Watcha Makin'?

[aigheadish]

Howard- So you are saying I need some youngsters to do it for me?  

Thanks for the kind words of patience, Tom. It means a lot, I just need to remember it.

[WV Sawmiller]

Aig,

   It couldn't hurt.

[GAB]

Lately I've been reading a lot about how the black plastic cooking utensils are bad because they are likely made from black recycled plastic. I guess most black recycled plastic comes from electronics. They contain chemicals to make it fire resistant. These chemicals are toxic and come out of the plastic when exposed to heat.

Because of this there ought to be a renewed interest in wooden cooking utensils.

There are times where the parts being molded require that no regrind be used in the manufacture, as it would reduce the physical properties of the part.  In these cases the sprues are then used for other parts that do not require the same properties.
Concerning the statement "I guess most black recycled plastic comes from electronics" from my experience I'd say not always.
GAB

[fluidpowerpro]

I guess that's what I've been reading. 

How often they are used is of course arguable. 

I think in the upcoming years we will be learning a lot more about plastics in food and the harmful effects. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I called another one done today.


The finish came out pretty good and I like the way the branch legs ended up looking.


 I haven't done one with branch legs in about 5 years. This is the hemlock slab I did all the draw knife work on a week or two ago. The legs are maple. I have a companion stool with funky ERC branch legs in the works now.
Maybe tomorrow I will have another of those aged RO benches done. Trying to build inventory now instead of the dead of winter. I'll have a few customs I have to get started on at some point. I am also considering a loft extension which will shut down any other work until it's done.

[aigheadish]

I like the branch legs a lot!

[Raym]

Working on 48 end grain cutting boards. 12x18. All sanded and ready to ship to the laser engraver for company logos. Then into the mineral oil and will be finished off with Howards butcher block conditioner.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I wondered where all my butcher block conditioner got off to.

   First it was the OlCowHand making sculptures out of my silverware now Ray is using my conditioner.

   Those are reap pretty pieces. What kind of prices do they sell for or are they gifts?

[beenthere]

Raym
Those boards look great. How do you stabilized the wood to keep them from changing shape as the moisture changes with changes in humidity? Do they stay together over the years? 

[SwampDonkey]

Wow, those boards look great. I think you have the market cornered. 

[Wlmedley]

Those are some real nice cutting boards. Way above my skills. Just about got my step stool finished. Put a coat of Minwax tung oil finish on it today. May take awhile to dry as it has finally rained here and kind of cool. Can't complain we needed rain bad to put out all the fires.

[Raym]

Those are reap pretty pieces. What kind of prices do they sell for or are they gifts?

Retail is 200 each (and 300 if an inlay is requested) but one order for 40 will be done at 150 each. One of the products we make a lot of during the year are framed mirrors for new construction which generates a lot of "drops". Anything (maple) 2" and wider will be saved and used for cabinet face frames and anything 1-1/2"-2" gets grouped together and used for cutting boards.

"How do you stabilized the wood to keep them from changing shape as the moisture changes with changes in humidity? Do they stay together over the years?"

All of the wood used is kiln dried (8ish%) but I thing the infusion of mineral oil helps keep them stable. I have probably done close to a hundred of these and only know of 1 issue and that was just one piece of the walnut that wasn't happy for some reason.

[Old Greenhorn]

Bill, your stool came out beautiful! You have a much nicer taper on the back than I have. Is that handle hole about 3"? Looks like yours is a bit taller than 36"? The wood looks great too. My wood was more suitable for painting than staining or poly.
 Very nicely done.

[Wlmedley]

Thanks Tom, the picture might make it look a little better than it actually is but I'm happy with it. I cut the hole with the same bit I used for bench legs which I think was 1 3/8 and then used a flapper wheel on a die grinder to smooth it up. I believe it's 44" tall. I plan to make another out of poplar but will have to do a glue up because I don't have any poplar wide enough. Think I'll run taper the entire length instead of starting at seat although this would mean seat would stick out a little on each side but I think it would look better. 

[Raym]

Its been about 3 years now since I sold my sawmill so all I have to contribute now is stuff I make and fishing pictures.  I will go back through some of the stuff I have done and post here

Each year I have a special project that I will do for friends and family in which I try to challenge myself. This was my 2022 project.

The wood is walnut, maple and padauk with a walnut engraved top. Overall height is 8" and 6-1/2" diameter. There are 14 rings with 36 segments per ring for a total of 504 pieces. A total of 15 were made so thats 7,560 itty bitty pieces of wood. I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking I was glueing up rings saying "red, white, black, red, white, black".


 

[Jeff]

Wow!  Now I got it in my head. 
How many hours would you guess you have in one?

[Resonator]

Impressive!
Guessing a forming jig for the rings, and LOTS of clamps to assemble it (and gallons of glue). I'd be scared to shape it on the lathe using anything but sandpaper.

[doc henderson]

Not to mention x 15. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Man, that is patience! Not to mention precision getting those angled cuts right to form the circle. You are a better man than I'll ever be Ray.

[aigheadish]

Holy socks @Raym beautiful! Am I understanding that that was not turned? Wow! Lovely! 

[aigheadish]

I mentioned it maybe in the "what are you cutting" thread that I was cutting, basically, cookies (but thick ones) for a project that my wife came up with. We are making a much-larger-than-this-year raised bed for vegetables in the spring. Her idea is to replace the totes we grew tomatoes and peppers in for a log stack that'll hold much more dirt, look way neater, and be a bit taller than previous. This is the beginning:

[doc henderson]

I think it is a turned segmented bowl.  you glue up 2 halves of each ring, then mate the halves, then stack them up with attention to orientation to make the bowl.  then turn it on a lathe.

[SwampDonkey]

Awesome stuff. Funny how it reminds me of weaving, weaving with layers exchanging to get solid colored squares. 3 colors, means weaving 3 layers. I'm actually weaving in 4 layers on a rug, making 4 solid colors in rectangular shapes.   I diverge. 

[Raym]

Wow!  Now I got it in my head.
How many hours would you guess you have in one?

To make just one, I would guess about 30 hours. I would be afraid to guess how long for all 15 though.

[Raym]

Impressive!
Guessing a forming jig for the rings, and LOTS of clamps to assemble it (and gallons of glue). I'd be scared to shape it on the lathe using anything but sandpaper.

Glueing of the rings was fairly simple but tedious process. I just used hose clamps to glue them together. Since there was a total of 212 rings, I set up a production line. One guy would prearrange the colors in a ring (me, and the continuous red, white, black), one guy would apply glue to the pieces and the third guy would get them in the clamp to be tightened.

Believe it or not, I was able to turn the entire inside with a traditional grind bowl gouge. (with a stabilizer set up).