Well, I finally got back out to the shop after being “on tour” recently and I got a chance to do a bit of woodturning. I chose a piece of Lacewood that I had sitting here on the bench for the past little while. Perhaps you remember back about a mouth ago when I had a small piece of Lacewood and turned a candle holder as a ‘practice’ piece before turning a bowl out of this wood.

The bowl is 5.5″ in diameter and 2″ tall. It is finished with the EEE Ultrashine and ShellaWax combo.

Even though I’m quite happy with the final result I doubt if I will rush out to purchase any more Lacewood bowl blanks any time soon. Unlike the candle holder I found turning this bowl a real challenge since the wood seemed very brittle which caused finishing issues with the end grain. I can assure you that it was much larger in diameter when I started!

Here are some more photos:

Continue reading 'A Lovely Little Lacewood Bowl'

Wow! LumberJocks has done it again! Not only is this one of the best online woodworking forums around but now they have just upped the ante with the LumberJocks Woodworking Awards for 2008!

This is your chance to show the woodworking world your latest project and compete for the coveted title of, get this - The Best Overall LumberJock! Woohoo! Imagine the bragging rights that comes with this one! There’ll be no denying your skills after winning this one!

Seriously, this is a very prestigious award because of the fact that the winner is chosen by our peers - other LumberJocks! Yep, there is no fancy, schmancy convoluted mechanism in place. There are no hoops to jump through, no mountains to climb or songs to sing. We simply do what we do best by doing our best and the winner will be determined by how many LumberJocks believe which project is the best. How simple is that?!

There are two categories, One Man’s Junk, where you create a project using old hardware, reclaimed wood and/or recycled junk and the Serve It Up With Class category where you build a serving tray out of at least two different varieties of wood.

And the prizes… boy, are there prizes! Get a load of this, here’s what’s up for grabs:

Continue reading 'LumberJocks Woodworking Awards 2008'

In keeping with the garden and patio theme here are two small garden benches that I built a couple of years ago. I (my wife) had to give them a new coat of paint this year to ’spruce’ them up a little. Each of them are just over 3 feet long, 12 inches wide and about 18 inches tall.

They are just a couple of pieces of 2 X 10’s and a bit of 1 X 4 that my son brought home from a construction site that I slapped together. However, simple as they are they make great useful, accent pieces. I cut a couple of notches out of the skirt to add a bit of Southwest style.

Here you can see them in the garden and on the patio:

Continue reading 'Simple Garden Benches Add Accent'

Well, my wife and I finally got around to getting the patio ready for summer. As you can likely tell by the recent posts, we have been travelling quite a bit so getting the chance to stay at home and putter around the yard is a real treat!

I came across a gang of little fellows who reside in the gardens around the house and was lucky to catch them all together having a bit of a confab:

These guys were carved 3 or 4 years ago out of either Birch or Poplar logs. There was no finish applied so they are showing wear.

After I snapped the above shot it startled them and they ran off to hide. I was able to spot them again throughout the gardens. Here’s some more photos I captured of them:

Continue reading 'Grinning Garden Gods In The Green'

1. Make your own bench dogs using 3/4″ hardwood dowels and rubber chair leg tips. The rubber tip gives a cushioned grip on your work piece as well as well as keeps the dog from sliding down the bench hole.

2. Using alcohol on a glue line is a great way to clean up excess epoxy, if you do it before it cures.

3. If you find that your chalk line is smudging and becoming unreadable try spraying it with hairspray.

4. A plywood block with a saw kerf in the top edge makes a handy scraper rack.

5. Need to copy something but out of transfer paper? Use a soft lead pencil to shade over the lines of your drawing on the back of the paper. Then tape your pattern to your workpiece and retrace.

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.

Got a woodworking tip that you want to share? Let me know and I’ll add it in a future issue of Tips and Tidbits!

Back to the shop…

My next visit was to the Museum Of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Where a previous post was focused on contemporary First Peoples woodcarvings the MOA offers insight into the past with the history of these carvings told through artifacts.

The museum was started more than fifty years ago and now houses some 535,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects, many of which originate from the Northwest Coast of British Columbia. It is Canada’s largest teaching museum and its collections, exhibitions and programs are renowned for giving access and insight into the cultures of indigenous peoples around the world.

When I arrived at the information desk I was informed that there was a tour starting immediately so I quickly joined it and took advantage of an excellent presentation by a well informed staff member. I was treated to glimpse inside the rich history of Canada’s First Peoples as told through their woodcarvings. In addition to the long term exhibits I also got a chance to view the visiting ‘Treasures of the Tsimshian from the Dundas Collection’ which included 48 pieces collected by Rev. Robert J. Dundas at Metlakatla, BC, in 1863.

Continue reading 'The Museum Of Anthropology At UBC'

I got to spend an enjoyable day in Vancouver’s Stanley Park recently. The high point of the day was my visit to Totem Park where there is an excellent display of eight different Totem poles that represent a variety of woodcarving styles and artists. The Totems range in size from an estimated 12 to 25 feet and all but one is brightly painted. It is easy to see why this is one of the most photographed tourist attractions in British Columbia!

The Totems on display are the Oscar Maltipi Pole, the Beaver Crest Pole, the Chief Wakas Pole, the Sky Chief Pole, the Thunderbird House Post, Ga’akstalas, Kaka’solas, and the Chief Skedans Mortuary Pole. Unfortunately the Beaver Crest Pole is hidden in the above photo. It resides on the left-hand side of the display sort of behind the Oscar Maltipi Pole. (guess I’ll have to go back to get better photos ;))

Also on display at the park are three huge 15 foot tall ‘gateways’, entitled “People Amongst the People” which were designed and crafted by Coast Salish carver, Susan Point. This is a new addition to the park, in fact, the unveiling for it was within days of my visit. Since Totem Park is located in Coast Salish territory and the Totem poles were made by the Kwakwaka’wakw, Haida and Nisga’a it is nice to see that the Coast Salish are finally being represented here.

Continue reading 'The Totem Poles Of Totem Park'

While in Vancouver recently I had the chance to drop by Hill’s Native Art at their Gastown location. With five outlets in British Columbia, Hill’s is the largest Northwest Coast Native Art Gallery in North America, and has acquired the largest and most varied collection of First Nations and Inuit arts and crafts. They exhibit hundreds of works by emerging and internationally renowned artists that represents every Tribe and Nation of the Northwest Coast.

I was treated to three floors of some of the finest carvings and art that I have ever seen! There are masks, totems, bentwood boxes, sculptures, wall panels, feast dishes, talking sticks and much more by such artists as Susan Point, Jerry Whitehead, Jim Charlie and George Storry, to name just a few.

In addition to wood carvings they also have an extensive showing of hand-carved jewelry, baskets, drums, paintings, bead work and their famous Cowichan knits. They also have quite a large book section related to Native art.

Here are some photos of the carvings that are displayed there:

Continue reading 'The Hills Are Alive With Native Art!'

While on a recent visit to Sacramento, California I had the opportunity to visit a Woodcraft store. Now, at the outset, let me say that this post may not be of interest to some of my American friends who have one of their stores nearby. To you, this may not seem to be a big deal but for years I have wanted to visit a Woodcraft store, not only because of the good things that I heard about them but simply because this was another woodworking store to visit. You know, as woodworkers, we can never pass up an opportunity to go tool shopping!

This location, though not all that large, was stocked full of, well, I guess everything that a woodworker would need. There were woodturning tools, woodcarving chisels, exotic woods, planers, table saws, bandsaws. lathes, books, pen making supplies, safety equipment, hardware and much, much more.

As you can imagine, this was a woodworkers dream, to visit a new woodworking store and to see an array of products and tools, particularly those not available at home. For those of you, who like me, have never been to a Woodcraft store, here are some photos that I took on my visit:

Continue reading 'A Wild And Wonderful Woodcraft Tour'

Here’s a candle holder that I recently made out of Lacewood. It is about 3.5″ in diameter and 2″ tall. It’s finished with the Shellawax combo.

I bought a Lacewood bowl blank and was lucky to also find a small piece of it in the scrap bin. Since I hadn’t turned Lacewood before I thought I’d start with the piece of scrap. It was easy to turn and even though it has a coarse texture it finished up pretty nice.

Lacewood is a wood that comes from Australia. It is also known as Silky Oak, likely because of the prominent rays that are similar to Oak. It is a reddish brown / pinkish color.

Continue reading 'A Lacewood Candle Holder'