The Little Wood Shop 2019

[rgfixit]

Decided to add a feeding station to the roost box. Gonna put some chunks of mealworm block in it to try and attract the bluebirds. Don’t know what it’s going to look like just yet. But, something will take shape today.

There was one sitting on top of the nest box post yesterday. It came in to the water dish for a drink. Landed on the seed platform but didn’t eat anything. I put out a couple chunks of the mealworms there as well.

Rg

[rgfixit]

All done.





Hope we have some rent free tenants soon. What more could they ask for? A roof over their heads, free food and no responsibilities.

Rg

[rgfixit]

Marathon couple days in the “little wood shop”. Finishing up a few Christmas presents. More Santa’s, reindeer and Christmas trees. Lots of tiny pieces and paint.

Plan on putting them on a base with a candle.  One for a favorite coworker, one for my Son’s  “significant other “ and a special one for my Bride.

A couple more days and I’m free to be ....creative.....in the shop.

Lord knows what will happen.

Rg

[rgfixit]

Made 3 of these tha last few days.



One for my Bride, my son’s “significant other “ and one for a favorite friend at work.

Love making Christmas gifts. Gives me great satisfaction to see the delight in the gifted’s eyes. Used to get hugs.....sad that these days, we cant enjoy that simple personal contact.

Anyhow, my way of saying, try to enjoy the moment.

Rg

[Raquettedacker]

Very nice Bob. 

[iceman260]

Nice work Rg , spreading cheer is good during pandemic.

[rgfixit]

Took my coworker’s gift in today. It was a big hit. Made my day and hers.

My son asked me to build craft lathe for his mate ( I don’t really know what to call her”.) She’s an extraordinary artist.

She’s been painting wine bottles and needs something to hold them while she works on the piece.



So, I’m building her a craft lathe to hold and turn the bottles or whatever she’s painting.

A different kind of project. Glue is drying on a few pieces....I’m gonna take a nap!

Rg

[wallyworld]

My son asked me to build craft lathe for his mate ( I don’t really know what to call her”.) She’s an extraordinary artist.
Rg

Try calling her his partner, or maybe your "bonus" daughter 

[rgfixit]

Done.


Should work ok.
Tomorrow morning I can clean up the aftermath. The shop is a bit disheveled.

Rg

[icefisher47]

Made 3 of these tha last few days.



One for my Bride, my son’s “significant

other “ and one for a favorite friend at work.

Love making Christmas gifts. Gives me great satisfaction to see the delight in the gifted’s eyes. Used to get hugs.....sad that these days, we cant enjoy that simple personal contact.

Anyhow, my way of saying, try to enjoy the moment.

Rg

That is great work.

[rgfixit]

Thanks.
I’m done with Christmas gifts. Think it’s time to start turning some bobbers.
Rg

[iceman260]

Nice gifts Rg you have some real talent,how did you thread wood pieces for the craft lathe.

[rgfixit]

No threads. Both ends are live. With a dowel through nylon bushings. The end on the left side of the pic is movable and locks down via a thumb screw. It has a compression spring behind the neck cup to apply tension, holding the bottle and still allowing the artist to turn it as she works.

Rg

[rgfixit]

So ....with Christmas gifts out of the way, it’s time to get on with the bobber project. After a few attempts to hand dip a really nice coat of paint or finish,( total failure) I did some searching. Bumped into a YouTube video where a guy was making reed floats. He contrived a machine for slowly dipping and extracting them from paints and finish. It worked, but it was a cobbled together conglomeration of stuff . Not quite up to my shop standards.

The past week I’ve been pondering a design and today I built it.

&feature=youtu.be

And it works ! The motor is a 2 rpm rotisserie motor my neighbor gave me. The elevator is adjustable for height by reeling in or out of the fishing line. I’ll make a few different bobber holders that will attach to the elevator to accommodate different length bobbers.

This seemed a simple process when I first started fooling around with it. But, as everything with me, I just cant leave well enough alone. I’ve got visions of glass finishes, bright colors, inlaid  feathers and fancy thread wraps.

We’ll see how it goes.

I played around with a motor operated lathe to paint the bobbers and decided it wasn’t the right approach. I converted the lathe end into a hand wheel operated lathe that gives me much more control and will make wrapping a lot easier. I’ll use the motor operated end for a drier to slowly turn the finished bobbers and prevent drips.

Rg

[rgfixit]

Did my first test dips with Gesso and a few with Varnish. The dipper works perfectly. Today I’m going to work on mounting a track for a thread carriage I have left over from my rod building days. Should make wrapping a breeze. Still have to work out how to hold the shafts for wrapping without damaging the surfaces. The drill chuck leaves dents and doesn’t accommodate the eye.

Might have to create an insert for the chuck to hold the eye. Or leave the shaft long to cut off later.

I’m off to pick up some larger containers of acrylic paints and to look for a tall narrow glass vessel to dip in.

This is getting to be fun,
Rg