Larry | January 15, 2009
Kari Hultman hosts one of the best woodworking blogs on the Internet, the Village Carpenter. Her post today is about her experience at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
One of the exhibits at the show is a beautiful barn model that you just gotta see. Here’s a taste. Head to the Village Carpenter to see the rest of Kari’s photos of this fine piece.
Larry | January 13, 2009
I received a very short email yesterday. It simply asked “What’s a bridle joint?” I had to think a bit as I wondered why someone would ask me that. Then I realized that I had suggested that I might use bridle joints to make my frame and panel doors in the post titled SketchUp is truly magical. As it turned out, I didn’t use bridle joints, I used half-lap joints on the doors. But as the question was asked, here’s a graphic of both bridle and half-lap joints.
I’ve also received several emails asking me SketchUp questions. There is far more about SketchUp that I don’t know than that I do but I’m going to climb out on a limb here and suggest that I’m going to try to put together a short slide-show tutorial showing you how I drew the bridle joint graphic shown here. Maybe that will be sufficient insight into this great tool to get some of you started using it.
Cheers — Larry
Larry | January 12, 2009
I’ve had several people complain that they can’t subscribe to my blog using the RSS subscription. I feel your pain but there’s little I can do about it. The problem lies with your browser, or rather the guys that make your browser, Microsoft.
I know it’s hard to imagine, but Microsoft is simply way behind when it comes to the Internet. RSS subscriptions have been around for quite some time. Virtually every browser, on every operating system, with the exception of Explorer, can handle RSS subscriptions. My understanding is that v7 of Explorer does handle them, at least in a minimal way. The real solution, however, is to use one of the free, and clearly superior browsers, like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Opera. Not only will your browser be faster, it will have tabbed browsing and RSS subscriptions. You can download what has become the defacto favorite for PCs, Firefox, from the Mozilla Group. When you install it, it will let you import your Favorites from Explorer.
The irony is that Microsoft themselves have started using RSS subscriptions but have to tell you to download the new version of their browser to use it.
Sorry for the non-woodworking msg but several people have asked about this problem.
Cheers — Larry
Larry | January 10, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to do any turning and so I’ve treated myself to some time at the lathe. Lots of chips later, this is what I’ve created. The little gnomon (little red/white block) represents 6″ in 1/12 scale. If you’d like to see a close up of any of these pieces just go to the gallery at my Wood’n Bits website. Comments or questions are always welcome.
Larry
Larry | January 9, 2009
In a post titled Carpentry is woodworking too! I showed you the early stages of my cabinet build. I just need storage space. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated. I’d gotten the carcase built and a pine face frame done but it still needed doors.
So, I fired up SketchUp and added them.
They looked functional enough and I had some rough-cut pine that I could use for the rails and styles. Keeping with the cheap and easy theme 1/4″ MDF would serve as the inset flat panels. I’d use simple bridle joints hold the frames together.
So this morning I went into the shop to get started. Lo and behold, the cabinet had doors and there was a note saying “This was a test of SketchUp’s new _make-it-for-you_ feature. We hope you like it. Ya gotta like that!
And so I got busy getting organized. It’s amazing how much more organized I am because of this new cabinet. See?
Just kidding! Now I’ve got to pull the doors down and apply some finish. Maybe I need to add a new Materials list to my SketchUp and include shellac, polyurethane, and a few stains (grin). When I get it done, I’ll invite you all over for a shop tour.
Cheers — Larry
Larry | January 8, 2009
Many who enjoy using hand tools also enjoy a pastime called rust-hunting. I am one of them. We scour flea markets, garage sales and eBay, looking for great tools in need of rescue from the dump. This is the cheapest part of my hobby and reaps great rewards at times as often, once restored, these tools are superior to those available at the local “big box” store.
I’ll spend a weekend morning wandering the flea markets and maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll part with a couple bucks on something nobody else wants. I’ve obtained a lot of very useful tools this way. I’ve also learned a lot while doing the restorations. And it’s fun.
And so it goes for this little tack hammer. I should have taken a photo of it before I cleaned it up so you’d better understand how I got it for the princely sum of $1.00. There was paint spattered on it, the handle was sort of cruddy and the head was a bit out of sorts.
But, last night, I decided to clean it up. A bit of sandpaper, some mineral spirits, a wire wheel and it looked ok. I used some General Finishes Empire Red Dye Stain on the handle, followed by a couple coats of their water-based polyurethane (I sure do like this stuff) and I believe she’s ready to be added to my arsenal of hammers. Not bad for a buck. As always, comments and questions are welcomed.
Cheers — Larry
Larry | January 5, 2009
Last night I was watching a movie with my family. My daughter chose the movie. It was Free Willy 3. It’s not that Free Willy 3 is such a bad movie, but after you’ve watched it 3-4 times it loses some of its pizazz.
And so there I was, with my laptop on the table next to me, and my brain going into a coma, and so I launched SketchUp and started thinking about my need for some shop storage. I knew the basic space I had available but became something of a free spirit, making a big cube of the space in SketchUp and then I simply removed everything that didn’t look like a cabinet carcase. SketchUp is great for this sort of brainstorming.
It didn’t take much of a storm for me to come up with the basic carcase and only a tiny bit of thunder to have some pine 1x2s stuck on it to indicate a face frame. And before Willy had saved the universe, shazaam…I had a plan.
I’m not one to build furniture-quality cabinetry for my shop as some people do. Too lazy I guess. And so this simple sheetwood approach was just the thing and today, I started cutting melamine-covered particle board (ewww…yuck…) planks. Screwed them together and then did my best carpenter routine, hammering the 1x2s onto the face with finishing nails. No Krenov-quality joinery here.
And here’s the result thus far. I will slather (technical term) on some shellac and build some simple flat-panel frame and panel doors and start stuffing stuff into it. With any luck at all, it might help me be better organized though I’m not holding my breathe. I’ll put up a photo of the finished project when, well, when I’m finished.
Cheers — Larry
Larry | January 5, 2009
If you were my mother-in-law, and your wall clock had died just before a Christmas dinner where I was invited, and if your birthday was during the first week of January, you’d be about to receive this clock.
I really like my mother-in-law. We have a hard time communicating because she’s French and I struggle with French and probably always will. So I decided to create a simple, but hopefully nice, wall clock for her.
In checking my wood stash I wound a hunk of bloodwood that looked like it would make a dandy frame and I coaxed a couple scraps of birch into being a thin panel for the clock face.
Unfortunately, I got on a roll and forgot to take photos of cutting the miters and slotting the frame pieces for the clock face. Bloodwood is a hard, brittle wood that I don’t like to work much and so I used my table saw for both of these functions.
I looked at using different objects as face markers and decided to stick with wood so I took a scrap from the bloodwood board and turned some round markers, cutting a few others square just to provide visual variety.
Lee Valley came to the rescue to provide the clock hands and make them spin with a really nice movement for almost no money. 
This particular movement pulses 16 times a second and thus provides a very smooth, silent second hand movement. The best part was that LV got them to me in three days, even though it was between Christmas and New Years. These guys are good.
I wiped on some Watco Danish Oil just to bring out the color of the wood and 24 hours later I brushed on General Finishes Polyacrylic. It’s the first time I’ve used this product and I really prefer it over the other polyacrylics I’ve tried. For reasons I don’t fully understand, it seems to brush and level better.
For a quick project I’m happy with how it turned out. I think she’ll like it. Comments or questions are always appreciated.
Cheers — Larry (larry@woodnbits.com)
Larry | January 3, 2009
Do you own one of these? I do, and it’s a very valuable tool.
If you live in the Lee Valley catalog like I do you know they produce a wonderful array of measuring tools. But I bet that most miniaturists don’t know that you can buy a superb 1/24 scale rule from them?
The rule shown here is a “center-point” rule. It’s execution is both nifty and handy. If you have a situation where you want to find the midpoint along some dimension, you simply measure that dimension on the top rule. For example, let’s say you measure 6 13/16″. To find the midpoint, without moving the rule, look along the bottom of the rule, find 6 13/16″ and you’ll have the midpoint. Finding midpoints is a common task in woodworking so it’s useful to have such a rule, even if that’s all it does.
But look closely. The top scale is in full-size inches. The bottom scale labels every 1/2″ as 1″ and that’s 1/24 scale, a very popular miniatures scale. So, if you have interest in modeling in that scale this tool can do double duty. These rules come in 12″ and 24″ lengths and not expensive.
Cheers — Larry
Larry | January 2, 2009
I like to model old furniture. I’ve also learned that many of the methods used by people building furniture in the 19th Century are superior to the modern methods used today. And so I love reading about how it was done before we concluded that without power tools we can’t do anything.
Part of my quest for such knowledge has been a long-standing search for a copy of Stephen Shepard’s 1981 book on 19th Century Woodworking. They’re relatively easy to find but they’ve become collectors items and sell for something in excess of $200.
A couple of months ago someone asked Stephen (on Stephen’s blog) if he was ever going to reprint his book. The answer surprised me as Stephen said that reprints were available from Tools for Working Wood. I went directly there, did not pass Go, and ordered a copy. When it arrived I gave it to my wife and said, “Give it to me for Christmas” and she did.
And what a joy this book is.
The book is loaded with discussions of tools and techniques used. Stephen covers all of the trades of the 19th Century involved with the working of wood, from the feller who deals with the trees themselves to specialty trades such as those manufacturing spinning wheels. And if that isn’t enough, he laces the book with drawings of knobs, chair slats, and even a lot of Native American items. He’s even got a section on traditional stain and finish recipes.
I am a happy camper and yes, I did ensure that I’d get a great Christmas present (grin).
Cheers — Larry
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