Have been kicking this post and beam and end grain veneer idea around for a while .
Saturday I was cutting up this 3×8 Douglas fir to see if I could salvage some of it between the cracks .
Here is the resulting post and beam box with end grain oak veneer stained with red wine ,worked better than anything else I tried to get the colour I was looking for .
Finish is poly over red wine on the panels and flat black on every thing else .
Bit of a rustic box and will be used as a potpourri box since the panels will let air flow and the top is slightly elevated and located on four posts .

Sea Breeze is one of those old boxes I started some time ago but could not finish until I got some inspiration from a Buddy’s project posted yesterday .
It is a steam bent box made from birch and walnut with a vented lid .
The lid is simply saw kerfed and the two kerfed pieces are glued to the centre spar using the box as a cowl to get the matching curvature .
As you can see from the pics it is a potpourri box .
In the end this was a very satisfying project that just took some time to develop in my mind .

Had a day of work and made this awl for a friend .
Started with a square walnut centre section and drilled out the centre to fit a power screw driver bit .
Chucked the bit in the drill press and cut a round section to fit the ferrule using a file .
Next I added four walnut wings to the centre section and after the glue had set band sawed the rough profile and squared off the end for the maple cap .
Using file and sandpaper I shaped the four wings to a comfortable rounded profile and the glued on the maple end cap.
Finished off the shaping on the disc sander and drill press .
Finally shaped the screw driver bit and finished with poly .
Turned out real nice and comfortable with a good grip .
Fair bit of hand work in this but well worth the time I spent and now waiting for the reaction of my friend .

Just a little display case I designed and build for a buddy to display his TAE KWON DO belts .
I ask him about a design motive and the answer was ,oh what ever just make something .
Wanting to give it a little Asian flavour I made some square plugs for the screw holes and flared the walnut top which is removable and held in place with screws from the top to insert the glass panel ,keeping it very simple .
It’s Unfinished birch and walnut which he gave me with a velvet cloth back on MDF .

This is my companion marking knife I made this afternoon .
Made from the same walnut and birch as the awl so they match .
The blade is made from an air nailer driver blade (see pic 5 ) that was discarded but makes a excellent knife blade ,hold a edge nicely .
The blade is set into a dado in one halve only which I cut before laminating the two halves and offsets the blade sightly to the flat side .
Finish is wipe on poly and buffed on the spindle sander with a paint roller sleeve and buffing compound .
That was a good day in the shop and makes the set complete and ready to use .

Just a awl made from walnut and birch with a brass ferule and a 6” power screwdriver bit ground to shape .
The handle is laminated and the hole for the bit is drilled before gluing because the bit has a hex section at the top which required enlarging the dill hole to fit .
The shape of the handle is my design and was done with a combination of tools from drill press to band saw
,sanders,files and whatever since I don’t own a lathe .
Finished with wipe on poly and buffed on my spindle sander with a paint roller sleeve .
Fun project for a snowy morning .

My wife gave me this bottle after she coloured her hair and wondered if it was of any use to me .
Well low and behold it makes a great little glue bottle ,glue will not stick to it and by inserting a stick pin the nozzle is clear and the glue floes nicely from the opening .
I made a little stopper for it from walnut and inserted a stick pin .
Great little glue bottle for the times when I need to place a drop in a particular spot .
I wish I could find a bigger bottle made from this material instead of the never work ones that I get from the lumber yard.
Hope to hear from some one that has a no clog ,crust over bottle .

My mallet is a idea that I have been kicking around for some time as I have been having a pain in my right arm and shoulder .
The idea is to reduce the shock feedback from the mallet head to the handle by making a handle with a open section and adding rubber strips between the mallet head and the handle .
The head is held in place by the usual taper joint and two tension screws . I hope this will work as I think but time will tell how this experiment stands up in real use .
Made from oak,mahogony,maple and walnut .

BTW
Have been sick the last few weeks and blame the walnut I have been working with on my tooth ache and sinus and ear infection but it seem to be slowly getting cleared up .

Just a little tool I made from scrap to transfer joint lines onto veneer with a marking knife .
The joint lines on edge of this table base need to be transferred to the veneer but one the strip of veneer is placed on top of the edge it is hidden since the strip needs to be oversize in width.
The solution is to fasten a piece of veneer on the joint line and place the veneer to be cut on top of it ,place the transfer tool along the bottom veneer strip and mark the line .
Yes this is not a normal marking knife but I made this work with a blade that has a single bevel with one flat side which I run along the tool edge .
This is a tool which I have used for many years transferring line from a curved stair layout to mark lines onto the oversize tread blanks , it eliminates squaring the line from the pattern up to the top of the tread .
Versions of this should be handy in many other situations .

A little LED light we build for my grandson this weekend .
He is then one that thought of this first and it was on the priority list.
Made from laminated walnut veneer and birch veneer for a back ,the base is maple with walnut veneer.
The LED strip is concealed inside to avoid the bright light from the LED and the light shines through the holes which are offset from the LED ’s .
Finished with wipe on poly .

Just a little desk light I made for my wife .
This is another bent wood project that came about when we took one of our grandsons to HD last weekend and he spotted some LED lights and thought that it would work for a night table light for him .
We spent some time on his last weekend but it did not turn out well because I cut the kerf’s from the wrong side and it caused the kerf’s to close up which looked wrong and also caused the outside surface to be ripply . .
Today this turned out better by bending the board inward and adding the lamination to the outside of the bent piece.

This way of bending it gave a nice smooth lamination and the LED shines through the kerfs nicely .
The base is a off cut from the scrap bin and my wife liked the grain so this is how I made it nothing difficult but it works I think .
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Draw a circle ,the first was too big ,mark the holes for the legs and the cutout for the arm drill the holes and cut out for the arm ,band saw the along the line and sand to the line .
Cut some dowel and glue everything together ,sand and finish with wipe on poly and done .
Install the self adhesive LED strip and put it on the desk .
This was a quick fun project and I will use the kerf bent look on some future projects I Am sure ,a nice decorative touch I think .

This is a secondary inlet into my dust separator I installed some time ago and is for my spindle sander and drill press.
The idea is to eliminate a Y fitting in the 4” hose used for the table saw and planer etc.
It works very well and would recommend it as it has proven itself for some time now .

Well the year is almost over and I finally finished this box that has been laying around the shop.
This box went wrong from the shell stage ,it was not centred and caused me to wonder what to do ,scrap it or come up with a solution.
So here it is finished in one day with all the design ideas I wanted included ,from a centre hinge to a different handle than what I had been using and some leather and textured parts.
When my wife was taking the pictures a name come in my head as some features remind me of a falcon, hence the name .
Material is maple and walnut ,velvet liner ,leather lace and poly finish .

Happy New YEAR to all and to a good 2013

Three trays for Christmas presents ,a little late but done .
Here are a few pics of the build and some explanations too.

The tray shell halves are steam bent and then joined .
The base is made by making a simple pattern jig like this .

The drill holes are marked with the drill bit ,I lightly sanded the pattern holes to make the bit easy to insert and put a plastic cap on the end of the bit for comfort on the hand when pushing the bit .

All the parts are cut with the band saw and then sanded to the line ,the holes are finished with a step drill instead of a counter sink ,I like this detail and a set of three step dills cosy me four bucks .

The top of the base is matched to the profile of the shell by simply attaching sand paper
to the shell and rubbing the base in short strokes until a good fit is achieved .
All the walnut is recycled flooring glued with water proof glue and salad bowl finish as the trays will be used for food .

Another Christmas present done and some smaller ones to go ,running short of time but I am on holidays now and have more time for the shop.
This box is a pointed oval shape with a dished lid made from walnut and maple which I textured because the grain was rather boring .
All the bent parts are made on the same jig by varying the amount of curve ,the lid is two strips folded and the cut on a jig similar to a common tapering jig .
The dished lid is to function as a tray and the style of the box is a medley of several styles .
The finish is a satin wipe on poly .

This is the first box I build using the micro wave steam bending process and a new jig I build which has produced the best results so far .
I build this box in memory of my mother MARTHA which passed away during my early childhood and I wanted a special tribute and keepsake box to remind us and keep a little momento of her in this box .
This box is made from douglas fir and walnut and finished with wipe on poly .

Had some time today and bend up another piece for my steam bend box and it is just like watching tar dry on a driveway and waiting to drive on it .
Well I had some bend wood pieces that cracked near the ends and I could not see them go to waste,
a look in the scrap bin and I had all the ingredients for this votive stand .
About two hours to get the design from paper to finish project.
Materials are Douglas fir and roasted maple ( heat treated maple )
Finish is wipe on poly .

My first project that is made from a micro wave steam bending process .
A handle design that will possibly find it’s place on the lid of my steam bend box .
I did this design on paper but can much better visualize it on the box when finished .
Woods are douglas fir and roasted maple .

This is my effort of using the micro wave oven instead of a steam box to bend wood pieces .
The first jig I build did not produce the quality of pieces as they cracked during the drying process.
I modified the jig by adding two timing belt straps retaining blocks to compress the wood during the bending process and not let it stretch .
The method I use for steaming is as follows .
Soak the wood for at least a day in water then wrap it in a wet cloth and put in the micro wave for about a minute then flip it over and let it rest for a minute and microwave for another minute .
Work fast during the bending process but methodically and have everything ready .

The results have been better and soon I hope I will turn the bend pieces into a box .

My new 18 volt mallet . THOR style electronics .
Just finished it today and am about to try it out ,just need to charge the battery .
Material is fir with leather wrap grip and custom switch made from Jatoba .