Thursday Class

At class tonight I milled this pile of boards, and acquired several significant splinters (ouch!). I can't explain what the boards are going to become because that would ruin the surprise. tee hee.

Almost forgot. I also found out that the school is going to replace the equipment in the wood shop. The table saws will be replaced with SawStop table saws. The secret to the SawStop is a mechanism that detects when conductive material, like skin, comes into contact with the blade and immediately stops the blade and drops it below the table limiting the damage to the operator. There's a cool demonstration video on their web site. These are becoming a standard part of school woodshops partly because insurance companies are demanding it, and because it just makes sense. This is the saw that I'd like to add to my shop and I'm excited about the opportunity to get a chance to test drive it. My instructor wasn't clear on the time frame, so it may be awhile before I get my hands (not literally!) on the saw.

Elf Business Update

I spent sometime today working on this year's ornament. If you're on the list to get one (you know who you are) don't peek. Anyone else can see the update here.

LJ Sketchup Challenge

Several months ago a challenge was posted on LumberJocks. The challenge was to acquire Google's sketchup software; find a building, bridge, etc as inspiration; and design a dining room table based on that inspiration.

Sketchup is 3D modeling software. With it you can virtually construct items. Even the free version has lots of capabilities. Those capabilities make it a challenge to learn. August and September were busy and I didn't find enough energy or time to learn the software before the challenge ended at the end of September.

I also had trouble deciding on an inspiration. What I was looking for was something that had some meaning for me, and which, when worked into a table, would work. Finally with about a week until the deadline I thought of an inspiration that would work.

My inspiration is/was the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. This is the bridge referred to as the "rude bridge that arched the flood" in the Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The bridge is part of the Minute Man National Historical Park. This area was the site of one of the battles that started the Revolutionary War.

With inspiration in mind I began my work in Sketchup on the table design. It took me quite a while to conquer the software. I missed the challenge deadline (to paraphrase Douglas Adams I liked the whoosing sound the deadline made as it went flying by). I considered giving up on the design, but decided to follow through despite having missed the challenge deadline (and the prizes being given).

So, now that this has turned into a much longer story than necessary, here are a couple of pictures of the bridge. I took these from my kayak on October 18th.



This is not the bridge that was there is 1775. It would be very surprising if it was given that it's a wooden bridge. I happened to pass under the bridge while a tour was passing overhead and learned that this bridge is wider and has a higher arch than the original but the construction is basically the same.

Here's my design for a dining room table based on the bridge. If I were to build it I would use oak for the light wood and walnut for the dark wood. Construction would be primarily mortise and tenon.

Side view.

End view.

Top View. This is intended to look like the slats of the bridge surface.

A look at the whole table.
Size is 42 inches wide by 68 inches long. The legs are 28 inches high.

I have since used Sketchup to work out the design for the advent calendar I'm working on, and for a small side table. More details on those to come later.

Elf Business

As my family and friends know I have been making an almost yearly ornament/window hanging since 1996 (I've missed two or maybe it's three years.). Since a number of those people read this blog I'm not going to put much about this year's creation here. Suffice it to say that the planning has begun and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

If you are not on my gift list and would like a window into the process of creating these you can follow the progress here. Those of you who are on the list, and you know who you are, do NOT follow the link. Ruining the surprise will not make you happy, it will only ruin the surprise.

Softball Bats Done

I finished the softball bats at class tonight. The last steps were burnishing using a dog chew bone, then oiling while the lathe was running, and then using handfuls of shavings to polish.

After removing the bats from the lathe the extra material was removed from each end with the band saw. A little sanding and some more oil finished them off.

Softball Bats, Almost Done

Last spring the guys in my woodworking class got into making baseball bats. I'm not sure how it started, but 5 people including the instructor cranked out at least 1 bat. Towards the end of this the instructor mentioned that I was the one who should be making a bat since I actually play softball. At the time I was busy with other things.

Usually I take the summer off from class since I spend so much time with softball (playing, umpiring, scheduling umpires). This summer I decided it was worth the fairly low cost to have the shop available for as many nights as I could get there, so I signed up for the class. I spent most of the time working on Hiker Boy's advent calendar. I finished up the tasks I wanted to do on the advent calendar and still had a class and a half left. I didn't want to start another project, I've got more than enough waiting for completion, so I decided to give turning a bat a try.

First step was to mill blanks. This started with big slabs of ash about 4" x 10" x 3'. With help, that sucker was heavy, I cut 2 blanks about 4" square by 3' long. To make things easier on the lathe we set the blade on the table saw to 45 degrees and cut off the corners on the long edges.

This left something that looked like this:

Before heading to the lathe we used a saw to cut shallow grooves on one end of the blank, where you see the lines in the picture.





First step on the lathe was to create a cylinder. This is fairly simple but messy work. I ended up with wood chips, and saw dust everywhere including down my shirt. Once I had the wood worked into a cylinder it was time to start the real work. First step was to mark the locations of diameter changes. Using my favorite aluminum bat I measured out where the barrel ended and the taper began, the length of the handle and the width of the knob. I had to shorten the wooden bat slightly because the piece of wood was slightly shorter. It's only about an inch difference, not a major issue.

Using a parting tool I made incisions to mark the transition points. Then using a variety of tools I set to work on trimming the barrel to the desired thickness, and creating the taper. I ran out of time partway through. The picture on the left is the first bat with the barrel created and the taper roughed out and a lot of wood left to remove on the handle (left) end.


It was about two months before I got back to the bat. During week one of fall classes I finished off the first bat. After finishing off the construction - thinning out the handle, creating the knob and rounding over the edges of the knob and the end of the barrel - it was time for smoothing. A short round with a couple of files, and three grits of sand paper and the bat was almost done. (I thought I was a mess with all the wood chips I acquired it the turning - sanding just took that to a whole new level.) The knob is a little small, and there are a couple of nicks in the wood but it turned out (no pun intended) pretty good for my first try.

I had made 2 blanks, so I set off on bat number 2 as soon as bat 1 got to this point. By the time I left class on that first night of the fall session I had not only the mostly complete bat 1, but the cylinder for bat 2.

Thursday night I got back to work on bat 2. The steps were the same. The difference was a little more confidence and a little more patience. Bat number 2 is a little better than bat 1. The knob is the correct size, the handle is a little thicker (on purpose) and there are no nicks.

Next week I'll work on burnishing and finishing the bats, and separating them from the excess bits that allow them to be inserted into the lathe.



This is the knob on bat 2.






The two bats resting in my wheelbarrow. The lower bat is the first bat. If you click on the picture you can see one of the nicks near the taper.



Here are both bats sitting next to the aluminum bat they are patterned after. Bat 1 is in the middle.











Glossary (definitions from dictionary.com)
lathe - a machine for use in working wood, metal, etc., that holds the material and rotates it about a horizontal axis against a tool that shapes it.

Gouge - a chisel having a partly cylindrical blade with the bevel on either the concave or the convex side. Note: the link is to a stone for sharpening a gouge but it includes a good picture of a gouge.

parting tool - a thin tool, used in turning or planing, for cutting a piece in two.

Here is a picture of a small collection of turning tools.

Summer Woodworking

My last post was over 2 months ago. Sorry about that. I have done a bit of woodworking since then, although not a lot. Among the other things taking up my time were:

• We dropped off Snowflake's nightlight and met the man himself - he's a real cutie.

• I spent a couple of days on the Cape with my sister, her family, their friend and her son. One afternoon I supervised the boys D and JT making stepping stones (concrete, ceramic tiles and glitter). JT was particularly excited about the glitter. I didn't stay long enough to see the hardened stones, but word has it that the boys were fascinated by how the gloppy concrete turned into solid stones.

• We spent the last two weeks of July in the Adirondacks. We've vacationed there all but 2 of the last 12 years, the last 8 in Owl Cabin at Wakanda. Although I took some things to sand with me they never got pulled out. I did take photos and dimensions of an end table (a new addition to our cabin) which will likely end up as a project soon.
• Like too many other houses, our bathroom has a window above the tub. Since the tub is also used for showers the window gets wet. Over the years water has undermined the window framing, and the wall behind the plastic tub surround. The surround on our tub is several panels rather than a single piece. Over time the seams have lost their integrity and water has infiltrated. As embarrassing as it is to say this, the wall board behind the surround has been falling apart for years. After replacing the toilet and floor, we finally couldn't take it anymore. So in mid-August I carefully removed the surround and replaced the outside wall. Note to anyone reading - cardboard is not an acceptable shim in a bathroom wall! The job proved a little bit more involved than anticipated because the window trim was glued to the framing which meant that it all had to be replaced.
  
• Since returning from vacation work has been taking up a lot of time and more energy.
• I have been giving the kayak a good amount of time in the water.

There has been a bit of woodworking as well.

Hiker Boy's Advent Calendar

The stock for all parts has been milled, and I'm ready to start joinery. The drawer stock still needs to be cut to final dimension. The picture above is the corner of one of the doors.

Softball Bat
This is a new addition to the list. Last spring many of the guys in my woodworking class made baseball bats. One evening as I was leaving the instructor commented that I was the one who should be making a bat. He's aware of my participation in the softball league at work (I help run our team, play, umpire and coordinate the umpires for the league). And when he found out that I'd never used a lathe he was even more convinced that I should give it a try. I didn't have anything else to work on for the last class, so I decided to give it a try. Here's the progress so far. I should have it mostly finished next week when class starts again.



Workbench Top

The new top for the bench is almost complete. I used mahogany to edge the plywood. It's attached using biscuits which gave me an excuse to use my biscuit joiner. I attached it so it was a little higher than the surface of the plywood and then planed it down. The only thing left to do is to apply a finish to it. I'm leaning toward using boiled linseed oil.

Footstools
I filled the grain on the footstools with a mixture of pumice and boiled linseed oil. They look great, but need a lot of sanding. I've got the top of one done and it feels great after the sanding.

Ornament

Almost every year for the last 10 I've made a window hanging/Christmas tree ornament using my scrollsaw. The one pictured above is from 2005. Much to Amy's amazement I have already got the first pass of this year's design done. I'll try this one out and then make adjustments before starting in on the production run.