One is never enough

This year I made Mary Lou a bread board for Christmas. It comes from a 1996 issue of Wood magazine and involves laminating many thin layers of cherry and maple into a board sized for French bread loaves or baguettes.

Each project I do is an opportunity to learn a new skill or to practice using a piece of equipment. For this board I needed to cut very thin pieces of cherry and maple - from 5/4 stock I cut 1-1/16th inch maple, 8-1/8th inch maple, 4-5/8th inch maple, 4-1/16 inch cherry, 4-1/8th inch cherry, and 4-1/4 inch cherry. I used a combination of a zero clearance insert with a Micro-Jig splitter and a home-made jig to set the width of cut on the cut-off side of the blade. After gluing, the ends are rounded and handles are created by removing some of the underside of the prominent end curves.

One lesson I have learned from woodworking is always to assume you will make a mistake and need to redo or start a step over. I have begun to cut more wood than necessary for a project. In this project I actually cut two of each size to make sure I had good glue surfaces and even widths the entire length. As luck would have it I ended up with two breadboards. I gave them both to my wife and she in turn offered one to my son, Eric.

Down the home stretch

This last week has been spent finishing and waxing the Christmas Shaker oval boxes. I will be finishing the last three sets-of-five boxes this week. Hopefully, in enough time that the finish is not still tacky!

"99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"

Another activity of mine, brewing beer, caused me to try to create wooden crates to replace the cardboard boxes the 22 oz beer bottles come in. We had been invited to The Brew Kettle in Strongsville, OH to join with a couple of friends, Jeff, John, and Tim, to brew beer on the premises. The first visit we brewed "Oktoberfest" and I brought home 2 cases in the cardboard boxes. By the time the bottling is done, the cardboard gets a little flimsy due to the moisture and I was fearful that one of the box bottoms would burst open.

In preparation for our next brewing when we bottled "Kolsch", I made two carriers out of white oak. Each would hold twelve 22 0z. bottles. The dimensions are roughly 10 1/2 inches wide by 12 inches high by 14 1/2 inches deep. I inset the side and bottom slats but I cut the spacing tolerances too close on the carriers and they would not hold the bottles in the cardboard box.

So I made two more carriers to take to our next brewing of "Belgian White Ale". As we were bottling I ended up giving one of the carriers to Jeff and one to Tim who joined me for the bottling. Taking a friend's suggestion, I used the cardboard dividers from the original cardboard boxes to separate the bottles in my smaller wood carriers. Two gifts for good friends, a lot of good beer, and two carriers for myself - not a bad deal.

Building stilts for my grandson

When I saw this project I just knew I had to make it. It was not only a project that would require learning some new things but one that would bring back good memories from my childhood.
This spring and summer I worked on a pair of stilts for my 10 year old grandson, Dylan. I found the project in a February, 1997, Wood Magazine. The stilt legs and foot brackets are laminated ash and mahogany. The footsteps are ash and the discs at the leg tops are mahogany. Rubber tips protect the leg bottoms and nonskid tape cover the footsteps to provide traction. The footsteps are adjustable over a 20 inch range using bolts and threaded inserts. This was the first time that I laminated wood. I was concerned that it be a good glue-up since very thin pieces of wood would be supporting Dylan's weight. It was also the first time that I used threaded inserts. The plan called for using brass bolts and inserts but I was unable to find the brass bolts in the size I needed so I used steel. There are two bolts for each footstep so the inserts needed to be accurately spaced in order to allow for the height adjustments. I used nonskid tape that my wife had found in a skate board store. I used polyurethane for a finish. Overall I liked the outcome. The stilts function well and look nice.

I can remember my dad making me several pairs of stilts with steps ranging from 6 inches off the ground to a scarey 2 feet in the air. They were simple dimensional lumber with triangle footpads nailed on, but I spent a lot of time enjoying those stilts. I learned to walk down the driveway, up and down inclines and steps, and around the neighborhood.

Dylan's stilts are certainly much fancier and more finished looking than my old stilts. But I can only hope though that he gets as much fun with them as I remember having with mine.

Where I shop

I have several really good sources for woodworking equipment and supplies. I often use Rockler and Woodcraft. Each is about an hour's drive away from Wooster but seeing the merchandise and talking with knowledgeable sales people make the cost and time of the trip worthwhile.

One of my favorite places to shop is Hartville Hardware. They are also about an hour's drive (just south of Akron) but they have the most complete selection of supplies and equipment plus they have fantastic sales on power equipment in November and February.

We have an excellent lumber source in Holmes County in Keim Lumber. They have an excellent variety of wood although limited in exotic woods.

Christmas presents in the making

This year both Mary Lou and I are both contributing to the creation of our Christmas presents to our family and close friends. Mary Lou created a lined draw-string bag to use as the wrapping for the Shaker box that I made. The bag will be functional after Christmas to store items or keep related items together. The Shaker boxes are cherry or maple bent into an oval shape. They are held together with copper tacks and wood pins.
I attended a class by John Wilson of Charlotte, Michigan, in Shaker box making. His company, The Home Shop, offers the class as well as the supplies necessary to make Shaker boxes. I made one set of #00 to #4 cherry boxes while at the two day class. I bought supplies to then make two more sets and 11 of the #4 boxes to be family/friend presents.

Here's a little history of the boxes. Most of the text and pictures are from John Wilson's web site.

Shaker Oval Boxes
Shaker oval boxes have become recognizable artifacts of Shaker life and work. First made over two hundred years ago, these containers were made for community use and for sale to the “world’s people” until well into the 20th century. Before the age of canisters and Tupperware, the Shaker craftsmen made and marketed their oval boxes. They were used to hold food stuffs in the pantry, buttons for the seamstress and tacks in the shop. Basics such as matches, glue powders and paint pigments, and sugar, coffee, tea, and spices needed containers.
These beautiful boxes were first made from hard maple and white pine. In an age before machines, thin wood strips were split from a straight billet of wood and made ready for bending by hand planes and scrapers. Hot water soaking makes this sturdy wood pliable, and bending gives a complete oval shape in a single motion. Tacked and made secure by shapers, the basic oval box side is formed.
Historically, boxes were painted before the mid-1800s, and clear finished after that. Paint was made locally from lime, clay, milk and pigments. Recipes for finishes were a shop tradition. Interestingly, craftsmen of old did not remove the lid when painting the box, so that original boxes show a narrow band of plain wood around the top edge. This may be due to the possibility of a lid sticking to the home made paint.
The "fingers," sometimes called swallowtails, or lappers were not added for beauty but for function. The design allows the wood to move during temperature and humidity changes without causing the wood to split.
The place for boxes in the home has changed throughout time. Today they are more often seen on the coffee table in a more decorative setting.
Along with the change in use has come a change in finish so that varnish rather than paint is preferred. Cherry is more common for bands than plain maple. Yet this is still a box for all occasions, utilitarian as well as decorative. Its charm and grace make a difference whatever role it plays.
Graceful, well made and of widespread utility, Shaker boxes represent virtues of the Shaker order itself.
The Shakers
The original and proper name of the Shakers is the United Society of Believers In Christ’s Second Appearing. The name Shakers, and the variant, Shaking Quakers, were originally used to mock the trembling, shouting, dancing, and shaking that occurred during Shaker worship.
It was at the Shaker community at Sabbath Day Lake, Maine, that Brother Delmer Wilson made boxes and carriers in large numbers beginning in 1896. It is there that a dedicated group of individuals live out the Shaker ideals begun by Mother Ann in this country in 1774.
The Shakers were known for their unusual living arrangement where men occupied one side of the house and women the other. Called "family dwellings," strict laws of chastity kept the two sexes apart. With this belief in total celibacy, the Shakers continued their population by legally taking in orphans and by converting others.
At the height of the Shaker movement between 1830 and 1840, there were 6,000 Shakers. Today, the last remaining Shakers reside at Sabbath Day Lake, Maine.
Whoever joins the Shakers with the expectation of relaxation from toil, will be greatly mistaken, since they deem it an indispensable duty to have every moment of time profitably employed. The little portions of leisure which the women have are spent in knitting—each one having a basket of knitting-work for a constant companion.
Further information about the community may be found at http://www.maineshakers.com/ . Visitors are invited to visit and join Sunday worship when traveling in that direction.

The 33 boxes that I made are from cherry sides and top, maple sides and bird's eye maple top, or cherry sides and bird's eye maple top. The cherry wood will naturally darken as it is exposed to light. The finish is a shellac or Danish oil base, urethane top coats, and buffed Bri-wax final coating. The copper tacks are produced in Michigan on one of only 3 remaining tack machines, circa 1880’s, left in the world. Merry Christmas.

Work continues on storage

We made it down to the lake house for part of yesterday and today. I got to spend yesterday afternoon and this morning working in the work shop. I put up two wood braces on the garage wall to support full size sheets of plywood so they would not bow. It's a small space in the far corner of the shop. You can see the sheet goods next to the lumber rack in the first photo. I continued to clean up and organize the shop area. I have additional cherry and oak lumber stored in Wooster that I will bring down to the shop lumber rack. All the wood on the rack is marked, sized, and stickered. I will need to do that to the new wood that I bring. This past summer I started accumulating lumber but did not have any storage set up yet. It was moved from one place to another several times. Last weekend was the first time it actually had a home. Hopefully the next time I move a piece of that wood it will be because I need it for a project.

A little background on the work shop

We purchased the house at Lake Buckhorn three years ago. We initially liked the house because it was one of the few houses on the lake that did not have steep access drives. We could drive the car all the way to the house and into the garage. That was a delightful change from our first lake house that had a steep driveway that few visitors would even try. It literally reminded you of driving off a cliff. Then you had a couple flights of stairs to get to the actual house. Needless to say carrying everything into and out of that house was a major drag. So, getting such easy access in our new house was a joy. Attached to the house was a garage with a capital "G".

The garage is huge. It is a double, two car garage that I quickly thought I could make into a regular two car garage with a work shop roughly equal to another two car garage. I commandeered the back half and began building some cabinets to create a wall work bench and some wall cabinets to go over that unit. Both are partially finished at this point. The base cabinet ideas came from some old Wood Magazine articles on the "Ideal Shop." The upper cabinet plans were from Woodsmith. I modified the design to elimate drawers below the doors to make spaces for plastic divided containers for screws and other hardware I use frequently.

The garage had been used as an exercise area with carpets glued down to the cement floor. My friend, Tim, and I power washed the floor to remove the adhesive and I put an epoxy paint on the floor in the work shop part of the garage. The remaining garage floor will done this coming spring.

When I purchased my Delta table saw, I brought it to the lake house. I also bought an old Craftsman radial arm saw on eBay and have it sitting in the corner. It needs major adjustments and updating before it will be usable. All my other power tools are still in Wooster. My goal is to finish the cabinets, complete the cherry library end table that is partially assembled, and then move the rest of my wood working machinery from Wooster into this shop.

I brought back one of the wall cabinets (you can see it on the wall over my shoulder) to sand, apply finish, hang the doors, and install the door hardware. I can take it back to the lake workshop and hang it on the French cleat on the wall. That plus finishing Christmas presents will consume this coming week.

Back to the shop after a long delay

It seems like everything has had to take precedence over spending time in the wood shop. From multiple visits to the dentist, oral surgeon, and endodontist to get my mouth repaired to having a new puppy in the house - each day seemed to get filled with all those needs.

So it was with some amount of joy that I began last week to get my new workshop at our lake house in order. I built a wood storage rack last weekend and will finish the supports for a plywood storage area this weekend. I loaded the rack with the wood that I have at the lake and will bring wood that I have here in Wooster down to the shop next weekend.

In between I actually got to spend a little time on the lathe. I am learning to do bowl turning on my new larger lathe. I previously turned pens and some spindels on a mini-lathe.

I have several projects in-the-mill that I would like to finish. Shop workbench cabinets need some final tweaking while the upper cabinets need doors and shelves to be ready to finish. Then comes the cherry end table that I have had sitting in the shop for several months. It needs the drawer guides and drawer fronts added. Then the top and back can be permanently attached and the finish applied. Getting these projects done by the first of the year would feel really great.