Friday, December 26, 2014

Quoridor

I watched Steve Ramsey with Wood Working for Mere Mortals make a game called Quoridor. It looked like a fun game to play. I think games make good gifts, and most the time fairly easy to make.

I wanted to make a few copies of the Quoridor game.

The field of the game board is mode from plywood. Grooves are cut every 1" with a 1/4 dado stack on the table saw. I am making 3 games so I was sure to make each groove in all 3 boards before I changed the setup on the saw.
 After all the grooves were cut I trimmed the their final sizes.
 Next I used some solid maple to make a frame around the plywood fields.
Next I made the walls that are used in the game and that go into the grooves.
 Since time is running short everything is getting a few coats of spray lacquer.

I then turned some game pieces.
The games were a hit and it is a lot of fun to play.

I finished up the two that were gifts but still have to finish the one we were keeping.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Bottle Stoppers

I decided to give making bottle stoppers a try. I ordered kits and a bottle stopper chuck.

I have seen some amazing bottle stoppers online and one of my favorites looked like a wine glass.
Maple blank
 After rounding the blank it was time to hollow the goblet
 After the goblet was hollowed I shaped the outside.


Another Maple Stopper

Purple Heart Stopper

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Shop tour December 2014

Last night after getting onto my son about how messy his room as I felt very convicted about how messy my shop was. I've watched Dyami's monthly shop tours and saw how his shop has evolved. I decide maybe some accountability might help me to get the shop cleaned up and organised with the hopes of being a better example for the kids.

So here is my tour video.  I didn't pick up before shooting this so it is embarrassing to post how much of a mess it is.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

New Lathe

My desire to make bigger bowls and turn bigger projects got the best of me. I bought a new lathe to replace the 1942 model I was using.  I bought a Steel City 60100G. It has a granite bed and head stock. 12" swing with 27" capacity, Variable speed.

I've only messed with it a little but I am happy so far. I need to build a stand for it (all my other work surfaces are too tall for it.)