Forest. River. Rocks. - Forest. River. Rocks.

Japanese Joinery Square Build

Here was a challenging project from a few years back that I neglected to post. It involves some difficult joinery.

It looks great from the side.

But the joinery in the back is not so nice. It's functional as a square, though, so I'll take it.

The project was mostly an exercise in chisel work to clear out the wood.

The arm of the square showing the joinery. The curved handle was cut with a bow saw and smoothed out, no big deal.

The handle after cutting out the mortise and dovetail, with the completed arm in the background.

→ 12:23 PM, May 6

Duck Head Business Card Holder

This is a weird little item, created from a bit of walnut I had no idea how to use: I friend gave me some duck body and head blanks. As I'm not a carver, I'm still figuring out how to use these. For one duck head, however, I decided it was a nice shape for a business card holder. I made this for a colleague who transferred to a new job. As we work for NOAA's National Ocean Service, it occurred to me that the duck head shape had a bit of an ocean wave flare to it. So that's what I hope it evokes.

Here's the starting point: a duck head blank. In the background, you can see the bodies I have yet to decide what I should do with.

The duckhead was a bit too thin for a stable card holder, I reckoned. So I added walnut strips to the front and back. It adds a bit of complexity, but I was determined to make this work.

Cutting the notch for the cards was just a matter of eyeballing it.

And cleaning it up with some chisel work.

I added a nice bottom wavy curve.

And sawed it out. The final shaping was with my files.

Here's a view of the final card holder. I got ahold of a lapel pin from the place where we work, cut off the back, then cut out a hole to fit it nicely.

Here's the front view with some sample cards. I think it turned out quite well!

→ 10:39 AM, Aug 2

Simple Ulu Handle

Woodcraft sells a simple Ulu knife kit. A while back, I picked up five of them because they were on sale for something like half off. Not much to these. Just a blade and some optional rivets. The only mildly difficult part is creating the tiny little mortises where the handle will sit.

I neglected to take a photo when creating the 3/64" deep mortises, but it's pretty easy to do with a tiny chisel. I could have used a tiny router plane. Someday, I may pick up on of those.

After I rough cut the shape I wanted with a bow saw, I switched to my miracle files from Auriou (as I call them) to shape it well. These files are expensive because they are handmade in France. They are worth every penny.

Nothing fancy, but functional. This handle is from a scrap of bubinga. I made it extra thick and nicely rounded, as it was a gift for a person with large hands.

→ 6:13 AM, Aug 2

Sector Build

Completed Sector

What is a Sector? Here's an excerpt from Lost Art Press, where free instructions and template are available to download:

If you haven’t heard of the sector, it probably means you aren’t an artillery officer or a ship’s navigator working in the 17th century. An invention attributed to the great astronomer Galileo, the sector was a calculation instrument comprised of a pair of hinged plates engraved with a variety of scales that – coupled with a pair of dividers – enabled the operator to calculate proportions, polygons, trigonometric and numerous other table functions.
— Lost Art Press

While I could have made one out of paper and laminated it, I decided to make one out of scraps of poplar.

I started with a print-out of the template from Lost Art Press and used it to transfer the shape of the tool to the wood.

I used a Japanese saw to slice it up.

A bow saw and some file work made quick work out of shaping it.

For the rounded top where the two sides of the sector are attached, I used some carving tools to carefully reduce the width. Then I drilled a hole through each piece to fit a brass screw I had on hand.

With the paper template as a guide, it was pretty easy to map out the lines and points on the wood. Then I used a punch to mark the points. These points are where the compass registers to make calculations. The markings are done with sharpies.

That's it. Not much to it, really. But what an incredible tool for laying out stock and accomplishing other dimensioning. Someday, I may splurge and get a professional model. I found this beautiful Sector from Acer-Ferrous Toolworks that is both pricey and beautiful. Here's another lovely Sector from burnHeart.

→ 6:48 AM, Aug 1

Linux on an iPad

Pop! OS on an iPad

I recently "upgraded" an old 2009 Macbook Pro with Elementary OS, a fantastic Linux distribution. This led me down the distro hopping path, exploring way too many different Linux distros on my primary 2013 Macbook Pro using Parallels.

Then it occurred to me that to try out Linux on my iPad, just for kicks. Turns out it works great, provided you have a tool to run virtual machines and a Luna Display adapter. Above is a screenshot of my iPad displaying Pop! OS via my Macbook. Maybe this isn't the most useful thing in the world, but it's pretty cool to use my Apple pencil on Linux.

As an aside, my forays into Linux have been so enjoyable that I'm strongly considering switching to a System76 machine when my Macbook Pro kicks the bucket. I hope to hold out until System76 launches their first in-house designed laptops.

→ 11:10 AM, Feb 1