Step by step woodyworking

Every year at this time, Marc (The Wood Whisperer) builds a simple project to raise money for a cancer charity. This year, he built a kids art easel based on plans from Wood Magazine and is donating $5 to CancerCare on behalf each of his viewers who makes one and sends him a photo.

Raise money for charity by doing what you love: woodworking!

When I saw the easel I thought this would make a great project for my viewers too, so I asked Marc if we could combine forces. My version is very similar to his, just a bit simpler. I am also going to donate $5 for every easel made. Thats ten bucks between the two of us, not to mention the matching donations provided by many corporate sponsors! We are hoping to raise $10,000 for CancerCare, an organization that provides support for people who are struggling with cancer. You can also donate directly, of course!

Auction

Since Wyatt is 16, hes a little tall to get use out of this easel, so I am auctioning it off! Please bid on it here. 100% of the winning bid goes to CancerCare.

If you dont have any young artists to build an easel for, consider making one and donating it to a local childrens hospital or care center. What a great way to kick off the holiday season!

Free plans/where to send your photos

Make either version you prefer, or even combine elements from each. The goal is to get as many of you building an easel as possible. Be sure to watch Marcs video below, which explains everything much more eloquently than I!

• Free Wood Magazine version
• WWMM version. (Simplified)
• WWMM Sketchup file

Important links

• Details on Marcs easel, and all the materials you will need.
• More about Woodworkers Fighting Cancer
• Submit your project
• About CancerCare

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Mere Mortal Bill Akins sent me a video his son made. Trey not only made a book stand for his girlfriend, but made this cool video to go along with it. What a nice boyfirend.

And I love The Cars!

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                           I went with black, a very soft, light gray and gold. Love it how it finished up!

To paint or not to paint, and then beyond that, what color to paint? With all the Anarchist Tool Chest builds Ive seen the predominant color is the one proscribed by the author. Black.

But while I have a lot of favorite passages in the book, there are two simple words that stand out the most. They have insidiously stuck in my mind and have shaded many of my thoughts since I first paid attention to them. Both my thoughts on sawdust and elsewhere. I was compelled to scrawl them on one of the tenons for the lid of my chest before I glued them up. Sealing their delicious paradox into the wood, into the chest, and into my life.

Disobey Me! was not the only thing I wrote on the tenons, you can read about that experience HERE.

So when it comes to my choice of paint on my version of the chest. So far I am forging my way down a different path. I chose a white undercoat with a red oil based enamel over-coat.





I used the techniques Steve Shanesy demonstrated in this YouTube video to layout the ellipse on the front of the chest. After a couple coats of the red I pulled the tape off and was left with this wonderful open area. I intend to stencil in the lettering for Oldwolf Workshop Studio in that space.


I also primed the center space inside the lid. Its my intention is to paint the lid in a lettered version of the saw/sign I painted a while ago.

A million years ago in my basement shop in Northern Maine.

I know the thought of this kind of ornamentation is an abomination to the author, but again it was his instructions to disobey.

So far Im not unhappy with the way things are working. But if I change my mind in the future I can fall in line and repaint the whole thing black. There by disobeying the order asking me to disobey. Confused yet? What else is a paradox for? Maybe Chris explains it better HERE.


Either way Im calling this one done for now and moving on to other matters. Theres that Spice Chest I started and my oldest daughters 16th birthday is just around the corner and I have something I really want to build for her.

Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf

For the last few years my family has gotten along just fine without cable television and 600 channels of nothing. We had a Wifi connection and all the internet TV we could watch, supplemented by an HD antenna for local channels. When we moved into our new house my wife convinced me we should give it another try. I suppose convinced is a strong word, but it didnt seem like something to squabble over.

The end result is when I sit down to catch my breath at the end of the day, I end up watching some shows I would have never searched out without a mindless stare and a remote control.


I am only human, and grabbing the attention of my demographic is a studied art form, Im bound to fall victim to a couple guilty pleasures it galls me to admit Ive watched. One of them has been "Ink Master." I dont have any tattoos myself, not because I have an aversion to them. More a lack of money and opportunity converging at the same time. The art styles interest me though and I like looking at the ink others have collected over their lives.

The shows format is simple and similar to other shows like "Top Chef" a group of hopefuls are gathered and put through a series of tests of their ability and time management skills and three to four experienced experts sit in judgement of their work.


Of course the producers make story lines out of the participants backgrounds and interactions with others and stereotypical roles are filled. Someones the villain, someones the drama queen, and someone is the cheater. But, whether its needed or not, the soap opera side of the deal is ubiquitous and expected.


Heres my argument:

I think theres room in the world for a woodworking competition reality show. I know several years ago there was a show of handyman variety, but my memory tells me it was centered around carpentry skills. I would like to see a group of a dozen woodworkers gathered together and put through a furniture building competition.

I understand the issue is the length of time some builds can be. Its pretty obvious a Philadelphia Highboy isnt going to be a basic challenge, but given open shop time, imagine what you could accomplish in three days of pure build time with a day of finishing time. Conceivably you could accomplish three projects in a two week period.

Exhausting, probably in fact most definitely, but the endurance is part of the challenge. And maybe in the end the Highboy can be part of the challenge. Say two weeks to build a Highboy for the final challenge.  


 The upside? Beyond providing me with some relatable television viewing opportunities.

1. Promotion of the craft to possible clients. If done correctly and done well (two lofty goals I know) the show can promote custom built furniture. It can show people all the things theyve been missing as they stroll through the aisles of Ikea and WalMart. It can promote the idea of having heirloom quality furniture, the kind that can be passed down for generations.

2. Promotion of the craft to possible participants. There was a time when manual skills was something taught to youth in school, and independence was cherished over consumerism. Both of these ideals can manifest with some time spent in the shop. Ive read peoples concerns about the craft. the lack of youth and the lack of diversity. This is one way to spread the word, to get new people excited about making shavings or sawdust, and introduce them to the vast diversity there is in making things from trees.

3. General education of the public. I have a difficult time explaining what I do in my spare time to people I work with. The worst question I try and answer is "Oh what kind of woodworking do you do?" like I could just answer "The purple kind" and theyd know what Im talking about. When they find out I work with mostly hand tools, I might as well try and explain how I just commuted in to work from Venus inside my own personal space bubble. A show like this could at least help spark some relatable conversation.

4. Promotion of the various companies and suppliers. If you look at it from a purely skeptical, capitalistic view point. Think of the dozens of sponsorships from woodworking product manufacturers that could be available for such a show. I had no idea what "Whole Foods" was until I watched "Top Chef" I wonder what Rockler or Woodcraft could do with the same exposure. And the shorter Flash Challenges that start the show are a great showcase for smaller boutique manufacturers like Bad Axe and Blue Spruce.


The downside might be in the drama department. I have trouble picturing a group of woodworkers being anything other than humble or supportive. Then I think about the short amount of time Ive spent around some of the online forums, and I think as a group we could probably hold our own in this department.

Who would you nominate for the three celebrity judges? Who would you like to see as guest judges? What project ideas would make good challenges? Youd want to focus on a different "genre" every week, (week three is Windsor week). At the least its a fun thing to ponder.

In the end, if the chance ever came up, Id be up to throw down against eleven other woodworkers. At the very least it would be the best of all learning opportunities. Who knows, I might even find that Im the shows "villain"

Muhahahahaha (evil laugh)

Ratione et Passionis
Oldwolf

ok ... ive lost count ... this would be claro walnut slab table number ... hmmm ... 11? 12? more? ive lost count. anyway, they are all really fun and i will have another one coming out of the finish room this week for my upcoming svac show. this one is going to be crated and shipped to england, via boston or new york. its an easy breakdown and the base bolts together so everything can be shipped flat ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
as usual, we started with a slab from our friends at goodhope hardwoods in southeastern pennsylvania .. this one had a small issue, but we were able to work around it with a little judicious epoxy filling which youll see a close up of later in this post.
the client is an interior designer in london, and her client wanted a different shape, low to the ground for the table base. after a little model making (we sent one to england via fed ex) we got our deposit check and ordered the slab.
the slab arrived almost immediately and it was then that we learned that the house was under construction and wont be finished until may. so, we had a nice slab around for a few months and well keep it around maybe one more week to show it off and then into the crate it will go and off for a cruise.
we had our new base pieces cut at a.l. melanson in rutland, and jim drilled and tapped them, polished them up and made em black and then finished them with a little clear coat.
underview of the bases bolted onto the table ... RIGID ...
we stuck a few of our ladderbacks into the picture to make it look like guests were arriving ...
thats the hole in the front left corner ... we mixed small chunks of claro walnut in with the epoxy so it almost looks like a little burl rather than a solid color fill ... we used a knife grade epoxy from eastern marble and granite supply for the main fill and a little touch up and leveling with other epoxies and sawdust mixes ...
there were 5 butterflies total .... pretty good for a big slab like this ...
in this picture, you can also kind of see the filling of the ant spot you can see in the raw slab photo. all in, all done ... well be adding the base to the next one this week after we make a couple of deliveries to empty things out a little ...

the three photos below are from previous blog posts that you can find by clicking the category claro walnut slab tables off to the right there.