JR's Wood Shop

12/27/2022

This past month wasn’t much on profit but it was long on production. I made a lot of different Christmas gifts for family and friends to include; 3-D carvings, cutting boards, cheese cutting boards, coasters, signs, a tortilla press, and a few coaster sets. It was a pretty productive six or so weeks. But now it’s time to start cranking out some for-profit stuff so I can pay for all that wood. 😀

12/22/2022

This just never gets old.

12/22/2022

12/09/2022

Last year my son got me a t-shirt that I love. It says "There's no such thing as scrap wood, just pieces that have yet to be used." That's kind of how I see my "scrap" pile. I have a burn barrel but I don't use it very often because I have a really hard time burning lumber that still has potential. This is the time of year when I really try and find that potential in all those little bits and pieces stashed around my shop. Where some people see scrap, I see Christmas gifts. Through a little creativity and glue, I'm able to create something from all that wood that has "yet to be used" For those who are wondering, this is a tortilla press. It is comprised of Walnut, Oak, Maple, and Sapele, all combined to make something kind of cool and useful. It's not time to light that burn barrel quite yet.

12/07/2022

I finally got this massive beast of a cutting board completed and delivered. This is absolutely my largest one to date. It’s 19x14 and a full 3” thick. The final weight was 15.2 pounds. That’s a whole lot of Walnut.

11/25/2022

Inventables recently added 3D carving capabilities to their Easel software. I decided to download a file from Etsy and give it a try. I’m currently doing the roughing pass, which eliminates the bulk of unwanted material before performing the finishing pass. So far it looks pretty good.

11/02/2022

That’s a whole lot of strip gluing going on.

10/26/2022

Here’s something you don’t see everyday. It’s figured Purple Heart. The photo on the left is the wood fresh off the planer so it loses a bit of its characteristic purple color. The photo on the right is the other side, which has been exposed to air and has started getting that deep rich color. I have something special planned for this board.

10/26/2022

Made a run to my wood guy today. Time to get those holiday items rolling.

06/17/2022

I’m not usually in me for hype but I gotta tell ya, these Xtract sanding discs are as good as everyone says. They cut super fast and last an amazingly long time. I have paired them up with my GET-75 6” sander and I am just screaming through my sanding chores.

06/11/2022

Just finished a commissioned project so it’s a good time to fire up the burn barrel. We had some good rain last night so the chance of any random spark fires is super low. Just in time too as my scrap piles have really overtaken my shop.

04/23/2022

Do you ever get 99% done with a project only to realize that you totally screwed it up and have to start from scratch? Lessons learned the hard way.