stevenbunn Fri, 12/16/2022 - 16:42

Bye -bye to Paypal

A recent series of phishing attacks on my paypal account has led me to seriously question the utility of Paypal for a business such as mine. I closed my account with Paypal this afternoon. In the future, I will be content to wait for deposits and final payment for my work via your check via the mail. This makes more sense as everything I make is hand crafted. You, the customer, are aware that your chair/s is being custom made. On my side of things, I am happy to await your check thru the mail.

With that said. I hope that you and your families have a joyous holiday season. STB

stevenbunn Fri, 07/01/2022 - 16:57

Shop Made Cam-clamps

When the latest Woodcraft catalog arrived, I sat in my chair and paged through it. There were a multitude of modern remakes of traditional tools, some nice, others ridiculous, but nothing that filled a real need and was worth the price. With one exception. Woodcraft is offering cam-clamps in three sizes. A very neat tool, but not one that really said "buy me." The smallest cost $26.00. Cam-clamps are the kind of tool which if you need one, you need a large number. Buying 20 or more of these clamps requires a serious out lay of cash. I have always been put off by prices for wood clamps (well tools in general), and have been making many of my own clamps for years. The cam-clamp looked simple to make, so I decided to make a few for the hell of it. I found a number of plans for making cam-clamps on line. But all cost money to down load. I remembered seeing something about cam-clamps in Fine Woodworking. Searching their archive of articles, I found two. Ads on ebay listed both, but it turned out only one was still available. I love ebay, but hate high shipping charges. So I held off ordering the copy available. On a whim, I decided to check my local library, because the latest of the two articles was only two years old. And, to my surprise, the library still had a copy of the Winter 2019 Tools & Shops issue 272. Even more amazing, the librarian gave me the issue so she wouldn't have to throw it out.

I made wooden jaws from european beech left over from an earlier project. Any dense hardwood would work equally well. Making the jaws ended up being relatively simple. I spent more time making a jig to safely hold the jaw stock so I could cut a slot in the jaw end grain for the aluminum bar, than it took to mill the slots on all the pieces. Cost per clamp comes to a little over $5.25. McMaster-Carr sells one foot lengths of 1/4 inch x 1 inch aluminum for about $4.95. Roll pins, 1/8 inch dia x 3/4 inch length, are sold in packages of 250. But each roll pin only costs about 5 and a half cents, and you only need five pins per clamp. I made six this past weekend and am currently milling out stock for another batch of clamps. Being cheap, I am still mulling making a few of these clamps with wooden bars so I can see how well the wooden bar stands up to the clamping force applied by the roll pins when the clamp is tightened.

Thanks for stopping by. STB

Thank you to Nathan Murphy for his article Shopmade Cam Clamps, Handy, light-duty clamps are quick to make, in Fine Woodworking Magazine 2019 Winter Issue 272

stevenbunn Sun, 06/12/2022 - 11:01

Carving a seat saddle for a miniature Windsor chair

I built a rotating jig that allows me to more effeciently carve a quarter scale seat blank using a gouge, and a palm plane. I am currently working on a batch of ten miniatures for a customer. One of my woodworking nieghbors, Mark Donovan, made the palm plane shown in the photograph, which I use which to carve out the seat. Thank you Mark!

Thanks for stopping by STB

 

 

 

stevenbunn Tue, 04/26/2022 - 17:16

What's going on in the shop this week

Fitting spindles to sockets in the seat and thru holes in the arm bow.

Just as in assembling a full size Windsor chair, every spindle must be shaved to fit so that nothing binds up when gluing the chair together. Not shown in this photo, I managed to assemble the chair under-carriage, seat, spindles and arm bows on three miniatures.

Thanks for dropping by-STB

stevenbunn Mon, 04/25/2022 - 17:07

One of my recent projects, a fan-back rocking chair with carved-knuckle handrests

Fan-back Rocking Chair

Made for a friend of mine from Georgetown, ME. Any of my designs may be made as rocking chairs, but this chair with its carved knuckle handrests is my favorite.

Thanks for stopping by. STB

stevenbunn Mon, 12/27/2021 - 13:13

Another view of the new cabinets I built for the table saw

Here is a view of the back sides of the new cabinets I built for my table saw. The frame and panel dimensions and profile match the stiles and panels on my work benchs.

STB

stevenbunn Sun, 12/26/2021 - 16:29

2021 Antics: Making New Handles for My Handsaws

 

During the past year I had plenty of time on my hands in the shop. Looking for something to do, I decided to make a new handle for one of my antque saws whose handle was broken. The saw with the split handle appears to be an early Disston Number 7. The tongue on the original handle was not as defined as you will find if you compare this handle to a saw handle templete on Blackburn's website. But, I am pretty certain that this is a Disston saw. I had some rosewood from a previous project lying around. Because the wood's striking grain and color was so attractive I decided to use some of the rosewood to carve a new handle for the old saw. The results were pleasing enough that I decided to make rosewood handles for all the saws that I use every day. I've ended up with a set of seven hand and back saws with matching handles. Then MOFGA canceled this Falls Common Ground Fair, where I demonstrate Windsor chairmaking. So I have had no opportunity to show these saws off. Bummer. For more information on saw handle carving visit Blackburn's website. The split nuts and medallion were purchased from Blackburn.

For more information about Issac's handsaws, saw parts available for sale, and saw handle templates visit his site Blackburn Tools, blackburntools.com.

Thanks for dropping by. STB

 

 

stevenbunn Sun, 12/26/2021 - 13:45

 

2021 Antics:  Building New Cabinets for Table Saw

2021 Antics: A New Saw Table Cabinet

 

One of the things that has narked me over the years is the lost space under the tablesaw's outfeed and side tables. Yes, a trash can will fit handily. But, is that the best use for the space? This past summer I decided to finally do something about the problem. At first I drew up plans for two cabinets that would fit under the existing off feed and side tables. But after playing around with a tape measure it struck me that two completely new cabinets whose height matched the saw's height would give me more storage space and greater design options. This also allowed me to make the new tables (cabinets) longer than I could have gotten by squeezing the cabinets to fit the original space.

With a clearer idea of what I wanted combined with a holiday gap in my schedule, I built the two cabinets pictured and got them installed by Christmas Eve. I still need to add two pairs of doors and eight drawers to truly finish the cabinets. That will have to wait for another day after my wallet gets a chance to take a breather. To save money, I reused the old table tops and pieced plywood scrap to fill in the gap between the case's new length and that of the old tops.

Visitors to my site will immediately notice that I've not published a post in an eon. Some of this arise s from the simple fact that I am building a chair/s which I have already published a post about, the other obvious reason has been COVID. Folks don't order handmade furniture in a pandemic. Hence, nothing to much interesting to say.  In other news, I retired in June from Bowdoin College, where I worked twenty years as a cabinetmaker. For the past two and a half years I have served coffee to friends in my shop. This came about because the local cafe closed and we needed a place to meet in the mornings.

Thanks for dropping by. I hope you have had a wonderful time with your families. STB

stevenbunn Sun, 12/08/2019 - 10:20

A House for the kids

Recent visitors will have noticed that I have not posted anything new since July. This is because my time since July has been taken up with building a new house on our property for my younger son and his fiance. See the picture posed below.

Thank you for dropping by STB
 

stevenbunn Sun, 12/08/2019 - 10:12

Building A House for the Kids

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