Christmas Season Comment and Wrap Up.

   Traditionally one waits for the the New Year to do a wrap up and retrospective of their year.  Lets face it next week is a holiday week filled with friends and family so the real work of the year is done.
   I sat down and made a casual list of the past year's projects in my wood shop.


-two book cases for the kids house in Toronto.  A very good learning experience,
-a flat bed trailer to go with Kieran's wooden trucks.  Toys for kids are a way to become a hero.
-wooden building blocks too.
-cutting boards, many many cutting boards.  They are getting more interesting and I am using more interesting woods, I still like the roasted maple.
-several sets of wheels for shop tools.  Everything is the shop is on wheels.
-box joint jig.  That was a cool little project that gets dragged out now and then to make a sturdy little box.
-Eva's wooden gear clock.  I know it was a kit but...it was still a work shop project and very educational
-many pate knives, and I expect to make many more in the coming year.
-several scroll saw dino puzzles.
-an assortment of boxes, large and small.
-various gates to make stair cases safe for little people.
-a number of pieces of wooden jewellery
-finished the basement, made and installed the trim
-band saw boxes.
-raised panel doors, as I write this the paint in drying on doors for our basement sink's cabinet.


And various and many repairs as well as shelves and storage in the basement and the shop.  All together a very good year.


I hope and trust that your year was as good and that like mine your next year will be better.


 Thank you to my wonderful wife for her patience, ideas and  encouragement.  
 Thank you to my friends and family for their cheerful acceptance of prototypes and first tries. 


 Merry Christmas to One and All.

Clock, latest news

After fussing with the pendulum the clock has now run for 24 hours with out stopping.  The last stage is some final paint and stain and mounted on the wall.  Ya hoo

Eva's Christmas Clock

   Hanging in the open door frame is the clock finished with all but the face.  It does work although there is fine tuning and final gluing and balancing to do yet. It  runs for an hour or two before something binds and it stops. I have a pretty good idea what is causing the trouble, ( my fault, not the plan's fault).  And as this is being typed, glue is setting and being left to harden for 24 hours in the hopes that it will solve the trouble. 
   I you wanted to make a clock like this you do not need a work shop if you buy the complete kit.  Everything but the glue, clamps and sand paper comes with the kit.  ( you could probably use clothes pegs and rubber bands for the clamping tasks)


   This was a very tough project for me.  I am not inclined to detail or very fine work at all, and so this project was a very good learning experience for me.
   If you want to see it running I have it loaded on 
blogthetoolstore.blogspot.com.  .  I am not going to load the movie here too, it takes tooooooooo long to load a movie on the net book.  My net book is a great little back up tool, but I will be glad to get my lap top back in running order.


  wooden-gear-clocks.com

Christmas Time is Here

    These fine fellows are a combined project of my Mother, the painter and me, the carver.  Interestingly they were carved while sitting under a palm tree on the Pacific coast of Mexico last winter.  If I take a knife project with me on the resort trips I drink less beer, because I don't mix beer, sun and sharp tools.  The beer has to wait until suppertime when I have whittling to do.


    I have made Christmas tree ornaments for several years now and these are for family trees for 2011.