Table Saw push stick
Surprisingly, I don’t actually have a push stick. All these years I’ve usually just grabbed whatever scrap was lying around. For awhile I had part of an old hockey stick that did a pretty good job… but today I figured why not make one, probably safer than what I’ve been using!
Pretty simple design made out of scrap 3/4″ plywood with about a 3/8″ lip at the back to grip the wood. How does it work? Well I had nothing that really needed cutting so I didn’t try it out, but I’m sure it’s just dandy…
Bent ply bike seat
I made a wooden push bike for my daughter last year, but I kept the seat very simple, using just a small piece of flat plywood. I wanted something nicer but I was low on time, and she was still too little to ride it, so I figured it was better than nothing.
Fast forward one year and she is eager to learn how to ride and a new seat was needed. I’ve been keen to learn some bent ply techniques, so I thought this seat would be a good small project to start on. The seat is made of three layers of 3mm Baltic birch which I sandwich between a wooden form in a large vice. Layers were glued together using epoxy, and the final shape was cut out on a bandsaw. I’m really pleased with how it worked out, next step would be to cover it with some type of padding, but the neoprene I want to use is packed away in a box with the rest of my things and might not be found till next spring…
Playgoda – If you really loved your children, you would buy them one…
How awesome is this climbing frame? All flat pack birch plywood, put together without screws or glue. If you really loved your kids, you would buy them one… or you’d head out to the workshop and make a custom version for them…
Check out more of Gregg Fleishman’s creations (especially the furniture!)
52 Create – Chalkboards, Chalkboards, Chalkboards!
52 Create – my weekly creative output for 2011. I made some chalkboards for my own wedding last summer, and I was recently commissioned to make a bunch of them for another wedding this summer. These were to be decidedly more “rustic” in appearance and also cost was a factor for the client. They are made from 1/4″ douglas fir plywood with a 1/4″ dowel out the back to support them. They will be used for table numbers for the dinner. It was a fairly quick job and made me realize some of the benefits of organization when doing larger production runs (ie. 20 chalkboards – 2 didn’t work out…).
My other 52 Create Projects.
52 Create – Wooden Kids Book
52 Create, my weekly creative outlet for 2011… My little (and only) niece is celebrating her first Easter, too young for chocolate, so how about her very own personalized book? I’ve had this idea in the back of my head for about a year, and I even cut the wooden blanks out for the pages at least a month ago, but it wasn’t until the last couple of days that I designed the page in illustrator and printed them out on t-shirt transfer paper. The wood is 1/8″ plywood and the designs are simply ironed on and covered with a thin coat of spray on lacquer (food safe of course!).
I think these could be a real hit on Etsy as once the design is done, it’s fairly quick to assemble, and I could put a personalized name on each book. The only issue is I don’t feel the t-shirt transfer will be very durable. I’ll be keeping an eye on this book to see how well it holds up.
My other 52 Create Projects
My Etsy Store.
52 Create – Flat Pack Rocking Chair
52 Create, my weekly creative output for 2011. I guaranteed something more ambitious this week, and here it is! I call it “For those who Like to Rock”. It’s a flat pack rocking chair made out of baltic birch plywood. It’s sized for a toddler (1.5-4 years) and assembles without and glue or screws. I’ve had several different variations of this in my many sketchbooks, and I even made a prototype a few years back, however this is a full finished product.
This rocking chair is now for sale on my Etsy Site, feel free to stop by and make a purchase….
My other 52 create projects…
52 Create – Wooden Ring
52 Create, my weekly creative project for 2011. While I spent a lot of time on various projects this past week, I really don’t have much to show for it. I had many issues with the projects that pushed back their finish timeline by days, weeks, or even ever in some cases. So with all the bad luck (or lack of planning), I was quite happy for this little project to turn out so well.
In the picture you can see my latest creation, a man’s ring out of Baltic Birch plywood. Why plywood? Well I honestly didn’t have much for wood in the shop this past week, and due to issues with grain in making wooden rings, plywood is actually a pretty good choice. I picked the wood mainly because I had many scraps of it lying around, but I was very impressed with the way it turned out.
Wood has grain that runs in one direction, and that means that on a ring, parts of it would be very weak if you only used one solid piece of wood. The solution to this would be to laminate two pieces together, keeping the grain at right angles. I meant to do this, but in one of my many screw-ups, I managed to glue them with the grain parallel, which doesn’t really help with the strength much… I then realized that Baltic Birch plywood is basically many thin layers of Birch that is laminated at right angles to each other, making a very strong piece of wood for a ring. The only issue is that the layers are so thin that the outer ones have a tendency to chip off if you aren’t careful.
How did I make it? well I took a scrap of wood, drilled out a hole with a forstner bit (3/4″ fit my finger), then I went to the bandsaw and cut a circle around the hole. Then I took the beginnings of a ring back to the drill press, put a bit of masking tape on the forstner bit to widen it a little, and then forced the ring onto the bit. Turned the drill press on and proceeded to sand it round. I made the bevel with an old round file I had. I then sanded it up to 600 grit, although I had a large gap between 220 and 600… but you work with what you’ve got, and new sandpaper wasn’t in the budget this week.
I’ve never been a ring kind of guy, but I really like this ring and the way it feels. I’ve been wearing it almost daily, and it’s incredibly light and comfortable. It’s amazing how thin it is and yet is still strong (it’s less than 2mm at it’s thickest). When you hold it up to sunlight you can actually see light through the wood. I haven’t finished it yet, so I’ve been very careful not to soak it. I’ve read that Cyanoacrylate is the way to go for a durable waterproof finish. While this was only meant to be a trial run with scrap wood, I’m extremely pleased with how it went, and will try a few more out of Baltic Birch. I do now have a small piece of walnut and maple that I’ve laminated together, so I might post another version of the ring for next week, we’ll see.
My other 52 Create Projects
52 Create – Grandpa’s Wall
Week 1 of 52 Create. For those of you just tuning in, I’m designing/making 52 things this year, one per week. The objects are crafts and will range from toys to furniture, and in a variety of materials.
For my first project, I decided on something that was not only fun but necessary. Now that we’re back at home my 16 month old daughter needs a gate to keep her from exploring the stairs. I could have picked up a crappy plastic one but that would cost money, would look ugly, and wouldn’t be any fun. I had a piece of 1/4″ baltic birch plywood in the Manrage (man’s garage) so that’s the the wood I used. Had I had a choice, I would have used 3/8″ to give it a bit more strength. I cut the plywood to size and then sketched out a few designs on it. Then with a router with a 1/4″ bit I cut the designs out freehand, sanded them smooth, and applied a coat of beeswax finish.
It’s mounted in an old door frame (the door is long gone), I simply put a couple of blocks of wood on the frame with some finishing nails and the piece of plywood slides in between. It’s removeable when we need to clean the floor or go downstairs, but it’s actually low enough to just step over.
Why Grandpa’s Wall? The butterfly design brought back a childhood memory of my grandpa. I like to name all my work, and that memory really jumped out at me.
This baby gate won’t be going up on Etsy as there is no standard mounting system (you’d have to nail blocks into your wall, assuming you have a wooden frame there to begin with).
Of Bicycles and Amsterdam
Back from travelling and a ton of pictures to sort through. After a couple of weeks in both Amsterdam and Berlin, I have many rolls to develop, would have been even more but there was a fair amount of rain that made picture taking a little less enjoyable. Berlin was incredibly dark and overcast, that combined with the early sunsets meant not a lot of light in general.
Anyways, in Amsterdam everyone rides bikes, I was truly jealous not to live somewhere where this is the culture. The one thing that really stood out for me were the bikes seen above that could carry loads! During the week I was there I saw variations of this bike carrying everything from kids, to lumber (sheets of plywood) to a couch (two seater love seat, yes I’m serious). These seem like such a great idea as you can haul your kids as well as your groceries, and your precious cargo is right in front of you unlike in a chariot type trailer.
Check out their website.
Wooden Caterpillar
I was at a local “vide grenier” (garage/yard sale for North Americans) the other day, mainly searching for old cameras, when I came across this great little toy. It just so happens that it was recently my daughter’s birthday and we had a bit of funds sent from her favourite Aunt and Uncle to buy her a present. I paid the asking price as I couldn’t be bothered to haggle for such a fun little toy, and the seller was very interested in who it was for (hoping I was not just going to put it on a shelf I’m sure).
It’s a little wooden caterpillar pull toy. We’d looked at some Plan Toys earlier in the week but they were much more expensive. Don’t get me wrong I believe Plan Toys are worth the price, however with limited funds we were hoping to get her more than one toy for her birthday. I really like the simple design of this toy. I think I might try to make some copies at Christmas for some of our Nieces and Nephews. I think I’d use plywood for the link pieces and dowel sections for the wheels. I’d just use a food grade varnish to seal it up and keep it safe for the kids.
