Woodworking Projects

Here lies a list of my (and sometimes Nancy's) woodworking projects in the past few years since I started building my own shop in the basement (listed as newest on top, oldest on bottom).  I thought it would be fun to keep a journal so I could see how my skills are improving.  Some improvements has to do with the purchase of more and more tools, but a lot is practice and learning from mistakes.  I've spent a lot of time in the shop just working on the shop itself.  I didn't include those projects, but it seems like I'm always working on something.  I've spent most of my time working on the lathe.  I just love it.  The nicest thing about the lathe is that I don't need to do outrageous planning and I don't need to go buy a bunch of expensive lumber to make very fun things.  Of course, as the projects get more complex, I'll have to do a lot more pre-work and planning, but for now they are mostly one or two piece turnings. 

This is my  midi-lathe setup.  The dust collection hose is a life saver and the tool shelf is a recent addition I am very happy with.  If you look close, you can see my first tiny lidded "box" on top of the power switch. 

This is my new Powermatic 3520A.  It's much nicer than the midi-lathe.  We will keep both though, so Nancy and I can turn together.  This beast arrived late July 2005 and it was a nightmare getting it into the basement.  I got it off my truck with a chain hoist and got some friends from work to help me lower it down the basement steps (which I had to reinforce to make sure they would hold).  After a week of setup, I could finally turn something on it.

After we had Linda Salter come to our club and show us how to do segmented turning, I had to give it a try.  This isn't my first segmented object, but she did demonstrate some techniques and tools that helped me reach a more perfect piece.  The joints on the wood must be absolutely perfect directly off the table saw or it is not possible to get the brick pattern to line up everywhere.  All in all, I think I did pretty well on this project.  I learned a lot from making this simple design.  Next time I think I will make 4 or 5 of the object at the same time so I have plenty of extras when a piece of wood is cut bad.  Segmenting takes a lot of patience and time.  The turning goes pretty fast compared to the cutting and assembly process.

Ok, you're probably wondering "What the hell is that?".  I call it "Wormhole Maze".  This was my contest entry for the OVWG summer "Surface Treatment" contest.  I made a large sphere out of two halves of maple, hollowed first so it isn't too heavy.  I then penciled in a maze with a lot of twisty passages that weave under and over each other.  There are several decision points that can carry you closer or farther from the finish.  It even takes me a good while to solve it, and I know if I'm getting warmer or colder.  Nobody else has tried for more than a minute or so, which I'm a bit disappointed about.  It took me a lot of evenings just drawing the maze and filling it in with India ink pens.  It took first place in the contest and that puts me in the Master class for all future contests. 

I'm not sure why I turned this Pin-Oak bowl.  I got bored with doing round rims so I decided to experiment.  I think I got the dimple a little too large and it would look better if the rim extended out farther.  But, it looks fine anyway and that added rim caught a friend of mine's attention and it is now in her possession!

This four cornered turning came from an chunk of Big Leaf Maple Burl that Merry and Mark Spahr gave me for my birthday about a year ago.  I added a piece of bubinga for the top and handle so I could use a chunk from the center as the top.  It came out nicely.  I didn't modify the edges any at all, so it is just every so slightly out of square.  I did it on purpose, but it is so close to square that it might easily be taken as a mistake.  Oh well, it looks nice anyway.

This was my entry for the January OVWG contest.  The contest was to turn an object with 4 corners.  I glued up a whole slew of scrap wood from my shop and turned a platter.  It turned out pretty good, but didn't win any awards.  At least we can use it to serve stuff on, so it's not completely useless!

The left bowl is Sycamore, the right is plum from my front yard.  This was my first bark edge bowl, and the bark was so badly abused by the Japanese beetles that I had to coat the bark in CA glue.  So, to me it doesn't look so good up close, but people seem to like it anyway. 

These Salt & Pepper shakers made nice Christmas presents.  I also demonstrated how to make these at the November OVWG Home grown meeting.  I experimented with various different shapes.

This larger maple bowl is the other half of the one done in August.  It came out nice with a simple design and a nice blue streak through the wood.

One of Nancy's friends was really taken with all my spheres, so I concocted a Sphere Mobile for her.  That is my daughter Viola in the background with her "Pap-pa" (my dad).

This is the largest bowl completed to date.  It was cut green and spalted while wrapped in newspaper.  It has one ambrosia worm hole and has some blue color to it, so it has a lot of character.  I filled it with all the extra balls from the lamp project.

It was a royal pain in the butt, but I finally finished my ball lamp.  There are two columns of balls that twist around each other and join at the top.  The switch for the lamp is at the base, which is where it should be!  The shade was turned from maple.  It is my first successful attempt at turning segmented pieces.  There are two pieces, which lets some of the light come out since the wood is much more restrictive than a typical shade.  It took a lot longer than I ever would have imagined.  In the end, it took third place in the Advanced division.  I'm satisfied with that given the other entries.

Nancy has been bugging me to make a quilt holders for all the quilts we received for Viola's shower gifts.  I finally got around to it.  I even turned the knobs on the lathe.  The quilt was made by my mother and it proudly displayed in the baby room.

This is Nancy's entry into the "Lamp" contest.  The entry could be any type of lamp: oil, candle, electric etc..  Nancy turned this from a chunk of Ambrosia maple.  It won her a ribbon for Honorable Mention, which really made her day!

The next contest at the OVWG is a lamp.  I've spent a lot of time experimenting with a design and have turned many balls to assemble into a lamp.  I turned a lot more than I needed, but it was good practice anyway.  See the lamp above!

Somewhere around April I took a crack at making some wood juggling balls from Maple and Walnut.  Nancy was delirious with the newborn and it was a short escape for me when I could find the time.  As it turns out, they fit nicely in my sycamore bowl and you can spin them around by turning the top ball.  I juggled the five balls for the OVWG just for fun, but it was a horrible run.

At my companies holiday party, we did a gift exchange.  I got this nice block of ambrosia maple.  So, I turned this bowl from it and it is now a big candy dish at the office.

Nancy turned this from pin oak.  I'm not sure who we gave it to, but it's got some nice character.

I bought the clock parts several months ago and finally got around to turning a face for the clock.  It is made with redwood lace.  It's a simple design, but it looks much better than the clock that was on the wall before.

This was my entry for the January OVWG turning contest.  I placed second in the intermediate category.  The contest was to turn something out of an 8 foot construction grade 2x4.  I turned 117 rings, using 113 of them in the final project.  The pattern is the same used for the past 400 years with chain mail armor.  This was one of the most boring projects so far, and I am certain I won't be turning any more chain mail any time soon!

Bowls, bowls and more bowls!  The left is walnut, and has a beautiful look and feel.  The right is probably my favorite to date.  It is made from the plum tree we took down from the front yard.  I have a nice decorative edge that can not be seen from the picture.  The wood has some pink in it and is an overall good bowl.  It's unknown if the colors will hold up over time, but I doubt it.

Nancy and I were having a little trouble with the "pass me the salt" thing.  Both our shakers looked the same except for the 3 holes for salt, which required looking closely.  I bought some rubber plugs and made my own so now I know with certainty which one is salt and which one is pepper!  Besides, I was starting to feel funny about having round condiment holders that had been turned by a machine, so now I feel better.

Sycamore turns nice.  I picked up this wood from a wood scrap yard just down the road from my parents.  This is the first bowl I have finished with Deft and thinner and then polished with the Tripoli and White diamond compounds.  It is extra shiny!

I got tired of pens, bottle stoppers and rolling pins and went back to making a box.   This one came out better than the others, but darned if I can figure out how to keep the pieces on the jam chuck.  I ended up finding my own solutions to problems.

My mom is trying out her new hard maple with cherry handle rolling pin.  This one went better than the first.  I helped a friend of mine make his mother one for Christmas also.  It was a great way to practice use of the skew to make a flat surface.

I needed some more Christmas presents so I whipped up a few more pens.  The bottom ones are the first I've tried with gluing a stripe into the middle.  It adds a little artistic flair to the pen.

Top pics are Arn's and the bottom pics are Nancy's.

We made on the order of 30-40 bottle stoppers for friends and family.  Nancy made a lot of them with some bright purple cedar that a friend gave her.  They turned wonderfully and smell good.

This is my first rolling pin.  It is made from sycamore for the roller, with walnut handles.  It came out pretty good even though I made a few mistakes along the way.  As with most projects, this was just the prototype to the next one that became a Christmas present.

Nancy made a second pin-oak dish (left) and compared it to the first.  

Arn's

Nancy's

Bowls made from a hickory tree that died in Nancy's parents yard.  It had "spalted" over time, so it was the first time we got to turn spalted wood.  Spalting is the black/brown streaks you see going through the wood.  We took a few pieces and made Christmas presents for her family.  Nancy has one pin-oak bowl and one hickory.

I made this ball from spalted hickory.  It took me forever to get the jam chuck jigs put together, and I still wasn't happy with the arrangement when I made it, but the ball came out nice.  

This cherry was picked up in a yard waste scrap lot near my dads house.  Simple bowl with a few defects that probably only I will notice.

I took the time about two weeks before the OVWG Turnfest to turn myself some juggling torches.  Of course, I already have some nice torches, but I couldn't put those on the display table!  I did a little show-off session for the assembly.  Hey, I can't impress anyone with my turnings, so I reached into my other bag of tricks!

This is the second box I've done.  I followed the instructions in Richard Raffan's Turning Boxes book except that this was not turned on end grain.  It started out pretty good, but in the end the lid fit too tight and I had to resize it a little.  That lead to a series of mishaps that left the lid sitting a little too loose now.  Oh well, it looks nice if you don't look too close!

This is a nifty little vase I put together.  It has some nice white grain going through it.  I am pretty sure it's maple based on some of the wood grain, but not certain.  It was hollowed out the "easy" way.  I like it for no other reason that it came out about how I had planned without a lot of mishaps.  The funny part is that sometimes the image you have in your head doesn't match the finished product.  It's exactly how I planned it, but doesn't look like what I was expecting!  This is the first project completed on the new Powermatic lathe.  I turned a lot of unfinished green bowls though.

Trying to finish up a few gum bowls for my parents before they visit.  I did the bottom one first.  I liked the lip, but I had serious problems finishing the bottom.  The doughnut jig I built didn't fit all that well and I ended up with a thin bottom and funny edge.  My mom liked it, but since I'm not happy with it she didn't take it.  The top one is pretty good, but has no thrills. It's nice and smooth though.

My mom took home the first gum bowl I made (see 2 items down). 

Know what this is?  Yep, it's a baby rattle.  Know why I made it?  Yep, we're going to have a baby!  Maybe I'm getting a little exited a little too early, but it was fun to surprise Nancy with it.  We are expecting March 26th, 2006!  Wish us luck!

This is the first successful bowl made from the gum tree that was in my mom and dad's front yard.  Most of the bowls unfortunately cracked while drying, so I'll not get as many items as I had hoped.  But, it was good practice and at least this one looks good.

Nancy turned this bowl from a chunk of black cherry about six months ago.  She turned it down to what she wanted, but the depth, tear-out and hardness of the wood proved more challenging than her patience.  So, I took over and spent the required hours doing the sanding and finishing.  I coated this one on the lathe with shellac and it came out pretty good although it has some streaks that I'm trying to figure out how to fix for the future.  I got lots of good tips at the last OVWG meeting, so hopefully I'll get better.

This was my entry into the OVWG competition.  I spent about 3 weeks and up to the final hour before leaving the house.  I'm not sure what to call it, but it's basically a ball rolling structure.  You drop the ball bearings in the chute at the top and watch them wind their way through the funnels and twisty passages to the end.  It was a royal pain in the butt getting it to work while chasing the balls all over the basement floor and trying not to knock everything over during test runs.  Eventually I glued all the parts down and it came together quite nice.  Absolutely every piece was turned on the lathe and then usually sanded to fit to the other parts.  I'm very proud of my first place prize in the novice class.  Now I go to the advanced table and I'll probably be there a while! 

Nancy finished her class bowl from back in September.  It came out quite nice.  She entered it in the OVWG wood turning competition and I voted for her!

I made this soft-grip and fountain pen from some nice curly maple as a gift for the casino night at our office.  I think they are a worthy prize!   I made a few other pens for friends, but I usually give them away before I remember to take pictures.

Here are a couple ring holders I made as a gift.  These came out nice because I now have a drill chuck for my lathe that helps me finish off the bottoms.  

This black cherry box gave me a few problems, but I hope the next one goes better now that I know what I'm supposed to do.  The lid fits snug.  Actually it changed shape slightly after the turning and now the lid fits best if the grain matches.  It was a fun project and I think I'll do another soon.

A few more pens turned in late February for friends who I didn't see at Christmas.  The fat ones to the right were actually turned a long time ago.  The rightmost two fat ones are Nancy's and the rest are mine.  Yes, I'm sick of making pens, but the results are pretty fascinating, people love them and they give you a sense of accomplishment without half the frustration of bigger turnings.

These are ring holders.  I watched a video I borrowed from the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild where the guy made something similar to this.  I gave two of them to Nancy for Valentines (once again made just a few days prior. Whew!).  I use the third one in my shop since I can't wear my ring when doing shop work or I risk damaging it or scratching the wood.   The one on the far left is redwood lace.  The two on the right are red cedar.

This is the completed bowl from my bowl turning class Nancy and I took back in September 2004 with Keith Bundy.  Look Keith, I finished it!  Only problem was that when I reversed chucked it with a jam chuck, I used too much padding, didn't tighten it down enough and it flew off and made some dents.  I resurfaced it and finished it anyway despite the frustration.

A couple lacewood pens I made for my friend Bernie.  He supplied the wood from scraps he had from a jewelry cabinet he made for his daughter. Lacewood turns nice and has a very pretty grain.

A couple pens made from some cherry that my cousin Jon provided.  The top one is Nancy's and the bottom one is mine. 

Hollow vessels turned the "easy" way.  The leftmost one is the best simply because it has the best form, but I don't know what kind of wood it is.  I suspect pear or some fruit wood. The middle is redwood lace and the rightmost is river birch.

The basic operation is:

• Turn the wood round
• Cut it into two pieces
• Hollow out the top and make a hole for the opening
• Hollow out the bottom
• Glue the two parts back together
• Cut the neck and opening
• sand and finish carefully.

The bottom right picture is the what the top left finished vase looked like during the build.  The little one to the left gave me so many problems that it didn't make it.  Nancy still liked it though, so I made a round ornament out of it and she hung it on our tree..

I made this shot glass holder for Nancy's Hard Rock Cafe shooters collection.  The shelves have drilled holes on the top and bottom and move up and down to lock the glasses in place.  It is made from poplar, but I stained it dark to give some contrast to the wall.  

Nancy made this mahogany letter opener that she won't use because its too nice I guess.

Pens pens and more pens for Christmas presents! I ended up giving all these pens away to friends and relatives.  You've gotta love that curly maple on the fat pens.   On top of these, there were probably another twenty pens made that I never took pictures of, but they were just more of the same.

I put together these maple bathroom shelves to compliment the new paint job in Nancy's bathroom.  The boards were a little warped, but I managed to get them together okay.  I don't have a planer or jointer, so getting boards flat is just not possible right now.  Nancy was quite pleased.

I made this bowl from an Ash rough turned blank that John Albachten gave me when I bought his old band saw.  See John, I finished it, and it looks pretty good!

A nice little goblet I made of scrap wood. 

I put this frame together to fit the reception greeting mat from our wedding.  This whole picture turned out to be a great idea.  Everyone loved it and it can now hang on the wall instead of sit on a shelf.

Darts scoreboard.  My first "real" attempt at doing precision woodworking using my new table saw.  It turned out pretty nice.

Okay, Nancy insisted I include these in my journal.  I had no band saw here.  I had to cut the hearts with a jigsaw and I was just learning on the lathe, so I didn't know what I was doing.  I was also in a darn big hurry a day before valentines!  Most guys just suck it up and buy the $60 dozen roses, but I think that's a cop out.  Besides, these fit my budget for Valentines and she likes them very much.  Flowers wilt and die, but these ugly things will last our lifetime! 

The Kendama is a Japanese cup and ball game.  I copied this from another one I had that I bought at a juggling festival.  I really didn't know what I was doing when I made this, and I need to try another at some point, but at least it works.

I turned these from some wood I ripped off the deck.  I was desperate to try out my new lathe, but I had no wood to practice with.  A few days later I learned of the dangers of pressure treated lumber.  Okay, so these guys will last forever and I hope I don't get cancer from it.  I am fully aware the the one on the right (my second one) stinks (okay, they both stink, but the one on the right stinks more).  I was just getting used to the tools and they make decent acrylic ball holders..