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View Full Version : 2 small projects in the new shop, first shavings



Scott Winners
09-15-2023, 10:34 PM
We needed a downsized cutting board. I have been looking at this piece of poplar in my scrap bin for probably four years now and just haven't been able to let it go. I was 95% done trimming the end grain when the mechanism on my $15 home store block pane let go, again. I do not recommend poplar for cutting boards, this thing went out of flat the first time I washed it in hot soapy water. I am so far still very happy with the elastomer feet from the hardware section at Lee Valley. I have been running a set of four under the food processor for about a month now with no negative findings on our formica countertop. Finish on the poplar is just salad bowl wax from I think Clapham's. I am not going to pour pond water colored epoxy into the live edge thumbhole. When it cups hard enough I will have no problem chucking into the fire pit, after I remove the feet.

I also made a cabinet maker's sized sector. It is a proportioning tool to use with dividers. This one is about 21 inches long, the interval between each increment is about 1.6 inches. I about laid out the whole thing with just dividers, a marking knife and a pencil. This is also my first project with my new DX-60 block plane from Veritas. There is a learning curve, but both the block plane and the sector are tools worth getting know I think. I ordered all three of the 'hand and eye' books from Lost Art Press since I am about to make a bunch f furniture I will be stuck with for life. I was still in the Roman Numeral numbered pages at the front of the comic book version (By Hound and by Eye) when I was hooked.

I think I have too many pics for one post.

Scott Winners
09-15-2023, 10:39 PM
Sector pics. Did you know the horizontal rhythm of the US capitol is 2:3:2? Reading the hand and eye books explains part of why I feel so internally comfortable walking around the mall in DC. The buildings, especially the older ones, are simply well proportioned, classically proportioned.

Jim Becker
09-16-2023, 10:23 AM
I like how you embraced the material for the cutting board the way you did...there's still more than enough space to be functional for intended use while adding that extra splash of "hey...look at that!!". :)

Christopher Charles
09-20-2023, 10:23 AM
You are missing an opportunity to start the new “pond table” epoxy pour craze! (Congrats on the new shop and great looking cutting board).