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Workshop and fixit stuff

Started by Dave, July 10, 2017, 07:26:50 PM

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Dark Lightning

For sharpening my knives, I bought a kit by SmithsProducts. You can see the slots for different angles.

https://www.smithsproducts.com/standard-precision-sharpening-system

Recusant

Quote from: Tank on July 16, 2020, 09:43:55 AM
I can't use tung oil as it is derived from a nut. One of my grandsons has a nut allergy. So best not.

Ah, good thinking! You might try the Minwax "Tung Oil Finish" that is actually linseed oil based with some additives to make it behave more like tung oil. I've never used raw linseed oil because it can take a long time to cure. Commercial boiled linseed oil is not actually boiled any more. It has chemical additives to duplicate the change that boiling produces. A less toxic choice that also cures quickly is something like Parr's Danish Oil, which is a polymerised linseed oil. Polymerisation is achieved by heating the oil in an oxygen-free vessel for several days--no chemical additives.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Dark Lightning

Parr's might be like Watco's Danish oil finish. I didn't read through Recusant's link that far. I used Watco's Danish oil finish on this carving tool chest I built recently. I tried an oil-based wiping finish that gave excellent depth, but then had blebs in the finish that I just couldn't get rid of without sanding it all the way off...TWICE.  >:( I then tried spray spar urethane, which gave such a bad orange peel finish that I sanded that all the way down to bare wood, as well. I've previously had success with the spar urethane flowing out, but I suspect that California legislation has ruined yet another formula, I dunno. I ended up using Watco's Danish oil finish in a medium walnut color to finish this carving tool chest. It's made of black walnut, and the medium walnut color deepened the color without obscuring the grain. The only other treatment of the wood was a bunch of carnauba wax. It's all pretty much the same color, but the lighting makes it look like the top and sides are different. My camera skills are a bit lacking, to say the least.


hermes2015

Quote from: Tank on July 26, 2020, 04:42:43 PM
12. Finished with dice tiles inside.


It came out well. That hinge method is very satisfying, with the brass rod that, I assume, goes all the way through the lid from left to right.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Tank

Quote from: Dark Lightning on July 26, 2020, 10:11:53 PM
For sharpening my knives, I bought a kit by SmithsProducts. You can see the slots for different angles.

https://www.smithsproducts.com/standard-precision-sharpening-system

Looks interesting.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Tank

Quote from: Recusant on July 26, 2020, 10:26:13 PM
Quote from: Tank on July 16, 2020, 09:43:55 AM
I can't use tung oil as it is derived from a nut. One of my grandsons has a nut allergy. So best not.

Ah, good thinking! You might try the Minwax "Tung Oil Finish" that is actually linseed oil based with some additives to make it behave more like tung oil. I've never used raw linseed oil because it can take a long time to cure. Commercial boiled linseed oil is not actually boiled any more. It has chemical additives to duplicate the change that boiling produces. A less toxic choice that also cures quickly is something like Parr's Danish Oil, which is a polymerised linseed oil. Polymerisation is achieved by heating the oil in an oxygen-free vessel for several days--no chemical additives.

I shall investigate :)
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Tank

Quote from: Dark Lightning on July 27, 2020, 04:18:53 AM
Parr's might be like Watco's Danish oil finish. I didn't read through Recusant's link that far. I used Watco's Danish oil finish on this carving tool chest I built recently. I tried an oil-based wiping finish that gave excellent depth, but then had blebs in the finish that I just couldn't get rid of without sanding it all the way off...TWICE.  >:( I then tried spray spar urethane, which gave such a bad orange peel finish that I sanded that all the way down to bare wood, as well. I've previously had success with the spar urethane flowing out, but I suspect that California legislation has ruined yet another formula, I dunno. I ended up using Watco's Danish oil finish in a medium walnut color to finish this carving tool chest. It's made of black walnut, and the medium walnut color deepened the color without obscuring the grain. The only other treatment of the wood was a bunch of carnauba wax. It's all pretty much the same color, but the lighting makes it look like the top and sides are different. My camera skills are a bit lacking, to say the least.



A stunning bit of work. And I feel your pain with all that sanding!

If you still have the cabinet I'd appreciate some photos of the drawer structure if you have time.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Tank

Quote from: hermes2015 on July 27, 2020, 04:36:39 AM
Quote from: Tank on July 26, 2020, 04:42:43 PM
12. Finished with dice tiles inside.


It came out well. That hinge method is very satisfying, with the brass rod that, I assume, goes all the way through the lid from left to right.

I don't have a drill press (yet) so there is no way I could drill a hole accurate all the way through from one side to the other, nor a drill bit of that length. So I held the lid in place with a clamp and drilled two 4mm holes 20mm deep, one on each side. The wood is 10mm thick. I cut two 15mm lengths of 4mm brass rod. Then I just tapped the rod into the holes. The rod remains stationary as 2/3 are embedded in the box carcase and 1/3 in the lid. It has the added bonus that the hinge is stiff and stays shut or open, wherever you put it. I can see a few more boxes made like this. :)
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Dark Lightning

Thanks, Tank! It was an adventure, for sure.

Here's a pic of one of the drawers. The sides have a dado for a strip of wood inside the carcass that they slide on rather than have metal slides. This is portable to take to carving class, so weight is a consideration. The sides and the front are rabbeted 1/8" deep by 1/4" wide for the bottom to fit up into them. The chisels are separated by poplar pegs in poplar strips. The sizes vary because I wanted the chisels to not knock into each other during transport. The blades are of course variable width, as are the handles. The smaller width chisels have smaller handles. It's all just butt joints. It doesn't weigh that much, so even a weak joint like that is plenty strong enough to hold it together.


Tank

Thanks DL. They do look lovely :)
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Dark Lightning


Icarus

A spectacular work DL.  You are making the rest of us look pedestrian.

Dark Lightning

Quote from: Icarus on July 28, 2020, 01:38:51 AM
A spectacular work DL.  You are making the rest of us look pedestrian.

I appreciate that compliment, Icarus, and I almost didn't post those pictures for the simple reason that I don't like "strangling a baby in the cradle". But that comes at a cost of having done wood working for literally 6 decades. I think that I cut my first board with a saw at age 6. I'll never knock another's work, because we are all just somewhere on the learning curve. If you go over to the https://www.lumberjocks.com/ website, where I post under the same nick, you will see people's work that simply put me to shame. There are people there who make pill sorting trays from plywood, and they don't get laughed at, for that reason. I will say that for as little time as Tank has appeared to have been working wood, and given his equipment, he's doing extremely well.

On that note, there is no way that I would have the vision to make a painting like your "Opera". I am a mechanical draftsman in that regard, and learning wood carving is breaking me from it. When I worked as an engineer, the parts or the machine had to follow strict guidelines for dimensioning and tolerancing, if the parts were going to fit together and work. One of my early carvings was of a wood spirit (I like them, even though the idea of a spirit living in a tree is something that I find ludicrous). In the tutorial, I followed the steps exactly, but some pieces broke off, as they will, when carving wood. But I was looking at the cover of that book and at the tutorial, and the pictures were different! :lol: It was then that I realized that carving, as an artistic endeavor, is free of a lot of the strictures that the machinists and I were held to in a production environment.

hermes2015

Quote from: Dark Lightning on July 28, 2020, 04:01:34 AM
On that note, there is no way that I would have the vision to make a painting like your "Opera".

:lol:  DL, I think you are confusing Icarus with me, which is understandable, since we both have wings — mine are on my feet and helmet, whereas Icarus has homemade ones of feathers and wax on his arms.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Tank

Quote from: Dark Lightning on July 28, 2020, 04:01:34 AM
Quote from: Icarus on July 28, 2020, 01:38:51 AM
A spectacular work DL.  You are making the rest of us look pedestrian.

I appreciate that compliment, Icarus, and I almost didn't post those pictures for the simple reason that I don't like "strangling a baby in the cradle". But that comes at a cost of having done wood working for literally 6 decades. I think that I cut my first board with a saw at age 6. I'll never knock another's work, because we are all just somewhere on the learning curve. If you go over to the https://www.lumberjocks.com/ website, where I post under the same nick, you will see people's work that simply put me to shame. There are people there who make pill sorting trays from plywood, and they don't get laughed at, for that reason. I will say that for as little time as Tank has appeared to have been working wood, and given his equipment, he's doing extremely well.

On that note, there is no way that I would have the vision to make a painting like your "Opera". I am a mechanical draftsman in that regard, and learning wood carving is breaking me from it. When I worked as an engineer, the parts or the machine had to follow strict guidelines for dimensioning and tolerancing, if the parts were going to fit together and work. One of my early carvings was of a wood spirit (I like them, even though the idea of a spirit living in a tree is something that I find ludicrous). In the tutorial, I followed the steps exactly, but some pieces broke off, as they will, when carving wood. But I was looking at the cover of that book and at the tutorial, and the pictures were different! :lol: It was then that I realized that carving, as an artistic endeavor, is free of a lot of the strictures that the machinists and I were held to in a production environment.

You have 60 years of experience and talent to share. Don't you dare hide your light under a bushel. Your case is an little catalogue of tips and wrinkles and corrected mistakes. That's what I want to learn. My wood work is a hobby, yours is a profession but we both enjoy what we do and produce. 
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.