Thursday, March 6, 2014

Building a simple shop cabinet

Just wanted to get some input on this dumb little cabinet in todays Mere Minutes. Well, that and theres some stuff at the end that is mainly for family and friends. Feel free to end the video at about the 5 minute mark.

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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Make a wood mallet

I made my first mallet six years ago. Since then, I have made four more. I picked up this technique from Woodsmith magazine and really like it. I especially like the method of creating a mortise without needing to bore a square hole.

I went to the sporting goods store the other day to pick up some fishing sinkers: little lead weights that I usually use to fill the mallets head. After looking at the price (I would need about $15 worth of them!) my son suggested I try filling the head with sand instead. It worked well, but it is no where near as heavy as the little lead balls. Live and learn. But it is still has a nice weight to it.





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Jack Rogers Hopkins

I saw this chair at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty cool... I wondered how it had been done. I wrote down the name of the artist, Jack Rogers Hopkins, but never read anything more about him (until now).




Edition Chair, 1970. Honduras mahogany, 28 x 54 x 28 in. Created in Spring Valley, CA

The chair, which is in the MFAs permanent collection, was originally shown there as part of a 2003 exhibit, "The Makers Hand: American Studio Furniture 1940-1990". This was the last exhibit of any of Hopkins work.

Heres some biographical information on Hopkins from the antique dealer Todd Merrill:

Hopkins (1920 –2006) was part of a California-based design movement in the late 60s that introduced more sculptural and free-flowing elements into furniture design. He grew up in Bakersfield, California, and as a young boy learned to make toys in his father’s wood shop, the Sierra Furniture Manufacturing. Co. After WWII, Hopkins attended the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he studied painting and drawing. After graduating in 1950, Hopkins earned his MFA from the Claremont Colleges, and in 1960 he began teaching in the art department at San Diego State University, where he remained an influential teacher until his retirement in 1991.

Hopkins started out as a painter, then experimented with jewelry and ceramics. He began working in wood around 1965, and completed his first furniture piece, a combination chair and coffee table, in 1966. He continued to produce furniture pieces, all of which were one of a kind, with the exception of the Edition chair, first created in 1969. He usually worked with hardwoods such as black walnut, cherry, Honduras mahogany, maple, rosewood, and teak. He also used Finnish birch plywood and veneers, and occasionally oak. Hopkins often combined various woods into a single piece so the different grains created a dynamic color pattern and form.

Another piece:

Rocking Chair, circa 1970-1979
Laminated walnut, 37 in. high

Hopkins is included in a survey of 26 furniture makers, designers, and decorators called "Modern Americana: Studio Furniture from High Craft to High Glam" (Rizzoli, 2008). In a blurb about the book, Merrill writes that although some members of the studio furniture movement are well known, such as George Nakashima and Paul Evans, others (like Hopkins) remain obscure, despite their pioneering contributions.

"This is the only undocumented period left in American furniture," said Merrill. "You could graduate from any design school in the country and you might not know who the biggest furniture designers were 20 years ago. Theyve just vanished."

Well, the Hopkins chair above is not so obscure that it didnt make it onto the list of 99 strangest chairs. Heres a sample, the Fat Eames Chair:


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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

George Nakashima

George Nakashima was born and grew up in Spokane Washington. He attended the University of Washington and received his masters in Architecture. He learned woodworking while in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. From there, George opened up his own woodworking shop, the Nakashima Studio. He passed away in 1990 and left his studio to his daughter. While finding some brief information on George, i found this cool bench..

I find this "Conoid Bench with Back" pretty dam cool. Its different to see how he has integrated a Shaker furniture type of style with nature. He uses what he calls "Free Edges", which allows the piece to have free form edges that are shaped by the grain of the wood. It gives it a modern type of look.
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Walter Gropius




Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (May 18, 1883 – July 5, 1969) was a German Architect who was known as the founder of the Bauhaus School which specialized in fine arts and crafts. Gropius, along with other architects such as Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and Le Corbusier were known as the pioneers of modern architecture design.

Walter Gropiuss designs were inspired by a less successful movement known as The Werkbund. The Werkbund technique is when one attempts to integrate art, economics, and engineering into a piece of art work, whether it be a structure or a piece of furniture. One of the best examples of Gropiuss industrial designs is the F 51 armchair (the red chair) which integrates both the aesthetic material and the engineering (wood components) together.


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Great Tips for Woodworking

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Stephen_Bruce_Parish]Stephen Bruce Parish
Wood is one of the best renewable resources that nature offers. Apart from its other uses, it is primarily utilized for building houses and to shape furniture. Since time immemorial, man has showed great interest in woodworking, either as a hobby or for trade purposes. As time progressed, this unique wood art evolved into a wide range of hand skills and techniques that needs to be mastered. In case you are interested in woodworking as a leisure pursuit, then the beginner woodworking plans can be your best companion. This kit is specifically designed in such a manner that anyone can easily get started with woodworking. There are more than a hundred disciplines in woodworking to choose from. The DIY woodworker will enable you to become proficient in every discipline such as cabinetry, wood carving, etc.
The beginner woodworking plans are best sources of help for a fresher. These plans will not only tell you the requirements for a project, but also define the measurements of each material needed. The simple instructions will also roughly give you the amount of time needed for each project. Generally, these woodworking plans will label the projects as per the difficulties and complications involved in them. The easy-to-understand steps and viable sketch is the highlight of the woodworking plans. Complete detailed information about the various tools required is provided in these quality plans. Being a beginner, it is advised that you choose simple woodworking plans that does not involve many intricacies. Choose simple projects that require fewer tools and does not consume much time.
Today, many professionals have been working on the design plans to make woodworking a wonderful learning experience. These beginner woodworking plans are well-designed and can be used by anyone. You can find some of the best trustworthy woodworking plan collections online. Having more than thousand plans and accurate blueprints for your use is a great boon. This way you will not have to worry about the expenses as a single collection of plans can be used for multiple projects. In order to find a quality DIY woodworker, you need to do a little homework by researching on the various options available. The internet world is replete with great woodworking plans and you need to sift through the irrelevant information to find a complete woodworking package.
Once you learn the art of carving and chiseling, woodworking can be a fun activity. As a novice, you have a lot to learn and the beginner woodworking plans are sure to help you through the processes. Making informed decisions can save you from unwanted frustrations. Keep your task list simple and organize every work as per the priority list to keep any hassles at bay. You should decide on easy woodworking projects that interests you the most. It is advised not to get carried away with unrealistic expectations. When you settle for the one which is comfortable, then there are lesser chances of dropping out of the project midway. Learning step by step and being patient with self is the key to successfully master the art of woodworking.
Stephen Bruce Parish is the author of this article on [http://woodworkingscene.com/woodworking-plans-for-beginners/]beginner woodworking plans. Find more information, about [http://woodworkingscene.com/the-diy-woodworker/]DIY woodworker here.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Great-Tips-for-Woodworking&id=6636376] Great Tips for Woodworking
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Monday, March 3, 2014

Mallets and step stools

Bill Akins sent me over this picture of a quickie "Thors Hammer".
"After the movie came out, my son was with me in the shop. I was rooting through my cut off bin and pulled out a hunk of 4x4 posts and a closet dowel rod. I held them up and said, “Look Tyler, Thor hammer!” He just had to have one, being the super hero fan that he is. The handle is recessed halfway into the head, screwed from the top and glued in. The handle is wrapped with saddle string." 


*****
Justin Thomas is deployed in Kuwait and built this maple and walnut.mallet to use when he gets back home. It looks too nice to use! Update: Justin informed me of something special about this mallet...its filled with Kuwaiti sand! Thants pretty cool.



*****
Heres a solid oak mallet Bill Bumpus made. No added weights added to the head.


*****
George Raburn is the guy who sent me the beetle-kill pine that I used in last weeks project.  Heres his son who made one with the same wood. Looks exactly like mine!


*****
Periklis Therrios was FAST. He built this step-stool hours after I posted my video! It only took him two hours using pocket screws.





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The chair is done!

I managed to complete my miniature chair. Unfortunately, this happened on the same week that my camera is out of town, so I finished the video using my sons old "Small Wonder" camera. Yeah, its a small wonder that it works at all. So...SORRY ABOUT THE VIDEO QUALITY!  The middle section is okay, because I shot that last weekend.

Once my camera gets home Ill post some good pictures of the project. Anyway, this was a really tricky undertaking and one that ate up my time over three weekends. Dealing with really small stuff is hard because there is not much room for error. So while I wouldnt recommend actually making this particular project, it was a good exercise to challenge myself and my tools.

Next week: bandsaw boxes. You cant screw them up!

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there is a season

all this talk of the glories of shaker furrniture has almost made a luddite out of me...

check out these eschwers of electricity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz7PJ2WuLWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J75VrPj-U6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIXx_Yrjjvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGQ37cq-zqE

>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenC0y2azsE <<



seems a lot harder right? but:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDgIGzw4VtA

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-DAg4NrnkU
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Sunday, March 2, 2014

Cutlery Tray

At the request of my girlfriend, I have been busy making a wooden cutlery tray out of Pine - my first commissioned piece!
As with the small toolbox I used box joints for the sides and chopped mortises with a chisel for the dividers to fit into. This time I made sure I used an aesthetically pleasing number of fingers for each side of the corner joint.


Unfortunately, my clamps were not big enough for glue-up, so another online trip to Axminster tools was in order to buy three Sash Clamps. Also unfortunately, the three clamps and some glue I was buying didnt come to the £50 required for free postage.


Soooo ... I was forced to purchase one of these.




I have a feeling that I will be using this little shoulder plane a lot, it will definitely be handy for my next intended project - a Coffee Table using Mortise & Tenon joints.


The major lesson learnt from this project is not to use too much glue. The squeeze out stuck the wooden blocks I was using to the project and I had to separate them with a chisel. The small scar on the facing side in the photo will be my reminder. Luckily, the cutlery tray has been made to fit tightly into a sideboard draw and the mark wont really be seen.


Im learning so much and gaining confidence with each small project, another few projects with increasing complexity and size and I will be ready to buy some decent wood such as Oak. It can be quite frustrating using Pine, especially Pine that has been rescued from the dump!
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Woodwork Design Software Wooden Ideas

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Wood Bed Plans Wooden Ideas

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Woodwork For Kids Wooden Ideas

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Saturday, March 1, 2014

Shop Sneak Peek

Hello!  Happy Friday!  
Weve been working practically round the clock to get our shop ready for its Grand Opening Saturday morning and boy are we exhausted.....but its a good exhausted, you know?  
Anyway, I wanted to give you a little sneak peek.....
 

I love this night time shot because of the lights we have inside the store.  
Speaking of lights.  
When we first rented this place, we werent allowed to do all that much, which was fine because it really is a fantastic building, however, the ceiling light fixtures were very outdated ceiling fans with those tulip shaped light covers on the light kits, which I hate.  
Replacing the fixtures was not really a good option so I decided to remove the ugly light covers and add Edison bulbs to give them an industrial vintage feel. 
 We absolutely love it.  It was certainly a fun, easy update.


And the glow they provide is really nice and vintage.  Love that.....


Here are a just a few of the things you can find here....


Lots of vintage door knobs and hardware....


Vintage suitcases and steamer trunks....



Vintage castors....



Italian vintage drinkware.....


Every kind of number and sign you can imagine....


Industrial salvage....


And the cutest set of copper keys, plus tons more.  There is pretty much a little bit of everything here.  :)  Which is the way we like it.  :)


Stay tuned for photos of the Grand Opening!  

And hopefully Ill be back to home projects soon!  :)

Have a great day!

P.S.  Im having trouble posting the link but the Edison bulbs can be found at 1000bulbs.com.  :)

Diana
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