Craft Fair Season

Craft Fair Season

This was a short craft fair season.  We only did one show which was Village Venture in Claremont.  It was a lot larger venue than we have done in the past.  There was an estimated 16,000 people in attendance.  It was well organized and went really well.  There was not a lot of downtime.  Overall the sales were good and I would participate in this venue again.

Toy Cars

This is the last of the toys planned for this year.  I was honestly scared that I would not get them completed in time for the upcoming craft fair. I only had about 6 weeks to get everything cut and finished.  It is amazing how productive I was when under a hard deadline.  That was probably one of the bigger take away lessons from this project.  Planning what was needed to be done on Saturday and what I could do in the evening during the week.  Here is the basic run down of each of the four cars.

Race Car

This was a layered car and pretty straight forward when it comes to the design.  The first challenge that I was faced with drilling the wheels and making sure that they all lined up.  One important rule of toy making is that all wheels have to roll.  They don’t have to be centered, but they need to roll.  What I did was drill holes on only one of the side pieces.  When body was glued together and the bottom sanded flat, I used the drilled holes as a guide and drilled through the entire body of the car.  The other design change that I did was remove the small front piece.  There was a little piece in the front for a front air foil.  It was too small and I chose to remove it entirely.

I did make one huge mistake.  I installed all the small pieces between the wheels upside down.  It works but I realized it on the last four that I was assembling.  I added the radius to help hide the error.  I like the radius but the error still is obvious for me.

I like how it turned out and the simplicity of the design.  It looks really nice when adding two difference colors of wood

Jeep

Jeep owners love jeeps.  I am not a jeep owner but I cannot argue with the rugged appearance it has and it is an iconic vehicle that kids can relate to.  So I made one.  The design is pretty straight forward but not easy to assemble.  The engine and back need to be all assembled together, but the engine has an angle that is cut into it that is easier to cut and sand before assembly.  I had to make some fixtures so that all the pieces lined up.  That was the hardest part of the build, besides sanding.  Sanding all the cars was a chore.

Flat Bed Truck

The last two were a little more complicated when it came to making multiples.  The concern was matching up the roof dowel holes with the holes in the sides. I needed to drill the holes before I cut out any of the details in the sides.  I ended up taping the sides and back together.  I also numbered the top and the sides so I knew which parts went together.  Then taping the top to the sides and back.  After marking out the holes, I drilled them.  I thought I was being clever and putting the numbers on the inside surface.  That backfired when I drilled through all the numbers I marked.

After doing the dry fit, the wheels just did not look right.  They were the 1¼” diameter and looked small.  I was able to adjust them and increase the wheel diameter to 1½”.  It looks much better now and I have updated my drawings.

Model T

I did the holes in the roof the same way as the flatbed truck.  This time I numbered them on the side rather than where I drill the holes.  It was much easier to identify the parts to each car.  I will have to say the treaded wheels look a little odd on the Model T.  They do sell a spoke wheel that would probably look better, but I did not want to introduce a new wheel into my inventory.

Overall I enjoyed the projects.  I really like how the different wood species bring out different colors.  I am thinking about scaling them up to be a larger size in thicker wood.  Not sure how they would look, but I am thinking next year.

I am Moving

I am moving at the beginning of the year to Virginia.  I have decided to change companies and move across the country.  It was a tough decision but it will be good for both my growth and for my family as well.  I will be working with some wood components but it will be mostly be plastics and sheet metal.  I am going to have to figure out the work shop.  It seems that the garages are much smaller in Virginia than in California.  I may have to reduce but I will figure that out when I get there.  I figure it will take about 6 months to figure out how the new shop will be laid out.  My shop will be still be open but my donations are going to be few this year.  I will have to find new charities to donate to.  The good news is that there appears to be a woodworking group in the area.

New Dust Collection

It has been a long time coming, but I needed to upgrade my dust collection.  It wasn’t hard to do since it was a shop vacuum that I used occasionally to clean up.  I could hook it up to most of my tools but it was a pain to do so.  Cleaning the container and filter out was also cumbersome and dusty.  It seemed easier to just sweep it up at the end.  That is what I have done since I have started. 

Inside the shop vacuum

Inside the bucket

I have been looking at several dust collections.  I don’t have the area for a stationary system or the ability to run fixed line so I settled on another shop vac.  I like that I can use it to clean out the cars and for a duct collection system.  The addition was the dust stopper that goes on a Home Depot bucket.  The idea is that the bucket collects the majority of the dust and the large particulate.  The vacuum stays pretty clean.

I have not had a lot of opportunity to use it.  I am in a finishing cycle right now.  I did hook it up to the belt sander when I was sanding blocks. It was doing a great job on collecting the dust in the bucket, so I am happy.

The one thing that I did notice is that I cannot plug the vacuum and the tool in the same circuit. The current draw is too great on a 15 amp circuit.  Good think I have two lines in the garage.  For the small shop this is has been a great addition and would recommend it.

Branding Iron

It was recommended that I purchase a branding iron to mark my work.  I have thought about it for some time and made the purchase.  I took my logo and took out the car in it.  I submitted it to a couple of online vendors that had good reviews.  One said they needed a specific vector format that I had no clue what they were talking about.  The other said they could work with the file.  I even asked about the thin lines and they said they could do it. So I went with Branding Irons Unlimited.  They were patient with me and helped me out on what I needed. 

Here are a couple of things that I learned from the experience:

·         They will send you a proof of the actual size of the brand.  If you do not like the size, go to a copier with a reducer/enlarger to find the right size.  It makes it easier on you and on them.  I thought I wanted my logo to be ¾” tall.  That made it huge.  It took a couple of tries but I found the right size

·         Do not brand finished product.  I thought I would brand everything that I had in inventory.  The finish (shellac) came off on the brand and made it more difficult to brand.  It all burned off and the branding iron is clean now.

·         There is some fiddling with the temperature.  Use lots of practice pieces.  I still screwed up several brands.  Little temperature changes seemed to also have dramatic affects.

Overall I am pleased with the purchase and like how it turns out most of the time.  When done right, the brand comes out clear.

The Built in Cabinet Install for a Friend

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine asked if I could help with replacing a lot of their cabinets due to water damage.  I agreed and the process was started.  It is good that I work for a cabinet company and run the sample shop.  That made the cabinet parts easy.  There were three parts to this project: the bathroom, built in hall cupboards, and a laundry room.

The easiest was the bathroom install.  It was a standard cabinet off the shelf.  We their current cabinet was 31” tall and I replaced it with a 33.5” tall cabinet.  So the mirror had to move up and the wall soap dispenser had to be removed.  Other than that pretty easy install.  It was nice installing some of our cabinets for firsthand experience.

The built in was all custom cabinetry. The heights and widths were fine but the depth was 20”, not standard.  This is where the sample shop came in handy.  I removed all the toe kicks from the units so I could change the height.  I also was able to cut the back side of all the cabinets to 20”.  That was the easy part of the install.  When I measured for size, I measured the back of the cut out to the floor.  The back was higher than the front.  The right side was lower than the left and the left wall was out of plumb by 3/8”.  Needless to say there was some pushing and shoving and beating until the pieces were in place.  I am also glad for fillers and moulding.  It was definitely used.

The laundry room unit was two standard kitchen bases.  Sounds easy until the dryer ductwork went behind the cabinets and the plumbing went through the cabinets.  It was a lot of cutting and at times was nerve racking.  It went in well until I installed the door and drawer next to the wall. They hit the door frame.  I had to move the entire unit over one inch.  Thank goodness for fillers.  Overall they were happy with the outcome and I was happy it was done.

Here are some lessons learned.  Tools are heavy and I don’t like carrying them around.  I am glad my son won the Triton competition because that is the most modular table saw and workbench I have (on loan from my son).  I am realizing the value of battery operated.  I could have avoided hauling around my air compressor if I had battery operated nail guns and they do exist.  If I was in the business it would be something I would be looking at.  Nothing is ever plumb or square and moulding helps out.  I am sure there are tricks that I don’t know about but the job was completed and I am glad that I was able to do it.  Not sure if I will do it again soon and it will not every become a career.

My first published piece

About a year ago I got in contact with editor of Woodworking and Crafts magazine.  The found a couple of toys that they wanted to put into their publication.  We talked about timelines, payment and requirements.  Then it began.

It started with me making each of the units that they wanted to put into the magazine.  Thank goodness for friends that allowed me to barrow their expensive camera equipment.  I would not be able to product the quality images that were required.  Even having the experience with a camera, I still had trouble getting good pictures that where the depth of field was in focus. I though setting up for a cut took time.  Setting up for the camera takes so much time.  I would need to get into some weird position to get the picture to describe the operation.

The good news is that I did not need to do a lot of the editing.  I did have to write up the procedure and a little summary of the project.  This is where they helped out a lot.  I think they looked at my summary and title and said “This will not do.”  Then started over.  This is what I had written:

The Tug Boat

The tug boat is small, but crucial in moving the larger ships in the harbor.  Its compact size makes it a simple toy which young children can enjoy.  This boat can float or be played with on any surface.  It has crevices that little fingers can hold and play with it.

The tug boat has been a simple project that I have been making for several years as a gift for baby showers.  The design came from the desire to make a simple project where different species of wood could be mixed instead of using paint to add color.  

They obviously are better at describing the project than I am.  I had to submit a sample of the project as well as the write up and pictures.  Then is was a waiting game.  I was notified a couple of months ago that I would be in the winter issue.  It was exciting to see it in print.