| This blog is written by Dave Polaschek | 104 entries so far |
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Laundry hamper #10: First door: Gluing it up
Between the Monday holiday and my sweetie having some friends of hers over yesterday, I haven’t h...
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Laundry hamper #9: Half-laps in the slats
Built a jig last night to help me cut the half-laps in the slats. If you divide the slat into 3” ...
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Laundry hamper #8: Door frame mitered half-lap joints
Many errands yesterday. We had eight stops on our trip to town, so shop time was… sparse. But I p...
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Kolrosing #2: Chinkin-bori
Was reading a book on inro last night, and discovered chinkin-bori, which is Japanese kolrosing, ...
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Laundry hamper #7: Slats, length and thickness
After yesterday’s fiasco with the frames for the doors I decided to go back to working on the sla...
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Laundry hamper #6: Second monday
Was going to cut the mitered half-laps for the frames this morning, but I’m having the second Mon...
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Laundry hamper #5: Slats, part 2
Today was another short day. I had to dig out a chamisa root before I got started in the shop so ...
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Laundry hamper #4: Sunday morning slats
Today was all about the slats to go in the two doors. I started by slicing off eight boards fr...
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Laundry hamper #3: Slats and frame pieces for another door
No pictures today, but I made pretty good progress. First up, I used the bandsaw to cut the as...
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Laundry hamper #2: Beads
Not a lot of progress today. I cut beads on the frame pieces for the door using the combination p...
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Laundry hamper #1: Introduction and doors
I want to build a laundry hamper for the bedroom. I figure it’ll be frame and panel construction,...
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Spatula repair #4: Wrapping it up
I started today by picking up the spatula and feeling where the handle didn’t feel right. Mostly ...
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Spatula repair #3: More shaping
Spent a couple hours today shaping the handle further. I started with a spokeshave, just eyeballi...
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Spatula repair #2: Scales on, rough shaping
I started by carving openings in a piece of curly cherry to match the shape of the handle. ...
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Spatula repair #1: Getting started
I have a spatula (or burger flipper) I bought decades ago that I really like. Not sure why, but t...
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Painted poplar picture frame #5: Wrapping it up
I’m a little short on pictures today. I cleaned up the glass, put a coat of shellac on the frame,...
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Painted poplar picture frame #4: Finishing, day 2
I started today by paring off the dowels I used to reinforce the miters. A flush-cut saw, a chise...
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Painted poplar picture frame #3: Reinforcing the miters and painting
First, since I’m using milk paint, I mixed 15ml of powder and water to make 30ml in a measuring c...
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Painted poplar picture frame #2: Mitered corners and glue up
Next up was cutting the stick into lengths for the frame, mitering the corners, and gluing it up....
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Painted poplar picture frame #1: making the profile
I needed to make a picture frame for some art my sweetie found. These are the steps along the way...
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Carved birch mouse #5: Sanding & oil
I decided today I was (almost) done with the knives. I used the slöjd knife to take a thin 1/32” ...
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Carved birch mouse #4: Refining the ears
The ears, as DoubleDD said in a comment, can make or break this mouse. I started by making some p...
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Carved birch mouse #3: The tools
I realize I probably should have posted this earlier in the sequence, but I was adapting tools an...
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Carved birch mouse #2: Body rounding and ears
After yesterday’s work, I drew a other couple guide-lines along the edges of the mouse, about 1/8...
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Carved birch mouse #1: Introduction and rough outlines
Last night while I was waiting for the house to cool off, I read the two-part series on carving a...
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Jefferson Bookcases #21: The home stretch?
Been a while since my last update. I’ve been busy building bookcases, turning bowls, and carving ...
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Handy tools #14: Ixion eggbeater drill
Got an Ixion eggbeater drill. It was in slightly rough shape, with everything working, but some s...
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Jefferson Bookcases #20: End of January update
Been a couple pretty slow weeks on the bookcase front. I’ve had a few other projects pop up, most...
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Kolrosing #1: White on brown
I started learning kolrosing on my coping saw and am pretty happy with the way coffee grounds loo...
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Forge table #10: Wrapping it up
Today got the forge table across the finish line. I had a piece of aluminum diamond plate cut to ...
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Forge table #9: Starting to finish
Today was a fairly light day on the table. Sawed off the protruding wedges and tenons, sanded the...
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Forge table #8: Undercarriage
I started the day making four new stretchers for the undercarriage. Where these would’ve taken me...
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Forge table #7: Undercarriage and attaching the legs
I did some work to build the undercarriage. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted the stretchers to ...
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Forge table #6: Turning the legs
Got some time at the lathe today and here’s what happened: Took me almost an hour per leg,...
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Jefferson Bookcases #19: Periodic update
Still building cases. I’m down to ten boxes of books remaining to open, but I have thirteen rows ...
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Forge table #5: Tenons on the legs
Short day today. Many other errands around the house. I did find time to put tenons on the leg...
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Forge table #4: Roughing the legs
Finally got back to working on the table again today (after almost three months off). All my clam...
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Baby bow saw #6: Kolrosing
Once the saw was “done” I still wasn’t quite happy with it. I decided it needed decoration. With ...
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Baby bow saw #5: Test run
So at the urging of a few people who wanted to know how the saw would cut, I put it together this...
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Baby bow saw #4: Cleaning up the surfaces
I decided I didn’t like the little spots of tear-out and places where the grain left me with a ri...
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Baby bow saw #3: Wrapping it up
I got the bow saw completed today. I still want to decorate it, but it’s together and functional ...
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Handy tools #13: Quick mortar & pestle
I wanted to do some kolrosing (or kohlrosing) on my baby bow saw but the coffee grounds I got fro...
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Baby bow saw #2: More shaping
This afternoon was spent shaping the cross-piece and the arms. First up, taking a spokeshave to t...
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Baby bow saw #1: First day’s construction
I decided I don’t like the metal-frame coping saws. I find that the far end of the saw will often...
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Jefferson Bookcases #18: The Little Things
As I was building another book case today, I thought about some of the little things I do that ma...
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Jefferson Bookcases #17: Three sizes of plinths
I made a big case recently, and since that will be at the bottom of a stack of cases of books, I ...
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Jefferson Bookcases #16: Littlest case
I needed to make a little case for some small hardcovers. It’s also the size I will need for pape...
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Jefferson Bookcases #15: Art books case
I have a bunch of art books that are formatted landscape. They’re basically coffee-table books, a...
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Handy tools #12: Fixed 3/8" marking gauge
Simple, but for every bookcase I build, I need to cut a dozen 3/8” wide & deep rabbets....
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Jefferson Bookcases #14: More plinths, different sizes
Realized over the past couple days that I’m going to need more stacks of cases, which means more ...
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Forge table #3: Cleaning up the top
This morning I decided it was time to get the top of the table a little closer to done. I started...
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Forge table #2: Roughing out the legs
Today was (the first) leg day. I started with a 5 foot long piece of 8/4 ash that was about 7 inc...
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Forge table #1: Oak top
I bought a little forge for the shop, and it arrived last week. Hoping to use it for the knife sw...
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Jefferson Bookcases #13: First medium case done
Just a quick update – the first medium case got its second coat of finish yesterday, and I ...
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Jefferson Bookcases #12: Interlude and medium bookcases
Having finished the three extra-large cases, plus the twelve large cases, it was time for a b...
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Jefferson Bookcases #11: Back boards
One of the things where I’ve improved my workflow while building these bookcases is the process o...
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Jefferson Bookcases #10: Second shellac
The second set of shellac generally goes on the day after the first set of two coats. I put the s...
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Jefferson Bookcases #9: First shellac
After prepping the case, it’s time for shellac. I start by laying the case on its front and putti...
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Jefferson Bookcases #8: Cleaning up a dovetail
A couple years ago, when I was new to woodworking, I read about how to cut dovetails by hand, and...
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Jefferson Bookcases #7: Smoothing and prep for shellac
I had planned to blog about applying shellac next, but realized that getting ready for finishing ...
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Jefferson Bookcases #6: A back for the oversized case
For the normal cases, the backs are rabbeted into the sides of the case. It makes for a very stro...
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Jefferson Bookcases #5: Winging it with Big Cases
After getting my third case glued up, and my second one finished and installed, I unpacked a box ...
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Jefferson Bookcases #4: Large case pin boards and backs
Today it was time to start making boxes. First step is to cut the pin boards. I start by trans...
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Jefferson Bookcases #3: Large case tail boards (sides)
First, some measurements. I spent the tail end of yesterday sawing all the boards for eleven of t...
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Jefferson Bookcases #2: Building the plinths
For this style of bookcase, there is a plinth, which serves as a base, supporting the stack of bo...
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Jefferson Bookcases #1: Introduction
When we moved to Santa Fe last year, I had planned to build new bookcases for the house. In my ol...
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Handy tools #11: Scrub plane made from a maroon #3 Stanley
Found a guy on eBay who’s got a bunch of maroon #3 Stanley planes he’s selling for $37.50 each. T...
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Techniques #2: Making a herringbone board
I wanted to do something different for a box lid (a sliding lid for a gift box for a bottle of wi...
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Building a brace till #10: Back and cleat, hanging it up
First order of business today was putting the back on the carcass. This involved cutting plywood,...
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Building a brace till #9: Gluing it up
I finished test-fitting all the pieces of the brace till today. Turns out a dovetail plane is sup...
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Building a brace till #8: Re-cutting the bottom and more test-fitting
Got some shop time again today, and I cut a new bottom piece for the carcass of my brace till, re...
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Building a brace till #7: Reinforcement part ii
Time to reinforce the other side of the rack that’ll carry the braces. As you might remember, the...
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Building a brace till #6: Cleanup and test fitting
I started my shop time today cleaning up the walnut I glued to the pine rack for the braces. I us...
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Building a brace till #5: Reinforcement, part 1
Spent the past few days with a mix of yard work and thinking about how to reinforce the rack that...
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Building a brace till #4: Horizontal bits
I started cutting sliding dovetail sockets in the horizontal bits today. More of the same, but I ...
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Building a brace till #3: Dovetails and sliding dovetails
Today was dovetail day, and I’m still not done, but I made a lot of progress. As I’m doing mit...
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Building a brace till #2: A little detour
I was asked to finish moving my tools from the garage to the shop the other day, so I did that. S...
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Building a brace till #1: Planning and cutting
I looked at my braces as I was unpacking, and discovered I have four, plus a couple eggbeaters, p...
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Handy tools #10: Bowl horse
I moved earlier this year, and it’s going to be next year before I have a shop, so I decided to b...
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Handy tools #9: The truck kit
After a few times going to the resort, or driving down the road and seeing a piece of tree that m...
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Handy tools #8: Knife making tools
I’ve been making stacked birch bark knife handles lately, and found a couple tools that made the ...
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Wood stabilizing #7: Memorial Day spalted birch and maple
Over Memorial Day weekend, I stabilized some more wood. I had some eucalyptus from Arizona that a...
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Wood stabilizing #6: Spalted elm and dyes
I did some more experimenting this weekend. First up was some spalted elm for the surprise swa...
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Wood stabilizing #5: Dyeing experiments
Having somewhat successfully stabilized a couple batches of wood, I figured it was time to add dy...
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Wood stabilizing #4: Second batch
I stabilized another batch of wood this weekend. It included: butternut, salt cedar, cherry, citr...
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Wood stabilizing #3: Unwrapped and unplugged
One of the things I was trying to find out about wood stabilizing when I embarked on this adventu...
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Wood stabilizing #2: Out of the resin and into the oven
This morning the wood came out of the resin. I used blue gloves, and wrapped the pieces in alumin...
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Wood stabilizing #1: Equipment and first batch
I’ve got some spalted elm left over from building my low bench plus some soft maple and other woo...
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Handy tools #7: Post drill
I got a post drill a while back. Traded Mos a spare laser engraver and some pictures of dead pres...
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Twin screw vise #8: Cork jaw liner
This morning I finally got the cork shelf liner installed in the vise, so I guess it’s officially...
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Handy tools #6: Octagonal Guillotine
While building my box for the swap, I wanted to put some banding around the top of the box. This ...
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Techniques #1: Cutting 135 degree dovetails
I couldn’t find anyone describing how to cut dovetails for non-square corners, so I decided to wr...
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Handy tools #5: 45 degree jig
I used this shop-made jig while cutting dovetails for 135 degree corners (for making an octag...
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Handy tools #4: Scratch stock
Not quite a project, but definitely a handy tool. While making the box for the 2018 box swap,...
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Handy tools #3: Mirror for cutting dovetails
As I attempt to get better at dovetails, one of the things that frustrated me was that I was cont...
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Handy tools #2: Little froe and doweling plate
I put a handle on a big froe last year, but I’ve been wanting to make my own dowels lately, and t...
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Handy tools #1: Miter Jack
A few months ago, I bought a miter jack, thinking that I would need to be making some 45 degree m...
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Twin screw vise #7: Getting it working
I’m a little light on pictures in this post, as I got excited that I was almost done, and d...
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Twin screw vise #6: Both jaws on
Since last time, I finished drilling the 3/8” holes to mount the rear vise jaw to the bench...
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Twin screw vise #5: Boring the holes
In the previous post, I left off just before drilling the two main holes for the vise screws. Yes...
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Twin screw vise #4: Everything but the holes
I’ve been working on getting everything prepped for installing my vise, and I think I’...
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Twin screw vise #3: Mounting details
I’ve been thinking about the problem of how I’m going to mount the vise to the bench....
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Twin screw vise #2: Rear chop and thinking
Having the front chop done-ish, it was time to move onto the rear chop. It was less tapered than ...
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Twin screw vise #1: The front chop
This winter I want to start cutting dovetails, doing a dovetail a day for a month to build my ski...
