Class is Out

I will have to say it was a great first attempt.  I learned a lot about interests and expectations of the students.  One of the biggest things I came away with was that not everyone needs or wants to know the details that I have learned.  I wanted to teach them the little things that I have learned that really has no bearing on what they are doing.  These topics included wood milling, defects, purchasing and cuts.  Really they want to make saw dust.  It was evident when they would “practice” on scrap pieces. 

I made detailed power points presentations to present information.  I learned quickly that this was boring and not very interactive.  I acted on this information a little later and stopped doing them.  They became more lesson plans than what was used to teach.  I think the lessons went better after I made that change.  I will still need to have the initial lessons on power point because of the amount of information the remaining will be in a shop environment.

Timing was also something that may or may not have been improved upon.  I could not have changed the day of the week, even though I knew it was not the best day of the week.  It was the only day of the week that worked for my family.  I need a second adult at the house for two reasons.  First, I have kids that will be all over the place and second, for safety.  Next year I will probably change the start time to August and end around Thanksgiving.  The holidays just got too crazy and I did not have as many open lab days because of soccer and craft fairs.

The projects were applicable and at an appropriate skill level.  We did not get to the step stool or the rubber band car.  Part of it was learning the timing of the class and the other part was the holidays.   I really liked how the car launchers came out.  We are still working on the toys.  Everyone got into the scroll saw and the puzzles.

I have a feeling the class size is a little large for the equipment and size of garage I have.  I think a class size of five would be better.  I am comfortable with the age group I had: fifth grade and up.  My second grade son was part of the class and did really well.  The problem came in with fractions and problem solving.  He actually made all the projects himself. 

I did assign some homework and I did get some returned.  I really did not require it so I understand why it was not taken seriously.  I did get some good feedback.  I probably should put a little more emphasis on it and track it.

Goals for 2019

Tools:  I am looking at a couple of tools to purchase next year.  The first is a shop vac.  I really need to do some sort of dust collection.  I am also looking at a dust deputy to take care of a lot of the large shavings.  I am also looking at a jig saw.  I might just borrow one. I only need it for one project at this time. 

Projects:  I have two refurbish projects that I need to complete.  The first is a bench that goes to my son’s classroom.  It is something that was found on the side of the road.  It had been chewed up by a dog so the rough parts need to be sanded or replaced.  I will probably also refinish it.  I am excited about it because it is a nice piece made from solid oak.  The second is the toy wood oven I made a few years back.  I need to get it fixed up and donated. It was a fun project but it does not fit in the house anymore.

I also have the jewelry boxes that I have not finished yet.  This is one of those projects that is a goal this year to finish last year’s goals that I didn’t start the year before.  I have the tools and parts all cut out.  I have one more top to make and the groove the boxes.  I also have a couple of gifts for family that I need to make.  Not mentioned here because they are gifts.  On the last year’s goal list, I also need to make some camping boxes.

I have designed the next set of small vehicles. These are not as cost and labor focused than the other set but I am excited to make them.  They do require different thickness of wood.  I could not get around that.  I plan on making them in different colored wood this time to see if they sell better.

I would also like to do another class, possibly two, if people are interested.  I have not gotten any responses for the spring semester.  The goal is to take the class to the home school group.  I do have contacts; however there are things like insurance that I do need to check on.

Donations:  Since the toy drive is a big part of why I design and make toys I figured I would mention what I plant to make this year.  I am going to make another five sets of the small vehicles that I made last year.  I will also make five sets of this year’s small vehicles.  There are eleven different vehicles in this set.  I also plan on making five cradles and five rocking chairs.  This is a pretty big undertaking for this year.

Year in Review

This year was a fun year and a good year even though it started off rough.  First my scroll saw went down and getting another was problematic.  Shipping destroyed it.  The good thing is I now have two because I was able to repair my old one.  Then my drill press broke. I was not able to fix that because it was so old the model was no longer supported.  I needed to purchase another one.  Then my belt sander died.  I replaced it with a larger 6” wide belt.  This was truly an upgrade to the one I had.  That was the beginning of the year.  That was the rough start, but things turned around quickly.

I mentioned two of the tools that I purchased this year.  The only other tools were for the wood working class.  However, my son did win the Masters of Wood competition from Triton tools.  Those tools arrived in March.  I need to use the router and table more, I like it so far.  The saw is ok.  The only issue with the set is there is no real way to store the tools.  They just hang out where ever they are placed.  I designed and built a rack but it is not something I would load in the car and take to a job site.

Projects were smaller this year but more in number.  I started the building and grow series which was not economically feasible: too much time and too much precision.  So it developed into the small vehicle package.  There were 10 cars and 1 train.  The company that I work for is very focused on cost with an emphasis on standard parts and cost.  This “product line” was a result of those philosophies.  I was very focused on common rip components and parts.  I knew my profit margin and it was decent for a woodworker.  Alas, they did not sell as well as I hoped and I still gave half to charitable organizations.  That is what I do.  I made 20 of each vehicle.  It did take time but less than 6 months for 220 toys, is pretty good considering I work mostly on Saturdays.

I did a ton of puzzles, both in a board and free standing.  They also did not sell either.  I have a pretty good reason for it also.  They were too simple and too plain.  Live and learn on that one.  They are good practice.

My other project that I have been doing is the wood working class.  My first class is either ending or has ended (depending on when I publish this).  I think it went well.  We will see how the final projects turn out.  I over scheduled time at the beginning and under scheduled time for the final projects.  I have had several positive comments so I am happy.  There will be more information from future posts.  I do want to keep teaching this class.

From a business stand point I have been flat.  I did not do as well at the craft fairs as I had planned.  My plan sales were about the same.  I tried to get more plans in plan catalogs and failed.  Not sure why.  I am getting more views and hits on my etsy account.  It has generated more income than last year.  In fact, I think my online presence is growing.  More people are emailing me about the projects that have done from the plans that they have purchased from me.  I have had a couple people contact me because of my website for club information.

The other big news is that I have been in contact with a publisher.  Two of my designs are in their possession.  They are please with them, or they say they are.  I don’t know if they are going to publish them.  Time will tell and this would be another big step in promoting my plans.

Classes

The woodworking class is coming to an end at the end of the month.   I have not been as good as I had hoped in taking pictures.  Now that they have all the power tools they are going to learn at their disposal, the projects are going a lot quicker.  They also seem more engaged in the class.  I have changed up the format a little with less from a power point to more in the shop.  This seems to be working better.  They are now all working on the small toy cars. 

I would like to do again, but I will need another group of students. 

Craft Fairs

December 1^st marked the last craft fair that we did this year.  We only did two and they were both at Piecemakers.  The venue was a lot better than the ones we did last year.  There was more people and more people willing to purchase handmade items.  The first fair we were rained on and it was not a fun day but it was tolerable.

The one this past weekend was packed and we had a line in our booth.  It was for jewelry and stained glass but we had a lot of people through our booth.  I did well throughout the day and I am not complaining.  I am extremely happy for the two ladies I share a booth with.   Each show has had different people and sales have been different.  I am learning more with each one.

The key things that I learned this time around: 

I was happy that most of my items were under $15.  There was a lot of interest but not a lot of sales on the small vehicles.  There was more interest on the scrap cars because they had different colors.  The small vehicles were all poplar.  I need to add some color to them.  I still will not paint them but I will probably start looking into oak and cherry to add color.  There is value in the decorations.  I need to replenish and look at some ornaments and plaques to do.  We will see what next year brings.

The Toy Drive

On November 20^th, the Inland Empire Scroll Saw Association had their annual toy drive.  This year we were able to donate the most toys we have ever done.  There were over 2400 handmade wooden toys made.  I was able to donate 190 toys this year. 

These toys are distributed to lower income areas in Fontana and several local churches.  These groups are allowed to pick and choose toys that will benefit children in their areas.  It is a great event each year to see and participate in. 

We have a few people to thank this year.  Fontana Veterans Association and Fontana Foundation of Hope for donating money to the toy drive.  This money is 100% used on the purchase of toy wheels.  We used almost 10,000 wheels this year.  RSI holdings also donated 1,000 board feet of lumber to make toys.  It did take us a while go through the wood.

The pictures are mainly what I was able to donate with some overall pictures of the room.  It was impressive to see all the toys made.

Things to be Thankful For

I was reflecting on all the things I have to be thankful for and there were many things that happened that I could not have done without help from others.  I would like to take a moment and say thanks to the many that have made my projects possible this year.  Many people have donated wood and supplies to help with my toy donation projects.  This year we had a donation of over 1000 board feet of lumber from RSI Holdings to the club that I go to.  This was crucial in helping make the 190 toys that I donated this year.  That was about eight times more than I usually am able to.

I would like to also thank the support I receive from online supporters.  It has been nice to have people purchase plans from me.  This year has been extra special because people are now starting to share their finished projects with me.  It is such a rewarding feeling when others have made projects that I have designed and talk about the things that they liked and what they have changed.  I am actually putting more customer pictures on the blog.

I am grateful for the support that I receive from others.  I have started a class this year.  It is going well.  I appreciate the patience my students have in me as I work out the details and suffer through some of the boring parts that I have realized are not important to the class objectives.

There are also others that have helped me with my crazy idea of being published.  I am amazed that someone would let me barrow photography equipment knowing that it is going to be used in a dusty environment.  I have been careful, the garage is still dusty. 

I am especially grateful for my wife who supports me through all of these things.  She has been very supportive of different ideas and time commitments I have.  

Little Vehicle Series

I decided that I needed to expand the little vehicle series by three more.  This makes it an even ten vehicles.  The ambulance was a simple design, my son wanted a cement truck, and I wanted to do a forklift.  That is where the designs came from.

First, the easy one.  The ambulance is pretty straight forward and can be made into a box truck.  There really is not much too the design.

The forklift was much more challenging.  The biggest struggle was the proportions.  It was either too big, too long or just did not look right.  I wanted something were I did not have to use a scroll saw and could be cut out with a table saw and chop saw.  Overall, I am happy how it turned out.  I will say, having a hand plane really helped out on flattening the dowel and adding the profiles.

The impossible request was the cement truck.  I could not figure out how I was going to make it.  I do not have a lathe which means that I was going to use a dowel.  I was not sure how the bucket was going to be attached and then there was the size.  I first established my constraints, the chassis was 2 ½” wide and max 4.5” long.  The largest dowel I can buy was 2” at the big box store.  This is why I love to design in the 3d modeling world with good software.  I learned quickly that I could match angles with the barrel supports and using constraints, I could determine the angle and the distance that would result in measurements that were 1/8” or larger.  Then I had the structural concerns.  I doweled a lot of the pieces.  I did not worry about how I was going to make all the parts until that time came, and I procrastinated it.

Toughest part was the barrel.  I ended up setting my band saw at 45 degrees and putting in stop blocks.  It turned out easier than I expected and safer than a router which was my first thought.  I then needed to do the same setup with the belt sander.  This also took time to finish because I needed to tape off a lot of parts.  It came out well and my son is happy.

Week 6

This was the introduction to the scroll saw.  The project is cutting out puzzles. I need to reevaluate the last set of lessons.  The lectures are over their heads and I don't think they are beneficial.  I need to show how I do setups and tricks that I have learned.  I cannot expect them to ask me how to do something.  I will start taking more time to do setups and explanation of the processes.

There were some people that gravitated to the scroll saw.  There is more of an excitement with the projects and it is fun to watch them work on projects.

This was the first time I had five of the six students.  I usually have 3-4 students due to schedules.  I am glad I capped the class at 6 students.  It was kind of crazy with all the students but it was an organized chaos.

Week 5

This was the first introduction to power tools.  It makes drilling the holes in the car launcher easier to do.  Overall the class did well on how to use a drill press. I found out that measuring and marking the holes was a challenge.  We used ruled square to mark all the holes.  Some of the marking issues were:

• Marking the dimension on the wrong side of the part
• putting tick marks on the edges of the part and then free handing them to where they crossed
• setting up with the wrong dimension

This is were I am learning that I need to be more demonstrative on the techniques than pictures.

Week 4

Week 4 was basic hand tools.  I went through some of the common hand tools and their uses.  They were able to use some.  The project assigned was the car launcher that my son designed and made for the triton tool competition and won.  Their assignment was to make this launcher from the miter box they made the previous week.  I am learning that I have a lot of information and some of it may be useful and most of it is boring.  I am not her to convince them to be wood workers but to learn some design and some tools and some project planning.

My Repairs

I have had a couple of machines go down and two of them were worth repairing.  I did a complete bearing and shaft replacement on my DeWalt scroll saw.  It was about $200 in parts but I think it was well worth it.  For the most part it was not that bad disassembling it.  Putting it together was a little more challenging.  I didn’t tighten the dampener down all the way the first time so it collided with the drive shaft.  There was just some minor scratching, but did not affect the saw itself.  I found it interesting seeing the design of the saw.  It really is a relatively simple design.  It was obvious what the more expensive parts were and where costs were cut.  I felt like I understood how the saw worked a little more. 

The big takeaway that I had was what parts wear out.  The lower arm assembly had all seized bearings and pitting on the shafts.  The upper arm had a lot of wear but would still be able to function. 

I also replaced the belt on the porter cable hand held belt sander.  The drive belt would keep slipping if there was any pressure put on it.  This was a much more frustrating repair because of the design.  I actually had the maintenance department put the belt on because I could not figure out how to do it.  Most belt driven systems have a tensioning lever to them.  This does not so the belt has to be stretched onto the two pulleys.  These belts do not stretch easily, but they do stretch a lot over time.  Mine was about 3/8 bigger in diameter then the new belt. 

Installation of the belt was a pain. What ended up working was using an allan wrench as a lever and being ready to tighten it down as soon as it slipped into place.  It works great now.

Here is the most frustrating part of doing the repairs, shipping costs.  There are a lot of part dealerships but the shipping costs are usually more expensive than the part or the part is overpriced.

Conversations and Customer Photos

I have been on etsy for about three and a half years now and I have to say, I have enjoyed the journey.  When I started out, I was constantly looking at the visits.  I wanted to see who and what people were looking at.  I wanted sales really bad, but they came slowly.  After about a year I had gotten a few sales, but my focus turned to reviews.  I wanted people to review my shop.  I actually had friends and family purchase and review my stuff through etsy so they can leave reviews.  Now it is just fun.  I still check the stats and I want sales and reviews.  I enjoy more the interactions I have with others.

One of the things I am enjoying more is the customer photos of products that they have made from my plans.  It is weird and exciting to see what people have made from the plans they have purchased from me.  Some of them are posted in the customer photo section of the blog.  They have good suggestions and I appreciate the feedback.

Start of Craft Fairs

Yesterday was the first craft fair that my friends and I did this year.  It was at Piecemakers in Costa Mesa.  It said rain or shine and the it rained.  I guess it does rain occasionally in California.  It was a good show.  The bad weather did not deter a lot of people from coming.  We did a fair amount of business and the people that did come were there to support the local crafts people.  Most of the vendors have been coming for years and many of the shoppers knew the vendors. 

There is always a unique story coming from these events.  Mine is the sale of one of my rubber band guns.  I rally want to get rid of them but I really did not want it to go to this family.  The son, about 8, really wanted to buy the rubber band gatling gun.  The mom was really hesitant because of the potential damage that could happen.  It is a rubber band gun, it will hurt if shot.  She even asked if it was safe. I said it is a rubber band gun and it will hurt if shot.  I even asked her if she wanted to buy it and she said no.  My reply was don't buy it.  To be nice to the kid, I let him unload about 15 rubber bands.  The kid begged and the mom caved.  I told her I would not sell it to her if she did not want me to.  Hind sight being 20/20, I should have said there was a minimum age for purchase. 

It was a good fair even with the weather.  We will be going back the first Saturday in December.  If you are looking for stain glass or metal clay jewelry here are the Etsy sites to my friends.  They also take custom orders.





Machelle's Glass Garden










Tudor Rose Emporium

Class Week 3

This was a class that I was dreading and rightfully so.  I knew the content was boring, dry and most of the information did not pertain to them.  However I felt it was important to talk to them about processes, defects and grading before talking to them about how to measure and mark.  This was also the class was the first project that takes some planning.  They started making the miter box.  This was the first time that it was a struggle with me being left handed while most are right handed.  the students are figuring the projects out and doing well.  I think the project made up for the boring lecture part.

Class week two

This week was all about sharpening.  We sharpened knives and chisels.  I started out with letting them use the chisels just out of the box.  To be fair, these were the cheapest chisels at the big box store.  They were sharp but not very sharp.  We used wet stones to put an secondary edge on them and then they used them again to see the difference.  They then used the Tormek sharpening system to sharpen knifes.  They Tormek system is great for grinding down the primary edge and honing the knife edge.  I like using the stones for the plane irons and chisels.  They were able to use the planes and chisels that I have to get a feel for how the tools handle when they are sharp.
I am learning that 2 hours ae not as easy to fill.  I may shorten the class down to 1 1/2 hours if I do it again, or combine more of the first lessons and reduce the length of the course down to 12 weeks.  The students really enjoyed using the tools.  From this point on they will be using sharp tools and the projects get bigger.  I don't know how happy my wife was happy that I did the lesson in the living room.

Class has Begun! Week One

The class has started.  The first week we went over the expectations and rules of class.  We went through the shop which is my garage.  I have five students and they seem excited even though the first lesson was kind of dry.  I only had one mishap.  I have all the September classes meeting on Saturday instead of Friday.  I guess I should have checked my dates before sending out the schedule.They all seemed excited and good at nailing their names in 2x4's.  The surprise was how well my younger son did.  He is not in the class because he is not old enough.  He was able to start and pound in his own nails.  I don't know how he will do with the rest of the projects.

New belt sander

I just received a new belt sander.  My last belt sander was on its way out.  It lasted over 15 years and it served me well.  I decided to go and get the Grizzly 6” belt sander.  It is a step up from my 4”.  I looked at the shop fox and the jet belt sanders.  The issue that I had with the shop fox was the box stand.  It looked good but it would take up too much room.  The electrical ran through the box so there was no way of separating the sander from the base.  The Jet had a lot of negative reviews for the disc sander part, the two things that drove me away was the reviews that it had a lot of plastic so it was light and the price.  The grizzly sander also has some problems but I felt it was the best choice for the budget I had. 

There were things that I liked out of the box.  It was noticeably heavy.  Most of the parts were cast iron.  The drive on the sander is a v-belt.  It makes it easy to replace.  I would have preferred to have it direct drive from the motor.  I like the size of the sanding table and that it can be moved from the disc and belt sanders.

There are a couple of annoyances.  The housing around the disc sander is sheet metal and was bent during shipment.  It is not that big of a deal because it can be bent back, it is just something that I would expect to do in for a new piece of equipment.  The top hood also moves when it is touched.  It is usually touched when adjusting the angle of the belt other than that it is not a problem. 

The one problem that I found was the on/off switch is on the back side.  I would have liked it in the front of the belt side but it is on the back. 

I also purchased the bear claw rolling cart.  I have to say that I like the stand a lot better than the shop fox version.  The locking mechanism is so much better.  It is a little more cumbersome to put together but the product is better for the price.

I have only used it a little bit but have enjoyed it.  I am not disappointed with the purchase.

Little Vehicle Train

In addition to the cars I also made a train for this series.  Same design principles as the rest of the series.  It was basic enough to make several and just enough to challenge to learn and try new things.

The main learning came from the large dowels.  I needed to put a flat surface on them.  The last time I did this I attached it to a board and ran it through a band saw.  This worked ok. It did not remain as flat after I sanded away the tooling marks.  This time I had a plane, but I did not have a sturdy workbench or reference plane.  That is where the table saw came in.  it is a flat surface with a ripping fence.  It worked great.

The holes on the chassis for the cars also proved to be a challenge.  One is ¼” and the other is 9/32” both should be drilled at the same time.  I really did not want to guess which side to put the groove.  I ended up only drilling part way through.  This way the side that was not drilled, was the side I grooved.

I really liked how the train turned out.  It is 22 inches long and about 4 ½” tall.

Shrink Wrap

Just a quick definition, shrink wrap shrinks when in contact with hot air to keep things together.  Stretch wrap stretches and acts like a rubber band to keep things together.  The only reason why I put this in here is because I just learned it a few years back.  I thought the terms could be used interchangeably.  Last year I made several puzzles and used stretch wrap to hold them together (the stuff put on containers of food to put in the refrigerator).  It did not work very well.  This year I ordered some shrink wrap envelopes to play with on the puzzles.  It is amazing how much easier they are to work with.  I do struggle with a one thing, sealing them. I don’t have the correct tools to do it and I don’t feel like dropping a couple hundred dollars on one.  I have about a 75% success rate with a good seal.  When heat is applied the wrinkles form and then go away.  Now I know how to package my puzzles.

Little Vehicle Series

So I redid the idea of the build and grow and added a couple of more cars.  I tried to make them where kids can pound in the nails.  Honestly, that took way too much time.  Each unit had to be drilled together and packaged together.  I really did not trust myself to mix parts.  The precision was too much for the equipment I was using.  I turned and made a bunch how I would make them without nailing them together.  Here are some of the things that I wanted to do with this project.

First is the design.  This was all done without the need of a scroll saw.  This is unique for my toys.  The tools I used were a table saw, miter saw, band saw, drill press and belt sander.  I tried to limit the number or rip widths I used so that I could just rip a bunch of material.  This came in handy since I was making ten of each car. Everything but the cab is made from or can be cut from ¾ inch material and ¼ inch plywood.

The ease to make a lot at once.  I wanted to be able to make these in batches.  This was a reason for limiting the number of rip widths.  I also tried to standardize on the profiles so multiple parts can be made with the same groove or angle.  I tried to keep the drilling standard as much as I could but was not as successful.  This kept setups to a minimum and made it easy to batch out a lot of parts at a time.  I will admit drilling 140 holes in cabs did get a little boring (pun intended). 

Durability and Safety.  This is always important to me and the toys I make.  I want them to be played with and not be destroyed in a couple days.  My design limitations were the wheels needed to be at least 1 ¼ inches in diameter (choking hazard).  The toy needed to be big enough that little hands could still grab it and handle it.  It needed to be able to endure rough play.  There are a lot of glue surfaces for each part.  I am not a huge fan of plywood but it was the best material to use for the thin parts.  Plywood is a little more resistant to breaking when in thinner stock than wood.

Price.  I don’t usually talk about price because that has never been a focus.  This time is was.  I wanted the price to be $15 and still make some sort of profit.  I am not going to disclose how much each of the toys cost to make.  Just know that if I put in my labor I would be significantly higher than the $15 limit.  I did figure out the cost of each vehicle to the penny.  They also fall below the $15 mark.  The reason for the price cap is craft fairs.  The lower priced items sell faster than the higher priced ones.  Last year I had a lot of high priced items; this year I am changing it up.

Drawings. I draw everything out in a 3d CAD system.  These were done in Solid Works.  This was more of a learning experience for me.  I was able to design my own drawing template and learn more about Solid Works.  I am not sure how I am going to sell the drawings yet.  I am hoping to submit a couple to some magazines to see what happens.  I have the option to sell them as a complete set or individually.  I may try to mix up an offer on them.  Not sure how Etsy will handle an offer.  More learning on my end.

Bill of materials. With doing multiple sets I wanted to know how much I needed of everything.  This is where everything came together or fell apart and it did both.  I created an excel workbook with all the information in it about each of the projects.  Added a multiplier to figure out how much of everything I needed.  It calculated everything from linear feet of each rip width to purchased components.  It even spit out my cost.  I even figured out how to convert to fractions of a foot.  I know inches would have been better but I stopped at fractions.  It is setup so that a person can put in the number of each toy they would like to make and it will tell you the linear foot of each rip width, quantity of all the purchased parts, the length of dowel required.  It will also factor in the kerf cut and yield.  If you purchase any of these plans, email me and I will send you the excel sheet.  I will delete the plans that have not been purchased.  Sorry, if you have the dimensions of the parts you have the plan for these toys.

The build was pretty straight forward.  Did not have very many problems with the exception to my excel sheet.  I had a calculation error for the length of dowel needed.  I have fixed that and it works fine.  I have added a police cruise to the lineup.  This actually has the parts that I am looking for to make a semi-truck line.  This is probably going to happen next year though.

The Next Twelve Months

This year has had a couple of twists to it already and I am finding there are things that I need and want to do in the next 12 months.  I am writing this because, in part, I need to get it out on paper.  My company was purchased at the beginning of the year.  I am currently in a role that I am trying to create.  I have several people supporting and pushing this position, however I am not confident the new leadership wants to create the role.  I have several other plans that I am also pursuing.  One of which is relocating to the new corporate headquarters in Virginia.  That may happen in a year or I may move to the CAPEX engineer that I am trying to create or move to a project engineer in the Anaheim or be an engineer at another facility which would require me moving.

What does this all mean?  First I don’t want to move a bunch of supplies.  I am trying to reduce the amount of wheels and other parts that I use on toys.  Most of the projects I am doing now, have that goal in mind.  I will need to make one more wheel purchase this year and then I plan to run out before doing a major stock up again.  I also have a lot of donated wood.  This wood is all going towards toys that are going to be donated.  I also have several projects that are half way complete, I will need to put a fire under those to complete (Probably the wrong saying to use for wood projects). I do like that I do not keep a lot of inventory at the end of each year.  Most of my toys are donated.

There is another thing that I would like to do in the next twelve months and that is teaching a basic wood working class.  I have a lot of the elements planned out and the projects drawn up.  The concern is the time.  It is a major time commitment. It is a 14 week course and two hours each week.  It goes through the basics of hand tools and design.  It will not teach the major power tools.  I am excited to try, I need to commit to the time.  I am thinking about doing this Friday nights starting with the beginning of the school year.  If you are interested, you can view the syllabus here.  Please email me if you are interested.  I am asking for a $30 donation for supplies. If you are just interested in learning please let me know.

There is change in my future and I am ready to roll with what I know.  It is the unknown that worries me a little.

Jeep

After several months I finally finished the Jeep.  To be honest, I am a little disappointed in the design.  I will need to redesign if I am going to sell the plans.  The top portion was fragile and broke with putting in the dowel cross members.  The fenders were all right but were more challenging than I would like to admit.  The wheels seem too small for the size of the vehicle.  I would have to lose the back spare if I was to grow them.

I do like the overall body of the Jeep.  The design did look good on the computer.  I like the taper on the engine but it made the front fenders difficult to make.  I also thought the seats and the open back was a nice design detail that came out really well.

The project was fun even though I was not all that happy with it.  This is the fun part of prototyping a project, now I can redesign it better.

Puzzles

Early this year, I decided to make a bunch of puzzles.  I had a lot of ¼” and 1/8” ply wood so the plan was to put them on boards.  I painted 5/8” thick poplar on one side with the primary and secondary colors.  On the other side I painted them black.  Anyone that has done a wood puzzle knows that it is a pain because there is no real indication which side is the top.  Then I adhered all the patterns to the colored board.  I cut them all apart making sure that I need not cut on the lines.  I needed to tape them on to the ¼” plywood to cut out the negative space. Once the negative space was cut out I took a piece of 1/8” ply and painted the puzzle color on that and then glued the ¼ and 1/8” pieces together.  In the end I had a puzzle that had a place on board with its matching color.

The main lesson that I learned is never trust only double sided tape.  Sometime it moves and my double sided tape left a residue.  I fixed that by putting painter’s tape where I taped it.  I also taped around the part to make sur  Over all I did not screw up on too many.  I think I did around 90 puzzles on 34 boards. 

e it did not move.

Burnout

So I just completed a lot of projects.  My wife came up to me after the second day of finishing and asked, “So are you now done with working in the garage?”  My response was, “Yes, I am going to be assembling all these projects for the next month.”  She responded asking if I was done, done like never going back to woodworking.  I guess she fears that one day that I am going to just burn out and never want to do this again. She is afraid that I am going to burn out.  I can see her point of view.  I just spent two 16 hour days finishing projects.  These projects included 70 cars, 10 trains, 20 tug boats, over 30 puzzle boards, 11 Christmas ornaments, two boxes of donation cars, and miscellaneous projects for friends and teachers.  It was a tough couple of finishing days and it used an entire gallon of shellac.

The question of burnout is real.  I don’t ever want to be done with woodworking.  There is going to be a time when I am going to need to take a couple of years off from the craft show circuit.  I find that more grueling than the woodworking itself.  When that is going to happen, I don’t know yet.  Here are some of the things that I do to keep from burning out on something that I love to do.

·         Keep learning – Don’t be afraid to try something new.  I find challenge keeps the passion and the enjoyment alive.  There are a lot of times that I have projects that just sit around because I am not sure how it will turn out or if I can even perform the task.  If it does not work out then I have created artisanal firewood.  I also find that it is not as bad or tough as I had imagined. 

·         Thinking ahead – Have a new idea being generated as you are working on a project.  It keeps away the idea that there is nothing to do or what to do next.  Some of these ideas will never come to pass but the idea is still there.  I have a notebook where I keep my ideas and I usually have a couple of projects being drawn while working on others

·         Bring it to a new platform – There are now many ways to share your passion.  I have chosen to blog and put items for sale on Etsy.  Last year, I took my projects to local craft fairs.  It was a blast meeting people and talking to them about what I love doing.  There are groups on social media.  Open up and be venerable to comments and critique so that you grow.  

·         Set goals – make sure there is something you are reaching for.  They don’t have to be great just something that you want to do.  Reward yourself when it is reached.  This year was my “build and grow” series and I have these jewelry boxes from last year that I want to get done. 

·         Focus the work load – Don’t take on too many projects or have several going at once.  I know I listed off a lot of projects at the beginning.  These were done over a four month time.  I did the scroll saw work on the week day and the other stuff on the weekend.  Once it was complete it was set aside in a box to finish.  I know now that I need to have more finishing days

·         Engage other people – I have a club that I go to.  There are people that inspire me to do more and improve my skills and there are those that I can help improve and inspire.  Passions don’t become dull and lost when there is a support team helping you and others learning from you.

·         Give – Donate either time or product to others.  Nothing is more inspiring than seeing the joy, awe, and gratitude from someone that you have shared with.  I may be an extremist to this, but I like helping people.  It is part of my woodworking business model.

Burnout is real.  I hope this have given some ideas.

Teaching People

Last month, I had the opportunity to help teach a carving club about the scroll saw and how to use one.  There were several members of my club there also assisting.  It was interesting to interact and help people with their questions.  It was an open forum and there was some practice pieces to cut.  I learned a lot and re-evaluated the woodworking class I would like to do next year.  My wife got to learn a little on the scroll saw and may even take it up.

Since I got a Hand Plane

Last year, I decided to purchase a couple of hand planes to help me understand how they worked and to allow me a little more flexibility.  I purchased Lie-Nielson low angle jack plane.  I honestly did not think I would use it as much as I do.  I built a storage cabinet and put it, with my sharpening tools, in the back.  It is a rolling cart, so it is not a big deal to get back there, but it is an extra step.

I am amazed how much I use it and how much easier it has made certain tasks.  Just recently, with making a smaller version of a train, I needed to add a flat to the boiler.  Last time I did this I mounted the dowel to a board and cut it on the table saw.  This time I mounted to the table saw and used the fence as a guide.  With a few passes I had a nice flat on the dowel to glue to.

I was making several cars to donate and I had some re-sawn board that had a warp and twist to it.  I did not think much of it because I was cutting them down to about 2” wide by 8” long.  After roughing out the parts I realized I did not run the board through the planer to clean up the band saw marks.  It probably would not have done well because of the warp and twist in the board.  The parts were now too small to run through the planer.  With a couple of passes on the plane and the boards were flat and ready to be cut out on the scroll saw. 

One of the best things that I did was go to a show and get hands on experience with the planes.  I was shown how to set them up and how to take care of them.  I was shown how to sharpen and what the edge of the blade should look like.  I learned some tricks and what to look for.  Best of all, I felt what a tuned plane should feel like and what to expect when using the tools.