Taxidermy Plaques

A coworker of mine has a side business doing taxidermy, he mainly does deer heads and antlers. A few weeks ago he asked me about making some wooden plaques for him to attach his work onto. He had a few cardboard templates of the shapes he was looking for. I made plywood templates from the cardboard ones so I could use them with the router to trim the final work pieces. This has the possibility to be be something that I batch several of the out at once in the future so the plywood templates were the way to go.

The plywood templates

 I had some hickory on hand to make the two plaques I was starting with.

I had to glue 2 pieces to make a blank wide enough for the Illinois.

With the pieces rough cut I attached the templates to the work pieces with double stick tape and used a flush trim bit to make them match the template.

I routed a ogee profile on the European mount and went with a round over on Illinois Shape plaque.

Both plaques got a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil to richen the color, I will be top coating with shellac in a few days.

Dresser ReFinished

We had a weekend with out plans so that meant I got a lot of shop time.

Friday evening started with a little time to mess around while waiting for my wife and kids to get home. I had saw a video of Chris Pine making a large top and wanted to give it a try. It was fun and the top came out pretty good, the longest spin on it so far is 2 minutes.

Saturday I split my time between a few projects, I took time to mill some hickory for a project, and then worked on the dresser and the counter top.  The counter top needed a little more work to make the sink fit, and after that it was time for more poly.

Hickory Glue up

Starting to see the end of this project

I also started applying shellac to the dresser. On Sunday I put another coat of poly on the counter top and fished the final coats of shellac on the dresser. New knobs and pulls finished off the refinishing and I delivered the dresser to my wife's work yesterday.

The Before

After

It looks good in it's new home.

I plan to get the last coat(s) of poly on the counter this week, finish a few smaller projects, turn a few pens, and then finish the design and start the next big projects. I am going to build some book cases for the kids rooms and a desk for my wife.

Project Updates

I've been getting a fair amount of shop time in, but haven't felt like I have much to write about. I think its because I simply doing things I've already written about.

I am working on the larger section of bowling alley counter top. I have it colored and have started to poly it. his peice gets a hole cut for the sink. I cut the hole for the sink this week and still need to some trimming to make the sink fit right. Cutting a big hole like that into something I've spent so much time on really rattled my nerves, but it is done now. Once the sink fits the counter will get 3 or 4 more coats of poly.

The top after the first coat of poly

That is a big hole

The sink is really dirty from being stored outside. It is a old cast iron sink.

I've turned a few pens lately and tried some new style.

This bolt action 30 caliber bullet pen is my new favorite

A purple heart pen I made for my wife (no stain or dye used, that is the color of the wood)

Another bolt action pen in gun metal

My wife bought a dresser with plans of me refinishing it for her. I started by stripping the old finish off, and then sanding it back to bare wood. So far I've applied two coats of Dark walnut Danish oil. I am going try and darken it with some gel stain before finishing it with shellac.

Here is the before picture

After removing the old finishes and sanding

After two coats of dark walnut danish oil

I would like to wrap up the dresser and the counter tops this weekend so I can move onto some new projects.

2013 Wrap up

I am a few days late with this but I thought I would do a quick wrap up of 2013 for the shop.

It has been a good year in the shop. I have built and refinished some big projects.

Maple Butcher Block Island

The small piece of bowling alley counter top

Cedar back parch storage cabinet

I discovered how a hatchet can be a useful tool by carving some spoons.

I got to spend time in the shop with the kids making some toys but more importantly making memories.

I built some steps to make it easier for my Mom to get around her house.

I discovered how fun turning is and have become addicted to the lathe.

Wood Christmas ornaments were one of my favorite things of the season.

Turning pens is a lot of fun

I am looking forward to what 2014 brings and want to build several pieces for the house, and hopefully upgrade some tools.

Pens

Back in November I mentioned that I had ordered pen making supplies and I hadn't posted about turning pens mainly because I've been to busy turning pens. Making stuff on the laths is a lot of fun.

I've been making pens and pencils for gifts and have made several for other people to give as gifts. I am looking forward to making more pens to sell and custom orders after Christmas.

A apple wood Designer pen 

Mechanical Pencils

These are more of the walnut that my Grandpa cut down from his farm. I turned 7 of these in March when I was learning to make pens.

In the new year I want to expand the styles of pens and see where it all leads. I've a had a lot of fun the last month turning pens.

I am going to have to do some modifications to the lathe though. The lathe had a dead center on the tail stock and the pen mandrel has wore away the point. I have made a spacer/bushing that is working for now, but I plan to have the tail stock machined to take a morse taper so it can then use modern live centers and accessories like a modern lathe can take.

This is the tail stock quill that I need to have a taper bored into

There should be a sharp point in the center of this.

Black Friday Shop-ing

I didn't see anything I had to have from the black Friday ads so instead of venturing out into that mess I went to my messy shop. It was a good day in the shop, I worked on the lathe and turned a maple Christmas ornament and made a pine snowman. The snow man didn't come out how I saw him in my head but my wife liked him.

this is my favorite ornament yet

snowman in the rough

 After I painted him my wife painted on a face and buttons. Still needs some sticks for arms and I am going to carve a nose for him.

I had some good help painting the snowman.

The kids came out and worked in the shop with me for a while. They colored, and played with blocks, and then we built some of the build and grow kits from lowes.

Friday afternoon I took advantage of the warmer temperature and put Christmas lights on the house. I like to think this is just Phase 1 of lights because I would like to add more.

My supervisor kept an eye on me while I was on the roof.

I don't enjoy going up on the roof but it is a nice view from up there.

It was a decent day and this kind of shop-ing is way better than the other. (unless you are buying tools, then its okay)