Last week I got an email from Janae Myers, suggesting I make a piggy bank. I liked the idea so much that I decided to focus my attention on designing and building one. Its really very simple to make, but with plenty of opportunities to offer your own artistic flair.

The construction is similar to a bandsaw box, with the sides glued on to a hollowed-out center. Using the entry point from the bandsaw makes for a great coin slot, albeit perpendicular to the direction coin slots normally run, I think.

To plug the bottom, I used a plastic grommet I picked up at the hardware store. Its the same one I used in my skull and crossbones candy dispenser. You could also use a cork.

The biggest decision I had to make when designing this, was how to deal with the pigs head. Traditional piggy banks look more like real pigs and have the head facing forward. I played around with various ways of doing this, but they all looked odd since my components are all essentially two-dimensional. By placing his head and face on the side, it compensates for this and gives it more of an appearance of a round, not flat head.

Its important to round over all the edges to make him as as soft and cuddly as wood can possibly be.

Free plans

Here are the templates I designed. You can print them all out on single sheets of paper. Use spray adhesive to affix them to the wood.

• WWMM Piggy Bank (pdf)

Read more »

Hi Everyone,

Well, Im still recovering from the extraction and Ive got a cold so Im not back up into the shop just yet. So to entertain myself Ive been doing a lot of reading online.

One of the news stories that has caught my eye is that of Jonathan Trappe, an American from North Carolina who is attempting to become the first person to cross the Atlantic by floating over with a set of cluster balloons. He is sitting in a specially designed gondola that looks like a small boat and this in turn is attached to the balloons.

Hes currently over the Gulf of St. Lawrence having taken off from Maine. You can track him at: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0s4Q04gaaoV9KnJ0UMb7h5b90telngQjv

I read somewhere the journey is expected to take between 3 to 5 days with a hoped for landing in France.

Im going to keep track of him while Im out of the shop.

More later,

VW

How To Build A Woodworking Shop

Woodworking Plans

Do-it-Yourself Patterns and Crafts, Woodworking kits, Furniture Plans Plus Much, Much More. Will Show You How to Make 16,000 Different Woodworking Plans. Use The Plans For Fun, Functionality or Profit!

How To Build A Woodworking Shop. Wood is 1 of the most attractive, tough and versatile materials that you can perform with though on a do it yourself project. The beauty of a cabinet door that is finished in wood cannot be matched by any other material irrespective of whether all-natural or man created. As with any project, you would demand a detailed set of plans even though you perform with wood and wood based materials. This is why it is advised that you use a detailed set of woodworking plans after you plan to extensively use wood primarily based materials to complete the project that you have embarked on.

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The other benefit that you could have if you use woodworking plans are that you would be ready with all the tools and implements that you would demand for completing the wood based project. Usually we discover that we do not have access to a certain tool in the middle of a woodworking project. This situation could lead to a loss of time and in some cases you may even have to abandon the project in case a unique tool is not offered. All these troubles can be avoided if you have a detailed program at the onset. How To Build A Woodworking Shop

How To Build A Woodworking Shop Info.

Consistent Advertising - The romance of woodworking will need to have to be balanced with the consistent advertising and marketing and marketing essential to retain the operate coming in. In time, phrase of mouth brings in a lot of operate if you create a excellent recognition. Until lastly then, you will have to have to get the phrase out routinely. Right after the operate arrives in you have to have fantastic manufacturing systems so you can complete the tasks promptly and continue to maintain the cash flowing. If jobs consider also very long and the dollars movement stops, it can turn into difficult to shell out the expenditures. Talking of funds flow, you should construct and adhere to regular assortment strategies. This is 1 area where by numerous woodworkers fail. The payment for the execute will will need to be as critical as the carry out by itself. If you are lax in accumulating, you will run into prospects who fall brief to shell out you and this will trigger truly critical earnings movement issues.

The Little company - Even however you like woodworking, you will require to do the residence company if you are to make a dwelling at it. Very good final results usually calls for an in-depth facts of both woodworking and business management. If you in no choice have every, I suggest you hesitate to leap in till you have honed your enterprise abilities.

Searching back once more I recognize that my lack of knowledge in the course of my startup very a couple of decades back could have been offset with some prevalent details and yet another individual to advise me.Sadly I had to discover most elements by trial and error.

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Two more saw handles done today! and that would finish the ones I plan to refurbish, I took the handle off my crappy "Jack" dovetail saw that never seemed to work. I think now that the real issue was the handle itself. The Handle was offset from central with a spring button that would let it switch from Left handed to Right handed and back. This versatility seemed like a great idea to my untrained eye. This was literally one of the first woodworking tools I purchased for myself to help me cut some half laps on my first ever project, a simple frame to act as a canopy over our pencil post bed. I always hated it. Today with a new handle I was able to actually bring some pressure to bear on the handle and amazingly . . . the saw cut just like it should. So now I have decided to delay some of my plans to re-tooth the saw to be more aggressive. Cut a few practice dovetail pins into some of the scrap poplar and it worked pretty nice.

The saw turned out great, the rivets worked much better for me this time. One simple thing seemed to help but I didnt think about it the first time when I was working with the open handle. Too excited and in a hurry to see the work complete I guess. This time I had the where with all to counter sink the holes the heads of the rivets fell into. Worked like a charm! the saw looks and cuts good. Im proud of this one.

I finished up the "D" handle pretty quick, so I took the time to cut and fit a new handle on the flexible flush cut saw. This time I followed no pattern, I simply cut out a something I thought would work well and shaped it further with rasp, card scraper and sand paper. fits the hand like a glove and cuts pretty well. One of the rivets didnt sink down so nice on this handle and so its got a little rock in it.and that may cause it to fail in the future, but when that happens, Ill replace it again.

Now just because Im done replacing these handle does not mean Im done with saws. My next day off is Tuesday, and I plan to use that day to work on creating a bow saw. After that may come a frame saw. I do have some ideas about creating some planes from scratch as well, well see how that develops in my mind as I drive forward here.

Anyhow enjoy the pics. . . and I will be posting again soon.
Goodnight
Oldwolf

At what time you are trying to decide what and where to go for a bathroom rug, you might want to consider making one instead by hand; they look very nice in bathrooms. This choice you can make it the size and shape you want. As well, you can create your own style, design, patterns, colors, etc, without sweating the market. Of course, online you will find a wide array of products, including oriental rugs, stylish rugs, etc. The choice is yours, however, if you want to make your own, check out our ideas.

Why would I want to make a rug instead of buying one?

You may want to take this in consideration. You will be making it to fit your needs so that choice you can pick out the colors you want, and then decide what size you want also. Rather than choosing online products, you can create, design, and alter the rug at your leisure. The shape of the rug is important as style, this is a plus for your bathroom, since the rugs will match and come together.

Is it hard to make a rug?

It is not hard to make a rug. It takes some time but it is not hard to do. Some people make rugs in a few days while others make the rugs in about a week. This depends on you. How fast do you want to work? You may want to set plans to finish your rug at a time you designate, which will inspire you to finish early.

What kind of material do I use when making a rug?

Most people just use pieces of rags to do these rugs. This choice it looks like a county setting and it will go with everything, I personally like the country look in my house.

How do I make my own rug?

When making your rug here are some steps for you to follow:

First, you have to get the strips of rags you want and cut them at ¼ inches then when that is done you have to put the fabric in a tape maker. The tape maker will fold the raw edges down so that it makes a strip, so it can be used to crochet. Then you press the strips in half to make a double fold, followed by rolling it into a ball and then make sure you chain stitch to join the chain into a ring, combined with a chain stitch from the hook and then wrap the fabrics over the hook crochet. Stitch crochet two single crochet patterns and keep going until you get the size you want.

How can I use my rugs?

When your rug is finished, you can use this for many different things, such as to put the rug in front of the shower, or maybe in front of the sink. You can even put the rug in front of the door.

How do I take care of my rug?

To take care of your rug the maintenance is easy to maintain. Just shake it out and throw it in the washer when you are finished. After washing just hang to dry. I don’t think I would want to put the rug in the dryer to dry, since this may make it shrink. Drying will sometimes fade the color, so I would just hang the rug to dry,

How do I choose material to make a mate?

If you plan to make another rug, choose materials as you did the same rug. You will need the same material.

Assembling the Cut List...

Working off of my sketches and existing examples of trusted, work bench construction methods, I come up with a plan and begin adding up the numbers. This is generally how I approach a new design, from the sketch I mock up some shapes and sizes using off cuts and batons around my shop to see if in the real world things still look like they do on paper. I settle on the overall size and start down my cut list taking into account the joinery.

The top work surface is where I begin and the two panels of 1" thick, quarter-sawn white Oak are cross cut to length leaving about 1/4" extra for love. The oak used is offcuts from a past project and has been in my shop for over 7 months now, so I know its extremely stable and will make a great work surface and apron. When I originally purchased the wood it was dimensioned before it left the mill so I can surface it all pretty quickly. From jointing plane to smoother Ill get the top glued up before I even begin thinking about the apron.
This being a work shop project Im really trying to keep the budget at a minimum so the bench top and apron are made from off cuts as mentioned with the lower frame made from Ipe. Its an extremely dense exotic I noticed at my local hardware store. They sell it these days as a high-end decking material. This particular stock was already finished at 1 1/2" square and came in 12 lengths. At $15.00 a length I couldnt go wrong. It does come with its edges all beveled but this being a work bench I can live with it. Id prefer to have square stock to begin but I can deal with the off the shelf lumber for the sake of the budget. Now 1 1/2" stock may sound a little undersized for a workbench frame but keep in mind the scale of the piece and the fact that this Ipe is like iron!

Jointing the Edge

With the oak cross cut to length Ill go ahead and joint it. To begin, I clearly mark the planks for grain direction and lay them on my bench top, reference faces up. I decide what two edges Ill be jointing together. I mark the orientation of them with a builders triangle on the face surface and fold them back together keeping the inside edges up. This book matched pair will be clamped together in my face vise and jointed simultaneously. I use a bevel-up jointing plane with a nice wide iron at 2 1/4" and work the edges together. Ill take a series of through shavings checking for square as I go. I finish off the process with a couple of stop shavings to insure no bumps along the edges. Again I check my work with a reliable straight edge and finally, a light pass again planing through, end to end. The nice thing about edge jointing two boards together like this is if youre edges are slightly out of square it really doesnt matter; because of the book matching we did when we clamped them, once unfolded any inconsistencies will cancel each other out. That said, while youre planing, try your best to keep things square! (maybe this is one of those rare occasions you can get in some practice time while actually working on a project and not just something from the scrap wood pile?)

The Glue Dance

With the edges jointed Ill glue up the panels and set them aside for the night. Heres my method for gluing two panels together.
To begin, I set my clamp opening to an 1" wider than the actual piece and lay them down across my bench top. These pieces are just under 3 long so Ill be using 5 clamps, three will go on the bottom and two more across the top.Lay the two planks across the three bottom clamps and a quick dry run will show how things should hopefully go. These two are sitting really nicely together and the joint almost closes itself! Its a good day when that happens...
Because of the stopped shavings I took earlier, when gentle pressure is applied using only the middle clamp, Im confident the outside edges of the joint will be tight.
So a generous amount of glue is spread and I begin again at the middle clamp bringing the pieces together. I use down ward thumb pressure across the joint to keep the seam flat and wont over tighten this first clamp yet- Ill come back to it in a minute. With the middle of the stock held firmly together, Ill use a couple of F style clamps placed on the outside edges and draw the seam down flush along its length. Then working out from the center again I start tightening things up. I stagger the pressure as I go, from left to right and then left outside and finally the right outside clamp. With the five clamps secure Ill move back across and re tighten them all down to finish. Take a step back and have a look- double check your grain is running in the proper direction and your building triangle is mated happily back together. This will be your last chance to change anything!
Go make a coffee and check your email, come back in an hour and begin cleaning up the glue. Ill work between the clamps and remove any squeeze out after it has started to cure but before its too hard to easily scrap away. This is also when Ill usually remove the two outside F clamps; if I leave them on overnight Ill have some deep bruises to deal with tomorrow.






















"Top of the morning to ya!" The glue set up overnight so I remove the clamps and get ready to work. A card scraper down the seam removes any final bits of glue- Im careful not to tear away any wood with it. Im happy with the results- this oak is stable and sits well on my bench top-another good sign! Ill double check with my winding sticks and a metal straight edge taking note of any high spots or twist across the surface.
















A few light passes with the jointer followed with a smoothing plane and Ill double check one edge for square. I now have a reference face and edge and can continue on with dimensioning the panel. Ill use my panel gauge and scribe the finished width around the perimeter; because this was pre-dimensioned wood and I took my time with the glue-up, Im happy to say the piece is almost square with just a few light passes along one end. With that, I now have a panel with two long edges, completely parallel and square with one finished face.
















Ill check the thickness throughout the panel to see if it needs any dressing and working from the bottom, Ill plane the stock to final thickness. Not much to remove so this process is pretty straight forward. Four sided stock with two ends that still need to be addressed- thats where Ill go from here.

Planing End Grain

I get asked alot how I deal with the long end grain on panels. I think some woodworkers are intimidated when it comes to this area so Ill show you the steps I use.
So first things first Ill scribe a deep, crisp line around the perimeter with a knife working off a reliable framing square. The amount of wood Im removing is very minimal, no more than 1/8". Again, the time I took to carefully glue up the panel makes these later steps so much easier.

With my line scribed Ill place the panel vertically in my face vise and block up the bottom off of the shop floor. From there Ill clamp the left side of the panel in the vise and hold the right side with a surface clamp installed in one of the 3/4" holes I have across my work bench apron. My bench didnt come like this but its a feature I could never live without. Before I fully tighten the vise and clamp I like to place a small level across the top of the piece.






















Also, because were dealing with end grain and I dont want to blow out the face grain on the far edge of the panel,(spelching) Ill clamp a piece of scrap wood, thicknessed the same as the work piece and tighten everything down to get started.

Im using my bevel-up jointer again, set to take a fine shaving and carefully work my way down. Im taking light passes, always watching for those first shiny edges starting to appear. Its hard to put into words but youll know it when you get there. Being careful not to over-shoot, I work my way down so I can see my scribe line still wrapping the entire perimeter. With that tiny strip left glistening, I know the edge is square. (but Ill still double check it!) Now I can safetly measure up off of this edge and follow the same procedure for the sixth and final side.















So there you have it- a work bench surface, square on all six sides. It may seem like a lot of steps but the above process probably didnt take much longer than it just took me to write this post. Im ready to begin the bread board ends and assemble my pieces for the apron. That will be next time.
Cheers!