Safety tip # 97: Never wear flip flops in the shop

Ok, they tell you to always wear closed toed shoes when you’re working in the shop. Here in S.D. the weather is too nice to have long jeans, leather shoes, and steel toes. So I went out in shorts, a tank top, and flip flops.

I was mounting my bench grinder on a 12′ work bench I just finished. I had a ratchet on top, and an open end wrench I was using to hold the nut below.

2 maybe 3 things went wrong

#1 – I dropped the wrench on my unprotected big toe. Ouch!
#2 – the wrench then deflected under a glue up table I have stored under the bench making it a 2 step process to retrieve the wrench.
#3 – I moved the table, I bent down, picked up the wrench and I hit the back on my head on the way back up…ouch again.

pine toy cars

Here are 3 toy cars made for a friends 7 year old son on his birthday. The idea is that he can paint them and then assemble them getting his hands wet in woodworking. I guess ‘ll see how all that goes over on Sunday.

They were made from scrap 2×4’s and 1×2’s…net cost about $2.00 and an hours work.

Flame Maple Bowl and Plaque 9-13-07

 

This is the maple version of the bowl I made for Hawaii is is a gift for my niece’s wedding. Not too shabby, it was made out of lumber cut off from old guitar stock.

 

Koa Bowl and Plaque

Last month I was contacted by a woman in Hawaii that wanted a bowl for a a co-worker that will celebrate 40 years of service to the State of Hawaii Department of Health. After a few e-mails back and forth we decided on a design and price that would work. here is the finished product.

 

I likes ir so much that I’m making a maple version of it for my neices wedding this weekend.

Koa Yo-yo

Here is a Yo-yo I made recently for my daughters acting class. She needed some props for a skit she was doing. back in 1999, I received an honorable mention at the San Diego Design in Wood competition for a set of flame maple yo-yos that I eventually gave away to friends and family. this one currently makes it’s home in Concrete Washington

Koa Bowl 07-05

Dimension: 5.125 x 2.25

Wood: Koa

Price: Not For Sale

Notes: This was a particularly hard piese to sand. the koa is a little soft, and the endgrain was smearing rather than sanding nicely. It is a gift for a friend.

Birdseye and Spalted Maple box

Dimensions: 11 x 7 x 3
Wood: Birdseye Maple, Spalted Maple, and Cedar
Price: Not for Sale
Notes: I made this as a Fathers Day gift for my dad about 10 years ago. Originally a group of were making humidors, eventhough none of us smoked cigars. We all ended up making really nice boxes for gifts for family members.

Bowl Jig

I have had no way to dress the bottoms of my bowls, and didn’t want to spend $200 in a chuck, and accessory jaws. I found this home spun version on the net, and made one for my self. it seems to work pretty well.

Koa Bowl 07-04

Dimensions:7.125 x 2.5

Wood: Koa

Price: $150

Notes: This is one of the nicest pieces of Koa I have. Very flamy, and the photos do not do it justice.

Koa Platter 98-10

Dimensions: 8.75 x 2
Wood: Flat Sawn Koa
Price: $50
Notes: I like this piece, because of the sap (white) wood that contrasts. the original block was cur from the outside of a mal-shaped log, and thats why you see this part of the wood. Normally the Sapwood is discarded before the wood goes to market.