I will be making a box when I can get back in the shop.(hurt my shoulder and LOML won’t let me play until next week) Will take step by step pics and post in this series for everyone.

Keep an eye open for updates.

If anyone else has a process for this, feel free to let us know.

Scrappy

Had a lot of fun and food. BarBQued burgers and dogs, had lots of other food including, a Pumpkin Pie and cookies that the store owner, Mr Keith Stephens, brought out when he stoped by.

Well, I did not get all the pics, so someone else will have to fill in the holes.

First off here is all the LJ’s that showed up today;

From left to right: Back Row, ROY53 (Roy Letellier), Bill Heitman (not an LJ yet), JOHNNYMO (John Morales), SEER (Jerry Linton), Jim Powell (not an LJ yet), Gene Howe (Gene Howe) Front Row, Cranc (Bob Boyd), Scrappys Squirt (Amanda Cleveland), ME..Scrappy (Dan Davis), fRANKIEB21 (Frank Bye)

WoodWorkerSource supplied us with a couple of tables and plenty of chairs for everyone to gather around.
It was 87 today so we were outside enjoying the weather.

As you can see we had quite a group of people. 14 total, 8 LJ’s 4 spouses and 2 Potential LJ’s

Here is Jerry talking with Jim Powel, and Gene, Roy and Roy’s Wife in the background.

Jim is an “Antique Clock Replicator” He build clocks and other things useing modern tools but old plans, designs, and techniques from the era of the piece. He ever “ages” them so they look like antiques. Looking forward to seeing him on LJ’s. He heard about the picnic from WoodWorkersSource. They put out a newsletter and gave our group a nice mention. Here is a link to the newsletter.

A good picture of Scrappys_Squirt trying to keep an eye on the newest Squirt.

My newest grand daughter was there to keep us entertained also.

Everyone was being brave letting me cook. haha

Gene and Roy deep in thought.

Even my wife got into the party. That is her in the red top talking to Roys wife.

Well that is all the pics I got. (they kept me slaveing over the hot grill) haha

All in all we had a great time. I am sure that connections were made and we will be getting together on a more personal level in the near future. Lots of new freinds made today.

Thank You all for the support and encouragement. When is the next Picnic?

Scrappy

Just a reminder, it is at the north WoodWorkers Source store located on I17 frontage road. North of Bell road.

Woodworkers Source
18115 N. Black Canyon Hwy
Phoenix, AZ 85023
602-504-1931

I will be there early to get things set up. Probably by 9:30. Plan on being there to eat around 1:00PM
If enough people are there we will start cooking burgers and dogs around noon.

Bring a project or three to bag about. We would all like to see what you have been up to.

WoodWorkers Source put this in their E-Mail Newsletter today so we might have quite a crowd.

See you all there!

Scrappy
Dan Davis

Hope all of you can come. Please let me know if you are going to attend, so we can make sure there are enough chairs, food, drinks, etc…

Have confirmation from; Gene Howe and wife, SEER and wife, JohnnyMo, and Mike85215. Still waiting to here back from everyone else.

Also we will be haveing a Bar-B-Que with, hamburgs, franks, potato and pasta salads. There will be condiments and water, plate cups napkins silverware. If any one would like to bring soda I will have my ice chest and ice. Please let me know.

Brag table will be set up, so bring a couple of your projects for all to see!

Looking forward to hearing back and looking forward to seeing everyone.

Scrappy
Dan Davis
602-402-3093

I am on the mailing list for a local auction company that specialises in estate auctions. They have a sale comeing up on Oct 31st and Nov 7th that has at least 9 Shopsmiths in it. They will be selling at least 3 of the Shopsmiths on the Oct 31st day and the rest on Nov 7th.

Here is a link for pics of the sale items.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=423752127&albumId=1420786&page=8

Keep checking back at the link as he adds pics of items as he gets them.

Here is a copy of the E-Mail

To receive a flyer for all upcoming estate auctions, email us at waynepatrickauctioneers1@msn.com and asked to be added to email list.

Just thought I would let you all get in on this oportunity to get some tools at a great price.

Scrappy

Figured this would be a cheep way for me to get some turning blanks. Buying stuff at the wood stores ( rockler, woodworkers source, etc.) is WAY out of my budget. As long as the tree is fairly fresh, the cracks should be only at the ends and for the price.$30.00 to have 1 row of wood across the bed of my truck up to the top of the sides. ( about 4 1/2 ft x 1 1/2 ft ) in 20 inch long pieces. Should be able to get 4 or 5 pieces 6 to 10 inch diameter for about $10.00 I hoped.

Well, when I got there today they were closed. No sign, no info. The yard is full of new cut and seasoned wood, but no one was to be found to open the gate. ARGH!!! Probably out to lunch.

So I head back home to get the phone # . That was when I passed a pile of brush/ limbs at the end of an alley by the road. Stopped at the car shop it was behind and asked. The owner said he had cut down a tree the other day and had not got it hauled away yet. He wanted me to take it all because , ” What ever you take I don’t have to haul away!” It was a fair sized eucalyptus tree.

The main trunk is about 16 inch diameter, cut into 20 inch long pieces. At the crotch the trunk was still around 13inch and split into 2 9inch upper trunks. I ended up getting all the upper branches that were turning size into my truck exept one. ( still 12ft long) Did not have any saws or axe with me, only my tree pruners. Good to about 1 1/2 inch branches.
REALLY hated to leave that trunk behind but I have no use for it. No chain saw, No bow saw. Band saw will only cut to 7 inch tall. Most of what I took will be getting sawed with my hand saw. ( and not a very good one)

Can only turn up to 12 inch diameter so could not even use what was allready cut to length.

Here is what I ended up bringing home.

First pic is the main pile on my porch ( caught hell for that! )

Here is a close up of the ends.

The longest piece is about 8 ft and a couple are only 4 ft.

This piece is over 8 ft and is the biggest diameter being 9 1/2 inch. at one end.

Got in more trouble when she saw this one on the lawn. ( grass wont grow there….. ever! )

Put a couple of pieces in the shop so I can work on them later.

BTW that is a 12 inch square laying across them.
About 1 to 3 1/2 ft long.

The best is the piece I will have to work the hardest to be able to use. I took the only crotch piece that I could lift. It was 2 trees cut down and there was 2 of these.

View from other side.

This thing is 17 inch at the base and splits into 2 – 91/2 inch trunks. About 4 ft tall. There isn’t anything I have to cut this up with. even my hand saw only has a 14 inch blade. Will either borrow or rent a chain saw to block it down to turnable size. I want that crotch grain!

Not to sure what all of this will become but I figure, bowls, cups, plates….what ever tickles my fancy at the time. haha.

Well I will be posting pics of these projects as I go along.

Thanks for looking.

Scrappy

Go online and get a coupon for an addition 50% of a sale item.

www.Rockler.com

I will be there tommorow.

Scrappy

Added link from my e-mail. This works I tried it.

http://www.qg.com/smartools/ebook/hosted.rails?roi=echo3-4366175662-3206057-ef338bb5cc3447ea5c5e52444d206aaf&issue=b3121880a27d441eb0a5e8f7b860ef12a36faf710c19431da2bce8f7b860ef12

I will be trying to go Step-By-Step and not leave anything out. I know I am missing a couple of pics but will try and explain things as good as I can.

The first thing I would like to address is SAFETY There are many ways to do almost any process, depending on how you were taught/learned. Please be VERY carfull when useing your tools. I would hate to see anyone get hurt.

Onward: I only used one piece of wood for this because I was not even sure I could do it. Didn’t want to mess up my small stash of purpleheart or ebony etc.. You can use one type of wood or like Ampeate suggested use multiple woods for a good contrasting collection of colors. My next one WILL be made with different woods for a more stylish look. ( it might even have some inlay or segmentation ).

I found a design for a Box Joint Jig on the WoodWorking Channel Video Library It is a very informative site.

Here is a pic of my jig.

As you can see, it is nothing more than a piece of plywood with a 1/4 wide by 3/16 tall stip of whatever you want to use for your jig, run down the center. It has a hole for the router bit to stick up through and you set it up by spaceing the bit the same distance from the Strip as the strip is wide ( also the same as your bit size. )

You could use a different size bit and make your jig to the same scale ( 3/8 bit, means a 3/8 strip and space…etc)

If you have never made a box joint , what you do is cut a series of slots in your corasponding corners that are the same width as what your spaces are. You alternate the slots so that the top and bottom of your sides will be even. You do this by starting one piece with a “peg” and the other piece with a “slot” In order to get your slot at the edge of your board you need a spacer. The easiest way to make your spacer is to take a piece of squared off lumber and run it against your Strip putting a grove all the way down it. Turn it around over your Strip and the edge of it is flush with your bit. In the picture below you can see my spacer board sitting over the Strip in place.

With these pieces being as small as they are, DO NOT TRY TO HOLD THEM BY HAND WHEN CUTTING! Your fingers will be WAY too close to the router bit. Safety First!

I made a small jig to hold the pieces.

All this is, is a piece of wood with a notch on the end the same width as your pieces ( mine is 3/4 inch) It has a hole drilled in the end to accept a bolt. This tightens up against the block and your material to hold it in place.

Lets talk about your material size. In my bracelet I used a standard 1/4 inch bit and space to make the sections. This means that the piece of wood starts out at 3/4 inch wide. THIS MUST BE VERY ACCURATE! If not your joints will NOT fit. Also used 1/4 inch thick, this can very depending on how thick you want your bracelet. Made my starting strip of wood 1/4 X 3/4 X about 12 inches long. Depending on how big you want your bracelet will determine how many links you will need.

With the material in the holding jig, I cut the first slot in the center of the board.

Then cut the piece off at 1 inch long. Insert into cutting jig with the notch up.

With your spacer CLAMPED in place Make the second cut at the edge of the link.

This will move you holding jig over so the notch is to one side.

Remove the link re-insert into holding jig with center notch up again, nut with last cut away from the router bit. this will make your last cut on the opposite corner.

When done your pieces/links should look like this.

Make as many of these links as you need for your length. HINT if you are using one piece of wood….KEEP THEM IN ORDER! that way your grain will run around the length of your bracelet. ( beleive me it is harder to line them back up later.) You can even number them to help keep them in order.

At this point is where I drilled the holes for the pivots. Put 2 pieces together in a vice and drill your hole for the pin to go into. I have some 1/16 inch brad nails that are just perfect for this. DO NOT INSERT YOUR PINS YET! They are VERY hard to get back out. You might even have to make a new link. ( I did ) haha

With the square ends on the links they will not pivot with the pins in place. You need to sand the edges and ends of your links to make them clear. I keep putting my pin PART WAY IN ONLY. and checking for clearance. Remember, If you are useing a finish that “Builds Up” n the srface of your wood you will need clearance for this also.

You can shape your pieces as much or as little as you want providing you have enough play to allow movement.

At this point I applied 2 coats of hand wipe poly to all pieces.

When dried I tried the fit and sanded where neccesary to ensure ease of movement. ( tried to get this to act like a loose chain. Wanted it to feel like a real chain would.)

Inserted pins and added clasp.

Your clasp can be whatever type you prefer. Mine is a simple “lobster claw” type. I ran the pivot pin through the ring on the end in the midle of the notch. On the other end I placed a ring to hook to.

You Are Done!

I know I could have had better pics of some of the steps. Please feel free to ask for more detail if you do not understand a step. PM me or leave question here for everyone that might need an answer.

I hope everyone enjoyed this tutorial. And I hope everyone tries this out. There are a lot of ways to very this design and make a veriety of styles, colors, sizes….. etc. Please feel free to change my design!

Please leave all comments, concerns, questions and critiques. I would like to be able to help all those out there that are wanting help. So please don’t be afraid to ask.

Well it is finnally done. I kept getting side tracked with other things around the house.

This is going to a dear freind of my wife and mine. He has been running the center for the blind in Yuma,AZ for the last 25 years. He is retireing on June 27th. This startd as an “Unknown Wood / Unknown Project” and turned into a dedication.

I want to thank everyone who helped this design come into being. Thank You.

The Angel is made up of the following woods: Hair: Blood Wood cut offs Face: Bass Wood cut offs Robe: Poplar pallet wood Wings: White Oak Burl from Rastus

The background is another Unkown wood ( same as from my first inlay rose )

The Frame is Mohagony

I hand routered the lettering on the frame, then filled in with some Aluminum shaveings. ( Had fun making them with a file.) haha

I really like how the grain in the bookmatched background gives the Angel an extra Halo around her. When I was going through my scrap and saw the piece of wood I KNEW were it was going to be used. ( It talked to me! )

The burl in the wings makes them look like they are made up of many small pieces. ( Kind of like wings.)

Finnished with multiple coats of Tung Oil / Varnish

Thank you all for looking.

Please leave ALL comments and criticzm. I am allways trying to improve, so feed-back is helpfull.

Scrappy

Got a little distracted for a few days so did not get much done. Will be working more tonight, so hope to get this sanded flat and put on a backer board. Will make frame this weekend.

Time to get back to work. haha

Thanks for looking.

Please leave all comments and suggestions.

Scrappy