Make a Natural Edge Lazy Susan

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Wooden kitchen and cooking accessories continue to be highly popular, maybe even more in the past because people more and more are appreciating the values and beauty of natural woods. In this article and associated video we make a natural edge Lazy Susan from a slice from a Black Locust tree that was being taken down because the tree had died. This gave us a perfect opportunity to secure pieces of wood that were already fairly dry, certainly dry enough to use for out purposes here. We also like the fact that the bark was still very well secured. It appeared that the tree had possibly been winter killed which would account for the fact that the bark would not peel off readily.

Our first challenge was to find a short log among all the logs that had been cut that would be suitable. We chose one that looked to have little cracking but that still had a slight angle cut because we wanted the finished piece to be somewhat oval rather than a perfect circle, just to add a bit of character to our build.

On getting 16 inch log into out workshop, the next thing to do was to cut of a slice with our a chainsaw. Working with short pieces of wood is always dangerous, not matter what tool you are using so we needed to make sure the log was fully secured before we sliced off the piece we needed ...

Using a Wood Planer

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Planers are often one of the last larger tool purchases that woodworkers make. This is because it is easy to purchase "sized" wood in most places and when a lot of woodworking projects are 3/4" (2.54 cm) there is often not an immediate need for planing wood. If on the other hand you are purchasing rough lumber a planer is a must have item, and in my workshop it gets lots of use.
There is not a lot of options when it comes to using a planer but knowing a few tips and techniques can make a big difference in your outcomes of planed woods, and the first rule of thumb is to make sure you have sharp planer knives. It is not always easy to check these but it's imperative that you have good sharp knives as this will ensure you get a good cut and that there is not needless wear and tear on your wood planer.
It is recommended by all planer manufactures to space the cuts you make across the breadth of the blade, this means when you are making multiple cuts, don't make them all in the same spot as this will create more wear on one part of the cutters which can make future cutting unbalanced across the breadth of the knives.

One of the challenges of planers (and jointers) is wood tear-out. This occurs when the blades are forced to cut against the grain of the wood and is also enhanced by dull blades. Cutting with ...

Making a Picture Frame Display Box

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Picture Frames are often used to display more than just pictures, and when the frame is thick enough, it can display 3 dimensional objects. In this project we are making a box to display a pair of First Nations beaded moccasins that were acquired somewhere by my father, then handed over to me when he passed away a few years ago. I do not know the age of them but I estimate they were made around 1940. I am also not sure who made them and I can only guess they are Assiniboine or Lakota as those would be in an area where he was during that time. I have always wanted to display them properly as they are both beautiful and a memory of my father.

These moccasins are about 2 inches (5 cm) high, so the frame will need to much deeper than most in order to accommodate them. In this case figured out the deepest frame I could make based on how high my table saw blade would rise above the table and that worked out to be 3 1/8 inches (8 cm) and so that's what it would be, a bit unconventional but we work with what we have.

 Once I had the size, it was time to select the wood from my stash of bits and pieces. I expected I could find something without having to cut up some new stock and sure enough I found something ...

How to Select Wood Glues

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We get many questions about woodworking glues. There is such an array of glues available these days, it's no wonder that people can get confused on what to use. We understand that having at least a basic knowledge of what is available is important in order to get the best results we can.
Of course the other issue is that many glues overlap in their uses so often there is a variety of choices and a variety of brands to choose from as well. In this article we will deal with only some of the basic glues, when to use them and for what applications. There are many, many other glues we won't be touching on that may also be suitable for different applications and if you are in question, the internet is a rich resource for information on glues, especially if you want the details on a particular glue, where it should be used, it's cleanup requirements temperature requirements and of course it's PSI or holding strength as a glue.

PVA Glues, or Polyvinyl Acetate glues are easily the most common glues used in woodworking with natural woods. The reason for this that this glue has been around for 100 years and gives consistently good results when uses as it should be. It cleans up easily with water, or you can leave it to dry and harden and clean up later, and ....