Monthly Archive: April 2012

Apr 25 2012

Toy Car 3: Sports Theme

I planned on making another toy car for my nephew and I wanted it to be different. My brother-in-law loves the Vikings, so by default his children do too, and the Vikings colors are purple and gold.  I figured I’d make a car out of yellow and purple heartwood. Purple heartwood is a favorite contrast …

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Apr 20 2012

Lathe Tool Handle

Before I bought my lathe, I made a deal with a friend that if he made me some insert turning tool shafts, I’d give him the free bed extension that came with the lathe. He had access to tool steel and a metal shop and I really didn’t see myself turning anything …

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Apr 19 2012

Table Saw Fence Update

Yesterday I went to make some cuts with the new auxiliary fence on my table saw and noticed when I set the fence 1-1/2″ away from the blade the scale read 2-1/4″. Oops, I forgot to reset the scale. I was all prepared to drill some new holes for the scale indicator, …

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Apr 18 2012

Tops, Three Different Ones

I was watching a video by George Vondriska about using CA for turning and saw him turning a top on the lathe. I thought this would be a cool project to try. So the other day when I cut some blanks out of 8/4 ash for some handles, I …

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Apr 17 2012

Fixing The Bow In My Table Saw Fence

For a while I’ve noticed that when I rip a clean edge on my table saw and put it up against my fence, there’s a gap between the board and the fence. I’ll take a square to the edge and find out it’s perfectly square, shrug my shoulders, and continue what I …

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Apr 16 2012

What To Do With Circle Scraps

I’ve been cutting some circles on the scroll saw for a few other projects and have a bunch of scraps left over. Now I have a hard time throwing away any wood thats larger than a toothpick, but I really couldn’t see that I could do much with these scraps — that …

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Apr 10 2012

Homemade Dowel Cutter

A few weeks ago, over on G+ Matt Ricketts posted a dowel cutter he made. This was a timely post for me because I was looking to make a few purple heartwood dowels for a toy car I’m in the process of finishing. His dowel cutter was a series of holes drilled …

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Apr 04 2012

Finishing Turntable

In a recent issue of the Highland Woodturner, Curtis Turner (what are the odds?) showed how to make a simple spray painting turntable out of MDF and some dowels. I thought, “hmm, that would beat the heck out of some nails pounded into a board that I usually end …

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Apr 02 2012

Toothbrush Holder

We needed a new toothbrush holder. Our old one, a clear plastic tube with duckies floating in a mysterious blue liquid, was leaking. Also with it’s tiny holes, it just couldn’t hold the thicker handle toothbrushes that my children use sometimes use. I thought, “I could actually make a something useful on …

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