biglar155
Jetboaters Admiral
- Messages
- 1,577
- Reaction score
- 2,142
- Points
- 277
- Location
- Fredonia, WI
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2009
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 23
So, once again, I got "crafty" for Chris' Christmas gift. I decided to make her a nutcracker.
I got the idea from a guy I follow on Youtube called Woodworking for Mere Mortals (https://woodworking.formeremortals.net/). It's a great place for beginning wood workers to hone their skills.
While I don't consider myself "new" to wood, my work has been more along the lines of home-improvement and construction type stuff rather than "fine" work like furniture and toys. I'd certainly never tacked anything as complicated as a nutcracker before so I wasn't real sure how it was going to turn out. (Did I mention I've only ever made one simple thing on a lathe before?)
To begin at the beginning, I pulled out my Dad's old "Central Machinery" lathe and chucked in a piece of stock.
In no time I had something round - which was a good start.
With a little more horsing around, I managed an arm and a leg. (I don't have pics, but the above mentioned web site has some nice downloadable templates that I glued to some card-stock to help get the shape right.)
Keep in mind that not only was I suffering from a head-cold during all of this, I am also allergic to sawdust. I don't let that stop me though. The key is dust control and good Personal Protective Equipment. That box in the background has a furnace blower and multiple layers of filters in it. (And yes, that long-sleeved sweater was taken off shortly after I took this selfie. You don't want loose clothes near a spinning lathe!)
Once I had a full set of arms and legs (it took 3 tries to get two good copies of each) I moved on to the body.
And here's where I made a planning error. The template called for turning the head and body together and then separating them on a band-saw.
Alas, it was after I finished the head and body that I realized that I don't have a band-saw and every other saw I have capable of making a nice straight cut would have too wide of a kerf (too thick of a blade) and would remove the nice "round over" transition between the head and body. I considered using a coping saw and doing it by hand but I don't free-hand very well. Plus, I miss-measured the hat and made it too small so I was going to have to re-load the lathe anyway.
The next time around I did a little better.
Note that in the above pic, the hat is between the body and head. I erred when making the head but was able to recover from my goof by turning it into the hat. The area for the hat then became the head.
Finally, I had all of the pieces turned and the brim of the hat cut out.
Now this is where things got hairy for me. That old lathe was starting to act up. A bearing was going out in the motor (it's actually apart on my bench as I type this) and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able re-make any parts if anything went wrong. So now the professional mistake-maker can't make any mistakes...
The part that worried me the most was cutting the notch in the body for the mechanism. I went slow, used a coping saw and a razor-sharp chisel (thank's Past Me for sharpening those), practiced on the first head/body combo and it turned out fairly well.
Some cautious drill-press work and a few dowels later, he was just about ready for painting and assembly.
Fortunately, I have a decent collection of acrylic paints from a "mini painting" hobby I dabbled in a few years ago. A decade ago I never would have attempted painting something like this.
I was getting into "hurry up" mode by the time I had to cut the pieces for his boots. They came out a little flat-ish. My story is that he is an Underwater Demolition Team guy and these are his flippers.
So he was assembled and ready to go on December 23rd but I lacked material for the hair and beard. Also, I needed a wooden bead for his nose.
Fortunately, there was a wonderful woman in the fabric department at Hobby Lobby who was able to help me find what I needed. A little wood filler in a "bracelet bead" provided the perfect nose.
Here he is all done and ready to go into a gift bag.
One thing I always do is put my initials and the year on these gifts. I envision that they will become family heirlooms and I want to make sure future generations know when these were made and by "which Grandpa."
So, was the gift well received?
I got tears! You can't ask for more than that!
(The tears could have been because she got the nutcracker instead of a new car, but I'm telling myself it was tears of joy.)
I got the idea from a guy I follow on Youtube called Woodworking for Mere Mortals (https://woodworking.formeremortals.net/). It's a great place for beginning wood workers to hone their skills.
While I don't consider myself "new" to wood, my work has been more along the lines of home-improvement and construction type stuff rather than "fine" work like furniture and toys. I'd certainly never tacked anything as complicated as a nutcracker before so I wasn't real sure how it was going to turn out. (Did I mention I've only ever made one simple thing on a lathe before?)
To begin at the beginning, I pulled out my Dad's old "Central Machinery" lathe and chucked in a piece of stock.
In no time I had something round - which was a good start.
With a little more horsing around, I managed an arm and a leg. (I don't have pics, but the above mentioned web site has some nice downloadable templates that I glued to some card-stock to help get the shape right.)
Keep in mind that not only was I suffering from a head-cold during all of this, I am also allergic to sawdust. I don't let that stop me though. The key is dust control and good Personal Protective Equipment. That box in the background has a furnace blower and multiple layers of filters in it. (And yes, that long-sleeved sweater was taken off shortly after I took this selfie. You don't want loose clothes near a spinning lathe!)
Once I had a full set of arms and legs (it took 3 tries to get two good copies of each) I moved on to the body.
And here's where I made a planning error. The template called for turning the head and body together and then separating them on a band-saw.
Alas, it was after I finished the head and body that I realized that I don't have a band-saw and every other saw I have capable of making a nice straight cut would have too wide of a kerf (too thick of a blade) and would remove the nice "round over" transition between the head and body. I considered using a coping saw and doing it by hand but I don't free-hand very well. Plus, I miss-measured the hat and made it too small so I was going to have to re-load the lathe anyway.
The next time around I did a little better.
Note that in the above pic, the hat is between the body and head. I erred when making the head but was able to recover from my goof by turning it into the hat. The area for the hat then became the head.
Finally, I had all of the pieces turned and the brim of the hat cut out.
Now this is where things got hairy for me. That old lathe was starting to act up. A bearing was going out in the motor (it's actually apart on my bench as I type this) and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able re-make any parts if anything went wrong. So now the professional mistake-maker can't make any mistakes...
The part that worried me the most was cutting the notch in the body for the mechanism. I went slow, used a coping saw and a razor-sharp chisel (thank's Past Me for sharpening those), practiced on the first head/body combo and it turned out fairly well.
Some cautious drill-press work and a few dowels later, he was just about ready for painting and assembly.
Fortunately, I have a decent collection of acrylic paints from a "mini painting" hobby I dabbled in a few years ago. A decade ago I never would have attempted painting something like this.
I was getting into "hurry up" mode by the time I had to cut the pieces for his boots. They came out a little flat-ish. My story is that he is an Underwater Demolition Team guy and these are his flippers.
So he was assembled and ready to go on December 23rd but I lacked material for the hair and beard. Also, I needed a wooden bead for his nose.
Fortunately, there was a wonderful woman in the fabric department at Hobby Lobby who was able to help me find what I needed. A little wood filler in a "bracelet bead" provided the perfect nose.
Here he is all done and ready to go into a gift bag.
One thing I always do is put my initials and the year on these gifts. I envision that they will become family heirlooms and I want to make sure future generations know when these were made and by "which Grandpa."
So, was the gift well received?
I got tears! You can't ask for more than that!
(The tears could have been because she got the nutcracker instead of a new car, but I'm telling myself it was tears of joy.)
