Another pot

Of the stave pot, I glued it together yesterday and tonight sanded the top flat. I tried turning a lip in the bottom so I could insert a bottom piece, but the cedar is soooo soft that it tore more than turned on the end grain. At his point I knew I would not try to turn it round. I turned a bottom to fit and glued it in. 80 grit sandpaper really helped get a decent glue surface. I then later went out to the shop and grabbed the scrap from the first project and set up a jig to cut another set of 8 staves. Here you see these pieces glued as two halves, rubber banded together while it dries. Then I'll sand them to fit and glue them together. Since it is tall, and too small at the base, I will probably whack off the bottom 1/3 of this before I try cutting a base.

Bummer. The picture link software is not working tonight. Probably the java update messed it up. I'll have to post the picture later.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Tapered Staves

I've always wanted to turn a flower pot, so today I cut some cedar fencing into some tapered staves. I went for 8 staves and made them relatively small so I was sure I could handle them on the lathe. The angle of the miter gauge was supposed to be 4.85° and the table saw blade at 21.89°. Like I was going to hit those numbers. I went with 5° for the miter and 22° for the table saw. I set it so the base of each piece was 1.5". The boards were all cut to 6" in length. I butted 3 joints together and used painters tape to hold them together, added lots of glue and used tape to hold 4 sections. After the two semicircles were together I added rubber bands to act a clamps. A close look at the top will show that the two halves do not meet perfectly as expected, but they are closer than I thought it would be.

After the glue dries I will sand each half flat and join them together. Once dry I will throw it on the lathe and turn a fitting for the bottom. But the shape is already kinda cool, so I may not end up turning this one at all. I'll run it by the chief gardener.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Bracelet Setup

I said I would post how I setup for turning bracelets, so I grabbed a bunch of pictures tonight to post them. I started with a shot of the multi-tooth spur drive I use for the initial turning. I have two spur drives and this one is the larger size. Both came from the Woodcraft store. I then take the block of wood, and these are about 2.5" thick and about 3" square (more or less). I use the yellow plastic gizmo to locate the center by drawing a center line from each corner. Rarely do they actually meet, but they get close enough that I can use an awl and punch a center point. Using the center points as a guide I then mount the block between the centers regardless of the two facing surfaces being flat.

Once the wood is clamped securely, I run the lathe at a speed I feel comfortable with, in this case about 1800 RPM. Using a roughing gouge I bring the block into a round shape. I then use a parting tool to reduce the diameter at the end away from the drive spur to create a surface and a shoulder to grab the block with in one of my adjustable chucks, as shown. At this point I am ready to begin turning the block into whatever I want, and most recently that has been bracelets. Later on I'll include more pictures of those as well as finish the process here. The length of the tenon is about 1/4".

Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

Bangles

I took a break from working on the new router cabinet, and created a set of bangles, or bracelets from myrtle wood. There was one not pictured that I used to gauge the size I needed. It had about a 2.35-2.4" inside diameter, which turned out to be slightly small. I had 4 differently ladies try it on, and it did fit 2 of them. Anyway I gave it to one of those two and went back to the shop to create some more, with a slightly larger inside diameter. Here are three more each at 2.5+". It does not take much of a size change to get them to fit. The outside diameter is about 3", meaning each band is about 1/4" thick. The bracelets are 1/2" tall and are sealed in a walnut oil-shellac mix.

I started each bracelet with a 2" thick piece of wood that was glued to a waste block. I turned and separated the bracelets and from the leftover center I was able to create this small bowl. The rim is actually larger than the center of the bracelets as that was part of the original wood block leftover after separation.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

CBG

I haven't posted pictures of my latest project. I wasn't even sure if I'd write about it. I made a Cigar Box Guitar (CBG). Actually I made the box too, but it is a 3-string guitar with a square box. In my mind it doesn't sound half bad, but I can't carry a tune without a bucket. Is it perfect, heavens no. But it does play and I will probably make another one with a few changes. Note: All pictures in this posting were taken with my phone.

From the pictures you can see that I made the box from 3/8" Myrtle wood with 3/16 ply for the bottom using glued butt joints all the way around. I haven't attached the top yet, so it is currently being held in place by a tight fit and rubber bands. The neck is Myrtle with a rosewood fret board. I used nails for the frets and a cut a small indent at each fret location to help hold the nails in place. I think I used too large a diameter nail. The sound board, or top of the box is a softwood drawer front, re-sawed and thickness sanded to 3/32". I put in a sound hole using a 1.5" bar strainer ($2) fit into the hole. The bolt is 5/16" for the bridge ($.50). The pictures show the nut (top fret) about 3/16" higher than the final one. I put on one string and could barely reach the finger board it was so high.

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Besides the strings ($4), I bought a set of tuners from Guitar Center ($15). All the wood was laying around the house, and except for the piezo pickup ($2)and 1/4" jack ($2) I got from Radio Shaft everything is priced above. Not too expensive, and the strings are far enough apart I can actually hold one down without hitting two others (big fingers).

What would I do different next time? Use frets instead of nails. Fret wire is not expensive, and a fret saw is about $30 bucks, I heard. Make a bridge instead of a bolt, but I may use a bolt as an option. Lower the nut (top fret). The current one was made from aluminum I had laying around. I could use a lighter aluminum, but either way make it closer to the height of the frets.

I haven't plugged the guitar in yet, but I'm kinda excited to hear that too. Once I have verified the piezo pickup works, I'll attach the top and apply a finish.

I tuned the CBG to match the upper 3 strings of a guitar, which may not be the right choice. I'll check a few sites on line and see what is commonly done. There are 16 frets, cut to match a standard scale, with 25" between the nut and the bridge. I tried to video me playing to post but I'm soooo bad I deleted the recording.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.

Router Table Storage

Well, for Christmas I got a router table and and metal stand for it. It works great and sits very solid. I also was given a new power button for the frame outside (from Rockler) and it has a great big OFF button, which I like very well. I couldn't let all of that un-used space go to waste, so I started wrapping the router in to catch saw dust and provide me some additional storage. As you see from the picture of the table I'm using an oak veneer plywood for the main components. The plywood came from the corner cabinet I pulled when redoing my kitchen, so there was no additional cost (yet).

I separated the 2 sections at 10" to give me room to install a pair of drawers. I haven't figured out how to attach a suction device/port yet, so the left side panel has not been installed. Also the front door will go in after I finish the drawers. The middle shelf is not attached at this point so I can move it out of the way. I will probably trim 1/2" off of it before I'm done to make room for a face frame ( to mount the door in ) that will lip the front edge and make a better seal.

The picture of the single board shows where I routed a grove to connect the front and back panels. These were also made from 1/2" ply. The bottom of the drawers is 1/4" ply. The picture of the 2 drawers is after they were assembled with glue and an air-nailer. They are 1" narrower than the opening to leave room for sliders. The final drawer size is 21" by 15" and 4" tall. Once they are mounted I will cut and mount drawer faces from the same wood ( with any luck, oak) that I make the from door and the face frame.

There are no plans for this build, who needs stinkin' plans.

Enjoy, but those splinters hurt.

Coasters for Holiday Party

As a group our department at work elected to create a basket with a beer theme to auction off at our Holiday Party. Since others could bring beer, I made a bottle opener, seen earlier, this set of coasters and a bottle stopper. These are all from Myrtle wood. First time I tried to make multiple pieces that look the same. In this case just similar. They are all the same diameter, and the inside is within 1/16". Close but not as good as I'd like to learn how to do. To me this is a learning experience, and I did learn while doing these coasters. The holder was fun too, as it is the first time I'd carved away part of the turning. Actually I'd seen the design at a craft bazaar this year. I think his coasters were all thicker, and made from a variety of woods, and more accurately sized. A jig would help there, but I only needed four of these.

The finish on the coasters was a polyurethane that did not seem to dry. They were supposed to be dry in about 4 hours, I had to let them dry overnight, about 20 hours, before I could add a second coat. On the carrier is a spray varathane.

In addition to the coasters, I made this bottle stopper for the basket. Though I would never use on in a bottle of beer, they are quick to turn and make a nice gift.

The finish is a shellac, walnut oil, wax combination that goes on easy a provides a nice look to the wood.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.