R.I.P.

Yes there was a death today.

My little Ryobi $99 tablesaw rolled over and died tonight. I was 3/4 the way through a cut on a piece of walnut for some new cutting boards and the flash of sparks coming from the motor caught my attention!

Poor thing.

Untitled

This is something that I came up with over the weekend. The dots at the top are inlays (meaning they do not show through to the other side of the pen). The single stripe running the length of the lower barrel is also an inlay where the three shorter stripes run all the way around the pen.

Here's a picture to show the flip side of the pen.

Make that a Double

I worked on a couple of pen designs this weekend. The first is an expansion of the celtic knot done last week. This time around I went with the double knot design. I used soft maple as the accent wood on the Sapele base.

Knots - His and Hers

I like the size and feel of the cigar pen.

My wife prefers the slim line.

As I mentioned in the previous post I have made my first Celtic Knot pen. I actually made two at the same time. One Cigar and one Slimline.
his and hers

her knot

his knot

and yes, there are more in the works!

Let's Get Jiggy

I typically believe that if someone throws something away, they are doing it for a reason. I have heard also that one man's trash is another man's treasure.

I have known that there is a local furniture company about a block away from my house. I have also heard that their cut-offs are available for the taking. This past Sunday I found out what I've been missing, and I can assure you it won't happen again!!

Here is the haul I brought home Sunday

I have already begun using one of those longer strips in the back as a raised bed in my planer so I can make my thin strips used in the celtic knot pens. There are plenty more jigs and projects just waiting to come out of that pile...

Celtic Cigar

And here's my first ever celtic-knot:



I've been talking to my friend Gary about making one of these for several weeks now. The main wood used is Sapele (sent to me by Gary) and the celtic-knot is Black Walnut. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Now it's time to expand on this design and see what else I can come up with.

Let's Go Sledding

Something I've wanted to build for a while now is a sled for my tablesaw. I talked with my friend Gary several times this week about issues he's run into in the 4 different sleds he's built. I got the runners cut to size Thursday night. Today while my wife was out with the girls, I figured it was time to get to work.

I have a round piece of 1/2" cabinet grade plywood that was given to me at a turning group meeting I had attended last winter. I thought this would be a great project to use that. I cut a portion of the circle to give me a flat spot which would become the backer board (the board I'll hang onto as I push the sled through the saw).

Then it was time to attach the runners to the base. That didn't go nearly as bad as I had expected! Once the runner were secure, I attached a short piece of Oak to the front of the sled to keep everything from moving once the sled receives it's first cut.

The second part of the project I was nervous about was attaching the backer board, as this needs to have as close to accurate placement to enable accurate 90 degree cross cuts.

Once the sled was assembled, I applied some wax to the miter slots on the table saw. A little sanding on the runners to get a good fit, it was just like Gary said... it just slides!

Thanks for the input Gary. It's got a good fit with no side to side movement.

Check it out.

(right side)

(left side)

(underside)

Now it's just a matter of adding the 45 degree supports so I can start making some pens like Gary's!!