Woodworking - Random Stuff

Introduction

At the moment, this is just somewhere I post random pictures of things I make.

Tools

A small mortise chisel I that I made from a broken drill bit, a pipe nipple, and the tool handle I made earlier.
Some of my favorite things to build are tools. There's nothing quite like using a tool that you built yourself.

Now that my lathe is running, I started playing around with doing turning. I made a tool handle as a test, with the intention of eventually making a chisel set. Then I decided to actually make a chisel out of the test piece, so I went looking for some parts to finish it. The ferrule was made from a 6" brass pipe nipple I bought at Home Depot. The blade started out as a 1/8" installer's drill bit which had snapped off during use. I'd saved the shaft, figuring a rod of tool steel could come in useful sometime. Some grinding, sanding, and sharpening, and it actually performs very well.

I finally got around to finishing my hand plane. I carefully marked and then iteratively drilled the holes for the pin, cut the pin with a handheld bandsaw and then sanded it shiny. It was a simple matter to hammer it into the body, where it fit perfectly. I cut the wedge from the offcuts of the body section.

Recently, I needed a wooden mallet for chisel work, so I built one. The hardest part was definitely the handle. I cut the rough shape on a bandsaw, and then refined it down over a couple hours using sanding machines. The grip is very comfortable. After using it for a while, I decided that I needed a smaller mallet. Since my lathe was starting to function by that point, I made a turned head out of some more purpleheart, and made a similar handle out of ash.

Another project of mine was a marking gauge. Marking gauges are used to scribe lines in wood, acting to both make layout marks and to cut the wood fibers of the top surface. They are commonly used for making joinery. It's a well used shop fixture.

A test tool handle that I turned on my homemade lathe.
A small chisel mallet. The head is purpleheart, turned on my homemade lathe, and the handle is ash.
My hand plane, after completion. The iron is a cheap replacement from Home Depot, and the pin is brass.
A traditional wooden mallet. The head is purpleheart, and the handle is ash. The handle mortise is reinforced by a couple brass pins.
My hand plane, before adding the wedge pin. The body is made of purpleheart. The sides and sole are made of hard maple.
My marking gauge. The body is purpleheart, and the slide is maple. A plug made of good quality pine is used internally to protect the slide from the thumb screw.

Electric Piano

An early prototype of some piano keys, done in rock maple, purpleheart and lauan.

I am in the process of building a musical instrument similar to an electric piano. At the moment, I am focusing on the mechanical portions.

Motor Mount

A friend of mine needed a motor mount for a costume he was making, so I made one out of some hard maple I had around. I made the little flywheel out of some UHMWPE plastic.

A motor mount and flywheel I made for a friend.
Another view.