Charlie b kinda got the ball rolling here. I have my new Craft
Supplies as well as Packard catalogues. The only thing I really
noticed that was new was how much some of the prices went up.

I usually use these as idea books, but nothing stands out. I make some
gifts and usually sell enough to pay for about half of Christmas if I
am not doing something like buying another scroll chuck.

Probably like many here, I have made all the bowls, pencil holders, oil
lamps, weed pots, fan pulls, jewelry, pens, ornaments, etc., etc., that
I want for a while. Last year I made lamps using the confetti lights
in the Craft Supplies catalogue and they not only sold really well but
were a great gifts. But I made a bunch of them and I am not in the
mood to make more. Same with spoons, ladles, and batter beaters. BTW,
the kitchen utensil idea was a great way to use up my odds and ends of
3/4" and 1" thick scraps of 1X4, 1x6 etc. since they didn't have to be
but about 10 to 12 inches long to be great.

Sooo.....

Anybody making anything new, fun, and exciting? Something we haven't
seen before or a new twist on an old favorite? (No Chinese balls,
please ; ^) )

Robert

wrote:

Sooo.....

Anybody making anything new, fun, and exciting? Something we haven't
seen before or a new twist on an old favorite? (No Chinese balls,
please ; ^) )

Robert


How diabolical do you want to get?

I've done simple sliding dovetail boxes with
space routed in the center for MONEY!. Fold
a bill, say a hundred, stuff it in the routed
space, slip the top and bottom together,
adding just a little drop of glue just before
closing. Glue a print of the face on the bill
on the top of the "box" and hit it with some
spray shellac.

A variation on the small necked bottle trick
could be fun. In place of "bottle", insert
turned pinch neck small hollow form. Roll up
the bill real tight, slip it into the bottle. Inside
it will unfurl enough to not fall out - or make it
easy to get out of the bottle. Since wood
isn't quite as transparent or translucent as
glass - you could drill holes in the hollow form
so the recipient can see there's a bill inside.

If you don't have to go with wood you can
give clumps of bananas with a bill slipped
into one of them. Works with a watermellon
too.

If you want to really be evil - take the fattest
phone book you can find and 50-100 crisp
new dollar bills. Open the book anywhere and
stuff a bill back near the binding. Repeat
randomly 'til you run out of dollar bills. Wrap
and have the card note that there's money
inside.

just some ideas for you.

charlie b

Hi Robert

Saw a new one (for me) the other day, but it falls in the jewelry
category, namely a pendant, it was made from a Lodgepole pine cone,
Jack pine cone would also do I think, these cones stay closed unless it
gets very hot, like with a fire.
These pendants were made from the centre slice of the cones, highly
polished and a clear coating over it, the shapes of the scales and
seeds that were clearly visible made for a very intricate and beautiful
little hanger.
So if it's new to you also, then away you go, and find some pine cones.
;--))

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo



wrote:
Charlie b kinda got the ball rolling here. I have my new Craft
Supplies as well as Packard catalogues. The only thing I really
noticed that was new was how much some of the prices went up.

I usually use these as idea books, but nothing stands out. I make some
gifts and usually sell enough to pay for about half of Christmas if I
am not doing something like buying another scroll chuck.

Probably like many here, I have made all the bowls, pencil holders, oil
lamps, weed pots, fan pulls, jewelry, pens, ornaments, etc., etc., that
I want for a while. Last year I made lamps using the confetti lights
in the Craft Supplies catalogue and they not only sold really well but
were a great gifts. But I made a bunch of them and I am not in the
mood to make more. Same with spoons, ladles, and batter beaters. BTW,
the kitchen utensil idea was a great way to use up my odds and ends of
3/4" and 1" thick scraps of 1X4, 1x6 etc. since they didn't have to be
but about 10 to 12 inches long to be great.

Sooo.....

Anybody making anything new, fun, and exciting? Something we haven't
seen before or a new twist on an old favorite? (No Chinese balls,
please ; ^) )

Robert

charlie b wrote:

How diabolical do you want to get?

LMAO! I don't think I would ever get invited back for any Christmas
festivities. Those are actually just a shade past diabolical...

Sounds like fun, though. Just not with my crowd. They are used to
getting those "thoughtful" gifts. I'm just tired of making them.

Robert

wrote:
Hi Robert

Saw a new one (for me) the other day, but it falls in the jewelry
category, namely a pendant, it was made from a Lodgepole pine cone,
Jack pine cone would also do I think, these cones stay closed unless it
gets very hot, like with a fire.
These pendants were made from the centre slice of the cones, highly
polished and a clear coating over it, the shapes of the scales and
seeds that were clearly visible made for a very intricate and beautiful
little hanger.
So if it's new to you also, then away you go, and find some pine cones.
;--))

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

You know, a couple of years ago I took some tiny, closed pine cones
about the size of a really large grape (you could just tell what they
were) and dried them out in an open container in the deep freeze. I
dipped them in thin shellac that I tinted with a mahogany dye. They
were really neat looking and made nice pendants.

I had never even thought of slicing one of those larger cones to make a
hanger. I think one of my neighbors has a long needle pine (no
Lodgepoles or Norfolks native this far south) that I might be able to
experiment with. I wonder... do you think they gave the cone a bath in
some kind of finish (shellac or whatever) and let it dry before they
sliced it? Seems like a saw would tear a pine cone to pieces no matter
how careful you were.

Good one. The wheels are turning over here.

Robert

I found an easy to turn present I'll be making for my green thumb
relatives:


http://pathtofreedom.com/peddlerswag...ls/index.shtml
newspaper seedling pot maker

They also have a better picture at Lee Valley:
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page...713,40757&ap=1

Mark Fitzsimmons wrote:
I found an easy to turn present I'll be making for my green thumb
relatives:


http://pathtofreedom.com/peddlerswag...ls/index.shtml
newspaper seedling pot maker

They also have a better picture at Lee Valley:
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page...713,40757&ap=1

I can see that the dimple on the bottom piece would compress into a
receiver on the knobbed part. But what hold the top of the newspaper
in place at the rim to keep it from just unrolling?

Robert

Hi Robert

How can you roll the top back while the bottom stays put ??
You'd have to tear the bottom, as is only the last part can be folded
back at 45 degrees, yes I know it's getting late, ;--)))

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

wrote:
Mark Fitzsimmons wrote:
I found an easy to turn present I'll be making for my green thumb
relatives:


http://pathtofreedom.com/peddlerswag...ls/index.shtml
newspaper seedling pot maker

They also have a better picture at Lee Valley:
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page...713,40757&ap=1

I can see that the dimple on the bottom piece would compress into a
receiver on the knobbed part. But what hold the top of the newspaper
in place at the rim to keep it from just unrolling?

Robert

wrote:
Hi Robert

How can you roll the top back while the bottom stays put ??
You'd have to tear the bottom, as is only the last part can be folded
back at 45 degrees, yes I know it's getting late, ;--)))

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo


Wrap a long strip around the body. Leave a generous amount to fold over
at the bottom. Fold it over and whack it against the bottom piece to
crimp it. Remove the paper cup. You're done. Fill with soil and plant.

No need to concern yourself about how long it will last as you are only
looking to use it for a few weeks and WANT it to disintegrate
immediately thereafter. (Life-cycle engineering at its finest!)
Typically, once the seeds are planted there would be no need to handle
the tubes until time to transplant.

Bill


--
If God didn't exist, there would be no need for atheists.

On 28 Nov 2006 22:16:39 -0800, wrote:

I had never even thought of slicing one of those larger cones to make a
hanger. I think one of my neighbors has a long needle pine (no
Lodgepoles or Norfolks native this far south) that I might be able to
experiment with. I wonder... do you think they gave the cone a bath in
some kind of finish (shellac or whatever) and let it dry before they
sliced it? Seems like a saw would tear a pine cone to pieces no matter
how careful you were.

Never thought of doing anything with pine cones, but the scales are
all oriented towards the tip- if held it with the base towards you,
and a belt rotating away from you, you might be able to abrade half
away very nicely with a belt sander. Keeping the seeds intact might
be a long shot, but maybe you could break the upper layer of the
scales with the sander, and then soak in shellac (or maybe inject
clear epoxy into the center with a syringe.)

Kind of makes me want to go find a pine cone, and goof around with it
a bit.

The dimple crimps the bottom, which is just folded over newspaper from
the roll covering the sides, so it won't unroll. Simple enough.

I tried making one last night, and it's not as easy as I thought due to
the dimple aspect. Without making special tools for production, I think
I'll have to cut the base cylinders and then mount them much closer to
the chuck to make the nub to match the knob parts already made in a
batch. (I was using a 12" or longer cylinder and it's too far from the
headstock to keep it from whipping while cutting the nub/annulus).
Either that or use a steady rest, which seems like too much trouble.

wrote:
Mark Fitzsimmons wrote:
I found an easy to turn present I'll be making for my green thumb
relatives:


http://pathtofreedom.com/peddlerswag...ls/index.shtml
newspaper seedling pot maker

They also have a better picture at Lee Valley:
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page...713,40757&ap=1

I can see that the dimple on the bottom piece would compress into a
receiver on the knobbed part. But what hold the top of the newspaper
in place at the rim to keep it from just unrolling?

Robert

Mark Fitzsimmons wrote:
The dimple crimps the bottom, which is just folded over newspaper from
the roll covering the sides, so it won't unroll. Simple enough.

I tried making one last night, and it's not as easy as I thought due to
the dimple aspect. Without making special tools for production, I think
I'll have to cut the base cylinders and then mount them much closer to
the chuck to make the nub to match the knob parts already made in a
batch. (I was using a 12" or longer cylinder and it's too far from the
headstock to keep it from whipping while cutting the nub/annulus).
Either that or use a steady rest, which seems like too much trouble.

So are you saying, ( I think this is what Leo was saying ) that the
crimp on the top will keep the TOP edge from coming apart as well. I
can see the crimp doing its business on the bottom, but with the loose
layers on the top/opening, I am not understanding how they stay
together.

It looks like a pretty cool deal, and no doubt, I will make one.

As for your situation of making the bases, when I have made parts that
require repitition, I use every advantage I can get. I would cut a
piece of my round stock as long as I could to make about three or four
of the bases at a time. Put the piece in the chuck loosely, then line
up the piece centered with your tail stock, and tighten the chuck jaws
when centered. Then I would cut the female part into the end.

For straight into the grain, I have found my parting tool is a killer
for that. I still use that tool to drill the 2+" holes into end grain
when I make clocks and use fit ups. So buzzing into the endgrain of
something about 1/2" or so would work easily.

Then part off the piece you finished, and you can start again.

Or..

This is what I did for my repetitive part making. Same as above, but I
cut a small groove into the piece at the point I determined to the the
length. Mark the stock end of the material so you can rechuck to the
same jaws on your chuck before going further. Then take the piece off
the chuck, take it to the miter saw, and slice it off to the left of
the groove, so the the bottom of the piece will be rounded. The miter
saw will leave a much smoother surface than the parting tool (no
sanding!). Also, the groove will keep the piece from the tiny
splinters you get from cutting on a saw. It is ready for finish off
the saw.

And with your jaws marked, put the piece back in, center it up with the
tailstock, and have another go. Even when you get to the last one and
you are small enough that you don't want to get your fingers near that
blade, simply end glue (5 min. epoxy or hot melt) onto your last piece
and you can use your material down to the last nub.

You will be surprised... you can buzz off those pieces in just a couple
of minutes, and with no sanding after it leaves the lathe the whole
process becomes really fast. I think I was making wooden feet or
something like that when I came up with that method.

Robert

I made seven of them last night. They're all slightly different, of
course. It was pretty easy once I made the larger dia stock small
enough to fit deep down into my 3 jaw chuck so it only stuck out about
12". Jamming it up against the spindle helped keep it from wobbling I
think.

Made all the top parts first, forstner to make the recesses, then cut
the annulus to match. It needs to have a fair amount of slop, more than
the thickness of a pencil line, to take the mashed up paper without
ripping it when you jam it down. If it's too tight, the paper will rip
at the end and then it _will_ unroll! For the same reason, the bump in
the base has to be smaller than the mating recess, and rounded. It's
very forgiving, I just penciled the OD and eyeballed the ID.

wrote:
So are you saying, ( I think this is what Leo was saying ) that the
crimp on the top will keep the TOP edge from coming apart as well. I
can see the crimp doing its business on the bottom, but with the loose
layers on the top/opening, I am not understanding how they stay
together.

As long as the paper is wrapped more than one time around, it doesn't
come unwrapped once crimped. How could it? I took 8x11 sheets of
newsprint, folded in thirds the long way and they wrap around about 2
times, then fold the loose end over first so the rest of the folded
over parts help hold the paper in place. Works fine. Make one and
you'll see.

Back in my organic gardening days I used a lot of paper pots. I was setting
out 1200 transplants a year and anything to keep costs down was good. Three
wraps of paper around the plunger are good and once the bottom is folded and
crimped everything is ready to go. The roots will grow right out the sides
of the pot and it will rot into the soil. Once the roots get established in
the pot you could take the whole thing and toss it in the air with out the
pot coming apart. (Why would you want to?) Leave plenty of room for the
plunger to fit into the base with the paper around it. Better a loose fit
than tight.

On 28 Nov 2006 11:36:54 -0800, wrote:

Anybody making anything new, fun, and exciting? Something we haven't
seen before or a new twist on an old favorite? (No Chinese balls,
please ; ^) )

Took me a while to even figure it out for myself with the OT at work
lately, but I decided tonight that everyone is getting a big snowman.
I've got some dry basswood logs that are the right diameter to make
them about 2' tall and still have a little plumpness to them. And I
don't feel bad about painting basswood to make them look festive.

Now I've only got a few days to get those made, so hopefully, all goes
according to plan.