While my time spent on woodcarving has waned a bit lately my interest in this age old handcraft is still as strong as ever. I enjoy all facets of woodcarving, from simple whittlings to architectural masterpieces. One of my keen interests has always been in sculptural carvings.

Here are a couple of carvings of grape leaves that I did as an exercise in tool technique and working with grain direction. They are about 10″ in length and 7″ wide and carved from Basswood.

I did these through a weekly class held at a local Italian Cultural Center. The class goals were to learn and practise the skills and traditional techniques of sculpting in wood and to explore the still life, wildlife, Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

Continue reading 'Sculptured Grape Leaf Woodcarvings'

1. When carving Cottonwood Bark ensure that the wood is no more than a year off the tree. Cottonwood Bark contains a waxy oil that will dissipate over time and cause the bark to become brittle and dry. Once this happens your chisel will break the edges of the bark, making it hard to create a quality carving.

2. Make a scribble mark on the waste side of a cut to ensure that you remember what side to make your cut on.

3. Static cling causes dust to attach itself to your faceshield. Wipe your faceshield with a laundry dryer antistatic sheet. Try a sheet that has been used in the dryer at least once because a fresh sheet will leave streaks and a sheet that has been used too much won’t have enough ‘cling repellent’ left on it to be useful.

4. When sanding by hand without a sanding block you can keep your sandpaper from tearing so easily by covering the back side with duct tape prior to use. This works well with palm sanders too.

5. One annoyance when using an orbital sander is that it continues to spin after it has been turned off. Instead of buying one of those ’sander sitters’ just use a piece of carpet that has a bit of pile.

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 some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

When asked what hobbies I have I often mention, in addition to woodworking, how I enjoy gardening. However, lately I realized that the majority of the gardening I do would be best termed as ‘yard work’. While gardening evokes images of kneeling in a bed of sweet-smelling, brightly colored flowers musing about the beauty of life, most of what I do involves a pick, a shovel, a wheelbarrow and large boulders.

However, one thing about gardening that I don’t consider work is when I get to combine woodworking with it. The way I do this is by building projects meant for the outdoors. One of my favorite projects is a fun one I call The Birdhouse Bench. Here’s a couple I made the other day:

Each one is about 30″ wide, 15″ deep, 40″ tall and made from scrap lumber. They only take a few hours to build and make a great addition to your garden.

Continue reading 'Building Benches Is For The Birds'

This month’s meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild was another fun and informative gathering for approximately 40 members. We were treated to an instructional segment on spindle turning and a ’show and tell’ of some great work by the Guild members.

Dave Wilkins conducted the spindle turning instruction, demonstrating the use of the skew and spindle gouge.

Working with just a scrap piece of wood, he turned it round and demonstrated the proper use of these two woodturning tools. Working with the skew he showed how the peeling cut can be used to remove a lot of material quickly and how the planing cut is used to smooth. He spoke of the ideal position of the skew on the wood, where using the middle of the blade is preferred. He validated this by showing us the riving action caused by using the heel of the blade and how using the toe easily causes a ‘catch’, the bane of the skew.

Continue reading 'Woodturning Spindles At The NWG'

Well, this weekend allowed me to get a bit of time in on the Craftsman Style Coffee Table that I have been puttering away with for the fast few months. I was able to get the slats for the ends cut, mortised and tenoned.

I went with five same-width slats evenly spaced from each other with a much larger space at either end. They are centered on the skirt and stretcher.

Both the top skirts on the short side and bottom stretchers were mortised with 1/4″ mortises:

Continue reading 'Craftsman Style Coffee Table - Part 4'

1. When building a deck it’s possible to straighten a warped deck board - even when working by yourself - with the aid of a scissor-style car jack. A 2×4 cleat screwed to the supporting joists allows you to exert enough force with the jack to straighten the board. Then screw the board in place.

2. Sawdust and shavings from Pine and Oak lumber can be composted to form a nutritious mulch for gardens, shrubs and trees. It is best to mix it with other compost like leaves and grass clippings. Never compost sawdust from pressure-treated lumber, plywood or particle board which contains hazardous additives.

3. Some woods, such as walnut or oak, are very tough and hard to carve. You can soften the wood up by applying de-natured alcohol to it. The alcohol will not cause the grain to raise like water will. The alcohol, of course, will evaporate with time.

4. Need to fill in a crack or check? Mix sawdust from your piece with glue and put into the crack or check. When dry, sand and finish as usual.

5. Use a framing square to find the center of a circle by placing the corner of the square on the circle, and marking where the legs meet the circumference. Draw a line from one mark to the other. Do this a second time. These lines intersect at the center.

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 some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

Wanting to try out the new spindle gouge that I turned the handle for a week ago I turned a candle holder. And since I also wanted to try out the new drill chuck I decided to put a base on it:

This is made of cherry and finished with Turner’s Polish. It stands at about 6″ tall and is just over 3″ round at the base.

It was made in two parts with a tenon turned on the candle stick that was glued to the base. Here’s a photo of the two parts:

Continue reading 'Candle Holder Spindle Work'

Who’da thought that woodworking would bring me back to the computer? As much as I try to get away from this electronic life-sucking gizmo I’m always drawn back, but this time in a real good way.

One of the latest cool tools to hit the woodworker’s workbench is Google Sketchup, a 3D computer aided design (CAD) software program that you can use to design, create, and modify your project plans. It’s like Etch-A-Sketch on steroids!

SketchUp was created by @Last Software, a small group of AEC software industry veterans. Founded in 1999 and based in Boulder, Colorado, this group envisioned developing 3D design software that would make design exploration accessible to everyone. In March of 2006 @Last Software was acquired by Google, and shortly there after released a free version of SketchUp.

It’s easier to learn than other 3D modeling programs, which is why so many people are already using it. SketchUp’s simplified toolset, guided drawing system and clean look-and-feel help you concentrate on two things: getting your work done as efficiently as possible, and having fun while you’re doing it.

Continue reading 'Google SketchUp For The Woodworker'

Here is a table that I built about two years ago for just inside the entrance to our living room. It is made of red oak and stands 31″ tall X 34″ wide and 11″ deep. It is finished with a light stain and polyurethane.

The legs are tapered when viewed from the ends. They were tapered this way because of where the table is located the ends are seen when in the living room or either entering the front door or coming down the hall.

Continue reading 'A Red Oak Hall Table'

I just picked up a 1/2″ three-jaw Drill Chuck with Morse Taper Adapter from Lee Valley. It can be used in either the lathe headstock or tailstock for drilling and in the headstock as a turning chuck.

Here it is mounted in the tailstock:

Continue reading 'Drill Chuck And Morse Taper'