Leaderboard

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 due to dust collector" . Now , yes a dust collector will create static electricity which causes dust to adhere to outside of ducts. If you do want to ground you can use bare copper wire wrapped around the outside of the pipe and ground to machine and the DC. Using thin wall PVC is easier to work with and connectors are readily available. When you put all these together you can use PVC cement but I guarantee you will rearrange the system and your shop so go with something reversible such as caulk. You can also use screws to hold the connections together but use as short a screw as will do the job to limit disruption inside duct. You do not have to seal these joints inside as you can do that on the outside of the pipe . This is not to keep the pipe together but to seal leaks. Every little air leak reduces the air flow you will get from your system and that includes all connections. When using PVC try to keep the long runs as one solid piece of pipe, and after that the fewer joints the better. When I use 45 elbows to create a 90 I grind off that little shelf inside the fitting. Reason: you want the walls as smooth as possible because any bumps or restriction cause disruptions in airflow and reduce suction. This is why you want to reduce the use of flex hose to a minimum. Dust collectors work on a volume of air not the suction power. Dust is suspended in the air flow and disruptions can cause it to drop out and start a clog. Now as to the size of duct " the bigger the better" is not a rule but it is better close to the DC to have larger and go to smaller closer to the machine. My Dc only starts at 5 inch so the 6 I used is overkill but not a killer as it is only 8 foot. Dust collectors do not work well on shop vac hose but that can work for small areas such as drill press or small sanders. Planners, bandsaws, tablesaws, and other large machines are bet to use 4 inch or larger connections. Hanging the duct in the ceiling is simple and easy with several methods. Large plastic twist ties work well. Perforated metal strap will also do the job . I have made several of mine from galvanized wire. Or you can make nice hangers from wood. I started out with what I would call a traditional blast gate made of plastic with short tapers on each end to connect flex. Note that 4 inch PVC connectors do fit 4 inch flex but take a piece with you when you buy. You can buy wire clamps made to seal the flex to connectors or buy a kit at Harbor Freight to make your own hose clamps. Recently I found a new blast gate with a spiral on one end and a shape on the other end which will fit PVC. There are many many designs of blast gate out there from plastic to metal and even some that automatically open when you turn on the machine. When you install the blast gate you will want in convenient and as close to the machine as you can get it. When you do branches off the main gates are a good way to shift the air down different runs. I have one at the top of a run and when open air goes to CMS and wide belt sander (each also with a gate) on the other side the gates at the lathes need to be closed. More pictures next time and how to make your own gates ,

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 and answers, except for my boy, it was OH BOY. Working for the city fire dept was , back then, a very low paying job but because of the hours worked, 24 on and 24 off let one if he wanted to, have a part time job, which I had, so actually I wasn't going out in to the world cold turkey so to speak. My part time job was selling Mac Tools out of a step van...This was also a fun job for I knew my products and enjoyed being around people who used hand tools.... Pictures of the track I might not can find for back then pictures wasn't a concern. The track and buildings took three years to build. The only professionals I used was to pour the cement and smooth it on the track its self. I put up all the forms. I poured and smoothed all the sidewalks Building the buildings and everything on the property was a new experience to me so I would go to the library and check out all the books I could find for what was coming up in the next few days of work.... I put in the septic system, did all the plumbing, electrical and all the sidewalks but I did trade out wiring the overhead lights over the track on the tall poles which I put in, I traded go- cart tickets for two guys labor for the track lights. This was before I decided to get the know how books from the library. The land was almost 2 miles past the city limits so I needed no permits except for the septic system. I called the inspectors before I started and they said come get some instructions and go from there. After I closed the track at 11 each night I would closed the gates and leave the lights on so I could go into the area where I was planning to put the golf course and using strings and 2x4's I would lay out some thoughts on the ground then the next few days think over why was that good or what problems I would have with each hole . Most all my holes were multi holes. The only time we worked on the golf course during the day was on Mondays when the track was closed. The first 8 years the track was open 7 days a week. And most all those years I was plotting a golf course.. I realized right quick having a bunch of high school boys working for you was not good without some supervision for they would let their buddies kill each other on the track if I would have let them. I added lots of things a normal mini golf would not have. Like in this pond in the picture. You can see a green on the other side. You putt in to a hole and then the ball goes down in to a cave which was under the waterfall to finish putting in the cup under the falls then come out from under the waterfall on this side of the pond.. I had added a 4x4 foot hole so they could see the waterfall from the inside the cave. Something I didn't plan on. On windy days the wind would blow water through the hole onto the carpet and get it dirty. So I installed some plexiglas over the hole and that solved that, just a little extra work. Number 3 green you laid down your putter and picked up a chipping iron and had to chip over a river to get to the hole. I built rivers and waterfalls everywhere. People would tell me there were more trees and flowers on our four acres than all of Odessa combined. So I went and looked myself and sure nuff, There are four trees in Odessa. kinda. My sweet wife drove the tool truck for a couple years while I was building the golf course. She was better at sales than I and especially she could make those guys pay their bills where I would let them slide for a while. She said some would go in to the bathroom to wait until she had gone to come out again. She would knock on the door and say I am not leaving until I get some money. It took me 8 years to finish the golf course and about 6 years was changing my lay out of each nightly chore all the while doing lots of what if's. I had to replace a bunch of 2x4's making some of the greens cause they had rotted from ground contact. We had some remote control boats on a big pond with lots of shrubbery and women really bragged about the beauty we had created. Beauty yes but at a lot of extra labor. We finally got to putting name plates on most of the stuff because people could see things in the nursery and our stuff had grown larger with more flowers and things so it made our stuff more attractive, so they told us. My thoughts were if I make mom and dad happy with our surroundings they would for sure bring the kids more often. Running the go-carts while I was building the golf course I actually paid for everything as I built...No debt when finished I also built a kiddy track for the small kids who were too young to ride the big go carts . It only had two coin operated animals that they had to drive by them selves on a 40 foot circle. I never saw either machine sitting idle. My age limit to ride the carts was 9 years old but first they had to ride in front of mom or dad to show me and and the parents they were mentally old enough for them to handle the stopping and turning and this would make the parents feel more at ease.... You can't believe how many parents would lie and tell me the kid was nine just to get them to ride. Some dads thought their kids were smarter than a normal 9 year old. It took us a couple of years to come up with the age of 9. Most but not all could start to concentrate at that age, but not all. I would ask a kid how old he was before he got in the go-cart, nine was always the answer. Then as he was sitting there ready to go I would ask them what grade they were in. They had not learned to lie that good and would tell their actual grade which they would say 2nd or 3rd. If they were 9 years old and only in the 2nd or 3rd grade their minds was not ready for go-carts... Maybe I can find this post so I can continue later. Sometimes all it takes is guts to do something different with your life. I might can convince someone it isn't that bad even it you don't come out with a good ending, at least you were brave enough to try. Later.

Have to start with a glue up . Did not think I could find 6 x 6 dry pine so here we go with 3 pieces of 2 x 6. Tried to get the knots toward the surface outer edges as these would be turned off. Remember you can never have too many clamps After squaring the blanks on table saw we will need a centered hole to assemble the two parts of the post as this lathe is not long enough to turn as one piece. Having that hole creates a stabilization problem for turning which is solved by using a cone center in the tailstock. The left picture is the fluting jig cutting the upper post . The right picture shows a closer look at the the jig cutting the post. These are the finished post parts with fluting done on one. Right picture shows the connection for the parts of the post. This round turning and finial go on top of the headboard and footboard. This shows the incomplete mortise and tenon to join the posts to foot and head boards. The raised panels are installed and at this point are prestained. The complete project. Not exact but a close similarity to a bed we lost when our house was flooded over 30 years ago.

Thought it might be best to start off with what my current setup is or at least parts of it. My Dust collector is a Grizzly 1029 2 hp operating on 220v. It had a 5 micron bag top and bottom when purchased and was upgraded to a canister filter from Penn State. My collector is located in the attic of my shop in a insulated enclosure and a 12x24 filtered return to the shop. Power is controlled with a Long RAnger remote. Ducting I used is 4 inch thinwall PVC. We will get into ducting and turning corners later. I have limited amounts of Flex hose in 4 and 6 inch. My bblast gates are a combination of homemade and manufactured plastic gates of two types. Since the Dc is located in the center of the shop ducting goes out in a spider like orientation. Ducting to machines is split in several places by use of wyes and boxes (made from Shop Notes plans). I have a cyclone based on some plan I found somewhere and a control box on it based on Shop Notes plans expanded. I recently added a Dust Deputy cyclone and may do away with the wooden cyclone. DC Room under construction on the left. Chip collection box and ducts to DC in attic on right. Another view of lower ducts and chip box. Above is Dust deputy with connections turned on the lathe to adapt openings to 6 inch flex hose. Ducts attached to ceiling spread to machines from this point. Of note here it is best to keep Duct runs as short as possible and as straight as you can get them. Any turn should be gradual and not an immediate 90 degree. This can be done with purchased wide and ducts or put two 45 angles together with a short 4-6 inch piece of duct between them. More on this in the next entry about choosing and installing ducts and blast gates .

I really thought I had finished this post and discovered today that was not the case . So here goes. Now the lumber was finally here and cutting parts to size and glue up for thicker parts begins. These wider pieces were real fun doing the glue up on. Kinda like holding a snake who wants to run. The next photo is the legs. Note I used a waxed spacer to keep the slots open and spaced properly for end cross support. Now the fun begins with the heavy lifting. Three pieces of MDF half sheets 24 X 72 glued up for the top. And then this is what the wide pieces look like after glue up is cured. Time to edge band the top and a look at the legs with stretcher ready for assembly. Top is now banded and work begins on adding the vices and some heavy trim to hold the vices. Now to assemble the legs and put the base together. This is a look at the bed bolts holding the base together. The top has a layer of 1/4 masonite to allow changing is damaged. This is secured with brass screws. This top is so heavy there are no fasteners holding it down . It is simply sitting on top of the frame. The drawers units were built later with the top two drawers being added after the others were done. The dog holes were drilled using a block of scrape oak to hold the drill straight. Then they were countersunk to male insertion of dogs easier. This last pic is the back where you can see the addition of two drawers clearly. I did not take pictures of the mounting of the vices and building the front faces, a "fun" job. The drawers now have Kaizan foam lining . Planes drawer is the last photo.

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 removed to ever use it again. Scotch brand don't leave much sticky except where you sit there running the saw in the same place and the wood gets hot and melts a small amount of gu but not much. And that is the reason to use the clear packing tape to start with for if a person just sprays the wood and places the pattern on it then after the sawing it takes a long time to remove the sticky off the wood...Using lacquer thinner is about the fast way but hey the thinner is real expensive no a days...So go with scotch brand because I said to... And using just paint thinner takes all day to remove the pieces of pattern left after the sawing process. The fastest way to make sure the holes I drill to attach all the loose pieces of wood to the backer board before I start running the scroll saw is take a very small drill bit like 1/16" or so and drill in through the pattern all the way through the back side then flip the board over and using a drill bit just a hair smaller width than the 3/4" long sheetrock screw threads and drill in through that small hole...The correct size bit to use if you hold the screw behind the drill bit you will only see just a small amount of the tip of the threads on each side of the drill bit.......This will keep the screw from busting the wood... A sheet rock screw is the same as a sheet metal screw as the threaded area is the same size from main holding area as it is all the way to the head.... Tapered threaded screws are too easy to get the wood busted as the screw goes in. So now all the holes are drilled up through the backer board up in to the body to be carved. But first take a damp hand soap bar and rub some of the screw threads and this makes them go in better... now install all the screws then flip the board back over and start scroll sawing. Going through the front of the pattern you see where the pieces will be left large enough to accept the screws without busting the wood.. Going this route you don't have to worry about the 4 screws in each corner.. Only saw out the outside pieces and leaving only the pieces what will be carved... Next take the backer board off so you can start cutting away each piece to be carved..Separate the areas that needs to be cut down more than the adjoining area. And keep checking to ee if more screws needs to be installed as the inside pieces are sawn away. The other way to make sure the screws are going in the correct location.. with the 4 screws holding the backer board in the 4 corners you can start sawing the wood away but leave the area of the body of the wood still attached to the 4 screws then once you get down around some of the clock that's jutting out, stop and counter sink a hole where there will be wood left after removing the waste area. This way takes much more time as you will have to stop sawing when you get an area you know will accept a screw hole and go to the drill press and counter sink a hole from the back side of the clock and insert the screw....Then keep repeating sawing the outside until all areas have screws and the waste wood is sawn away...And each time you counter sink a new hole it needs to be hit with some sand paper to ensure smooth sliding on the scroll saw table.. I like to use a #5 precision ground Olson scroll saw blade for the outside sawing, they seem to last longer before they wear out and easier to guide making a straighter line. but don't know for sure then for all the inside cuts I switch to a flying Dutchman#3 blade which is thinner and don't make as wide of cut... The Flying Dutchman is better sawing curves. The small screw holes left sticking out the front of the wood one can either fill them with something or like I do is add more holes in line or what ever and this is becoming my style as I like to raise each hole area like it was there on purpose.. This picture just shows how I take care of the sticky between the area where the pattern quits and the wood extends to...A person don't want to get stuck to the work area so after I spray the packing tape then install the pattern there is always an area left with sticky stuff left all the way around the pattern and trying to guide the wood while sawing is impossible so I just take some paper towels and cut strips and lay over the sticky.. Problem solved. This picture also shows as I am fixin to drill small 1/16" holes through the pattern all the way through the wood so I can flip the wood over and counter sink the screw holes...the backer board does have to be installed before I drill the small holes through the front...!!! Just sit and think how hard it would be to grind away certain areas if the pieces were left together...It will get clearer where the pieces should be sawn apart with each carving you make. Don't know but I might be back with all kinds of corrections after I read this and it don't make sense, cents, or since.

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. Bag & Chips OK that does sound like fast food but that is what I will call this method which is the one I use mostly. After rough turn I weight the bowl and place in paper (note plastic will not let moisture escape and cause mold) bag with shavings from the turning. This bag may get wet and for the first 1-2 weeks open it up daily to let out some moisture and possibly even change bags. I at one time weighed each time I went to the shop but now have that down to twice a week. After about two weeks or less when drying slows the chips can be dumped and keep in bag only. Continue weights and when the weight loss drops to average about 4 to 7 Gm a day take out of the bag and place on shelf. Store top down will slow the water loss some. When you reach MEQ or 1 Gm or less change you can stop weights and store till ready to do the second turn. 2. Alcohol Bath is based on the principle that alcohol attracts water . This means that the alcohol absorbs water from the blank . This alcohol will continue to absorb water to a certain point at which it becomes saturated and must be dumped. The alcohol used is 95% Denatured Alcohol (DNA). Use plastic buckets or barrel to place bowls in with it completely submerged in DNA. May need a weight to accomplish this. Leave in DNA for from 2 to 24 hours (studies disagree on the time so experiment) . Remove bowl and allow excess to dry . Wrap the outside only of bowl and rim with paper. Store on stickers to allow air flow. May be returned in as little as two weeks. 3. Seal and Store is a method used by many pro turners since time is of essence. Rough turn the bowl and seal endgrain inside and out with Anchor Seal and store the bowl. You can either wait a long period (six months or more) or use moisture meter to check for MEQ. 4. Microwave you would place bowl in microwave at high for about 20-30 seconds and weight after each cycle. Wood must be allowed to cool after each cycle for a period of at least 30 minutes.. This may take 6 to 8 cycles to get to MEQ but do not rush it or you can have burned bowl to contend with. The sie of bowl and type of wood also affect the use of this method. 5. Desiccant Drying is a fairly new method . This one uses desiccant crystals which can be bought in bulk on Amazon and other places . Right now 5 pounds runs around $30. Just place the bowl in a zip lock bag with enough desiccant to cover it. This can completely dry a bowl in as little as 24 hours. Some of these beads will change color as they absorb more water. Check weight or use meter to determine dryness. And repeat if needed. A good thing about this method versus alcohol is that these crystals can be recharged by drying them in the oven. 6. Kiln Drying is a method you can use for fast results. There are many videos and instructions on the internet as to how to make these. Most use a old refrigerator or even a dishwasher, two holes at least will need to be cut in it, a top and bottom to circulate air. Muffin fans can be used to circulate air and a light bulb to generate heat, Timers and thermostats can also be used to enhance the effect. These are mostly a short story on drying bowls and there are exceptions to every method and this is only to give a close overview of what to expect in use but not a guarantee of results. Different types of woods dry at different rates and some will dry catastrophically with a push method. Overall don't be afraid to try passive methods and experiment.

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 it is hard to find at the mill. Well, I did not want to pay 8 plus a foot for that so it took a couple years to find. I think I paid $2.50 a foot. The design I put together has a three layer MDF (3/4) top plus 1/4 Masonite sacrificial layer. This is trimmed in 2 inch White Oak. Yes it took 2 people to move this into place. The legs are a three board glue up and have a center rail thru mortise connecting two end leg sets. The upper and lower rails are wrapped around a lower shelf of MDF and attached with bed bolts. The drawer unit is designed to fit planes , chisels and other small woodworking tools. Full PIP with pictures will be next up just stay tuned.

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. Each side of the horizontal part of the cross is to be a quarter inch long so a groove that deep a quarter inch wide needs to be cut next. To make it round seven sixteenths measured from the corner had to be removed plus two sixteenths for the upright and now four sixteenths for the horizontal arms comes to thirteen sixteenths leaving just three sixteenths of meat left to hold it together. Good to go. Here it is broken apart to check the window. Didn't care for the top and bottom of the upright so it was put back together and the sharp corners were blended in and the finish put on it. Be careful not to get finish on the glue surfaces. When the finish is dry it is time to knock it apart and turn the inside to the outside and glue it back together. Then mount it in the lathe for the finish turning. Turn the whole thing to just round again. If turned deeper where the window is the window will get steadily wider as wood is turned away. There is plenty of meet above and below the window to shape as desired. Just watch where the inside cavity top and bottom are so they are not cut into.

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 documents I go to Rapid resizer and bring up the picture after I search documents. The picture shows it will be about 10" tall and 8.90" wide. Click on print and it will go to a screen and tell it how many copies and be sure the printer it on and push start. This size it will make two copies and you will have to cut down the line on the one you will attach it to the other side... Daughter gave me some 12" squares of 1/4" BB and this is perfect for the flakes. I want to make two snowflakes so I put clear Scotch brand shipping tape on one piece of wood spray stickum on attach the pattern. I usually print out a few copies for later use and store them where I can't find them later...A strange habit I have. Okay, once the pattern is applied I find a number drill bit a couple of .oo2 smaller than the finish nails. I will cut 4 1/4" pieces of BB at once so I make sure the finish nails I use wil be a hair shorter then the stack of wood.. Go to the drill press and while a couple of black spring clamps are holding the wood straight I drill the holes for the nails. I like to leave the nails sticking up an 1/8" or so to have some for my fingers to push on while turning the wood. This flake is about the simplest I could find but still has rounded points. Thirteen inside cuts ain't bad so that is quickly taken care of then one continual sawing without stopping.. Since this is going to be a compounded type you can see where the center of the other two pieces will be glued to I made a hair wider. Also see where the nails will be cut away. Once the pattern is removed from the top piece I draw a straight line on two of the pieces and scroll saw the line. I sure do like the All Pro sand paper 3M makes for I use it to knock the fuzzies off the bottoms of the pieces...Its very soft and flexible but for some strange reason Home Depot was the only place that stocked it then they quit selling it...The only time I use it is for knocking the fuzz off of the first coats of lacquer and the fuzzies on scroll saw projects and it last forever... I didn't use epoxy on these for the long skinny line is easy to put the poxy where it ain't wanted so I used Aleene's brown bottle glue.. It dries clear and is strong when it sets up... The only reason why I use the products I do is because I test it all and don't especially do the norm. Check out my not staying on the lines. A person does not have to be a good scroll sawer for this and its hard to see any flaws when finished with the project..I found a pattern, cut it out then glued it up in less than a day. Only my thinking but a scroll saw snowflake is much more like the real thing than the table saw thingy! And a whole lot less steps in doing so. This one is 1/4" where the small ones are 1/8" BB.

And Finally: The last bit of machining was to create the two lower shelves. The minister wanted to keep the “maple” look for the shelves but hard maple is a little expensive so we went with soft maple. Planed everything to ¾” and used biscuits to help with alignment during glue up. I made these shelves full width during the glue-ups A card scraper brought everything smooth. I sized the shelves using the same procedures as the top. Cut to length and width with the skill saw and a guide; then used the router, flush trim bit and a guide to finish off the saw marks. The guide is held in place with double sided tape and screws. The screw holes are located in the area that will be removed where the shelf wraps around the legs. I also ran the chamfer detail around the perimeter of both shelves. Marked and cut the corners Finished shelves One more dry fit to make certain everything fits Set the top in place to locate and thread the lag bolt holes. While I had the top in position, I did its’ final sanding and oiling. The top is sanded through 320 grit. I used two applications of mineral oil; allowing each to soak in about a day. Then, I used one application of hot “Bumble Bee Wax”- a blend of mineral oil and bee’s wax. Once that cooled, I buffed it out with an old towel. A final dis-assembly; the maple shelves sanded through 320 grit; the poplar pieces sanded through 180 grit. All of the hardware was pre-drilled and pre-threaded using bee’s wax to lubricate the holes. The minister set a time and date to pick up the table and transport it to the church. It has to make the journey from south central PA to Ithaca NY. The day before he arrived, Mimi and I carried everything- except the top- to the carport and I did the final assembly. Due to the dimensions, the shelves had to be set in place during the assembly/glue up. That really added to the weight! The minister arrived right on time and we loaded the base and top into his van. The church members are going to do the final assembly and finishing on site. It was a long process and I was relieved that he was satisfied with the work. Even though we communicated via email and pictures, it is difficult to know what something is really like. Several days later, I received this picture I think the church members did an outstanding job painting and finishing the table. It looks right at home there in the kitchen. If you made it this far, thanks for following along. Also, thanks to John Moody for the advice on the butcher block top.

Thank you for joining us. Below is the Military Challenge Coin Display as described by The Patriot Woodworker network. This is a design that we drew up with the help of designs seen all over the web, it is easy to build, most folks have the tools that are necessary to build it, and the finishing process is quite simple. If you don't have the tools that I am using, your sure to find a way around that, as this is as I said, very simple to build. This basic display is 12" long, 4 1/2" deep, 1 1/8" tall at the front, and 1 7/8" tall at the rear. The grooves are 1/4" wide and 5/16"" deep. The beauty of this design is you could take an 8' long board and mill the board out and groove it in it's entirety, and then section it up to make many coin displays at one time. This display unit will hold up to 20 challenge coins plus or minus as the coins can vary in size. The front face of the display is 1 1/8" tall to accommodate a name plaque if the warrior wishes to install his or her own name plate. I have found that our soldiers actually take their name tag off their Class A's uniform and apply it to the front of these displays. Now here we go This display cost me nothing to build, I had the wood on hand, and the finish on hand, it took me an hour to build this first prototype. I first started out with a 2" thick (8/4) by 4 3/4" by 12" long walnut blank. I then drew a guide line at the end of the blank, note I started at 1 1/8" up from one side to the corner of the back. After I drew the line, I laid it on the jointer and set a straight reference item such as my engineers square (it can be anything straight) to determine the angle I needed to set my jointer fence. I eyeballed this, it doesn't have to be perfect. The 1 1/8" side is your front, the front is where the name tag is secured. As you are looking at the blank, it is laying upside down on the jointer. The front is to the right against the jointer fence. I set my jointer to cut 1/8" increments, you can set it to whatever you want, it's purely a personal choice. After a few passes my blank is taking shape. The following picture is after my final pass, it really only took about 15 to 18 quick passes, about 3 or 4 minutes on the jointer to get it to this point. The final cut is a bit off the line, but I am calling it good. You see, this is not rocket science folks! It's just fun! Before I lay out my centers for the grooves, I set my table saw to 5 degrees and shaved off the front of the display, I am sorry I failed to get a picture of this, but just set your display upright and the back of your display against the fence, set the fence so your taking just enough off the front to make the front a 5 degree slant back as your looking at the front. Keep in mind, I am using a right tilt TS. Now with the front of the display cut at 5 degrees, I laid the first groove out at 5/8" from the front, then 1" on center after that, you'll end up with 4 grooves for the coins. Depending on what your blank ends up being, you might have to fudge the numbers a hair until you get an equal layout between the grooves. After I marked the centers, I laid out the sides of the grooves at 1/8" on both sides to make a 1/4" groove. Now set your TS blade at 90 degrees to cut the grooves, this allows the coins to rest in the crook or angle at the bottom of the grooves. Your natural tendency is to cut the grooves canted back, but the better option is to just lay the display face down and cut the cut grooves at a 90. To come up with a nice even set of grooves I set my calipers to 0.250 or 1/4". If you don't have calipers, plane a piece of wood to a 1/4" for a feeler gauge, we want these grooves to be 1/4" as close as possible. Then I set my blade height at 1/4". (ATTENTION, make the grooves 5/16" deep) Now you will have your blade set at 90 degrees, you now have your depth properly set, you are now ready to cut the coin grooves. Set your display face down, bottom side up, and with the front against the fence, set the fence to your layout line, and start your cut. I make about 3 passes per each groove, after the first two passes, I check the groove with my calipers to see where I am at.(I failed to take a shot of this process so I laid the finished display in place for a visual reference, sorry!) NOTE: the display is upside down, face down, front against the fence, rear of the display to the left of the blade. After the grooves are cut, you will notice the blade left a nice kerf mark at the bottom of the grooves. I took a very sharp Marples 1/4" chisel and cleaned up the bottoms of the grooves. I used the chisel in a scraping fashion. Be careful not to drag the chisel on the top edges of the grooves, it's easy to do, please don't ask me how I know. You might have to skew your chisel a hair to avoid dragging it against those edges. After you've cleaned up the bottoms of your grooves, you can now sand the grooves, I used a folded up piece of 120 paper, I wasn't making much progress getting the bottoms smooth with this method, so I ended up folding the paper around a piece of wood that could fit in the grooves, then the bottoms were getting the attention they needed with this method. I finished the grooves to a final sanding of 220. No one will be able to touch the inside of the grooves, so just a good sanding to clean up the chisel marks is all that is needed here. I sanded the entire piece with 120, 220, 400, 800, then a final burnishing with Abralon 1000. The Abralon actually burnishes the wood to a nice dull sheen. During the sanding process I paid special attention to the end grains, I love end grain when it is finished nicely, it adds a ton of character in my opinion. Below you'll see an Abralon pad on my ROS After we have sanded the display, I wrote a heartfelt message on the bottom of the display, and signed it on behalf of my family. After all your work getting this far, this in my opinion is the most important part of the entire project. This is what adds personality to your display, this is what makes your display unique, and none other in the world will be like it. On my display I wrote with a black Sharpie, "Dear Service Member: Thank you for all you've done, Thank You!! Drive on and Stand Tall, We Love You!! From:The Morris Family" In the lower right corner, I wrote the species of the wood used. Also, feel free to write your company name on the bottom, or brand it, I will be affixing a small decal on the bottom with our network name on it. Now we are ready to finish the display. I finished the display with BLO. Brush on the BLO. Let the BLO soak in for about 15 minutes on the entire piece then wipe clean. I will repeat this process two more times to get the BLO to soak in. I like the simplicity of oil. And for the coin displays, they are strictly being used on top of furnishings, not in moisture areas where a protective finish would be needed. I love the deep rich tones that BLO and Danish Oils bring out in furnishings. Once it's all dry and ready to go, I will affix four round felt pads at each corner on the bottom of the display. So there you have it folks. Keep in mind, this is only a guide to making a wonderful Challenge Coin Display for our troops. This is not the end all be all. I would like to really encourage folks to be creative, your more then welcome to come up with your own designs, and your more then welcome to use any type of wood. If you have any questions regarding this project, feel free to leave a comment here in this blog And, please take pictures of your displays and post them on our Woodworking Forum !

Lighting is a subject that takes a backseat for most people as it becomes " this is what I have to work with". Even in this case it can be managed. Preferred is to have one light source with reflectors to fill in the shadows. The color temperature of the light source must be balanced and for this you can use the WB on your camera or use a grayscale card to set it based on the light you use. What this does is eliminate or strongly dilute the colors that the camera sees but your eye does not. Fluorescent light can be balanced with special color corrected bulbs, Tungston gives a warmer color. Led can also be used and would allow less heat buildup while you are in session. This photo was done with white balance (WB) set for flourescent and lighting was incandescent photo bulb. Note the reds on the background which is colored from white (bottom) to dark gray (top. This is the same light setup with WB changed to tungsten . light is not covered and is bounced off ceiling at the 4 o'clock position. Note the heavy shadows. This shot has a T shirt cover over light to reduce harsh shadows. Lights can be "bounced" to give softer lighting. To bounce the light is not directly on the subject, but is aimed at the ceiling or wall giving reflected light to the subject. Remember that the color of this light is affected by the object it is reflected off of. The objective of lighting is not to totally eliminate shadows, but to highlight areas and leave some shadow line which will create depth in the picture. The source can be to either side from the 4 or 8 o'clock position. Tents can be used to soften and spread the lighting and you can make your own As is done here . Reflectors can fill in light on the opposite side to fill in dark areas and for this use white fabric or Mylar reflector. These are simple to build also. A good point about lighting is do not lock yourself into one method. Be willing to experiment. Do not use internal flash, but do try changing settings which we will cover in other posts. While you are set up make more than one picture and try turning the piece to get shots from different angles as this will change the effect of lighting. All that leads to this is the set up I have. I use a plastic gradient background. The lights are either halogen worklights or a photo bulb I have had for years and dug out recently. The lights are aimed at the ceiling either over the subject or 110 degrees away from the subject. Photo space is limited for my set up so camera is 3-4 feet from subject on tripod . I just bought a remote switch I will use or you could use the time delay feature. I have 2 shop windows and I cover one to reduce the glare spot caused by external light, also turn off all other shop lighting. This is my setup for the photo itself . With gradient backgrounds you will here have the dark end at the top. Here you will see the setup for the light. The swing arm allows me to change position of the light easily. This is a Simple Photo Shoot article by John Lucas. John is a retired professional photographer and wood turner. We have invited him to participate with us as he has many helpful tips Here are more links: Photographing Your Woodworking Projects like a Pro (on the cheap) from Popular Woodworking Product Photo Shoot Made Easy- Wood Bowls By Kent at TurnAWoodBowl.com

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 enough clamps- using more clamps and culls assured that all of the joints were tight. I probably overdid it with the amount of glue. A liberal coat over all mating surfaces. Clamped up After the glue has dried and the clamps removed, the blank is ready for trimming. I used to use a special table saw jig for this but found it was easier and quicker to trim off the excess insert length on the bandsaw just free handing it. Trim both ends and the side. At this point it is a good idea to “sweeten up” the layout lines, if the trimming operation removed them. Now it is just a matter of re-mounting the blank on the diagonal cutting jig and repeating the operations for making the second diagonal slot. The diagonal slots, glue ups and trimming operations are the same for each of the remaining three sides. On the lathe, ready to be turned. The final dimensions on this rolling pin were: 20” long; diameter at the center: 1 9/16”; diameter at the ends : 1 1/4”. I have tried two types of tapers. One started at the center and continued to the ends. The other starts at the ends of the ellipses and continues to the ends. Personal preferences will determine the tapers. After the blank is turned round, the layout lines for the taper can be drawn on the blank. To aid in getting it symmetrical, I started with an arc template. My turning skills leave a lot to be desired and there was too much variation from one pin to the next in diameter and symmetry. I considered purchasing a lathe duplicator but finances dictated this calls for another jig! Most of the hardware is standard off the shelf stuff- ¼” x 20 threaded stock, wing nuts, T-nuts, deck screws. The only thing “special” was the ¼” tool steel- which I purchased from a local machinist for 25 cents and then ground a rounded tip. This shape worked better than a point because it left the wood with a smoother surface. The base of the jig mounts onto the lathe bed. The back edge of the jig has the “reverse” arc of the rolling pin. The cutting portion of the jig sits on the MDF bottom and the bolt follows the arc to create the shape. The long bolt can be adjusted to position the cutter depth.

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 sufficiently to reduce the opportunity of the tool rest dropping or rotating. Now that you have all the adjustments made, there is one pic I need to show that you can use to drill pen blanks. This is a morse #2 taper and it is already adjusted for turning. So, it is remove the live center and insert this tool. We are talking seconds here. Use your pen jaws on your chuck and start drilling by advancing the quill. Please don't rush the drilling process. That tailstock piece can break and then you are down again. We are now ready to turn. Let's get a piece of pear and mark the centers. Two ways to do it. These are about $10 almost anywhere. Put a piece of wood in the corner and mark the diagonal line. Move the template to another corner where the intersection is perpendicular and draw again. You may be off by 1/8" but unless your work is critical, this will do most times. Remember to mark the other end. And, if you don't have one of the little center finders, this old tried and true method will suffice. Please folks, don't drive this drive spur into your wood. Making a dimple for your drill is ok and you want the whole to accept the complete point so that the spurs engage the wood. One thing I forgot to mention, the tool rest for the shopsmith is made of aluminum. If it get a ding in it or is not smooth, set it up and get a file. Work it down smooth again as the dimples in the tool rest transfer to dents in the wood that you don't want. Just take a file and work it back to smooth. Alright, we are ready to turn. We have inventoried our parts, made all the setup adjustments, verified that all is in sync and properly aligned. We have even chosen a piece of stock and mounted it. I am going to use a traditional HSS roughing gouge and then make my first attempt to use a carbide rougher from EWT. I am close to riding the bevel. The machine is bouncing due to out of balance stock. But, if you get a chance to see how smooth it is becoming, you can appreciate the traditional tools. Also, you can see the live center turning. As I try to use the EWT rougher, you can see I am still trying to ride the bevel. It is a habit and I will adjust. I need to bring up the back end of the handle. Anyone who has a question, please feel free to post or PM me. I will be happy to work out something that will make us both happy. Please ask away. Artie, I tried to keep you in mind as I saw your post where you recieved your EWT tools.

I readily admit, I have not tried all of the drying methods we have discussed. Out of those I have tried, I found a combination of methods works well for me. My preferred method- 1. As soon as possible, slice the log into bowl blank desired thickness and seal the ends with TiteBond wood glue. 2. When ready to turn a bowl, rough turn it leaving a consistent wall thickness about 1/10 the diameter of the blank. 3. Place the rough turned blank in a solution of dishwashing soap (cheap stuff from the Dollar Store). I use a 4:1 ratio- water to soap. Soak for about 3 days. 4. Remove the we bowl blank and put in a paper bag of shavings. At this point the bowl can stay in the shavings for several weeks. I have actually forgotten some and they stayed for several months with no ill effects. 5. Usually after a week (to a couple of weeks- depending on the turning schedule) I take the blank from the shavings and move it to the drying box, weighing the blank for reference. 6. After the first day in the drying box (see Rick Turns video for making the box), pull the blank and check for any cracks. If cracks start to appear, us CA to stabilize/fill the cracks. Weigh the blank 7. On the next couple of days, check each day's progress for weight and any additional cracks. Use CA as necessary. 8. Continue checking the drying process, by weighing the blank, until the weight remains constant. The length of time will vary on the size of the rough turned blank, the length of time spent in the shavings and the design of the drying box. This is a list of resources that have multiple drying methods- https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/options-for-drying-green-bowl-blanks/ https://turnawoodbowl.com/drying-green-wood-bowls-6-methods-success/ https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-a-green-bowl.10727/ https://www.chadeames.com/post/green-turning-drying-wood-for-twice-turned-bowls https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-your-green-turnings.11874/ https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/drying-green-turned-bowls Thanks for riding along on this adventure. I hope you found something you can use. Safe turning

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” angled port that connects into the collection system. (catches, catch close up, magnets) The box sits on the frame and slides into place. The hold down is a large head screw. (catch open, catch in place, catch hold down) Had to buy a few more magnets and the dust collection port. Here is a list of most of the references I investigated during the planning and build of the sander. Not sure how many of the places are still available. http://www.rockslide.org/drum sander.html http://lumberjocks.com/projects/7063 http://lumberjocks.com/wildbill001/blog/26415 http://lumberjocks.com/projects/41979 http://home.mchsi.com/~woodywrkng/DrumSander.html http://lumberjocks.com/wildbill001/blog/26415":http://lumberjocks.com/wildbill001/blog/26415 When I posted this before, there were request to see it in operation. Here's a very short video with natural sound. I learned that it isn't too difficult to get ripple free surfaces. The trick is to maintain a constant feed rate (not like in the video) and I made some push sticks to allow the pieces to be fed completely past the drum head. Well, that’s pretty much it! Thanks for wading through my ramblings. If you have any questions, suggestion, criticisms, or need information, just let me know. Also, if you know of some other neat sites for building these, please add them to the comments to help anyone else get some ideas. Lew

I started senior high school in 1961. Somehow, fate steered me into the vocational program of building construction. My teacher was Mr. Lester Ostrasky. Most of us have had that one teacher that we never forget. The one that had the greatest influence on our lives- Mr. Ostrasky is that teacher. Starting in my sophomore year, I gave him a Christmas present and have done so every year since. After the Navy and a few years at the Letterkenny Army Depot, I started my teaching career at the new Vocational Center. Mr. Ostrasky was teaching there also. Now we were teaching partners but he still offered guidance to the "new kid". Though we are both retired, we still exchange gifts. This year, I've made him an optical illusion cutting board. Although the illusion isn't as pronounced as I had hoped, I think he will be pleased. The board is made from walnut and maple and is an edge grain design. I started by milling and gluing up the alternating strips. Then planed the blank to the final thickness and cut it into strips. Unlike most of the checker board type cutting boards, the alternating squares needed to radiate out from the center and the finished board has each corner the same color square. To accomplish this, I made an extra row strip that would later be removed. The illusion is created by alternate colored inserts strategically placed within the squares. Some of these boards use round inserts (dowels) and others use square inserts. I decided on square ones. Square holes were relative easy as I have a hollow mortiser. The problem was that the "throat" depth was not nearly deep enough to reach the center squares. To overcome this problem, I delayed gluing the strips together until after the square holes were made. Accurate spacing of the inserts is essential for the illusion so I dry assembled the board and clamped it securely. Once the pieces were secured, I scored lines to help locate the square holes. Then added black dots to further identify the hole locations. Because the holes were equal distance from each edge of the strips I set the mortiser fence to provide consistent placement. The center of the holes were on the scribed lines. Now it was just a matter of punching the holes into each strip and then reassembling the board with glue. Once the board was assembled, a couple of passes through the drum sander to smooth the surfaces. I also needed to clean up the holes so the pegs would seat correctly. A sharp chisel took care of that. The pegs were made from long 1/4" x 1/4" sticks. A simple bandsaw jig made for quick cutting. Pegs were glued into the holes. The extra peg lengths were cut off and the board sanded with a random orbital sander. A liberal coating of Bumble Bee Butter to protect the surface. In hindsight, I should have created the square pegs differently. The pegs are positioned with the end grain showing. The end grain of the maple plugs darkened more than I had expected. They look more like cherry. If the plugs had been created with the edge grain up, I think the contrasts would have been greater and the illusion more pronounced. But just to prove the checkers are all perfectly square, here's the back . Next up will be Terry and Dian's chip and cheese platter.

Since my brother and his wife retired, they are spending more time experimenting with various cuisines. I though I'd get them a micro-plane/grater for the kitchen. Rather than just buy the completed item, I ordered the planer/grater and made the handle. In the past, I sent them various kitchen/serving utensils so this handle would reflect the previous designs. The biggest disappointment, with this particular grater, was that the handle was designed to be permanently attached to the grater using epoxy. In my opinion, handles should be detachable so that the metal portions can be adequately cleaned without damaging the handle. Fortunately, the threads on the grater were standard 3/8 x 16 so creating a better solution was pretty easy. I started with a piece of maple, squared into a turning blank. Then drilled the end of the blank to accept a 3/8 x 16 brass threaded insert- this will allow the grater to removed and placed into the dish washer. The insert was installed on the drill press using a shop made bottle stopper mandrel. The insert can be seen in this photo- The handle blank was then prepared to receive contrasting walnut inserts. The insert slots were cut on the table saw using a simple angle jig to hold the blank in the proper orientation. The blank is cut four times, using a single pass thru the blade. The depth of the cut is arbitrary but between 1/4 and 1/3 the thickness of the blank produces a nice pattern. The inserts are glued into the saw kerfs. the inserts are 1/8" thick and just long enough to extend past the end of the kerfs at either end. Once the glue dries, the inserts are trimmed to be flush with the blank sides. I trimmed these on the band saw. They don't have to be perfect. Trimming just makes the turning process a little easier. Now it's just a matter of turning the handle. I used the bottle stopper mandrel and a Jacobs chuck to mount the blank in the head stock. The inserts create a "twist" pattern as the blank is rounded Shaped the blank Finished with a bunch of layers of wipe on poly And the grater screwed into the handle Now I need to make something for my Mom.

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 from previous projects so they got glued into turning blanks. Some were all walnut and some were walnut and maple combinations. Mounted between lathe centers, I turned a chuck tenon on each blank. Over the years, I got tired of measuring the calipers every time I turned a chuck tenon so I made this quick little helper jig to make the measurements. One side is for the tenon, the other side of the jig is for measuring for the outside of the chuck mounting. Sizing the tenon As I was making a bunch of these, I do each operation to all of the blanks before moving on to the next step. Next, removed the drive center and replaced it with the chuck and prepared to drill out the bulk of the material for the scoops. The first hole was just under 2" in diameter (my largest Forstner bit) this hole set the depth of the scoop. Because I wanted the "back" of the scoop to be more rounded, I needed to also set the depth limit of that portion as well. I used my shop made drilling gauge to finish out the settings. Finished drilling The blanks were then remounted in the chuck in preparation for completing the insides. To assure the blanks get centered properly, I made a cone adapter that fits over the tail stock live center Once securely chucked, The cone is pulled out and work can begin enlarging and shaping the inside. Each of the square blanks were slightly different dimensions, so every scoop was unique. I did sand the inside of each blank as it was shaped using my shop made ball sander. The ball sander is from Mr. David Reed Smith. You can read the free instructions here- http://www.davidreedsmith.com/articles/foamballsander/foamballsander.htm. Once the inside was sanded, the outside of the blank was rounded, using the cone for support. I have several of these cones- of different sizes- and they really come in handy. To be able to shape the outside of the scoops, I needed to reference to depth of the rounded "back". A simple depth indicator does the trick. (Notice the black indicator mark near the chuck end of the blank. I have gotten into the habit of marking my blanks with a reference mark that aligns with a reference mark on the chuck. This assures the blanks are always remounted in the same orientation in the chuck.) The depth of the recess is transferred to the outside of the rounded blank. The blanks are all marked and read for shaping. Set the overall length, and shape the scoops When I finished the shaping and sanding, I had 9 "bells" of which I forgot to take a picture. Anyway, To convert the "bells" into scoops, I needed to cut each one on the bandsaw. Problem here was trying to safely hold each one and to be sure the cut was vertical across the scoop opening. To accomplish this I made a jig to hold the scoop. The following pictures describe the process- This hole was drilled almost through the blank and then enlarged to match the average diameter of the scoops. A piece of 1/4" plywood in tacked to one of the jaws of the wooden screw clamp and one half of the drilled block is also attached to that jaw. The opposite jaw with attached half block is free to move. The jig and its' base made it easy to cut the curved profile on the scoop opening. All cut and ready for finish sanding With the hot bee's wax/mineral oil finish I think the presents are done for this year. A few extra scoops in case we need a quick present- or I forgot some one! Thanks for following along!

The final installment of this project is just a little follow-up on the last details. My friend supplied the hardware and liner for me to install. The latches snap securely and installed easily, as did the hinges. The only caveat was that the sides of the case were 1/2" thick and the screws were a little longer. The difference isn't noticeable due to the type of liner he chose. The short protruding nibs actually help keep the foam in place. I had never worked with this material. There are a few videos on the Internet explaining how to cut and shape it to your needs. Because I was placing it inside a box and the fit needed to be perfect, I cut the foam to size on my table saw using a fine toothed blade from my circular saw. Worked Perfectly!! I was able to get both the lid and bottom liner from a single sheet of 58mm material. The box bottom used the piece's full thickness. The lid, however, needed the material to be a little less than 1" thick. The plan was to simply separate the 58mm foam into a thinner sheet. The foam is manufactured in layers. The concept is to cut out an outline of the item you want to store and then remove the foam layers to create a cavity. My thoughts were- "Hey, I'll use the same idea and just thin down the thick piece." Not so fast, pilgrim! Let's just say it sounded easier than it turned out. The surface where the material separated is extremely rough. Fortunately, that surface is not seen. He still hasn't decided on a carrying handle. He is thinking of something like a woven becket- My friend comes from a family of "finishers", so I think that part of the project will be handled by them. Well, that's it! Thanks for reading along

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 be bypassed with plastic ports but that would cost more than buying a complete plastic blast gate. For the inline mount the blade goes completely thru with a bit of ply on either side to block the slot when the gate is open or closed. This is a plastic gate I found recently with a threaded ends to attach flex. This schematic shows you a better way to build with laminate to make opening easier allow for a tighter fit. This is a distribution box made on the same principle as the gates with the gates either mounted to the box or as part of the box (ends). Below is the same box on top of the cyclone with many more ports. THIS is the box I made for the lathe. Hose was experimented with and works best from the back straight in. This tool presents dust control problems. The hood at the back has been enlarged since this photo. What you cannot see is there is a box under the saw, since most CMS have opening at the bottom. The space at the bottom of the saw is sealed with pipe insulation. There is also a hose for the saws own collection out of sight feeding into the box. All this is feed to the PVC on the right. Now there is a upgrade you can make to your dust collector. Jet came out with a Vortex system to enhance the amount of flow of dust into the bottom bag instead of into the upper bag or canister filter. This keeps the upper cleaner longer and allows greater collection due to less blockage build up.The article below will show you how to do it and on that page are a few more tips. Dust Collector WOK If you have questions I am always around.

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 road. It will eventually get to where every tool and piece of machinery known to man and a few gorillas will end up in your shop. And lots of those just got to have, I can't work another day with out those new inventions never gets touched again. They are there taking up room and yes you will smirk and brag to every one who enters your shop. I almost have to pay someone to come in my door anymore cause all the people I know has learned their lessons. Once I finally get someone inside the door they claim I lock it so every one who enters has to go through the long sermons everyone has learned word for word over the years... Side tracked from my story already and not even talking bout the size of a shop. Men know size matters. In less than six months after I finished my shop I was tearing out the north end of the building fixing to add 12 more feet so now it would be 30x62. A motor home came into our life and I didn't want any part of it fading...when parked at home. But with all those highways, and some of them are even free to drive down but in a round about way still cost a bundle. Every trip we took a new map and a different color of Marks A Lot was used was to show every road we drove down... A new map and the marker thing was a results from the very first trip we went on right after we got married. This was before any kids showed up on our doors. We still argue how we got to Florida from Texas. Now every trip is recorded in color. I wounder if the markers fades like sales receipts? Never having gone to any kind of construction or building classes, the library was my best friend. Having lived in the Lubbock area after I got out of high school another learning place was in the area where new homes was being built. I never talked to any carpenters on the jobs but would sit around and watch. I bet they all thought , that is the youngest inspector we ever saw. I might have been responsible for their doing better work when I came around..I did witness a few guys who had picked up hand full of nails for the other side of the house and had to put them on the ground and get some for the side they were working on.... After having put up the forms for more concrete for the extension and waiting for the concrete trucks to show up it dawned on me this adding to another existing building was going to be somewhat harder than building one out all by itself.. So this is where I will show wife how exact my style really is, bowling or horse shoes or building a building a person should be at his best for all the world to see. I used oil field up set tubing for all the up rights and had welded flat 6x6 plate steel to the bottom and top of three foot long 2 7/8 tubing burried in the footing before the concrete was poured. So after the concrete set up I welded the steel studs on to the foundation. The building structure is ridgid and will be there after a tornado comes through. They might be bent all the way to the ground but will still be there. So how do I get the same exact roof slope and wall sides exactly in line so they will match up like it was all built at once. Quick and easy to say>>>>>>>>>>>>> I think I ended up with thirty different string lines going all kinds of directions and the metal siding and metal roof panels were not hardly faded in the six months or so they were up so hey, it all looks like one unit.. When you work by your self you do things differently and make helpers using other methods. A really old fork lift that would only reach 8 foot high was my best helper. I built an addition that would allow me using a chain hoist to lift up the pipe trusses to more than 16 foot in the air so I could let them down on 9 foot tall 2 7/8 pipe uprights and rest there while I jumped down off the forklift and weld each truss every ten foot on the wall pipes. The old Perkins motor of the fork lift smoked like a mosquitoe sprayer but as long as I run it at an idle it worked great. Make the trusses stay sitting on top of a 2 7/8 " pipe I used 2 pair of Vise Grip chain wrench's locking two pieces of metal on to each side of the up right pipes. Thus making a saddle and the fork lift keeping them in the air, I could go in an get a cup of coffee while the trusses sat there.. The only help I got was one day after I had put most all the sheet metal up on the walls a brother in law drove up and said looks like you might need some help. Well I could have used some the three previous weeks but yes today finishing up I could use it. The trusses I built one on top of the other laying down on the concrete. My reasoning, if one truss was crocked they all would match and would make the sheet iron all lay flat and pretty. I knew after all this extra extending would not get the motor home a place to park inside for the motor home clearance is 12'4" and the shop has 9 foot walls. I would get the extra clearance by cutting out the inside of the pipe trusses but first I would have to drill holes in the concrete installing new pipes under the end of each truss I would have to cut out. This was I would still have each end of each truss welded in to the ground through the concrete. This area was a trailer paint room last week. Then after I got each pipe buried in the concrete and welded under each truss I could go ahead and using a cutting torch cut the inside of each truss that was in the way. The motor home just barely fits but I have walking room beside it and I still have working space on each side of the shop and still have a 30 x 20 insulated with heat and air plus the shop area for wifes stained glass 8x20 heated and air. Oh and I was smart enough when putting up the concrete forms to lay pipe and drains for bathroom and sink which saves lots of walking. I have more nonsense on shops but gotta wire my trailer right now thats it warm out.

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 it that I can reproduce things very well. There was an old commercial from many years ago whose logo was "we didn't invent the _______, we just made it better". BASF or 3M perhaps? Not sure. Anyway, I have found that I can watch a video or sit through a class or follow a decent set of instructions to reproduce quality items. So I started taking classes at the on base hobby shop in Pearl harbor. First was pen turning, then a cutting board, and finally keepsake boxes. Within a year I had picked up most of the essential tools for my garage and was in full blown addict mode. In April of 2016 I bought a house in Jacksonville FL and have been actively preparing to turn my hobby into a retirement project. I have 2 years of active duty time left, my kids are all grown and the last one is finishing her Junior year of HS. By the time I retire it will just be the wife and I. So the plan is to start a business, build up inventory, then get in the RV and drive from Craft Fair to Craft Fair for a few months selling our wares. Likely do that twice a year, fall and spring. Not looking to make millions, but if I can support the habit and pay for gas and food while we are out then I would feel it is a success. My issue right now is I have to figure out what to sell. I enjoy making pens but not sure they sell well enough to rely on those alone. Same with cutting boards. So I am spending the next few months making new and different things to see what I can mass produce in good quantity, have them be useful and desirable, at a low cost. This week my focus is on Segmented turning and specifically making a soda (or beer) can koozie. I also want to try making a few resin cast spinning tops (cheap gift for kids trapped with parents at a craft fair). I have shifted focus in pen turning to making sets, a matching pen and pencil set for Father's Day and/ or Graduation. I have made some bottle stoppers and cheese knife sets, and I plan to knock out a few of the wine bottle/ glass carrier planks later this year for the holidays. I feel that right now is the best time to learn all of these techniques so that when we actually get rolling with sales it will not be bogged down with any kind of learning curve. I can just batch and go. Second issue is finding a decent source of material. My parents were able to find a decent batch of walnut and cherry a few months ago but I cannot rely on that kind of luck. Woodcraft is too expensive for me to try and turn around any decent profit, but I have no where to dry wood on my own. Cypress seems abundant around my area so I think I will start there, but I think that means cutting boards are off the sales list. As far as tools go, I think the list is better highlighted with what I still need (want) vice what I have. I am still trying to get either a decent sized drum sander or small jointer, preferably both. With what I have i am able to get from rough lumber to decent large dimensions, but I repeatedly run into times where I have pieces that need to be flattened but are not safe to run thru my planer. You will see later in the segmenting blog that I have strips of oak that are a perfect 1/2" on one side, and a variety of sizes on the other edge. The result is 18 wedges that make a perfect ring, flat on bottom and a stair case effect on the top. If I had either a jointer or sander I could flatten the stock to 1/2" square before cutting segments, but I am just to chicken to run something that thin thru my planer. The foundation of my shop is the Delta 36-725 10" table saw. It is a workhorse and has done everything I have asked of it. Turning will be done on the jet mini lathe, non-variable speed. I guess it would be nice to have VS, but I have never used it so I don't know to miss it. I have too many turning tools because I cannot decide what I like. I started with the generic small 3 piece set from PSI with the oval skew, gouge and parting tool. From there I found a Carbide cutter set on Amazon where you get 1 handle and 3 bars (round, square, and diamond). I like them but I think I am too aggressive with them. With the square cutter I blow out acrylic pens at the tip (about 15 seconds after I think that is close enough and should sand the rest), where the circle cutter does awesome on wood but is uncontrollable on acrylic resin. So for Chrismas I received a 3/4" Sorby roughing gouge and have used it extensively for all my turning work. So much so that I wanted to get back int skew work and bought the Harbor Freight $70 set. I cannot figure out why but this skew will not work for me. I think the grind is different from what I expect and is causing issues but it is likely operator error. I sharpen tools with the PSI knock off of the Wolverine sharpening system. I purchased a Harbor Freight 14" Band Saw. I know many people dislike HF tools, but I could not afford big tools such as this without them. It does well for me, but it did take some time to iron out a few issues. I am not proficient at resawing but I am developing the skill as best I can. I was able to get a steal on a Craftsman 13" planer from Sears. I happened to walk in and one was on the floor, open box for half off. Looks like someone used it for a weekend project and brought it back. It also has been a champ. If I regret a major tool purchase it is probably the Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector. Don't get me wrong, it does a great job. However, it is big. Very big, and takes up more space when you add the second stage separator to it. I also did not realize that NOTHING in my shop has a 4" dust collection port. Not my table saw, band saw, planer, none of it.There was a period of time where I had tried to mount 4"adapters to everything so I could use the fancy 4" collapsible hose Rockler sells before it dawned on me I was wasting time and effort and ditched the 4" hose for a 2.5" hose. Other than that, just your typical random tools to fit a specific need at some point. Ryobi combination sander, big HF air compressor, HF pressure pot, Ryobi router table and various plunge, fixed, and hand held routers. Probably too much for this post, hope you enjoyed the read. I will get back to segmented turning in the next post.

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 must have bit's or cutters to be functional at all. Not to mention a fence or sled. A laser engraver? Well, it must have graphics and/or documents to do what it does. That may seem a simple matter, after all, there are thousands of images just waiting to be downloaded. While this is true, many of them are copyrighted and water marked. What if a person can't find the "just right" image to download? What if someone has a special request, like a graphic of a specific scene or pet? How to add text to a picture? How to make the picture fit on what is to be engraved? What if only a part of the image is to be engraved? Let's address image size and making it fit the project first. It's fairly easy to enlarge or shrink an image. Windows paint can do it as can any number of programs. The problem is, enlarging or shrinking an image often results in loss of detail and crispness. This is an image called Odin's triangle, printed, or burned it will be about 3" tall and 3" wide. The lines that form the triangle are fairly crisp and sharp. This is what is called a "raster" image. That means it's made up of tiny dots of different color arranged in a pattern. What if I wanted the image to be bigger? Say, 3 times as big. You can see, the enlarged image isn't nearly as sharp as the original. This will happen with any raster image, that includes image files like bmp, gif, jpg, to name a few different types of raster images. The answer is to convert the picture to a "vector" image. A vector image is drawn according to a mathematical formula. No matter how big or small the image is, the formula remains the same. What that means is, the image always remains sharp and crisp. What if a person had a picture of a leaf they wanted to use? Easy enough to do, but what if only an outline is needed? What about using more than one leaf? What about overlapping them? That way it would look like one leaf laying on top of the other. That would be great for wood burning, painting, carving, etc. etc. So, let's use the leaf picture at the right, copy it and paste it to look like one leaf is on top of the other. It will look something like this. Hmmm, not exactly what we had in mind, is it? Why didn't it work? Well, because a bitmap, ie, jpeg, gif, bmp, can only have one layer and there has to be a back ground. Normally the background is white and on a white page you can't see it, it's still there and will make it's presence known at the worse times. Wouldn't this look much better? This isn't the best job of editing as I still have a little back ground showing but that is easily addressed. The programs that manipulate images like this are the tools or accessories a wood burner or a laser engraver needs to be much more flexible than it would be otherwise. These programs are also very useful to a wood carver or pyrographer. So, what are the programs that work this magic and how much do they cost? Probably the most well known is Adobe illustrator. To the best of my knowledge, illustrator can only be leased at this point. Licenses start at around $10.00 a month. Not a lot of money but for a now and then user not a good value either. Fortunately, there are completely free alternatives. The two programs I use are "Gimp" and "Inkscape" Both are open source and completely free for downloading, although I recommend only downloading from their official websites. https://www.gimp.org/ https://inkscape.org/en/ These are two powerful, full featured programs for manipulating images. Because they are so powerful, there is a steep learning curve associated with either of them. This section of the blog is not meant to be a tutorial on using these programs, but rather just to introduce them to someone who may not be aware they are available. While there is a steep learning curve with either, there are also dozens and dozens of tutorial videos on youtube about them.

Here is a topic that may not come up often enough. I am not a professional and do tend to point and shoot, but there are some basics we can all benefit from. Lets start with equipment. A good camera helps, but there lots of them. I like SLR's and have been using them since the early 80's. Now using DSLR. There are plenty of compact cameras out there that will work also. Important is being able to change settings from A,to T to P,or portrait or macro and capability to adjust light balance. The camera does not have to break the bank and if you want a good SLR (film) I have one for reasonable. A tripod is essential to get a good shot and this too could be reasonable as it only needs to hold camera steady but can be difficult to set up so look at reviews before a purchase. A background for the picture helps to eliminate distracting background. Do not use wrinkled fabric. The background should be a neutral color such as gray or gradient gray to white. This can be paper on a roll or plastic in various sizes. You can google search and find many available. The background should go under the work piece. Lighting is essential and it will be very evasive. You will only need one or two light sources and they should be the same color temperature. Do not choose CFL unless you can find the color corrected type. LED's also work just not the white light ones. I use halogen work lights pointed toward the ceiling for reflected light to reduce shadows and glare. You can also use tents and diffusers to soften lights. These you can make from several different fabric types (Tshirt to sheets to shears from curtains) This covers the minimum for photographic equipment to get a good picture of your work. You could spend as much as $2000 or more or as little as 200 based on your budget and how you are bitten by the photography bug. I will be covering other areas in future installments.

Woodturners took a page out of the lumber industry playbook for drying their bowl blanks. If you can speed up drying lumber, why not a bowl blank. Turners have been building/repurposing equipment to create drying kilns for some time. The trick to incorporating this method is not to dry the bowl blanks too quickly. As with the previous methods, controlling the moisture loss to equilibrium is a balancing act. Too slow and you'll grow old waiting as well as mold can grow on the blanks. Too fast and the blanks run the risk of cracking. A quick Internet search will yield a plethora of ideas, videos and "professionals". I've tried to pick more authoritative sources for reliable ideas. This first exchange is from the American Association of Woodturners. The original poster inquired about a shop made kiln. The responses were from experienced turners and they offered good advice/ideas. https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/home-made-kiln.12618/ Following along with this post, led me to Cindy Drozda's site and her instructions on a drying kiln- http://www.cindydrozda.com/handouts_Pdfs/handouts/demo handouts/drying_kiln.pdf Another woodturning organization- The Baltimore Woodturners- wrote this article on how one of their members built/modified his kild- https://www.baltimoreareaturners.org/articles/bowldryingkiln.pdf All of the preceding ideas are based around drying a lot of bowls. Not every turner (myself included) needs to process a dozen or more bowls at one time. For me, I needed to find something that could dry a few small bowls (5" to 6" in diameter) or maybe 1 or 2 medium to large bowls. Rick Morris (aka Rick Turns) came up with a space saving idea using readily available materials. His kiln idea can be set up to dry a bowl(s) and then disassembled when done. With my small shop, this idea was really appealing. Rick's video goes shows how he made his kiln/drying box- Never one to let well enough alone, I had to add my twist to what Rick did. If the entire heat/air mechanism could be incorporated into one unit, storing it would be easier and I might not forget where I put all of the pieces. I used Sketchup to design a one piece unit To hold the unit snuggly to the card board box, there are a couple of long sheet metal screws that pierce the box and grab the cardboard. Some foam rubber, self sticking, air barrier tape makes a pretty good seal. I had to experiment with the bulb size to prevent the temperature from going too high. So far this is a workable idea. The Sketchup model is available to anyone who wants it. Kilns work by applying heat to the outside of the wood and migrating to the inside. What if we applied the heat to the inside and allowed it to migrate out? A turner, somewhere, thought- "the microwave heats like that!" Placing the rough blank in the microwave for a few minutes at a time can be used to drive out the moisture. This turner suffered severe injuries when his wife returned home and found him in her kitchen. If you decide to use this method- buy your own microwave! Again, I've tried to find reputable sources for ideas and tips. The first 2 are from the AAW and contain additional links to more information- https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/drying-wood-in-oven-or-microwave.6855/ And- https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/microwave-bowl-drying.9555/ This video, from Kent Weakley, describes the process and provides a bunch of tips Another method of applying heat is to use a dehydrator. With the proper temperature settings this can also be a viable drying procedure Next up we'll look at some not so traditional methods of drying

The bowl drying adventure continues...... In the beginning, all my knowledge came from books. Isolated in the northern end of the Cumberland Valley and before high speed Internet and YouTube, even written publications on the subject were few and far between. Cheap tools and a cheap lathe were able to produce some rudimentary turnings including some small bowls- of which most cracked. To me drying meant just that- set it up on the shelf and wait. As fate would have it, somewhere along the line, I was introduced to the idea of bagged shavings. This procedure spared a lot of bowls from disaster. It wasn't perfect, but, having more successes gave me a reason to continue. The biggest drawback was the time involved. Having worked my entire career in the field of electronics and computers, I learned to think in time spans of micro and nanoseconds as a long time. Waiting months for a blank to dry was not in my mindset. So, my journey to discover a reliable and speedy method of drying bowl blanks began. My successes and failures will be documented, sources will be cited, videos from turners will be posted. My hope is that the reader will find something new and interesting. So...

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 if you turn pens. I had some walnut pen blanks I found in a box of scraps. Drilled them with the proper sized bit using the lathe. One trick when drilling pen blanks is to not drill the hole completely thru the blank. Using a brad point bit will have the point punch thru before the bit actually exits the blank. This process keeps the blank from being blown out when the bit would exit. Once the brass tube is glued into place, the end of the blank can be trimmed near the tube- I trimmed mine on the band saw. Then used the sanding center to bring the wooden blank flush with the brass tube on each end. I planned on doing a CA finish on these. To keep the CA from gluing the bushings to the blank/tubing I apply a coating of bumble bee butter to the bushings. Then mounted the blank and bushing to the pen mandrel. Then the assembly on to the lathe Rounded the blank with a roughing gouge Shaped with the skew Sanded the blank to 400 with Abranet mesh to 400 and finished off with Abralon pads to 4000. Applied some sanding sealer. Then about 40 layers of thin CA- Assembled the parts with my shop made pen press One gold and one silver I still have a bunch of wooden scoops to turn for the nurses at my doctor's office and a few other people.

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 different construction techniques. Using Sketchup and the free Sketchup viewer, we worked through the major details of the build and ended up with this concept- He chose to use poplar for the frame (which would be painted), soft maple for the two shelves (polyed) and hard maple for the top (oil/bee’s wax). The overall dimensions were 72” long x 30” wide x 36” tall. The top was to be made as a butcher block style using edge grain (rather than end grain) and 1.5” thick. He also wanted the top pieces to be random lengths scattered through the field. We originally thought about 1” “wide” field pieces but then went with approximately 1.5” wide pieces. That reduced the overall number of strips across the top. The legs were a full 4” square glue ups. All of the frame joints are mortice and tenons. The only hardware used was to secure the top to the frame (lag bolts/washers) and the shelves to the stretchers (wood screws/washers). As the build progressed, it became obvious this could be another china cupboard fiasco. The final assembly would have to take place outside of the basement shop. So… if you are up to it, follow along…

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 obvious or the easy way to do something so if you see an easier way- go for it! The first jig is one I made a while back, when I first started thinking about this project. I try to make jigs that have several uses. This one was also used to make the Cheese Knife Handles. Special Diagonal Cutting Jig Sled has 2 movable fences to change the angle of the cut and position of the blank. Toggle clamp holds blank during cutting operation Top view- Bottom View- The long extension is a stop to prevent the jig from being pushed too far. That’s because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing and pushed the jig too far thru the saw. Disassembled Fences- Top of the angle fence Bottom of the angle fence- Bottom of the length stop- Top of the length stop, in place- Partially Assembled Fences- The spacers on the bolts elevate the wing nuts above the rolling pin blank to make adjustments easier. The bright pink tape improves visibility as the blank is aligned to the layout marks on the tape. Notice the single narrow saw kerf. The pin blank is cut with three passes thru the saw; using spacers to offset the pin blank on each pass. Several woodworkers suggested that using a dado blade would allow the cut to be made in one pass. My dado set isn't large enough in diameter to get the height needed to cut the slot. Also, the pattern of the Celtic Knot can be varied by making just two single passes. The spacers create a 3/8" slot at the fish of the third pass.

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 change in the pattern can be achieved by the sequence of the cuts related to the sides. I number each side of the blank during the layout procedure. Then when cutting the slots, I cut sides with the sequence 1, 3, 2, 4. Cutting the sides in a 1, 2, 3, 4 makes a slightly different pattern. So, that's how it's done! Once sanded, and the ends trimmed, a liberal application of mineral oil and they are ready to use.

this is not the same box but is the way I start building one. I have to print out 10 exact patterns. The tenth one is just solid with no holes for drawers. All the pieces I cut out for the drawers are later glued together except for the front of the drawer and the back of the drawer. I use dowels to line up everything . If I don't use the dowels when clamping two pieces together it could slip just a hair one way or the other and cause lots of extra sanding or cause for the trash can. Each set of holes has to be in a different place than the next side of the pieces. And you can't drill the next side until the first side is marked and drilled and glued. Drawers are somewhere around 5 1/2 to 6" deep. The body being one solidly glued up mass with no cuts joining each drawer keeps it all from warping from season changes.. I use brasing or stainless steel rods for drawer pulls before I start spraying the clear lacquer so they will stay looking good and not tarnish. I also put a wider drawer front on to cover up the possible gaps from sanding and creating a back looking mess. And here also the dowels help to line up the drawer fronts. So far, all the sawing was with the scroll saw so the reason I call my boxes scroll saw jewelry boxes. Now before I glue the front of the drawer on and the back of the drawer on I first mark where the cavity of the drawer will be and cut that area out with a band saw. Then using the dowel holes I first pt in the pieces I can now glue the on and they will have bee lined up before the cavities of the drawers were sawn in... Its not a good idea to be drinking beer when all this is taking place for all these holes I drill has to have a stop set on the drill press or else... There is way more preparation in one of these boxes and a few more weeks involved.. I cut the last 4 boxes I made out outside my motor home while sitting in an rv park in Colo.. I had all the wood glued together for each piece I needed and would only glue on one pattern one at a time as I started to scroll saw each piece out... Gluing a pattern on two or three days before the sawing takes place the pattern will shrink and stretch and some might ruin to not be usable. I always took two or three extra patterns and pieces of prepared wood just in case... I have also found two different printers will make different size patterns even though I use the same pattern in two different printers..Not good when I am having to make multiple patterns and needing some more away from the printer I first used. When cutting out this many of the same thing and needing them as close to each other as I can get them, I find I have to start my scroll saw cutting from the same place and go in the same direction on all the pieces... Going two different directions on two different pieces a person has a tendency to lean or push the wood just enough to make differences and I get get bad line up problems and then add that many more pieces it gets too wild....Yes it ruined my very first wide box because of this... Using the dowel system where at least 3 dowels and most of the time 4 dowels on each side of all the pieces I can get things more manageable when its time to sand it all smooth on the inside and the outside and all the drawers.. All these have to stay in line as to how they were sawn so lots of marking goes on and off. Don't even know if this is understandable or not?? And I can sure see the difference in my sawing from starting in the morning or just before I quit at night. Those lines can sure get wavy. Jess

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 dozen or so pens. In the end I came up with the idea of a beer koozie. Strips of wood cut at an angle on each side glued together with one of those thin foam can insulating things spray glued to the inside (example in pic 1). Surprisingly, it came out well. My dad received many compliments on it an I had numerous offers for purchase if I made more. So I did, or at least I tried. Imagine trying to glue Popsicle sticks together on the long edge to make a cylinder. Yeah, I am stunned the first one went together at all. You can see in both pic one and two some of the issues I ran into. Really what it came down to was the material was too thin to turn, and there was no great way to get it into my lathe to turn it in the first place. I could make a round bottom, but 12 Popsicle sticks glued together does not actually make a circle but more of a circle-ish dodecahedron. So a circle bottom would leave many little gaps, or provided zero support when turning if I simply glued it to the bottom. I failed four times before I realized that this was probably not the best way to go about making a wooden cylinder. I did not make the jump directly from needing a cylinder to segmented turning. As with most breakthroughs, I put the idea down for a while and went on to other things. I follow a ton of wood people on YouTube and one of the videos that went by in my recommended feed was Kyle Toth and watching him turn a massive vase (if you have not seen it I recommend taking a look). So of course I start going down the YouTube rabbit hole and found one where he made a segmented wine bottle...click...I could do that with my koozie! So that started my research into segmented turning. In my earlier post I discussed how most of my searches took me to a place called Seg Easy. Next post I will discuss what I built, what I learned, and what I would do different with my first few rings. Please feel free to let me know what else you want to know, any questions you have, or if this simply does not interest you and move on.

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 laser or cnc engraver. Once the main template is created it's a simple matter to change the name to rout or engrave several different tags. The picture above is the main screen from inkscape. As you can see there are menus and tool bars all over the place. The only one that concerns us just now is the one on the right of that picture and the close up just to the right of this text. This dialogue defines the size of the document we're creating. One of nice things about inkscape is the ability to create a working page whatever size is needed. For a name tag that's about 3.5"X 2.4". The laser software is written in millimeters so the document will be created in millimeters. In this case, 90X58 millimeters. Inkscape will work in mm, inches, feet, or even pixels. The document page is outlined in the above picture. After creating the page three items were added to it. First, a rectangle slightly smaller than the document. This defines the actual size of the name tag as the laser will engrave this box and provide a guide for cutting out the tag. These small lasers aren't powerful enough for actually cutting wood, not even thin veneer. By engraving the rectangle I don't have to measure to cut but can just follow the line inscribed by the laser. Then, two decorative ovals were drawn. There are menu boxes to size, position, and manipulate the ovals or any other object. A person can even determine how thick the drawing line is. At this point the file is saved in inkscape as an SVG file. That is the inkscape default format. SVG stands for scale-able vector graphic. That type of graphic can be made larger or smaller without losing detail or resolution. This is now my master template, From now on the only design changes will be different names as required. When a name is added it probably won't be exactly where you want it. For this example I'm going to center it on the page which is also the center point of the ovals. Incidentally, the rectangle and the ovals were centered on the page using the same method. Notice in the example the "name" is selected. It can be moved around, rotated, enlarged, or made smaller. Centering an object on a page couldn't be easier with inkscape. Simply open the "alignment menu and choose what you want to do. Again, only because the program is so powerful there are many options. Looking at the menu to the right you can see I've chosen to align my name relative to the page. The two symbols I've pointed out represent vertical centering and horizontal centering. Simply clicking on those center the name perfectly on the page. A person can also choose to center items relative to each other or a dozen other options. At this point it does get a little tricky. Its important to keep in mind a laser engraver is basically a plotter and not a printer. A printer moves the print head back and forth. As the paper advances the printer makes a dot in the right place, connect the dots and you get a picture or text. A plotter actually follows a path, much like writing in cursive. So, a path must be created that the plotter can follow. Two more steps and the file will be ready to send to the laser. First, all four objects, the rectangle, the two ovals, and the name must be selected. You can see a selection box around all four objects and I've chosen the option "group" in the drop down menu. That will make all of the objects one entity as far as inkscape is concerned. If I enlarge one, they will all be enlarged the same amount. After grouping them the selection boxes morph into one box as there is now only one object. At this point there is one more operation before the file can be saved and that is to add the object to the "path" After, the file is saved in "DXF" format which is a "desktop cutting plotter" file. This may seem a lot of steps but in reality it takes about five minutes to do this start to finish. Once the master template is created the name can edited in about a minute. This is a very simple example of creating a file that a laser or cnc engraver can read. The next step is to open the laser software and load the dxf file for engraving.

Thought hard about this segment and came up with all sorts of reasons and justifications for even wanting a laser engraver. The honest truth is, I've just always liked gadgets. Never mind I intend to use it for embellishing some of my turnings if and when I figure out how to use it. There are some youtube videos with turners using small machines to make “signature disks” they let into the bottoms of their bowls or vessels. The machines cost about $90.00 and do a surprisingly good job. The down side is they will only do an area about 3” square and are limited in height. I thought if I ever got one I would like more capacity and flexibility so I spent a little more and bought a machine that will etch an area about 11”X14” There are several vendors that sell these machines, banggood.com, gearbest.com, aliexpress.com, to name a few. I suspect they are all made in the same factory. At any rate I bought this machine from banggood.com. One thing I will say, if, and when a person may decide to purchase one of these, be patient and watch for price fluctuations. The price will change almost daily and move as much as a hundred dollars one way or the other. So, what do you get for, in my case, about $200.00? Basically, a box of parts. I have to to admit, the parts were packaged very nicely. Everything was organized and easy to get to. All of the necessary hardware and tool are included in a little plastic compartmentalized plastic case. One thing to note about these kits, they don't come with printed instructions. I imagine that's to save expense as they are shipped all over the world. There is a video of a machine being assembled on the banggood website and there are "assembly" pictures as well. When you get right down to it, there really isn't a lot to one of these machines. The little box at the top right contains the power supply and the laser. Next to it is a pile of plexiglass parts that are machined to hold the motors and for the aluminum extrusions to fasten to. Four corner brackets to assemble the frame, a "gift" pack of small wood test pieces. 5 pieces of aluminum extrusion and the controller board next to that. And, of course, the little box of hardware and tools. The three stepper motors and various cables are not in this picture. That's about it. So, I watched the video several times and looked at the assembly illustrations. For some reason Banggood.com has made the video and pictures so a person can't save them to a computer. Seems crazy to me, but whatever. My shop is about 90 feet from our house and surprisingly, I can access our home network in the shop, if, and only if, my computer is next to the wall closest to the house. My workbench is near the opposite end of the shop and trust me, it's no small feat to change that. So, I would go to one end of my shop, watch a little of the video and run back to my bench to assemble the part I could remember. Being in my 60's that wasn't a lot. Back and forth and back and forth. The assembly starts with putting together the frame which is aluminum channel fastened together with corner brackets. I did that on my router table surface so everything would be nice and flat. The extrusions that make up the frame are two 1" X 1" and two 1" X 2" channels. I don't know if they are real 8020 or a knockoff but those aluminum channels have changed how we do so many things. The next step is to assemble the motors and bearings to the machined plexiglass components. Fortunately, this is all pretty straightforward stuff as the online "instructions", if they can be called that are not the best. I knew that before hand though so I can't complain. The bearings ride in the groove in the aluminum channel and it's actually quite smooth. I should probably note that this is not meant to be a "how-to" as far assembly goes. There are a few third party videos on youtube which are better than a series of pictures showing how it all goes together. Once a person gets into the project a little it all starts to make sense. After the motors and the bearings are attached the gantry supports are put on the channel and the feet are attached. I would guess by this point I'm about two or three hours into it. A good part of that time is watching video to make sure it's put together correctly. As wood workers, we joke about our toys when we get a new tool for the shop. Most of us know that these "toys" can hurt a person. Something like this may seem a little less risky. The opposite is true. A person doesn't even have to be near one of these to suffer eye damage as just the reflected light from one of them can be harmful. The most important safety rule with one of these is; "Don't look into the laser with your remaining eye." After the feet are attached the laser is installed and the gantry assembly is mounted. After that, the wiring begins and its all plug in connectors so that's not a big deal. After several hours of studying video, restudying video, hard work, and paying close attention to detail I'm done except for putting on some wire wraps to tidy everything up. Once I get the software loaded I'll be ready to do some laser engraving........... on the ceiling, doh, mounted the laser upside down. Thankfully it's a simple of flipping the gantry channel over as it will mount either way. Now, on to loading the software and doing some world class etching!

I can remember like it was yesterday. I was spending the night at my best friend's house, Ken and I did that just about every weekend, camping out or hunting, or whatever. For several years we did just about everything together. This particular evening we were in his bedroom, he was showing me the Ham Radio receiver he'd just made from a radio shack kit. I was looking at his Edmund Scientific catalog and he said something about a new invention called a laser. It had to be 1963 or four or maybe a couple years before? Anyway, all we knew was, it used mirrors to make the light brighter and was right out of our science fiction books, the future was here! Ken, who was always smarter than me said no one had any idea everything they could be used for, weapons of course but who knew what else? Who indeed? Never did I imagine that one day a wood worker could purchase an affordable laser that was more powerful than anything anyone had imagined back then. Nor could anyone imagine it would be controlled by a computer to do intricate patterns and pictures. You see, CNC wasn't really to well known back then either. Fast forward, and it has been fast, just 50 short years. I am the proud owner of a cheap CNC laser engraver. The machine I purchased has a working area of about 11X14", and uses a 2.5watt violet laser. That's the short story, there are several reasons why it's cheap and I don't know as yet if that equates to a good value as they are seldom the same thing. This is a blog about my journey getting to know, learn about, and use one of these marvels people couldn't even imagine not so long ago.

Containers and shavings slows the drying process but can take up extra space in the shop, especially if you have a bunch of blanks in different stages of drying. Another method of slowing the drying is to put a sealer directly on the surface of the blanks. This can work for the rough CUT blanks and the rough TURNED blanks. The sealer slows the transfer of the moisture from the wood to the air. The majority of the moisture is lost through the end grain pores. Sealing those areas is really important to reduce checking and splitting. For freshly cut logs (blanks) checking can occur within hours. Sealing immediately can reduce wasted material. If you have purchased precut turning blanks (pen, bottle stoppers, bowls) you probably noticed the blank had wax covering at least part of the material. Dipping the end grain (or entire piece) in molten wax seals the pores and slows the drying. This method does require a way to melt wax in a large enough container to dip/submerge the blank. Using a sealer that is already viscus, reduces the prep time and equipment needed. There are several commercially available products for sealing by painting the liquid onto the blanks. One that has been around for a long time is Anchor Seal- a wax based emulsion. It is available from many places and is the choice of a lot of turners. A similar product is available from Craft Supplies USA. Theirs is called "Tree Saver" and it’s a special blend of poly vinyl acetate. Turners are typically "thrifty" individuals. Many have turned to using already available materials for sealers. One very popular substance is latex paint. A heavy coating (or two) can seal the end pores. In addition to sealing, using different colors can pretty up your wood stash! My favorite sealer is good old TiteBond II wood glue. Did you notice the Tree Saver product is a "PVA" based material. Well, TiteBond is a PVA glue. I paint the glue on the ends of logs to keep them from splitting/checking. I honestly haven't used it on rough turnings, yet. A little different method, but having similar effect, is to cover rough turned blanks with stretch wrap shipping material. https://www.aawforum.org/community/threads/plastic-wrap-for-preventing-bowl-blanks-from-cracking.11885/post-111507 These methods have all been about slowing down the loss of moisture. But, as we know, woodturners are an impatient lot. What about speeding up the loss of moisture? Stay tuned.

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 you need to know is morse tape #2. There are 2 sizes of faceplates from Shopsmith. This small one is about $25 each and I think the 6" is about $35 each. But, shop around to see if you can save money. Sometimes, if you are a subscriber to Shopsmith emails, you can get these on sail. Also, while looking at woodworking sites, just ensure it is a 5/8" bore with a set screw. You may find a better deal. Or look for a used one. If the screw holes and set screw hole are in good shape, you may find a bargain. Just a quick check to see how the alignment looks. Here's Chucky with pen jaws installed. I have one pen mandrel that fits inside these pen jaws. I did not show, but this unit also come with a worm screw. My Chucky needs a good cleaning and lubing. One detail that must be mentioned on Chucky is the adapter. Shopsmith automatically includes it when you purchase from them, but you can get a much better bargain if you purchase it from Amazon or some other places if you purchase both at the same time to get the free shipping. The adapter is a 1 X 8 tpi so that most any chuck will work on your shopsmith as long as you have this adapter. For this demonstration, I could not get it off to show to you, but here is a link. https://www.amazon.com/Teknatool-ISNS-5-Plain-Insert/dp/B009OLZEXY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=38I1Y0A4LOXZ3&dchild=1&keywords=shopsmith+chuck+adapter&qid=1597614171&sprefix=adapter+for+chuck+and+shop%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-3 Any chuck that will work on this adapter will work on your Shopsmith. Here is mine installed. Also, various jaws can be had for the Nova G3 chuck. They are easily found on various websites. I just remembered, that even the EWT chucks will fit on the adapter. Now, a comment or two about the tool rest. The newer tool rests with the banjo are much easier to use, but I have adapted and I do work with this. If you don't have the banjo (a foot that sits in the middle of this table holder you see above) the following applies. This is something I did with a Sharpie. The CL is for the center line. If you ever question that the drive spur and live center are out of align, you can set to this mark and eyeball to see if the two spurs are close enough. While holding it here, you can make any necessary adjustments, but that is going to be rare. I have a couple lines above the CL at about 1/16" apart. It looks like more, but this helps me to quickly reference how high or low I want my tool rest. This is normally where I start depending on the gouge and the size of the stock being turned.

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 with faceplate, adjustment insert, and tail stock. Of course the mighty and almost universal allen wrench is with the red handle. It is 5/32". These tubes go into the end of the way tubes or the end holder for the way tubes. These collars can be loosened to allow for height adjustment. There will be another picture to show how to the 2 spurs align. Before we do that we need to make one other adjustment. This is the adjustment for the live center holder. Since I know where mine goes, it takes about 10 seconds to set and tighten the set screw. Once you get this set, you will rarely every have to set it again. At this point, you can't be sure that it is set correctly so just enough force to hold it in place. Time to set up the tailstock. We are going to put the tailstock in place on the Shopsmith and make another tweak. The silver roller underneath is actually both a handle and a tightening roller. There is a screw in each end and when the roller is turned, the screws either screw out into the bracket or contract so it can be removed or the attachment can be removed. I have mine set so while standing at the end of the machine, I can roll it up and tighten the attachment or Special Parts Tool (SPT). Now we are going to take a 15 second detour to the headstock to install the drive spur. Unlike conventional lathes where you insert a morse taper for a number 1, number 2, number 3 or number 4 taper, you must use a drive spur with a 5/8" bore with a set screw. Some will argue that the set screw must be a hollow point and other will say you need a flat point. When I worked with dust filter equipment in Cleveland, OH, in 1966 to early 1968, we used hollow points where there would be a lot of stress. I am not an engineer so I have to rely on what I was taught and it has worked well for me. There are other drive spurs out there and I have my eye on a stuben? drive. Bring the headstock close to the tail stock, advance the quill on the headstock (yes, it, too, is backwards from conventional wisdom) so with the drive spur in place and the tail spur in place, you can see if the tips align correctly. Now is the time to adjust the height, turn the swivel until the tips align from side to side. Tighten all the set screws and you are done adjusting the tail stock.

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 really want a drawer. He wanted the materials to be maple, walnut and birch to coordinate with other pieces of furniture. My furniture building/designing experience is limited. Some research on the Internet lead me to believe that most all communion table designs lean towards the more massive proportions. When I mentioned this to the Pastor, he agreed but said their church is small and they felt a "lighter" piece would fit into their space. We worked back and forth thru Sketchup making design changes. His original image morphed into more simple, final design- The base will be made from maple, the top from birch ply and the top trim created from walnut. The top trim/banding will overlay the plywood slightly. The pastor supplied a profile of what he wanted- I think I'll start with the trim piece first.

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 chopped. I even had to make a small measuring tool to determine the width of the bottom. My inside calipers were just a little too big. Next, I calculated the wedge size and then modified the tenons to accommodate the wedges. My mistake here was failing to take into consideration the amount of spreading vs. the hardness of the wood. Fortunately, I had the foresight to try a test piece and discovered as the tenons halves spread, they cracked at the shoulder. Insert a long string of Navy language here. Back to the drawing board. Early on in the project I had considered using a sliding dovetail for this connection. Hindsight being what it is, that's what I ended up using. The other failure, at this stage was when I ripped the materials for some of the aprons. The wood was plenty dry but internal stresses caused the some warping and twisting of several pieces. Allowing the pieces to set for a couple of days only made matters worse. I ended up ripping more pieces and then creating the tenons. Used a stop block/miter gauge to create to shoulder cuts Then the old Delta tenoning jig for the cheek cuts And finally nibbled away the remaining material to complete the apron and stretcher pieces. I cut all of the tenons a little over sized so I could trim them to get a really snug fit during assembly. The minister said this table would serve multiple duties. I wanted to be sure nothing would work loose over time. All that's left for the base, I hope, is a final dry fit and then a glue up.

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 and milled enough stock for a 4 x 4 glue up. I finished out the planing/ripping the boards a little over sized in thickness and width to allow for shifts in the glue up process. Gluing up the blanks was straight forward Space and number of clamps dictated gluing one leg assembly at a time. Once all of the legs dried, the jointer and planer brought the blanks square and to the correct dimensions. Cutting the legs to length was up next. I opted to use the table saw for this operation. I have a chop saw but it is one of the very early models with a 7.5” blade- it wasn’t going to make the cut in one pass. The table saw wouldn’t make the cut in one pass either but I felt I’d have a little more control using it. I set up my cross cut sled and squared one end of each leg. Next, I added an extend stop block set for the leg length. One pass, roll the blank over, second pass- done. At this point, it was time to layout and cut the mortices in the legs. To make certain the mortices were properly oriented, I labeled everything. Some practice slots with the hollow chisel morticer. Twenty-four mortices later. The minister added the chamfer detail around the top so I thought it would look OK to continue that detail throughout the build. I would have added the chamfer around the leg feet anyway to prevent tear out if the table was slid across the floor. Some sanding left but the legs are finished.

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, use a 3/8” thick spacer gauge, drawing lines on the blank, along BOTH sides of the spacer gauge. It is not necessary to layout both diagonals on each side. However, a check of the second diagonal will indicate if the layout is accurate and crossing in the center of the blank. NOTE: the cut for the diagonal strips falls within the 11” layout lines Rotate the blank 90 degrees and layout the location on the next diagonal cut. Continue rotating and drawing the diagonals until all four sides have been completed. Each diagonal consisted of two drawn lines. One line intersected with the layout line that defined the end of the ellipse. The second diagonal line ends “short” of the ellipse layout line. The location of the end, of this diagonal line, must be carried around the blank. These lines define the location of the saw cuts for the strips that create the ellipse. I have also begun to mark each end of the blank at the exact center of each end. This along with a centering line on the jig have helped reduce positioning errors as the saw kerf widens over time. Accuracy is important when laying out these lines in order to get the ellipses to maintain continuity. This drawing is not to scale. The measurements are what I used to make this rolling pin. The length and diameters were averaged from various baking supply websites for their rolling pins.

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 when you are standing at the back of the saw looking forward. (These pictures are from the SIDES of the saw). On the latest jig, I drew positioning lines to locate the ends and center of the knot layout as well as the longitudinal center. These really help in positioning the blank. Make sure the length stop is adjusted against the end of the blank Aligning the layout lines to the jig Continue to adjust the angle and the end stop so that the rear LONGER layout line is positioned to the LEFT side of the blade cut. Securely tighten all adjustments. Once these angles/lengths are set, they will not change for all of the remaining cuts. Clamp the blank firmly in the jig. Double check the layout lines. In order to keep the correct orientation of the blank, I labeled the end of the blank nearest me. This end must always be placed against the rear stop for all diagonal cuts. With everything secure, make the first cut. Unclamp the blank. To make the second cut, I made a space strip to reposition the blank without having to change any of the jig setting. My first guess was that this spacer would be 3/8” thick- the same as the width of the finished cut. BUT that was too thick. I guess there is a way to calculate the thickness but trial and error won out. It came out closer to 1/4” (.265”). Later, someone told me that the reason was that I had failed to consider the width of the saw blade and on which side of the layout line the blade was cutting. The second cut is made with the blank position so that the front LONGER layout line is on the RIGHT side of the saw cut. The rear SHORTER layout line is on the RIGHT side of the saw cut. The walnut spacer strip can be seen between the blank and the fence of the jig. The thickness of the spacer strip could be different for each person. So check the setup carefully. Also, Make sure the blank butts up against the end stop before each cut. After the second cut has been made, there may be a thin piece of material left in the slot. I made another spacer- about 1/8”- replaced the first spacer and made a third “clean out” pass. The finished cut should be 3/8” wide and almost through the blank. Completed slot- Checking the slot for the inserts

I ran across this picture and thought some who use patterns they buy with money, you just might save a few bucks. I noticed home printers are getting about the price of a big hamburger so that shouldn't slow too many away from one.. I don't know how much the Rapid Resizer cost to have on your computer but it is sure helpful when needing to enlarge or reduce a picture to be used as a pattern... This is the pattern that got me to carving wood and the patterns or I should say one pattern I got off the internet so I was not out much money while in the learning to carve.. I noticed it took me a couple of apples to round up these three clocks I printed out from the one picture to give me three different projects. I noticed the one in the middle I used some of my old leather punching tools I picked up over the years at garage sales... Anything to help in changing the appearance of the wood stuff I can buy cheaper than new is what I keep on my wanted list while looking over ones junk. I also used one pattern on these three items also.. This pattern happens to be out of wife's stained glass pattern book. I don't worry too much anymore if I make a pattern really big and make the lines blurry and hard to follow with the scroll saw for I can hold the scroll saw steady enough to get decent pictures. The only problem with a big pattern like this 8 page pattern of the clock is taping all the pages together staight enough to end up with some that kinda looks professional... but hey the printers adds a small line especially to cut with a pair of scissors so all you got to do is hold two pages at a time together while you cover the lines with clear scotch tape....They take the hard stuff out of it so even an idiot can proceed with a good pattern to glue on to the wood.... Here is the mighty big problem with a mighty big pattern...Can't remember for sure but I think this pattern was 34 inches tall and my Dewalt 788 from blade to the back of the saw will only handle 20" actually a hair less if one needs to turn the wood around while sawing......I did use a jig saw but those blades will only turn so much without twisting the blade in to... well I ended up with something that suited me so being bold and dumber I made the next clock even bigger.. Then I had to drill a few holes to install the flowers after it all got shot a few times with clear lacquer and now the pieces sticks out way out there where a cleaning rag will surly rip them off someday.... Not my problem!!! I hope I'm never asked to reproduce this same looking finish ever.... If you have ever had to hold a large piece of maple this heavy while trying to saw it to pieces is almost what made me quit doing wood working. That thing weighted almost as much as I do. Once I got some of the length of the big slab cut down so the 788 could saw I then had the saw table to rest that hunk of wood on but by then I had turned blue.. Now the problem begins for I don't know anything about a Blog and this is where I am at... Any questions, I hope I can find this blog again to help!

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 the bottom with it as well. After turning I prefer to 'wet' sand with some stuff I picked up at Woodcraft. I saw it on YouTube and have used it on my finished wood ever since. It is the combo of Doctors Woodshop of walnut finishing oil and pens plus. I use the walnut finishing oil to wet sand at 80, 150, and 220 grit. It keeps the dust down and makes quick work of sanding. I finish with the Pens Plus friction polish. Gives the wood a nice shine and is durable. I did not do much work on the inside of the cylinder. Instead I cut the bottom off a neoprene koozie and layered it with 300 level heavy duty spray adhesive. I gently slid it inside the koozie then inserted a can to hold it in place while the glue dried. Done. That is it. In total it took about 10 hours, but this was just a single koozie. I am pretty sure I can batch them out with little more time added to production. The backlog would likely occur when trimming the inside diameter of each ring. Turning the outside diameter was quick, barely needed to remove more than corners. Sanding was also quick. So in all fairness if I could find a better way, or simply ignore the ID it would speed the process up. Concerns or things I would change: The neoprene insert was probably not the best idea. I did it because I was not sure how well plain wood would resist moisture and temp change like this repeatedly. It also provides insulation and makes up for minor errors within the koozie I have difficulties correcting. However, with those advantages it is still the biggest detractor. After multiple inserts and removals of a can the koozie begins to roll, peel and fray. It generally looks like a hot mess. I will probably continue to use it until another option presents itself but it is the thing I dislike the most. The sled concept worked amazingly well. I would never have attempted such a project without it. Making my first project with such small segments probably wasn’t a great idea but it performed flawlessly. If I had a complaint it would be in ‘trapping’ segments once they are cut. The 45 degree wedge worked to keep the segments away most of the time, but there were still many times where I had to stop cutting and figure out where the segment ricocheted off to. My saw blade probably could be a little sharper, and cutting Oak may also contributed to it. However one in five segments was launched to various parts of my shop and it became frustrating and time consuming to find them. That is it. Not sure what I can add or what I missed. If there are questions, concerns, or recommendations I would love to hear them. I can go back and try and recreate various points if you feel there was lack of explanation on how I got there, or just to clarify something that didn’t come across well. I would also appreciate inputs on writing style. I tend to me a slightly sarcastic person by nature and that tends to get lost sometimes in translation to paper (screen…see, there it goes again…). Finally, thank you for reading. The internet is vast and unending and you chose to spend a few minutes here with me on this silly little project. I appreciate your time.

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 panels are prefinished with BLO and Garnet Shellac for base color. Will cover all with varnish on exterior when complete. Glue up of a panel this size and number of panels was a challenge and provided several lessons in how to get the panels and rail in evenly. Dados cut into rails to fit plywood shelves and make for a more secure joint. Caracas glue up using blocks cut to ensure square. Sides are rabbited to give more glue area for face frames. Face frames are joined together with pocket screws. Caracas with face frame attached now ready for base of 2X4 lumber with covering of cherry with simple molded edge The crown molding was a 4 piece made at the router table (top plate, crown and cove) and tablesaw (dentel) This is what the build on the molding looks like. After a few years we got rid of the old tv for an LED so needed a stand.. Made this to fit the existing spot and placed wheels on it for ease of wiring. Shelves made to fit existing equipment . Was expecting to place the bass in the large hole and place a door on it but changed my mind after reading about magnets and tvs. Used pocket screws for a hump over the wheels so that they do not appear to the eye, This almost makes the shlf look like it is floating . Once trim was added to front wheels are covered. Forgot to take a pic of the completed stand so had to stop and do that. The top is beaded and has a beaded molding added plus a cove.

The last blog post we left off with the completion of the "appreciation awards" for our veterans who work for our school district. This blog we'll check in and see what took place the night of the Big Night. Our girls and the club members really worked hard to make this a wonderful event for our school district employee veterans. On the invitations the veterans were encouraged to arrive in full dress uniform, and many did! It was a wonderful sight. Below are a couple images of some of the veterans and their dates for the evening. The Sargent at the left is the club advisor for our daughters club. Some of the kids from the club were stationed at the entry to welcome the guests of honor. The building where the event was held was donated by the Golden Era Golf Club locally here where we live, they frequently donate their space to veterans and military events and gatherings. They also donate the space to the high school where our daughters attend and have their club. The annual ROTC ball is held here as well. It's a tastefully decorated building, and it has some wonderful history behind it. The kids welcome the guests for about a half hour as they trickled in, our daughter and club founder and president is in the background looking on with approval for how the night is unfolding, can you say "PRIDE"! I walked around and took some images for the evening, the golf course loaned their kitchen out as well, so the club members were able to prepare the nights meal for our veterans. The gentleman in the center is LT. Albright, he was a mess hall cook in his Army life, and he helps out with the high school club and he is also a teacher at the school, and this night he volunteered to lead the charge in the kitchen. This man smoked pork all day long for this meal in order to serve some awesome pulled pork sandwiches for the guests and many other items on the menu as well. Below is our younger daughter who is the Patriot Tigers treasurer, I just happened to catch her coming through the door to the kitchen as she was checking on things and making sure all was running well. Days before this big event, the kids from the club came over to our home and assembled several boards showing what the club as been up too. Most of the images on these boards are of the clubs efforts at the Homes for Our Troops events they attended. Mama and I put a lot of road time in for these kids, we drove them all over the county, and sometimes out of the county to get them to their volunteer destinations. We all had a great time, always. These kids worked really hard with this club, we could not be more proud of their efforts, and their Patriot spirit they demonstrated by giving back to those who gave much. The following images are the main dining area before the guests showed up, and you'll see an image of the patio where drinks were served. Golfing in the background! The drink service area, some of the Patriot Tigers are serving our veterans. The man to the left being served is Colonel Sick, he is an Air Force Colonel and he is also the commandant of our 6th grade sons military school he is attending. Below are the awards I made for the veterans, they have a wonderful prominent position in this event, I was proud of them as I looked on and took this picture. My wife below, she stands proudly by the club boards as she and I both remember all the hard work our kids, and the club members put into their Patriot Tigers club. The opening ceremony is about to begin, and the ROTC is warming up before the event and the presentation of the colors. The guests are starting to take their seats and the ceremony begins. And dinner is served. After dinner, the honorees were each presented their plaques. I really like the way the kids did this. Here is what our daughter stated at the microphone before the awards were handed out. "Dear Veterans, please stand when your name is called, please do not approach the podium, you have done enough for us in service of our nation, we will come to you and present you the plaque". I thought this was pure class, when the name was called, the veteran stood in place at their table, then each Patriot Tiger club member took turns walking to the veteran, and presenting them the plaque at their table, and each child shook their hand, and gave them a solemn message of thanks, it was done very nicely. Then after the plaques were handed out, they were all called for a group picture. Our daughter is at the far right in this image, and our younger daughter is the next young lady to her right, and next to the man in the grey shirt. This was a really fun project for everyone involved. I cannot say enough how impressed we are with the kids involved, and the adults who welcomed the opportunity to come to this event. This was an evening presentation, and our veterans came to this event on their own time. So you could say, these veterans keep on giving, even after service. By coming to this event, they allowed our children to express their thanks, and to be a part of something wonderful. Thank you veterans! Please click on link to view the program below. PROGRAM FOR MILITARY RECOGNITION.docx And we'd love to thank everyone who helped! A special note about our supporters of The Patriot Woodworker. I was able to create the awards for our veterans only because our supporters have contributed funding to our organization, and with some of the funds, the material for the awards was purchased, and so where the service medallions that went on the awards. All in all, about 375.00 dollars was used to create these awards, and we could not have done it without the support of our tools and supplies retailers who are year around sponsors of The Patriot Woodworker, thank you sponsors! Links of interest Patriot Tigers High School Club San Jacinto High School The Supporters Anadys Trophies and Engravings Laguna Tools Woodcraft Supply Pony Tools Easy Wood Tools Bessey Tools Golden Era Productions Golf Course