Woodworking videos, projects, tips, and entertainment: Woodworking for Mere Mortals:

The Cleaning Boy

2012-02-24T10:20:00.001-08:00

Banana stand

There is actually a very simple woodworking project embedded into about 30 seconds of this video. It's a banana hanger or stand. I saw a boring plastic one at the grocery store a while back and put it on my list of things to make.

Its purpose it to delay bananas from bruising by keeping them off the counter. At least I think that's the purpose.

Last week Eric Penewell from Bamboo Hardwoods sent me a box containing a number or different bamboo boards. I have never used bamboo before, and knew it mainly to be a flooring option. I was delighted to discover that it is very nice to work with for other projects too. I'll show you more of it in a Mere Minutes this weekend. I had no idea there were so many types of bamboo.

Banana nuts

I have been a huge fan of silent comedies since I was a kid. (So much so, that my son's middle name is Keaton.) For over a year Wyatt and I have been wanting to make a silent movie, but I hadn't been able to think of a way to incorporate it into woodworking.

Then it came together. Bananas, tropical bamboo, slipping on banana peels, banana cream pie. Sometimes things fall into place perfectly.

Porter Cable PC270 table saw

2012-02-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a less-than-scientific review of my new saw. As far as I'm concerned, you can't co wrong with Porter Cable tools.

Zero-clearance inserts:

Knitting box

2012-02-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a project my wife has been asking me to make for quite some time. She had very specific ideas for her dream knitting box. Making custom projects is fun and a great reason to learn some woodworking. No store sells a box like this one.

I suspect very few of you (if any) have a need for a knitting box, but I hope you can pick up a few ideas from it. It's really just a box that can be modified for all kinds of storage purposes.

Table saw project

I wanted to build a project this week that was almost entirely made using my new table saw. I am a believer in diving into new tools with a purpose, rather than running boring tests on scrap wood. Wow, the difference between my old saw and this one is like comparing a poodle to a greyhound. I'll shoot a separate video this week showing you more of the saw.

Finger joints

Also, if you've never made finger joints in boxes, they are really simple. I've made them on my router, but this is the first time I've done it on the table saw. In this video, I'll show a quick jig you can set up on your saw and cut them using a dado stack.

Hearts, boards and a horse

2012-02-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

Nighthawk sent over a picture of his version of my bent-wood Valentine candy box. He says it was a good way to earn bonus points with his wife and justify tool purchases. Read more about it on his blog.

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Over on Facebook, Mark Martinez posted his heart. His first attempt at bent lamination.

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Bill Wilson, always in the shop, tried his hand at his first cutting board. Since I've made my first, family members are putting in requests for Christmas!

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Wanted to also show off some very creative pieces by Vincent Fulton that remind me of highly stylized cutting boards!

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Finally, I wanted to show you a new woodworker making videos. This is 10-year-old Matthew Agate from Placentia, Newfoundland Canada, who built a rocking horse as part of Marc Spagnuolo's Woodworkers Fighting Cancer charity build. A lot of people built these horses, but Matthew has to be the youngest. Nice work Matthew! Looking forward to more videos.

Shop cabinet

2012-02-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple shop cabinet I built to store small cut-offs. Those pieces of wood that I save for all sorts of reasons. I used 3/4" plywood for most of the cabinet. Easily adaptable for any storage use.

New saw.

So yeah...I got a new table saw thanks to a bunch of really kind people who got together to buy me one. Can't wait to use it! I'm not sure what to do with my old one now. Kinda thinking about saving it for cutting crappy wood...maybe pressure treated lumber for yard projects that don't need to be precise and tend to mangle saws. Just need to find the space.

Shop pics.

My dad has been visiting this week. His help was enormous in getting the cabinet built. I'm not sure I would have completed it in time to post the video without him. Thanks Dad! He has also been running around taking pictures of the build and the new saw arriving:

Building a simple shop cabinet

2012-02-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to get some input on this dumb little cabinet in today's Mere Minutes. Well, that and there's some stuff at the end that is mainly for family and friends. Feel free to end the video at about the 5 minute mark.

Heart-shaped candy box

2012-02-03T10:02:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. I thought it would be fun to make a candy box, one the recipient could keep and not have to throw away after the candy is gone.

It was an interesting challenge. Thankfully, a couple people on Facebook suggested I try bent lamination to create the curves. It seemed a bit daunting at first, because I always thought it would be very difficult. In fact, it was very easy and it opens up a whole bunch of possibilities for future projects.

The only trick it to plane your wood down as thin as possible to allow it to bend. Then glue up several pieces and let them dry around a form. Plus, scrounge up every clamp you can find.

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Matthias Wandel

2012-02-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most of you have seen Matthias' videos on YouTube or at his web site, Woodgears.ca He has one of the most fertile imaginations around and is one of my favorite woodworkers. If you aren't that familiar with his work, he just released an episode of a local TV show he was on that will give you an idea of his imagination. Thought you would enjoy this:

Viewer projects: workbench, compass and puzzles

2012-01-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

Andrew Manzie in Australia sent over pics of his first project. Naturally, a workbench! He based much of it on the one I built last year. I really like the addition of the peninsula on one end. That can come in very handy when planing or working on projects that require you to easily access all sides. Looking forward to see what Andrew makes next, now that he has a workbench.

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Bill Wilson is always coming up with something clever. Check out his homemade compass. It began as a friction fit, but he's refined it using a wing nut.

Now these look fun. Bill made these tanglement puzzles. The first one he made for his grandson who requested a Batman theme!

A wood shop ghost town

2012-01-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

Not a bit of woodworking accomplished today. I'm kind of thinking about a Valentines Day project. I did see the most awesome wood shop today, though. And it is completely unused. See video below.

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I want to apologize for the random pre-roll ads YouTube is now running on my videos. Apparently, this is something new the YouTube is testing. They call them "skippable" ads: after a few seconds you can click the ad off. I suppose it's similar to the little overlay ads that we had to click off before, only more annoying. They don't seem to run each time on every video, only randomly.

I don't make an enormous income off the video ads that I have always had, but it's enough to help defray a lot of my expenses. So it appears I have no choice but to either accept the "skippable" pre-rolls or opt out of monetizing my videos. I'll keep an eye on this and see what develops. I hope you will bear with a few seconds of these ads. At least they are skippable.

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Mere Minutes

Tricked-out BBQ caddy

2012-01-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

Over a month ago, Warren and I started brainstorming ideas for an Australia Day project. I learned a lot about the customs and traditions associated with the holiday. Ever heard of a Pavlova? It's a dessert commonly served on Australia Day. I thought about making a special cake box for one, but the thought of making an actual Pavlova to put in it seemed daunting.

But really Australia Day sounds a lot like the 4th of July here in the U.S. Lots of backyard activities, but mainly barbecue and beer. So I came across the idea of combining the two into one BBQ caddy. But not just a serving tray: a totally pimped-out, over-the-top caddy.

Naturally, a campy extravaganza of a video was in order.

Happy Australia Day!

2012-01-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hope you folks down under are enjoying your holiday. Tune in tomorrow for the Mere Mortals Australia Day Extravaganza. Make it a four-day weekend!

For those of you elsewhere, here are a couple of informative videos to watch before the Mere Mortals Australia Day Extravaganza. Think of it as your homework.

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Australia updates

2012-01-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

Bob Wiseman from Ulverstone, Tasmania just completed his first box, all made with Aussie wood! It consists of Huon Pine mitred sides, with a Blackwood veneered lid and River Red Gum keys and removable divider. Beautiful wood. Nice work Bob!

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Now, Paul Homes in Perth, Western Australia tells me it is not a very comfortable time to be working in the shop. Check out these temps. (38 C is the same as 100 F.) Yep, there are guys in Minnesota right now having the same problem with their shops being too uncomfortable to work in!

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Mere Minutes

Handy Australian table saw jig from Warren

More woodworking from Down Under

2012-01-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

How 'bout those championship games yesterday? Good games: I really thought San Francisco could pull it off right up to a fumbled punt return at the worst possible time ever.

In Australia, cricket is very popular. I don't know much about the game, other than it employs the use of a flat bat. And when I see a cricket bat, I think of Shawn of the Dead.

Brenton Rawlings describes cricket this way: "A sport that most Australians will play in the backyard pretending to be good at it with only a select few who make a career from turning professional."

Here's a set of cricket "Stump Shelves" he made.

And look: a picture frame with Brenton's family pictured. It's made of Oak with a Jarrah inlay.

Finally, he sent over a picture of an awesome looking go-cart he made with his nephew for Christmas. I so want to ride this!

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John Steele works in the tech wing of a local school and tells me that my iWood video is compulsory viewing for all new wood working classes. Uh-oh!

John describes his gorgeous turnings:

"The motif is a gum leaf - inlaid into some random eucalypt hardwood. Commonly called Victorian Ash (gum trees from Victoria). The inlay is redgum burl.

The last one American Ash- Fraxinus americana, and an Australian redgum burl shaped again as a gum leaf. This could be seen as a symbol of the connection between our two countries (or it could be that I was given a few offcuts of American ash.)"

Oz projects

2012-01-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

No yellow brick road. Better: Australian projects!

Chips Harbour from Brisbane made this jewelry box for a friend who wanted something "a little larger than normal". (Fun fact: all Australians are loaded with precious jewels.) The top is cut from a "silky oak" log with timber inlay, the rest is made of Merbau, which he resawed and dressed to size. This is really stunning. This is what I can an heirloom piece.

It's Australia week!

2012-01-21T16:22:00.000-08:00

A lot of cool woodworkers down under. Crazy, because they don't have shops. They have "sheds". And there's your first lesson in speaking Australian.

Here's some pictures of Stephen Paris's shed. Steve lives in Tropical Cairns, Queensland. He's one guy who has no problem remembering his wedding anniversary. It's on Australia Day! Pretty nice set-up you've got there, mate.

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And a bit more about Australia:

Make an end-grain cutting board

2012-01-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

One of the most popular woodworking projects

It seems that at one time or another, all woodworkers try their hands at making an end-grain cutting board. It's easy to understand why: cutting boards are useful, durable, allow you to really get creative on the design, and are simple to build.

Built by Mike D. (RetiredCoastie)
on LumberJocks.com

And I have never made one. It's one of those projects that's been on my to-do list for a long time. As you may know, I love to cook and have been getting by for years with one of those thick plastic ones. It's built into my counter and slides out for use. The problem is that it gets mangled pretty quickly and doesn't clean well. After a while is begins to take on a permanent onion odor. Yuck. So I have to replace it every year.

Built by Jeff (jonasramus)
on LumberJocks.com

Wood cutting boards, on the other hand, will last nearly forever. The end grain of wood is very forgiving on knives and is actually more sanitary to use. The wood tends to heal itself. And if, after a lot of use, it starts to look really ragged and scratched, you can renew it just by resanding the surface.

I wasn't sure what more I had to offer in the way of a video, though. There are lots of cutting board videos. If you decide to make one, you definitely want to check out The Wood Whisperer's video. He really takes you through every last detail and consideration.

Cutting Board Designer

Last month, Jeremy Greiner sent me a copy of a program he developed called Cutting Board Designer. After playing around with it for a while, I discovered how handy it is. It lets you lay out some complex patterns and get a good indication what your board will look like before you cut any wood. Check it out!

My first cutting board:

Australian Woodworkers

2012-01-19T14:06:00.000-08:00

Australia Day

One week from today is Australia Day. I'm working on a special project for all you folks in Oz.

So why not get started early! If you live Down Under, send me some pictures of your shops (sheds), yourselves, your favorite projects, your favorite beer, your favorite Drop Bear. Show me Australia!

I'll start posting them here next week, or maybe this weekend. There. I didn't once say "G'day."

zrammedia (at) gmail (dot) com.

Chess boards

2012-01-18T08:53:00.000-08:00

Seems a lot of people have been making chess boards lately.

Bill Wilson is such a prolific woodworker. I'm always impressed at the volume of projects he cranks out. Here's his multi-use chess board: chess, checkers and dominoes. I love the chess pieces.

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Jim Allgeier from Cape Charles, VA built this chess board based on my design from a few years ago. He used Maple and Cherry (I like that combination for a chess board) and gave this to his ten-year-old son for Christmas.

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Over on Facebook, Bert Collett posted his chess board made with black walnut and curly maple. The box is black walnut. The base and drawers are old heart pine. Just gorgeous.

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Unrelated to chess (but using a similar technique to create the grid pattern) I just completed my first cutting board. I kind of screwed up the alignment of the pattern, but I'm still fairly satisfied.

Clock update

2012-01-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

I've been in the shop today working on next week's video. Very distracted watching the 49ers-Saints game. San Francisco always seems to capitalize on lucky plays and turnovers, but I suspect New Orleans will pull this one out.

Working on a cutting board for next week. Yeah, I know, yawn. I hope to bring something new to the myriad of cutting board videos. Plus I really need one.

About the clock...

Make a wood clock

2012-01-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

A video from the Non-Yankee Workshop.

Let me give you some back story on this project.

Last weekend, I started tossing around ideas for a BBQ caddy and planned on building it for this week's show. You may be wondering why I would build a barbecue project in January. Well it is Summer in Australia and I have been working with Warren Downes to develop something for Australia Day coming up at the end of the month.

As we started hashing out ideas, I began to realize that this could make for a really fun video...especially since he offered to shoot some stuff Down Under. So I have tabled that project until I can come up with something good. That video and project will be on the 27th, just in time for the holiday.

New project

So I needed a project for this week. As I mentioned in my last post, I've been saving the clock for this project for a long time. I started playing around with various pieces of scrap wood and sketching out a bunch of different designs. Eventually, the concept of a "floating" clock struck me. From there, it was actually pretty simple to execute. My main concern was how to make the holes in the circle perfectly straight and perpendicular. Boring them before cutting the circle is the solution.

I shot the video without any sound so I could add a soundtrack of some sort. It seemed simple enough that it didn't require me babbling on. After I edited it together I wanted to tack on an introduction and thought it would be funny to do it as a real woodworking show, complete with safety warnings and overly long instruction. I put on my Roy Underhill mustache and a ridiculously bad Southern accent. Then it hit me to include an incredibly verbose soundtrack on a video that needed none!

Copycat

Now the strange part. After I posted the finished photo here and on Facebook a few days ago, a couple of people mentioned that it looked like one that Marc Spagnuolo made. My first thought was one of amusement: I couldn't imagine Marc making something so simple!

Well, more people mentioned the same thing, then a viewer sent me a link to The Wood Whisperer's video. Yup. Sure enough, back in 2008, Marc made a clock that looks very similar to the one I just made. It is eerie: he used a dark wood for the frame and light wood for the floating center. Mine even has double splines on the corners, just like Marc's.

So wow. I guess I should familiarize myself with more of Marc's projects. Perhaps this is a design I've seen somewhere before and was in my unconscious mind, just waiting to come out? Well Marc, sorry about the similarity. If I had seen your clock I certainly would have come up with a different project. But as it is, enjoy my take on the "floating clock".

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Clock project

2012-01-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

I just finished up this week's project.

A few years ago we had some sort of clock that broke. Not the clock itself, just what is was in. I can't even remember exactly what it was. At any rate, I saved the clock itself with the thought that someday I might make something for it.

Here's the design I came up with. I used maple and walnut and the clock is suspended from dowels. It was really a pleasure working on this after fussing so much over the Kindle case. As it turned out, this was incredibly simple to make.

Video on Friday.

Kindle / iPad case and stand

2012-01-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

Got the Kindle Fire case done!

It's funny how sometimes the simplest concepts can pose the most challenging problems. This project began by just wanting to make a stand for my wife's new Kindle Fire. She reads constantly: several books a week. An e-reader saves me a lot of trips to the library. But I noticed she had to prop up the tablet to read while sitting at the table.

Keeping it sleek

After playing with a lot of ideas for a stand, I realized it would be nice to make a case that converts into a stand. My criteria was that it would look sleek, like the Kindle itself, and wasn't complicated to build.

As it turned out, this case is very simple to build and is infinitely adjustable as a stand.

WWMM viewers

But I struggled with it and could not have built this without your help. You guys are incredible. Earlier this week I asked for some suggestions on the design and solutions to problems. I received over a hundred emails. I am continually amazed by how creative you all are! Some outstanding ideas that got me thinking maybe I ought to revisit this project and make another case eventually. I got a lot of ideas incorporating a swinging lid. The idea of a modified cassette case is intriguing: that's a perfect stand. Anyway, THANK YOU all for your help. I couldn't have built this without you.

Simplicity is hard

If I had a mantra, it would be, "keep it simple". I force my brain to tell that to me all the time. We all begin new woodworking projects with complicated ideas that work themselves into complicated designs. Funny how our brains work like that. It's only when we take a step back and maybe sleep on it, that we discover simplicity.

More candle holders and a Kindle update

2012-01-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

Wow...I can't believe how many people responded to my Kindle case/stand problems and questions. Some really incredible ideas. I am now thinking about making two in a couple different styles. Thank you all for your help!

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In my last post I mentioned some of the many versions of my candle holder that have been build. It's really inspiring to see how people re-interpret a simple design.

Wanted to show you some of Alex Busado's work. Alex is 12 and has some really creative ideas. I really like natural-wood projects.

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Kindle case update.

Candle holders and Kindle case

2012-01-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

It's funny. I never really know what projects will resonate with viewers. I made my candle holder without a whole lot of thought, but it's incredible how many people have decided to make their own versions. I'm sure it's one of my most duplicated projects.

Here's Bob Kortz's take on it, using African mahogany and black walnut. Love his interpretation.

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And speaking of candle holders, here's what Joshua Hayes made for friends and family. Laminated cherry and whitewood. So elegant!

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Still trying to come up with a way of making a Kindle case/stand. Let me know if you have any ideas. Here's where I am: