i have done the second turning to the bowl that was first tuned in the video “a bowl in 45 seconds”. i did the first tuning 5 years a go, i did not mean to let it go that long. tuning dry walnut is very nice, it cuts very easily. i hope to have a new video out shortly.
tying to have a little more fun with the wood tuning videos
I am making maple wood bowls and making music from the sounds of that process. I had more fun with the sound on this one. These are some of the larges pieces I have made. They will need to dry and I will do a second tuning on them to make the final form. I made three bowls in the piece
special thanks to my friend Roni for getting me more huge maple chunks from her neighbor’s yard.
How I made a toy Tractor inspired by the Porsche-Diesel Super Tractor. I like this design as it can be abstracted to a very simple form; a body, a rear axel, and four wheels. I start by making the body from a pattern I drew, this is made from a piece of cherry wood I salvaged from an urban tree. I joint and plane this piece on my old Porter jointer and Powermatic 180 planer. I cut out the shape for the body first on a Powermatic 141 band saw than a Powermatic 95 scroll saw for the finer work. Then I sand everything first with a Max 24 inch disc sander then a Mead 1 inch belt sander. I made the wheels by first cutting up a piece of walnut I also salvaged from an urban tree. I cut this on my 36 inch J. A. Fay & Egan Co. Band saw, with 1 inch wide blade. i love this saw more every time I use it.
I made the two big wheels in a set of 4 and the two smaller wheels in a set of 2. I turn the axel housing and cut a flat spot in it where it can be glued to the body of the tractor. The wood for the axels I salvaged from an old crib I had taken apart, they are 5/8 inches in diameter. The finish I use is a mix of linseed oil and beeswax. This is very safe and has a nice flat finish. when the glue had dried the kids get a chance to play.
I have posted the shape image here:
I printed it 8 inches long. The body width is 1-1/4″. The width between the rear wheels is 3-5/8″. The rear wheels are 4″ in diameter and the front wheels are 2-5/8″ in diameter.
the garden bench is done.
This is the story of making this bench, from a piece of sequoia log. Two summers ago my friend Brian and I milled a sequoia tree into lumber. I took one of the leftover pieces thinking I would make it into a bench. The time has come and I need to get the bark off. The wood has dried so the bake came off easily with just a hammer and a little effort. After the initial bark removal I had to scrape off the remaining bark, and then sand the uneven surface. This gave me a nice clean natural surface. I trued up the ends on the band saw.  Next I worked on the top. I really should do this with a hand plane, but I am more skilled with the belt sander. With a very ruff 36 grit it worked great. Then I went over it with the orbital sander.
The body of the bench was ready at this point, I had to think about the legs. First I tried making large chunks of wood for the legs but there was no way I was going to get them to fit the irregular surface of the bench. Then I thought about casting concrete legs formed to the underside of the bench, this seemed like a lot of work. In the end I decided to try shoving steel formwork stakes into the bench for legs. At the skinny end of the bench I had to add some material for the legs to attach to. I cut a slot in the bottom of the bench to receive a second piece of wood. The first piece of wood I made I decided was not going to be think enough, I cut a bigger piece. I glued the new wood piece into place. with a lot of glue, and let it dry. After a little sanding it was time to mount the legs. the legs are friction fit, like big nails. There, one bench. I hit the edges with a round over bit in the router, this will make it a little more comfortable. Now we are outside for some finish. and there we have it, one garden bench.