From May 21, 2011 through June 4th, I’ll be hosting 4 session class woodworking basics. The first few weeks I’ll cover the woodworking tools currently at the HackFactory, some hand tools, wood finishing, and general project assembly.
The final two week I’ll plan to leave open for any projects you would like to work on with the group.
The fee for this class is $25 with all proceeds going directly back to the Twin Cities Maker.
I’ve now had a couple days where I’ve been able to spend some time working on bows, so here’s part 2 of Making a bow. Brad was kind enough to bring in a much better camera, so here’s a pic of the front profile of the bow as it stood at the end of part 1:
No people, no comments just a snapshot of the evenings stuff.
Many of you have been curious about the Japanese lamp I have been making over the past few week so I figured I would post a few pictures of the finished project. I went in to the hack factory today and finished the final piece, the brace that would hold the candle, which in my case is a very realistic looking – battery operated candle.
There are three basic parts to the lamp. The inner frames, the outer legs, and the top. The frames are made from 1/2 inch maple, with simple lap joints to interconnect all the frames. There are a total of 4 inner frames and each frame is connected to the other frame at 90 degrees with another lap joint.
Once I had the inner frames done and covered with paper on the inside, it was time to make the outer legs. I made 4, roughly 1″ square outer legs that support the inner frames again using lap joints. There are small dados in each of the legs that the inner frame mates to.
Not exactly sure what wood I used on the outer legs or the top piece but its basically just a square frame of 1″ x 9″ hard wood with 45 degree miters on each end. Once glued up, I did a simple round-over using our router. I spent several days sanding and rubbing on 3 coats of tung oil.
If anyone is interested in making one, let me know and I’ll loan you the book.
I’ve been threatening to blog what I’m doing at the space for a bit now, so here goes.
Today I decided to start making a pair of bows, as christmas presents for my brothers.
These are going to be made out of red oak, using some 1″x2″x6′ boards I got at menards. They’re going to be self bows, which means each is made out of a single piece of wood, with no gluing. I’m shooting for about 50 to 55 pounds draw weight at a 28″ in draw, which should be doable with this wood.
For starters, I picked through all the boards, looking for one that was straight, with no bowing or cupping:
It might seem at first glance that the HackFactory has turned into a woodworking shop. It seems that all the new wood has spawned an awaking of woodworkers in all of us. It has been great to see so many people working on such a variety of projects. Even those of you not familiar with woodworking have been making stuff.
With all these new found woodworkers comes dust. Lots of it, and its everywhere. Especially from stuff like MDF. And it’s not just in our area. Take a look at the metal working area after a few hours in the shop and you will see the sawdust on the table.
If all of us that are using the woodworking space do a little extra it will make a big difference for everyone. The time it will take largely depends on the time you spent there and the materials you were using. If you were there for 5 minutes and working with the drill press, it should only take you a few minutes. If you were there for an hour working with MDF, it will take you considerably longer.
We all have to try extra hard to keep the shop clean. Keeping the classroom and office space doors closed will help keep dust from these clean spaces. Make sure you take the time necessary to clean up your area and any tools you may have used. Vacuum the floor around any space you have used.
Keep in mind that some of those woods, MDF included, release vapors that are really bad for you. If you have a mask, you should be using it.
One last note, if your working on a project and need to leave the hack factory, take some time and clean up your space. That way if for some reason you don’t make it back, others can use the tools and table space and not have to clean up your mess.
If everyone spent a little extra time and clean up a little better than it was when you got there, it would really help.
-John • 651-252-4142
