Whata ya do in a blizzard?

[Larry]

Go to the shop!  Got almost 3" of the white stuff dumped on us yesterday and temperature never got out of the 30's!



Fitting tapered tenons into a stool seat.



Drilling legs for the stretchers.



Next up is more stools but these are special.....river stools. :D



Friend came out this morning and I helped her start on a quarter sawn turned Beads of Courage box.

Beads of Courage is a program to help children in the hospital with life threatening dieases.  We build boxes for the kids to store there beads. 

[SwampDonkey]

Lovely figure in that quartered stuff. Love your high tech drill. ;D

[thecfarm]

Have not heard of Beads of Courage.
Good that you are helping.

[samandothers]

Have not heard of Beads of Courage.
Good that you are helping.

I had not heard of this program.  It should help to bring smiles to the faces of the recipients. Good job!

[RPF2509]

That looks like sycamore

[Andries]

We've got clear weather again after about six inches of dry powdery snow.
The wind is picking up to just below blizzard status, so the Trans Canada will probably get locked down tonight. Nobody wants to rescue 18 wheelers in the ditch tonight!



The forecast for the foreseeable is -35, clear and windy. 
Mama Nature has spoken, and experience has shown that it's painful when you get sassy with her.
Sounds like shop-time to me.   So, how's my firewood? 



Have you ever hesitated when putting a nice chunk of hardwood into the stove?
I found this inside a nice chunk of ash firewood.



The wood hoarder in me couldn't part with it.

[Andries]

That led to me digging in the snow for more ash.
Found a nice chunk and re-sawed some book-matched pieces. They've been edge glued and, so far, not much warping, twisting cupping or other deviant behaviour!
Amazed I am.



Now, there are going to be pithy comments about 'wandering crotch wood' or 'beautiful ash' . . . but I don't have @Old Greenhorn or @Magic Man skills at rebbutal. ;) :D
So, I'll grin and enjoy the banter!

[Andries]

So, I live in Canada, right?
Out in the Prairies, which looks like your average scene from the movie, 'Dr Zhivago'.
So, I've got a few days to have a thought, as Jake likes to say.
"Hmmmm, if that ash looked THAT good, what else have we got out there in the firewood?" (that's my deep thought, not @Custom Sawyer)
So here's a funky looking reddish lump of firewood that looks like cherry. . .   hmmmmm, Schubert cherry from a tree that my daughter removed because a huge infestation of blacknot. She's missed the tree a lot this summer for it the shade it gave during a long hot summer (yes, we get those too!)
So, lets throw it onto the bandsaw. 
My youngest daughter gave me a ripping guide for Christmas. Have I got great kids or what?



I even read the instructions and still had all my fingers after ripping these pieces out of the firewood.



Whoo, hooo! It's amateur night, and Im doing alright!

[Andries]

T sum up, I now have all the ingredients for a FF soap opera: a blizzard, some chunks of cherry and a warm shop. The scotch stays in the bottle until the last power tool is shut offf.   :D
A small keep-sake box comes to mind.
How hard could be? . . even for a klutz like me? four sides and a few other sides, or top, or whatever, . . .  right? Finger joints. She likes those, ok, here we go!


 

[doc henderson]

yes, all that figure does make your ash look big!   :D :D :D

[Andries]

Rough fit, nothin' a bit of sanding won't fix, right?


 
There we go, ok for the sides and bottom, now what to do for the top?
As always, I need a little more ash. ;) Who amongst us doesn't hey?
How 'bout like this?


 
Well, the blizzard is still sending snow flying through the air.
I've got plenty of firewood left . . . . hopefully.
And, the OP's; @Larry  work, is inspirational - if the winter lasts long enough, my skills may come close to his.
It'll take a DanG long winter though. 

[Andries]

yes, all that figure does make your ash look big!   :D :D :D

I might hafta start wearing more Johnny Cash clothes, because black can be so slimming. Apparently. 

[Larry]

RPF, yes quarter sawn sycamore.  That's the only way I saw sycamore as the boards are less likely to twist.  Hard to sell the lumber but if I build something it goes quick.

Andries, it looks like Arkansas blizzards are slightly different than the blizzards you have up north. :D :D :D  I wouldn't leave your shop until summer, maybe sometime in July right? ;D  Good job on the boxes!

[alan gage]

A lot of very nice work in this thread. It's quite cold and windy here on the prairies with about a foot of snow on the ground but I've been having a hard time making myself go out to the shop in the evenings. I have some quarter sawn white oak that needs to be turned into window trim. Maybe tonight. 

As for Arkansas blizzards:
Technically blizzards have a definition, which is something like:
Sustained winds or frequent gusts over 35mph
Heavy snowfall reducing visibility to under 1/4 mile
And lasting for at least 3 hours

If I remember correctly there used to be a requirement that the temperature had to be below a certain level but that meant many people on the east coast felt left out so they lifted that 'rule'.

Blizzard fun fact: Supposedly the word 'blizzard' originated in my little home town of Estherville, Iowa, or at least it's the first known usage of the word. No one really seems to know where it came from. 

Alan

[WDH]

Way down here, it is something that you order at the Dairy Queen.  

[rjwoelk]

Nice book match, looking good, we had less then 150 ft visibility yesterday, wind 40 to 50 mph. Half the night till latter morning. Went from -3 degrees of frozen to -31 in 24 hrs. When you get into your truck and the seat feels like a rock, its too cold to work outside.

[Andries]

Way down here, it is something that you order at the Dairy Queen.  

A buddy in Oakbank went on his Skidoo Blizzard to get a Blizzard at the DQ.
You guys in Georgia @WDH have got this thing figured out!

[caveman]

Nice work Andries.  I think that I would go into hibernation if presented with conditions like that.

[thecfarm]

The only flat area around here like that is a lake or a river.
Snowmobiles at a gas pump is a common sight. 
Except for this year. But I am sure the snow is coming.

[customsawyer]

Andries that second picture you posted sent a chill up my spine. I can remember having to feed livestock in those conditions. You can have them.
The projects look great though gentlemen.

[Magicman]

It's 36° here which as far as I am concerned is a blizzard.  Jake, I too vividly remember feeding da cows when it was cold, wet, and sloppy.  Not snow, but still miserable.


 
PatD assigned this job to me today. 

[Texas Ranger]

Usually call up friend Jack Daniels and sit by the fire.

[Andries]

My call up friend is usually Johnny Walker.
Same idea . . 

[SwampDonkey]

Set up a grow tent. ;D

[metalspinner]

I've been feeling sympathetic to y'all blizzardry , so I made stuff, too.



 

 

 

 

[Larry]

Wow, your in production.  I like the ones with the moon....or is it the sun? :D

[customsawyer]

My eyes crossed just looking at those and trying to follow the lines. Nice work.

[doc henderson]

how thick are they and do you do the edge on a shaper?  can you give any detail on the design?   i.e. does the pattern repeat, and do you use cutoff from one board, on the next?  it looks tight.  do you cut curves on a band saw?  otherwise, no questions.

[metalspinner]

It's all bandsaw cut. Sharp blade, steady tempo and smooth feed. 
The stack cutting process keeps generating the next board. Trying to keep the proper mountain perspective gets tricky along the way if that's what I'm after. At some point, though, all perspective is lost and the pieces becomes abstract. I have a mountain of abstracts to deal with. 

Other than sanding, most of my time is looking for - and at - boards for placement and orientation. 

Yes, Larry, those are moons. 😄 Birdseye maple moons. 

Doc, they start out as 8/4 lumber. But after each glue up, I send them through the planer so the pieces eventually end up just shy of 1 3/8". Which actually helps to reduce the weight. But there is still enough heft to feel good  in the hand. 
I've not made any with 4/4. But I suspect it would finish out about 5/8" if your super careful with glue-ups. 

The edge treatment is a big, vertical router bit. I want a shaper really bad.  There is just too much vibration in the router table. 

[doc henderson]

can you describe the "stack cutting method"?  I do not plan on making anything identical but looks like a great concept to understand.  I assume cutting two boards at a time, one on top of the other, so the cut is a fit even if you stray off the line.  

[doc henderson]

how many species, and how do you inlay the moon/maple?

[metalspinner]

Yea, that's it, doc. Two boards cut at the same time. Any drift from your line is ok. Just keep smooth and steady. 
The moon is just a drilled hole and tapered plug. I turn the plugs 1/4" thick on my machine lathe with a 1 degree taper. 
That moon detail was an afterthought and emergency repair on the first board I made like this. While cutting the juice groove , the router slipped on me and I went astray. That's when the "plug" idea came to me. 

All the "moon" boards will sell first guaranteed. Even with the up charge. In fact, I don't even know why I offer them without the moon. But a maple sky with a maple moon,  doesn't look right. 

[doc henderson]

so, the moon is only on one side, and I guess you can flip it over if you are trying to sleep!  

[Magicman]

 

 
It's obvious that PatD and I need to stop by for another visit. 

[metalspinner]

Anytime, Magicman!"

[doc henderson]

 

 

 

 

some solid wood action for a charity auction.  Dr. Hagley the cardiologist @Cardiodoc helped.  I am happy to do these.  a few years back I did the cedar corn hole game, and it took weeks.

[metalspinner]

  Figured walnut??

[doc henderson]

yes and pear, and ERC of course.  some quilting in the walnut.  i have another one in progress with many colors from a stump that was to be firewood.  



 

 

also had medicinal IPA in a coozie I got at the last Pig roast, from a new good friend and his wife.

[Larry]

Six inches of new snow on the ground this morning.  Spent the day in the shop with these two characters.






Got another stool glued up and ready to finish.






After that plowed the driveway and shoveled the sidewalks (twice).

Had a request for a couple of French rolling pins so I turned them plus another two.  They don't sell for much, $20 each, but I can make about 5 or 6 an hour and they use up left over wood.

[WDH]

They look pretty stressed out about it  :D.  

[firefighter ontheside]

The only thing I did in my shop during the snow storm was go in there to get beer and a yard stick to measure the snow.

[aigheadish]

I'm in the boat of not going into the shop as well. I've got projects but not much motivation to go out and spend money heating the place. It's the weekend now, though, so maybe I'll get out there some. 

I need to convince myself to climb up into the rafters to finish the insulation, but boy is that a miserable job. I keep meaning to buy a couple throwaway coveralls so I don't drag fiberglass all over the place too. If I'm dumb, and I likely am, I'll wait until it's unreasonably hot to go up and finish, so you know, it'll be 20 degrees warmer when I'm 12 feet up in the roof. 

Larry, your stools look great! 

Metalspinner, Doc, your boards look amazing. 

I don't know where the energy you guys have comes from... I wish I had about 10% of it.

[beenthere]

Don't  like the fiberglass itch either.

For cheap suit, google:
Tyvek Disposable Suit

[SwampDonkey]

I don't even want to breath fibreglass insulation let alone swim in it. If making you cough isn't a bad sign. ;D

[dogone]

   What to do in a blizzard??  STAY HOME. We had a day long blizzard here in Saskatchewan a few days ago.Along with the hundreds who spent a long time stuck in their vehicles one died.
    A man on a tractor went to clear a road in zero visibility. He got stuck , left his running tractor to walk home. Took two days to find his body. It happens every year or so. One person made it about ten miles from his vehicle in a blizzard. A farmer found his body in his pasture the next spring. This was only 20 miles from me and five years back.
    These were unfortunate deaths but it is difficult to educate some folks.

[aigheadish]

@beenthere that's exactly what I'm looking for. I need to also find some kind of mask I can breathe in and not breathe in the fibers. I've got a normal dust mask but I couldn't breathe very well in it so I went the dumb route and just tried to hold my breath as much as I could. I know that isn't good but neither is passing out whilst walking on ceiling trusses. 

[alan gage]

@beenthere that's exactly what I'm looking for. I need to also find some kind of mask I can breathe in and not breathe in the fibers. I've got a normal dust mask but I couldn't breathe very well in it so I went the dumb route and just tried to hold my breath as much as I could. I know that isn't good but neither is passing out whilst walking on ceiling trusses.

Get a respirator. The hardware store will have them. Work great. I never bother with the masks anymore. It's not always the most comfortable thing to wear but they work great. 
Alan

[doc henderson]

for ceiling insulation, if they are bats with vapor barrier, I work from below on the paper side of the insulation.  

[HemlockKing]

  What to do in a blizzard??  STAY HOME.

...or pull out the elan 340 TWIN(snowmobile) crank a few beers and go for a RIP! ...obviously stay near home   but dang blizzards are fun and bring out the same feeling I got as a kid when they arrive.

[Andries]

Here's a recent Canadian story about what you should do during a blizzard.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6339703 
Tellin' ya, old guys RULE.

[Larry]

Cold and windy with drizzle this morning so I decided to spend the day in the shop.  Finished off a stool I've been working on.












Got caught up on sharpening bands.

More logs came in to saw but they came on a dump trailer so I didn't have to unload.

Started work on two urns that I've been commissioned to make. 

How old does one need to be to retire and watch soaps all day? :D :D

[doc henderson]

well larry, it is good you have learned to cope! :D :D :D

[Walnut Beast]

As always. Very nice Larry 

[Andries]

We have a blizzard forecast for tomorrow.
I hope to be able to cope as well as you Larry.

[aigheadish]

@doc henderson I get it, cope! 

[Larry]

Yes, those docs are just pretty sharp people!

[doc henderson]

 smiley_clapping lol lol lol

[Larry]

This is my driveway to the outside world.  We've had an 1" or 2 of sleet with freezing rain/drizzle on top so it might be a little slick.  No need to venture out, not sure I could make it as slick as it looks.  So another shop day.


I'm sawing segments to build a cremation urn for a Doctor friend.  The saw is really a sliding table printers saw that I adapted mainly for cutting angle segments.  I made a vernier miter gauge accurate to a tenth of a degree. 


Segments ready to glue together.


All glued up.  When I get a dozen rings I'll stack them up by gluing them together.  Turn the assembly on the lathe into a vase type shape.  Make a lid and chase some threads so it screws on.


As typical, my buddy was not a bit interested in my woodworking.  Resting in his favorite place.

[Old Greenhorn]

Very slick! I look forward to seeing this as it progresses. I am wondering how you the inside turning will go. Hey, can you tell us (me anyway) where you got that glue bottle?

[boonesyard]

The glue bottle is by Fast Cap, they make a couple different sizes. Woodcraft has them, can get them off Amazon as well.

They work very well, we use ours all the time.

[Larry]

A link.

GluBot Family - FastCap

They are so popular anymore any woodworking store normally has them. 

Great for some applications, but for others the the original bottle works just as well and a lot cheaper!

[doc henderson]

I use them as well.  if you have some 16 oz bottles, you can contact tite bond and they will send you some new caps, even in the proper color.  At least they have done it twice for me.  send me about 10 each time.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, I looked them up. Pretty cool I think. We don't have woodworking shop suppliers around here, too rural. But I will keep an eye open. I could get them online, and will if I buy something I need from a supplier that has them. I'll check the one local place that might carry them. Probably the titebond bottles work just fine, but I just thought I would give something different a try. I have been saving my bottle since you pointed that out Doc, next purchase is a gallon, which I should have done a while ago, but I'm not that smart. ;D

[doc henderson]

I also have a rubber glue roller I like especially for spreading glue on the edges of glue ups, Like Bills Cherry may end up being.   :(  

Off site image removed by admin

got this on amazon.  about a 2-inch-wide roller with a pattern that makes the glue even across the length of the edge.

[firefighter ontheside]

lol @doc henderson I might have to glue 4 boards together to have a 1x6.

I always have a gallon jug of TB and a 16 oz bottle for daily use.  Every so often I buy a new bottle just to have  a new cap.  I did that just a few weeks ago.  I always make sure to leave my gallon jug high up on a shelf in the shop in case the heat gets turned off, my glue won't freeze.

[Larry]

I've been using this roller for years.  Its a 4" Rollrite Brayer made in the USA.  Available in about any art store such as Hobby Lobby.  The beauty of the roller is you can get a nice even coat which insures good coverage, less squeeze out, fast spread, and I use less glue.  Mostly use it on veneer work, cutting boards, and thick table top glue ups. It also cleans up easily even when I forget to do it until the next day. ???

Although I do use the Glu-Bots I'm also cheap and use 99 cent ketchup bottles from Walmart at times. :D

[doc henderson]

you know, you could be making MDF!  be glad for what you got! :D :D :D
and yes, if you just leave the glue on it, it all peels off the next day.  I have had mine for years.

[aigheadish]

Thanks for the pictures of the the urn, @Larry I'm interested in turning segmented pieces, which I've never tried, and those few simple pictures showed me how better than most. When it warms up some in the shop, and I can move some of the extra junk in there out to the barn I'll have to give it a shot. Like OGH I'm interested on the interior turn as well. I've seen videos of it but I still struggle to understand how to get in there well. I'm also a pretty unexperienced turner, with a kind of garbagey HF lathe, but I can't afford a good one yet.

[Larry]

Like OGH I'm interested on the interior turn as well. I've seen videos of it but I still struggle to understand how to get in there well. I'm also a pretty unexperienced turner, with a kind of garbagey HF lathe, but I can't afford a good one yet.

Turning the inside is easy......if you do it in two pieces and glue it back together.  I have done it the hard way but I have to set up my big old heavy steady rest.

Pictures should explain the process.




















Once I have it glued together I turn the outside a little more to refine the shape and clean it up.  Wall thickness is normally 1/4" to 3/8" but its not critical like with a green hollow form.

I have one more ring to make for the top.  This ring will have hand chased threads for the plug.  Chasing threads is an art and I don't do it much so I sometimes mess up.  If I screw up the threads on a ring its no big deal but if I screw up threads on a complete urn it becomes a problem.

After the top is done it will go to the cnc laser guy.

Don't knock your HF lathe, especially for segmented work.  One of the best segmenters I know uses a HF lathe.

[rusticretreater]

Nice segmented vase.  I do a bit of turning myself.  I have a Oneway 4236 which I just recently bought from an old fella who downsized.  I glue up half rings, and knock the inside corners off on the bandsaw, and then glue up the ring.  Its not so grabby when you turn the inside and much less stressful to work with.

[aigheadish]

God bless experience! I'd have never (or at least for a long time!) thought to make it in two halves. I can turn the inside of a bowl reasonably well, I can't (I don't think) so much with a curvy-innerd vase. Good stuff! 

I need to do some more work on the HF lathe, I had some trouble getting the centers to be centered across the whole thing but I just learned some stuff that may help. 

[Larry]

I have a Oneway 4236 which I just recently bought from an old fella who downsized.

The Oneway 2436 in my opinion is the best lathe out there, especially for turning big stuff on the outboard side.  I've demoed on one several times at a craft school.  Some day I'll have one.

Tonight I made the top ring for the urn.  I hand chased the female threads for the lid that will screw on.  I made the tool I used to chase the threads but you can buy them.  I soak the threads in ca glue and they become pretty hard.

[aigheadish]

Is thread making just putting the tool in there and dragging back? I've never seen that done.

Holy crap, I've never seen that Oneway, it's a beast! 

[Larry]

Took the urn to my friend/neighbor/craftsman a few days ago and picked it up this morning.  He lasered some writing in the maple trim ring and put the Dentistry symbol on the top lid.  I think excellent work and a more than fair price of $30....I also tipped.




My Dentist friend was born to a dirt poor single mom in Arkansas.  Got trained by the Army to be a Dentist during WW-ll.  War ended about the time he graduated from school.  Had a distinguished career as a Dentist.  Made me feel good to be chosen to make a urn for his ashes.  Fitting that the wood for the urn came from close to where he was born.

 

[caveman]

Every so often I buy a new bottle just to have  a new cap.

A mustard bottle cap fits the Tightbond glue containers just right and they have a nice snap cap.  I don't use mustard but some of my family does.

[firefighter ontheside]

that's interesting Caveman.  I will remember that the next time I have an empty mustard bottle.  Maybe I will just put glue in the mustard bottle.

[doc henderson]

I have been using and liking the glu bots, as they work at any angle as they have a side spout that comes from the bottom of the container at a bout 7 bucks.  and if you call tite bond customer service they have twice sent me a pack of caps of the request colors.