71 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
1 comment »
After what seemed to me (someone who’s lived in a state where winter was 3 months—Jan, Feb, March—-Florida, where there is no winter and Texas where winter lasts from Jan to Feb) an interminal winter, the garage finally warmed up to 40 today and I could no longer hold back. I had to make some cuts and smell sawdust or I was going to scream. I haven’t been out there since early November when the temps started falling. The natives around here assure me this was still ...
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108 days ago
by bandit571 |
6 comments »
Started chopping mortises. By hand, no less. Laid out the mortise
Yep, they go all the way to the top. next a kerf cut, just to keep things from splitting out.
Doesn’t have to all that precise, just set the depth, and the length. Slight over cut will get covered by the apron. Next
Chisel to chop down into the end. Sets the bottom of the mortise. Need this for the next step
I split out the waste. A few other chisels to define the sides better, and then a check...
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173 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
0 comments »
Got a hold of some free time today during naps and continued work on Jim’s aspen mounting plates for his new garage lights.
I took the two blanks of wood that I had sketched the design on from last time—-here’s the picture from the last entry to refresh your memory (Thanksgiving and vacation right before that really but a damper on my shop time):
As you can see I had cut the first plate with the coping saw (that took a while and wasn’t that easy to control, but I...
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204 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
2 comments »
For all the evidence—-I mean pictures——please click here.
As the title says, things didn’t go exactly as planned with the hammer the past couple days. I tried my best but it just didn’t work out as I imagined. Here’s what happened. Best pull up a chair and get some popcorn.
It started after the handle was finally cut free from the excess wood. I decided to put all the pieces together and see if I like the general shape and weight of the mallet. H...
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207 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
0 comments »
To see the pictures, please click here.
After finishing up the leg vise yesterday, I had a little bit of time leftover and decided to get cracking on Mjolnir (yeah, it thinks a lot of itself!).
I finalized the design and drew it on the handle. It has the typical laminated mallet shape, tapered inside the head to lock the handle in place. I decided ti add a little detail to the handle and a pommel. Totally not necessary but I’m having fun now.
I started to cut the handle free...
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209 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
2 comments »
To see the pictures, please click here.
At long last I have begun construction of my first mallet! I’ve been seeing all these great pounders, thumpers, whackers, and smackers that everyone has been displaying on the internet and on TV shows and finally could take no more of the bounce-back prone rubber mallet I’ve been using.
As it happens, when I bought the supplies to build the bench back in August, I also acquired a nice hickory plank (4”x3/4” x 4’) to ...
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210 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
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For the version with pictures, please click here.
My father-in-law has commissioned me (I guess that’s still the right phrase, though it’s really pro bono since he has given me a router and table, grinder and drill!!! I owe him!) to make some mounting plates for a couple outdoor lights he wants to mount on his garage.
Naturally, I jumped at the chance. More woodworking!
He wanted a shield-like design to go with the lights. Here’s what I came up with:
To give y...
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256 days ago
by RaggedKerf |
0 comments »
For the dramatic (or not so dramatic) before and after pictures, please click here.
A busy weekend with the kiddos and my wife happily trumped all other activities (except cutting the grass) for the weekend. But today is Labor Day so…what better way to celebrate than by doing some labor!I had just enough time to squeeze in some work on the still unfinished bench today. It has been sitting, base assembled and dry, with the top merely resting in place now for 3 days. Time to get bac...
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566 days ago
by tr33surg3on |
1 comment »
I started a wooden spoon as a practice carving project. It’s kind of like a very miniature mandolin back plate, neck and head stock.
My coping saw is right near the top of the list for my least favorite tool, but it got the job done with a little help from a keyhole saw to cut the outline from a cherry blank (left over from the knife handles). The design will be very simple for this first one with an eye for actually being usable. It’s only slightly bigger than a large t...
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810 days ago
by swirt |
8 comments »
Ran across this today and it made me laugh. Took the edge off of some of the stress of a difficult Monday.
Source: Stivers Cartoons
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