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The February MWTCA What's It

The January MWTCA What's It

I just heard about this today, in the news, the news is a tad late. Thank you for your service Mr. Donlon, may you rest in peace with all your brothers in battle, I bet it's quite the family reunion!

I just heard about this today, in the news, the news is a tad late. Thank you for your service Mr. Donlon, may you rest in peace with all your brothers in battle, I bet it's quite the family reunion!   President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Roger Donlon with the Medal of Honor in the East Room of the White House on Dec. 5, 1964, for his actions in Vietnam on July 6, 1964. (Army)   Medal of Honor Dedicated Page   Roger H.C. Donlon | Vietnam War | U.S. Army | Medal of Honor Recipient WWW.CMOHS.ORG U.S. Army Captain Roger H.C. Donlon was presented the Medal of Honor for military valor during the Vietnam War.   Medal of Honor Press Release of Passing   Congressional Medal of Honor Society Announces Passing of Medal of Honor Recipient Roger H. C. Donlon - Congressional Medal of Honor Society WWW.CMOHS.ORG MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., Jan. 25, 2024 — The Congressional Medal of Honor Society regretfully announces that Roger H. C. Donlon, the first...  

This is going to be my next carving project and I'll silver-gild this instead of gold-gild. I'll also have to do something with the edge molding shown here.

My first intro to woodworking was wood shop in Jr. high school in early 60's.  Dad also had a large DeWalt table top saw he got used.  We could split 12 ft 2x4's to make stilts. From there its been off and on making small cabinets for work shops I have had to fancy walking sticks, to self bows made of oak, knife handles out of burl walnut, dark cherry, apple, plaques for European game mounts.  Last big project was a work bench for my small shop with 18 drawers, 9 on each side to store all kinds of (wife calls it junk) that I have accumulated over the last 50 yrs.  Not a lot of major tools, a small table saw, a 6x48 with 9" disc belt sander, a 1" belt sander, a floor model drill press, and new to me 12" craftsman band saw.  Hand tools are two hand planes and a Disston hand saw, a home made draw knife numerous files and last but not least a hand made scroll saw that table and arm are Oak (friends dad built it and he didn't want it).  Got this one torn down for cleaning and part replacement at the moment.    Currently building a cowboy hat rack for my daughter-in-law.  For wood I scrounge from dumpsters at new homes being built in the area.   For walking sticks I get from folks cutting trees down for firewood or clearing lots.  Currently I have 24 pcs drying.  Some pics of projects.  Why did I join this site.  Looking to gain skills and knowledge, info on tools, both power and hand.  Note: Cherry Bench, I slabbed two out of a tree in the back yard in North Carolina.   

I build veteran burial flag cases and I sell them in my Etsy store.  Recently, I got a call from a guy in Denver asking me to build a very special case.  His father recently  passed and his father was a WW II vet.  He had served in North Africa with Patton and was quite proud of that fact.  So proud that he requested that he be buried in a casket built from African mahogany.  The son called to ask if I would build a flag case from African mahogany for the flag that draped his casket.  Thanks to Frank Miller Lumber I was able to find quarter-sawn African mahogany and provide the case.  Here’s the case.

A platter by Gerald.

I build veteran burial flag cases and I sell them in my Etsy store.  Recently, I got a call from a guy in Denver asking me to build a very special case.  His father recently  passed and his father was a WW II vet.  He had served in North Africa with Patton and was quite proud of that fact.  So proud that he requested that he be buried in a casket built from African mahogany.  The son called to ask if I would build a flag case from African mahogany for the flag that draped his casket.  Thanks to Frank Miller Lumber I was able to find quarter-sawn African mahogany and provide the case.  Here’s the case.

I have started a project to build a small display table for a pitcher and basin set I picked up from a local thrift store.  This is my first time building a table of any size, so as they say, "you learn from your mistakes".  I anticipate I will learn a lot from this project.  I don't know if I have posted on my trip to Tulsa, so if this is a repeat, please bear with me.  Last Saturday, I made a trip down to the Tulsa Woodcraft to purchase a 2"x6"x18" granite plate to aid in sharpening, checking flatness, etc.  I think I did post this in the hand tool forum, but it is relevant to this project.  I got the plate, and I was hoping to get 4 pieces of padauk 3/4"x3"x24" for the aprons around the table top, but they didn't have those sizes in stock, so I wound up with a piece of 8/4 padauk, 107"x5 1/2".  So I have some re-sawing and other milling to do, but I will still have some padauk left over for another project.  My plans include walnut for the legs, and a simulated ebony inlay about 1 inch in from the edges.  I say simulated, because I am going to miter some trim pieces around the top, with a 1/8" piece of ebony sandwiched between the trim pieces and the top.  In the picture of the glue-up set-up, you can see the granite plate, which I am using to get a flush edge on the ebony and padauk pieces along one edge, and I can trim the other edge flush after the glue dries.  I am using Titebond hide glue to extend my open time due to the complexity of the set-up.  Also using waxed paper to prevent gluing the pieces to the granite.  The basin has a circular recess in the bottom, so I am going to cut a round "registration" piece to glue to the table top to fit in to the bottom of the basin, hopefully preventing the basin from sliding off.   .  

We are having our annual contest at our club. It is due for the February meeting. The person that won last year gets to pick, he picked a lamp. I thought I would try a basket illusion. This is the base. I am going to do a flower pattern. I added a basket weave around the bottom to make it look more finished. The base is around 10”.  

So last year Woodcraft came out with their Kissmas tree plans, and being simple enough to do that I could make them, I made them.

So last year Woodcraft came out with their Kissmas tree plans, and being simple enough to do that I could make them, I made them. 21 so far, and requests for 3 more as of right now. Painting them can get tedious/monotonous (Alexa has greatly helped with that, got 127 hours of music stored on her through Spotify). Other than the painting I like making them. The point of todays missive is there was an unforeseen bonus to making them. A bunch of the recipients have posted them to me, on Facebook. None of them look remotely the same. I gave them Christmas presents last year and now they’re giving me Christmas presents this year. Now for many of the talented/accomplished artists/woodworkers here, making presents and giving them to people and having the people so happy to get them is probably old hat, but this is really cool for me  !  Here are some of the pictures I have gotten.

My wife and I just enjoyed 3 weeks of traveling in Southern Italy, including Sicily, the Aeolian Islands, Calabria, and Puglia. While traveling, I photographed these two stone carvings in Reggio and Trani. The shell was located 3 stories up on a private building and the skull was in a church cemetery. 

Decided to continue this in the “what’s on my lathe” may be drug put so will put it all together here. 

Even though this is a Xmas present I decided to move it over here as it is a turning. This is a couple of large Wenge blanks I glued together along with a maple lip. I managed to get it roughed out today. It will need some more hollowing but the shape is now there.  Paul        

Turned Hollow Forms of various woods.

Cut the runners for some sled ornaments. Thought I could highlight them in red before cutting but that plan failed. Colored solid with a marker.
 
              
 
                

Lately (last year or so) I have had a penchant and thirst for knowledge on a more academic level, for anything related to woodworking and the items made from wood, and the tools and process's used to make wood items. This quest for knowledge has come from my own desire to build a woodworkers wiki, where all can enter the wiki, and open edit and collaborate, and contribute to the knowledge base. Click here for our wiki under construction.

I started the build of the mission style chest-of-drawers with QSWO for the primary and poplar for the secondary wood.   The drawers will rest on under-mount soft closed drawer slides.  My wife wanted 3 drawers behind the door.  The door will have the same motif as the nightstand and the bed.  I am not certain if the motif will be applied on the lower drawers.  I hope to finish the corbels and route the mortises, into the four legs, for the twin tenons next week.  The drawer heights are (4) 6", (1) 7", and (1) 8".    Danl

 
I use my shop-made-mortising jig to route the mortises into the legs for the needed mortises for the sides.

 
I use my shop-made tenoning jig to saw the tenon cheeks.

 
Fits together the 1st dry fit as planned.

 
The side panels were made from ½” book matched, solid wood.  Ripped sawn from 5/4 bd.
 
The panels have a recess to allow for a 1/16" gap.  Thanks for looking.   Danl

    I started the build of the mission style chest-of-drawers with QSWO for the primary and poplar for the secondary wood.   The drawers will rest on under-mount soft closed drawer slides.  My wife wanted 3 drawers behind the door.  The door will have the same motif as the nightstand and the bed.  I am not certain if the motif will be applied on the lower drawers.  I hope to finish the corbels and route the mortises, into the four legs, for the twin tenons next week.  The drawer heights are (4) 6", (1) 7", and (1) 8".    Danl   I use my shop-made-mortising jig to route the mortises into the legs for the needed mortises for the sides.   I use my shop-made tenoning jig to saw the tenon cheeks.   Fits together the 1st dry fit as planned.   The side panels were made from ½” book matched, solid wood.  Ripped sawn from 5/4 bd.   The panels have a recess to allow for a 1/16" gap.  Thanks for looking.   Danl

A friend of mine called me up and asked me if I could repair one of his Windsor chairs, and if I could come over and take a look. So to my surprise, it was the same chair I have always gravitated too whenever I am in his home. His home is one of those homes, where everything is beautiful, in an old way. He has an old fireplace area with 18th century cooking implements around it, he has several hand tool chests full of 18th century tools that are all matched and numbered from the previous 18th century owner, and if he has any late era furnishings, they are all hand made, such as this chair by maker Steven Bunn. His home is one big 18th century fantasy land full of furnishings and tools and collectibles and all sorts of things, I love visiting him. To make things a tad confusing, the maker of this chair is Steven Thomas Bunn, ok, and my friends name is Steven Bunn as well! Small world right!   The chair that I love the most in his home, is now in my shop, for repairs.     It's been a long time since I did any real work in my lil ol shop space in my garage, and today is nice and cool, the heat is gone, and Fall is in the air, and I really enjoyed just being out there and tooling around, and dreaming of getting my shop back in order to start making "things" like this chair, I have always wanted to build Windsor's by hand, second best thing I guess is repairing them.   Let me preface this with, my repair is not the proper way to repair these chairs. My repair is close, in the sense that I used a method of repair that was used in the 18th and 19th centuries to steady loose legs, but what is not correct is that I used this method on a Windsor, whereas the proper method would have been to disassemble the rung from the legs, and the legs from the seat, re-cut a wedge tenon at the top of the round tenons that are flush with the top of the seat, using natural hide glue for the re-seating of the legs, and drive a wedge into the top of the round tenon. But to do that, would mean refinishing a portion of the top of the chair, and I cannot do that, I am not skilled enough to match this finish. The original maker used traditional milk paints, and he layered colors, and stressed the paint to make the chair look as if it has been in use for 200 years. Perhaps our pro finisher @kmealy would have been able to match the existing colors, but not me.   So I chose the less invasive method, drilling one hole through each legs round tenon up through the seat and driving a dowel up into the hole. The main issue was, when you sat in the chair, the seat would rest below the top of of the round tenon, causing the round tenon to protrude past the surface of the seat. There is one major issue at play here, the chair was made in Maine, it came out here to the very dry west inland desert area, and it did what wood does, some things shrunk, and the tenons got a tad smaller than they were. It's normal, it's the nature of hand made wooden things made the traditional way.   You can see the top of the tenons here. When I took this picture I already fixed the front legs, so the tenons are flush with the seat surface. They used to protrude an 8th of an inch and they were loose. You can see the paint surface broke with the tenons rising up.     My repair, drill a hole angled up through the tenon and into the bottom of the seat and glued.     All four are done now, I'll cut the dowels back flush, and touch up with a little burnt umber paint, just a few little Q-tip dabs should do it. If you zoom in, you'll see the makers signature, I have seen his work on his website and he does some beautiful work, definitely work I'd love to aspire too.     I'll come back with images of the final repair. For now though, you can Steven Thomas Bunn's work at:  

A friend of mine called me up and asked me if I could repair one of his Windsor chairs, and if I could come over and take a look. So to my surprise, it was the same chair I have always gravitated too whenever I am in his home. His home is one of those homes, where everything is beautiful, in an old way. He has an old fireplace area with 18th century cooking implements around it, he has several hand tool chests full of 18th century tools that are all matched and numbered from the previous 18th century owner, and if he has any late era furnishings, they are all hand made, such as this chair by maker Steven Bunn. His home is one big 18th century fantasy land full of furnishings and tools and collectibles and all sorts of things, I love visiting him.

This may not be the place for the following rant and if so monitors please correct any transgression.
Twenty two years ago today everything in America changed.
Our comfort was high and our guard was down and 2977 Americans paid the price.
We talk about the price of freedom but too often our elected leaders treat this as a talking point instead of a reality. On that day the cost of freedom became real and we all felt the pain.

Recently I have taken an interest in building Shaker furnishings, I have always loved it, but I am ready to build it. This album will contain all the furniture I will build in the Shaker style.   Virtually any of the items I will be posting in this album are inspired from books written by Kerry Pierce. Mr. Pierce has created a variety of books on the shaker style, the history and culture of the Shaker community, and within the books there are detailed drawings for much of the work the Shakers produced. Here is a link to Kerry's site at Kerry Pierce Furniture and here is a link to his books at Kerry Pierce Books in Amazon. I highly recommend the books by Mr. Pierce, they are well made, and well priced as well.   Just one of Kerry's books   Thanks for visiting this album, and thanks for looking!