The Woodshop Shed

adventures in woodworking and home maintenance, from my shop in an oversized backyard shed

November 2021
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 
       


Easel Does It

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


Easel Does ItMy wife recently began taking classes in sketching and drawing and asked if I might make her a tabletop/laptop easel. She rarely asks for things for herself, so I was happy to comply, and to be fair to her, what she actually asked for was two pieces of plywood connected with a piano hinge. I had some other ideas.I had some elm from a limb pruning (fifth picture) that had been drying for several years, and I thought this might be about the right size project for it. I was nervous that the limb wood might be iffy, but it actually turned out to be surprisingly stable.My vision was a wooden suitcase that could house art supplies and open up to be an easel. Given that these were small pieces of elm, I had to embrace the imperfections and revel in the sapwood, pin knots and minor spalting. The panels are birch ply, and I supplemented with maple for structural components because I didn't quite trust the strength of the elm for these.I struggled to find suitable hardware, both in quality and size, so part way through the project I decided to make the hinges and handle from maple. This was my first time doing wooden hinges. To reduce the clunkiness of their appearance, I partially mortised them into the case. This also allowed the small feet to create some clearance so the case didn't rest on the hinges when placed upright. I toyed with the idea of wooden clasps but in the end I chickened out on that and used the metal ones I'd bought.A sleeve recessed into the lid provides storage for paper or sketchbooks, and two removable pencil cases can accommodate lead and coloured pencils. The bungee corded area is for unspecified, random loose items. When the lid is closed, the sketchbook envelope keeps the pencil cases from falling out (~ 1/16” clearance).I normally don't do mockups, but with the moving parts and 3-dimensional geometry, I decided to throw together a prototype made from 15mm Baltic Birch, assembled with butt joints and dowels (pictured below). It turned out surprisingly well, and my wife would have been more than happy with that (and in fact used it while I worked on the elm version), but I forged ahead anyway.For those interested, the elm mills well, with very little splintering. Some softer areas can get a bit fuzzy when machined, and it has a tendency to burn if not careful about feed rates and bit speeds. It doesn't smell great, but the smell doesn't linger as long as red oak, let's say.As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcome.



Read more here

posted at: 12:00am on 28-Nov-2021
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first



Spalted Bowl #18

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


Spalted Bowl #187 1/4”x 3 1/2”
Friction PolishCouldn't sleep last night, so I grabbed one of the rough turned bowls and finished it up. Very unique pattern… only nature can make.



Read more here

posted at: 12:00am on 28-Nov-2021
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)

Comments:
0 comments, click here to add the first



November 2021
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 
       


Promoted by Feed Shark





RSS (site)  RSS (path)

ATOM (site)  ATOM (path)

Categories
 - blog home

 - Announcements  (0)
 - Annoyances  (0)
 - For_Sale  (0)
 - Home_and_Garden  (1)
 - Humor  (0)
 - Industry_News  (0)
 - Massachusetts_USA  (0)
     - Swansea  (0)
 - Notices  (0)
 - Observations  (0)
 - Oddities  (0)
 - Privacy  (1)
 - Reading  (0)
     - Books  (0)
     - Ebooks  (0)
     - Magazines  (0)
     - Online_Articles  (0)
 - Reviews  (1)
 - Rhode_Island_USA  (0)
     - Providence  (0)
 - Shop  (0)
     - Planes  (1)
 - Shop_Improvements  (2)
 - Woodworking  (6877)
     - Calculator  (1)
     - Projects  (2)
     - Resources  (3)
     - Techniques  (179)
     - Tips  (0)
     - Videos  (7)


Archives
 -2024  March  (14)
 -2024  February  (15)
 -2024  January  (22)
 -2022  October  (2)
 -2022  September  (86)
 -2022  August  (116)
 -2022  July  (112)
 -2022  June  (117)
 -2022  May  (122)
 -2022  April  (128)
 -2022  March  (140)
 -2022  February  (122)
 -2022  January  (126)
 -2021  December  (132)


My Sites

 - Millennium3Publishing.com

 - SponsorWorks.net

 - ListBug.com

 - TextEx.net

 - FindAdsHere.com

 - VisitLater.com