The Wood Stash Project Book 18 Ideas & Designs

130 Pages·2002·33.56 MB·English

by  Kerry Pierce

D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
WOODWORKING
the
Get more out of every piece of wood!
Wood
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e
W
o
stash
o
d
S
t
a
s
Every woodworker has a pile of P R O J E C T B O O K
h
wood scraps, rips and cutoffs. The
Wood Stash Project Bookshows you Learn how to turn your P
R
wood scrap into fun,
how to put this perfectly good
O
finished pieces like these:
material to use in fun and creative J
ways. Cherry-Wood Vase E
C
You’ll learn how to turn “left- Faceted Wooden Beads
T
overs” into great gifts using carv- Cherry Key Cache
B
Bandsawn Maple Change Box
ing, turning and your favorite
O
Two Honey Dippers
hand-tooling techniques. Step-by- O
Cherry Spoon
step photos and easy-to-follow K
Ash Comb
instructions are included for each
Mixed-Wood Cutting Board
project, ranging from kitchen
Basket for Cut Flowers
utensils and small sculptures to Three-Tier Keepsake Chest
jewelry, letter openers, boxes and Set of Checkers
more. Porthole Picture Frames
Desk Clock
Cherry Shelves
Walnut Box
Figured Maple Box
Figured Maple Spatula
Turned and Bandsawn Letter Opener
P
I
E
R
C
E
Look for these other great titles from Popular Woodworking Books UK £15.99 US $24.99
70540 (CAN $38.99)
N
A
C E
P
U 18 ideas and designs
KERRY PIERCE
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D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
Wood Stash PROJECT BOOK
the
KERRY PIERCE
POPULAR
WOODWORKING
BOOKS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
www.popularwoodworking.com
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K D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
About the Author n
For over a quarter century, Kerry Pierce
o
has juggled two careers: that of a teacher
i
of high school English and a woodworker
t
specializing in post-and-rung chairs. He’s
the author of eight woodworking books a
including The Art of Chair-Making,
c
Making Elegant Gifts From Wood, and
i
The Custom Furniture Sourcebook. Since
1995, he’s served as contributing editor d To Elaine,
to Woodworkmagazine and is a frequent e
Emily and Andy,
contributor to that publication.
d
around whom
Acknowledgements the world does,
I’d like to thank the good people at
in fact, revolve.
Popular Woodworking for once again
helping me through the bookmaking
process. In particular, I’d like to thank
Jim Stack and Jennifer Churchill, who
provided an exceptional level of support.
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D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
T A BtLaEb l Oe Fo fC cOoNnTtEe Nn tTsS
INTRODUCTION . . . 6
FINISHING . . . 8
p rojects
project 1
cherry-wood vase
. . . 12
project 2
faceted wooden beads
. . . 19
project 3
cherry key cache
. . . 23
project 4
band-sawn maple
change box
. . . 32
project 5
two honey dippers
. . . 40
project 6
cherry spoon
. . . 45
project 7
ash comb
. . . 50
project 8
mixed-wood cutting
board
. . . 54
project 9
basket for cut flowers
. . . 60
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K D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
MARK BURHANS
A Master of Miniature . . . 122
INDEX . . . 128
project 1 0
three-tier keepsake
chest
. . . 68
project 1 1
set of checkers
. . . 79
project 1 2
porthole picture
frames
. . . 84
project 1 3
desk clock
. . . 92
project 1 4
cherry shelves
. . . 97
project 1 5
walnut box
. . . 103
project 1 6
figured maple box
. . . 108
project 1 7
figured maple spatula
. . . 113
project 1 8
turned and band-sawn
letter opener
. . . 117
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D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
I N T R O D U C T I O N
How Bad Is It in Your Shop? What Kind of Scrap Poses the So What Can You Do?
Seventeen years ago, when I moved into Biggest Problem for You? Several years ago, disgusted by the pro-
my current shop, I was scrapless. In The least common type of scrap in my liferation of scrap in my shop, I ran an ad
preparation for my 1,600-mile move from shop exists in the form of tiny bits and in the paper offering woodworkers the
south Texas to central Ohio, I gave away pieces I have officially consigned to the chance to fill up their car trunks with
every bit of usable hardwood I had accu- burn box beside my wood burner. This is mixed hardwood for $50. I had several
mulated in my old shop. material I use in the winter to start the takers, but one afternoon I was horrified
This act of generosity paid an un- wood fires with which I heat my shop. It to see a buyer fill up his trunk with pieces
expected dividend. Because of my then is, therefore, material that has been pretty of curly maple almost 12" wide and up
scrapless condition, when I set up shop in thoroughly picked over:band saw leav- to 36" in length. This was material I’d
my new building, for the first time in my ings, paper-thin table saw rips, cutoffs less forgotten I had in my scrap heaps. As a
woodworking life I had all the room I than 6" in length. result of this experience, I discontinued
needed. In fact, I began to dream about Some of my scrap is lumber that my offer, and the result is that once again,
adding equipment, maybe some of that wasn’t much more than scrap when I my shop is overwhelmed by the astonish-
marvelously oversize antique machinery moved it into my wood room. For exam- ing amount of scrap I generate.
they just don’t make anymore. Maybe an ple, 10 years ago a friend of mine who I do try to be disciplined. Several
old band saw with a pair of 5' wheels. Or owned a Wood-Mizer portable sawmill times a year I make myself sort through
a 24" jointer. With all the room I had in offered me — free of charge — 700' to my scrap and put in the burn box mate-
my new shop, it was easy to dream big. 800' of mixed hardwood, all of which had rial I can’t realistically hope to ever use.
The dream, however, was short-lived. problems. Much of it was cut to odd Like that single piece of beech I’ve kept
Very quickly, a familiar cancer spread thicknesses. Much of it was common for 15 years, thinking I would use it in
through my new shop, as rips and cutoffs lumber with knots and splits and wane. the construction of a wood plane. Or
devoured every last inch of space. Where Some of it was a species of hardwood that those two little pieces of dark tropical
I once had room enough to flop a 4×8 neither he nor I could identify. Although wood a friend gave me. Or that coarse
sheet of plywood onto a pair of saw- it doesn’t look like scrap, it rarely yields mahogany I saved from a motorcycle
horses, I now have to walk sideways to anything I need. shipping crate. As hard as it is to do, I
avoid the heaps of scrap I’ve tucked into But the overwhelming majority of my make myself throw that kind of material
every corner of my shop. Now, unless I scrap is in the form of cutoffs that are a into the burn box.
make some changes in the way I handle bit too short to be used in the chairs I I have also begun to search for ap-
scrap, there isn’t room enough in my shop build. With every job that goes through propriate uses for some of the scrap I
for the purchase of a new screwdriver, let my shop, I generate new 6/4 cutoffs too couldn’t bring myself to put a match to.
alone an antique band saw. short for the shortest (17") chair posts For example, several years ago I planed
But how can you throw away a 10" and new 4/4 and 5/4 cutoffs too short for down a bunch of mixed hardwood scraps
length of 8/4 curly maple? Or a piece of the shortest (14") chair rungs. to make tops and bottoms for Shaker oval
6/4 cherry the size of a dinner plate? Or a Although it is still valuable material, it boxes I gave away as gifts. And my son is
couple dozen 1"-square walnut rips? can’t be used in my day-to-day shop work the only kid in the neighborhood with
If you’re like me, you don’t throw — and so it accumulates month after an arsenal of toy guns band-sawn from
them away. You shuffle them from one month and year after year. cherry, curly maple and walnut.
location to another. You think about The pieces in this book are like that,
them. You trip over them when they’re each one offering a use for a par-
underfoot. And you sigh a lot. ticular piece of scrap. This book
won’t solve all your scrap prob-
lems, but it may do for you
what it did for me: give you
another way to look at those
odds and ends you haven’t
been able to throw away. After all, if
you can put a piece of scrap to good use,
it isn’t really a piece of scrap any longer.
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K D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
INTRODUCTION 7
This is the burn box beside my wood burner: The last stop before In this section of my wood room I store cutoffs and rips that may
incineration. someday yield actual chair parts.
PHOTO ABOVE AND AT RIGHT This rack holds material that is simply too
small (or too badly flawed) to yield chair parts.
PHOTO AT LEFT Nearly
all of the projects in
this book were made
from material taken
from this pile which
stands beside my
radial arm saw.
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D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
F I N I S H I N G
A good finish is important. A well-built After a thorough sanding with 320, When the piece was dry, I applied a
piece with a bad finish will never be a I applied my first coat of Waterlox, thin, even coat of a paste finishing wax (I
great or even a good piece. This is a truth slopping it on directly from the can with use Minwax) with a facial-tissue-size piece
I learned a little late in life, after sharing an old brush that looks like something of T-shirt wadded into a ball. I allowed
my home with a number of badly fin- somebody used to clean out their gutters. the wax to dry to a dull finish. This takes
ished pieces. Reluctantly, kicking and Then, maybe 10 or 15 minutes later, maybe 15 or 20 minutes. I then buffed
screaming all the way, I came to the real- when the finish had begun to get a bit the finish vigorously with a clean, fist-size
ization that I simply had to face up to the tacky, I wiped off the excess with a clean ball of T-shirt fabric.
monotony of hand sanding, because there rag. I prefer old T-shirts, because they’re The Waterlox protects the wood and
is no other way to get a crisp finish. relatively absorbent and don’t leave be- provides a good base for the wax; it’s the
Every piece in this book was finished hind a lot of fibers that get stuck in the wax that provides the lustrous finish.
in exactly the same way. First, I created finish. Sometimes that was all I needed to do.
the forms with planes, scrapers, rasps, The next day, after the first coat was At other times, though, when I tilted the
carving tools and lathe tools. I then sand- thoroughly dry (a dry first coat will feel a piece one way and then another to judge
ed every form with the same series of little bristly under your hand, because it the reflectivity of the surface, I’d see a dull
grits: 100, 150, 220, then 320. And after has raised the grain), I rubbed it out with area. When that happened, I applied a bit
each coat of finish: 600 grit. 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper which I of wax to that area, allowed it to dry and
Whenever possible, I did the brute dipped periodically into a can of paint re-buffed.
sanding — the coarser grits — in stages, thinner to wash away the residue that ac- NOTE:If you’re making an object that
as I worked on the piece. For example, in cumulated on the paper. Then, I washed will come into contact with food, it’s
the case of the shelves shown on page 9, the piece with paint thinner and applied a important to use a food-safe finish. Several
I sanded the moulded edge with 100-grit second coat of Waterlox using the same commercial preparations are available for
paper immediately after running that application technique. this purpose.
edge on my router table, before I cut The next day I sanded out that second
out or shaped any other parts. I think coat with 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper that
this is good practice, because it breaks up I periodically dipped into a can of paint
the brute sanding process into bite-size, thinner. Then I washed the piece with
easier-to-digest chunks. paint thinner again.
Eight Easy Steps to the
Perfect Finish
1 Sand thoroughly with a progressive 6After the second coat of finish has dried,
variety of grits:100,150,220 and 320. resand with 600-grit wet/dry paper.
2Use a little Waterlox poured into a coffee 7Apply a coat of paste wax.
can and slather on a coat of finish.
3After the finish has begun to get a little 8After the wax has dried,buff the surfaces
tacky,wipe the surfaces thoroughly with with a soft cloth to bring out the luster in
a clean rag.Leave only a thin film of finish on the wax.
the wood.
* Waterlox Coatings Corporation
4The next day,sand all finished surfaces 9808 Meech Ave.,Cleveland,Ohio 44105
with 600-grit wet/dry paper. 800-321-0377
216-641-4877
5Apply a second coat of finish.Wipe after FAX [phone]
it becomes tacky. www.waterlox.com
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K D35-CS-70540-WOOD STASH PROJECT BOOK
FINISHING 9
step 1 These are
the finish prepara-
tion tools Iuse in
my shop. The rasp
and butt chisel
(used as a scraper)
perform the pre-
liminary work. The
use of a succession
of sanding grits
produces a smooth
surface for finishing.
step 2 A butt chisel used as a
scraper can remove a paper thin
shaving of wood, reducing the
surface much more quickly than
with sandpaper. Also, the butt
chisel leaves behind a smooth
surface of sheared fibers, rather
than the rough surface of torn
fibers left by coarse sandpaper.
step 4 The sanding process can bring to light hidden
areas of planer tear-out because the lighter-colored sand-
ing dust settles in those torn-out areas. One such area is
just above the tip of this scratch awl. Another sits below
step 3 When sanding large, flat surfaces like the bottom of this shelf, I wrap that to the right of the scratch awl tip. These should be
my sandpaper around a block of wood. The flat contact surface on the bottom scraped before any more sanding is done.
of that block of wood prevents the kind of channels that can be eroded into a
surface by coarse sandpaper gripped in the fingers.