Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas Santa 2008


Here is a Santa that I just finished painting. I believe that I already posted a copy of this guy without paint. Painting keeps me inside while it's cold, and we only made it up to 28 degrees today. After I painted the eyes white, I coated him with BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil). It makes a great color for the face, which I accented with Delta Barn Red. The rest of the body was painted as a wash so more of the wood grain would come through. I added some details to give it an old world look, and adding the detail is a lot of fun.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Shop Floor


Hi all. I've included 2 more pictures. I was finally home in the daylight and took a picture of the floor, on Saturday. Forms are gone and the bill has arrived, so I guess they are done. The second picture is one I took Sunday morning. The temp is below freezing and expected to continue downward. Oh joy. Merry Christmas, and it looks like a white one.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Cement is Down



They poured the cement quicker than I expected, but since it is supposed to freeze this weekend, that is probably a good thing. Three shots again, two from below, one up high.

The yellow tag marks the ground for the power. Sorry for the water spots on the camera, looks like I need to figure out how to clean it. The whole thing is higher than I expected, and it looks small already. But it will be a good place for me to work. There is no water or sewer hook ups out here as I didn't want someone to think that they could move in, once it is built.

My next step is to order the material for building the structure. I'll have Home Depot bid it out once I get the lumber list. They already gave me bid on the trusses, which came in OK price-wise.

Enjoy and be careful of the splinters.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Garage Foundation


I tried to get home in the daylight, but missed it by about a half hour. The first two shots are from ground level, the third from the deck. I had to adjust the third one so the frames were visible, so there is some degradation of the picture quality. The forms are up, the gravel is down and being compacted. Inspection is tomorrow morning, so the cement will probably be poured on Wed. I hope it doesn't freeze.

Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Yard Work



I'm glad to say that they've started working on the garage foundation. Here are 2 shots.




Next up is a small snowman I turned and painted. A cute little guy, but should be a big seller at bazaars. I donated this guy to the auction at work and it went for $27. Pretty great price.

Enjoy and be careful of the splinters.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Latest Projects




Although I haven't posted, I haven't stopped working. First is a Sterling Silver ring I made, my first, for my wife. The stone is Malachite, with a copper base under the stone.

Next is a cutting board for the Holiday Party auction, It is made from Myrtal, Walnut, Cherry and Purple Heart. Just over a half inch thick and about 6 x 8 inches.


Then there is a carved Santa ornament with a carved spiral beard. I had to adjust the color to make it visible, so hopefully you can see it.



Finally there is a 12 inch high table for dog dishes. I only have primer on the wood and need to add a finish coat, still.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

My Shopsmith Got Sick

Well, the Shopsmith didn't really get sick, but a circlip came loose and jammed the speed control gears, effectively making the system unusable. The SS wasn't dead either. I got out the book and started going through the trouble shooting section. Of course this problem wasn't listed. I then started taking the speed control unit apart until I found where the failure was. A circlip managed to get bent and one ear got caught in the gears. I checked on the SS website, and the part was only 80 cents, plus $6.99 for shipping and handling. I went to Ace Hardware and bought the part for 29 cents. I cleaned out the interior of the SS while I had it apart and readjusted the speed controls. Everything is better now and I can get back to work.

I made a sterling Silver ring with a stone mounted on top for Barb. I'll try and post of picture. This was part of my Jewelry/Metal Smith class. Still having fun. I've been carving wax rings this week to get ready and cast in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Toaster Tongs


Here is a pair of Toaster Tongs that I made tonight. One gets to stay at home, and the other will go into a Kitchen Basket that we will give to the office to auction for our Holiday party. They are made from cherry, 1 inch thick and about 9 inches long. It took longer to find a piece of cherry then it did to make the tongs.

I also made a Sterling Silver band for myself in the Jewelry class, slightly larger than a size 12. It's a little tight on my index finger, but loose on other fingers. It is not pictured here as I am still bringing the finish up. Once it is polished I'll try to get a picture of it.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Thickness sander on the lathe



Here are 2 shots of a thickness/surface sander that I am making that fits on my small lathe. I have not yet made the post that adjusts the level of the lower board. Feed the wood from the low side, backwards of the normal way you use a lathe. As you can see, I jammed a board in the bottom to set the angle of the upper board, or the thickness. Take many passes, but it does work. I currently have 60 grit paper on it.

This does create a lot of dust and needs a hood to catch it all.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Yard Work



Here's how I spent the last weekend. A before and after picture. Just making room for the new shop.

For those of you not here in PDX, here's where I get my live music when I'm on the computer, http://www.kink.fm/ Have a listen.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Jewelry Class



Here is an ornament that I made in the class. It is so shiny that I had trouble with the pictures. The flash made the piece too bright, and if I got directly overhead, you could see the camera in the picture. The process involves cutting the initial hole in the base metal, using that to define the shape for the insert, then cutting a filling that fits perfectly (almost). Actually you use a small hammer and stretch the metal to fill and spaces where the piece doesn't quit fit. After the insert is in the hole solidly with minimal gaps, you get to solder it in. This is solder that melts about 1400 degrees. With each insert you use slightly cooler solder, so you don't melt the previous solder.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pen Blanks & The Wood Tool Show

We just had the wood tool show here in PDX, and while there was a lot of stuff available, it did not seem to be as large as last year. The only thing I bought was a few pen blanks to try out.





I watched a few demos, and drooled over a few new machines, but as I don't (yet) have the space for them, I went on by. Often the prices are better than in the store, especially the stuff that they are demonstrating. The demonstrators always make it look so easy, too. There are a few gadgets I'd like to get, but there will be other opportunities. Whether it was worth the cost to get there and get in? Well, I think so. Even just to look at the work by the separate clubs was worth the price. I did get to look at some unique woods, and see how some of the tools compare to each other too. So it will be with a shopping list next year. And a truck.

Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

Jewelry


HI y'all. I've been semi-busy, or shall I say to lazy to post. I've just taken some pictures of my latest projects, a broach, a box, a Halloween decoration and a Santa.

Lets start with the broach. I'm taking a jewelry making class at Clackamas CC and this is the first project. We take our design and cut out the 'see-through' sections with a jeweler's saw. The trick is to only use 1 or 2 'ought' blades. Step two is to cut the backing piece to fit behind the decorative part. After shaping, we use hard solder and attach a loop of copper wire to the back, which becomes the pin to attach it to a bag or blouse. The we rivet the 2 layers together. The backing on mine is copper and the front is brass. The holes for the rivets are drilled with a #58 drill, which 18 gauge wire fits in perfectly. By cutting the wire slightly longer than the hole, you can tap the wire to mushroom the ends (yes there are tricks). Well I broke the drill bit, I oversized a hole, the pieces don't match as well as I would like, but it is great to make something like this. I didn't quit the class.

Another project is the attached box. This box will be auctioned off at work near Christmas to raise money to help pay for the Holiday party. The woods are Myrtal wood, Purple heart and a spalted something for the top. I used 1/8" Baltic birch ply for the bottom. I left these images large.






Project 3 is a carved Santa, as yet unfinished.


Project 4 is the Halloween decoration. Made from fir (a common 4x4) turned, carved and painted by me. This one took 3 years to complete.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Mechanical Artist Pencils




Here are 2 pencils I turned this last weekend. One is from an acrylic whose colored name is Fire and Ice. The other is from a piece of spalted wood. Each style of material has its own features and drawbacks. The acrylic pencil is for my daughter, the wood for myself.


The bore I drilled for the brass tube was 29/64, which is pretty big. I then ran sandpaper through the bore to enlarge it slightly, as the tube itself was about a hundredth larger than 29/64. I had to start with a 3/4 inch square block, no cheating on the size like I do with the 7mm stuff. Neither was difficult to turn, and I started with a roughing gouge and then switched to a skew for both pencils. The whole process took less than 2 hours, including time to epoxy the tubes in the holes I drilled and resharpening the skew. Very satisfying.

Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Still more pens






I turned two new pens tonight, both 7mm American Slimline Twist. One is from Myrtal Wood for my boss, the other is from a branch of something my sister gave me (I think). I also turned a bottle stopper, but forgot to take a picture. I gave the pens a little weight as I knew they would be used by men. I need to make my own center band so I may try taking a jewelry class this winter to try and get a taste for working with metal. The alternate is to turn the band from wood or acrylic.

I picked up some resin to try pouring my own blanks, as it does add a different aspect to the pen making. The store was out of catalyst, but I'm not in a hurry anyway.

Had the power company stop by today to look at our house to help determine if I need to increase my feeder size for the shop. Maybe not, I can only hope, as this would be about 1/3 of the shop price.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Apple Figure






This project is a piece of an apple tree I got from a friend. I hollowed it out, simply to allow the wood to dry when I nuked it. The color is great. I would have liked to done a better job on the interior, but I was trying to save as much of the exterior as I could. The piece was part of a burl he took from where they had been trimming the branches off, for years.

Enjoy.