Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Breezewood Village Craft Fair.
Breezewood Village Craft Fair. It is a senior center but the event is open and free to the public.
It will be on Friday, December 10th starting at 2pm. It will end at 3 or 4 depending on the turn out.
16000 Grayville Drive #2, La Mirada, CA 90638.
Small craft fair with multiple vendors. I know there will be hand-made jewelry, homemade candy and scrapbooking
Some of my woodworking will be there as well. I'm sending some of the smaller more portable items like doll beds, step stools and canes.
If you are local stop by and see us.
It will be on Friday, December 10th starting at 2pm. It will end at 3 or 4 depending on the turn out.
16000 Grayville Drive #2, La Mirada, CA 90638.
Small craft fair with multiple vendors. I know there will be hand-made jewelry, homemade candy and scrapbooking
Some of my woodworking will be there as well. I'm sending some of the smaller more portable items like doll beds, step stools and canes.
If you are local stop by and see us.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Photo Update: Master's Project
The reason the Drafting Table was made was so that I could use it as a place to design the Master's Chest.
Here it is in use:
You'll notice there is a wooden block at the top that I've added since I last took a picture of the drafting table. This is a place to keep my drafting tools so that they are easy to grab as I need them.
Be A Bob
Years ago when I was sitting in math class doing a whole lot of nothing my teacher had a poster on the wall that I remember clearly :Be A Lert , the world needs more Lerts
I always thought it was funny and I have never forgotten it.
Bob is my friend who graciously gave me the olive tree in his back yard that is supplying most of the lumber for my master's project. He also supplied the shovels, pick , rakes, tow chain, chainsaw (I have since bought my own) etc.Until he went in for eye surgery this 75yo man worked out there helping me dig, trim and so on.
Now let me tell you, I'm 42 and have NO PROBLEM saying I'll work a 20-something guy into the dirt. But i gotta say this 75yo man with his 1920's work ethic put me to shame and outworked me till the day before surgery. He also managed to teach me a lot along the way. He did all this for nothing. It benefited him nothing. He is just that good of a guy.
Moral?...while the world really does need more Lerts....Be a BOB, the world will never have enough
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Opinions Needed
OK PEOPLE LISTEN UP!
I need your help / opinions.
I have decided to do a video about hand-tools: their proper use, care & restoration.
So I need input...what tools, techniques do YOU think should be taught? This is intended to pass old knowledge on to new beginners so most of you will learn little from it but your knowledge may be used & passed on.
Things such as bending a ripsaw tip through its own handle to test the spring temper quality of the blade...."snapping" the wrist at the end of a hammer blow to achieve more power with less effort & how to restore an old hand-plane to new condition to be the basis of the videos.
SO PLEASE send in your recommendations and questions alike. They both are useful in moving towards making a video of this nature.
Thanks in advance :)
Bareftoot
I need your help / opinions.
I have decided to do a video about hand-tools: their proper use, care & restoration.
So I need input...what tools, techniques do YOU think should be taught? This is intended to pass old knowledge on to new beginners so most of you will learn little from it but your knowledge may be used & passed on.
Things such as bending a ripsaw tip through its own handle to test the spring temper quality of the blade...."snapping" the wrist at the end of a hammer blow to achieve more power with less effort & how to restore an old hand-plane to new condition to be the basis of the videos.
SO PLEASE send in your recommendations and questions alike. They both are useful in moving towards making a video of this nature.
Thanks in advance :)
Bareftoot
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Barefoot in a Wood shop
What is it like to be Barefoot in a Wood shop?
What’s it like for a Fireman to run into a burning house? I have no idea, but I guess he probably considers it just part of his job.
So this is how I ended up barefoot in a wood shop.
I work in Southern California. My building is a tilt-up made of concrete. No heating/ no air conditioning. Here in the winter time there’s only one or two days where it’s really cold. Heating’s not such a big deal. On the other hand, being in a concrete box when its 100 degrees outside means it’s 110+ inside. So, I don’t know how many years back, it was a really hot day and I was wearing combat boots (throw back to military days) which made it just that much hotter. So about 1:00 in the afternoon I got the brilliant idea of “I’ll just take off my shoes.” Concrete was cool and felt good. It was nice, like being 6-yrs-old again. It worked so well, the next day I just left my shoes in the car. And the following day, I just left my shoes in the car. Well, here it is years later and a lot of times I’ll wear sandals, but I can’t even find my actual shoes anymore. So that’s how it started. And it’s just a part of my every day going to work.
Working with no shoes, while it may feel really nice, it often times comes with its own little hazards. For the first 6 months, it was the most simple thing that became the most dangerous. You would think in a wood shop maybe it would be splinters or dropping things on my foot. But no, running right across the length of my shop is a seam in the concrete. You know, just like the ones you see in the sidewalk where the tree is at and it makes a little bump, maybe half an inch tall? Yeah, innocuous little thing. But for 6 months I’ve never stubbed my toes so often or as hard. It wouldn’t actually catch my toes so much as it would catch the ball of my foot and then slam my toes into the ground. Did you know most expletives don’t actually include all four letters? It seems at such times pronouncing four letters is much more difficult that it would originally seem. But after reinventing all the expletives and going through a box of band-aids, I finally got used to that stupid seem in the concrete.
So now all I have is the common problems. Sawdust isn’t bad; it’s kind of soft and squishy under your feet. I don’t waste nails or screws so they’re not on the floor all that often. And never once has my foot found one. And sometimes, yeah you drop something. But woodworkers learn early on some things are expensive and you learn to shove your foot under it, save it. And other things are sharp and you learn to dance quickly and save your foot instead. For someone who never took a lesson in my life, I dance a lot more now.
Now, the one that gets me; Sawdust is nice and squishy on the feet, but it looks like wood. So it hides the little ankle breaker blocks that come off of the items I’m working on. And that my friend, is the real threat to being barefoot in the shop. It’s as if a 6 yr old has left their toys out around you house. I now avoid the seam, without even a glance. I never drop screws or nails. But I can walk through a pile of sawdust finding the only block in a 10 foot radius and it will still drop me every time.
So with all of this in mind, if you decide to come by and visit, don’t come barefoot, you won’t be let in. I have years of being barefoot in the shop and have learned how to function safely. I’m the barefoot woodworker and you are not.
What’s it like for a Fireman to run into a burning house? I have no idea, but I guess he probably considers it just part of his job.
So this is how I ended up barefoot in a wood shop.
I work in Southern California. My building is a tilt-up made of concrete. No heating/ no air conditioning. Here in the winter time there’s only one or two days where it’s really cold. Heating’s not such a big deal. On the other hand, being in a concrete box when its 100 degrees outside means it’s 110+ inside. So, I don’t know how many years back, it was a really hot day and I was wearing combat boots (throw back to military days) which made it just that much hotter. So about 1:00 in the afternoon I got the brilliant idea of “I’ll just take off my shoes.” Concrete was cool and felt good. It was nice, like being 6-yrs-old again. It worked so well, the next day I just left my shoes in the car. And the following day, I just left my shoes in the car. Well, here it is years later and a lot of times I’ll wear sandals, but I can’t even find my actual shoes anymore. So that’s how it started. And it’s just a part of my every day going to work.
Working with no shoes, while it may feel really nice, it often times comes with its own little hazards. For the first 6 months, it was the most simple thing that became the most dangerous. You would think in a wood shop maybe it would be splinters or dropping things on my foot. But no, running right across the length of my shop is a seam in the concrete. You know, just like the ones you see in the sidewalk where the tree is at and it makes a little bump, maybe half an inch tall? Yeah, innocuous little thing. But for 6 months I’ve never stubbed my toes so often or as hard. It wouldn’t actually catch my toes so much as it would catch the ball of my foot and then slam my toes into the ground. Did you know most expletives don’t actually include all four letters? It seems at such times pronouncing four letters is much more difficult that it would originally seem. But after reinventing all the expletives and going through a box of band-aids, I finally got used to that stupid seem in the concrete.
So now all I have is the common problems. Sawdust isn’t bad; it’s kind of soft and squishy under your feet. I don’t waste nails or screws so they’re not on the floor all that often. And never once has my foot found one. And sometimes, yeah you drop something. But woodworkers learn early on some things are expensive and you learn to shove your foot under it, save it. And other things are sharp and you learn to dance quickly and save your foot instead. For someone who never took a lesson in my life, I dance a lot more now.
Now, the one that gets me; Sawdust is nice and squishy on the feet, but it looks like wood. So it hides the little ankle breaker blocks that come off of the items I’m working on. And that my friend, is the real threat to being barefoot in the shop. It’s as if a 6 yr old has left their toys out around you house. I now avoid the seam, without even a glance. I never drop screws or nails. But I can walk through a pile of sawdust finding the only block in a 10 foot radius and it will still drop me every time.
So with all of this in mind, if you decide to come by and visit, don’t come barefoot, you won’t be let in. I have years of being barefoot in the shop and have learned how to function safely. I’m the barefoot woodworker and you are not.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Secrets
I was just watching a video on U-tube where someone was SHOWING how the secret compartments they had made worked. To say the least I found this appalling. They are called secrets for a reason! Am I upset because he is giving away trade secrets? Eh - whatever.
What I am upset about is that someone commissioned the piece to be made in good faith in order to hide something. If they choose to tell about their piece - so be it. But for a furniture maker to be telling how & where & TO WHOM he sold this secret compartment is appalling.
For thousands of years before banks were commonly available it was the furniture makers job to make secret compartments to hide valuables in. Most often if someone could afford to commission a piece of quality - they could also afford your head in a ditch. Hence the tradition of keeping secrets was founded and enforced with a furniture maker until it became a point of swelling pride.
Then some yahoo (who does BEAUTIFUL work BTW) goes and puts it on U-tube for the world to know not only who to rob...but how to open the compartments and where to find them!.....even worse some other country with cheap labor will steal his ideas (since he showed in great detail how the system worked) and mass produce them at 25% of his cost.
How does someone so talented make such a dumb mistake?
What I am upset about is that someone commissioned the piece to be made in good faith in order to hide something. If they choose to tell about their piece - so be it. But for a furniture maker to be telling how & where & TO WHOM he sold this secret compartment is appalling.
For thousands of years before banks were commonly available it was the furniture makers job to make secret compartments to hide valuables in. Most often if someone could afford to commission a piece of quality - they could also afford your head in a ditch. Hence the tradition of keeping secrets was founded and enforced with a furniture maker until it became a point of swelling pride.
Then some yahoo (who does BEAUTIFUL work BTW) goes and puts it on U-tube for the world to know not only who to rob...but how to open the compartments and where to find them!.....even worse some other country with cheap labor will steal his ideas (since he showed in great detail how the system worked) and mass produce them at 25% of his cost.
How does someone so talented make such a dumb mistake?
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