Ebony has always intriged me and today I got a chance to work with it while making this Flat Top American pen:

Continue reading 'A Turned Pen Of Ebony'

Although the guest speaker was unable to make it to tonight’s Atlantic Woodworkers Association meeting we had a great ’show and tell’ and Q and A session.

One of the members brought in a project he recently completed:

Continue reading 'Woodworking Show And Tell'

1. Make a dado guide for quick size reference by taking a length of plywood by about 6″ and making cuts across it with all the size variables of your stackable dado blades. Mark the sizes and blade/shim combinations in the appropriate dado. Then all you have to do is fit your wood in the dado that it fits to quickly determine your dado setup.

2. When gluing up large pieces like a table top use a dowel the same size as the thickness of the boards laid parallel between your clamps and the wood. This concentrates the pressure in the middle of the wood and minimizes the tendency of the clamps to force the boards up and down.

3. To help keep sawdust off your safety facemask try rubbing an anti-static dryer sheet over the face shield. You can also try anti-fog spray sold at most sports stores.

4. To force glue into a tight spot like a crack, put a little dab of glue where you want it and then blow it deep into the tight spot using a straw.

5. An old toothbrush (or a new one) makes a terrific glue spreader in some applications like spreading glue on edge of a board.

6. You can steady your pipe clamps and keep them from tipping over making several “cradles” from inexpensive metal broom clips and plywood blocks. The cradles have the added benefits of raising the panel off the clamps, so there’s no worrying about the pipes leaving behind ugly black stains on the wood.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

I couldn’t stand it any longer! The face shield that I was using for the past 20 years is so scratched and marked up that it was hard to see out of. It never seemed a problem before because it was never used for that long. Now with turning it has became quite necessary.

Here’s the before and after:

Back to the shop…

1. Wax your lathe with car wax. This will keep it from collecting dirt and debris. Also if added to your ways the banjo will move easier and smoother.

2. Create a finish for cutting boards by mixing ten parts mineral oil to one part paraffin wax. Dissolve the wax on a low microwave setting. Once melted, stir to blend and wipe on your board. Let dry and buff.

3. It helps to briefly run your brad point bit in reverse to scribe the outside diameter of the hole. This slices the wood fibers and minimizes tearout, especially on softwoods like pine.

4. Running a board shorter than 12″ through your thickness planer will cause problems like getting caught between the infeed and outfeed rollers, sever snipe and cutterhead damage. To get around this glue long, narrow scrap strips to your piece. Once planed cut off the scrap pieces.

5. Check your bandsaw adustments periodically throughout a project, especially on those that require critical angles.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

After last weekend’s woodturning seminars and competition I figured that it was time to create some bowls.

After a few false starts (hahaha, yeah right, a few…) I created a couple of small bowls that I was rather proud of… sort of… hey, it’s a start!

Continue reading 'That’s It! I’m Goin’ Bowlin’!'