Project plan: first

Showing posts with label first. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

first fall open studio

this weekend is the first vermont fall open studio weekend .. saturday and sunday, october 1st and 2nd, 10-5 ... there are a few fewer participants than in the typical spring event, but there are still plenty of things to see. just in our area, bennington to west pawlet, there are 19 artistss studios you can visit as well as some incredibly beautiful vermont foliage. the peak viewing according to the foliage experts usually happens around now or a little later, and take my word for it, it looks pretty good and will be even better in a couple of days. stop by if youre in the neighborhood. look for the yellow signs and then pick up a map with a driving tour at the first studio you stop at ... for more background, heres a link from the spring event with more pictures and info .... the usual suspects will be here: kit will be showing her handmade jewelry, penny viscusi will have her local pastel landscapes, banjos by will, metalwork by sam, and ive got a ton of projects completed and in the works in the woodshop ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

in the shop now ...

an expanding cherry table with a curly maple and ebony inlay

a sideboard to go with it

a steel and black round expanding table

a recent fish in montana belt buckle by sam ...

iand will is making a new neck for a circa 1900 banjo using the original inlay design that he found in a picture on the internet ...

and these projects are waiting to be shipped ... a fumed, quartered, eucalyptus table base

a 17 elm slab table

and a 10 footer too ...

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

I made my first picture frame!

My wife made a new chore chart for the family out of a piece of 20"x30" foam board and asked me how we should hang it on the wall. Ive been looking for an excuse to make a picture frame so I told her that I would take care of it. She had already decorated the board and the writing at the top was all the way to the edge so I had to come up with a way to frame it. My answer was to make a groove on the front of the board and just inset it in. This made the job a little harder because I had to make that groove perfect to fit the board. I just took my time and made several small cuts and inched up on it and I think that it turned out really good.

I used 2 pieces of 1x2 furring strips that I had sitting in the garage. They only cost 75¢ each so I wasnt too worried about wasting them.

The furring strips were 8 feet long so I cut 2 pieces at 35" and 2 at 26" on the miter saw to have some room for mistakes.

I labeled all the good sides so that I would know which face to use.

I used my router table with a 3/8" straight bit to cut the groove for the foam board to sit in.

I made the groove with several shallow passes.

My wife didnt like how wide the furring strip was so I made the groove wider rather then trying to rip the pieces into a smaller width.

I cut an extra bottom/top piece just in case and then sanded them all smooth.

I cut the outside edge using a Roman OG bit. I tried it at a couple of different depths until I found the profile that I liked. I ended up going with the one on the right.

It looks like a good fit to me!

I try to label everything that I can so that I can keep everything straight in my head.

I made marks on the boards for the mitered angles on the ends to make sure that I cut them in the right direction.

I made all the cuts at a 45 degree angle.

Heres the first cut!

I clamped the 2 pieces together and set the foam board in so that I could check the fit and mark where I needed to make the next cuts.

I put the frame together using glue

and brad nails.

I checked the inside of the frame for square and it looked good.

I also put 2 staples in the back of each corner just to play it safe.

I applied 2 coats of polyurethane with a light sanding between each coat.

I marked the top for center

and hammered in a simple hanger. (I cant think of the name of it right now)

I used hot glue on the back of the board to attach it to the frame.

Here is the completed board hanging in our kitchen.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Lee Valley Tools At WIA13 Episode II First Project

When I first posted about the videos from WIA, Lee Valley had just released their first and I included it.

They have just released their second, video from the conference. This time, find out what we all made as a first project.

Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.