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Well I did it. I finally pulled the trigger and landed me one of my dreams, one of my bucket list purchases. Yes, this is a tool gloat, and I am anxiously awaiting my new LN No. 51 Shoot Board Plane to arrive in the mail this Tuesday. I was going to wait till I got her in my hands, then gloat, but my gloating is pushing through my brain right now and I need to let is loose or I'll explode.

Finished this box today. The bottom was not two piece till I turned the bottom off . So I added a stand. Box is spalted white oak and lid is spalted pecan. The finish is lacquer buffed with Maguires buffing cpd and then polish.

Here is my weekend projet. It was from the video Stick suggested last week. I made a mock up, to see if I could build one. See picture. Now I will make a working model.
Herb
 

 
 

This is the second prototype for our church offering plates. No the will not be spaulted like this, only dry oak I have. Hope to do this in green wood but may have to resort to kiln dry oak like Mike Peace did. Hope to be able to have the final form 1/2 to 1 inch deeper . This piece is a little less than 2 deep. 

 

When making the .30-06 pen with the Zebra F-301 pen I start by taking the pen apart and removing the stainless tube.

When making the .30-06 pen with the Zebra F-301 pen I start by taking the pen apart and removing the stainless tube.     Take the pen apart and remove the tube with the logo on it.  There is a detent on the tube so a half twist before pulling works best.  I use a small pair of end nippers to grab the tube.  I slide them into the hole the open pliers make and they clamp around the tube just enough to get it off.     The lower ribbed part has to have 3.5 ribs turned down to fit into the shell where the bullet was.  This makes the length right and the nib protrudes the correct distance when the clicker is pushed.    Mount the drill chuck and hold the ribbed section in it while the ribs are turned off.     The Easy Wood Tools Ci1 square cutter works wonders for this.     Next pull the clicker piece from the top of the pen.  Mount a 9/64 drill bit in the drill chuck backwards and push the clicker onto it.  It is a loose fit and needs pressure from the tailstock to turn it without it spinning on the bit.  I have a Oneway live center and found a pencil fits into it with the center tip removed.  I put enough wraps of some plastic tape on it to keep it out a small distance and turn the clicker until the chrome is sanded off to the brass underlay.  I start with 220 grit and sand through 400 grit and then polish with 0000 steel wool.  Be careful not to get the piece too hot as the plastic will melt.     For the pen nib I took a plastic dowel I had and turned the end until it fit inside the threads and used a pointed live center to hold it in place while sanding the same way as described above.  A 5/16 wood dowel can be used as well.  The end of the dowel should be perfectly flat.     For the .30-06 shell I remove the primer and mount it in the chuck and take the letter "O" size drill to drill through the end.  To mount it for sanding I took a 5/16 bolt that was long enough to have a shoulder above the threads and cut the head off.  I took a nut and ran it up to the shoulder and tightened it with a wrench so the shell wouldn't slide between the nut and bolt threads.  Might want to do that before cutting the head off so it is there to hold onto.       Now it is time to put the pen together and write all the love letters you been meaning to write to your significant other.   I took one of the pens and made a stick pen and holder.  I ran a drill bit through the bullet end of a shell to get the crimp section straight and turned the rib section as described above until it was a press fit into the shell.  Put it together and found the ink cartridge was too short.  I found a nail that was a tight fit into the cartridge after removing the plug and pushed it in until the right length was achieved.  I DID NOT remove the primer for this one.       And there you have it.  No rocket science involved and a nice pen has evolved.    I've already made over 80 of them.  Everyone loves them.   Enjoy                

I was driving home Tuesday when I realized that I wanted a retro gun case for my recently acquired 1874 Sharps rifle. I stopped in to HD and picked up the supplies I needed for the project. Since I do not know how to make those fancy interlocking corners in the wood I had to rely on butting the ends of the wood and gluing them. The joints are a skill I need to learn so I am asking for help with this. Anyway I applied my homemade alkanet root stain and the waxed. I think it came out pretty good. I still need to put the dividers inside and install the green felt but I think this case should work well.

Today I finish sanded 4 planes and got the 1st coat of shellac on them to see if any marks show up that I need to sand out.
 

 

Today I finish sanded 4 planes and got the 1st coat of shellac on them to see if any marks show up that I need to sand out.    

The images in this album are an attempt to build a scaled version of an original plate shelf that our customer wanted. He printed an image of the original and let us do a take off on the image, scaled and modified to accommodate his old pewter molds that he collects.
The shelf is made of Curly Maple purchased from woodworker and lumber supplier http://www.bobkloes.com/. His lumber is some of the best to be found in North America.
I had a wonderful time building this replica, with modern tools and hand tools, these are the projects I look forward too.

Getting started I like to use a piece of straight grained wood wide enough that it can be cut in two square pieces and long enough to cut it in half and for the length of the vase.  It takes four same size pieces to glue up a blank.
 

 

My name is John Morris, and I am the founder of The Patriot Woodworker. Our community was founded on the principles of sharing, mentoring, and learning from fellow woodworkers, and above all, we have one thing in common, we all support the men and women who serve our nation. And we pretty much take on any task or challenge for our veterans that is asked of us, with the help of our sponsors.

As you know we had a wonderful project that spanned from the beginning of December to the end of the year of 2018 that involved the Bassett Family who was assigned to our community by Operation Ward 57. You can see the project at: The Patriot Woodworkers with Op Ward 57 Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for the Holidays - 2018

The cause As you know we had a wonderful project that spanned from the beginning of December to the end of the year of 2018 that involved the Bassett Family who was assigned to our community by Operation Ward 57. You can see the project at: The Patriot Woodworkers with Op Ward 57 Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for the Holidays - 2018   The donation We have a woodworker and his wife, @honesttjohn and Mrs. Mordus who for the past two years have shipped us some wonderful gifts for the families we support through our annual Christmas project. I always enjoy what the Mordus's ship us for the intended family of honor.  You can see the Mordus's efforts last year at this link: This year was no different. We were contacted by John and he asked, "What can we do". He laid out some suggestions and just like last year, he quickly jumped into action and produced some lovely gifts for the family, and the Mordus's also threw in some Amazon gift cards for the boys as well!   I'd like to show off what Mr. and Mrs. Mordus sent for the family, just like last year when I opened up the box to inspect the items and to have our kids wrap them in Christmas paper for delivery, I was deeply touched by what was in the box. I am a huge fan of anything hand made, obviously, as we all are! And I am a huge admirer of hand made clothing and blankets and such, and again, Mrs. Mordus came through with a beautiful blanket made by her own hand for the family.   The blanket work is fine and beautiful     The Mordus gifts, the beautiful family blanket laying over a chair, with plaques for mom and dad made by John, and two boxes with gift cards for the boys.   After reading the family introduction at our project page for the Bassett's, John Mordus was struck with the continued service that Mrs. Bassett performs around the community, and throughout our nation to better the challenging conditions that surround our disabled veterans. Mrs. Bassett is the Nevada State Fellow for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and she travels to Washington to advocate for our veterans. John made a very appropriate honor for her.   John also read that Dad Bassett loves to work in his garage, specifically automotive mechanics. So John made up a fun dedication to Mr. Bassett's man cave.   Our kids wrapped them up and sent them off to the Bassett's, just in time for Christmas.   Christmas morning The Bassett's and the Mordus gifts Christmas morning, they all loved them @honesttjohn!   Mr. Bassett and subject of honor for our Christmas Project with his sign, "Pop's Shop"! Look at that smile! From what I understand Mrs. Bassett loved her gift very much as well, but was probably a bit shy to be in the camera at that time of the morning, you all know how females get first thing in the morn!   Mr. and Mrs. Mordus, thank you once again for your help in yet another year with our Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for Christmas project. You truly do help make this event a special one, with the personal touch to the families.   Now I know what is going to happen next, Honestjohn is going to send me a PM saying, "you really didn't have to make a big deal out of this", well, sorry John, yes I did! Thank you!

Greenhouse the wife and I built this summer (2018)
 

FINALLY!!!! Just needs poly and to put the d-rings on the back.    

I am trying to find a way to hold a small leg for a breakfast tray while you eat in bed. The legs are 8.5" long and 1.125" square with a 1.250" long mortise in the leg. Right now I am using a Nova G3 chuck with the spigot jaws. It barely opens enough to hold the leg. The problem I am having with this method is the jaws are making marks on the leg. I can't use a screw because of the mortise. It's Christmas and I am between a rock and a hard place. Here is the lathe I am using.
 

Many years ago my father-in-law gave me a single shot 22 "varmint gun" as he called it. It was extremely accurate and he used it coon hunting when he was young. I fired it and it was a nice old gun. I think is is Stevens made in 1894. When I mentioned that I was going to give it to our grandson, my wife said "Wait I think I got the paperwork he got when he bought it."  I found it hard to believe, but she had the original hunting license he got in 1912. It even had cloth in the paper. Now I had something special. We believe this was his first gun, he was born in 1899. I made a case for it that will hang on the wall in his room, I'm sure.

Many years ago my father-in-law gave me a single shot 22 "varmint gun" as he called it. It was extremely accurate and he used it coon hunting when he was young. I fired it and it was a nice old gun. I think is is Stevens made in 1894. When I mentioned that I was going to give it to our grandson, my wife said "Wait I think I got the paperwork he got when he bought it."  I found it hard to believe, but she had the original hunting license he got in 1912. It even had cloth in the paper. Now I had something special. We believe this was his first gun, he was born in 1899. I made a case for it that will hang on the wall in his room, I'm sure.

This small Drill Press was my first machine restoration.
It’s a Globe brand, for the information I have sorted, I believe it was made in Geelong Australia, out of the Dawn factory. (I know I will be corrected) 
Dawn made (vice) etc. I’m not calling them vices, purposely 😉

Good morning Patriots. This small Drill Press was my first machine restoration. It’s a Globe brand, for the information I have sorted, I believe it was made in Geelong Australia, out of the Dawn factory. (I know I will be corrected)  Dawn made (vice) etc. I’m not calling them vices, purposely 😉   Looking forward to your comments and questions.  It’s 99% original. The person I purchaed it from had the handle made.  I had to purchase a bag of vintage brass split pins, for one pin to hold the flywheel on.  ThankYou

Built this a few years ago, thought everyone would enjoy a good laugh. My kids love it, even now that they are teenagers.
 
 

Just in time for Christmas. These were a labor of love and I'm really happy how they finished up. Even so, I am so-o-o-o glad they are done. 8 cryptex boxes for the grand kids. I have no delusions about how the boxes will compare to the fancy electronic gadgets kids want these days, but maybe one day they'll be appreciated.