Handmade Christmas 2014

I had a great time this year making Christmas gifts and one (late) birthday gift. You can see most of the gifts I made in this photo. The only thing missing is the scarf. I didn't want to bring that down to the shop as there was a good chance that it would have gotten covered in saw dust!
Click on the links to see details about all the things I made.

Infinity Scarf
Lap Desk
Gift Boxes
Candle Sconce
Universal Joint Model (This is the birthday gift)

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Model Universal Joint

Model Universal Joint

I've been wanting to make this model of a universal joint for years and this is the year I decided to actually do it. Milling up the parts was very, very time consuming and fussy but I think I did OK given that this is my first time at trying to create very accurate parts.
Here are the pieces that will become the forks. The larger one is actually in a U-shape, which you'll see later.

I pre-drilled everything because working with the larger blanks is way easier and safer than trying to drill small parts.

Here are the parts after cutting them out of the blanks. Now you can see the U-shape of the forks.

I decided to stain some parts a contrasting color just for visual appeal so I created these little hangers to allow the parts to dry after staining.

Here they are drying after being stained.

It was easy to urethane the square pieces after slipping them on this dowel.

 Here's one half of one of the joints before assembly. I used the pennies as spacers so that I could apply some pressure to get the dowels in without worrying about breaking the fork, which was a bit delicate.

Next, I used a Dremel cut-off wheel to cut the short pins for the joints. This was way, way easier and safer than doing it on the chop or table saw. I used the scrap from another christmas gift to hold the dowel steady while I cut the pieces.

Here's one fork in the process of being assembled. The pennies really helped. I put a dab of super glue on each pin to hold it in place.

Two forks, assembled.

Two forks joined with a drive shaft.

Here are the joined forks on the base plate. I wanted to have them offset as much as possible to really get a sense of how the thing works.

Progressing towards mounting them on their base. Input and output shafts in place. That's the partial base in the background with its finish started, too. (In case you missed it in passed posts: those plastic triangles that the base is sitting on are the best thing ever for finishing projects. They are super stable, do not leave a mark and get the pieces and parts off of the bench, which is awesome.)

And here it is assembled and finished. The left-hand mounting block isn't perfectly square, which is a bummer, but I didn't notice until after I had glued and screwed it in place.

I've been wanting to build this model of a universal joint for years and years. I'm happy with how it turned out and am looking forward to giving it away, as that was also been my desire for years and years. I hope the recipient likes it since we haven't talked about how cool universal joints are for about 15 or 20 years. Yes, I've wanted to do this project for that long.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Pipe Candle Sconce

Pipe Candle Sconce

Here's a fun, quick gift. I got all the parts at Home Depot for not very much money. The hardest part of this gift is scraping the price tag and the tape that holds it on off of the nipples!
This isn't a great photo but I couldn't put it in a decent place to photograph it without giving away the surprise.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Gift Boxes

Wooden Gift Boxes

I go to breakfast with a couple buddies almost every week. We've been doing it for over 10 years. They've started giving Christmas gifts so I figured I should get with the program. My gift is very simple but it starts with a homemade box for each of them. This is a pretty standard box that I like to make and they're pretty easy. I'll make lids for them this year which will be fun.
I start by cutting a dado on one edge to take the bottom. Since I'm building a lid that'll fit over the top like a shoebox, I only cut one dado on the bottom. Then I cut the miters.

After cutting the bottom, I glue it all up with my handy strap clamp. I love this thing.

After the glue has cured for about an hour but before it's hard, I get in the corners with a chisel to take out the squeeze out. Works like a charm.

To make the tops, I built another box with both the top and bottom in place. I'll slice it apart on the table saw.

Here's how I slice open the box to create two tops. I used a window shim for the last cut to keep it as even as possible when I ran it over the blade. This helped a LOT to make the cut nice and even.

Here they are right before finishing.

And here they are in the middle of being finished. I had so many gifts to urethane this year that I got a headache.

I filled the cups with Champlain Chocolates and stuffed the boxes with red packing paper to add a festive touch.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Wooden Lap Desk

Lap Desk

The second gift I made this year is a bed tray. My younger daughter spends a lot of time in bed playing minecraft and chatting with her friends so I thought she might like a little tray to keep her laptop off her legs and give her a level spot for a cup of tea, too.
I started with some nice, clear 1x3 pine. I ripped about 1/2" off of one board, cut them very roughly to length and then glued and nailed them together.

Then I cut them to length with the 45 degree angle on each end. Basically, picture a thick (and crude) picture frame.

I then glued it up.

Just a quick side note here. I've been using the Home Depot's craft wood for years because I don't have a planer so it's easier to buy it already dimensioned. The trouble is that they slap this crappy sticker on every single piece and it's a pain to get off. Well, this year I thought of heating up the sticker with a blow dryer and then peeling it off. It worked like a charm!

I cut the slats for the top next. I made them about 1" wide and I wasn't really sure how many would fit or if it'd have to adjust any for thickness, etc.

I came up with a great system for spacing them out. Most are 3-pennies apart with a few that are just 2 pennies apart. It worked perfectly and they're all symmetrical.

Here it is with the top all glued and nailed on before I made the legs or put any finish on it.

I decided not to get too fancy with the legs, so they are fixed in place. They're glued and nailed so I think they should be sturdy enough. If they're too short, I can add extentions.

And here it is upright and ready for finishing.

I used my usual clear varnish finish. I put two coats on with light sand after each coat. Nice and smooth and it won't absorb any spilled tea.

Handmade Christmas 2014 - Infinity Scarf

This scarf is my first handmade Christmas gift of 2014. I got ahead of the curve this year and finished this one before Thanksgiving. That may be a record for me!
I pretty much followed this YouTube tutorial to do it.
It took 3 skeins of super bulky yarn and an 11.5 mm "P" hook.

Since it's an infinity scarf and I want Helen to be able to wrap it around her neck three times, I started with a 72" chain.

Here's my progress after 1 complete skein. You can see that there's at least one extra twist in this photo (foreshadowing!).
(I'm not sure why it's so blue in this photo. It doesn't look that blue in reality. At least, not to me.)

Here it is after 2 skeins. Kinda twisty.

So enough suspense: it was so twisted when I finished (at least three twists: I have no idea how I did that) that I pulled the whole thing apart and started from scratch. I basically got the hang of the half-double-crochet stitch about two thirds of the way through the first scarf so the second time went much quicker AND I only have one twist. I'm really pleased with how it came out. I sure hope she likes it!

Post Script

I liked crocheting the first scarf so much, I made a second one just for the hell of it. Different color, same pattern.

Quick Saturday Table Base

Sarah and I have been talking about creating this kind of base for our porch table for a few weeks now so when I had a couple hours and a willing assistant, I just went for it!
The old base was made up of two wooden bookshelves laid on their side. It worked quite well for a few years until they started to mildew. Using the pipes couldn't have been easier.
Basically, it's just a bunch of nipples (Liz thought it was funny that that's what they're called), some tees, and some flanges. I was expecting it to be tricky to get it level but it wasn't at all.
So now we have a nice, modern table base that should last a long, long time.

Memorial Day Weekend Cover Work Day

I spent the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend doing a bathroom renovation with Cover Home Repair in New Hampshire. For this particular job, there was a Cover leader working with two volunteer crews doing flooring repairs in a mobile home. Each volunteer crew had two people and we were very ably led by Diane Reinhardt.
Team one was working on repairing the floors in two bedrooms and my team was redoing the bathroom floor. The bedroom floor team was made up of a really nice father-son pair from Norwich. I worked with a gentleman I had worked with before, Rich, so we were able to get going pretty quickly. Rich lives in Enfield so he didn't have to travel too far for our job.
Rich and I first had to take up the linoleum from the bathroom floor which we hoped to save to lay down when we were done. We were able to do this because it hadn't been glued down. Once we did that we had to take up the subfloor which was rotten in all the wrong places, like under the toilet. Mobile homes may look flimsy but I can tell you from experience that they know how to attach a subfloor to the joists. They use a combination of 2" staples and glue so you really need some leverage and strength to get it up. Added to that is the fact that it's a very small space (it's a bathroom after all) and that you want to keep the insulation that's there between the joists without wrecking it and you have a situation that requires a lot of contortions to get the job done. Let's just say that you'll feel muscles in your butt the next day that you don't normally use.
The next step was installing blocking between the joists to support the new subfloor we were going to lay down. This is necessary because a mobile home subfloor spans the whole trailer without regard to rooms, walls, etc., so we needed to put support down under all the spots where our new subfloor would have seams.
This turned out to be the toughest part of the job for a couple reasons. The first is that since it's such a tight space, maneuvering to get leverage to install the blocking between the joists is really difficult. Keep in mind you're doing this with no floor so you're walking and kneeling on joists, which don't exactly give you a stable base to work on. The other is that Cover uses screws and drivers for just about everything (at least on the jobs I've done with them) rather than nails. This makes it much easier for volunteers to do work without complicated and dangerous tools (like nail guns) but in a flooring situation, it was really hard. I yearned for my framing nailer to just pop in the nails; instead, I was using a nice driver and 4" screws. I did it, but I stripped a few heads in the process and I got a wicked core workout, too! I got a little frustrated but working with Rich helped since he's such a nice guy. He kept me from throwing the driver through the wall but most importantly his presence kept me from swearing, which I am wont to do when wood, tools, fasteners, etc. don't want to cooperate with me.
The father-son team finished up by 3:30 but Rich and I were still going at it in the bathroom. After getting all the blocking in place, we had to cut new pieces of Advantech subfloor in all kinds of crazy shapes. This was because we left the tub and vanity in place and had to work around the toilet flange, vent pipes, etc. This was fussy work in cramped and poorly lit conditions so it took a while. Rich had to leave around 4 so it was just the Diane and I "gettin' it done". We really wanted to make sure the home owner had a toilet by the time we left so we had to add some more blocking, cut and install some more subfloor and then lay down the linoleum. I summarize that in just a quick sentence, but this was some of the fussiest work of the day. Luckily, the Diane is a real pro so she was able to keep us on track and do a good job of it. By the end, I was just following Diane's lead.
We finally got the toilet installed and made sure it didn't leak before leaving. I was so pleased that we were able to leave the client's house in better shape than when we got there. I have to admit that doing this level of work on a house was more than I bargained for and it was difficult at times to stay positive. Building a wheelchair ramp is much easier than a bathroom floor renovation but the need for what we did is huge in the Upper Valley and I'm so glad that Cover is there to help alleviate even a small amount of it. I'm also happy that I can help a little in this regard, too.

Porch Screen Refit - The Sequel

My faithful readers will remember that a year ago I spend hours and hours refitting the screens on our porch. I went through a long, tedious process of routing grooves around all the openings and securing the screens with spline. It felt great when it was done but it started to fail within a few weeks.
The spline just didn't stay in to keep the screens in place. It must be because I routed grooves that were too big or not deep enough or too deep. Who knows? All I know is that by mid-winter I had to pull them all off because they were so droopy and crappy looking that it was just too much to look at.
So this year I'm trying something a bit different. Basically, I wrapped the screen around the sides of each frame and stapled the crap out of it. By wrapping the screen around the frames, the staples are all covered by the porch trim. I was able to get them nice and snug and thanks to the use of a Craftsman electric stapler, I didn't kill my hands putting in all those staples.
We'll see how well they hold up.

Franken Mower

My lawnmower frightens me. I brought it up from the barn this morning so that I could mow the lawn. When I say I store it "in the barn" that just means that it's out of the snow and wet. I put an upside-down garden cart over it to add a bit more cover but it's basically outside all winter. So when I brought it up this morning, I fully expected to have to fuss with it. But did I? No, sir. I put a little oil in it, pushed the primer bubble a few times and then that thing just fired right up.

It's about 15 or 16 years old by now. I took it for a "tune up" a couple years ago. (I'm not really sure what the guy did to it.) I've replaced the blade once and I've sharpened it (badly) a few times. Aside from that, I put gas in it and oil when I remember and just run it. One of the front wheels is a bit wonky and can fold backwards if I hit a bump too hard and it's a bitch to steer but that thing just ... keeps....going.

It's a Tecumseh 6.5 HP motor on a Craftsman deck. I just can't kill it. And now that Helen's off to college, I need it to run for a few more years because I don't want to spend the money on a new one!