Oh Yes the Handyman Can!

As I stated in a previous post, my lathe has been out of commission since July. After many phone calls and some serious internet surfing I finally got the parts that I needed to fix my lathe! So I took last Saturday morning to repair my lathe and at the same time nuture my handyman skills. After an hour of greasing, tapping, loosening and tightening all the parts that were broken were fixed! Now normally I would be satisfied with a feat of this magnitude, but I have been without my lathe for two and a half months...Something needed to be made! As I showed in a previous post, my children asked me at the beginning of the summer to make them wands to feed their Harry Potter crazed imaginations. Unfortunately, upon returning from our vacation to grandma and grandpa's house, my youngest daughter discovered that she had lost her wand. She was distraught to say the least. So, my first assignment was to make for her a new wand. It had to be better than the original. So I chose a piece of cherry wood. It had to be different and it had to scream totally awesome! And then I alighted on a brilliant idea. Over the summer my daughters had taken to carrying purses around with them everywhere they went. So I created something any young lady on the go should have. A purse sized wand. Something she could slip in her purse and take out when she needed it.  And so I prepared the wood, rough turned the blank and then stopped. stared. and waited. I started the rpm's turning. Marked the wood with my pencil and placed the skew chisel gently on the tool rest. Below is what I created.

Sanded, finished, polished and presented to my smiling daughter. She was thrilled to have a new wand. Then the moment I hadn't thought of...will it fit in her purse?Fortunately it did and she carries it with her all over the place (except school).

On another plane of thought, I wanted to share an interesting tip I stumbled upon and finally got brave enough to try. Whenever I cut the blanks for my pens and spindles I always have a small leftover piece that I cannot use. This summer I decided to try something I had read in a magazine. I took my small left overs and recycled them. Using a marine epoxy I glued them together to create a mish-mashed pen blank. This allowed me to use the left over blanks that were piling up and create something unique. Below are a couple of the blanks I created. I will be finishing them soon (when I am not so busy).

 I also thought I would post a picture of a couple of handles I created for tools I had in the shop. The smaller one if for my metal file. The longer one is waiting for inspiration. Both are made of Alaskan Yellow Cedar.



I hope you enjoy this post. I know I enjoyed making these things.

Where the Magic Happens

For this week's post, I decided to give everyone a little peek into my proverbial fortress of solitude, bat cave, secret lair, take your pick. It is not much but it is mine and for now I have to share it with the outdoor tools (which will be moving to a new home as soon as I can get it built).

I know...you are thinking it looks rather messy but I assure you that it is a symphony of organized chaos! A veritable sonata of utilitarian utopia. Every great artist, inventor, handyman and craftsman has a place from which to work their magic. Edison had Menlo Park, Orville and Wilbur had the bike shop, Santa had the North Pole, Willy had the Inventing Room and I have "the barn."

Here is where I create, repair, craft, teach and amuse myself. It is MySpace (pun intended). Fashioning objects from wood, plastic and metal. Harnessing the inner creator that is in all of us. And feeling the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a project.

This is where I am at peace. Amid the hum and whir of machinery and the smell of oil, wood and gas (from the chainsaw!) I find solace. These are the things that revive my spirit and renew my soul.

So I hope you enjoyed your peek into my realm. For it is all you are going to get, because I have work to do. :)





  

Somethings Amaze Even Me!

For my post this week I want to share a really awesome artist/creator with you. One of my favorite magazines/podcasts is the MAKE Magazine. IF you are not familiar with it, these are people who create, craft and invent things from ordinary household items and make some amazing stuff. You can find them at the website http://makezine.com/.

Anyway I digress, Two talented woodworkers/artists created for the Maker Faire in San Francisco a wooden bicycle frame made from a tree felled in the urban forest. That's right, I said a wooden bicycle frame. Really a neat roject. While I am sure I could not do anything remotely close to this (except maybe for felling the tree). I think I could come up with some pretty cool looking wooden handle bars! What makes this project so cool is that the bike...really...works!

Check out their project:

I become an apprentice to Olivander

My children have become Harry Potter fans. Given my enjoyment of turning things, they asked me with those big eyes and smiles if I would make them their very own wands for pretend playing. My wife said it was ok as long as there were no curses flying through the house at each other. So I set about to turn them wands. WOW! I had a few scraps of pine, and a piece of cherry laying around that was the perfect size. So I began turning wands. Take a look!

They were nothing fancy and really just a first trial run. But...they loved them and began having duels and fighting evil for the good of all mankind. My children even started naming their wands. Ben...the pine wand of power (far left), Sarah and Hannah...wands of unicorn horn (second @ left and far right), and Sam...well he was just happy to have a weapon of such power (middle).

My wife suggested I post pictures, so I did on facebook. A few days later I got requests from people I knew who wanted wands for their children (and at least one person wanted one for themselves!). So I procured a hardwood dowel and began making 12" wands. I even started experimenting with burning. I used picture frame wire and between the last two sandings turned the lathe up to speed and pressed the wire into the wood. Then finished sanding and put on a few coats of stain or urethane.

Take a look...

I also got a chance to do some really neat pens this summer. For some reason bullet pens were a big hit. For all those gun lovers out there take a look!

Ever turned on that hair dryer, only to get a whiff of something that just didn't smell right? Well this summer I got that experience as I got to experiment with river buffalo horn (humanely harvested). It was a material I had not worked with before, but turned out pretty good (pun intended). Buffalo horn, I learned, is nothing more than compressed hair. And so the heating of it (as on a lathe) creates a very pungent smell. It also requires a lot more attention to details like sanding, checking for cracks, etc.  The sanding alone took a long time as it was wet sanded ina fashion similar to acrylic. In the end though after a couple coats of acrylic polish...well see for yourself...

So my summer was good...right up to the point where my lathe broke (insert sad face and @#$^%$). The micro-adjustment knob locked up as I was turning another bullet pen I will post later. Needless to say...the parts I need I am not sure I can get (company discontinued the model I have). So sadly "me time" has been put on hold... for the moment.



What I do in my spare time.

As I grow older I am realizing that I don't have much time anymore. Moreover, what time I do have is spent teaching, with family, taking classes, upkeep on the old homestead or that sliver of time called "me time". While this is not usually a lot of time it is important to me. This is my time, to do something that make me happy. I know it sounds selfish...but being the best Dad, husband, teacher and friend requires that sometimes we take care of ourselves for the good of everyone. I like working with wood. I am not some premier builder of furniture or stuff like that. But I do have a knack for wood turning. What I like about wood turning is that I can embrace my "artsy" side. I can look at that piece of wood spinning at 1250 rpm's and almost see what I want it to become. This and the quiet that comes with it, is peaceful and calms my stormy seas (so to speak). So this blog is dedicated to my spare time. I will try and post pictures of things I have made (all of which are for sale at reasonable prices!) and maybe throw in a few posts about life, teaching and other things as well.