Thanks to my Daughter

My oldest daughter is in seventh grade at the middle school. She’s done a great job of continuing to try out for different activities at school. She’s gone for drama, track, field hockey and most recently student council. The unfortunate part of this is that she hasn’t made the cut on any of these activities yet. I give her great credit for trying though, that’s more than I ever did in school. Other than a stint in pop warner football my freshman year, I didn’t do anything.

So after finding out today about the outcome of the student council voting, I’ve decided that I need to push my own fears of rejection aside. I have entered into one of the regions upcoming craft fairs. If she can continue to out herself our there, I don't really feel like I have an excuse not to.

I’m going with a limited number of items to test the waters. I’m going to have cutting boards, cigar pens, wine bottle holders and some turned Christmas tree ornaments. And since I’ve got about 5 weeks to get ready for this, I’m going to have to get my butt back into the dungeon and continue sanding away like a mad man.

Wish me luck.

Too Well...

I knew everything was going "too well" over the past couple of days. I glued up four of these wine bottle holders out of some scrap oak along with another walnut/maple cutting board. I also glued the brass inserts into four pen blanks. I also started working on the cookie sheet rack for my wife that will go above the range vent/light thing.

So tonight, in an attempt to keep each of these projects moving along, I decided to focus on the cookie sheet rack. I had glued up the sides, top and bottom the other day, so it was time to route the dados for the shelf supports into the sides. Well only ONE side should have had the extra dados... and now both of them do. Dang it! It never pays to rush anything.

Back to the glue bench I go...

A Fun Little Hobby

It's the little things that I really enjoy about this hobby of mine. What started as three simple pieces of Oak this morning, has now transitioned into a new item! pictures coming soon...

You Want a Cardio Workout?

Oh, I've got the workout for you! Grab yourself a palm sander (the manual kind, not some plug in jobbie) get three grits of paper (I used 100, 150 and 220) and something roughly the size of a cutting board. I bet you know where I'm going with this! After almost an hour of sanding down, not one, but two cutting boards, I'm covered in dust and sweating like a pig. And unlike Richard Simmons, I was listening to Metallica crank through the iPod rather than the oldies.

So I've got two boards that are ready to be wiped down with a tack cloth and have the first coat of oil applied.

oh, and my interview on LumberJocks has now been posted!

You Want to Interview Me?!?!

I was contacted the other day by Martin Sojka, the creator of LumberJocks.com. He asked me if I would be his next Jock to be interviewed! Trust me, I was just as shocked as you! I submitted my interview to him today, so I would expect it should be posted sometime this week. You can click here to go directly to the interviews page.

I have to admit that I'm a bit nervous about the whole thing. I don't have anywhere near the experience or skill that the other "Jocks" interviewed have got. But to be included with such an amazing group was not something I could pass up.

More Cuttingboards

I think I might have found something I'm good at. I can glue smaller boards together to form a larger flat (most of the times) board!!

Here are some new cuttingboards that I have in progress (though I'm not sure how well the fomatting is going to look):

This is the board that I was complaining about yesterday. That 32 grit sand paper (kinda like rubbing a handful of pebbles on the board) I picked up yesterday at Home Depot helped even things out a bit quicker.
Today I got the ends trimmed and evened off and I routered a 1/4" round-over on the edges.
This board is made up of Cherry, Walnut and Red Leaf Soft Maple.





This board, made of Cherry and Red Leaf Soft Maple, is next up in Line. I've arranged for the stripes to run the length of the board on this and the next few boards.
Tonight I planed the faces of each of the boards to get this one ready to be glued up. I hope to do the glue up tomorrow.







Here's a shot of one of three cuttingboards that I have rough cut. All three have the stripes running the length of the board and are all complosed of Walnut and Red Leaf Soft Maple. The other two have the outer edges starting with the maple.

All of the cuttingboards I have done and have in progress are roughly 11" x 15" x 1.5" in size.

Why is it...?

Why is it that the second version of a project always seems to be about 50 times harder than the first? It must be the woodworking God's way of keeping me in line. Making sure I'm not getting over-confident...

It's not that the new cutting board (go figure, I'm having trouble making a flat board!!) is coming out poorly, it's just that this one isn't going as smoothly as the first. My biggest problem, looking back on this project, is that I didn't pay as close attention to making sure that each strip was close enough in height. I've had some wicked hand planing and sanding to do over the past couple days.

After some focused work tonight, it's getting better though. Tomorrow should put me back on track.

Cuttingboard

Last night, I cut the board to final width, hand planed the highspots, routered a roundover on the edges and rough sanded the whole board. Tonight, I did the finish sanding and applied a coat of BLO (Boiled Linseed Oil) for the finish. I really like how the BLO shows off the grain of the walnut (the darker stripes) in this picture:


Here's a close-up that shows off the grain in the red leaf soft maple:


This was a fun little project to do. I think I'll be making more. Christmas is coming and there were several family members that showed some interest... we'll have to wait and see.

Reincarnated

What was once supposed to be a laptop writing desk and a drawer for my daughter's dresser has now become a butcher-block style cutting board.

Wood Magazine had another version of a cutting board in the current issue, which got me thinking that here's another relatively quick and easy project that I can bang out and continue improving my skills with. And so far it's coming out rather nice. I've alternated strips of Black Walnut and Red Leaf Soft Maple and I'm going to coat it with Boiled Linseed Oil when it's ready.

Ornament #5

This is the fifth ornament that I've worked on. The first four had the Christmas tree center (though numbers 2, 3 & 4 had a slightly altered tree compared to the first).

As you can see, I've gone with a Snowman on this one. I saw this design somewhere out on the web, but not sure where. I wouldn't normally paint a perfectly good piece of Maple, but my wife has yet again make a good request. The "ball" portion of this ornament is Walnut.

Other than the hole on the bottom being drilled a little off center, I'm pretty happy with the looks of this one. I may have to try another tree and use some of the left-over paint from the NY Adirondacks project.

Project Update... Seriously!

I know it's said in woodworking groups that "without pictures, it didn't happen", but I am here to say that I actually did work on that Oak dresser that I started oh so long ago for Violet.

Something had to be done. A week or so ago while family and freinds were at the house, I mentioned the dresser I was working on. My wife piped up that I wasn't working on a dresser, I just had a pile of wood in the basement. Well the zing sounded better being there and I did truly find it funny.

I also saw the postings of this guy's work at the LumberJocks site. Mark is today what I would like to be as a woodworker... talented! Seriously though, Mark does have some fantastic projects that he's done and seeing those is a nice reminder that I need to get my butt in gear if I'm ever going to finish some of my own.

I appreciate the feedback on what I should enter in the LumberJocks 2006 Summer Woodworking Contest, though I still haven't made a decision on what I might like to submit. I'll make sure to post my decision here first.

I'm a LumberJock!

I've recently signed up for membership on a newer woodworking site called LumberJocks. LumberJocks put out this notice the other day:

LumberJocks.com Announces
First Annual Summer Woodworking Contest
International Woodworkers Invited to Participate in Free Competition

LumberJocks.com, one of the most innovative woodworking sites on the Internet, has issued a challenge to the world's do-it-yourself enthusiasts, weekend warriors and professional woodworkers.
Beginning this week, registered users from around the world can enter their projects—at no cost—to compete in the First Annual LumberJocks Summer Woodworking Contest, which runs through Sept. 23 (visit http://lumberjocks.com/contests/summer_2006 ).
"We wanted to add some sizzle this summer," says LumberJocks.com founder Martin Sojka, who also presides over the successful PowerToolBench.com . "Anyone who posts a project on or before Wednesday, Sept. 20, is eligible to compete—and like everything else on the site, contest participation is free."
Every project is required to feature at least one photo (up to three may be posted per project), as well as a personal story. These stories may cover tips and tricks, materials used, challenges encountered, sources of inspiration and what one might do differently in the future. Typical projects include furniture, home accessories, remodeling, woodcarving, toys, miniatures, gifts, fine art and sculpture.
What makes the contest unique is that registered users can rate each project on a 1–10 scale, post comments and ask questions, creating a truly interactive experience. Once a project receives three ratings from other users, it will automatically become the contest finalist.
Sojka's goal? To create an online community of woodworking aficionados who receive personal web space to post their creative works free of charge.
"There's no designated jury of experts in this contest," Sojka says. "The LumberJocks community will decide, through a democratic voting process, who takes top honors."
The top three LumberJocks will receive a free one-year subscription to their choice of seven leading woodworking magazines: Popular Woodworking, Fine Woodworking, Wood, Workbench, Woodworker's Journal, Woodcraft or American Woodworker.
"Contest winners will be announced on Sept. 24," Sojka says. "I can't wait to see the creative entries our growing community of members create!"

So here's the big question... with what I've posted here and on darrylmasterson.com are there any suggestions on what I should enter?

Christmas in July

One of the several woodworking magazines I subscribe to is Wood Magazine. There have been some rather interesting articles in the few issues I've received so far. One article that recently caught my attention had to do with making a turned Christmas Tree ornament.

Having not made anything other than pens with the lathe, I thought it would be nice to make a smaller different project. The lighter wood is Cherry and the darker wood is Walnut. This is a very small lightweight ornament, it only measures about 3.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.

My wife is already making plans to give these as gifts this Christmas, so I'm sure you will be seeing more of these in the near future!

Updates

I liked the title of my last post "On the Workbench". I found it a rather clever way to talk about stuff that I'm working on currently. I didn't want to have a hundred posts here labeled "On the Workbench", so I took this concept over to my other website, DarrylMasterson.com. I'm thinking that I may use that to show the updates of projects and continue posting here for other woodworking stuff.

The rain here in New Hampshire has been unbelievable so far this Spring. I'm fairly certain that I have no interest in ever living in Seattle! The only positive thing with the rain is that it's been spread out enough that I haven't had to deal with any of the flooded workshop issues like we had back in October.

Ok, well it's still fairly early, so it's back to the dungeon to continue working on an Adirondack that I need completed by Friday.

On the Workbench

I know it's been a while since I've posted an update. This is not due to inactivity however.

I have another Adirondack in the works. This is #2 for one of the girls at work. She bought one last summer and now she wants a matching one. I've got the frame assembled and have applied the primer. With the exception of the seat slats, the remaining pieces have been cut to size. I need to run the router over the edges to round off the sharp corners and give them all a quick sanding before getting the paint on these pieces.

I've also glued, cut and shaped the top of the Oak dresser. I've got the front back and sides glued up for the bottom drawer. I'm having a little trouble deciding what I want to do for the bottom of the drawers on this project. I'm trying to push this project farther into the "fine woodworking" category and I'm afraid that plywood drawer bottoms will hinder that. And at the same time, solid wood bottoms include more money, time, weight and work. I may just put off that decision until later.

Demented Dimensions

I finished putting the dovetails in the sides and the top & bottom web-frames. Now there is something to look at! Of course it's also a bit bigger than I had imagined. For some reason, a five foot tall, three foot wide dresser didn't sound as big as it really looks. And when I say really big, I mean "holy crap, I hope I don't have to move that very often!" BIG.

You can get the idea where the drawers are going to be in this picture as well. Each of those dados (aka grooves) on the inside of the left side of the dresser will help support a web-frame. The web-frame (sorta like a picture frame lying on it's back) will support the drawers and provide a smooth surface for them to glide on as they are opened and closed in daily use.

The web-frame on the bottom serves a dual purpose of supporting the bottom drawer and attaching the dresser carcase to the base.

The web-frame on the top will be used to attach the top to the dresser from the inside to prevent having any unsightly screws going through the top of the dresser. Not that is matters since it would take a rather tall individual to even see them if they were there!!

Next on the to-do list will be building all of the web-frames for the drawer supports. Pictures will follow as the progression continues...

Violet's Dresser

I've been putting my spare time into that dresser I'm building my 2 year old. I've got both sides all glued up. I've got one side cut to final size and have cut the dados that are used to support the web-frames used as the drawer supports. I should have the second side finished up tomorrow, assuming the weather isn't to nice that I'm forced to enjoy it all day!!

Once I get that second side cut to final size, I can then get to work with that dovetail jig of mine to complete the case structure of the dresser. The web-frames for the drawer supports should be cake. Then it's just a matter of getting the drawers themselves completed.

I'll provide some pictures as soon as there is something to look at. Right now it's basically a couple pieces of wood with wome groves cut in it...

patience my friends.

Want More Information??

Microsoft has a new project in the works called Office Live. This project provides free domain names and web hosting. For more info, check out:Microsoft Office Live.

The reason I mention this is not to provide advertisement for Microsoft, but to mention I've taken advantage of their offer and created darrylmasterson.com. This is a site that I'm going to work on building up to provide more information about the projects I'm working on, and hopefully someday use it as a resource to sell some items.

If you've got the time, have a look, and of course, any constructive critizism would be welcome... (so long as it's positive!). Just kidding of course, let me know what you think.

Thanks

PS ~ I have no intention of letting go of Woodworking Dungeon, so don't delete it out of your favorites list yet!

New Wood Haul

The order I placed last weekend is ready to be picked up. So tomorrow I'm going to cram a trip to the lumber mill inbetween two family events to pick up my new stash.

here's what I'm getting:

- 50 boardfeet of White Oak
- 25 boardfeet of Red Leaf Soft Maple
- 24 boardfeet of Eastern White Pine

The Oak and Maple are going to be used in the dresser for Violet and the Pine is for another Adirondack chair for one of the girls at the real job.

Dungeon Update

I ordered more White Oak this past Saturday. I expect that to be ready later this week so I can hopefully start this weekend building up the sides of the dresser I'm working on. I also ordered some Red Leaf Soft Maple which I'll be using on the drawer sides and backs.

In the mean time, one of my customers at the real job, Gary, was nice enough to send me some scrap wood that arrived today. I got a whole box of what I believe is mahogany. I'll have to verify that tomorrow when I thank him.

I didn't want this new wood to get all dusty in the dungeon, so I jumped right in and started working with it! It cuts like butter. Drills nice, and is really easy to turn on the lathe!!!

I've been talking with Gary about different finishing techniques the past week or so, he's helped push me in the direction of using Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) and Johnson's Paste Wax. I've been messing around with a few pieces of scrap oak to see how the finish will look. I'd like to know a bit more of what I'm doing before I apply this new finishing process to Violet's dresser.

Here's a look at my second cigar pen. I made this with a piece of the wood I got from Gary (if you hadn't already guessed that!). I applied a new finish on this pen than I have on the rest. I mixed some of the BLO with the paste wax until I got a sweet potato / baby food type consistancy. Then applied some to a rag, rubbed it in and buffed it to a nice little shine.

I really like the color tone and the way the grain pops out with this finish. and yeah, I can admit that it is way cooler to mix my own finish than to just use something out of a bottle!

I'll be curious to see how this new finish holds up a real world environment though. The Behlen Woodturner's Finish on the pen that I use daily at work has all but rubbed off at this point, which I do find a bit disappointing.