Fine motor skills

Somehow all of this is going to become a Heart Shaped Music Box.
My wheels and gears are still turning on how exactly to make this happen.

An important Refurbish job!

We've changed our look again!  Be sure to check out the new look of our Website!

A Video/ Slideshow of some samples on YouTube

Be sure you view and rate folks!

The Real Last Step in Woodworking

So you've toiled away on this project for weeks.  You've gone through design, buying the materials, building and finishing it.  But you aren't really done yet.

If a project is built and no one has seen it, does it really exist?

You want to share your work of course.  So you snap a quick picture of it like these.

And it's just doesn't look like you see it. 

Here's the truth of it.  The camera can do a lot. . but it's just not as good as the human eye.  It needs some work for that lens to pick up exactly what you see.  So help it out.  Give it some more light to start with.  Both of the pictures above were taken with a flash and you'll notice all it did was give a spotlight effect centered on the piece.  With more light on the whole thing, the flash won't be needed and lighting will be even.Each of this pictures also had a second problem.  The one on the left was too close.  You can't really make out the whole piece because the edges are lost.  Try to include the whole piece.  Now sometimes, like in the case of that piece, there isn't anywhere to back up enough to get it, but do you best.

The picture on the right should be cropped on the sides - something that will have to happen afterward as the whole piece is so tall.  But I'd also recommend that it be taken on an angle.  Because it was taken head on like this, it's hard to tell the real size and shape of the piece.  We only see a flat front.  While an angle is much more appealing and will show the sides/ depth of the piece.  

Here's the improvement for this one: 

It didn't take much of an angle to show the piece better.  And better lighting helped - though we still have a slight hot-spot from the flash. You'll also note that showing the piece in use helps the look of it a lot.  We get a better sense of the size and shape of it with the trophies inside.

These beginning tips will help, but I recommend that you take the time to learn a little bit about photography to make your photos even better. 

For more help check out this blog:
http://www.photo101tips.blogspot.com/

The Heart-Shaped Music Box continues

Remember the heart-shaped music box I've been working on?  We'll I've made some great progress and felt I'd share some updates and  photos.

Last time you saw the pieces they were just 4 glued up blocks.  4 because it's best to makes extras when you know there will be delicate steps along the way.

The next step was to cut down the corners of the blocks.  There are two important reasons for this.  For one, the next step was putting these pieces on the lathe to make them round cylinders, and square on a lathe is unstable. Getting it closer to round means less uneven cutting with the lathe tools.

The second reason, look how much material I can salvage from this...

I'm not sure what I'll use it for but, as I mentioned in a previous post, I try to use as much as possible.  

From there the four blocks finally make it to the lathe for the first time.  The goal at first is just to make them actual cylinders.  Just rounded enough to make the process of carving hearts out of them a little easier.

It IS easy being GREEN!

Ok people here we go….I am so tired of hearing about ‘going green’ what about simply sound practices?

Most shops buy cups to mix stain in….I save my soda cans, cut off the bottom and have a cup.  After I’m done using it, I send it to the recycling plant.  

Most shops buy bottles to properly store stains after mixing them.

 Did you know that soda bottles (the plastic ones) are resistant to acetone, lacquer, thinner and basically every other chemical used In the common wood shop?   I’ve known this for years and use them all to store these items.  This saves money for the shop and reuses (recycles) these ‘throw away’ products giving them a second life before I send them to the recycling plant.  I pay for them once and use them twice.

Lumber.  I have a ‘firewood pile’ in the shop.  It’s all the scraps from projects worked on.  I even draw from it all the time in the shop if I need a small piece for a moulding , test piece, peg or dowel etc, etc. Then, as a last use, when the pile gets too big I take it out camping with me and…firewood it is (cherry makes some fine tasting marshmallows btw).  I’m currently using the sawdust in the shop to store my olive tree slabs to dry them for my Master’s Project.  Said and done right now only about 3% of all lumber coming into the shop ends up in a landfill.   Judging from the 17 other woodshops outside my door, other shops seem to average about 10-15%.

Rags come from friends, neighbors and old work clothes.  I haven’t bought a rag in the entire history of my shop.

Glass/aluminum are used whenever and wherever I can.  10yrs ago I bought aluminum bottles for my water out camping (the kind you can see in every environmentally friendly hand today)….all my friends said I was crazy and bought lexan bottles.  Mine are all still in use and all of theirs are now in landfills.

GLASS! The miracle product!  It needs no recycling! Hey people…it’s a ROCK it started a ROCK and it’s still a ROCK and it will return to being a ROCK when humans are all dead and gone from this planet!  There is even an entire beach in northern California, known for its beauty, that’s totally made of glass shards due to a now defunct glass factory located nearby.  It’s all been rounded by the sea and re-deposited on the beach.  And study after study cannot find any detrimental effects to the environment…it’s a ROCK people!

Am I an eco nut?...not on your life.  However common sense and a general care of where and how I live goes a long way towards being green.

MY Shop

We often ponder the question, of “Who Am I?” versus “What Am I?”.  Some people do their job, because it’s what they do.  Some people do their job, because it’s who they are.  I guess the only difference is passion.  So let me tell you my story about Hal.  An old-timer, retired woodworker and friend. 

Hal owned his shop for 40 years.  The time came where he decided he was old enough and done enough and it was time to walk away.  To enjoy the sunset of his life and spend time with his wife.  So he made amends with all of his customers, sold off most of his equipment, cleaned out the rest and took it home to store it in the garage.  And then went back to turn in the keys on his leased space.  They did the walk through, everything was fine.  He gave the keys back and no longer had his shop.  He got in the car and started on his 40 mile drive to his new home.   He made it about 400 feet before he pulled over and broke down in tears.  He wasn’t sad, he wasn’t upset, and he wasn’t happy or overjoyed he was simply lost.  After 40 years he had no idea what to do, where to go, or who he was.  He’d lost his passion. 

So let’s jump forward a couple of years with old Hal.  He’s now a happy, energetic go-lucky type of guy.  He bought a new table saw, put it in his garage and now instead of 5 jobs a month, he does 5 jobs a year.  

Guess you can’t take the man out of the shop, because if you do you’ll break the shop that’s still in the man.