Troll Bridge

Back in June of 2006, I bought that month's issue of Fine Woodworking because of a cover that promised "Razor sharp in two minutes."  I was just beginning to learn to sharpen at the time and, having spent long hours flattening the backs of my chisels and plane blades and giving them fresh bevels I was intrigued.  Although I never adopted any of the methods described in that article, one other article magazine has stuck with me to this day.

That article was "An Exercise in Design" by Mark Schofield.  In it, he was building a hall table inspired by a bridge like the one in the picture above.  Because of copyright I can't show you the actual picture, so this is the Broadway bridge here in Saskatoon.  Its close enough so you get the idea.
Schofield was using steam bent arches for the legs and he was worried that under load the arches would spread and the table top would sink down.  Looking for ideas, he sent the picture, along with the dimensions of his table and an explanation of his problem, to three other furniture makers.

These gentlemen (Jere Osgood, Wayne Marcoux, and Garrett Hack) all came back with different solutions to the problem.  Although there were similarities all of designs were quite distinct, solving the problem in very different ways.  In the end, Scofield ignored all of their designs and did his own thing.  If it proves anything, it proves that if you ask 4 different woodworkers how to do something, you will get 6 different answers.

Of course, I had my own idea for the table.  Did I rush to the shop to build it?  No.  I sat on it for almost nine years.  And, really, I still haven't built it (This is not an unusual process for me.  I think it might make a good blog post some day) but at least I have built a prototype.  Half size.

Instead of having the arches go vertical, I put them on angles so they crossed.  Then, to keep them from spreading, I ran a stretcher between and through them.

The impetus to build this prototype came from the Guild's annual 2 x 4 challenge.  Here is the 2 x 4 in original condition.

The legs are each made up of  eight 1" x 1/8" x 40"  strips.

These were then bent around a form and then all glued together except for the inside strip.  This will make sense soon, I promise.

If you're looking at that picture and thinking "That's not enough clamps" or "He should have used something to spread out the pressure" you're right.  It was pretty obvious when I took it off the form where the clamps had been.  It's just the prototype though so I didn't get too bent out of shape (Pun intended),  On the next leg I did use some cauls and it looked a lot better.

The next move was to taper the legs from the centre to the ends.  I wanted the legs to end up 1/2" thick at the ends so, because there was still one strip to glue on, I marked them at 3/8" from the outside edge and tapered to the centre.  Then I cut the curve on the bandsaw.

Now I could put the leg back on the bending form and glue the last strip to the inside.  This gave me an unbroken surface on both the inside and the outside of the leg.  Probably not necessary on a prototype but it just looks better, and maybe a little stronger too.  My plan for the actual table is to taper each strip from 1/4" to 1/8" before gluing them together.

I built this jig to hold the leg arches in place so I could line up, mark, and cut the 2 joints where the legs intersected.  It was long enough to offset them a bit and work my way in.

To me this joint is the heart and soul of this table, the thing that makes it unique.  And it did not turn out at all like I expected.  In my mind's eye, before I built this prototype, the surfaces of the two arches would cross in basically the same plane.

Please ignore the terrible joinery.

As you can see that is not the way it actually worked. The surfaces were not even close to being co-planar.  In fact, it is hard to imagine that they could be any further out than they were.  It kind of threw me for a loop.

I pressed on anyway, mostly because I needed a project for the Guild's 2 x 4 challenge.  I didn't quite get it finished in time but it was close enough.  When I showed it to the Guild everyone seemed more intrigued by the lattice top than the legs, which kind of surprised me.

If this blog entry seems to end rather suddenly it is because I have been trying to write it for six months now.  It has happened in bits and pieces here and there and none of it really feels right.  There is something I want to say about this table but I can't figure out what it is.  Anyway, it has held me up long enough.  Time to move on.

The Things We Do To Do The Things We Do

Once again I have picked up the gauntlet and decided to create a piece for the 2 x 4 challenge.  And, once again, I have bitten off more than I can chew.

It's not just building the project I have chosen (a 1/2 scale table prototype), it's building all the jigs and such that it requires.  It seems like there is an awful lot of them this time.

The first things I made were this drawing bow and a crude compass for drawing arcs.  Both are scrap wood.  The compass has a hole at one end sized to friction-fit a pencil and a nail driven through as a pivot at 12".  Using the compass I marked out a couple of arcs on the MDF to make a bending form.  After rough cutting the arcs from they were rounded on this jig at the oscillating spindle sander.

The pin is just a nail with the head cut off.  It engages a hole drilled at the centre point of the arc.

The two pieces were screwed together to make a form 1.5" thick.

If you're wondering about the tongue cut out of the bottom edge it's because I had to overlap them a bit to get two pieces out of the one piece of MDF that I had.  It's partly because the 2 x 4 challenge is about using as little as possible but mostly because I was too cheap to buy a bigger piece of MDF.

After screwing some plywood to the back side to act as a backer for the form I covered the edge with Gorilla Tape.  If you don't want glue to stick to something, cover it with Gorilla Tape.  If you've ever used it you know what I mean.

The holes were drilled with a brace and bit so I could put clamps around the edge.

The next jig I built was to hold everything in place so I could work out some joinery.

Once the joints were made I used another jig to align a mortise chisel so I could make a square hole.

This hole goes right through the legs at each end so a square rod can tie the legs together.  That makes six jigs just to make the legs.

With the legs set aside I began making jigs for the top.  I used this set up along with the drawing bow to mark the curves for the rails of the table top.

A similar set up was used to mark the curves on the styles.  I'm counting that as two.

The next set-up was to control the depth of cut for the notches in the rails that were to accept the slats of the lattice.

I know it doesn't look like much but it still took some time to get everything straight and square.  Again, I used a similar set-up for the rails.  Two more.

The last jig I made was to cut the half-laps in the lattice slats.  I used the same one to cut the notches in both the short and long pieces.

That makes 11 jigs to make one project.  I'm not sure if I spent more time on the jigs than I did on the table, but they did take up a lot of time.  Was that time as much fun as working on the project itself?  I'm not sure about that either.  I didn't build all the jigs and then build the table, I switched back and forth as things progressed.  Part of it may have been that I was trying to meet a deadline for this project, and that is not the way I normally work, but this just seemed to be an exhausting project. How did it turn out?  Stay tuned.

Better See Them Here...

Because you sure won't find them in any of your fancy woodworking magazines.  Or the not-so-fancy ones either.

These shelves were purpose built to hold these cardboard box units, originally designed to hold trading cards.  We call them 'faux' apothecary cabinets.  My wife uses hers to hold craft supplies, my son to hold small Lego parts.

The red knobs are actually recycled lids from drink containers, bolted through the front of each drawer.  This was my wife's idea and they work perfectly.

I used whatever scraps of plywood I could find that were big enough, and some that weren't.  It turns out that 4' is the perfect height to make the 4 compartment unit, but that was the longest piece that I had.  To make one that was 6 high I had to join the sides to shorter pieces with some smaller scraps.

This created a space in between the second and third shelf that I decided to fill with a drawer.  Every bit of storage helps in our house.  The drawer is another pretty crude concoction, made from 4 pieces of pine screwed together and then glued and nailed to a plywood bottom.  That assembly was then screwed to the drawer face from the inside.

Right now it's kind of a 'secret' drawer, but I think it would look just fine with a couple of those fancy red pulls on it too.

As per instructions I attached casters to the bottoms so the units could be rolled to wherever they are needed.

Although they are not very pretty, they are at least solid enough to do the job.  The sides are 5/8" plywood and the shelves are 3/4" thick and are glued and brad nailed into dadoes in the sides.  The backs are 3/16' plywood set into rabbets and again glued and brad nailed.  The face frame was sliced from an old 2 x 4 and attached, of course, by glue and brad nails.  I must have watched too much New Yankee Workshop.

When my wife requested/demanded that I build these, she said "They don't have to be pretty, they just have to work."  I like to think I delivered on both counts.

Pre-Christmas Pen Turning Binge

Pen turning is the crack cocaine of woodworking.  You think you can just do one, but then one thing leads to another and that one gives you an idea and soon you have way more pens than you can give away.  And you just keep going until the staff at Lee Valley tell you  you're cut off because your wife has gotten to them.  Okay, that last part didn't really happen, not quite, but I am so sick of pens right now I probably won't turn any more until next year.  Of course, next year starts Jan. 1.

This year is the first time that I tried using Alumalite Pearlescent Powder in my acrylic pens to give them some sparkle.  You can really see it in this pen & pencil set.

There is lots of it in the black parts of the set as well, but it is hard to see because there is a little too much black dye in them as well.

Getting the right amount of dye proved to be a challenge in most of the acrylic pens I made.  I knew that it was powerful stuff, but it turned out to be easy to overdo it, as was the case in this pen.

It was supposed to be red and green, but the green is almost blue and the red a dark purple.  The next pen was more successful.

I wish I could have gotten a better picture but this one went in a Christmas gift exchange before I realized how bad the picture was.

I also attempted to use metallic powders to make an aluminum looking pen.  I mixed white dye with gunmetal powder to darken it and some silver powder to make it sparkle, but although it did make it grey I didn't get the sparkle that I was looking for.  The metallic powders are meant to be used as a surface treatment and don't have the same effect when mixed into the plastic.

And now, how about some pens featuring some actual wood.  This one is made from kingwood.

Cocobolo.

And last but not least padauk, finished with CA glue.

I tried using CA glue as a finish on the other wooden pens I made but I had difficulty getting an even sheen.  I wound up sanding them all down and using a wax finish instead.

If you noticed the date on this post you would have seen that as I write this it is after Christmas. Would you be surprised to learn that I got a book on pen turning from Santa?

Time in a New Shop?

Well...  No.  Yes, there is a new garage behind my house.  Yes, it is a lot larger than my existing shop.  It's going to be used for... parking vehicles.

Many of my woodworking friends, and even some of their wives, have expressed a certain amount of confusion over this concept.  When I think about it the wives may have sounded a little sarcastic.

While all that empty space does have a certain appeal,  I'm sure it will vanish once winter really hits and the fact that the garage is neither insulated nor heated really sinks in.  Not having to scrape my windshield every morning has a lot of appeal too.

While my tools will not be moving to a new home, it doesn't mean that there will be no changes in my shop.  There will be a new home for a few things that don't really belong in there.

The lawn mower (or snow blower in the winter) will be out.  So will the leaf blower and the weed whacker.

These cupboards will also be moving out.  They hold the jerrycan and oil for the lawn mower, along with painting supplies and other things that may burn or explode easily.  They have always made me a little nervous anyway.

The last big item will be this crate that holds the pop cans ans such as they await their trip to the recycling centre.  All of the garden tools will be moving, along with the ladders, saw horses, and other tools that are not 'woodworking' tools.  This should free up most of the north wall.  I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it though.


Eventually this will probably trigger a major overhaul of my shop.  Given the pace that I generally get things done in there though I wouldn't hold my breath.  In the mean time I'm just going to enjoy the extra space.  After I clean up.

The Shop is Buzzing...

But not necessarily in a good way.

I suppose that depends on your point of view.  My relationship with bees has always been one of "you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone", and that has worked out pretty well.  I don't get nervous when a bee shows up or buzzes by, and they have left me alone.

Now, however, they have moved into my shop.  The door doesn't seal very well (or not at all) and that is where they have come in.  They found a gap between the floor and the bottom of the wall and set up shop themselves.

Even when the door is open they prefer to land and walk in.  It seems rather polite.  I haven't been spending a lot of time in the shop this summer but when I have been in there usually one or two will occasionally enter or leave.  The other night though I was fiddling around in there and four of them were buzzing around keeping an eye on me.  I tried to get them to pose for a group shot but they are active little critters and this is the best I could manage.

I have to admit, being in a small space with that many bees made me a little nervous.  The next evening I was in there again and one of them spent some time buzzing along the ceiling directly over my head.  At one point it dropped suddenly and brushed my wrist before hitting the floor and taking off again.  It was kind of intimidating.

I have mixed feelings about getting rid of them.  I know that bees are necessary in the life cycle of most plants and that bees in general are in decline.  I do, however, have to consider the safety of myself and my family, who do not share my ambivalence toward bees.  Getting stung while operating a power tool could have disastrous consequences.

When to Push Your Limits

On March 22nd and 23rd I attended the 10th Annual Matisho Memorial Woodturning Cancer Benefit at Waldhiem.  This was my 4th trip there, and I enjoyed it as much as ever.  Because there are always a lot of very experienced turners there I see this event as a chance to bite off a little more than I normally chew.  There is a certain amount of comfort in knowing there is a lot of good help around if you get into trouble.

For my project this year I picked a piece of birch that I had picked up at a garage sale a few years ago.  It was about 4" thick and had been bandsawn into a blank about 10" in diameter.  I laid out a square on the top with a diagonal a little larger than the diameter of the circle.  This meant that the corners were rounded off, which would make them a little stronger.  I then sawed off the parts of the blank that fell outside the sides of the square.  I did all this before I went to Waldhiem and in my enthusiasm I forgot to take any pictures.

For the second year the event was being held at Menno Industries.  The people there were kind enough to donate their shop space and all-important lunch room to the cause.  Here is a shot of my set up.

This next shot may give you a better idea of what I was talking about up above.

Here you can see that the blank is a square with the corners chopped off.  The rough shaping of the bottom is done and I have left a tenon in the middle for the chuck to grab when I turn it around to work the top.

Now the top is shaped and sanded with 80 grit sandpaper, and the opening is defined.  In the picture below you get a good idea of the profile.

Time in the shop is usually time alone, but I think that people that come to this event enjoy the social aspect.  I know I do.  I think it is telling that, of the five turners in the picture, only two of them appear to be doing anything.

At this point I have hollowed it out enough to bring out the big gun, my Scorpion hollowing tool.  I was starting to lean a long way over the lathe , trying to look back along the tool to see what I was doing.  It got so bad that I went over to the other side of the lathe to see if it would be easier to turn from there.  It didn't work, but it did show me that the point of the cutter was getting to be a long way from the tool rest.  I switched to a scraper platform, stuck inside the mouth of the bowl, for additional support.

I continued working my way out to the edges and finally, toward the end of the day, I got to this point.

There are a couple of advantages to having holes in the side of a hollow bowl.  First, the bowl doesn't fill up with shavings anymore.  Second, you can stop leaning over the lathe and peering into the mouth of the bowl to see what you are doing.  You can stand up and see the point of the tool as it is cutting.

Thanks, Cal, For taking the picture.  I continued hollowing and this is where I wound up at the end of day one.

On day two I forgot to take my camera.  Don't worry, you didn't miss much.  I kept going until I was happy with the openings and the top and bottom were pretty close in thickness.  Then I sanded the corners of the openings until they all sort of matched.  This was necessary because I wasn't able to get the blank perfectly centred.  Like that ever happens.  Anyway, this is what it looked like when I got it home.

My next step was to get rid of the tenon on the bottom.  I used a chunk of scrap attached to a faceplate and turned a short stub that matched the diameter of the opening in the top.  Then I drilled out the centre and stuck a bolt through it from the back.

What's the bolt for you ask?  That's another advantage of  the open sides.  Once the bowl was on the stub I was able to put a thin piece of plywood over the bolt and snug it tight with a nut.  The wrench just fit inside the bowl.  This held the bowl in place so I could round off the bottom.

Once the bowl itself was done I started on the legs that support it.  While the bowl had stayed pretty much the same from the original concept to the finished product, the legs went through several changes in my head and on paper before I settled on the final shape.  Originally I was going to make them round in cross section, then changed that to curved sides with flats on the inside and the outside.  In both cases I was going to turn them on the lathe so they would be curved around the corners of the bowl.  There were a lot of technical challenges in doing it this way and, although I felt I had worked them all out in my head, I still wasn't 100% sold on either shape.  Eventually I settled on flat-sided legs to contrast with the curves of the bowl.  This meant that I could have different curvature on the inside and outside of the legs and when I drew it out that way I knew I had made the right choice.

I built a jig so that I could shape the inside and outside curves on my oscillating spindle sander.  Here I have done the inside curve.  To tie the legs visually to the bowl the radius of the curve is the  same as the outside of the bowl.

The radius of the outside curve is about half the length of the side of the bowl.

I feel that echoing the proportions of the bowl in the legs helps to give it an overall unity, even while the legs are in contrast to the bowl.  I know that it sounds pretty artsy-fartsy, but using that idea was a big help in figuring out how the legs would look, and in the end I think I got it right.

After sanding the curves I used a block plane to taper the legs from front to back.  This lightens the look of the legs, and makes the top and bottom of the leg look thicker than the middle.  It's cool the way the intersection of two simple forms, the curve and the flat surface, can produce such a complex looking shape.

With the bowl completed and the legs done all that was left was a way to hook them together.  I had decided early on that I was going to do this with dowels.  Drilling the holes straight required another jig to hold the bowl perpendicular as the holes were drilled.

My failure to get the blank perfectly centred reared its ugly head again at this point.  Getting one corner centerd  under the drill bit did not mean that any of the other corners would be centred side to side.  That is the reason for the two blocks clamped to the table in front of the jig.  They act as a reference to keep the drill bit lined up front to back as I slide it side to side.  I didn't have to move it very much.  You can't tell that the holes are not perfectly diagonal to each other, but you certainly would have noticed if they weren't centred on the corner.

I gave the bowl a couple of coats of Danish oil to darken the wood and give it a golden color.  The birch was too light to match the picture I had in my head.  The legs I painted with black semi-gloss acrylic.

The bowl went back out to the shop and was buffed with Hutt Perfect Pen Polish to give it a nice sheen.

The last design decision I made was the offset of the legs.  My original intent was to have them right up tight to the corners of the bowl but while I was sketching out the legs the idea of having them offset popped up.  When it came time to attach the legs I decided I liked it.  I feel it increases the sense of suspension.

This bowl was a challenge, both physically and mentally.  There were all kinds of places where it could have gone wrong, but in the end it turned out to be one of the most satisfying projects I have ever done.  It matches the vision I had in my head, and that's not easy to do.

Evil Alien Face

Feed Me!

I have decided to name this one 'Calling Occupants' after that old Klaatu song.  It has sort of a space ship-y kind of feel to it, and the open sides seem to invite you to fill it.