The Woodshop Shed

Wormsloe Southern Live Oak Bowl #1

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


My wife and I took a trip to Charleston, SC, and Savannah, GA, in April 2022. On all our travels we like to visit architectural salvage places to look for interesting wood. On this trip we visited “Re:Purpose Savannah” (https://www.repurposesavannah.org). It is a women-run nonprofit that dismantles old buildings and salvages old growth trees that have come down, then provides those materials to artists and builders while preserving the history and provenance of their source.The director, Mae Bowley, showed us the last board from a branch of a famous tree (5th photo shows me, Mae, and the board). The tree is on the “avenue of oaks” which were planted on the Wormsloe Plantation in the late 1800's. Wormsloe is now an Georgia State Historic Site, so these trees are protected, carefully maintained, and can't be cut down. However, a storm broke a large branch off of tree #238 (see 4th photo) and Re:Purpose Savannah was called to salvage it. They slabbed the branch, which was as big as many whole trees, and had this last piece still unsold when I got there.Sadly, I couldn't take the whole board with me on the plane back to California, so they cut about a foot off of each end for me. I made this bowl from the top end of the board as seen in the 5th photo, and gave it back to Mae to thank her for her hospitality to us and for her passionate energy to preserve Georgia's history and support women in the construction and woodworking trades. The bowl I made from the bottom section I am keeping and will post soon.This piece had a very rotted knot in the center that I had to stabilize with epoxy before I could start turning. It also had a dry-rotted section of sapwood I had to stabilize with CA glue. I filled the rest of the cracks with a combination of epoxy and black grout (sandless grout won't bleed into nearby wood fibers like dye's can). Then top-coated with a several coats General Finishes Arm-R-Seal.

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George III walnut burl and ebony tea caddy

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


The design of my tea caddy is based on a circa 1790 George III red tortoiseshell tea caddy ( insert picture). Mine is made from walnut burl and ebony – of cube form with a Egyptian sarcophagus form lid topped with a Dutch drop brass handle. The ebony corner mouldings were hand scratched using period techniques to create a unique raised bead design. On the front there's an elegant inlaid mother of pearl escutcheon and the interior has two sections each with a sarcophagus style lid. The whole piece stands on a squat classic ogee bracket feet. It is finished with hand polished lacquer.

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Poplar and Ambrosia Maple Box

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


Had a board of poplar, and I got the itch to try another torched box.Assembled the box, fit the bottom in, and then took the propane torch to the outside. I kinda like how the scorched poplar looks.The top is Ambrosia Maple and sits on my little corner columns inside the box.Earlier in the summer, walking home from dropping my car at the mechanic, I came across a pile of bones near a tree in a park. I remembered the bones the other day and biked over to that park only to find that many of the bones were gone.Still, there was a hip joint there (raccoon or possum, I'm guessing) and I decided that it might make a unique handle.I cleaned it up with some hydrogen peroxide, drilled a divot in the top of the box, and then glued the bone into place.Won't please everyone, but I kinda liked getting away from the twisty wood handle for this one.Finished the whole thing in satin, spray-on poly.

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Dremel 8240 Review

Furnished content.
(from Popularwoodworking.com)


Tool: 8240 Cordless Rotary Tool Shop Now   Manufacturer: Dremel MSRP: $99 (includes 2.0Ah battery, charger, storage case, and several accessories) Dremel has been a whirlwind recently, releasing several new models and updated old ones, most recently the new and …Source

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Dovetail Ruler Trick

Furnished content.
(from Popularwoodworking.com)


A throwaway wooden ruler prevents fatal errors when dovetailing. The No. 1 mistake made by first-time dovetailers has nothing to do with sawing or chopping - the obvious choices. Instead, I've found that most fatal mistakes happen at the …Source

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