Little maple box

05 Sep 2015 Leave a comment

by Stephanie (Curiositykt) in Usables Tags: , , ,

So we were brainstorming things for a viking persona award, since paper scrolls don’t really fit well, and I had been contemplating making a little box using viking era techniques and suddenly it all fit nicely together…

Maple craft board, made using finger joints and a tongue and groove lid. Glue used to hold it in place.
Man, having a band saw in my garage is awesome! But I couldn’t have done the groove without Troy and Lisa’s help. They had a router and the ability to control it.

I’m planning on making a box for myself next, this time using poplar and doing all the joining by hand. I’ve learned my lesson about carving maple craft board, it’s harder than it looks. This box was a fun little proof of concept piece that gets to live an adventurous life. I’m a little sad it’s getting painted as the maple is so pretty to scrape to a mirror finish and then oil, but I have more maple for later.

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Spoon progress – hatchets help

20 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by Stephanie (Curiositykt) in Usables Tags: , , , ,

So today I took out the hatchet, also some leather to protect my leg, and more puncture proof gloves. And it helped a great deal. I actually ended up using the side of the garden box as a steadying surface, with the leather protecting it. I managed to get off most of the wood, now I need to make some decisions regarding the bowl and the handle.

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Spoon progress

19 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by Stephanie (Curiositykt) in Usables Tags: , , ,

So I got some cherry turning wood from woodcraft, and used a terribly dull band saw to cut it in half (See blackening on the back).

Then I drew on the shape I wanted to rough out:

2013-10-19 15.12.44

Then using a wood carving knife from my deceased grandfather (Along with his sharpening stone) I started to rough it out. This didn’t go so well, so I switched to my Niji set which are way too small for wood this dense, but I did eventually make some progress. And along the way I snapped one v-blade and pretty much dulled all the gouges, and somewhat successfully resharpened them. After about 2 hours of work I ended up with this:

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So I asked around and was told of the marvels of hatchets for roughing out work. So I went to sears and got a sportsman’s axe We’ll see how that performs tomorrow. I’m a little scared it’s going to take off way too much wood. I also got a new pair of leather gloves as apparently mechanics gloves don’t have leather in the spots where I keep stabbing myself. (Which includes my right thigh, the new gloves won’t help with that)