Fall Harvest

Image from maps.live.com

One of the things I love about where we live is the way we can use the various resources.  We love walking through our woods.  One of the times we were back there we found some large pieces of wood that had been cut up.  We noted they had also had a tarp placed under them to keep them off the wet ground.  The next summer we went back there thinking we were going to cut them up for firewood.  To our surprise, they were very large pieces of black walnut.  Since they no longer qualified as firewood, we let them be.

I haven't been back down there much since.  The trails through the woods have grown over and a ton of trees have come down in storms.  With the nice weather this weekend, I decided it was time to bring them up the hill.  The pieces were so large I couldn't even roll them so cutting them up was a painful necessity.  Below are the piecess I collected today.



To give you an idea of the size of these things, here is a picture of my size 13 boot on one of the average size pieces.

The best part, there are two pieces down there yet that are larger in diameter than my 20" chain saw,  The one is about 6 feet long but the other is only about 3 feet long.  On the other hand there are 2 or 3 walnut trees that are down in there too.  They are about 12 inches in diameter and 75 feet tall.  These trees are in a dryer area of the woods and are not fully on the ground so they will be good for a while yet.

My plan for this wood is turning blanks.  I may resaw some for use in other projects but not sure of that.  The logs need to dry out some more so there is time to decide.  I"m sure there is opportunity to sell some of it, but I hate to do that too.  I know if I sell it off, I will never get the opportunity to work with walnut like it again because of the price.  Now all I need is a full size lathe to be able to turn it on.

Below is the nostepinne I made from another walnut tree on my property.  I still have several feet of that branch in the shop waiting for the perfect project.

Some Assembly Required

After spending 3 months learning Google's SketchUp followed by designing my cabinetry (and of course the pre-requisite redesigns) it's time to start building.

 

The wood is in the shop and construction will commence shortly.  After some consideration I went with the oak.  I just love the look.  The only alternative I really considered was maple.  Though beautiful, I thought the maple might be just a little too plain.  I do have some concern that the oak will be too busy but I am not planning on staining it.  It will be finished with a clear finish, which will add a slight yellow component to the color, but I think it will still be amazing.  There are, of course, other, and cheaper, woods that could be used.  By and large, the price difference is negligible and I think I would regret spending the time on something that wasn't what I really wanted.

 

 

I have been able to carve out some time to get on the new scrollsaw.  The scrollsaw is probably my favorite tool.  This Noah's Ark is a project I designed several years ago.  The animals are borrowed from another project.  The first was made for our church in New Jersey.  This one is number two and has a special destination.  Maybe someday I will make another one but that will probably be it.

Of course, there's always pens in progress.  This one is Cocobolo (I am making 3 of them).  Immediately after cutting, the wood is a pleasant brown with a nice grain pattern.  It also comes with a nice little surprise in that it oxidizes very quickly (overnight) to add a beautiful golden hue to the wood.  The waterbased finish I use seems to accentuate the tones (perhaps adds to the oxidation).  These pens will have a gold kit to round out the cigar style pens.

In Design Mode

While I haven't been posting much lately, I have been woodworking.  Just not in the shop.

With all of the projects for others complete, it's time to work on some of my own.  For the past two months I have been learning Google Sketch-up and designing my wainscoting and cabinets.

The cabinets will be maple (the pics below are when I was thinking oak).  I think the red oak would be visually too busy.  I love the grain in red oak and the large sheets of it are beautiful but I thought there just might be too much of it.  The maple will be lighter and just as nice.

Here are some details of the cabinets.

• 7 - 37" lower cabinets
• 5 - 2 drawer/2 door cabinets
• 2 - 2 door cabinets with 6 drawers behind them
• 6 cabinets side-by-side (about 18' long total) and 1 stand-alone
• 18' of upper cabinets for my library (not actually drawn yet)

 

 

Garden Check-in

We continue to be impressed with how our container garden is doing.  We've added trellises for the beans and peas and it looks like we will have more zuchini and cucumbers than we can eat.

See for yourself.  Here's how it looked this morning.

Back in seclusion

So I can't tell you what I working on now because it is a gift.  Not even from me in some cases.  Each one is unique and all are going to be amazing.  Pictures will follow as the delivery occurs.

Hey!  The shop is officially a man-cave.  On Saturday I set up my new 42" TV and Internet connected Blu-ray.  I also found out that when I hook my cell phone up to the TV I have a true web browser (Firefox) and access to all of the apps I have on my phone.  That solitaire game has never looked so good.  Hasn't helped me win any more than before though.

Not quite wood, but still working

So we decided we wanted a garden this year.  Now I know you are wondering what a garden has to do with a woodworking shop.  Remember, the tools cut more than wood.  Read on.

To do so, we had to address the concerns that kept us from having one in previous years.  All of our outside water faucets are softened water and we know that doesn't do plants any favors.  The other thing we needed to deal with were the four-legged friends we have living in the neighborhood.

We came to the conclusion that a container garden on our deck was a logical answer to our friends but made the watering part a hassle.  That's when we found the book "The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible" by Edward C. Smith.  In it we found directions for making self-watering containers.  Below is how we adapted the information in the book to fit our needs and accomplish what we wanted.  You will have to go all the way to the end to see if it worked.

We went to Home Depot and bought the containers with the tops and some 4" PVC pipe.  The PVC got cut up into 5" segments.  There are six pipes in each container.  We cut a hole in the side of the container to add water and so that excess water ran out instead of water-logging the dirt.

Two of the pipes in each container have 12 holes drilled in them.  They get filled with dirt so the water wicks up into the main container. 

According to the book, the reservoir should hold 3 to 4 days of water.

We cut the sides off the top of the container so it fit inside and rested on top of the PVC. We also cut holes in the top, above the PVC segments that had dirt in them.  This keeps the dirt out of the water while allowing the water to wick up into the main container.

We lined the inside of the container with landscaping material to help keep the water reservoir free from dirt.  We cut holes in the material where the openings in the cover were so the water-wicking action wasn't hindered.










This year we made 11 containers.  We have planted watermelon, cantaloupe, 4 kinds of peppers, 3 kinds of beans, peas, 2 kinds of tomato, 3 kinds of lettuce, carrots, and radishes.






Shortly after planting we went on vacation for 10 days.  While it was cool while we were gone, there was no rain.  With a reservoir lasting only 1/3 of that time, we expected to come home to a dead garden.  Below is what we came home to.  I should note that the tomatoes and peppers were not started from seed. 

I think it works. Now I have to make the trellises for the beans and peas.

Wedding Pens

As part of Aimee and Aaron's wedding I was asked to make pens for them to sign the marriage license as well as for the groomsmen. Because they were gifts, it would have been inappropriate to post pictures of them. Well, the kids got married last week so here they are.