       With some anxiousness, power was applied. Holy Cow, It Worked!! The pulley ratio is
lew

lew

0
Thickness Sander

Part 1- The Drum

When making my rolling pins, I use the thickness planer to bring the thin strips down to 1/8” thick. Unfortunately, if the grain in the wood is not uniform- or there are knots- the strips shatter. This wastes a lot of wood and doesn’t do the planer any good either. It seemed to me a thickness sander would be perfect for this process. Well, Craig’s List wasn’t producing any results and I couldn’t afford a new one. Time to take action!   Starting with what seemed to me to be the most cri
lew

lew

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Small Patch Musings and Such

attaining a snowflake

To start one needs a program like Rapid resizer then go to Pinterest... maybe like a few thousand flakes to choose from..  Find one you like and click on it to make it the largest size on the screen before you click on to Save as and here I use Documents to store this type of pictures.    Now you need a printer. No big deal here for I use for this is a Canon # 2522. About two or three months ago it was on sale  for less than 20 bucks.   Once the picture is stored in docu
Smallpatch

Smallpatch

2
Republishing the French Rolling Pin blog

Part #5 Some Final Thoughts

In Part #1, I mentioned that the pattern of the Celtic knot can be varied by how much wood is removed during the creation of the slots. Typically, I plow out a 3/8" wide slot and fill it with three inserts. That technique results in a pattern of knots that overlap-       If the slot is cut, leaving a center slice of wood intact, and then placing an insert on each side; the pattern displays diamonds at the cross-over-         Another subtle c
lew

lew

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Republishing the French Rolling Pin blog

Part #4 The Glue-up and Turning

I found it easier to glue if I oriented the blank with the diagonal cut facing up. I use an old restaurant cutting board as a gluing work surface and pieces of the cutting board as culls and pads. In this picture, you can see the three strips to be glued into place. They measure 2” x 10 3/4” x 1/8”. Test fit the pieces first to make sure they will seat into the slot. (I now have a thick piece of Corian countertop for the gluing surface)     On my first attempt, I didn’t use e
lew

lew

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Republishing the French Rolling Pin blog

Part#3 Making the cuts

Once the blank has the layout lines drawn, it is time to cut the slots for the ellipses. The first step is to set the blade height. When the cut is made, there should be about 3/32" to 1/8” of material left holding the two sides together. This is necessary during the glue up by keeping the pieces aligned.   Set the blank on the jig and adjust the angle and the end stop so that the front SHORTER layout line is positioned to the LEFT side of the blade cut. Orientation is w
lew

lew

1
Republishing the French Rolling Pin blog

Part#2 Layout

The second part will concentrate on the layout of the rolling pin blank in preparation for cutting the slots. Create a blank that is 22” long and 2” square.    Locate the center of the length (11”) and carry a line around the blank.   The ellipses are 11” long and made of three pieces of 1/8” thick material Layout a mark 5 ½” on either side of the centerline and accurately carry the lines around the blank.   To assist in laying out the diagonals,
lew

lew

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Republishing the French Rolling Pin blog

Part 1- The jigs

This is a re-post on the Celtic Knot Rolling Pin. I am a fan of “Cook Book” style instructions so if I miss any details, please let me know and I will try to flesh them out. In addition, many of these photos/procedures have been refined over time and I will try to point them out by adding extra photos rather than rewriting the entire blog. I thought it best to start with the jigs I used to prepare the turning blanks. Please note that I always over engineer everything and hardly ever see the
lew

lew

1
Workbench PIP

How I got this started

Where to start is to determine just what do you want to use the bench for. At the time for me it was flatwork and planing. I looked at many plans and decided on parts of several. Not sure where each part came from but the contributing plans were in Wood Magazine, Shop Notes and Popular Mechanics.   I started with the vices. Both are Lee Valley and maybe even paid full price. They are both front vices but one is mounted on the end. Next is to decide on the wood. I wanted White Oak and i
Gerald

Gerald

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DUST COLLECTORS 101

Make your own blast gates and add ons

Ok finally got a little time to continue. First lets talk about blast gates and routing boxes. I made these from plans in either Wood magazine or Shop Notes but did not write the issue on it. This gate is for individual tools or can be mounted in the duct . Basically this one is ply for sides and 1/8 masonite scrap for the blade. The plastic PVC connector is a piece of thinwall with about 1/2 inch cut out and then use PVC glue. This will allow the 4 inch flex to be attached.This could
Gerald

Gerald

2
DUST COLLECTORS 101

Ducts and blast gates

Now this may be getting the cart before the horse but lets call it collecting supplies you will need to connect your DC to machines. Thin wall PVC will work just fine . For the best you can order metal ducts any size you want but you will also have to buy expensive connections .   A consideration many people talk about is grounding the dust collector and duct. To my knowledge and every forum I have been on and every article and book "there has never been a explosion in a home workshop
Gerald

Gerald

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