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Tag: hand tools

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A slab top for the Japanese Workbench

These days my life revolves around the lastest addition to the farm, our daughter. I spent the last few months franticly finishing some renovations so she didn’t grow up in a construction zone. Right before she was born I finally got around to finishing up my Japanese Workbench that I started over a year ago. I finally procured a large slab of ash a couple months ago 12″ wide 12/4. It took some working getting it flat and square (dont even think about trying to pass a slab this big over a little 6″ jointer). This was a case of you must take the tool to the wood! After it was square and flat I dovetailed a slot into the…

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A rustic bombproof farmhouse / harvest trestle table for a family kitchen.

I started hunting for Windsor chairs about a year ago and it took a few months to find a used set of birdcage Windsors I was happy with on craigslist. I did a bunch of experimenting with milk-paint and then refinished them. After refinishing them I think they worked well for this project. I think I’ll have to make my own chairs for the dining room table. I started my table process over on Pinterest with just some ideas I liked. I modeled it all in sketchup to get rough ideas of joinery and dimensions.It took me a little over a month to build the table. I would say there is about 40-50 hours of woodworking and finishing…

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Canton Brewing Company Beer Brewing Mashing Fork / Rake

Canton Brewing Company cares enough about their brewing process and supporting local craftsman that they hired me to hand make them traditional mashing forks for use in their beer production. If they care this much about the details of their tools I can’t wait to try their brews! They needed commercial size and robust tools but wanted them made in a traditional form. After meeting with the brewmaster we decided on Ash as a strong and robust handle material. I selected the straitest grain Ash I had available. I chose walnut as a secondary wood as I felt the colors complimented the ash well. I shaped the top of the handles by hand with a rasp. All the joinery…

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Android powered wall mounted media/photo frame

A couple years ago I got a Google Nexus 7. Back when I had an iPhone 5 the bigger screen was awesome for reading and browsing. Since my phone screens have got larger I’ve hardly touched the Nexus 7 and it was just sitting unused. I threw together a little frame for it and stuck it on the wall outside the closet that has the stereo that powers the whole house speaker system. Frame was made out of Quarter Sawn White Oak with protruding half lap joinery. Finish was done using Danish oil, shellac and wax. Makes for a nice little internet radio interface… and I can fire off streaming netflix, etc… to the chromecasts in the house too. Can also make…

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