I recently made my own beeswax finish that incorporated beeswax and mineral oil.

This was a very straight forward process that created a quality product at a very, very low cost.

I purchased the mineral oil at the grocery store in the pharmacy section and I got the beeswax from a local honey maker. The total cost for both was under $3.00 giving a cost per ounce at roughly .24 cents. This is 1/10 of the cost for similar commercial products!

The recipe that I used is simple and it took less than 15 minutes to make it.

Here’s the recipe that I used:

Continue reading 'A Beautiful Beeswax Finish For Cheap'

In addition to the Crosscut Sleds I also had to make a jig to cut the slots for the splines on the Maple And Padauk Box that I made. This is basically a cradle that holds your workpiece at a 45 degree angle to the tablesaw blade.

This was pretty simple and quick to build. It is just two pieces of 1″ X 4″ cut with 45 degree ends and then screwed to a piece of plywood so that two ends meet and are level with the bottom of the plywood.

To use it’s just a matter of setting your tablesaw fence to the depth that you want the slot cut and then cradle your workpiece in the jig and run it through the saw while keeping the back of the jig against the fence.

You can use this jig to put splines in boxes and picture frames.

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'

I had a great evening last night turning my first wine bottle stopper! This was a fun project allowing me to work on my spindle turning skills as well as learning the creation process. It is made of Cocobolo and turned from a piece of wood approximately 1 1/2″ square and 3″ long. I believe the Cocobolo really added to the finished product.

This was a project that I wanted to do since I started woodturning. But like a lot of things getting started is the hardest thing to do so I went to a woodturning course at Lee Valley and received instruction on how to turn one. These courses are always great.

Here are the steps I took to turn the stopper:

Continue reading 'Cocobolo Wine Bottle Stopper Topper'