Andrew's View of the Week

Wednesday Woodworking – Pendant

Posted on 04/27/2016 by Andrew Reynolds

Last weekend was our marquetry club’s quarterly workshop and this time we set about making some wooden jewelry. We made this pendant out of small pieces of veneer. Here is mine:

Parquetry set in a pendant bezel and sealed with polyester resin.

The pendant is about an inch in diameter. The pattern is small bits of veneer. Here’s a picture of the bits. I included the pencil tip so you’d get an idea how small this is:

The bits of wood are about an eighth of an inch.

The clear coat on the top is a UV cured polyester resin. It’s amazing stuff. First you put the liquid over the wood and then take it out in to the full sun for three minutes. Then it’s fully cured and hard. Then it’s a matter of a little sanding and polishing. Mine needs a bit more polishing to get it really glossy.

Now I just need a silver chain and Heather has a new pendent to wear. It was a fun project, but I am not sure if I’ll make any more. Not sure how many folks out there would wear this kind of thing.

If you need me – I’ll be in the shop,

Andrew

Posted in Marquetry, woodworking | Tagged Marquetry, wooden jewelry, woodworking | 44 Comments

Project from the Past

Posted on 04/24/2016 by Andrew Reynolds

I am not writing this weekend. Just too much going on. Instead I was reminded of a project I did about four years ago and decided to share a few pictures of it. Here it is:

3D Spaceship Puzzle.

Yup, it’s a rocket ship puzzle. It stands about 12 inches and is on display in my living room. Last week we did a little furniture reshuffle and I had to move this one. It’s made from 3/4 inch thick cherry and was cut on my scroll saw.

Here are some other pictures:

Putting together one side.

What looked like with the pattern glued on. Yes, two space people live in the ship.

I’ll be writing more next weekend and have a new marquetry project that I’ll have a picture on Wednesday.

Till next week,

Andrew

Posted in woodworking | Tagged 3d puzzle, scroll saw, spaceship puzzle, woodworking | 31 Comments

Friday Wisdom – A Prayer

Posted on 04/22/2016 by Andrew Reynolds

Father was a spiritual man with a solid belief system. He taught me this prayer that I think you’ll find useful:

“God grant me patience, and I want it right now.”

More wisdom next Friday,
Andrew

Posted in wisdom | Tagged friday wisdom, humor | 17 Comments

Wednesday Woodworking – planter box

Posted on 04/20/2016 by Andrew Reynolds

Here it is, the prototype for the flower garden’s planter boxes:

The box is 24 by 16 inches and about 15 inches deep.

Side view of the box.

The box is made from redwood fence boards. Here in California redwood isn’t too expensive and it will resist rotting. The box is two feet long and the plan is to make twelve of these. These will go in the wire cage I’ll be building.

I needed to get the boxes done first so Heather has a place to plant her seedlings. It’s likely we’ll have flowers before the garden is finished. This is one of the deeper boxes, some boxes will be shorter than this as not all the plants we’re going to grow need that much root depth.

Well, one down, eleven to build.

If you need me – I’ll be in the shop,
Andrew