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Project Photos (8)
Feel free to send a note with question/comments.
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Oh Christmas tree....
A common theme for hobby woodworkers is gifts. We love to
recieve them, and we love even more to make them. But how many candle holders
can one family accept and who really uses all those napkin holders? It's always
fun to come up with something that's going to be out in the open when you
vist; not because it "has" to be, but because the recipients of the gifts
actually use them. This year I think I may have met the challenge.
These end-grain butcher block style cutting boards are from a design in
the December 2005 edition of Canadian Woodworking magazine. They're simple,
not too difficult to make and and up being a product that's actually hard to
find in the stores. The four of them are made up from silver maple that
was "home" milled and dried. The " tree that supplied the wood was planted circa
1885. Building them was pretty straight forward using polyurethane for glue,
a fixture to assure they're straight and true, lots of hand planing, machine
and hand sanding to assure they're flat and mineral oil to assure they look nice
for time to come.
Update
Two of these boards have been in regular use and have been oiled regularly with
mineral oil. Both of them have seams opening up. I know that the original glue
joints were good, so I'm guessing that the mineral oil is somehow breaking
down the polyurethane glue. I haven't seen the board yet but will update as soon as I
know what's going on
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Where the trolls are
I love my Mother-in-law. Really! I do! But if you look back a few pages I made
her a wooden box. And if that's not bad enough, this year I made her a troll
door. Now now...yes, the door is for her, but not for her to use, it's for
her to have a little fun with. Really!
The door itself is simple. It's made from some old pine glued up to make a
panel. The frame is joined with simple half-laps and the "finish" was applied
to make the door look old and well used.
The door itself is always left open a bit, or a lot. Because trolls never
close their doors - it makes it easier to
peek out. And the door
is elevated off the floor just a wee bit. Because trolls have to jump -
sometimes from places they're not supposed to
jump from. And the door
can be moved from wall to wall. Because that's what trolls do with their doors.
It's not everyone who has a troll door in their house, and it's not every Grandma's grandkids who are held in awe by what's behind one either. Who knows - maybe there's a troll door in your house just waiting to be uncovered.
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Grandma's cutting board
Off the coast of Powell River lives a small herd of old concrete ships.
Mysteriously, they remain steadfast sentry's and guard their secrets.
But two of their secrets escaped - in the form of cutting boards. And one of those,
now lives on our counter.
Click here for the full story -
better grap a cuppa first :)
Enjoy!
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Raising siblings is like the two sides of a math equation
What ever you do for one, you have to do for the other. So when big brother
got his new shelves, little brother patiently waited his turn.
These are from a design found in Popular Woodworking and even though they're
simple looking, the were strangely complicated to build. However, they're a
perfect match to the bed I built him and the results are worth it.
These were the answer to what was needed.
All right - enough of the math analogy's!
The alder for these started it's life as left over pieces from a veneer mill.
They've been sitting outside for a year or so and were purchased for $1.25
per board. After much culling and milling, I almost had enough wood to build
these. A bit of birch rounded things out.
Construction is with pocket holes (first time I've done that and I'll do it
again!), and the blue finish is all sprayed. The shelves have three coats of
Varathane brushed on as they're already supporting the treasures of a young lad.
Fun to look at, a challenge to build, a joy to receive and useful. That's
what this hobby is all about!
(Yes, the molding is crooked! No, I didn't install it!)
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Boys and bugs - they just go together
Spring is here, and that means bugs. Which means bug collections, and without
proper containment, that means some rather interesting conversations when we
find snails crawling up the inside of the living room windows.
They say parenting is all about choosing your battles. We chose to lose this one
and bugs are now allowed in the house. BUT - they must be contained in these.
"These" are terrariums. Made of scrap plywood, some plexiglass and some drywall
sanding screen (tougher than window screen) they work and work well. There's plexiglass tray in the bottom (glued with silicone) to contain dirt and stray water and to
allow for easy cleaning when the inevitable happens.
For those keeping track, yes -these took way too long to build and yes, we could have
bought them cheaper from Walmart. But hey - it's not about that right?!
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It's fund raising time!
(no, not for me!). The
Vancouver Water Ski Club
is having their annual fundraiser this weekend and asked if I had anything
that could be auctioned off. I didn't. But I did have a bunch of home-milled
birch in the family room (....what? You don't keep birch in your family room?)
and a plan for a small project that would fit on an "auction item table".
This recipe book holder started with rough stock on Monday morning and I put
the last coat of finish on it Friday morning before work. In between were
various dado's, rabbets, router jigs and new words. The raised panels on the
drawers were done on the table saw - something new for me and something
I'll do again. I wish I'd had a bit more time, but the project itself should
bring a few $$ to a worthy cause - I hope!
Update
The piece sold to a lady in Kelowna and I've been told the loves it. Good news!
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