Wooden Knife Block

Ok, so clearly I have been slacking on this blog, but I'm hoping updating it even with past projects will help me get inspired to get some new ones going. 

This project was for a knife block for my parents. It was for Christmas in 2008, but is still being used and still looks pretty good. I had some really nice figured maple and some thin purpleheart I got at KJP already milled to the thickness I wanted as I don't have a planner or jointer.

I roughed out dimensions based on the knives they had with some extra spots, and quickly worked it up in solidworks, to give me an accurate cut list.

 I used the bandsaw to rip all the boards to length and then planed them flat.

All the pieces ready for assembly.

One of the glue ups. I needed a few slots to  be thicker so I doubled up on the purpleheart strips.

My makeshift gluing set up. I need more clamps!

This was the trickiest to get right as the purpleheart pieces had to be flush on each side, and the center divider in the thick slot had to be in a certain place. 

All of the sections glued up and ready for some work.

Everything aligned really well. all the strips lined up on the top two rows and the outer strips on the bottom row aligned with the top ones. Yay!

The finished product. I missed capturing the routering and cleaning up of the tops as well as the hardest part which was getting the slant on the bottom.

The figured maple came out really nicely with the finish and the purpleheart stands out nicely. A note after a few years of use, would be that I'd put a more durable finish on it. I only used mineral oil which is nice, but keeps needing to be reapplied. Maybe i'll do it one of these days when i'm home.

Wooden Spokeshave

This project was really fun to do. I got given the hardware as a gift from a former co-worker at Veritas tools as a project to get me started with a woodworking project. Finally over the summer I had enough time and enough confidence to try my hand at this project. I learned alot of things while making this tool and am sure if I made another one it would turn out better, but it is still a really nice tool to use and its very satisfying using something you`ve made to make something else.

With the holes drilled and tapped, slits were cut to make the mouth of the spokeshave

With the mouth complete, recesses were carved to fit the blade perfectly

After quite a few fine adjustments, the blade fits just right

The brass knobs adjust the depth of cut

The brass plate fits snug into a little angled channel to prolong the life of the spokeshave

The brass plate fits just up to the blade. The brass was then filled flush and I went back and made the countersinks deeper

Then I carved the spokeshave to fit comfortably in my hands

I chose birdseye maple for the spokeshave as it is a good hardwood and because its one of my favorite woods

Beginner Marquetry Course

I took this course back in September at Lee Valley. It was taught by Richard Charlebois who is a local marquetry artist who does some extremely detailed and beautiful work. He taught us the basic techniques of planning a design, cutting the wood so everything fits perfectly and how important it is to use the grain patterns and colouring of the wood to the advantage of your picture. Each student created a simple farm scene with the same basic elements - sun, tree, house, pathway. The neat thing was that even with the same basic elements, each student came up with entirely unique looking final pieces due to the choice of wood, colour, placement, etc. This is the piece as it was when the class was over. I am currently working on putting a finish oh the piece and building a frame to go around it to finish it off.

Introduction

An Industrial Designer by trade, I have always been interested in making things. I did one of my co-op placements at Veritas Tools which is the design division of Lee Valley Tools. I had admired the design aspect of the company before, but having worked with the designers and been exposed to all the woodworking tools, I began to become more enamored with hand tools and wood. My co-workers there were amazing and taught me many things after hours from how to sharpen tools, to a detailed lesson in hand planes from the chief hand plane designer. After graduating I finally had the time and freedom to turn my interest into a hobby, and have spent the last year taking various courses and increasing my skills. Some of the courses I've taken include turning, marquetry, shaker boxes, and carving. I'd like to share some of the techniques I learned and the projects I've worked on over the past year as well as future ones.