Shavedwood Blog

Today was another HOT day in Texas with temps reaching near 100 degrees and me with some spare time to spend in the shop. I was looking for a project that wouldn’t take much time, so while reading in the library throne I reread the March issue of Wood Magazine and saw the plans for a pop-up toothpick dispenser. I liked this project because it used a drill chuck in the tailstock and it was practical.

I don’t usually use my Jacobs chuck in my tailstock very much and wanted to see how it worked with Forstner bits. Under my page links you will see a page called Project’s and there is a full gallery of the project.

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This is one of the prettiest woods to look at but like cedar it is very soft, light and makes a terrible amount of red dust. Someday I will get some green and see how it turns. I do love the look of the wood and it always gets attention from buyers. Now I get lots of email from people telling me how much they like my work, they want to know things about how it was made and how long it took to turn, etc.

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So I bought a box full of antique glass insulators and was planning to make some more lights like I posted previously. I got them off of Ebay for a full box of 10 for $10 and I thought that was a great deal. When they got here I realized they were smaller than the ones I had these are only 2″ in diameter at the base. I had to come up with a new use for them…. the idea of a lighthouse intrigued me.

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At the show (earlier blog entry) I took a bandsaw box class and learned a new project technique. In the below picture I am showing my three first boxes. The dark one is made out of walnut and it was made at the class i took. The two maple ones I made as gifts for my girl friend and her daughter.

They are a match set since one is made out of the wood from the center of the bigger one. I called the set “Momma and Me” and wrote a poem about them. In the future I plan to do a lot more of these boxes. The technique is very easy and you can find it anywhere on the net.

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So this will be a short post….

As I said in my last post I wanted to experiment with some old glass insulators and see if i could make them into some shelf accent lights. I think the project was a great success. See the link on the main page to see all the pics and expect many more in the future.

The base is a simple turning with a burn stripe to break up the glue point, it is made out of shop scrap mesquite and the light is a stick on battery operated LED light i got at Lowes. Unfortunately the light is expensive like $8 but it will last for a LONG time on the battery. Its located with the night lights in the store.

Well I finally finished my living room shelf. It is funny how neat it is to work with mesquite. After being sanded it has this soft pink look that is so nice but kinda uninspiring. Then I hit it with the Tung oil and WOW …. an explosion of grain and color. It is so exciting to see that transformation. Glad its done so I can get back to turning again.

My next project is to turn some boxes for Christmas present, do some bandsaw boxes with a few burl caps I have and then I have an idea to make turned bases out of strikingly pretty wood and put lights in the center with old antique glass insulators on top. This should make them glow very pretty….

See ya….

Rob

So this is the first post to my new blog. It has been a while since I was able to turn or do any wood working. I’m currently finishing an all mesquite shelf unit for my living room. I plan to finish it this weekend so i can clean up my garage and plan to start turning again. To get back in the groove I wanted to try some small turning projects. As luck would have it i found out the local WoodCraft was putting on The WoodWorks Show! here in Austin.

I figured this was the one company I could trust and paid the money for two seminars and a hands on class. The show was small as far as exhibitors are concerned but not in the quality of exhibitors. I was very impressed with the new tool manufacturer Steel City, they have a full compliment of excellent tools that are really built well. I expect we will start seeing reviews on these very soon.

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