A woman I work with asked me to make a mezuzah as a wedding gift for an orthodox Jewish couple. It’s figured maple and the design is like a Torah roller, which is used with Torah scrolls. It’s about five inches long and the inside is about three and a half inches (I don’t remember the measurements). The character is a silver letter shin which is the first letter in the name of God The mezuzah is hollow and contains a parchment scroll inside, and I used a box ring to access it.

I went through several versions to be able to open the mezuzah because it’s really important to protect the parchment inside. The store bought ones use a brass insert that have a slot to unscrew it and I spent a long time trying to find something similar to adapt for the purpose, like cutting down a silicon wine stopper but it was too wobbly. I haven’t tried thread chasing yet so that wasn’t an option.

Jews have mezuzahs at an angle on the right side of doorways into rooms that are lived in, and some Jews just have them outside the front door only. The parchment contains verses from the Torah and it needs to be inspected for damage at least twice in seven years so it needs to be opened. Here’s a link for more information: http://www.judaica-guide.com/mezuzah/

I have no idea how many hours I spent on this and I was often worried about giving the scroll a safe container and the proper respect it needs. But it was all worth it. I’m going to keep looking for the hardware and I’d like to try using veneers; I have some brass curls that I’d like to embed as the letter shin. I have lots of ideas . . .

Thanks for looking.

It all started with making a Compact Camper Roasting Stick™ Kit for a friend (I forgot to take a picture) using some spalted birch. Then I thought it would be nice to do a matching bottle opener like the ones by cmw, KnotCurser, Paul Pomerleau, and Wolffarmer. I was planning to do a flat one like theirs but hey, I might as well turn one using the same branch.

I used a ton of thin CA glue to give it some strength; I think I’ll try Wood Juice some time to see how that works. I’d like to have an opener outside all the time and not have it rot. I sanded it to 800 on the lathe and by hand for the stick-y out-y bits.

I was going to use the bandsaw to flatten it for the screws but it was a whole lot faster just to beaver it off using a sander. I have some tiny rare earth magnets (3/8” I think) in a very safe place and I was planning to have them on the same side as the screws so the cap doesn’t get lost in the grass (or skitter across the kitchen floor).

The openers are definitely rustic but they really show off the wood, I’ve done five so far and plan to do more; they’re fun to make and easy to do, and finding the spalting was a delightful surprise.

Thank you for looking and I’d appreciate your comments and suggestions.

All I did for this was sand and finish with tung oil (with a lot of elbow grease). It really reminds me of northern lights especially with a bright light.

I often go to Artistic Wood and Tool Supply to look for unusual bits of wood, and this was one of them. I didn’t need to cut it (other than for the clock)—it looked like perfect proportions to me.

I feel guilty about the lack of woodworking that went in to this, but I love it. Most things I make I`m happy if I learned something or just practiced something, and if I can give it away or sell it, life is good. I nearly sold the clock twice before Christmas, but each time I felt so panicky about it leaving me, so I thought it should just come home. It sits in my kitchen and ticks cheerfully at me whenever I go by.

My first post – I finally did it.

This is my first salt mill; I made two other mills for pepper. It’s 6 inches high and the kit is from Craft Supplies USA. Although I can get 8 inch kits in Canada, I wanted something smaller for the dining room and cutting the shaft seemed to be a lot of effort.

I have a lot of problems with the instructions – I measure a bazillion times and still get it wrong. The mill was supposed to be all walnut but since I wanted to make a pepper mill to match, the wood wasn’t long enough. I love olive (both the wood and the way it turns) and have collected quite a lot of it so I thought I’d use it for the top. I wasn’t brave enough to drill a 1 1/16 hole for a completely olive mill but the 9/32 was easy.

Mis- measuring made it necessary to drill at the top so the knob would work, and the join between the two pieces isn’t exactly straight. I’m actually pleased that making a peppermill allows for design adjustments for people who are mathematically pathetic like me. Each mill I’ve done has turned out pretty well, although never the same as I initially planned. I expect that I’ll eventually do what I plan.

The mill isn’t perfect but I’m delighted with it. The really scary part is when I make the matching pepper mill; I have a sneaking suspicion that it won’t be quite the same . . .