My First Pickin Experience and an Upcoming Great Project

Happy Monday everyone!  This weekend I got to go with my hubby on my first picking trip.  In a word, ick.  Now I know why he, and his clothes, come home filthy from these trips.   The place we visited was an old garage/shed that was filled with junk.  Here are some pics I took of what we were pickin through.

Yup, a bunch of junk.  But, oooohhhhh, did we find some great stuff and it was all free.

There were so many piles of stuff that we he had to sift through and it was also raining.  And gross.

After all that, heres the loot I picked.  It still all needs to be cleaned up, but I actually like that part.

We found lots of old solid wood frames that look like they were made from barn wood.  Those will be fun to do something with.

And some old wooden crates and a caddy.  I never get tired of those.

Some cast iron and vintage kitchen utensils for my collection.

Lots of red enamelware, vintage wine and milk bottles and a vintage Christmas tin.

And one of my favorite things is this old metal tin.  I love it!  I think it will look so cute with fresh flowers in it.  One of my other favorites is this old kitchen stool.

Love this, too, and Im not planning on doing anything to it but clean it.  I think its perfect and I love the color.  I cant wait to put it in our kitchen.  And it will come in so handy because we have tall cabinets because of our very tall ceilings in the kitchen and Ive been using a dining table chair to reach to the top cabinet, which has been a pain.  This will work perfectly!  This is our other pile of loot that hubby picked the day before.

More frames, another caddy, kitchen utensils, a couple of vintage yard sticks and a very old metal Pepsi crate.  I was thinking that metal Pepsi crate would be adorable with a couple of pots of herbs hanging out in there.

I have fun plans for all these things after I give them all a good cleaning but I saved the best for last.  A couple of weeks ago hubby found a couple of sections of salvaged bowling alley floor (something weve always wanted to find) and brought it home.  Ive always dreamed of making a unique table with salvaged bowling alley floor but had been struggling with what to use for the base.  Until I found this today.  It. Is. Perfect.

I am super excited to get busy on that project!  Heres a pic of the salvaged flooring.  It needs to be refinished and cut but Im excited about that, too!  There is something magical about bringing wood back to its original beauty!

Stay tuned for that!  Id say we had a pretty successful day and I was thrilled he let me come along!

Its Bread Board Monday in my Etsy Shop!  My pre-order waiting list has grown tremendously so be aware that there will be at least a 2 - 3 week delivery time on these. :)  Thank you!  Have a great day!

Continue

Yet Another Scrap Wood Project Stacking Coffee Cup Coasters Discussion Plans and Process Photos

Hi Everyone,

Well, it has certainly cooled down here in Minnesota and today and for the next several days, its going to be raining-perfect wood turning weather. Lets go to work!

If youre like me you have a never ending pile of scrap lumber that is made up of pieces of wood that are large enough to be useful and so here is something you can make: stackable coffee cup coasters. Theyre easy to make and they make great presents for the holidays. Heres how I made some for our church library:

Discussion

The rector at church asked me to make some coffee cup coasters for the coffee table in our church library. Every Sunday an adult ed group meets in there and the coffee table is getting a worn and stained from all the use it gets. The rector suggested about 12 of them and since I have a nice pile of scrap left over from a recent project, this will be a good way to use it up.

Plans

Im going to make 12 coffee coasters using some 1x6- #3 common pine. This type of pine has a lot of blue-grey staining in it and often has a lot of oranges and yellows in it too. I love this type of wood--I grew up with this wood and common pine was the first wood I ever used when I was making furniture in high school. The blue stain gives it a beautiful and unusual color. And its very cheap for a project. Its also soft and easy to turn and you can make a ton of coasters or other stuff from it relatively quickly.

Here is  how I made mine:

Marking and cutting the wood to shape


Here is a stack of cut off 1 x 6 #3 common pine. This will work very well for the project:

First of all Ive marked off two 5 1/2 inch squares on both sides of each board:

Then I found the center of each square by connecting the corners. Do this on each side of each board:

Next I drew a 5 inch diameter circle by setting my compass to 2 1/2". Do this for all the squares you have marked off on both sides of each board:

Next I drew a 4 inch diameter circle inside of the larger 5 inch diameter circle. I did this for all the circles on both sides of each board:

Next, I drilled a 1 1/4" diameter hole into one side of each board. These holes are 1/4" deep:

Lastly, I cut them into circles on the bandsaw. Hmmm...looks like a big stack of wood pancakes!:

Turning on the lathe

Since pine is a soft wood, the turning tools for this need to be very sharp to avoid tearing across the end grain so I took a minute and touched up everything on the bench grinder. Im using my 3/8" bowl gouge, a bedan tool, a skew, and a roughing gouge for this turn:

I mounted each disc on the lathe with my Nova chuck. Next I removed the wood between the two lines in the photograph. You can use either the skew or the bedan for this:

Here it is with that section removed:

Next I turned away the center section. Now there is a depression that is 4" in diameter and 1/4 inch deep. I used the roughing gouge and the skew for this part of the turn:

And they stack together! If you are doing this project and the coasters dont stack, you can either widen the center of the coaster 1mm at a time until they do or you can narrow the tenon on the back 1mm at a time until they fit. I think its easier to work on the center depression:

All of the coasters stack together. Unfortunately the diameters are a little off and you can clearly see this in the photo:

To counter this I beveled the rim of the coaster:

Here is the rim before beveling:

And here it is afterwards. Make sure that the bevel you create is a straight and flat-its easy to round off when youre turning:

And here are the coasters after theyve been turned:

Finishing the coasters

I put them each back on the lathe and sanded them smooth with 120 & 150 grit sand paper. Since pine is so soft this part goest quickly:

Ahhh, my favorite part: I put a coat of rub on polyurethane. I used Minwax poly for this:

And here they all are after theyve had a coat of polyurethane:

And this is what they look like on a table. Hmmm...not bad:

This is a simple project. The key is to make sure you duplicate each coaster as well as you can. By doing this you will ensure that your coasters stack together neatly. You can also stain them if you want them to match a particular tables color or paint them too. If you have kids at home, get them to embellish them with paints or markers and then give them a coat of polyurethane (the coasters, not the kids!). They make a great present for grandparents. If you want to get really fancy, hardwood scrap would make really lovely coasters. I plan to give them another coat of poly on the top side and then a single coat on the bottom and theyll be ready to take to church.

Well its raining and Im coming down with cold so Im going to stop for today. Im going to have some hot soup for lunch and listen to some great Irish music by the Two Tap Trio, a local St. Paul band. That always makes me feel better!!

See you soon,

VW

Continue

Thanksgiving Weekend and Project Updates

Here are a few instagram highlights from our long weekend!

1. David and I picked up a Santa hat for Annabelle, is she excited to try it on or chew on it? Yep, definitely chew, she was looking for it the rest of the night. Hopefully we will get a good photo in front of the tree, but Im doubtful! 2. We started putting up the tree - David is the master light stringer as I like to put it. Weve already went back to the store once to get more lights and we still need one more. David says that we got rid of some that didnt work last year, I say he put them closer together :) 3. We started polishing the base of the Eames chairs with our Dremel tool fine grit sandpaper and polishing supplies. It looks a little gold in this photo, but its not (must be the lighting) 4. I have an idea for two closet doors that we picked up at Habitat ReStore. It is currently in the works, Ill keep you posted!

We also went to Shell Beach shortly before sunset yesterday.

In attempts to get a good photo with Annabelle, I said "Wheres David?" (before David gets home, I tell Annabelle that David is coming home soon, and she proceeds to get very excited and wait for him by the stairs) She also gets very excited for "Wheres David" I guess because it sounds similar to her, so she licked my face ... 

and mouth 

These were best we got, she was too excited to explore the beach!

We left just as the sun went down ...

It was a great weekend!

Ill be back soon with project updates! 

--

Tonight is the last night for 30% off my etsy shop, use code: HOLIDAY30 at checkout

Continue

Look High school history project ideas

This High school history project ideas Best choice

High School History Project Ideas

Stuyvesant high school - wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Stuyvesant high school is named after peter stuyvesant, the last dutch governor of new netherland before the colony was transferred to england in 1664. the school was. Columbine high school massacre - wikipedia, the free, The columbine high school massacre was a school shooting which occurred on april 20, 1999, at columbine high school in columbine, an unincorporated area of jefferson. Science fair projects & experiments: topics, ideas, Science fair projects: topics, ideas, experiments, resources, and sample projects..

Harvard summer school - official site, Who we are. harvard summer school invites college, high school, and adult students to earn credit or seek enrichment in courses at harvard.. Cedarcrest high school - official site, Athletics, newsletter, fight song, facts, construction projects, calendar, staff directory, administration, counseling, career center, and lrc.. Fairbanks north star borough school district | fairbanks, (fairbanks) about schools, school calendar, administration, school board information, news, and employment information..

Nhd - home of history education: national history day, Discover how nhd students outperform their peers in the findings from the first national evaluation of the national history day program. Hippocampus - homework and study help - free help with, Courses for middle school, high school, ap*, and college math from one of arizona's top community colleges lectures on math and science. Jobs for high school students - employment spot, High school students are becoming more and more independent, and with this independence comes a need for money. cell phone bills, gas and car insurance, saving up for.

Popular High school history project ideas its good

High school history project ideas ,

10 out of 10 based on 45 ratings

Continue

A Cool Project from the Metal Shop

Sams uncle, Peter Moore of VermontBrickOvens.com , Pawlet, VT, builds elegant wood-fired pizza ovens. Sometimes he needs little details like this digital thermometer door cover above or a fancy damper handle that Sam made earlier in the week (The camera missed that one) . The outer door frame shown here is maybe 8 x 10" made of 1.5" angle iron, but I thought it had a cool look when it was done so here it is .... Click the photos for a better view ...

First step, cutting and welding the 1.5X1/8" angle iron frame, fitting the 1/8" door

Step 2, scan a logo and cut a tree out of thin, (14 guage?), flat stock... or maybe it was an 1/8"flat stock ... Sketch on some mountains

Find some brass hinges and rivets and practice your mountain making and all you have left to do is make your mountains and stars on the real thing, hand forge a small pull, texture the big copper rivet, figure out how to epoxy on a little rare earth magnet to hold the door shut, patina the brass hinges, and youre all set .... Nice Job Sam!

click to enlarge for details

Continue