Shown here held together only by gravity, friction, and maybe static electricity, this is a dry fit of my work-in-progress black walnut footstool. The lid will be 3/4-inch Baltic Birch, upholstered. The floor bottom is also Baltic Birch, and has had a coat of stain already so it shows darker. The walnut should darken up just from the poly finish it will get.
I should probably notch out for the hinges BEFORE I glue this puppy together, I’m just thinking now…
I wanted to whip up a little something in the shop for the Love Of My Life, but I needed something I could build quickly, since the shop is freezing. This is what I came up with.
It’s made from the last bit of naughty pine — sorry, KNOTTY pine — from the Step Stool project. I freehand drew half a heart onto a scrap of plywood, cut it at the bandsaw, cleaned up the edge with the sanding drum, then drew the outline onto the workpiece, flipping the template for the other half to ensure symmetry. Back to the bandsaw to cut the final shape, back to the sanding drum to clean up edges. Hand sanded the inside of the curves at the top where the sanding drum can’t reach.
Finally, I laid out a line that would cut off enough of the bottom to allow it stand on its own, but at an angle so that the front is intact, retaining the full heart shape. To make the cut, I taped the heart to a wedge-shaped scrap that happened to be the right angle and took it to the bandsaw. Final sanding, quick coat of mineral oil, and back inside to thaw out my hands…
Lynda loved it. Yay!
Here’s the more-or-less completed step stool… made from recycled inch-and-a-half pine boards from the rails of an old waterbed I bought in the Eighties…
I was unable to find a plan that was entirely to my liking and/or could be easily used with the wood I had, so I came up with this simple design myself.
Since it’s going to be painted, I elected to go with a very sophisticated screw-and-glue joinery technique (nyuk nyuk) and just fill the screw holes with wood filler. Waiting for the first application to dry at this point, then a final application of the filler, then sealer/primer coat, then plain white paint.
At some point Lynda will probably give it the tole-painting treatment, but plain white to start.
These bandsaw reindeer are just supposed to be fun little give-away projects, quick to build from scraps of inexpensive construction lumber. And the other eight certainly were that.
But I thought the design (not mine) of this guy deserved a better treatment. After doing one in the cheap wood, I decided I would treat Rudolph here to something better.
I happened to have a piece of nice clear mahogany, bought on spec months ago. Eighteen bucks for what was essentially a 2×4 about 16″ long. Exactly enough for two Rudolphs, in case one didn’t work out.
Which is exactly what happened, as it turns out. On the first one I somehow managed to get the front template upside down relative to the side template (they are cut in two different operations). Which meant he looked fine from the front, but most peculiar once you started to rotate him. As in, sturdy antlers and delicate legs, instead of sturdy legs and delicate antlers. Instead of barrel-chested, he was barrel-headed. Not good.
Anyway, that version’s antlers are soon to be earrings, the rest is in the kindling box.
But Mahogany Rudolph MK II here turned out okay. Took a ton of hand sanding, but he was finally finish-worthy and looks pretty proud of himself…
Rudolph dons his full-body spray-on gold lamé disco jumpsuit and complementary dashing red seasonal scarf, to lead the other now-frumpy-looking reindeer out for a night at the clubs…
I know it’s too early for Christmas, sorry about that, but the reindeers don’t bandsaw themselves… which would be asking for trouble if they did…
