cckeele's Blog at LumberJocks.com http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:26:54 GMT Butcher Block Table #1 #1: I Can See The Finish Line From Here http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2500 Well I am just about there. I got 1 coat of Watco drying on it right now. I’ll knock down the shine when im done applying. I will probably give the top about 4 coats of butcher block oil when all is said and done as it really seemed to absorb the first coat almost instantly. The metal feet were installed only to allow me to coat the whole unit without getting anymore stains on my shop floor. They will be removed when im done. Check it out

All comments are welcome
Thanks for looking Lumberjocks

]]> Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:26:54 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2500 cckeele Butcher Block Table #2: Coming Together http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2476 So far so good. I ran into a couple hickups here and there but im still on target. About now I am wishing I had a drum sander, Jointer and a drill press. Please Santa come soon! These things probably would have made this venture much easier, but with a lil elbow grease and some buckets of sweat I have been able to get most of the hard work done. On to the highlights…


Im still sanding, yeah, yeah, yeah…..


Got the table base built up and doing a dry fit on the top. I bought the legs for $12 ea at Lowes(WOW). Rockler charges $45 ea for the same ones… Even if I had a lathe I would have bought em at this price.


Dry fit checks good, now onto some more sanding..lol

]]> Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:34:39 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2476 cckeele Butcher Block Table #1: Off and running http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2451 Well so far so good. I finally got my new table saw (thanks honey!) and im pretty much in love with it. lol. So here we go on the butcher block table. Im looking for about a 24×18X4 top that will stand about 34” high. Lets get to it shall we…..Oh wait, first things first. Pic of the saw

Ok, back to the butcher block table. I bought about 25bf of maple (ouch) and had em rip it for me right quick to save me some time. (cost about 25 bucks) no biggy, but now im thinking I could have done it myself on the new Jet 10” just to get a little bonding time in.lol.. Anywho, I got started with the glue up. Ah yes folks, those are Harbor freight clamps you see. I took a chance and bought a few. I have got to say that they certainly do get the job done and at $11.00 for a 32” bar clamp that works, I am happy with them so far.

Since I don’t have a drum sander or a planer I busted out the belt sander and got busy..After sanding the 48” lengths of glued up maple I cross cut the material down to 4” and started pairing up the pieces. Got some burn marks on the maple cause I wasn’t pushing fast enough for the Jet.lol. Should sand right out no problem..This is where I left off for the day.

Next pic shows off only half of the soon to be table top

Tomorrow I will start the other half of the table top using the same steps so hopefully I can begin working on the table base by Sunday. We’ll see

]]> Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:20:54 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2451 cckeele Great News for all you Cutting Board Lovers http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2365 I found this study while doing a little research for another blog site and thought it of some importance in this community. Wood Cutting Boards are actually safer than Plastic!

http://www.mapleblock.com/uploads/Univ_of_Wisc_Study.pdf
http://www.mapleblock.com/uploads/University_of_Wisconsin_Simple_Version.pdf

]]> Tue, 30 Oct 2007 19:10:40 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2365 cckeele Have we lost our woodworking ways http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2257 These days it would seem that we have a never ending need to spend thousands of dollars on accessories for our already costly tools. I am particularly concerned in the areas of push sticks, block planes, router fingers, jigs etc..Am I the only one who is shocked and awed when I see the price tags on the latest line of accessories. It seems alot of people are just giving in and buying alot of items that they could probably just make out of scrap material. There is no lack of talent on this website if you ask me so why has the market on accessories sky rocketed out of control? Are we to blame for buying in and supporting them. Why not stick to our guns and make them ourselves. Take the market back so to speak. Granted there are numerous items that have allowed us to achieve a new level of woodwork all together, but can these items not be reverse engineered as well and made of wood? Is it too much work? It surely could not cost as much.

I find that making things like pushsticks and jigs to be extremely rewarding and the best part is they are free. Made from scrap material from previous projects. I love it. So for anyone that has sold out to this over-priced market and given up on a tradition in woodworking, Please send me your scrap wood so I may make use of it as I cannot afford the ever growing cost of accessories that will soon just take my skill out of the equation all together.

The mission of this blog is merely to poll the Lumberjock community. Make it yourself or buy? and why?


]]> Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:36:51 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/cckeele/blog/2257 cckeele