Almost Weekly Blog

[charlese]

Another good shop week! Last week I told of filling two bags of sawdust - well this past week the third is almost (2/3) full. Everything is fun except emptying the stuff.

Finished the assembly and painting of the 4th shutter in time to put it into the guest bedroom before our friend from Australia visits. However, my bride decided to put the kibosh on installation until guest leaves. This has to do with the bed movement away from the window. It is a homemade bed frame that houses a huge storage space beneath. It even has a hinged power assisted lid, however the bed is all made up and she doesn't want to have to re-do the moving/making. Can't say I blame her for this decision, but had to remind her, it was her idea in the first place to hurry with the shutter. We can always change our minds, can't we!

Back to the shop - Decided, since Daughter-in Law's birthday is coming up, and I had a block of walnut laying on the bench, I'd turn out one of those toothpick dispensers for her. Wanted to try to replicate the style of the pepper mills given earlier, but didn't have a long enough blank duplicate the top. Came up with the one pictured.

The photo of the shutter is really one of the earlier ones, but it looks the same, in the same position.

John - last week you mentioned dull (or not so sharp) bench chisels. I've always found that the sharper the tool, the less likely the chance for accidents. However, I suffered a little slice from a sharp one last week. Had to laugh, and think of your post. I was putting my Overhead Router's fence back into the cabinet and had forgotten I had placed a non-sheathed chisel in the outermost position on its rack. When placing the fence, I inadvertently raised my hand high enough that the back of one finger touched that chisel. (slice!) Now the un-sheathed chisel is in the far side of the rack.
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[john]

Chuck:

Once again, nice toothpick holders!

Last week I was thinking about turning, not that I do any, and wondered how one makes a round container with a lid edge that is recessed in the main body. Actually, I was thinking of a cremation urn at the time. I imagined the whole piece would be turned at once and then the lid portion detached, but that would not allow for a recessed lid. I notice your holders have one. What is the secret?

As to the chisels, sorry to hear about your finger. After sharpening mine, I had to go looking for all the protective ends, and like you, am missing one from the set. I must get around to making a holder like yours now that they are sharpened. Up until now they have been tossed on a shelf.

I also liked your story about the pocket knife in the other post. Reminded me of wanting to give them as gifts to the grandsons, but realizing in today's world they are pretty well outlawed. Big change from when we were young and it was a rite of passage to get one.

Have fun

John

[nuhobby]

Chuck,
Very Nice one again ! ! Just missing the custom hardwood toothpicks themselves? That is what tomorrows are for, I suppose....

[charlese]

Thanks guys, for your kind comments! I really enjoy these little things. They have a practical use in our house. Not something that'll just sit on a shelf. Maybe someone could market these at a craft show.

I really enjoy - as more of us show some of their completed projects. Hope others do also. There's many good ideas and wonderful projects out there, and maybe some inspiration.

John - Really, the secret for my narrow mouthed holders is to use a Forstner bit to make the recess. First of all, I made the top. Tapering it to an angle that looked good to me, then using a parting tool to take the diameter of the lid down to the same diameter as the Forstner bit I'm going to use. Then, in order to center a hole for a handle (knob) I drilled a hole through the lid. Then sand the lid. After sanding, use a parting tool to remove the lid.

Now is the time to use the bigger Forstner bit to make the recess. A word of caution here - - If the lid hole was drilled too deep into the remaining blank, and the spur of the Forstner won't bite, this will result in a larger hole. (I've done that! The fix here is to part off the blank so there's no hole remaining.
Amazingly, the lid will just fit into the hole. You can then shape the outside of the lip to match the lid. You can even set the lid into the recess and sand them even.

Now for a urn, or larger container than an available Forster. I suppose I would first make the lid, maybe turning the knob in one piece with the lid. (No hole needed) Then would have to make the recess as one would turn a bowl. (No experience here)

An aside - When making the cup for the last dispenser, the parted cup turned out to be about 1/32" wider than the 1 1/8" hole. Since it wouldn't fit into the dispenser, I put it on the table of the belt sander and carefully rotated it so it got sanded down to just a bit smaller than 1 1/8". Whew! was afraid I might sand too much.

[osx-addict]

Well.. We didn't do much around the house this past weekend.. I did setup my first electrolysis experiment though to try my hand at removing rust from various items.. My first sucker -er.. rusty tool was an old C-clamp that had accidentally sat out in the rain this past winter. It's now bubbling away in the 5 gallon pail with a piece of rebar working as the sacrificial anode.. I suspect it will be done soon as the bubbles are very slow at this point.. If there's interest I'll show the before and after photos when its done (yes, I took a before photo)..

On Sunday I took 2 of my kids out kayaking (with my brother) in the Redondo Beach King Harbor (near Seaside Lagoon -- which was completely PACKED by the way).. They had a good time and saw 40+ sea lions (the small variety -- not the huge ones you see up in Oregon and other northern areas) lounging about on various docks, boueys, etc.. Overall a fun time!