Open Book Holder.

While visiting family in Iowa, I was able to pick up some hardwoods that I unfortunately can not find in Florida. Well I can't find it cheap anyway.

I have seen these on Pinterest and in other media sources, so these are not an original idea... Just a disclaimer.

I made two of these for my wife for Christmas and I'm really happy with the way they turned out, the two toned one is walnut and maple, and the three toned ones are walnut, oak, and, osage. 

Thanks for stopping by and never stop creating! 

 

New Handles for a Drawknife and Chisel.

        A few weeks ago I picked up an old drawknife and chisel blade at an antique shop. they were both in pretty bad shape but the price was right so I couldn't resist. The drawkinfe is a tool I have been keeping my eye out for months, so unless it was completely rusted in half, I was gonna buy it. They were both heavy rusted and after cleaning them both with a wire wheel, they showed promise. The chisel cleaned up nice with no pitting in the steel, the same thing couldn't be said about the drawknife. It was heavily pitted, but for my needs it will serve no issue. For my first attempt at replacing handles in already existing tools, I think I did a pretty good job.  

I wish I would have snapped some pictures of them before I cleaned them up, i'm really bad about keeping my blog in mind when I start a project. Especially when its a small project like this... I'll work on it. I didn't take any pictures of the process I used with the chisel, I really wish I would have because I don't own a wood lathe, and I shaped it by hand. This is something I'm really going to work on. 

I hope you enjoy the post and pictures, and as always Never Stop Creating!

    

Wood Carving Knife

          Lately I have been playing around with wood carving, and looking in to carving tools,  knives, gouges, draw knifes etc...  At the same time I have also been wanting to try my hand at making a knife, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I took a blacksmith class a few years back where I  made a knife from a railroad spike. So even though I have never really tried my hand at knife making since then, I knew the basic principles from the previous class.
 This knife is primarily a wood carving knife, I cloned the design from a Mora 106 knife blade. All in all I thought it turned out pretty good for my first shot out the gate. I made the blade from an old chop saw blade I had laying around, and the handle from some left over oak scraps, the sheath is from some scrap leather. So even though this is knife and sheath are not perfect or works of art, they are functional and serve my desired purpose, and that is what really maters.

I hope you enjoy the post, and as always never stop creating!
Thanks.

Oak Celtic Mash Paddle

             Awhile back I did a post on a mash paddle I had carved out of a piece poplar, it was a completely aesthetic piece. The soft poplar wood is great for carving, but for a usable mash paddle it is to absorbent and fragile.  I loved the design of the poplar paddle so much I decided to remake it using a piece of oak. I'm not going to go in to a big explanation of the steps I took to create this paddle. I did however use a wood burner this time around for the decorative features. I hope whoever is looking at this page, likes what the see and if so please re-post any pictures on Pintrest or Facebook. Thanks!

Again Thanks for checking out the blog, and as always "never stop creating"