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2017 Indianapolis Adventures in Wood

Kimberly McNeelan — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:45:11 +0000

The 2017 annual Adventures in Wood Contest at the Rockler Woodworking and Hardware’s Indianapolis store had a diverse group of entries and participants. The opening was bustling with the woodworkers, the respective proud friends and family, and store customers. There were five different categories in the competition: Boxes, Miscellaneous, Furniture, Turning, Sculpture, and an award for Best in Show.

Ralph Buschbacher won the Best in Show and First Place in the Box division for his piece, “Jewel of a Box.”

Ralph Buschbacher really took home the honey pot by winning three awards. Ralph won First Place in the Furniture Division for Starburst and Chair, and then he won Best in Show and First Place in the Box Division for his jewelry box, Jewel of a Box. Ralph was a returning winner from last year.

Ralph’s desk and chair combo, “Starburst and Chair,” was constructed with excellent craftsmanship.

Other returning winners included: Dale Smith, Tom Meeker and Jeffrey Shaw. Dale Smith is quite an animated character. He loves building model cars, and he estimates it took him about 1,000 hours to complete his winning entry, 1910 Buick Bug — which explains to me why Dale said his wife doesn’t even mind if he works on the model cars in their bedroom! Tom Meeker had a total of three entries this year; one entry was a helmet cabinet that will be sold at a silent auction to benefit The Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital. Jeffrey Shaw pays attention to detail, and he made all the tiny furniture that is inside his winning work, Adirondack Log Cabin. Jeffrey even made the roof using hand-split pine shingles.

Dale Smith won the Miscellaneous Division this year with a different model of a car, a “1910 Bug.” Check out his matching T-shirt!

Tom Meeker won 1st place in the Turning Division for his bowl, “Natural Edge Oak Bowl.”

Jeffrey Shaw won 2nd place in the Miscellaneous Division for his “Adirondack Log Cabin.”

Sculpture was a new category for the competition this year. There were only a total of three participants in this new genre. John L. Lagzdins won this new category by making a beautiful wall sculpture that is a traditional Latvian Coat of Arms. Another wall sculpture by Theresa Groth won second place. Theresa and her husband are starting a woodworking business.

First place in the Sculpture Division was awarded for the intricately carved “Latvian Coat of Arms,” by John L. Lagzdins.

Theresa Groth won 2nd place in the sculpture division for her beautiful carving of calla lilies and a butterfly on her work titled, “A New Beginning.”

I think that everyone who participated deserves recognition, but there are a couple of projects that I particularly enjoyed. Nexus by Dana Mosley is a pair of mahogany side tables that each have beautifully shaped fronts carved by using different techniques – for one table she used a Dremel rotary tool, and for the other she used gouges. Each table has drawers that can be opened together, or you can remove a pin and open them separately (hence, the name Nexus).

Dana Mosley’s “Nexus” side tables have drawers that can be opened together or separately.

My second choice is Josh DeWitt. Josh created a crib and a dresser for his 10-month-old daughter. The crib can be adjusted into a toddler bed and then into a full-size bed. The two pieces were crafted with the utmost care, including half-blind dovetails for the drawers. I’m sure Josh had “heirloom” in mind when he was making these.

Josh DeWitt’s bedroom suite for his daughter includes a crib that converts into a toddler, then full-size, bed.

This is a fun event with a lot of return participants. With $1,375 worth of gift cards awarded, I think next year should bring even more people to get involved. I was happy to be a part of the event, and it is always nice to see friendly new and old faces.

The team at the Indianapolis Rockler Store did a wonderful job putting together the Adventures in Wood Contest 2017!

Scott Oosting won 2nd place in the Box Division for his “Miter and Cove Box” that he made for his wife.

In the Turning Division, 2nd place went to Steve Ruster for “Open Segment Bowl.” Steve turns a lot of different bowls and pens, but he doesn’t sell any of them because his wife and daughter like to collect them.

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VIDEO: Baking Soda Blade Cleaner

Chris Marshall — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:23:53 +0000

Looking for a safe, nontoxic way to clean your saw blades? The solution might already be in your kitchen cupboard.

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WORX® Ai Drill™

Chris Marshall — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 13:00:40 +0000

The WORX Ai Drill is designed to be easy for first-time users and DIYers: the “Ai” stands for “advanced intelligence,” and the drill makes some decisions for you. Its three drive modes are called drill (for hole drilling), and SafeDrive and PulseAssist (for driving screws). They’re activated by touch-sensitive keypads on the top of the drill. The Ai Drill has no clutch settings: it uses the SafeDrive mode to deliver the correct amount of torque and then backs off once the screw is flush with the surface. PulseAssist applies enough bit rotation to drive the screw snug to the surface without overtightening or stripping the screw head; it works in reverse to back out screws, again without damaging the screw head. The drill moves at a slow, optimal speed to avoid stripping screws. Another feature is “Bitlock”: when you load a drill or driver bit into the tool’s 3/8-in. chuck, the motorized jaws tighten and self-center the bit, with 30 percent more torque than hand tightening. The jaws run in reverse to release bits.

The WORX Ai Drill is a single-speed (0-800 rpm) drill with a maximum of 180 inch/pounds of torque. Drilling capacity is 1 in. wood and 3/8 in. in mild steel. It weighs 3.1 lbs. with a 20V MAX 1.5 amp-hour battery installed. The drill comes with one battery and a 5-hour charger, and it’s priced at $119.85.

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Freud’s Updated 8-in. Dado Set

Chris Marshall — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 12:59:18 +0000

Freud has enhanced its former model SD208 8-in. Stacked Dado Set in this new SD208S update so it’s suitable for use with all saws featuring flesh-detection technology (both SawStop® and Bosch® REAXX saws), plus other smaller jobsite saws that can accept a dado blade. The overall size of the blades has been slightly reduced, and the shoulders behind the teeth have been optimized, to prevent flesh-detection from accidentally activating. This set can be used with other 10-in. table saws, too. It includes two 12-tooth outer blades, a set of two-tooth chipper blades and shims to make dado cuts ranging from 1/4 in. up to 13/16 in. wide in 1/16-in. increments. Each blade features Freud’s proprietary TiCo high-density carbide blade teeth. Available now, Freud’s SD208S 8-in. Stacked Dado Set (item 58894) sells for $99.97.

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Lighter Finish for Breadboards?

Chris Marshall — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 12:49:23 +0000

I am working on some breadboards to use as gifts for friends and family. I finished one with food-grade mineral oil as suggested by the website I was using. The trial board came out much darker than I hoped. Can anyone suggest another finish that would leave the surface more natural looking but still be OK for food contact? The oiled board in the photo above is on the left.

Chris Marshall: The upside to end grain in a cutting board is that it offers durability against cutting edges plus that unique and beautiful end-grain pattern. But, the downside is that end grain is going to absorb a lot of liquid wood finish — be that mineral oil, butcher block oil, salad bowl finish, diluted varnish or otherwise. Really, it’s the nature of the beast. And, among the oil alternatives, mineral oil is pretty clear, so you aren’t picking up much of a tint from the oil. It’s just the darkening effect of the oil penetrating into the wood pores. Over time, those breadboards will become lighter in color as the oil closest to the surface slowly evaporates or gets washed/wiped off and the rest continues to migrate deeper into the wood — mineral oil never fully dries. But, I doubt they will ever be as light as they were before oil was applied.

You might try a blend of melted beeswax mixed with mineral oil as an alternative lighter-colored wipe-on finish. Beeswax offers some protection against food stains, and it won’t penetrate or darken the wood to the same extent as more concentrated oil alone. But even so, there still will be some darkening effect.

Rob Johnstone: I’m with Chris on this one. The only suggestion I might have is that you technically don’t need to put a finish on a cutting board at all. If you were to sand it carefully up to 600-grit, the wood will be so smooth that it actually looks a bit like there is a finish. Many cutting boards don’t have a finish on them.

Other eZine readers, please offer your suggestions for a non-darkening food-safe finish solution.

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Hand Saw Sharpening Kit

Reader Submitted — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 11:00:08 +0000

I live in Arizona and my brother, who is 13 years younger than me, still lives on part of our old family farm in northeastern Ohio. He and I both do hobby woodworking. His 59th birthday was coming up and I wanted to create a special gift for him. I had come into possession of a set of tools for sharpening hand saws. I had an old solid oak church pew that I cut up and built this box to hold the sharpening equipment. I used the square box joints to put the piece together. I made the tool hold downs out of oak also and included a hand saw. I neglected to take pictures of the assembly process. With my daughters help I also made a home video on how to use the equipment to sharpen a saw.

My brother was delighted with the present. One of our uncles was a master barn builder in the days when there were no power tools and everything was done by hand.

– Paul Diemer
Chino Valley, AZ

See the Gallery Below:

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