I have not started a thread here in Vintage in like forever......

I love to make sawdust, my expression for building and making stuff out of wood
For me, once the toys go away for their winter nap, it's time to start making sawdust
Normally I'm working on the house as I'm redoing all the trim in a Craftsman/Mission Style; baseboards, window and door casings, and even some crown moldings in the living room
Typically I like to start out the winter on building some simple things, this gets the dust blown off my skill sets before I start to tackle the really critical stuff, the interior trim

My next project is well under way...

Clamping is an art form



This project all started with a piece from an old bird house Dad made long ago
The feeder was destroyed when their house burnt down because it was too close to the house, but somehow his incredible craftsmanship was saved on the top panel
All Lexan, and so well crafted, the machining is just so impressive
I cut the important part out, and am well underway with my most complicated feeder ever
The clamping pic above is what this will go into

Dad's clever little door for filling the feeder



I just get a thrill out of designing the way things should go together, and then making the cuts
I'm using both Cedar and pressure treated, the Cedar is the majority of the structure, but it's a really soft wood
The pressure treated is like a hard wood, tricky precise cuts can be made on it without the wood fiber ripping, and its strong

Little support brackets for the roof section that get's Dad's little door


Brackets placed


Brackets help to support Lexan piece, and help to tie all the Cedar together



I'll post more pics as the work continues
This project is on a time line, I have to be done by Monday afternoon when I leave for Mom's as this is her big Christmas gift
I suspect she will cry when she sees what I did with that old scrap of plastic left over from the old feeder


So, are there any woodworkers out there?
Anybody have both gasoline and sawdust in their veins?
If so, post up a pic of your project, the stuff you yourself are building.

 

Nice thread and loved reading it. I'm not a woodworker but believe it is an artform.

 

Doug I thoroughly admire your careful work. I sometimes try, but my skill is lacking, and my tools are not always adequate. I'm looking forward to this thread.

 

Thanks!

I love the challenge of figuring out the structure, or the engineering behind it all
I sit for hours at my kitchen table making sketches and detailed drawings in advance
I roll around in bed at night contemplating how I can cut something or how I can resolve a build problem

Wood is such a cool material to work with
I once saw a TV special, like a History or Discovery program
It was called something like How Wood Made this Country
It's an amazing material when it is used right

I just smile in awe when I think about the old ship builders, now they knew what they were doing, I wish I had a fraction of their mad skills

 

Thanks.

I have to say, in my opinion, it all boils down to two things; good tools and lots of practice
Working with tools that let you down is an exercise in frustration, it takes one's confidence away, and that works against getting more experience
The things I'm working on now, I could NEVER have done this good with my old table saw, I could have done them, but they would have turned out like crap
My old table saw was not a horrible saw, it just was not real precise, and it was a miserable SOB to try and set to be precise
I do however think fondly of it, I gave it away for free to a fellow S member, he had a new home built and was planning to do the rough construction in the basement himself, plus some shelves and things for the garage
My old table saw was perfect for that kind of thing, so he came over, picked it up, gave me a 6-pack of good beer, and we called it a day

My old saw


My old saw ready for it's new owner


My Daddy's 1959 saw when I got it home and ready to restore


Dad's saw now, ironic that the oldest power tool I own is the most precise



Well off to the basement I go, it's going to be a busy day, I have to get this feeder finished for Christmas....

Time to make the sawdust

 

Well I got the top done...
I'm not happy with the sides and bottom, I really need wider wood which is what I was afraid of all along
It's ok, I'll give Mom the top, she will be thrilled, it has Dad's clever opening
I'll have to do a glue-up to make some wood for the sides that are wider than the 7.125" I had in stock, or I'll just spend the money and buy a wider board

The inside of the top


The grand outside

 

Doug, my dad had great wood working skills and made his own dinghies. They were beautifully crafted and he would steam and bend the ribs to the correct shape. Steaming wood is an amazing process and I still remember watching the steam shoot out of the steel tubes he heated in a 55 gallon drum. God only know what he was using for fuel.

I used to do a bit of wood working and i made my own frame for the back seat of my Austin Healey. The replacement part costs $600, so that motivated me to dust off my skills and make my own.

 

Glad to see there are other artists on board.

 

I sometimes play wood butcher with a Shopsmith and a Ctaftsman Radial Arm Saw - mostly shelving that fits a particular place or purpose in our house. Maybe when we get back from Paducky I can post a couple of pictures

 

All pics are welcomed!

Shelves are a great project, from scrap wood comes an all new purpose/function for it
Taking basically nothing, a plain blank of wood, and transforming it into a functioning things is such a big part of the thrill for me