We will begin be going over some safety tips. First of all it is always important to know your tools and use them safely. You will be working with very small pieces of wood so, the utmost care is needed.

If something does not seem safe, then stop!

Step #4

In this section we are going to be doing our Final Sanding, Finishing and Assembly of the bracelet.

Make sure to get all saw marks off of the surface and sand to the final grit for a good finish. Grit used will depend partly on what kind of wood you used and what finish you will be using. I am sorry but, I did not sand mine as good as I should have and it shows.

once you have all of your pieces ready you can do your finish as needed. I left mine as raw wood because I like to just use the Beale Buffing System with the final coat being Carnuba Wax. It brings out the grain in most woods great.

Next we will prepare our hinge pins.

On the first bracelet, I used Brad nails for the pins. On this one I used .062 Diam Wire that I got from the hobby shop. I have a 1/16 inch drill bit so this seemed easiest.

Make sure that the pins are long enough to go all the way through the bracelet. You want to have the leading edge to have a slightly rounded end. This will help the pin go through the hole easier. The back side does not matter as you will be sanding this off after assembly.

In this pic you can see the pins are ready to go.

Here is the first pin in place. This is where the clasp will hook.
CAUTION!!! Depending on what type of clasp you use, you will need to put it in place with this pin! If you would like, you could just assemble this into a complete circle to be worn like a bangle type bracelet.

Keep going all the way down the length of the bracelet, section by section, until it is all assembled.

Once the bracelet is assembled, you can sand or grind the pins flush with the edges of the bracelet. Be careful when doing this. You do not want to go too far and reduce the width of the links and weaken them.

I used a magnetic Clasp on this bracelet to make it easier to get on and off.

Here are a couple of pics of the bracelet after being buffed and a close up of the clasp.

I hope you all enjoyed this class. I am available for any questions or help you may need. Looking forward to seeing all of your completed bracelets.

PM me with your finished projects and I will add the links for them to this blog.

Thank You
Scrappy

First I want to remind every one to be VERY careful! Always keep safety in mind when doing your projects.

In this step we will be drilling the holes for the pins and shaping the pieces.

Once you have all of your pieces cut to size ( step #1 ) and the notches cut ( step #2 ), you can get ready to drill the holes for the hinge pins.

You will need:
Suitable material for a hinge pin. ( in my first one I used brad nails. ) I got some wire from the Hobby Bench that is 1/16 diam.

A drill bit to match the hinge pin size. I have a 1/16 inch drill bit.

Preferably a vise to hold the pieces. ( and tape to help )

And a drill press. (You can do this by hand but a drill press will be easier. )

The first thing to do is to line up all your pieces and make sure they fit together.

When drilling your holes, your pieces have to stay in alignment. I use tape to help keep them together.

This makes it a LOT easier when you go to clamp them in the vise.

Caution!!!! Make sure you are drilling in the correct place!!

You can mark each piece with the drill spot to make sure the pins are centered.

(Sorry forgot a pic of that.)

After your pieces are drilled, you can remove the tape.

Caution!!!! Keep your pieces in the same order!! If your hole is not exact on all pieces, ,your pieces will not line up when you go to assemble them.

Next we will be shaping the ends on the pieces.

The reason you need to shape the ends is, when the pieces pivot, the corner will hit and the piece will not move. You need to round over all corners so that they do not hit when assembled.
I use a belt sand and a VERY light touch. If you take too much off, your joint will break easier.

All that is left now is some clean up sanding by hand. Make sure you get rid of all burs and chips.

Next week:

Assembling and final sanding along with finish.

Thanks for following along. Please leave all comments and questions. Feel free to PM me or leave a comment if you need any more information or help.

Scrappy

We will begin be going over some safety tips.
First of all it is always important to know your tools and use them safely. You will be working with very small pieces of wood so, the utmost care is needed.

If something does not seem safe, then stop

Step ONE

The first thing you want to do is to cut your wood to size.

I started with a piece of 4/4 Purple Heart. It was slightly more then 3/4 thick so I had to plane it down. Once at 3/4 thick, I then sliced a piece from the end at 1 inch wide.

That gave me a piece 3/4 X 1 X 12 that has the grain going through it along the 1 inch direction.

See pic below.

Once you have your starting stock, you can cut the notches.

First notch should be the center one. You want this to be 1/4 X 1/4.

I used a 1/4 bit in the router table, but this can also be done with a dado set or multiple cuts on the table saw. This notch MUST be centered.

Please use EXTREME CAUTION as these are small pieces you are working with.

The next thing to do is to cut the 2 outer notches.

This was also done on the router table.

Your notches should be cut 1/4 deep and leave a tendon that is a snug but not tight fit into your center notch.

When testing this cut, I used a piece of scrap, and checked the fit to make sure my cuts were accurate.

Next you want to cut your strip into your sections.

It is best to make these the same size as your notches. Mine are cut to 1/4 thick. This will allow you to create a hinge point easier.

Make sure you make enough for the entire length of the bracelet. ( I make extra to use in testing the hinge pin fit. And in case I make a mistake, I have extra parts. haha)

At this point we will stop.

Next time:

Drilling the hinge holes and shaping the pieces.

Until next week, Enjoy!

Thanks for following along. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Scrappy

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/18322

I want to point out that we will NOT be using the special jig I made. I have a different way to get the same results which does not require each of you making a jig.
Part #1
Getting started and choosing wood.

We will begin be going over some safety tips.

First of all is is all ways important to know your tools and use them safely. You will be working with very small pieces of wood so, the utmost care is needed.

If something does not seem safe, then stop!

Step #1

In this class you will need to be able to cut a groove down the length of a board and cut a rabbit on two edges. These will all be 1/4×1/4. You can use the table saw or router table (preferred method).

We will be using a table saw, router table, sander and drill press.

You can drill the holes for the pins by hand but, they must be accurate! (much easier on a drill press)

You will need the following materials:
Your wood…......3/4×1 about 6 inches to use but for safety about a 12 in strip would be better.
Drill to be a snug fit for a brad nail (your hinge).
Brad nails (you can use a stiff wire, but you still need a drill bit to match.
Sand Paper and sanding block or bench sander.
Finish as desired. I will be using a hand wipe poly.

On to WOOD SELECTION.

You will want to use a hard wood. Preferably with a tight grain. The softer the wood and the bigger the grain, the easier your pieces will brake.

On my first Bracelet, I used Indonesian Mahogany. On this one I am going to use Purple Heart. It is very dense and has a VERY tight grain.

One thing to consider when choosing your wood, the grain needs to run from side to side on the 1 inch side. You do not want it to run the 12 inch direction. If your grain runs the wrong direction your corners will be very weak and break easily.

That is it for the first installment. Please sign up for the class and feel free to PM me at any time for help.

See you next weekend!
Scrappy

Looking to have this get together on June 25th. Let me know if this works. Sorry only 2 weeks away.

Please drop a line here or PM me if interested. I will keep you all informed on the Woodcraft status.

Hope to here from you soon.
Scrappy

P.S. will be sending PM’s about this to all LJ’s I know in the area.

Learned more then I ever thought I could from all the great people that always seem ready to help when needed. Thank you to all of you for commenting and posting wonderful projects to inspire a beginning woodworker. I know I still have a LONG way to go before my stuff reaches my goals. (Trifern, Roper, and many others) You have set the bar high for me to reach for and every day I try to improve/learn something new.

Thank You all again for the help and friendship. And a special thanks to Martin for the wonderful site.

Scrappy

When starting your tun, you can use a turning plate or chuck to hold the bottom and turn the outside and inside. But when you want to finish off the piece, that live edge doesn’t give you anywhere to grip. I saw one of these mounts in the WoodTurnersCatalog.com Mine is a LOT cheesier design, but only cost penny’s to make.

Started with a scrap of wood, a bolt, nut, and washer. Added a no slip pad for friction.

Cut wood to a circle.(don’t have to be real accurate with this as you will turn it later) Drilled and countersunk bolt head, and mounted bolt.

Chucked the bolt up in the Jacobs Chuck and turned the disk to desired size. Needs to be big enough to give max. grip on bowl but not too big. Also tapered the edge to match (or close to) the taper on the inside of the bowl. After that I added the “No Slip Pad”, (mine is an old router pad)

It is now ready to use. I just chuck it in my Jacobs Chuck.

Put your work piece in place. The tapered edge will help you to get it centered.

Put the tail stock against the bottom of the piece tightly, with the live center, to hold it in place.

Notice I don’t have a “Cone Center”. I just made a cone out of wood and put it on the live center. As long as it is seated good you don’t get wobble.

Now you are ready to turn the bottom of your piece. I turn mine with a step at the edge, and a relief in the bottom. That way if there is any movement/warp later, it is only making contact with the table at the very edge and is easy to level with a little sandpaper.

Hope this help all of you who have been hesitant to try a live edge.

The main things to remember:
You need to make your disk small enough to hold your piece.
You need to make the entire jig long enough so your piece clears the head stock.
This is ONLY for light cleaning of the bottom. NOT FOR HEAVY DUTY TURNING.
Always use your tail stock to hold anything that is in the head sock with a moris taper. It WILL come loose!

Have lots of fun and try new things!

Thank You
Scrappy

Here is a link for the wood turners catalog sale.

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/ChucksTeknatoolNovaMidiChucknovamidi?Partnerid=e183

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/ChucksTeknatoolSuperNova2SpecialOffersupernovaoffer?Partnerid=e183

and others.

Just wanted to let you know.

Scrappy

WoodWorkers Source
645 W. Elliot Rd.
Tempe, AZ 85284
480-355-5090

Come one Come all and lets all have a lot of fun!

Scrappy

See Forum Topic here for more info.

Here are a couple of pics of the wood.

Closer looks.

This stuff comes in all kinds of colors.

This is a very special present for me. I have been wanting to get some of this wood ever since I first saw it.

Can’t wait to give it a turn.

Thank you again Mike for a very generouse gift.

Scrappy

This would be shooting for the last weekend in Febuary, Saturday, the 27th. Probably at the WoodWorkers Source in Tempe. The same person owns the north store and they treated us real good last November. If interested please post or send me a PM and I will try and get it all organized again.

I know there are several LJ’s in the valley and others here getting away from the snow up north. ( Jim Jakosh is one ) If you know of any more please PM them and make sure they know about this and lets see how many we can get together.

Like last year, all spouses are welcome. It makes it much more enjoyable to get everyone together.( They can tell their own stories about us.) haha We all had a great time last year and hope we can make this happen while our winter visiters are here now. It would be great to get even more prspectives about our hobbie from people around the country.

Will be sending out PM’s to everyone I can think of (last years list) that has not responded here, within the next couple of days, just to make sure you all know about it.

Hope to hear from all of you soon.

Thanks
Scrappy

I would like to thank all the wonderfull people on this site. All of you have helped me to become a better woodworker. I have learned more in the last year then I ever thought I would. Your comments and suggestions have been very informative. It has been a great learning experiance for me. Thank You.

I really enjoy seeing all the projects everyone has posted. They have given me a lot more ideas then I have time to do. There are soo many things on my WANT to do list that I want to try, sometimes I don’t know where to start.haha

All of the comments and helpfull tips are great. I appcreciate the constructive criticzm from all. Even if you have never turned something,( or built a box etc..) you still know what looks good and are able to give design ideas.

The freindships that I have built from other LJ’s is great also. I enjoyed our picnic in Arizona last november and hope to get together soon with a couple of the local LJ’s. Maybe we can plan another picnic in March?

Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement that you have shared with me. Not just on my stuff, but by looking at others and reading reviews, I have learned never to be affraid of posting anything. Even my mistakes. We all learn from them too.

Have learned a lot about finnishes. Still need to take more time and learn a LOT more, but I am improveing. (I think)

Thank you Martin and MsDebbie for keeping this wonderfull site full of outstanding, freindly people going and growing.

Keep it up

Scrappy

Also a Happy holidays to all.

Hope your holidays have been and are still as much fun as mine have been.

And a BIG ThankYou, to all the LJ’s out therre for posting projects, blogs, forum topics and just general info. You have helped my skills to flourish over the last year. Because of all of you, I was able to hand make ALL of the presents given this year.

Thank You

Scrappy

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