Do you want to learn?

As this year comes to a close I am looking forward to next year and what I would like to accomplish.  This year was more about the business aspect and it was a very interesting year.  Next year is going to focus more on teaching.  Lowe’s recently (last year) decided not to continue with their Build and Grow series so next year I am going to hopefully have six designs that kids can build.  I will get into this project on a later post.

I wanted to share an idea that I had last night.  My club recently received a load of wood for making toys.  The idea last night was to allow others to the experience of making toys for charity on the scroll saw.  It would be a good year to try this.  The lumber, the wheels and axles, glue, and sandpaper are all donated.  I figure the cost would be for the blades, painters tape, and finish.  I would also like it if they would join the club because they are donating the wheels and axles. I figure the cost of everything including dues to the club is about $50.

The project would be making toys for the charities that the Inland Empire Scroll Saw and Woodworking Association work with.  I figured each person could make between 10-25 cars, a couple of puzzles and a couple of tug boats.  All toys would be donated at the November meeting.  I imagine it would take about 60-80 hours of work to make 25 cars, a couple of puzzles, and tug boats. 

I would supply all the plans and the equipment.  I only have one scroll saw so it would have to be shared. At the end of the year/process, the individuals would know the basics of a scroll saw and have the plans for the cars and tug boat.  They will also have brought smiles to kids.  I don't think I would have scheduled times individuals would have to meet. It would be more of an open shop during certain times and people could comes when they could.

The tools that we would be using are the scroll saw, drill press, belt sander, and palm sander.  These are safe machines if used appropriately.  I would open my shop so that tools can be used and projects completed.  Each person is responsible for their own protective equipment.  Safety glasses are a must and hearing protection is recommended.  A respirator is recommended, but dust masks are strongly advised while sanding.

This is still a developing idea but this is how I think it would go.  There would be an orientation class on the basics of a scroll saw and a practice board.  The first project would be the tug boats, then cars and then conclude with the puzzles.  Age group would be 12 years and up.    Please let me know if you are interested.

The donation meeting this year is on November 21 at 5:30 if you would like to see what the group does.  The location is 16850 San Bernardino Ave., Fontana 92335. It takes about 45 minutes from Pomona due to traffic.  Please let me know if you are interested.

Rocking Chair

This in not my first rocking chair that I have built, but the first one I designed.  My first ricking chair was from pallet wood and ended up where pallet wood should go: in the fire.  The second was the design my grandfather made.  This one was designed similar to the high chair I recently made.  My seat joiner was a little better on this on one and I did not do mortise and tenon joints.
Overall the rocker is 17 1/2" wide X 22 1/2" tall x 23" long.  It is made out of poplar and the rockers are made form bent lamination.  Bent lamination is taking thin strips of wood and gluing them together.  before the glue dries forcing them into a mold.  When the clue dries the piece takes on the for with a little bit of spring back.  It does not require steam and heat.  I have don this before.  It usually makes a mess so I take clear packing tape and put it on top of the form so the bent piece and form do not stick together.
This go around I was a little more careful on the joinery.  Still not great but better.  It is also helpful that I have a set of nice sharp chisels.  I also cleaned up the dado with a shoulder plane.  I have to justify why I purchased it, right?  The doweled joinery was just for speed.  It still took me forever to make.
I am working on the drawings and procedure now.  I had to make a change to the height because it was too talk.  When doing the dry fit I had my son sit in it.  His feet were three inches off the ground so I took 2 1/2  inches off.  He is almost four so there is the age reference.  That was the only design change on this project.  It came together really well.  My kids want to keep one, my wife says it is defective and I can't give both away.  I was not planning on keeping either.  One is going to be donated to a toy drive.  The other I am not sure yet.

First Craft Fair

So one of my goals this year was to do a craft fair.  I wanted the experience.  I am not very good at it.  I went with a couple of coworkers to a craft fair that is put on as a fundraiser for a high school in Placentia.  I am glad I did.  Seriously, my booth would have been an EZ up, chairs, a couple of tables and I might have thought about table cloths.  They did the design and I helped setup.

The booth, in my opinion, was one of the nicer booths in the fair.  We had a fair amount of people in the morning but it got pretty hot by noon.

I learned a fair amount about having a booth at the craft fair.  First is that it is a lot of work.  It took more preparation than I was planning.  Displays need to be prepared.  It is not easy to wing it.  There is a sale that is needed to be pitched.  I am not very good at talking to people but I did meet a lot of interesting people.  I learned that the large items do not sell well.  There is probably a market for them but it is only certain people.  I did not sell any of my more expensive items.  I think the highest item I sold was $25 dollars but I had a few tickets in the $40 range.  I sold out of all my nativity ornaments within the first couple of hours.  There was a lot of interest in the more decorative pieces but no buyers.  I also learned there are people that are really good at doing these shows.  There were some pretty elaborate set ups with a lot of stuff.

I have two more planned for this year and I don't know if I will do them again (maybe one).  Lots of fun.  I realized I enjoy working for myself and when one does craft shows they work toward the show.  Right now I am madly cutting out more ornaments to sell at the next two shows.  I am not doing my next design and I did not take any Christmas orders this year.  I am still doing what I like, I just feel like there is a deadline.

I am grateful for the friends and coworkers that showed up.  They made the day.  They also were a great support.

Opps! Mistakes

Sometimes it is refreshing to see that people are human.  We make mistakes, errors and our lives are not as perfect or horrible as we post online.  I make mistakes, and want to share a couple of mistakes I recently made and what I learned from them.
I am working on a child's rocking chair.  Everything was ready to be assembled and doweled into place.  I laid out the first assemblies and glued and clamped them together.  After I had doweled them, I realized that I had switched the two back legs.  With them glued and doweled, I would not be able to take them apart without cutting them.  The good thing is that I only lost two parts and with the dowels in place, the holes were already filled.  It was refreshing to be able to fix a mistake.

I was recently cutting out ornaments to see if I want to make them for next year ornament.  When I cut out thin pieces I stack them so I can cut multiple out at a time.  I also recently ran out of my first big purchase of scroll saw blades.  This meant that I started using the new blades that I had purchased.  These were crown tooth which means that I cut on both the down and up cuts.  They are to give a cleaner finish cut and when they dull, I can flip them over and use the other side.  I am learning that these are good for some applications but not all.  I was cutting the center section of the ornament and about halfway complete when the parts exploded.  I lost for ornaments.  I concluded that I did not have sufficient pressure holding the pieces down so as the blade was cutting upward, it hit a soft spot and broke the piece.  This may have been avoided if I had used a skip tooth blade.

I recently purchased some simple compound patterns.  I have always wanted to try these but did not want to invest in the books at this time.  I figured the patterns were simple enough that I should not have any trouble cutting them.  I did not have the recommended thickness of wood for the pattern.  I was too anxious to wait to pick up some board I reduced the patterns down to the 1 1/4" material I had.  This made the parts really thin and small.  They came out ok.  My blade warped during the cut and the the piece was not as consistent as I had hoped.  After some investigating, I discovered a couple of things.  First was that the blade I was using (crown tooth) does not clear the dust away very well on thick materials.  This would cause a build up in heat causing the blade to warp.  The consistency was cause because I did not clamp the cut parts to keep them in the same place as I was cutting.  I was confident that I could make these cuts easily but there were some things that I needed to learn first.  With a little bit of information I am able to get back to cutting.
Mistakes happen and the best thing that I can do is learn from them.  I hope to continue to post my mistakes so that others can also learn from them.