Wood Working

Wait for farmerman. He does dados and dovetails - with a chisle.

Here's Farmerman's thread about his woodworking from a couple years ago:

http://able2know.org/topic/163002-1

Hey! This is very timely!

This is probably really minor league compared to real woodworking but I'll run my question past you.

My husband has a hard woods distributorship and as a result we end up with literally hundreds of pounds of scrap wood (mostly cut for flooring, so about 3/4 of an inch thick). We usually end up burning it in our fireplace but we've often wished we could think of something better to do with it.

Yesterday I was in a fancy kitchen shop and I looked at their wooden spoons. Most of them were made of cherry or white oak or maple -- three woods we have a lot of. I'm thinking of taking some of our scraps and turning them into spoons and spatulas.

Our neighbor has a small lathe that he would let us use but a lot of it needs to be hand done. I did some research today and I'm thinking this might be much harder than it looks.

How hard do you think it would be?

Did you make those?

WOW.

My suggestion is that if you indeed want to make some extra monies off of the scraps, you should look into segmented bowl turning video's on youtube.Then after you get the general idea of how they are asembled, you can then go on ebay and sell the scraps as seg mented bowl pieces. In this way you can offer multiple species of woods in a package deal.

As far as making spoons etc, you have to be very careful of the variety of exotic woods , as they can contain oil's and nasty elements to them that is not desireable for food consumption. However if you want to make spoons for decoration, then yes you can. You will need a wood lathe in order to turn the round handle shape of the spoon leaving enough material at one end to form the spoon bowl by hand. Farily easy projects to do, but you must have the right equipment and a few months/years of experience in their use.
Most lathes are turning at a rate of 2000 to 2500 rpm's and can be dangerous to the operator.

Ask away if you have any other ?'s as this is my first love in life.

Stugotz

guilty as charged lol

That red bird caller looks familiar, as do the chairs.

Thats right Sis, i never throw anything away.

In my younger days I would visit antique stores in my area, with paper and pencil, and if I liked a piece, I would draw it get the demensions and come home and make a copy of the original antique. I used to make a mean grandfather clock.

Thanks! I'll look into the bowl turning. Maybe we'll learn how to turn bowls instead!

We'd like to make spoons you can use to cook with, mostly for ourselves. Could we use cherry, maple, walnut, hickory or white oak? (I've hear white oak might be too porous).

I would use the maple first as my choice, Tight grained wood, that can and will take a beating over the years, and is paletable.

here is a video on segmented bowl turning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVY5EcSBtvo

Keep the ?'s coming any time.

Regards

Stu

I have alot more pics of my work, which I will post with time. I will tag them with a number for reference and should anyone become smitten with one, you can ask me the cost of that art piece. I will quote you a price for the individual piece, and s/h cost will vary as to your local.

Thanks for L@@king

Stu

I have a Conover lathe that I bought second hand at an auction. IT is a damn good one. I turn some bowls. My biggest interests have been carved stuff, bas relief signs and plaques, duck decoys, "cartoon animal carvings" etc.

Ive just finished a stitch and glue small boat and am ready to try building a strip layered kayak.

I do my carving with a Foredom rotary carving setup.

Ive learned that a dust collection system is worth its price in gold. I learned that because I started to make some colonial style pieces for my kids places (hanging corner cupboards and whaleback shelve units). I was carving them from poplar or pawlonia and I got a minor infection in my lungs a few years ago. Since then I put in a big cfm sucker and it actually helps me see my work face better too.

I agree FM, I already have COPD broch, from operating heavy equipment for over 20 years, and many of the exotic woods I work with contain nasty oil's and fungus, so filter mask is job one.

It was one way that made me quit smoking.
I bought a load of nice 5/4 X12" chestnut boards at an auction last year and Im still trying to figure out what to do with it. It has a neat smell when its cut or planed but it still sorta looks like oak and Im outta ideas about what to do with it. (I do **** like that, when Im at an auction and the wood price is good, Ill buy it on impulse)

spoons masde with a draw knife look great. You cut a blank on a band saw and remove everything that doesnt need to be spoon. then take a draw knife to do the finner work. Really old scoops and spoons were done as a handcut item.
Like Stu sez, Maple is a wood of choice for kitchen implements. Its a nice close grain and holds its shape.

nice burl pieces. I never turned burl but did do some quilted maple end turns. It looked ok but not as nice as yours. I need much more practice on the techniques.

I would also copy work and work it up. I was always interested in arts n crafts style like Roycroft or Greene and Greene.

oh ...MY...

i have to come see you . I want a few of those.
they are amazing!