Rob Keeble
Member
- Messages
- 12,633
- Location
- GTA Ontario Canada
I am putting this out here to perhaps give some others some thoughts on this subject.
So i dont have a heated shop at present and given the kids have left the coop and we have no hockey etc to have to go to, I have come to realize i need to be somewhat like the critters and make plans for the winter to do something indoors.
Challenge i found last year was this temp accommodation while having a space in basement, is not suited to doing bigger woodworking things like say cutting a large piece of ply and same for prepping lumber.
I am also highly concerned about what happens to me later in life re woodworking or tinkering.
So as i posted in flatwork i am building a smaller workbench and one which is able to be knocked down and rebuilt with a different height set of legs.
Brent spotted that i have been gathering together carving bits and pieces and wood for having a go at some carving, but i thought i would add a few more things i plan on giving attention to.
For years i have had a hand saw vice, and plan on mounting this on the bench to tackle having a go at sharpening the saw blades i have with a view to resurrecting at least one or two saws of different sizes in my possession. Its always been a challenge to me to see if us modern folk are up to being able to re-mediate an old tool to its former usable state this has some mystical nostalgic traditional feel to it for me especially given i know that my great grandfather built wooden mills back in Bury St Edmunds, in the UK way back when and must have had to care for his tools himself to make it work for him. I have a few beater blades to practice on and have assembled the files and instructions to go with it. Could be nice challenging experience or maybe not but its something that i want to do and can be done in doors with little mess if you have a mini bench to work at. (Mini bench could even be a portable bench you clamp to a kitchen table).
Then there is sharpening. Rather than using shop time when weather is great to sharpen planes chisels and carving tools, I am going to try get this done through winter. But not all at once as its not my favorite past time.
The other thing i want to setup is my vacuum system. Parts are on their way as i write this and i see this opening up a whole new host of opportunities to tinker with all sorts.
I think something that makes woodworking so interesting as a hobby is the fact that it has so many dimensions to it and some are able to be cross pollinated if you prepared to step out of the tradditional box and try learn something new. Example using a router on a lathe to make straight flutes in a spindle or trying out the concept of a vacuum chuck. (not sure i will ever feel confident about using one but the fun for me is in the trying rather than the production).
Something else i have always wanted to do with vacuum is make a form and form wood around it. In specific i want to make up some wood strips to laminate but form them at the same time. Perhaps have a go at making a fly fishing landing net frame. Or perhaps a shaped seat like the Danes seem to be able to do in much of their modern designed furniture.
Then there is the aspect of veneering. Some time back after buying a veneering book on the cheap, i came to realise there was much more we could do to put shape into some projects if we got away from straight cut wood and ventured into using a substrate like say Baltic Birch and then clad it with veneer of some sort. It does not always have to be the expensive rare burl veneers there are many veneer deals to be had for trying out.
Lee Valley sells the bendable thin BB that one can use to establish a shape on a form and then use the vacuum to adhere veneer.
So my plan this winter is to have a go at learning some processes and techniques that will add some dimension to what i might take on in woodworking in the future.
Being caught indoors don't mean the fun has to stop. And I even have plans to make a indoor tool cabinet for the day that i end up confined to a small room like my Dad was in when he ended up at the aged home.
I would really like to thank the TV execs of all the networks and channels (spoken in a manner befitting an Oscar award) for so totally ruining Television entertainment.
Without them I might never have ventured down this path, but i think if i am faced with having to look at that screen for a winter then the madhouse will definitely have another resident.
So anyone else got ideas to share on what they plan on doing to get through while Jack Frost abounds outside.
So i dont have a heated shop at present and given the kids have left the coop and we have no hockey etc to have to go to, I have come to realize i need to be somewhat like the critters and make plans for the winter to do something indoors.
Challenge i found last year was this temp accommodation while having a space in basement, is not suited to doing bigger woodworking things like say cutting a large piece of ply and same for prepping lumber.
I am also highly concerned about what happens to me later in life re woodworking or tinkering.
So as i posted in flatwork i am building a smaller workbench and one which is able to be knocked down and rebuilt with a different height set of legs.
Brent spotted that i have been gathering together carving bits and pieces and wood for having a go at some carving, but i thought i would add a few more things i plan on giving attention to.
For years i have had a hand saw vice, and plan on mounting this on the bench to tackle having a go at sharpening the saw blades i have with a view to resurrecting at least one or two saws of different sizes in my possession. Its always been a challenge to me to see if us modern folk are up to being able to re-mediate an old tool to its former usable state this has some mystical nostalgic traditional feel to it for me especially given i know that my great grandfather built wooden mills back in Bury St Edmunds, in the UK way back when and must have had to care for his tools himself to make it work for him. I have a few beater blades to practice on and have assembled the files and instructions to go with it. Could be nice challenging experience or maybe not but its something that i want to do and can be done in doors with little mess if you have a mini bench to work at. (Mini bench could even be a portable bench you clamp to a kitchen table).
Then there is sharpening. Rather than using shop time when weather is great to sharpen planes chisels and carving tools, I am going to try get this done through winter. But not all at once as its not my favorite past time.
The other thing i want to setup is my vacuum system. Parts are on their way as i write this and i see this opening up a whole new host of opportunities to tinker with all sorts.
I think something that makes woodworking so interesting as a hobby is the fact that it has so many dimensions to it and some are able to be cross pollinated if you prepared to step out of the tradditional box and try learn something new. Example using a router on a lathe to make straight flutes in a spindle or trying out the concept of a vacuum chuck. (not sure i will ever feel confident about using one but the fun for me is in the trying rather than the production).
Something else i have always wanted to do with vacuum is make a form and form wood around it. In specific i want to make up some wood strips to laminate but form them at the same time. Perhaps have a go at making a fly fishing landing net frame. Or perhaps a shaped seat like the Danes seem to be able to do in much of their modern designed furniture.
Then there is the aspect of veneering. Some time back after buying a veneering book on the cheap, i came to realise there was much more we could do to put shape into some projects if we got away from straight cut wood and ventured into using a substrate like say Baltic Birch and then clad it with veneer of some sort. It does not always have to be the expensive rare burl veneers there are many veneer deals to be had for trying out.
Lee Valley sells the bendable thin BB that one can use to establish a shape on a form and then use the vacuum to adhere veneer.
So my plan this winter is to have a go at learning some processes and techniques that will add some dimension to what i might take on in woodworking in the future.
Being caught indoors don't mean the fun has to stop. And I even have plans to make a indoor tool cabinet for the day that i end up confined to a small room like my Dad was in when he ended up at the aged home.
I would really like to thank the TV execs of all the networks and channels (spoken in a manner befitting an Oscar award) for so totally ruining Television entertainment.
Without them I might never have ventured down this path, but i think if i am faced with having to look at that screen for a winter then the madhouse will definitely have another resident.
So anyone else got ideas to share on what they plan on doing to get through while Jack Frost abounds outside.
