diy wood

Well, it's about time for a post!

This was a great spring project, as it was all about giving new life to an old foot stool. Well, more like an old foot platform - the original had no legs, it just sat on its cleats. I made it years ago for my Mother, who needed a 3" tall foot rest as part of some physical therapy.

I had saved it, and the time had come for it to grow into something new. I decided to add legs in the style of a Moravian chair, with the legs mortised into cleats which are let into the bottom of the two part top. The original cleats were too narrow for this purpose, and just screwed to the bottom. I removed the two end cleats, and created some 3 1/2" wide by 1/2" deep dadoes with saw, chisel and router plane. I then added larger cleats and also created a dado for the sole remaining original cleat.

Angled, tapered mortises were made with a brace, bit and tapered reamer. The legs were worked up from 2x2" stock with drawknife and spokeshave, and tapered to match the mortises.

Here it is with assembly complete and leveled with shims for trimming the legs to final length:


And a closeup of my high tech self-leveling device:


The finished foot stool:


And the boy approves!


This whole project didn't take more than a couple of hours total, but since I could only sneak in a very few minutes here and there, it took forever...

My students' wooden flutes have been forced to live in a plastic tub - and that just isn't right! It was time to fix that situation...

In this first shot, I was several steps into the process, but the tools tell the tale. I'd already done the layout with the knife, square and folding rule; cut the 1x12 stock to length (with the saw you can't see...); trued up the end grain with the block plane; and plowed the grooves for the bottom with the Stanley 45, while holding the stock with the holdfasts (set with the mallet).


Then it was time to make the rabbets in the ends, which would hold the sides. I experimented with a slightly different process here. Instead of using the rabbet plane's nickers to cut the grain and thus make a clean rabbet, I marked them first with a gauge and then cut them freehand with a knife. I didn't cut to the bottom of the rabbet, just the first 1/8" or so. Once the rabbet is established, the plane continues to make a clean rabbet, even though nothing is cutting the cross grain ahead of the iron. What's the advantage? Well, if I'd used the nickers, the cut would show on the top of the finished box, as the nicker cuts deeper than the iron plows.


It was plowing those rabbets that produced the shavings shown in the last post. They made me really happy.


I had decided to put a solid wood panel in for the bottom, so I raised a field with the rabbet plane held at an angle. No fancy set-up, just tilt and plow. I checked my progress from time to time with one of the sides. Once that groove fit snugly, it was just a matter of making all the beveled rabbets the same. I didn't need to measure anything, I just made the edge where the two bevels met run evenly from the corner of the field to the corner of the stock.


The ends have handholds cut into them. I started this process by boring three 1" holes. The two outside holes form the ends of the handhold while the center hole just helps with stock removal.

I do almost all of my boring and drilling on my low bench (which I frequently refer to as my saw bench, since that was the original purpose for which it was built). The center slot in the bench makes it easy to work without harming the bench.


You don't want to bore straight through the stock - well, not if you don't want a splintery explosion as the bit breaks though. You just want to bore until the lead screw is exposed, and then flip the stock over and bore in from the other side. If you read about using a brace and bit in books, they almost always tell you to reach under and feel with your fingers for the lead screw every few rotations. What they don't usually tell you, is that by really paying attention to what the tool and your body are telling you, you can feel when the tip is exposed while you are still boring. No reaching is necessary. With a little practice, you might just surprise yourself how accurate this method can be (see picture below). Hand tools rock!


The waste between the holes was quickly removed with a chisel - again working in from both sides.


Then, just a little cleaning up with rasps and files and they were done.


I saved the final smoothing of the stock for last. I planed with the stock resting against the bench dog.


Glue-up. I really like the Lee Valley cabinetmaker's glue.

You might be wondering about the yogurt container lid that I use as a glue tray. It really isn't aesthetically pleasing - at all. But, it works great. The dried glue just falls right off when the lid is flexed and it's ready to go again. That one lid has served faithfully for the last two years. A rare case of function over form...


And three shots of the finished box:






And one with the whole tool kit for the project:



I took this into class, the plastic tub was banished, and the flutes are so much happier in the wooden box. A not so rare case of form over function...

Just a photograph of some fun shavings from my most recent project (which I'll post about soon).

The compass prototype needed an improvement on its original non-slip tip, which was the eraser end of a "My First Ticonderoga" pencil. After a little digging at the local hardware store I came out with some rubber stoppers that I thought might work.

To fit the compass, the stopper had to be screwed to a short section of 3/8" dowel. I drilled a countersink just larger than the screw head, and then a smaller hole just larger than the shank all the way through the stopper. In the dowel, I drilled a pilot hole a little smaller than the shank.

I was worried the screw might split the dowel, but I guess I got the sizes right, as everything worked just like it should. Here's a picture of the final product.



You can also see the plowed guide channel for the wedge that tightens the chalk side of the compass. The dowel with the rubber tip is just a friction fit.

I tried it out last week and it works much better. It will still slip if there is a lot of chalk on the board. Or if my technique is sloppy...

We're starting a Geometry block at school and I needed a chalkboard compass. I know I could buy one online, but where's the fun in that? So I whipped up a prototype late last night and early this morning (pre-coffee even - living dangerously!).

I tried it out today and it works pretty well. So well, in-fact, that it is probably destined to join my long line of prototypes that become users. The only complaint is that the pencil eraser is a little too slippery. I'll probably need to replace it with something that has a bit more grab on a dusty chalkboard. I don't know what that is yet...

Here's a shot of the compass with the tool kit:


And here's a shot of its first "bench test":



Quick, fun, and useful - ahh, life's good!

I think I've mentioned a couple of times that I am setting up a hand tool woodworking shop at my new school. So far, making our workbenches has been the dominant project. My students have been learning how to saw and glue up the bench tops. We're about ready to start planing the tops flat and smooth, so it's time to sharpen up some planes!

We'll be using the Scary Sharp system, but since space is at a premium in the school shop, I decided not to make a dedicated bench station like I have at home. I also didn't want to use glass plates. What I needed was a movable station, that could temporarily sit on a bench, with granite tiles to hold the abrasive sheets.

Here's what I came up with, as well as the tool kit used to make it:


So far it has worked great! The tiles might not be as flat as glass, but I haven't noticed a difference in the results. I'm also experimenting with a non-toxic spray adhesive for bonding the abrasive sheets to the granite. I've always used, and hated, the standard spray adhesives, which work very well, but are extremely nasty. I'm hoping this new product works out (it bonds well, my only concern at this point is how long it will last).

This was a spontaneous project - created to address one of my silly habits.

We use a lot of rechargeable batteries in our house. Whenever I recharge batteries, I take the freshly charged ones and sit them on the desk by the computer - where they instantly start mixing with the uncharged batteries that also sit on the desk by the computer. Hmm. Not too bright.

Last weekend, after yet another round of trying endless combinations of batteries in the camera in an attempt to come up with a charged pair, it occurred to me that maybe what I needed was a little organizational help.

So, a quick visit to the shop yielded "The Little Battery Box." Just a small, rabbeted box, made from a resawn chunk of 1x scrap. The bottom is beveled to fit into the grooved sides. The divider is housed in dados cut with saw and chisel. It has one side for charged batteries, and one side for depleted batteries.







It looked a bit too plain after it was finished, so I gave it a hint of Tramp Art with a knife. Beeswax and oil finsish (none on inside bottom - no oil on battery terminals) completed the job.

A short, useful, and fun project. Perfect.