Tuesday, March 23, 2010
No pics for now. The water is clear of ice now a days. I had my first paddle on March 16th a total of 106 days with out was a long stretch this year. I currently have a jewelry box, a ceder paddle for the kayak, the shroud lines to finish setting, and the long center board to make as projects on the board. This last weekend I got a cabinet order to quote. So things are starting to pick up in time for lots of good weather to go with. Not much for pics for now more to come as I get a chance.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The center unit of this unit was built and put after the two units on the side were all ready in place. The original design was a small breakfast bar to pull a stool up to. Toughest part of the job was color match of the ten year old units on the sides. 
As you can see here came close on color but just a tick off customer was happy with it so I decided it was ok. Part of the challenge of his install was the two side units were out of plumb with some tlc I was able to bring them back and was able to get new unit to fit nice and tight to the old on each side.
Build pics follow here. The special request on this unit was a need for heavy duty drawers both upper and lower. Bottoms of the big drawers made from half inch birch and sides were out of three quarter popular all of which worked well.
The sides of the top drawers made of three quarter also used a three eighths quarter round on top to dress all that material off to make it look good.
Doors made looking real good.
All framing on this unit was built to over come weight you will note all the extra framing through the next couple of pics.
Drawers are made and ready to go.
Sides of the big drawers the customer second special request is that they did not want metal lower drawer slides. All wood work good with some tlc, patience and finished off with bee's wax.
Drawer sides dado's and other details.
Drawer sides and such.
Good detail of framing on the top side this unit final fit was perfect and the framing will hold about anything you put in it.
Framing and such much care was put in to the entire project.
As you can see here came close on color but just a tick off customer was happy with it so I decided it was ok. Part of the challenge of his install was the two side units were out of plumb with some tlc I was able to bring them back and was able to get new unit to fit nice and tight to the old on each side.
Build pics follow here. The special request on this unit was a need for heavy duty drawers both upper and lower. Bottoms of the big drawers made from half inch birch and sides were out of three quarter popular all of which worked well.
The sides of the top drawers made of three quarter also used a three eighths quarter round on top to dress all that material off to make it look good.
Doors made looking real good.
All framing on this unit was built to over come weight you will note all the extra framing through the next couple of pics.
Drawers are made and ready to go.
Sides of the big drawers the customer second special request is that they did not want metal lower drawer slides. All wood work good with some tlc, patience and finished off with bee's wax.
Drawer sides dado's and other details.
Drawer sides and such.
Good detail of framing on the top side this unit final fit was perfect and the framing will hold about anything you put in it.
Framing and such much care was put in to the entire project.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Heritage Rocking Horse project
So when my sister found that she was pregnant with her first child she requested a rocking horse. I found this design by "You Build it" then carried it a bit further by doing a heritage rocking horse. My family has always been a farming in some way, yet my generation is the last generation farmers so it is due time to make record of all that rich farming history. So I sat down with both sets of grandparents and began to get history of farming was able to reach all the way back to the 1850's such a interesting project and I consider my self rich to be involved in such a opportunity. Next couple of pics are not in perfect order but you will get the idea. The main body of the horse is out of ash, saddle is walnut, and the cross is out of olive. Ash was a good choice because of price, yet very hard to work with. The walnut and olive cross was my idea worked really good. First is down the main of the horse the flash of the camera bleached out the main it is the same color as the dark brown in the walnut. 
This pic give a better idea of main color. This was very pain staking process. First the lay out of over 300 holes then drill then lastly 12 hours to set each individual strand of leather lace. The plan calls for yarn I feared that it would become nasty to fast.
This pic of the tail I combined a tan color of leather lace a 1/3 tan to 2/3 dark brown turned out be be nice.
Here is a close up of the saddle basically I riped a solid piece of walnut down center the used table saw to rabbit the cross dimensions cut cross then set it and it turned out just perfect then set the center line of the board and traced the seat pattern so that the cross ended perfectly on center of the seat.
The only disappointment in this project was the handle on the head of the horse. Ash and a dull 7/8 drill bit did not produce a good result. The final result was all sin was covered by the main.
Look close and you can see the 300+ holes for the main.
The legs screwed to rocker frame loosely ready for the body.
MMM... Look at those beautiful legs. Plus the seven degree wedges ready to go. Hind sight tells me that I should of just screwed everthing with no glue. I glued the wedges to the leggs while they were still in the "ruff" just off the scroll saw. Glued the wedges to the legs then sanded them as one unit. The back legs I waited to sand the hind quarters area till I had the leggs on the boddy to sand that area as all one unit. I did a lot of sanding on all the glue areas and yet when I went to set finish down it showed off some glue residue left some how.
Dry fit had to establish weather the legs needed to be screwed to the body then set on the rocker frame or the legs set on rocker frame then set the body. As you see in the above pic I decided to to legs on rocker then set the body. Turned out good doing this way.
The first time I have ever done such work not to bad if I say so my self.
Rocker frame ready for horse!
Lots of work here I do not have a band saw done everything on scroll saw and ended up with lots of hard sanding.
This pic give a better idea of main color. This was very pain staking process. First the lay out of over 300 holes then drill then lastly 12 hours to set each individual strand of leather lace. The plan calls for yarn I feared that it would become nasty to fast.
This pic of the tail I combined a tan color of leather lace a 1/3 tan to 2/3 dark brown turned out be be nice.
Here is a close up of the saddle basically I riped a solid piece of walnut down center the used table saw to rabbit the cross dimensions cut cross then set it and it turned out just perfect then set the center line of the board and traced the seat pattern so that the cross ended perfectly on center of the seat.
The only disappointment in this project was the handle on the head of the horse. Ash and a dull 7/8 drill bit did not produce a good result. The final result was all sin was covered by the main.
Look close and you can see the 300+ holes for the main.
The legs screwed to rocker frame loosely ready for the body.
MMM... Look at those beautiful legs. Plus the seven degree wedges ready to go. Hind sight tells me that I should of just screwed everthing with no glue. I glued the wedges to the leggs while they were still in the "ruff" just off the scroll saw. Glued the wedges to the legs then sanded them as one unit. The back legs I waited to sand the hind quarters area till I had the leggs on the boddy to sand that area as all one unit. I did a lot of sanding on all the glue areas and yet when I went to set finish down it showed off some glue residue left some how.
Dry fit had to establish weather the legs needed to be screwed to the body then set on the rocker frame or the legs set on rocker frame then set the body. As you see in the above pic I decided to to legs on rocker then set the body. Turned out good doing this way.
The first time I have ever done such work not to bad if I say so my self.
Rocker frame ready for horse!
Lots of work here I do not have a band saw done everything on scroll saw and ended up with lots of hard sanding.Here is the lumber some how the 1 1/2 X 10''X10' for the body did not get in the pick. Total was $80 for materials so that was good the labor was unreal.
Body is cut out.
I did cheat a little on the rockers just glued the tops of the rockers and as long as your are careful to come close to match grain you never know it was two different sections.
Body is cut out.
I did cheat a little on the rockers just glued the tops of the rockers and as long as your are careful to come close to match grain you never know it was two different sections.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A little history
So I am in a place where there is a lot of my work out there and a lot of it I have lost track of. Building and creating is something I really enjoy and if there is a opportunity I go for it. Here is a small sample of my work. The reason for the P.J project is that I really wanted to challenge my self and pull out of the same old work. Below is a small entertainment center that I built out of oak. 
This next project was both my design and build. Wanted a dresser that would have a big enough bottom drawer for blankets and such. The dimensions worked good. Decided to do solid maple stained to look cherry, with a mission design. This worked good have some things that I would do differently but has been a good solid design and held up to all the moves.
This desk is also my design wanted something that I could have a computer and enough room out front to do paper work and drafts. Most of my work is done on CAD now the room out front is still good and again has worked out as a real solid design and built like a tank. Solid oak and stained the famous rich mission color.
The next display case I built for a former employer. The glass was done by some one else and donated and needed a way to show it off. This was a fun project the challenge before me is that all I had is a verbal "I would like to have something in oak with curves". I came up with this on paper and they liked it. The rest is history. Most of the project is solid oak "car siding". The hardest part of the project was the lighting my original idea did not work then revamped with a LED light track right under the glass that worked really good.
The last project is a solid cherry clock that I built. This was built from plans and yet had some interesting challenges. My first clock and the cherry has done a beautiful job of showing off the best part as it gets older the cherry continues to come up with new deeper character. This is a real charm for any house.
This next project was both my design and build. Wanted a dresser that would have a big enough bottom drawer for blankets and such. The dimensions worked good. Decided to do solid maple stained to look cherry, with a mission design. This worked good have some things that I would do differently but has been a good solid design and held up to all the moves.
This desk is also my design wanted something that I could have a computer and enough room out front to do paper work and drafts. Most of my work is done on CAD now the room out front is still good and again has worked out as a real solid design and built like a tank. Solid oak and stained the famous rich mission color.
The next display case I built for a former employer. The glass was done by some one else and donated and needed a way to show it off. This was a fun project the challenge before me is that all I had is a verbal "I would like to have something in oak with curves". I came up with this on paper and they liked it. The rest is history. Most of the project is solid oak "car siding". The hardest part of the project was the lighting my original idea did not work then revamped with a LED light track right under the glass that worked really good.
The last project is a solid cherry clock that I built. This was built from plans and yet had some interesting challenges. My first clock and the cherry has done a beautiful job of showing off the best part as it gets older the cherry continues to come up with new deeper character. This is a real charm for any house.
Monday, December 7, 2009
It has been a long stretch again. Continue to plug away and now have started to do set up for the second rig. Dix written directions are a bit confusing for me yet with some patience for me to get with the program was able to make forward progress. I also want to give a couple of end of season notes. First on the Interlux top coat (came with grip sand in it) really good stuff keeps you from falling, yet a bit aggressive takes skin off real quick and is very hard on any hardware that is on deck. I started to tie all hard ware up off the deck for any travel time on the trailer. I also was not happy with the performance of the bottom paint (also Interlux) does not hold up to any hit at all. I have two coat on yet wore through in the area where it sits on the wheel of the trailer. This is not a full up date for this second rig. More to come. I finally broke down and put the Kayak away for the season on December first. It is going to be a long winter! 
I was not ready to put the jib in place came up with simple bungee to keep it from bagging around.
The next two pics give you how I put force into bring the 4'' bend in the mast. I used the up hall line cleated into the cleat on the bottom of the mast. Note that I flipped my boom upside down and use the out board end thumb cleat to lock the line in place. Lastly just a one inch friction strap. The first two inches of bend in the mast come pretty easy. The last two made me a bit nervous the mast stood up to it and the final bend came in beautifully between the lower and upper shroud connection points. You will also note that I added a 3/4'' dia rubber plug on the bottom side of the outboard end of the boom. The interdeck grip was especially hard on that and the tiller extentions. 
If you look close there is a green 5/32 line that I tied to the goose neck and ran over the top of the mast before lifting the mast to help sight in the amount of bend being put in the mast.
The next two pics give you how I put force into bring the 4'' bend in the mast. I used the up hall line cleated into the cleat on the bottom of the mast. Note that I flipped my boom upside down and use the out board end thumb cleat to lock the line in place. Lastly just a one inch friction strap. The first two inches of bend in the mast come pretty easy. The last two made me a bit nervous the mast stood up to it and the final bend came in beautifully between the lower and upper shroud connection points. You will also note that I added a 3/4'' dia rubber plug on the bottom side of the outboard end of the boom. The interdeck grip was especially hard on that and the tiller extentions. 
If you look close there is a green 5/32 line that I tied to the goose neck and ran over the top of the mast before lifting the mast to help sight in the amount of bend being put in the mast.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hard lessons of life
I had a whole role ready to get up and going. Just put out a beautiful coffee table and had a lot of updates and fun stuff on the boat. Lost it all due to old camera not advancing the film correctly. I knew it had seen its better days, now I could just kick my self to china and back for not replacing it. All in process pics of the table are gone. More good stuff is on its way we have been locked into a bad cold and rainy season here and looking for a dry stretch to set boat up and do some dry runs on the cat rig. Plus i have a really cool opportunity to make a heirloom rocking horse for my sister who is expecting in February. Pics are on the way on both getting the itch to do stuff now that i have been kicked inside the past three weekends in the row! Ready to go!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
I am back!!!
First some updates details and hard ware issues. So here I am at the machine shop that I work at. We have a nice 48''x48'' electronic scale can not see the read out here sorry about the bad pic. The haul weight out at 95lbs, and with all the other goodies the total weight was 125lbs.
This is the una rig hole the only thing I got a chance to run this season yet it proved to be a very fun, fast rig for my purpose mainly learning this boat and wind conditions on the small lake that I have easy access to. This pic shows the loop for the vang and the out haul running correctly the only thing that needs to change here is to move these in a bit and add a 424 fair lead on each side for the cunningham.
Here is the out haul coming down from the boom the right side is the WRONG! way to run it. It ends up holding up the reach ability on the boom. The left runs down the mast to 424 fair lead and down to deck cleat.
Here is my una rig mast step. It looks ugly yes I know. Not sure what I did wrong. My logical conclusion was to first to drill the hole through the mast set it in place cut my aluminum set them on center of mast step with mast in step used a long scratch all to mark location then drilled my holes. The look off center yet work really well. What works really good is that I have a extra long 1/4'' bolt that I push all the way through and thread on the nut half way and the push back till the nut catch on the one of the screw that secure the bracket down. This locks every thing in. Looks not good yet works extremely well. Sorry about the bad pic nut is on the left catches on the crew above.
Here is a new main sheet block. The one called out on Dix print is discontinued so West marine recommended something else (Ronstan) I spent an entire month scratching my head going am I stupid or is this thing not right. Finally broke down and called Annapolis Performance (Hind sight tells me that these guys are much better at sail boat stuff than West Marine!!!) they recommended a Harken 2138 pic here this works much better!
Out haul tail here attached to a wonderfully sail by Baxter. I need to redo the small line that keeps the sail down to the boom. This current idea is ok yet needs improvement. Update will come as I do some trial and error.
Here is some on the water pics in some very calm conditions. Just one of those day set out with good conditions by the time my friend got out on the power boat to take these pics all wind quit. grrr..
FIRST WAR WOUNDS!! On the elbow the day aft the pics above had much more challenging conditions. The Interlux top coat with grip works good yet easily tears the flesh right off you.
Two of them make a great pair. The CLC 16' Kayak is over five years old now yet still is going hard and strong! Just keep a good coat of varnish on it and it remains unstoppable. This is what my back porch area looked like most of the summer take off early morning before the wind came up in the kayak then take off in the afternoon for a good sail. This works out for more fun than you can swing a stick at. It is going to be a long winter yet look forward to updating the sail boat and getting it honed in ready for the cat rig so that is ready to go for spring!
This is the una rig hole the only thing I got a chance to run this season yet it proved to be a very fun, fast rig for my purpose mainly learning this boat and wind conditions on the small lake that I have easy access to. This pic shows the loop for the vang and the out haul running correctly the only thing that needs to change here is to move these in a bit and add a 424 fair lead on each side for the cunningham.
Here is the out haul coming down from the boom the right side is the WRONG! way to run it. It ends up holding up the reach ability on the boom. The left runs down the mast to 424 fair lead and down to deck cleat.
Here is my una rig mast step. It looks ugly yes I know. Not sure what I did wrong. My logical conclusion was to first to drill the hole through the mast set it in place cut my aluminum set them on center of mast step with mast in step used a long scratch all to mark location then drilled my holes. The look off center yet work really well. What works really good is that I have a extra long 1/4'' bolt that I push all the way through and thread on the nut half way and the push back till the nut catch on the one of the screw that secure the bracket down. This locks every thing in. Looks not good yet works extremely well. Sorry about the bad pic nut is on the left catches on the crew above.
Here is a new main sheet block. The one called out on Dix print is discontinued so West marine recommended something else (Ronstan) I spent an entire month scratching my head going am I stupid or is this thing not right. Finally broke down and called Annapolis Performance (Hind sight tells me that these guys are much better at sail boat stuff than West Marine!!!) they recommended a Harken 2138 pic here this works much better!
Out haul tail here attached to a wonderfully sail by Baxter. I need to redo the small line that keeps the sail down to the boom. This current idea is ok yet needs improvement. Update will come as I do some trial and error.
Here is some on the water pics in some very calm conditions. Just one of those day set out with good conditions by the time my friend got out on the power boat to take these pics all wind quit. grrr..
FIRST WAR WOUNDS!! On the elbow the day aft the pics above had much more challenging conditions. The Interlux top coat with grip works good yet easily tears the flesh right off you.
On a performance note I am so impressed with the amount of speed you can get out of the una rig. I was out in 9-13 knot winds got her going fast enough to get the out haul lines howling in the wind. Saturday step up a bit to 10-15 knots had lots of fun. Then Sunday it stepped up again 18-22 knots. I had so much fun and learned just how much she will take. I also had my first at speed spill. Had her heeling pretty good heading south on an east wind at a good clip. I knew I was on the edge just needed to push to learn more. A gust came up and put me over. I went in on the heeling side just under the boom had enough time to un-cleat the main sheet did not have enough time to in hale before hitting the water. Needless to say the only unpleasant thing of the whole experience was the amount of water I took in through the nose and such. Swam around to the rudder regained breath then went around to the center board grabbed the righting line about in line with center board put a knee on the center board and put my hands on the wing and gave a little pull and she came right up. With the main sheet un cleated she waited patiently while I swam back around to the back climbed in over the rudder. Got on the deck and regained full composure sheeted in and off we go. Best news was with this clear step up in wind conditions there are no signs of stress on the deck ring and no signs of stress in the x deck. I have not even touched the jib! Can not wait … winter is going to be a long one this year.
Some closing pics is a must. I was able to sail right into the last weekend of Sept. This is good for my area. My hope is to add a wetsuit for next year so I can get a little longer season in.
Two of them make a great pair. The CLC 16' Kayak is over five years old now yet still is going hard and strong! Just keep a good coat of varnish on it and it remains unstoppable. This is what my back porch area looked like most of the summer take off early morning before the wind came up in the kayak then take off in the afternoon for a good sail. This works out for more fun than you can swing a stick at. It is going to be a long winter yet look forward to updating the sail boat and getting it honed in ready for the cat rig so that is ready to go for spring!
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