Leaderboard

Off and on over the past 8 months I have been in the process of handing down my model trains (last used when I was a kid) to my eight year old Grandson. I re scued the oldest of my 3 trains from my sisters closet. It was reapinted yellow in the 1940's and the paint was flaking off. So I decided to bead blast and repaint it with Erie decals in memory of my fathers time with the Erie railroad. Here's on pic of this 100 year old train and two pics of all three: 1950 Diesel, 1934 Steam engine and 1920-ish electric. I think that I am having more fun than my Grandson.

i didn't want you folks to think i was just slacking off, the first pictures are a couple of easels 12" X 14" for daughter and granddaughter with storage inside and adjustable to any angle, the next are called a Spurtle, yeah i know i never heard of them either just like the Charcuterie boards i made, never heard of them either, they are about 11" long and 1 1/2" and 1 1/4" wide, i like them because they are quick to make and make great gifts, don't use too much wood and are finished with mineral oil, as usual thanks for looking

Wood porn! I am building a walnut bathroom. Only one door and 10 drawers. The door will have this curly claro walnut, book matched panels. I will post the work when I get further along. This kind of wood makes me giddy.

Our kitchen doesn't have a ton of counter space. Megan saw an undercabinet knife holder at my parents house and asked if it'd be something I could make. Because it's a pretty simple box and i had an example I said yes. The most complicated part of the project was getting it mounted under the cabinet. We have some undercabinet lighting that I had to notch the mounts around. Construction is chery miter joints reinforced with walnut splines. The pins are brass stock. I initially tried using magnets to hold it up but I had 8 rare earth magnets in place and it was not even close to holdi

It's not time to change your chain Just relax, take it easy You're still young, that's your fault There's so much you have to cut through Find a burl, settle down If you want you can marry Look at me, I am dull, but I'm happy

For me, it’s trying to open a band-aid wrapper. It’s not like you happen to decide to try and see which end to open from. Occasionally there is blood flowing and you don’t have the three minutes it takes to decide which end to peal from and then get the the two sides separated to start the process. At least the whisper thin plastic bags from Kroger tells you which end to start the fight. At least put a bright red arrow pointing to START HERE AND GOOD LUCK, Just my vent!

Back in 2013 Fine Woodworking ran an article about a novel cutting board made by a guy named Scott Lewis. I thought they were pretty original and made a couple for family members. Fast forward to this week. I finally got sick of being between shops and gathered some 120v tools together, purged the garage of stuff being stored in anticipation of the new shop build and cobbled together a space where I could at least make something . . . anything. . My new neighbor had loaned me his tractor on a few occasions and my plan was to do something for him . . . any day now. That was a year ago.

Follow up, walnut chairs back from my upholstery guy. Love the green with the walnut. Creating a MCM sitting area/room. Bookcase also made esp for this spot; Hopefully you enjoyed this build, it was a real pleasure figuring out these chairs. My daughter has already put an order in for a set, so much to build........

The story of the board continues. I start work at 8am some days, 7 am others. On my 8am days I can usually get a little time in the shop before heading to work, and today is one of those days. So after my cup of coffee out I went to do the resaw operation. My 14" Laguna bandsaw is going to be worked out with this so I thought I'd take a quick look to see if there is any obvious waste I could cut off. In this pic you can see first I need new blades in my planer. Second you can see some sapwood that has some insect damage. I commonly see this with my air dried lumber if the bark is left on

I can't remember if i posed this already. I got the door sealed and mounted with the guest book signitures. It worked out wonderfully!

Happy New Years to all! It has to be better than the one we just finished with! Even though I may have posted this before, it sums it up.

We took a couple day trips from home. Megan has some TV shows she really likes and I really hate so she made me go to my shop so she could watch them. She doesn't appreciate my peanut gallery comments during them. I found a really cool bench that was on top of a 50 foot cliff. The bench has an amazing view. We also did some TV and movie watching from the safety of our couch. Nothing wrong with a basement shop. I think that space looks pretty good. Put it to work and plan the future shop to be done right when you have the ability.

I very recently finished the cabinet ive been working on that will hold all my stereo equipment and cds/vinyls. I had a thread open in the general woodworking sub about visible glue lines in a table top i was gluing together. The top was for this cabinet. Im happy to report I got the top glued together and there are only very minor areas where the joint is visible. I wrapped an LED strip around the inside of the case at the back to add some lighting to it and it really makes it pop. The case is regular Baltic Birch plywood that I ebonized using calligraphy ink. It worked great, but was a

As the story of this little table continues, it's on to the legs and aprons. As I mentioned in the opening chapter, the highlight of this piece is clearly the top. The bottom support will not be easily visible, so the idea is to have a subtle leg and apron structuce that allows the top to be all it can be. In determining leg position in an oval table you can put them on the ends and the sides of the table or you can put them on the "corners". When I say "corners" I'm referring to where the corners used to be. I find doing a traditional leg structure at the corners of an oval table tricky, it's

A recent project could have gone easier if I had a teardrop base for my palm router that would accept a guide bushing. I had some plexiglass laying around. The screw holes were no big deal as I used the original template for a guide. The stepped bushing hole was a little tricky seeming how my drill press will only slow down to about 250 RPM. I got through that okay and added a coutersunk hole for a knob. Works like a champ.

The story continues with a quick update and a redirection. First the redirection, this table is being made to go with the Z chairs I just completed. Well I got them back from the upholstery shop and after putting them in the room where they will live I found the size of table I was envisioning to put between the two chairs was too large. I was originally thinking I'd go with a table 20"x 24-28". I really thought I had the space since they were being placed in a spot that held a full sized couch previously. Well after placing the chairs and measuring I'm going to have to down size the table to

I use a shop vac to get the hair my house mouse sheds. I do it twice a week, and in between he gets brushed daily. But the best part is he only sheds twice a year.. From Jan to june and from june to Jan. So there's that.

Finished sanding a couple more maple end-grain plates. First coat of finish soaking in: I cheated on these. No tablesaw turning. Instead, I screwed the bearing block from my 'spin-a-ma-jig' onto a board that I could clamp in my bench vise and spin with a drill. Poor man's lathe for faceplate turning. But I used an angle grinder to shape the plates. Talk about a mess.... That maple end grain just gets prettier, the finer you sand it.

Final installment. First, I flipped the case upside-down to attach the top. The front edge is screwed through a cleat that was glued across the inside of the upper apron rail. Icepick helps re-align the screw holes. To attach the rear edge, expansion of the top must be respected. Newbies may be confused by the references to "figure eights", Z-clips", or "furniture buttons" they see in this forum. I know I was. Just understand those devices allow the top panel to expand and contract without coming loose from the case. Given that those devices are "specialty" hardware, not available i

Cody passed the test to get his learner permit today. Watch out, Tennessee drivers!

As with most stories you hope for a good ending. Well I haven't reached the end of this story yet so my hope is that I will get to a good ending, but there is a distinct possibility it could go bad. I'll start this story back in Dec 2017, I met this tree, a funky walnut at the family farm. As most of you know I mill most of my own lumber and hauling around a chainsaw mill is my main milling technique. I'm pretty adventurous in what I'll mill. Sometimes doing that means a fabulous board and sometimes that means more firewood. I air dry all the wood I mill, and I like to mill thick, this gi

Well we've reached the final chapter and after a few coats of Osmo, which I'm using a lot more and really liking, the story of the log that became a table is over. If you've followed up to this point you are probably interested in how the table turned out, well I'd say I'm very pleased. I know @RichardA has enjoyed this story, but I am beginning to wonder where his mind goes sometimes! Here's the table with the chairs in a MCM sitting area. Great place to read or enjoy a cigar and scotch, if you are in to those things and your wife lets you smoke in the house. The table fits perfectly and

Forgot to tell you that the Spurtle is used for cooking and food prep, toss a salad, stir up stuff, I know I’m losing it so no comments in that, mix of wood scraps I had, mahogany, cherry, walnut, maple

Dry fitted. Now in the clamps. Dry fitting is always important to me since I had a stressful but successful event on a door. Too much stress and not good risk reward. The people that I'm building this for wanted no profile on the edges around the panels. I put a cove on the bottom left edge for a finger grip. White markers are needed for my old eyes. Pencil marks may be hard to see on walnut. If the figured wood has a pattern that points, I always have it pointing up.

This is one of the few forums I participate on that allows links to other forums. At least, I hope I'm right about that. Anyway, for those of you that mill lumber, this is a thread off the Forestryforum that I think you will find interesting, if not valuable. Even if you don't run a bandmill, follow it through to the part about chasing the fleck in quartersawn logs. https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=93851.0

Got it downstairs without any issues. Cut a 2x4 and screwed it to where the wheels were and slid it down with help from my wife. Only attached some old tshirts to the bottom of the 2x4s. Will have to find some carpet to attach for the next time. Angling the front of the 2x4 was crucial to helping it slide without banging off the steps. Now to get it set up. Seems like one of the knives is off.

Cut the juice groove and outer edge curves on a Scott Lewis cutting board I'm making for one of my neighbors. I'll do the edge profile, finger grips, and oil it tomorrow.

Shower heads that I can't stand completely under. I hate having to duck in my own shower so I don't hit the shower head with my head. Since you brought it up, those grocery bags didn't use to bother me until you stopped being able to lick your fingers to open them.

I just finished this shelf for our tile guy. The outside first cut from a walnut log and the sapwood is certainly an accent. Actually more than the pic shows. If it’s unclear, the first pic is of the shelf in it’s to be , mounted position and the second is the underside of the shelf, the outside of the log.

Well i can still move a camera with an injured wrist, so i've been spending more time outside. We had some awesome frosty days. While out exploring my cousin and I came accross some deer that were eating on a fallen oak tree. This is un-cropped and was taken with a 100mm lens on full frame. I was at best 20 feet from this deer and it didn't care at all that I was there. Below was cropped slightly. Normally i have to use a 400mm to get pictures like this....

My wife, her sister and I, spent 3.5 hours in line yesterday to get tested. It was a self test where we had to drill the damn swab up our own nose. They told us that it would be 3-5 days for the results. This morning at 8:00, we three received notice that we tested negative. Today is our son’s bd and he said that the results were the best bd gift he’s ever received. He was so scared that he had transmitted it to us.

I got the new slider dialed in to "Starrett square". I'll do a full write up in a couple of weeks, but I'm really happy with it so far. I still have a LOT of work to do reorganizing the shop around it, rerouting dust collection and electrical, etc. The school won't reopen until March at the soonest, so I have some time. The large carriage is not installed here - the old outfeed table for my SS has to be moved before I can fit it on.

I know and I need to shut the heck up about my tomatoes but I love them! I hung 3 of them on our Christmas tree when the wife wasn’t looking. She gave in and humored me

Had a date with Barbie.home repairs..

Teaching one of my students to make a five piece door and how to use the new slider. She's a quick study.

Thanks guys. Still kicking around. I picked up another time-sucking activity that has taken me out of the shop for a couple years, so woodworking hasn't been at the top of my mind Getting the itch again and probably have a big project or two coming up, so I'll be around more.

Above, will be all drawers. Except the left side was add on just in time to add open shelves because lefty would be bumping his elbow on the wall while shaving. This will be floating cabinets, meaning hung on the wall, no base. 2 dummies in front of the sinks. 9 faces, 7 drawers. Up to 4 of them to allow plumbing behind the drawers by building in a recess from the middle back to the drawers. I do not have all the numbers yet but it should be coming soon. I hope. The faces will be continuous grain of the same boards. The small box above will mimic the big piece. No plumbing. The pie

waiting for the dimensions on the sink, I starting working on the one and only door. The door panels. curly claro walnut. 1 coat of General semigloss oil.

Someone recently asked to see how I produce plates & dishes without a lathe. First let me warn everyone, I am experimenting with different jig designs, and what you see here may not be the safest way to do things. Please bear with me... I like working with tree rounds from a local timber mill. The end grain looks pretty nice. Maple is my favorite so far. Here is a log round, broken up to make 2 round dishes about 8" diameter each, and an oblong chunk for carving. I tried to round off a blank with my pivot-point circle jig, but the thick maple and smallish diameter made it f

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm writing a novel. So, step one is to determine how much blade I can expose without cutting through my blank. Note the sharpie lines transferred around the edge are to facilitate centering the blank over the blade later. With just under 2" of thickness, I want to max the blade exposure at about 1 5/8" for hollowing the bowl, because I want a small "foot" on the bottom. Let's do that first. The foot needs a recessed center, so the bowl won't wobble. I think 3/16" is deep enough, and that exposes a 'cord' of 1 7/8" along the blade. Works

Picked up a used 6" jointer earlier. Got it inside but not downstairs yet. Should be another fun adventure.

There are other things to do when it snows besides shovel it, granddaughter catching some air while sledding with grandma

This chapter follows on from "Before the Drawers", in which I should have ended stating, "Now we are one step away from making drawers". And now this chapter is that penultimate step ... I need to explain some of the (as I feel) pedantic details I have been outlining. Firstly, I write this for those who are starting out and those who are seeking ways to increase their accuracy. The steps may not be new to some, but we all like to be reassured that others also find them necessary. Secondly, I am going to introduce a fixture I built that increases not only accuracy, but speeds up a

When I saw the picture above I was hoping the sapwood would play a roll in the project. Often people are too quick to eliminate sapwood.

Fortunately, my day job doesn't require much in the way of physical effort.

Finished the trim work yesterday, still wet in these pics With the paint on the wood wall dry I was able to get everything hung up. No more tripping / knocking over sleds etc.

You da man! I'm a huge WB fan and have been since my very first bite at the very first A-frame Whataburger on Andrews Highway in Odessa in 1960. We'd gone over to Monahans State Park for a day of sand surfing and stopped at WB after hearing the buzz about how great they were. One of my students (from TX) brought me this - And no well-dressed woodworker should be without a proper facemask -

A few days ago, when the "new strain" news was breaking, one of the researchers being interviewed made a comment like this: "It's a virus, mutating is what they do. We have recorded over 4000 mutations so far, and this is the first that has been any more contagious than the others." The clip was immediately cut, and the talking heads resumed talking in an alarmed manner about the new variant. I just wish that facts could be distributed as facts, and without so much drama.

Lots more restrictions. Whole areas have stay at home orders. We in my area are not in that yet.... but real close to it probably going into yet another nationwide lock down. 72000+ deaths overall and 53000 new cases just today. The hospitals are close to breaking point. It seems this new strain can be spread easier. We’d also heard of the new South African variant which apparently is as bad to young adults as the regular strain is to older people. Fortunately a lot of people have been vaccinated already with the Pfizer Biontech vaccine, including my elderly parents, and will get their se

Just an FYI for anyone wanting to upgrade their Harbor Freight dust collector fan. You can now also by a fan from Wen Tools. It's the same specs as the Rikon fan but only costs $35 and shipping is free. The part number is 3403-22...... just got mine today, installed and runs with no problems.