Cool Bamboo Big Wheel
Cool big wheel made from bamboo… click on this link
Boat Bed #3: Bow footboard Toy box
I worked on the bow of the boat bed. This is a design that I came up with. You may have seen them with drawers in the bow, but I find those not very practical. Because of the shape the drawers must be a triangle shaped. Because of that they can’t hold much stuff. My design has been to use it as a toy box. I first cut the shape of the bottom. I now have templates. The top is the same shape but with a cutout, to make a face frame of sorts. I attach both of them to a back board using p...
Cold Winter Days #1: I Think Punxsutawney Phil is a Genious!
My family awoke, early last week, to -30C with a -40C windchill. I was choked. Somebody told me that The groundhog, aka Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, didn’t see his shadow. I thought, “This groundhog is nuts!” We should be prepping the boat and getting ready for a great spring. But noooo, now our backyard rink is covered with drifting snow, and the garage doors are frozen to the ground. I quickly headed over to Phil's Offici...
Lego Table #7: Making Our Mark(s)
Yesterday I had just a little bit of shop time. Enough to make sure the tops of the legs are all level so that there is no wobble when the plywood top goes on. I had to glue on a few shims, but otherwise it’s all good to go. Before I glue the top on, I thought it would be a good idea to have the kids go to town on the underside. Here you can see them in action: our son (and my wife) had one half, and our daughter (and I) had the other. P.S. Notice the mess of legos at the top of the ...
my intro to wood working #8: Christmas giving
I have been uninspired lately and not really able to formulate any thing that I felt would be worth sharing. But last night, my kids taught me something I should share. In my extended family, my children and thier cousins have a tradition of exchanging names and purchasing a 10 dollar gift for one of thier cousins. I thought this was a great reason for me to hit the shop and build something that we could give. I started searching for ideas, looking for patterns imagining how I could use so...
Woodturning with the Girl Scouts
A friend of mine is a Girl Scout leader, and her daughter (and my goddaughter) is a member of the pack (troop? quorum?). We’ve been kicking around the idea of doing a little woodturning experience – we’ll let / help each girl turn a candlestick. There are 12 girls, and I’ve got two lathes in my basement. I’d like to borrow a third mini-lathe, and then have three groups of girls, 4 girls each, rotating through a few stations: (1) mark the centers of th...
Lego Table #1: Sketchup Model
I had been planning on entering the LumberJocks Halloween Challenge. Anytime the prizes are given away randomly, instead of based on skill and craftsmanship, I’m all over that! But my wife didn’t particularly want me spending a lot of time in the shop merely for the chance at a $50 gift certificate for tools (and DEFINITELY not for a plane holster or a cap, she would say). So she told me that she’d let me have $50 extra bucks for tools if, instead, I built a lego table fo...
Woodshop Safety for Kids
In talking with some of my woodworking friends on this subject, I learned that most were not comfortable with kids being in their shops because of safety concerns. Granted, there are extra precautions that must be taken when kids are present, but don’t let this keep you from introducing woodworking to your kids, grandchildren, or even the kids up the street. And if you’re a parent or grandparent who doesn’t have a lot of knowledge around woodworking, but your kids have an ...
Music Table
Saw a wild video the other week on MAKE: Magizine’s blog – I’m gonna try to make this at work. So far, this is my plan: I’ve got base built, and next will be creating the removable instrument inserts – I have two maracas, a tambourine and one snare.
Bookshelf/Workspace #3: Third Day
Finished, no pictures yet. Joints look strong, the kids did a great job getting ‘em just so. I’m going to add some braces for strength (it racks? is that it when it shimmies if you push it around?), but before they get attached I’m routing the names in the braces, so they always know who worked on it. I’m a storyteller, so I’ll give you a set-up and a punch line one of the kids played on me. Me: How you think we should paint this, buddy? Kid: It d...
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