Blogs

Down Hill From Here!

So with the koozie glued, there really isn't much left but the fun part. I threw it on the lathe in my new oversized jaws and went to work. I started slow, about 500 RPM because I didn't know how fast I could go with something this size. Eventually I bumped it up to 800 and settled at about 1000RPM. I used my Sorby roughing gouge to get it round (mainly because it is my favorite tool) and finished smooth with the circular carbide tip. I also slightly rounded over the top lip and flattened t

April 23, 2017

Groundhog Day

This was a stupid idea. Sorry, that was wrong of me. What I should have said was... This was a REALLY stupid idea. OK, in all seriousness, it is not THAT bad. It is only about 200 segments the size of my pinky nail that have to be cut, sanded, and glued into 10 rings...per koozie. I honestly found that I could get into a rhythm. I would cut one 1.5x.5x24 strip of oak into 3 strips, then cut those int segments. Once the segments were cut I divided them in

April 21, 2017

The real day two

OK, so on to working the segments. As I said, my goal is to complete a can koozie using segmented rings. The best way I found was the 'wedgie sled' concept created by Jerry Bennett. It is basically a 3 part sled. I thought I could get away with just the adjustable arms and quickly figured out why the parts are there. It is really a simple concept. You adjust the 2 bars on the sled according to how many segments you want per ring. You can do math (360 degree circle divided by 18 segments p

April 20, 2017

Day Two, plus some background info

Welcome back! Before I roll into today's update please allow me to fill in the background story and update my tool list as per Mr John Morris' request. I caught the woodworking bug back in 2014. I have always wanted to be creative, but in all honesty I do not have that gene. If you sat me in front of a canvas and asked me to create content I would fail. I simply do not have the ability to take something from imagination and turn it to reality. What I have found though

April 19, 2017

Segment Day One

I moved this post here, figured it was more appropriate as a blog vice a random post... I figured this would be a great place to document my path down segmented turning. That way we can all look back years later and laugh... Today I will start with why I am looking at getting into segmented turning in the first place. Last Christmas I was trying to figure out what to get my dad for a gift. He is at the stage where there isn't much he needs, and I had already made him a

April 18, 2017

Finishing Up The Top

With the base finished, all that was left to do was trim out the top with the walnut edge trim. Glue, clamps and some pin nails. I forgot to take photos of the top to apron mounting system but this Sketchup drawing should explain what I did. These are simple wooden clips with their tabs captured in slots that run around the perimeter of the inside of the aprons. The slot is 1/4" wide by 3/8" deep. The clips are cut from 3/4" thick maple and the tabs sized of a snug fit in the slots.

February 5, 2017

Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes!

Once the legs were completed, I started on the aprons and stretchers. The stretchers are to be mortised and tenoned into the legs. The long stretcher needed to be securely fastened into the side stretcher but their thickness was only 3/4 ". That meant a very short tenon (1/2") on the ends of the long stretcher. I decided, mistakenly, to use a fox tenon and a dovetail style mortise, with tapered sides and wider at the bottom. It took a little work to get the mortises chop

Small Patch Musings and Such

January 30, 2017

All building being built for wood shops should be built for 20 or 30 years down the road..

We left a very perfect size shop where we retired from. A 40x60 with a concrete floor. So in thinking ahead with my lovely we won't need that much shop cause in our visions every road and highway is the U S was going to be our work shop. Wild thinking but hey the very first 8 years of our last business we were open 7 days a week. Every day and even when it rained, we had many things to do. From experience, so believe me when I say build a shop for 20 or 30 years down the r

Smallpatch

January 29, 2017

Trim and Legs

For such a simple table, this thing has run me through the funnies big time. Everything started out pretty good. The walnut trim, for the top, was made by multiple passes over several different router bits to get the desired profile. It'll take a little sanding to smooth things out but I am happy with the results. Next I turned to the legs. I milled down some 1 3/4" maple into 1 3/8" square blanks. Then laid out the locations of all of

January 23, 2017

#4 Other Inside Out Turnings

These were all done with one inch square six inch long configurations. So this broken apart, turned and glued. Looks like this. Turned to just round, looks like this. Shaped and finish applied. Anything that fits through the window can be hung inside for added effect. Some beads are hung in this one. Two smaller ornaments made from one glue up.

January 19, 2017

#3 Ornament With Cross for Windows

Next is how to make an ornament with a cross for the windows. Here is the blank mounted in the lathe. Here it is turned just round where the window will be and the cross upright length, one and a half inches, is marked out. Everything turned away now will open the window double the depth of cut. The upright of the cross is going to be a quarter inch wide so a groove one eighth deep needs to be cut the length of the upright.

January 19, 2017

#2 Getting Started

Mount the blank in the lathe and turn it just round in the area the window is to appear. With it turned just round there will be no windows when turned back to finish as shown here. Anything turned away from here on will open the window. This was put back in the lathe and small grooves cut into it to show result. Notice how any cut made is automatically doubled.

January 19, 2017

#1 How Deep to Cut

Inside out turning starts with a glue up of four sticks cut perfectly square and glued together to make a square twice the size of the cut pieces. There are limits to how deep a cut can be made and not have the turning ruined because the cut was too deep. One inch square pieces will be glued up to create a two inch blank in this case. When the blank is mounted in the lathe the first order of business is to turn the area where the window is to appear to the max diameter

January 19, 2017

The Original Request

My sister's Pastor asked if I could make a communion table for their church. In the past, I've made a lectern/pulpit and a kitchen work table. This seemed like it should be an uncomplicated build. The pastor supplied me with his original thoughts and an image- He picked this particular image for it's size/proportions, however, the "arts and craft" style was not his first choice. That style didn't really fit with their church's other furnishings. He said he didn't rea

Cherry Entertainment Center

January 12, 2017

Cherry Entertainment Towers Posted 8/25/2007 11:36 PM CDT Had been encouraged by the wife to build these for some time now. Spent maybe a year checking other designs an making plans. Tracking my time and will give it when finish. The towers are 6 ft tall X 22 inch wide and 24 inch deep.Caucus began with making raised panels for the sides. The sizes basically echo the interior. The pan

Gerald

January 9, 2017

Making name tags using inkscape

I've mentioned that to take advantage of the potential of one of these little laser engravers there are some software programs to know. One of these is an open source program called "inkscape". To someone who has never used it, inkscape can be intimidating as there are so many menus, options, controls, etc. etc. With a little effort it all starts to make sense and a person begins to understand what is going on. This is a little step-by-step to create a name tag file that can be used with a cnc

December 6, 2016

Christmas 2016

Turned Kitchen Scoops

So I'm down to making gifts for the nurses at my doctor's office. I rarely visit the office for a "Sick Call" but I do take care of their computers. It's always an inconvenience for the nurses when I have to interrupt their routines, so I try and make up for it by making each of them a little something every year. My sister gave me this idea a couple of years ago when she gifted me a turned scoop and I've been meaning to make some ever since. I had some walnut and maple boards left

November 27, 2016

Christmas 2016

Seam Rippers For My Sister And Mom

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

November 18, 2016

Getting to know what's possible

While it may not seem so at first glance, a laser engraver is much like a table saw, a lathe, or even a router. Now that you have it, what can you do with it? Not much as it's a "core" tool. With a table saw, an add on might be a dado set, or molding heads. A special sled or jig. A lathe is very dependent on other tools to prep stock. Different operations on a lathe require different accessories. A hollow vessel requires completely different tools than a spindle. Of course, a router or shaper m