rain, rain, rain at LumberJocks.com

workbench in Thailand #1: Building a workbench in Thailand

Russ — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:13:41 GMT

Happy new year to everyone at lumberjocks! With the temperatures hovering at -30 in Fairbanks and only about 4 hours of daylight my wife and I decided to make a trip to Thailand. She was looking forward to taking care of her mom and dad who are both in their 90’s. Unlike the US where we farm out our older citizens, Thais care for family members until the end. One of the many things we as a country have lost. I had been purchasing tools from ebay to fix and bring here for woodworking( no taxes that way) and had the good fortune of getting a bunch of paduck from her sister. It sure is nice wood but I would never use it to make a bench in the states! I am building a bench back home too but we will be here until Feb.5. Anyway, much to the amusement of the Thais here in the village I have started making a bench with mortise and tenon joinery.I found out that here the term chung mai, which means carpenter in Thai, is now what they call me. I cannot post photos yet because my connection is dial up speed here in the village. Have to go work on the bench, later.

sunshine #1: Let the sunshine in!

Russ — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:33:58 GMT

Wanted to share this: Yesterday was the first day of the sun shining into my shop. On December 21st we have only 3 hours and 40 minutes of sunlight but there is about 6 hours of light. Anyway the sun disappears behind the hill, last fall i was in the shop a lot and the sun would be so bright some days that I didn’t need overhead lights! Right now we are gaining every day until June 21st when we will have over 21 hours of sunlight. The sunlight makes it much easier to go to the shop, it gets a bit difficult when I can’t see the sun. Happy new yea to everyone, may this be your best year yet!

Mistake goes good

Russ — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 03:56:58 GMT

I started practicing box making and my first one is this “mistake”

. Spalted birch is too soft for dovetails so a miter box was tried. The corners did not match up very well and as I was looking at it the idea of a tissue box came to mind. With the resawing I end up with 1/2 ” and 3/8” after planing. Put the 3/8” on top and rounded the corners. The box was too big so I wedged it to make the box fit and put dowels in the bottom to hold the box in and this photo shows !https://s3.amazonaws.com/ljimg/lbjmfb1.jpg!

One thing I love about AK birch is the coloration that comes out with one coat of tung oil! I will finish it with Sam #1 (Sam Maloof’s blo, tung oil and urethane) and put it to use in our house. I enjoy figuring out these kinds of problems, reminds me of my years as a chef/cook when there was great joy from solving problems.

Green wood chair class #1: A day in the sun

Russ — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 03:54:11 GMT

A local craftsman, John Manthei is holding a class on green chair construction. We split the logs, made the pieces and are now waiting for the rungs to dry. Since it is + 40 we worked outside, the sun was shining so it was a very nice day. It was quite a find to discover this class Right here in Fairbanks. The class also has some seasoned woodworkers as well, most with about 30 years experience! I will post photos of the completed chair when I can.

The retired life #2: Salvaging

Russ — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:05:10 GMT

One of my philosophies of retirement is to trade the lost income by investing my free time into saving resources and money. Here in Alaska we have transfer stations at the dump sights where goods that may be of some use for another are left. It is amazing what is left! Sunday is our weekly trip to the two stations in our area and although the number of people searching through these items has easily tripled we still came home with usable stuff. Most of our clothes and all my shop rags come from the station. Last week was better but less people, we salvaged about 90 sf of knotty pine siding. This was more than enough to put on the roof of the sunroom. The point is that the best pieces that went on the roof of the sunroom would have cost over $100 dollars! The siding on the shop wood storage is from a building where I grew up in Alaska, Nenana is the name of the village. Most of the wood was not salvageable but all this was. I will finish a end table today that was from the station. I feel really good reusing and saving resources, I encourage everyone to find what can be saved, even if it is given to a local charity.

The retired life #1: Adjusting

Russ — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:55:13 GMT

It has been 3 weeks since I “retired”, on vacation but once that is done then it is for real. In this period of time there have only been about 3 days off. It is exciting to get to the shop and work on techniques and build things. The shop is mostly clean and stays that way because the average time i spend in it is about 7 hours a day. It is humorous to me that I was concerned if I would use my time wisely, it seemed too easy to relax and let the time slip by but that has not been the case. One my most recent purchases is a lathe so I have been making blanks of spoons and spatulas, made a total of 25 blanks yesterday. I approach this the same a cooking, my former profession, completing individual tasks before starting the next. I have picked up a few refinishing jobs too so there is not much room in the shop. I find and repair furniture that we find at the transfer stations and if it doesn’t go in the house it goes to habitat for humanity, should have a couple pieces ready by this Friday when their store is open. What a great way to practice and maybe get a tax break! I will post some photos tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Russ

A week with Frank

Russ — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:57:45 GMT

It has been a fantastic week at Kelly Mehlers school of woodworking, our guest teacher was master cabinetmaker Frank Klausz. Frank is a excellent teacher who used dovetails as the cornerstone of a 5 day class but infused the class with so much more information that i will be in my shop at home working on these principals for the next few months! Kellys school is a must do for any woodworker looking to improve their understanding and skills. Frank is entertaining, the whole class would be laughing at his humorous views one minute and listening with complete attention to his every word the next.

Right now i am headed back to Alaska, miss my wife and shop but will add more when i get to detroit. Best regards to all.
russ

schooling #1: looking for woodworking seminars, classes

Russ — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:54:00 GMT

Hi all, i have been trying to find some sort of training for woodworking. was planning to go to asheville but the website has disappeared :(

home renovation #1: Fixer upper

Russ — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:46:10 GMT

I bought this house about 4 years ago and have been working on it ever since. Started with the inside, gutting it, rewiring and re-insulating before rocking. It now has triple sponged paint on the walls, the master bedroom is almost done and next is the kids room. Right now it is time for the outside work, snow here in about 3 or 4 weeks.

sun is shining, back to work

Russ — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:53:32 GMT

Well another weekend is over. rained again so no work on the roof for the house. but it was a good time in the shop, insulating and wiring…... will have to get heat soon