Ive long been an admirer of Robin Wood, the pole turner from the UK. And I also like his spoons and Ive been wanting to try and make one using an ax and a carving knife like he does in his videos on YouTube.
I have a stack of dried white oak firewood in my shop and I decided since I now have the Mora knife, today is the day to make a spoon just like he does:
I dont have a carving axe but I do have a roofing axe which is hollow ground and I thought might work for this. So I cranked up the bench grinder, gave it a very sharp edge, grabbed the wood and walked over to my wood block and gave it a good hard whack with the axe. I didnt cut myself but I also didnt make a dent in the wood. I hit it again and nothing happened. Again and nothing happened. After about 10 minutes of whacking away all I had was a small pile of chips to show for it. So I grabbed the wood and cut out a spoon blank on my bandsaw. I guess Im just not a hand axe kind of girl.Here is the blank I produced:
Looks kind of similar to the blank Robin produces with a hand axe.Its getting cold right now so Ive quit for the day. Ill start carving on it over the next week or so and you can follow along and see if I get close to the type of spoon he produces.
More later,
VW
Two Very Different Reasons to Love eBay
I love eBay.
Yeah, I know, its not perfect. Ive been sniped more times than I can remember (Live by the sword...), overcharged for "handling", charged more for shipping to Alaska (in a USPS Flat Rate box!), told that shipping to Alaska was unavailable because they would only ship USPS (49th STATE people!), frustrated by lousy pictures, and annoyed, very annoyed at the crazy amounts some people will pay for items, thus driving the prices ever upward. Did anyone besides me notice the 4 vol. set of Audels going for $300 plus!? And it sure didnt look like the first edition either, rather the 1940s edition to boot! Crazy!
But for me, in the Old Tool Hell of the North, its just about the only choice I ever get tools short of traveling back east. I dont really know how many tools I have, but I can count on a single hand the ones Ive scored locally. Okay, one local purchase was 30 wooden moulding planes that pretty much fell from the sky, but other than that, it is slim, slim, slim pickins up here. Which is why I spend so much time on eBay. And sometimes it pays off. Today I opened a box with a nice set of Russell Jennings bits and felt the satisfaction of having made a good purchase and added to my kit. Yep, despite all its annoying qualities, I do love eBay.
Gerald, on the other hand, has a completely different reason for loving eBay...
CA Finish for Pens Part 2 An Observation
First, Ive noticed that if you use more than, say, two coats of CA, the pen will have a plastic feel. This makes total sense because the CA is an acrylic of sorts so the more you add, the more "plastic" you get. The advantage to this is you get a rock hard finish that will last nearly forever.
Second, the wood makes a difference. Ive tried using a few different types of woods; cherry, tiger maple, paduk and rosewood. For some reason, it seems to me that the harder woods such as cherry, paduk and rosewood seem to do better than a softer wood such as maple. I have had success with maple, but it just seems more finicky than the other woods.
Third, one thick coat goes a long choice. How I have had good success is to use a good coat of BLO. I apply this by wet sanding with 1000 grit paper and wiping the access with a rag. Then, with the lathe off, I apply the CA to the pen while rotating the mandrel by hand and quickly rubbing back and forth. I go around, quickly, three or four times, then stop. Next, I let that sit for a while to harden and cure, then I come back and wet sand with BLO, but this time with 2000 grit paper. I then increase the speed and apply BLO to a rag and wipe the whole thing down and apply slight pressure to heat the BLO into the pen, if you will.
This method has given me the most success so far. The other thing I really like about it is you do get a good protective CA finish on the pen, but it does not feel like plastic and retains the warmth of the wood underneath. But, this is all one persons observations, I would love to hear your take and your method for finishing.
Be safe!
Making A New Turning Saw Part I
My "prototype" turning saw finally died. It was a quick and dirty project that was never intended to last. The original idea was to work out the bugs in the design, and then move on and make/use a nicer saw. It didnt end up that choice. In fact the prototype was superior, and was my turning saw of choice over the years while the "nicer" saw hung on the wall.
Heres a shot of the DOA saw:
The epoxy that held the brass pin in the handle finally let go. I could just fix it, but as good as this little saw was (choice better than you might guess from looking at it) Ive been wanting to build that nicer saw that really works too. I though this was probably the time.
The new saw will be made of oak. I still have some left from the broken library chair episode. After making some cardboard templates, I traced the design onto the stock. I decided to make the handle convex where my hand will hold it, much like a panel saw handle, rather than the more standard concave bowsaw handle. Im not sure if this will end up being a good idea or a bad idea. Ill know soon enough.
I prefer to do the mortising while the stock is still square. The setup is easy with the holdfasts. The big (giant!) mortise chisel and mallet do the grunt work and the smaller chisel is for cleaning out the chips and flattening the bottom:
The mortising sequence - start in the middle and work to one end (not quite to the layout line):
Back to the middle and work the other choice:
Continue until the mortise is deep enough, then clean up the ends:
After laying out the tenons with the same gauge setting used for the mortises, I cut just outside the lines with a backsaw and trimmed with a shoulder plane to a snug fit.
Heres the saw so far - looking very chunky in its unshaped form:
In Part II I will shape the frame parts, make the blade assembly and create the tensioning system. After that, Ill try it out.
If history repeats itself, Ill be regluing the prototype in Part III.
Monkey Puzzle Bowl 1 ???????? ??????????? ??? 1
I had some spare time this afternoon so I thought Id work on the monkey puzzle bowls. Here are a couple of photos of the first bowl/
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The bowl sides look more convex than they really are but I probably will cut them more concave.More later this weekend.
VW
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Heritage Craft Association
One of my favorite organizations is the Heritage Craft Association in the UK. They promote the preservation of traditional craft skills and they seek to create a public space for people who practice these crafts and make a living at them. Ive been a big admirer of them and wish we had an organization like this here in the US.
Anyway, they have a very interesting section on "What is Craft?" that I would like to share with you at:
http://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/index.php/news/hca-blog/item/123-can-we-define-what-craft-is?
See you soon,
VW
Who the Devil is H Lyons
