Watcha Makin'?

[SwampDonkey]

I also put the cuts inside as well for the chicks.    But I plane them to make them all even thickness and I want them 3/4" material. Some had to be planed that much to get the saw marks out, most where 1-1/8", a couple more like 15/16".   All my bird houses have been planed wood. The birds probably don't complain either way.  Personal preference.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   My WV rural bluebirds are so happy not to be living in an old woodpecker hole they are happy with my primitive woodworking skills.

[Rhodemont]

I had Blue birds all winter, very unusual.  They loved the suet.  Weather got a bit warmer and they must have headed North.

[SwampDonkey]

My WV rural bluebirds are so happy not to be living in an old woodpecker hole they are happy with my primitive woodworking skills.

Like Chester said, the sawmiller I got the cedar from, 'the birds don't care about how pretty the wood is'. That was after I said, 'it doesn't have to be perfect'. As I indicated with a gesture about how long the pieces will be. It ain't prime cedar, but it was cheap and works. I see where an entry hole might be an old knot. ;)  There was 1000 feet of cedar in the pile, none of it was all that pretty, but I love white cedar, the shop is full of cedar smell now. ;)

[WV Sawmiller]

  My daughter's family came up last night for a local GD birthday party and this morning I went out with my 8 y/o GS and 6 y/o GD and built another Bluebird box. I used 2" galvanized nails for fasteners and let the kids nail them in. I had bought an 8 oz stubby hammer with a 6" handle in anticipation and the kids loved it. After the party this afternoon I took my GD, Lyric, out on the 4 wheeler and nailed it to a cross fence gate post.





    It was another great day with the kids.

[thecfarm]

Who had the most fun, the GD or the Grand Father???   
Mine are all in their 20's now and older.
But we have a Great One that is growing.

[SwampDonkey]

Truth be told, I bet his wife calls him the biggest kid of the bunch. 

[chep]

I also had bluebirds all winter. A small group 4 or 5. I kept rubbing my eyes couldn't believe it to be true.
My neighbor said he saw them to. I'm in eastern vt about 43.99 n lat
I have birdhouses out. They did seem interested in them but they didn't set up camp, so must be in snags or boxes elsewhere. Interesting 

[aigheadish]

My putter is coming along. My intention was to use a threaded insert and weld the end of a bolt to the putter shaft. I was even smart enough to test my theories on a scrap piece of wood. It worked and seemed like it'd be ok. Then I drilled the hole in the real piece and the holes for the weight. I did a test fit with the shaft and it was nice, so I glued it up. I'd forgotten about the threaded insert. The failure of my last putter build was that the shaft became unglued and the putter head fell off. To avoid that happening again I attempted to add a couple beads of weld to the shaft that was inside the putter head, to give something for the epoxy to hold to. We'll see if that works, I didn't think to lower the welder power so it sliced right through some but did leave a few spatters to hopefully grab. After that my glue had some loose with the heat of the welder... Reglued, added weight (but forgot the weigh the head by itself) and started pouring epoxy in. Oh duh, I forgot to seal up the hole at the bottom of the shaft too, so epoxy leaked into the hole there... I guess it'll be two pours. I did the second pour last night and I'll have a fair amount of clean up to do. If I'm remembering correctly, there's $4.32 in there.

Epoxy will hold some screws won't it? I've remembered again, to late, that I'll need to screw my brass bottom plate into something. 

[aigheadish]

Well, I'm making more progress but it's not good progress. I got everything where I wanted it. The epoxy in the weight hole was good and the weight of the putter is much more substantial than it was on v1. It may even be too heavy. It feels real nice to contact a ball and I'll probably get used to the weight... If I can get the bottom brass plate attached well. 

I tried a fast activating CA, and upon attempting to screw in the plate to the epoxy the screws engaged the holes and popped the plate right off and all the CA was cured already, so try again. I sanded and sanded and card scraped all the CA off. 



I tried JB weld and slathered it on there pretty good, then clamped everything down, poorly, then waited until this morning. Upon taking the clamps off I found that not only the bond wasn't great I learned my clamping was insufficient, due to the bottom of the putter being not flat.

Sanding amd sanding to remove the jb weld and flatten out the bottom of the putter, now I've gone back to the original epoxy that I filled the weight hole with. I think I've clamped in a smarter way. We'll see tomorrow. 



Each step I do with this putter I think back to the first one I made, using my drill press as a router to hog out the ball snatcher hole, and being scared for my finger's lives, and I'm amazed at the stuff I got right kind of easily. The bubinga is probably a better wood, as it seem much harder than this proposed maple. My work flow isn't worked out, things like keeping the bottom flat escaped me this time, though it makes sense. We'll see what happens! 

[tule peak timber]

I finally got the teak shop door hung today. What is special to me is the brass receiver imbedded in the jamb that secures the bronze bolt in the closed position. It is a packing gland from the SM 1, a WWII era ship that sank off of Point Conception in 80 feet of water in the early 1960's. I used to dive on this wreck as a young man and retrieved many cool items that I have hung onto over the years. So, fast forward to a perfect fit in my new door with a WWII piece of memorabilia. Every time I go in the shop, I'll glance at that little piece of metal and smile.

[beenthere]

Awesome teak door. 

[aigheadish]

Incredible, as usual TPT! And a good showing of the beauty of teak for your new enterprise!

Have you thought of Tule Teak Timber as a side name? 

[tule peak timber]

Yes, we did think of "Tule Teak Timber", but we're reserving it for another project down the line; that is outdoor gates, doors and barbeque furnishings made from teak. We ended up with Teak, Teak, Teak for now, to try to get the wood sales going. We'll see how it goes.

[aigheadish]

I like Teak, Teak, Teak too!

[tule peak timber]

Thanks, it is surprising how many companies have already grabbed the tastier teakwood web names. We are one of many selling plantation teaks here in the US. Technically this is my third try at marketing teak and the challenges remain the same . The purpose of the shop door is to showcase the beauty of the wood to all customers that visit, along with samples of course. Time will tell! 

[tule peak timber]

The start of a public library project to produce bespoke neo classical furniture to fit in with the 1914 build of the library. Coastal live oak and cork oaks will be milled in a variety of ways to build one-of-a-kind pieces from their own trees. The cork bark will be harvested for intarsia/ inlay on some of the pieces. The clock is ticking.......

[doc henderson]

Rob most of those logs look like "crap".  We do not have those in Kansas.  I guess you are not in Kansas...anymore!  I am sure the pieces will be beautiful and that is why we call you the WIZARD OF CRAP!    Cheers, Doc.  

[tule peak timber]

Yes sir, dog legs and chicken wings. Ugh......

[Larry]

A girl friend is making some ceramic honey pots. She needs honey dippers........


She gave strict instructions on size and said "keep em simple". Hope I get a little honey out of this deal.

[GAB]

Larry:
Looks like she contacted the right person for the job.
Question: what woods did you use.
Some looklike they might be cherry, others could be maple, basswood, or .....
GAB

[Larry]

These were all cherry and maple, finished with a mix of mineral oil and bees wax. My favorite species for honey dippers. Both woods turn well and have a closed grain suitable for the use.

She wanted walnut but it has a open grain and I've found it looks dirty after a few uses. There is also a concern about folks with a nut allergy using it, not sure if that is valid. I talked her out of walnut. If she puts the cherry in bright sunlight for a few days it will turn as dark as walnut.

[SwampDonkey]

Yes cherry turns real dark in the sunlight after awhile. You'll have a pinkish board that becomes dark reddish brown. 

[21incher]

A girl friend is making some ceramic honey pots. She needs honey dippers........


She gave strict instructions on size and said "keep em simple". Hope I get a little honey out of this deal.

Better be careful if you're on the honeydo list 😉.