Wood Chuck's Workshop

Old Tool, New Life

2016-05-17T17:57:00.001-05:00

I have posted several times about tools that were my grandpa's or great grandpa's, but here is another. My favorite hatchet to carve with belonged to my grandpa. It had a handle on it that he had made himself.

Here is Grandpa's hatchet with the handle grandpa had made

I wasn't knowledgeable enough about axes/hatchets to know how to correctly fix the fact that the head was loose on the hatchet. I would typical bang the bottom of the handle on a stump to try and tighten it up while working, One day mid winter while splitting some kindling to get the stove going the head broke off the handle. I was sad that I had broken something my grandpa had made. I then did some research on the correct way to fasten (hang) a head on an ax or hatchet.

Hickory is the wood of choice for ax and hatchet handles. After digging in the wood rack I found some Hickory. I rough cut the overall shape on the bandsaw and then did all the shaping with rasp and files.

While making the handle and studying the hatchet head I realized that one side of the head was flat and the other side was beveled. After looking online and talking to some friends I decided that originally the hatchet head had a single bevel and would have been for hewing timbers, and that some point someone sharpened it putting a bevel on both side. I decided to reshape the head and sharpen it back having a single bevel. I didn't want to remove all the pitting and patina on the blade so I didn't grind the sides, and focused my work near the cutting edge. I did the majority of the reshaping using the old stationary belt sander that I had gotten from grandma. With a 60 grit belt I established the single bevel cutting edge and with a little filing it was sharp enough to shave. I plan to polish the cutting edge more soon.

The flat side of the hatchet

The curved/beveled side

I hung the head on my hickory handle and then finished it with boiled linseed oil. The hickory really came alive when I applied the oil. I shaped the handle where it had a nice place to grip right under the head for detailed work and made a nice palm swell on the bottom of the handle to give a good grip when taking a full swing. What I have learned while doing this has made me want to restore some other axes and make some more tools. I am very glad to have grandpa's hatchet back to usable condition. I really enjoy using these old tools, thinking about what was built using them. I hope that someday someone in my family will be using these tools and some of mine also and thinking back about me.

Circuit Board Yo-Yo

2015-12-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

I've been a fan of the circuit board pen blanks since I first started making pens. I've made a few and have always been happy with how they have turned out. Now that I've been making pens for a few years it has become hard to come up with gifts to make for family members. One day while making another circuit board pen the idea of making a circuit board yo-yo came to me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to cut the circuit board with out them shattering. I started by removing most the components from the circuit board, and then I cut two circles on the bandsaw trying to keep the details of the board and some of the components that were flat to the board.

Next it was time to cast the boards into clear acrylic. I went with Amazing Clear Cast by Alumilite because it has a long open time which I hoped would allow for a blank with fewer air bubbles.

I used the reverse side of some bracelet molds I bought when I purchased the acrylic

The acrylic material machined well and was easier to work with than most the other acrylics I've turned before.

I did all the shaping with a scraper, and then sanded from 320 all the way up to 12,000 and finished with some plastic polish.

I am extremely happy with how this turned out and look forward to giving it to my dad for Christmas

I made a video explaning how I made the yo-yo.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mail Center

2015-11-17T12:47:00.000-06:00

My wife wanted a mail center/message board to help contain some of the clutter on the island. We looked at a few ideas on Pinterest and then drew a design we like. She found a old drawer from a sewing machine that she wanted to use as one of the containers on the board. She found a metal box she liked for the other box on the board but it wasn't the size she wanted. I had some scrap galvanized steel and some pallet wood so I made a simple box.

For this project I chose to use a pine project board from the big box store.

After we had our two boxes we decided that wasn't room to put a chalk board on and it would be used to hold mail. library books, and the kids back packs.

I tried a chalk paint finish on this project. I wasn't a fan of the finishing wax, but I like how the paint went on. My wife is on the look out for an "M" to put in the top area.

Rough turning bowls

2015-09-24T13:01:00.000-05:00

Last year I had a co-worker tell me about a weird piece of wood that his dad had cut, he explained it me and I told him I would like to have it.

The wood in question turned out to be flame box elder.

I split the pieces in half length wise and sealed the ends with paint to slow down how fast they dry out and to minimize cracking.

Fast forward 11 months, I've gotten a chuck for the lathe and I'm planning to make more bowls. I used the bandsaw and made crudely round blanks from one of the halves shown above. This wood isn't completely "dry" yet but also wasn't as green as a fresh cute tree. So I decided to rough turn these and allow them to finish drying before I turn them to their final shape.

I turned two bowls from the half a log piece. The larger is just under 8" in diameter, and the smaller is around 6". I left the wall thickness roughly 10% of the bowl diameter as is standard practice for rough turning bowls. I weighed each bowl and then packed them in a paper bag with the shavings/chips turning them. I will weigh them regularly and once they stop losing weight (moisture) I will finish turning them. I have several more pieces of the flame box elder waiting for me to get to using it.

September 2015 Shop Tour

2015-09-16T06:58:00.000-05:00

I know I appeared to fall off the face of the earth after my April shop tour but I'm still around and my shop didn't get blown away. Here is the September edition of the tour.

Making Memories While Making Pens

2015-09-14T12:53:00.000-05:00

Since I started making pens and pencils I've given a lot of them as gifts. Recently I gave my nephew a pen for his birthday.

Zane's Pen

He loved it but asked if I could make him pencil, I suggested that next time he was up that we could make it together. His older sister liked that idea also, she even picked out the blank she wanted to use.

I got the blanks ready and next time they were up we made the pen and pencil. I had each of them start out by practice turning a piece of scrap before turning the actual project.

Trinity ready to turn

Zane concentrating on the work at hand

Zane's Cherry mechanical pencil

Trinity's confetti pen

It was a lot of fun to work in the shop with the kids. They both seemed very proud of what we made together.

Wedding Arbor

2015-04-02T12:50:00.000-05:00

My cousin asked me to make an arbor for her wedding. It was going to be painted so that meant I could build the arbor from standard construction lumber. I ripped the pieces down on the table saw to remove the rounded edged on the 2x4's.

I designed the arbor with "4x4" legs so after I had the 2x4 cleaned up it was time to glue the legs.

I cut the arched top rails from a 2x8. I used a piece of PVC pipe and some sting to make a bow template for the arch.

The legs were notched out for the cross bars to create the end assemblies.

The arched rails were joined together with 3 cross rails

For the top the cross rails the endges need something more than a square end. I used the table saw to create the arc. After cutting several saw kerfs I used a chisel to remove the remaining wood and refine the shape.

The arbor was 3 sections that could easily be carried into the church.

Painted

They did a great job of decorating the arbor.

I was very proud of how the arbor turned out and it looked great up on the stage.

March 2015 Shop Tour

2015-03-18T12:58:00.000-05:00

This month's tour is two weeks late, but here it is. Sadly there hasn't been any progress, but I did build something.

February 2015 Shop Tour

2015-02-02T12:55:00.000-06:00

I didn't get a lot of shop time in January but I did make some progress in the shop.
Here is my February 2015 shop tour.

Tool Handles

2015-01-24T08:32:00.001-06:00

As I was cleaning in the shop recently I found some old files and rasp that were NY grandpa's. I had forgot I had them. Only one of them had a handle. I need a simple lathe project to get my fix so I used some scrap and turned some handles. Files are a lot nicer to use when they have a handle.

Oak handle on top and a maple handle on bottom.too

Bethlehem Olive Wood

2015-01-13T12:58:00.000-06:00

Olive wood from Bethlehem is available from many vendors. The wood available comes from trimmed branches and dead trees, no trees are killed to provide the wood.

The grain in the olive wood is beautiful. I've made two pens from it and each have turned out great. The olive wood turns very nicely and smells wonderful while working it. I look forward to making some more items from it.

This blank had some exceptional grain, and even has some figure and curl to it.

More turned gifts

2015-01-08T12:56:00.000-06:00

I turned a lot of pens and other items for gift this year.

Leopard wood seam ripper

Red acrylic Pocket stylus

Crushed Turquoise Slim pen

Teacher pen made from Red Acrylic, Apple Wood, and Walnut

Purpleheart twist pen

Raging Rapids Acrylic slim pen

Bethlehem Olive wood Designer pen

Nuclear Grape mechanical Pencil

A walnut slim pen, and a cherry slim pen

ScrewDrivers

2015-01-07T12:42:00.000-06:00

Almost everyone in my family has pens so I needed to come up with a gift I could make. I decided to make screwdrivers for the guys in our families as part of their Christmas gifts. This is something I've seen several other wood turners do on YouTube. I didn't use a kit to make them, I simply took the guts out of a readily available 6 in 1 screw driver from the big box store.

For a couple of the screwdrivers I glued some thinner stock together

Walnut and Sycamore

I finished them with spray lacquer

Shaping the Sapele screwdriver (yes, I need to get better about taking my ring off when I am in the shop)

I added burn lines for decoration

Top to Bottom: Sapele, walnut, Cherry and walnut, and walnut and sycamore

The screwdriver gifts were very well received and it was a lot fun to make them.

Birds Eye Maple Fountain Pens

2015-01-06T12:32:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine from high school contacted me about making some fountain pens for him. I had never made a fountain pen, but it wasn't different to make than a regular pen. I used birdseye maple on this set of pens.

all the blanks with the layout done

the first finished pen

the completed set

I really am happy with how these pens came out. I have never used a fountain pen, but plan to make myself a pen like this but as a roller ball pen.

Toolboxes for the Kids

2015-01-05T12:53:00.000-06:00

My daughter has a small tool bag with a few tool in it. Now that my son is spending more time in the shop and wants to use his sister's tools they need a better place to keep their tools.

I plan to build myself a dutch style tool box this year to store my hand tools in. I thought the kids would like to have a toolbox like have a tool box like dads.

I made the tool boxes from 3/4" plywood. I pre-drilled and even pre-assembled the tool boxes so that they would be easier for the kids to put together on their own.

Ready to be taken apart for the kids to put together.

Each of the box has a sliding till for the smaller tools and items

Henry working hard on his tool box

Daphne working on her tool box

After we used glue and screws to put the boxes together we plugged the screw holes

Henry's tool box with the tools he got for Christmas in it.

I need to make some handles to make the boxes easier to move. I plan to stain the boxes before we paint them so that as the boxes wear the stain will show through.

Shop Tour January 2015

2015-01-04T22:13:00.000-06:00

I am going to try to film the Monthly shop tours the first weekend of each month.

December was a month of hurrying to finish Christmas gifts, some didn't make the deadline, but I am close to having them done.

In this tour you can see I've done a little cleaning, and added a much needed storage area for kindling and other fire related items. Hopefully as I work in the shop this month I can make some big changes to how things are stored and do a better job of cleaning up when I am done for the day.

Quoridor

2014-12-26T19:46:00.001-06:00

I watched Steve Ramsey with Wood Working for Mere Mortals make a game called Quoridor. It looked like a fun game to play. I think games make good gifts, and most the time fairly easy to make.

I wanted to make a few copies of the Quoridor game.

The field of the game board is mode from plywood. Grooves are cut every 1" with a 1/4 dado stack on the table saw. I am making 3 games so I was sure to make each groove in all 3 boards before I changed the setup on the saw.

After all the grooves were cut I trimmed the their final sizes.

Next I used some solid maple to make a frame around the plywood fields.

Next I made the walls that are used in the game and that go into the grooves.

Since time is running short everything is getting a few coats of spray lacquer.

I then turned some game pieces.
The games were a hit and it is a lot of fun to play.

I finished up the two that were gifts but still have to finish the one we were keeping.

Bottle Stoppers

2014-12-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

I decided to give making bottle stoppers a try. I ordered kits and a bottle stopper chuck.

I have seen some amazing bottle stoppers online and one of my favorites looked like a wine glass.

Maple blank

After rounding the blank it was time to hollow the goblet

After the goblet was hollowed I shaped the outside.

Another Maple Stopper

Purple Heart Stopper

Shop tour December 2014

2014-12-09T12:56:00.000-06:00

Last night after getting onto my son about how messy his room as I felt very convicted about how messy my shop was. I've watched Dyami's monthly shop tours and saw how his shop has evolved. I decide maybe some accountability might help me to get the shop cleaned up and organised with the hopes of being a better example for the kids.

So here is my tour video. I didn't pick up before shooting this so it is embarrassing to post how much of a mess it is.

New Lathe

2014-12-02T13:06:00.000-06:00

My desire to make bigger bowls and turn bigger projects got the best of me. I bought a new lathe to replace the 1942 model I was using. I bought a Steel City 60100G. It has a granite bed and head stock. 12" swing with 27" capacity, Variable speed.

I've only messed with it a little but I am happy so far. I need to build a stand for it (all my other work surfaces are too tall for it.)

kitchen goodies

2014-11-27T12:44:00.000-06:00

It is gift making time for the shop. Last night I made a french style rolling pen from some hard maple.

Ready to turn

Roughed out

Finished maple rolling pen and cherry spatula

I also made a cherry spatula.

Season of Pens

2014-11-25T12:52:00.001-06:00

Pens are a very popular gift which means I've been busy making pen. I really enjoy making pens here are some of my recent pens.

Top to Bottom: Gun metal camo bolt action, Chrome Brazilian Cherry bolt action, hickory pencil, purple heart pencil

Acacia Wood Pen

Camouflage designer pen

An order of supplies

I ordered more acrylics to try out.

Bolt action pens, Left to right:
Brass with Walnut x2, Brass with Cherry, Gun Metal with Hickory, Gold with Bird's Eye Maple, Chrome with Tiger Wood

Two Cocobolo pens and a Brass Bolt Action with Tiger Wood.

Inside out Ornament

2014-11-20T22:27:00.003-06:00

Last year turning ornaments was good practice on the lathe. I wanted to try something different this year and I have watched several videos on how to turn an inside out ornaments. I had some figured walnut I had been saving.

I glued 4 piece together with paper in each glue joint so I can easily separate the piece after this first step.

Next after squaring up the ends I put the blank on the lathe and turned a pleasing curve.

After turning the inside of the ornament I used a chisel and separated the piece.

Each piece was rotated 180 degrees and glued together.

I didn't get a picture while turning the outside, but here is the ornament ready for finish.

Here is the ornament with a coat of spray shellac. I will sand between coats and probably apply four coats.

A new level of pen

2014-11-12T22:39:00.002-06:00

I have been making wooden pens for the last year and have finally taken the plunge and have gave acrylic pen blanks a try. Acrylic will really give me more options for colors and patterns for my pens.

I started out with a Woodland camouflage blank for a bolt action pen. It came out very good.

Ready to turn

Getting ready to sand

After wet sanding up to 12000 grit

The finished product

Yo-Yo

2014-11-11T12:57:00.001-06:00

Here are some photos of making a cherry yo-yo

Cutting the blanks on the bandsaw

I used 5 minute epoxy to glue the tubes in the blanks

Shaped on the lathe

With a shellawax finish

Quarter sawn cherry looks great as a yo-yo