I know those of you up North are ready for some warm weather and I am most definitely ready for it here. We got about a 1/2" of ice on Thursday and shutdown most of the city here. It carried over into Friday. Schools have been closed all but one day this past week. I know they would like to get it over with. We went from 70's to below freezing during the afternoon. So yes I am a Southern boy and ready for some warm weather.

 

I have been in the shop some at night working on cutting boards and getting ready for the first show which is tonight. Not sure I am going to set up, it is 39 as I write this and suppose to drop into the low 20's by night. This is an outdoor show, so I am thinking about waiting till April and hope for better weather.

 

I plan on working on the green egg table I posted in the plans and software section I have been drawing in SketchUp. I will also be gluing up the table top I dropped and broke last week. Hopefully I will finish all of the cutting boards I have cut out also. Lots to do, and sometimes not enough time.

 

We love to see all of your projects and they projects you have in progress. I see several of you posting about them now, so give us an update on your weekend plans in the shop.

 

So show us here at TPW what you are working on and tell us about your project.

 

 

Starting a chess board- AGAIN! I had milled the materials for the top- walnut and maple about 5/16" thick. Glued the strips, cross cut them, reversed every other one and then glued them to a piece of 1/4" plywood substrate. When I removed the clamps and weights then entire surface had approximately 1/4" bow from the center to the edges. Re- weighted it and let it set for another 24 hours- looked good until I brought it up into a warmer environment- the bow is back.

 

The next substrate will be 3/4" plywood! Of course, now I have to remake the cherry border because it isn't thick enough.

Lew, did you put the strips on both sides of the substate?

 

If you don't it will bow even with the 3/4" plywood.

 

When I may then I cut enough to glue to both sides of the substrate.

Thanks for the input, John. I only applied the strips to one side. May have to rethink this, as I was planning to use a 3/4" substrate this time.

I have a lot of "Stuff" on my workbench, but no woodworking projects for the next couple of months. Since I will be having "Total Knee Replacement" done on my right knee on March 23rd and will be down for awhile, my projects are getting the house ready for my convalescence and recovery as well as getting the yard in order. I got 4 trees that have to be trimmed back and the cuttings hauled off to the dump and I have got 2 of them done hope to get the other 2 done as well or else I will have to call the tree guy who took down my 2 pine trees awhile back. I got a lawn service set up to handle mowing the grass (we only have grass in the front as our entire back yard/patio is concrete and then a slope with a couple of trees and no grass) and will have them do that until the end of the year. I have to put up a couple of ADA hand rails in our toilet area (separate closed off area from the master bath) so that I can get up and down without too much trouble as well as putting one in our shower stall. The up side is that these will work for my wife as well as she has Cerebral Palsy and has coordination issues as well as getting some arthritis in the right hip which is common in people with CP so she will be happy to have them. I have to do some moving around of stuff in the house to make sure I have clear paths and I have to get our taxes done which will take me 1 day of prep and 1 day to get it all done for my wife and I as well as doing my daughters. In between all that I have to get all my blood work, EKG and other stuff as well. So I got busy couple of weeks ahead.  

I have the weekend off.  Yeaaaaaa!   Monday I start building two dressers that will store laundry baskets.  Not a hard job but sling 4 X 8 sheets of 3/4 poplar plywood isn't as easy as it used to be.  I also have to build an outhouse.  I had a lady call me this afternoon and asked me if I could build a decorative outhouse.  She gave me the address of a sample so I went to Google Earth and checked it out.  She's supplying the barn siding and tin for the roof and it is a quick build.  I usually don't like to do "crafty" woodworking but I threw a $100 quote and she bit so looks like I get to build an outhouse.

Good luck with the surgery, Allen. Prayers and good thoughts sent your way.

Allen - know several folks who have had that done - I understand that the first few weeks is the roughest and then it's a piece of cake (just gotta stick to the rehab bit).  Thoughts and prayers are coming out from Judy and I.

 

Oh, yeh, woodworking agenda - - - - - - -  Installing those display cabinets this weekend - - didn't realize that this volunteer project would be changed so many times.  With a show coming up NEXT weekend, I have to get my butte in gear with product.

Might try to get a small table ready for some finish

just playing around with some pine....

Why do I never get notified of posts here? grr LOL. I love these Friday posts as to what people will be doing, but i keep missing them.

 

Anyway, I am finishing up a Large Ring Tray made of maple. I will also be working on finishing another mini bird house, made mainly of apple wood with probably a walnut roof but we'll see what wood I have for it.

 

Lew, about your chess board, I wonder if the bow isn't because o the plywood? It seems to me that every time we (my stepfather & I), tried to use plywood for small stuff that it always warped to some degree.

 

Have a great weekend all, I see some great projects starting here. I'll post the ring tray here in a bit. I gotta figure out why I don't get notified about some posts but get notified about others.

 

Here's that ring holder. You could do other things with it too.

 

You are right, Charles. What I should have done is build it like a cutting board- except flat grain instead of end grain or make the squares really thin and place them on much thicker plywood.

 

That's a really nice ring tray.

Charles - you said "Why do I never get notified of posts here? grr LOL. I love these Friday posts as to what people will be doing, but i keep missing them."

 

Scroll to the top of the page when you enter TPW - there you will find the words "View New Content"  - click on that link and it will show you ALL the new posts since your last visit - a GREAT addition - I use it all the time.

I've been getting a little done the last few days.

Mike (Dragon1) gave me a plan for a "Rino" piggy bank last week so I had some free time to cut it out.

Working on some more things to add to my stock as we have a indoor flea market at the end of March.

Charles - you said "Why do I never get notified of posts here? grr LOL. I love these Friday posts as to what people will be doing, but i keep missing them."

 

Scroll to the top of the page when you enter TPW - there you will find the words "View New Content"  - click on that link and it will show you ALL the new posts since your last visit - a GREAT addition - I use it all the time.

Thanks Fred, I knew about that one, but there are times where it's a day or two since my last visit, so I don't always check that. I guess I got spoiled with the old forum, where you could "subscribe" to an entire forum area like WoodTurning or woodworking, then anytime a subject was posted in WoodTurning or woodworking, you were notified of it by email. It's just old habit from dealing with the old forum for so long that I will have to break

You are right, Charles. What I should have done is build it like a cutting board- except flat grain instead of end grain or make the squares really thin and place them on much thicker plywood.

 

That's a really nice ring tray.

That's what I was thinking Lew, just go with the cutting board idea and flat grain, instead of fighting plywood which seems to always warp under pressure especially with any moisture around.

Any time you laminate on plywood you have to do both sides. If you don't then the moisture content will be different and it will warp. When I make a chess board, I cut my walnut and maple strips the same thickness for both sides. I go ahead and make the first cut of the plywood the width + and glue the walnut to both sides of the ply at the same time. Then make the first cut of the ply and glue the maple to both sides. Then square up the edges and glue them together, then do the cross cuts and flip them and glue them one more time. By doing both sides, the moisture will be constant and the board will not warp.

 

I have cut my walnut and maple to 1/8 then glue it to 1/2" ply and that will give you a 3/4" board.

Any time you laminate on plywood you have to do both sides. If you don't then the moisture content will be different and it will warp. When I make a chess board, I cut my walnut and maple strips the same thickness for both sides. I go ahead and make the first cut of the plywood the width + and glue the walnut to both sides of the ply at the same time. Then make the first cut of the ply and glue the maple to both sides. Then square up the edges and glue them together, then do the cross cuts and flip them and glue them one more time. By doing both sides, the moisture will be constant and the board will not warp.

 

I have cut my walnut and maple to 1/8 then glue it to 1/2" ply and that will give you a 3/4" board.

I've had the second try in the clamps and weights since Friday. We'll see how it turns out.