A useful new discovery

Needed to make an acrylic box for the non-perishable top of my son's wedding cake.  Cutting the acrylic was not a problem (#5 Flying Dutchman polar blade and slow speed works great), but we decided to use wood at the edges since my scroll saw cuts were not precise enough to attach the acrylic edges directly.

Having had little success in the past with CA glue and epoxy, we decided to try caulk to hold the acrylic in the slots in the wood strips.  Although the caulk squeeze-out seemed to clean up with water, we were still left with unsightly residue in places once it dried.  Fortunately, a call to DAP yielded the suggestion to use mineral spirits, which worked like a charm and didn't harm the acrylic.

The assembly is almost complete, and I think it should work out OK.  I'll post pictures when we're finished, regardless of how it turns out!

New tools, new techniques, new possibilities

Here's how to construct, shape and sand a multi-lobe, curved bowl, featuring the small inflatable sander from King Arthur's Tools.  New tools, new techniques, new possibilities!

The new shop is finally complete

We finished the final job--to put in an additional circuit for the dust collector and flip it so the dust ports are on top.  The band saw is stored on the opposite wall, and can be rolled out when needed.  Joe's table saw is in the basement, where he has plenty of room for jigs and stuff.  And we can still get our car into the garage!

Easy fix to make a taller bowl press

I finally got tired of using a stack of books for gluing bowls that were too tall for my press.   I didn't want to undo the press, just add some height, so I added a few coupling nuts and some threaded rod.  For a more elegant version, check out Dave Van Ess's bowl press on scrollmania.com.  It's really neat and fits into its own box.

For now, this will do just fine!

Choosing a Dust Mask

A while back, I mentioned that I was trying out different dust masks, looking for the one that seemed most effective and was most comfortable to use.  With all the sanding I do, using a dust mask is a necessity.

I had been using a conventional dust mask, rated N99, and was pretty happy with it.  However, it tended to fog my protective goggles, so I bought a Dust Bee Gone and a Totobobo mask to see if either of them were better for me.  All were recommended by other users.

The Dust Bee Gone needed to be altered, since the medium size was too large for my face.  I removed the blue banding and cut back on the filtering material so it would fit properly.  I found that it was easy to damage the filtering material with the velcro on the straps, and that dust seemed to come through much too easily.  On top of that, my goggles still fogged, even though they were not supposed to.

The Totobobo was much too fidgety for me to use comfortably.  The adjustable straps are a very thin, stretchy plastic, and felt as though they would break at any time.  They didn't, but I felt uneasy every time I adjusted them.  In addition, the plastic would be quite uncomfortable in warm weather, and you needed to keep replacement filters on hand.  And my goggles still fogged!

So, I'm back to using my standard dust mask.  I keep a supply on hand, and am learning to adjust my goggles to control the fogging.  I know that others have been very happy with the Dust Bee Gone and the Totobobo, but unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

Sanding with SuperMax

Finally gave my new SuperMax Drum sander a proper workout, and it really met all my expectations. Nice when that happens!

Second project from new shop

I'm determined to use as much of my stored wood as possible before buying or re-sawing more lumber. This bowl used part of a piece of teak I've been storing for several years.  Teak cuts very nicely, even though the silica it contains is hard on blades.  The oiliness is controlled by sanding just before gluing, and I used spray lacquer which I find to be pretty problem-free.

In addition to the teak, I used cherry and purpleheart for the decorative rings, and maple and mahogany veneers and thin wood.

The sanding and shaping was demanding and took a long time.  Even then, it wasn't perfect, but I know my limits!

Jewelry Box article in June Woodworker's Journal

It's always exciting when one of my projects appears in a "mainstream" woodworking publication like Woodworker's Journal.  This cherry jewelry box, with a removable 3-compartment insert, appears in the current issue (June, 2013).  I haven't seen the edited article yet, but they always do a super job, and I'm pleased that the project met their needs.

New sanding video is up and running

I just posted another sanding video on YouTube to cover some tips that I thought would be useful.  They are at the opposite ends of the spectrum with regard to cost, but both are worth considering.

Drum sander alternative

If you're interested in making bowls from glued-up blanks, you know that getting the finished blank flat without a drum sander is quite a task.  One of my readers found the following approach useful, and kindly made the plans available to anyone in need of a drum sander alternative.  Here it is:

I made a router planing jig based on a plan from workshopcompanion.com. I made the jig, installed an Amana 1 1/4” bowl and tray bit (#45986) which has a flat bottom, and went to work on it. The routing itself was easy.  I made shallow cuts and overlapped my passes, probably more than I needed but this was an initial test. I began by putting the flattest side face down, (wedged it in) did the routing and then flipped the piece and routed the second side. It came out amazingly good. I briefly sanded the face with 320 grit paper on my RO sander and the faces were smooth as silk and absolutely flat. My only cost was the purchase of the bit, which I got from Marden’s, Inc. in Waterville, Maine. I made my purchase thru Amazon. Marden's had this bit for about $25 whereas every else wanted $40 or more. I already had the wood so my total cost for the project was about $30 and a couple of hours work to build the jig.  I found that no matter which way you run the router against the blank there is absolutely no tear out as the bit has a 1/4” radius and does not aggressively attack the edges of the blank, regardless of the direction of the grain.