Round Boxes

This past fall, I finally got myself a wood lathe.  I have been spending some time learning how to use it, mostly by trial and error.  Ok, mostly error.  I guess I’m just kind of stubborn that way.  I prefer to look at it as hands-on learning, my way.  Most people would say that it is wasting precious time and material.  Not me, I look at it as a mad scientist experimenting in his laboratory.  Muaaahaaahaaa!  Sorry about that.  Couldn’t help myself.  Ok, I started with square blocks of wood, and I tried to round off the sides to make a cylinder. 

My first attempt at making a cylinder didn’t turn out so well.  By the time I got the sides pretty much level, it was too skinny to do anything with.  So, my first tip would be to use scrap wood to start with.  You don’t want to waste a good piece of Osage….like me.  Next, I would be sure to find a good way to secure the workpiece.  I prefer to glue a small block of scrap wood to what will be the bottom of the cylinder.  Then, I screw the small face-plate to the scrap piece of wood.  Be sure the small block of scrap wood is centered on the workpiece, and that the face-plate is centered on the scrap wood.  Another way to secure the workpiece is to buy a chuck for your lathe.  I personally haven’t used one yet, but I’m sure I will eventually.  A chuck works just like the mouth of a drill that holds the bit.  Or at least that is my perception, again, I haven’t used one.  I would recommend you go ahead and buy a chuck for your lathe.  Gluing the workpiece to a scrap piece of wood doesn’t always work.  Yes, I have experienced this failure.  I can happily report that everytime the workpiece flies across the room, it has missed my head by at least a couple of inches. 

This Osage box is 2 1/4" in diameter and 4" tall.

Ah yes, be sure to wear your protective gear: safety glasses, ear plugs and dust mask.  And for you guys, a cup might not be a bad suggestion.  No, you don’t need a kevlar vest.

Once you have your piece secure, you are ready to turn some wood.  That is after your tools have been sharpened.  Always make sure your tools are sharp before you turn.  How you sharpen them is up to you.  Most of the time, it takes a while for the sharp edges to dull, unless you are using hard woods.  I prefer to sharpen my tools by hand using a couple of different sharpening stones.  That’s just my preference.  There are places you can go to get your tools sharpened, or sharpening machines you can buy.

After all of this, you should be ready to start turning.  My only advice is this: take it slow and don’t rush it.  If you start to get frustrated, stop and walk away for a little while.  You might want to see about finding some books on wood turning or take a class on it or do both.  Here are a couple of pictures of my experiments.

This spalted Sycamore box with Walnut knob and band is 2 3/4" in diameter and 5 1/2" overall height.

My First Refinishing Project

When I was 16 years old, I had to perform a community service project for church.  All of the other kids chose the normal types of service: volunteer at a help center or a soup kitchen, that kind of thing.  Me being the person I am, I refused to follow the norm.  I was looking for something different.  I just wasn’t sure what I was looking for.

After church one day, my mom was talking to a lady we know.  She works at a local historical site.  She was talking to my mom about a couple of pieces of furniture that needed some work and she didn’t know what to do.  My mom called me over and had the lady explain to me her situation.  I listened carefully.  When she was done, I told her that I thought I could help her out.  This in turn became my community service project and my first refinishing project.

The two pieces that need work was an old chair and an antique cabinet.  The chair was just coming apart and needed to be re-glued.  This was a relatively easy fix I thought.  I was wrong.  The entire back piece was loose.  So I had to take the entire back off.  Then clean out the joints and re- glue it.  While cleaning out the joints, I noticed that there was a gap between the tenons and mortises.  I filled this in with a mixture of glue and fine sawdust.  Although this was effective and made the back sturdy, it was not a professional repair. 

Since the tenons were all in good shape, I could have filled the gap with wood putty.  After allowing the putty to dry, I could then smooth out the mortise until the tenon fit perfectly, then gluing it in place.  If the gap was too big, then this would be ineffective.

The antique cabinet just needed to be refinished.  Someone had already stripped off the old finish and sanded it.  All I had to do was stain and varnish the piece.  I thought it would be simple, someone else had done all the hard work.  Years later, I found out that by stripping off the old finish, you greatly reduce the value of the piece you are refinishing.  It isn’t damaging to the piece, it just isn’t worth as much.  That’s when I realized that it is up to the owner what should be done.  Do they want it stripped down or do they want to preserve the original finish?  Personally, I like to preserve the original finish.  I find it more pleasing to the eye, not to mention you can see the life it has had by the nicks and small scratches in it.  You get a feeling of its history.

I have learned a lot about refinishing furniture since my first project.  It may seem like a daunting task, but it is well worth the experience.  Give it a try!  Just remember to be patient.

My First Woodworking Project

I started woodworking at a young age.  I completed my first woodworking project for my younger brother’s first birthday.  I built him an airplane.  It was supposed to resemble the Red Baron’s airplane.  I even painted it to make it look authentic.  My dad had instructed me to design it before I built it.  I didn’t understand why that was important, but I did it anyways.  I think my mom had kept the drawing for it.  It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I found out how important proper design is in any woodworking project.

Proper design is important to a project’s function.  If designed poorly, it will function poorly.  It will also become unappealing to the eye.  In other words, it will be ugly as sin.  When designing a project, I think it is important to sketch it out first.  That way you can get a rough idea of how you want it to look.  After that, you will want to start to design it to fit the proportions you want.  Once you get the basic shape and size down, then you can start working out the details.  It all depends on how you want to go about it.  Try to find out what works best for you when designing a project.  You are only limited by your own imagination.

What do you think?  Not too shabby for a seven year old.  I remember the trouble I had making it, but it was still fun!  That is what woodworking should be, fun.  If you don’t enjoy doing it, then you might want to find something that you do enjoy.  Just remember, like everything else in life, woodworking takes practice.  The more you practice, the better you become at it.

Happy designing!