Biathlon Walnut Rifle Stock

Finally something to post about… Or more like finally some time to post what I’ve been working on….  I’ve made rifle stocks in the past, but not in the last couple of years.  Well orders have flooded in all of a sudden (when it rains it pours…).  Here is the first of 7.  It’s a custom stock designed for a local athlete who came just shy of a medal at last year’s national championships.  The design was mostly his suggestions, and they are loosely based on a German stock maker named Brislinger.

I’m quite happy with how it turned out, and I tried out a new finish on it which I’m thrilled with the results of.  I spent a long time picking out the wood, and while you can’t see it from the pictures, there is some sap wood on the other side of the stock, giving it a nice two-toned look. Below is one of his first test groups… 98 out of 100 is an incredible score, and can’t be solely credited to the stock, but I’m also his coach, so I can take some of the credit…

Too busy woodworking to woodwork…

Typo? Nope.  That’s right, I was too busy this week woodworking and so didn’t have enough time to…. do woodworking.  I landed a job with a local furniture maker, which is super exciting and great for me to learn and get paid to do it, but at the same time, it means my projects (which are for once paying projects) aren’t getting done.

 

Basically I feel like Luke Skywalker, I’ve learnt a bunch at Rosewood (ie. Yoda), and now I see an opportunity to use my skills to do projects that people need (ie. saving my friends from the bounty hunters), but I have taken this job to learn more (kind like when Luke returns to Yoda, except my teacher isn’t dying… nor does he have big green ears and talk funny, well maybe a little).

 

I’ve been working on my projects after my daughters bedtime, which means only a couple of hours a day at best, and after spending 9 hours building cabinets and drawers, I don’t feel like I’m really awake enough to do anything to precise, or with power tools.  Speaking of power tools, one exciting incident this week with a panel saw, thankfully I still have all my fingers, and due to my short stature, the piece of wood hit me in the stomach instead of the family jewels…

 

Anyhoo, all this is basically a big fat excuse why I didn’t post the projects that I promised to post last week.  Next week isn’t looking much better, but we’ll see what we can get accomplished.  It’s a good problem to have, more orders than time to do them, but at the rate I’m finishing them, it might be Christmas before I catch up…

Captain Awesome

Some days everything goes wrong, and other days I feel like Captain Awesome.  Today was one of those days.  Part of the key was I was in the right frame of mind, but I also took my time, made sure the tools were set up ahead of time and everything was clean and organized.  But I’d like to think some was related to me gaining experience as well.  I guess in a way me learning to take my time and set things up first is due to experience.

I did have one set back, 2/3 of the way through the day I was trying to rout a grove using the router table.  It’s not a good one, but it’s better than my old one (and it was free, so can’t complain).  But not only was the fence moving, but it wasn’t straight, or square.  I tried to bend the metal straight and it snapped in half.  Possibly it was a sign that I should make a fence (or maybe I should buy a router table).  For now I quickly put together a simple fence out of some old melamine.  Is it perfectly square? No, but it’s a lot closer than the old one, good enough for now.

Anyways, many projects on the go, more than I can handle really, but it feels awesome.  I’ll be posting some of them in the future as they look less like piles of wood and more like something.  Hopefully some new stuff in the Etsy Shop next week as well!

Honestly I make other stuff besides cutting boards…

 

So I do make other things besides cutting boards, just seems like that’s what gets posted most often.  The bottom two boards were Anniversary/Christmas presents for my parents and in-laws.  They were both well received, and unfortunately are rarely used “because they’re just too nice”.  The top board was meant to be the same as the bottom two, but since the glue up wasn’t as flat as it could have been, I had a few exciting passes through the planer (read “projectile cutting board”).  Anyways, the rectangular board got smaller and smaller, until it became a square board.  Worked out in the end.

All boards are made from maple and walnut, food safe glue, and some colourful acrylic accent paint.  Finished with food-safe mineral oil.  The small one was put on Etsy and sold a few weeks ago!

Looking sharp…

 

 

I always jump into projects without being properly prepared.  So this week when I had some time, instead of starting yet another project only to get frustrated when things didn’t work out perfectly (usually due to my lack of prep), I instead decided to do some tuning up.  I started with making a zero clearance insert for my table saw, but I didn’t have the right material, so instead I decided to sharpen.

 

Over the past 6 months I’ve acquired several planes and a set of chisels shortly after Christmas.  Some have been sharpened, some not, some half way, so I spent a couple of nights sharpening and tuning everything up.  Sharpening really isn’t so bad, I somewhat enjoyed it as I could see the tools performing better as I put more work into them.  Next week I’ll do a little project, still waiting for work to wind down before I start anything big.

I’m Back…. and Stuff is selling on Etsy!

Been gone the last while as I’ve been up to my ears in house reno’s, followed by getting a job which seems to take up almost all of my free time.  Last night after working all day, then shovelling off the roof (because I haven’t reno’d it yet and it leaks) and then shovelling the driveway, I decided to head out to the workshop and build a quick melamine box for the microwave.  After an hour, I had wasted several sheets of melamine, and had a pile of sawdust and screws to show for all my work.  Went to bed very discouraged, how could I not make a simple box?  Luckily in the morning, a surprise couple of Etsy sales came to the rescue.  Nothing like someone liking your stuff enough to pay for it to get you out of the dumps.

 

I went back in tonight finished the box, plus some signs I needed to do, and even got started on another cutting board as my Etsy listings are running a little low lately.  I feel a million times better tonight, hopefully more time opens up this weekend for me to continue working on projects.  I find the more time I take off woodworking the more I forget how to do, and the longer it takes me to get back in the grove.

 

Next week, something with pictures! Enjoy your weekends…

Wooden Nursery Mobile

 

A friend of ours had a baby a while back and we wanted to make somethings special for her baby shower.  My wife had the idea to make a wooden mobile and this is what came of it.  All pieces are cut from baltic birch and hung by twine with gold foil.  The edges of the clouds are painted white while the raindrop is turquoise.   I’m very pleased with how it turned out and the gift was very well received.

Due to the praise it received I have made and posted another mobile for sale on Etsy.