Saturday, December 21, 2013

I Met "The Man" of Segmented Turning


 His name is Malcolm Tibbetts and he is known
as one of the worlds foremost segmented turners.
As I do shows and my woodworking at the
North end of Lake Tahoe, Malcolm creates his
art on the South end of Lake Tahoe. People come
into my booth and ask if I know Malcolm, and
I always had to answer no. Well now I can say I
know him.

I took a one day class from him in November
down in Reno. What a great way to spend a day.
I haven't had a chance to practice what I've learned.
I have been babysitting my grandson quite a bit
instead of working in the shop. 

All of these photos are of Malcolm's work.  
 Large 24" vessel
 Tube Sculpture about 24" wide
 Tube sculpture about 30" high

This is the base for a glass topped coffee table.
It is made of 4 bottomless bowls cut top to bottom
in half and put together again after twisting them
180 degrees. 

Malcolm's Web Site: http://tahoeturner.com/


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

A Road Trip To One Of My Favorite Places


 The Woodworking Show at the Sacramento Cal Expo ... YAY!
 This where I get to see all of the latest tools and gadgets.
 So, I got to spend the night and hit Cal Expo a couple of times.
I spent very little (for me). $250.00 wasn't too bad.
The best thing I did while I was there was to attend
a how to "Tune-up" a band saw class. I've been doing
it wrong for 30 years. I bought some new blades and
band saw gadgets and I just tuned the big saw up
yesterday. WOW, it's a new saw.
 This is the "Big Band Saw". Tough to tell
in the photo, but this beast stands 7 feet tall.

I'm rebuilding our web site (not this blog,
 but www.dustnlint.com) so stay tuned
and I'll keep you posted. It's about 2/3 done,
and moving along. I do all the work myself,
so it's slow but it's done my way. Additions
and changes down the road are so easy that
it makes it very worth while.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Tahoe City ~ Second and Smokey Show


 Where did the shoreline go?
 Oops, not there either.
The American and Rim Fires have been creating
a lot of smoke. That and news people to the west
warning people not to come to Lake Tahoe makes
for a poor show. The show in Homewood the next
weekend wasn't any better.
( The shoreline can be seen in the previous post. ) 

We are officially done for this summer.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

First Tahoe City Show of 2013

 This is the view from my booth toward the lake.
This is what you see if you go past the booths.

Two weekends in a row here, so we'll be back
here on Friday. Our next stop is Homewood on
Labor Day Weekend.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

A Bank For Cruz . . . Part 5


EEK!!! it's a monster .... not really. It's just me with my
protective mask on. Lacquer vapors are very dangerous
to breathe. With this mask on I can't ever smell the lacquer.
 Here's your bank with the bottom off after a couple of
coats of lacquer applied. I take off the bottom because
the lacquer will stick them together and it will be hard
to get the bank opened.
Here's a whole bunch of boxes being lacquered at the
same time you bank is being done.
Here's your finished bank again.
Here's my booth where Grandma and Grandpa picked
up your bank. Enjoy you bank, Cruz.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

A Bank For Cruz . . . Part 4


When you take those four screws out on the
bottom and turn the bottom over this is what
you'll see. Those two "X's" are there to show you
that those two edges go together when putting
the bottom back on. 
Here are four banks ready to sand. Cruz, can
you pick out your bank? It's the one on the right.
This is what I sand it with. It's called a belt sander.
I will start with an 80 grit which in very course. I will
then use 150 grit, medium, and then 220 grit which is
fine.
Here it is after the sanding is done. I've decided to have
a part 5 which will cover the finishing the bank. I will be
brushing lacquer onto your bank.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

A Bank For Cruz . . . Part 3



 After the side glue up has dried, it's time to glue
a couple of small pieces of pine to accept the screws
that hold on the bottom.
Back at the beginning, I'm cutting the pine strips
on the table saw.
 Here's what the strips look like before they're glued in place.
 After the pine strips are glued in, it's time to glue on the top.
Still with me Cruz? The glued top has now dried and it's
time to attach the bottom. I drill holes through the bottom
into the pine strips. I then attach the bottom with screws.

Do you see how all of the fingers and top and bottom edges
are "proud" of the sides? This means they stick out just a
little bit. This is so when I final sand everything will be flush
and pleasing to the eye.

More Parts to come.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

A Bank For Cruz . . . Part 2


I thought I would show you what it Looks like when
I put the other fingers in the box joint. The others had
the notches on the edges and these do not.
 One more view of the Incra Jig.
And let's have a final view. The jig has positive stops every
1/32 ( that blue strip is like saw teeth ) of an inch, 
and I can also dial in 1/1000 of an inch. 
 Above, I'm getting ready to put the slot in the top 
for Cruz' savings. There is now a 1/8" bit in the router
sticking up just a little more than 1/4".
The edge of the top rides against the fence and is stopped
by the two stop blocks that are mounted on the fence. This
allows me to put the slot right in the middle of the top.
I've just glued the sides together and when it dries, 
I'll glue the top on. See you in Part 3.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

A Bank For Cruz . . . Part 1

I was asked by a lady many of you know
as Trailbee to make a bank for her Grandson
Cruz. This is the finished bank above.

I don't usually do this, but I'm going to explain
exactly how I made this bank. The bank comes
from Grandma and these "How-To" posts come
from Odie ... Enjoy Cruz, I enjoyed making your
bank.

The first step, that is not pictured here, is to mill the wood to
the proper thickness. In the case of the banks, the sides are
3/8" thick and the top and bottom are 1/4" thick. When I cut
the sides to length, I cut them 4-5/8" long and 4-1/8" wide. One
of the reasons for this is when the top and bottom are attached
it forms a perfect cube. The other reason for this size is the
width of 4-1/8" fits this style of joinery perfectly. Each finger
of this "Box joint" is exactly 3/8" in width. 
 Above is how I make the fingers of the box joint. Looking at
this can be deceiving. There are 8 sides pictured here clamped
to the sled. The taller one pictured is a backer piece to prevent
chip out of the bank sides. These are 8 sides of 4 banks. The
other 8 sides are done later. They will be milled so that their
fingers fit between the fingers of these pieces. 
 There is a 3/8" router bit sticking up a little more than 3/8"
above the table. I like to make the joint ends "Proud" and
sand them smooth later. The sled rides on the fence and passes
the wood squarely through the 3/8" bit.

This jig pictured here is called an "Incra Jig".
 Cruz, here are all the pieces that make up your bank.
Here I'm dry fitting the sides to make sure they fit.

That's it for part one.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

First Show of the Year (part 2) ... Lake Tahoe

 Early morning in Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe.
 This is the walk way where we were. Our booth is
the one with awning over the walk way. The sun you know.
 The afternoon at Kings Beach. Check out the boat
pulling the parachute.
Our booth from the left side.

We will be in Homewood on the west shore
of Lake Tahoe from 7/4 Thursday to 7/7 
Sunday. It is about 20 miles north of South
Lake Tahoe on Hwy 89. If you click on the
Dust'n Lint banner on the upper sidebar, you
will be transported to our web site where our
schedule resides.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

First Show of the Year . . . Lake Tahoe


Well, here we are again at our first show of the year.
We start the season at Kings Beach (Lake Tahoe, North
Shore) every year. 

We set up the booth a little differently here because there's
a foot drop-off the last two feet in the back of our booth. We
put Sue's quilt racks across the back of the booth so we don't
lose any little old ladies to the abyss gods.
Here's the view of the lake taken 100 feet from our booth.

I'll try to post more tomorrow. Starting on the 4th of July,
we'll be on the West Shore at Homewood for a four day
show. That's on our 2013 Schedule at our web site.

* Coming very soon, a series on how I make a wooden
bank. I'm posting it so the boy it is made for can enjoy
how his bank was made. I might even try a video
version of it also.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Nature is Rarely Perfect ~ The Fix

 Well, here's the area that needed fixing in the
last post. What do you think?
This is a Walnut Bowl almost 12" across
by 3" in height. There is a food safe finish
applied.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Nature is Rarely Perfect

 What you see here is a "patch job" because Nature ain't
always perfect ... no matter what some people might try
to tell you ... huh Algore.

I use my own recipe to fix cracks that appear in knots, as
in this case. I always save saw dust from each bowl as I'm
working. I mix that with my wood glue and it makes a great,
strong filler. It is, for the most part, undetectable.
 As you can see, I'm about half done on the inside.
Because of so many things going on in the 
Dust'n Lint household, this project must be
postponed. It will also give that "patch job"
a chance to dry. 

I cover this with a plastic bag so moisture
doesn't escape too quickly. In a not so
perfect world, that could cause another crack.