Last summer I was able to reclaim some old wood that appeared to be the two ends to an organ or an upright piano. Originally thinking that they were cherry or possibly just poplar I later found that they were made of Walnut. After taking them apart I had two pieces that were approximately 4 feet tall, 12 inches wide and just over 3/4 inch thick. I also ended up with two pieces about 18 inches long, 12 inches wide and 2 inches thick.

Over the past couple of weeks I was able to get a few picture frames built using some of this Walnut.

These ones are 20″ X 22″ and finished with a few coats of wipe-on poly.

The frame here below is considerably larger at 32″ X 41″ and it is also finished with just a few coats of wipe-on poly:

Continue reading 'Wonderful Walnut For The Walls'

In January I had the enjoyment of watching wooden snowshoes being made! I took an early morning drive down to Ross Farm Museum, just over an hour away, and spent the morning in the Farm Workshop, being warmed by an old woodstove, watching as the instructor fashioned a traditional wooden snowshoe.

Lately, snowshoeing has become the number one winter sport, even surpassing snowboarding! That being said, unfortunately the snowshoes of choice today are the modern aluminum and plastic type. Since a pair of traditional snowshoes is another item on my long list of projects that I want to make I thought that this would be a great introduction, and it sure was! What was really unique, and rare, was that my wife and I were the only ones there for this session! It being a wintery morning we figured everyone else decided to stay home in bed so we got one-on-one instruction and answers to our many questions!

At the Ross Farm Museum you learn about what life was like on a Nova Scotian farm between 100 and 175 years ago and how the early settlers and their descendants lived and coped with the land around them. It is typical of the many small farms that existed throughout Nova Scotia when the province was still being settled.

The museum is located on 60 acres of the original 800 acre grant given to Captain William Ross. Five generations of the Ross family have lived and worked on Ross Farm between 1816 and 1970, when the New Ross District Museum Society purchased the property. Even today many of the people who work at Ross Farm are descendants of early settlers in the area!

Continue reading 'Making Snowshoes At Ross Farm'

Here’s a small Maple bowl that is accented with a bit of leather lace, a couple of turquoise beads and silver findings.

As you no doubt can tell from other photos here onsite that our home is decorated with Native and Southwestern themes. This, I felt, would fit right in.

This is what is sometimes referred to as an enclosed bowl. I was keen on making one of these after seeing one made at the Robert Sorby demo I went to a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I turned it with the midi-sized Hollowmaster that I purchased on special that evening. Yep, it works.

It is 5″ in diameter and 2 1/4″ tall. It is finished with a couple of coats of beeswax. I believe that the deep color grain contrast, the knot and the crack adds to the ‘authenticity’ of the piece.

Here are some more photos of this piece:

Continue reading 'A Maple Bowl With Leather Accent'

This past Saturday I went to a demonstration by Rob Cosman, ‘Your Hand Tools Coach’. Rob was in town and at Busy Bee Tools demonstrating his ’4 minute dovetails’, his sharpening techniques and some new tools.

I hadn’t seen a presentation by Rob since I saw him a couple of years ago at a local woodshow when he was working with Lie Nielsen. He was a familiar face at these shows and I always looked forward to seeing him there each year. I also missed him back in 2007 when he spent the day with the Atlantic Woodworkers Association. It was great to be able to catch him here at Busy Bee.

Rob earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology / Furniture Design at Brigham Young University where he was Dr. Dale L. Nish’s teaching assistant. (Woodturners reading this may find that little tidbit rather interesting, I certainly did! ) Rob has worked some of the world’s master craftsmen, including Alan Peters, Sam Maloof, Tage Frid, Monroe Robinson and Peter Korn. He has operated a custom woodshop in New Brunswick since 1989 and up until a few years ago worked as a sales rep with Lie Nielsen. Now, in addition to offering workshops, seminars and training, he develops and promotes a full line of instructional videos and tools

Rob began his presentation with an explanation and demonstration of his time-honored sharpening method. He honed a plane blade on a 1000 grit stone first and then he created a microbevel on a 30000 (that’s 30K!) stone. This was followed by creating a smaller, finer bevel (a micro-micro bevel?) that he did using a small steel ruler as a jig, which he refered to as the ‘Charlesworth ruler trick’, a technique he learned from furniture maker, David Charlesworth.

Although the actual sharpening process takes only a couple of minutes Rob took the time to clearly explain every step, some tips and tricks and why he was doing something and why he wasn’t doing something. Because sharpening hand tools is often viewed as a mystery there were many questions regarding this which Rob happily answered, ensuring that it was understood before continuing on with his presentation.

Continue reading 'Rob Cosman’s Four Minute Dovetails'