Maple bowl

I had some off cuts from the maple lamination from the Maple Mania project I did last year. I cut a circle from one of them and glue it to my bowl turning glue block. The glue block/bolt assembly can bee seen in the picture below. The finished bowl is 6.5" wide and 1" deep. I finished it with a friction polish.

I really like the colors of the different maple piece.  I am looking forward to making more bowls.

Lathe Repair

Back in December I mentioned how I was having some trouble with the tailstock on the lathe and how I wanted to have it machined to take a Morse taper (MT). I ended up ordering a drill chuck that fits on the lathe and the reamers to cut a No.1 Morse Taper. I also order No.1 MT live center and mandrel saver for turning pens. All the parts finally came in so it was time to make the repairs.

I started by drilling a 3/8" hole in the tailstock, and then used the course and finish reamers to form the Morse taper. The process went good for the most part, with only a few hiccups.

Here is a video I made of the process.

I've used the live center to turn a few items and it work so much better than the dead center. This was not just a repair but an upgrade. As a bonus the drill chuck is allowing me to give bowl turning a try as was seen in my previous post.

Walnut Bowl

I recently bought a drill chuck that will fit on the head and tail stock on my lathe. I bought it in order to make some repairs to the lathe but wanted to try and use it for work holding. I made a glue block using a carriage bolt and some cherry scraps. I then rough cut a circle from a walnut off cut. Then I glued the walnut circle to the cherry glue block. I think chucked the carriage bolt in the drill chuck and turned the walnut into a small bowl. It was my first attempt at a bowl and it came out pretty good. I finished the bowl with a friction polish on the lathe.

part way through the sanding process

The finished bowl

I will get a picture of the carriage bolt glue block when I make the next bowl.

I've delivered the large counter top I had been working on and need to clean up the shop now. We all ended up with the flu and the weather has been miserable so there hasn't been much going on in the shop. The next big project is going to be some book cases for the kid's rooms.

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.