How to make a DIY scrap wood city picture frame

I made this simple photo frame out of walnut, spruce, oak, maple, plywood and olive wood scraps. All the pieces were shaped to resemble to buildings and then glued and nailed on a piece of birch plywood.

First of all I cut the plywood base frame on the bandsaw.

I then started making the buildings out of the scrap wood pieces. For the shaping I used the bandsaw and the belt sander. I then glued the pieces on the base frame. To avoid clamping I used my air powered nail gun. I used a couple of olive wood pieces which had their bark still on. To kind of stabilize the bark I used super glue. The super glue is really thin and can penetrate into tiny gaps.

I tried to kind of divide the different parts of the wood in harmony around the whole synthesis. This way you get a more balanced aesthetic result.

I then sanded the frame on the belt sander. I also hand sanded many parts.

To act as the back of the frame, I cut a piece of thin MDF on the bandsaw.

I then used a glass cutter to cut the glass. I first scored the line with the cutter. I then lightly hammered the scored line. Finally I broke the glass on the line, against a piece of plywood.

I cut and shaped the openings of the frame out a piece of oak. I predrilled and counter sinked the holes for the screws.

I applied three coats of clear, satin, water based varnish on the frame. I lightly sanded between coats. To speed up the drying process I used my heat gun.

I then made the back support piece out of a piece of birch plywood. Once again I cut the basic shape on the bandsaw and finished shaping on the belt sander. I glued and nailed the piece on the MDF back.

Finally I assembled all the pieces of my picture frame. I am really happy with the way it came out!

I hope you like too! 

How to make a wooden toy sword

I made this toy xiphos out of oak and beech wood. It is inspired by the double-edged, one-handed Iron Age straight short sword used by the ancient Greeks.

First of all I planned and jointed two faces of my stock on my planer. I then used the thickness planer to plane my stock to size.

I split the oak piece in half on the table saw. Because this wood is really hard. I completed the cut with several cuts. I passed the board through the thickness planer again to clear the saw marks.

I then used the cross cut sled on my table saw to make the cross cuts for the tang of the sword. I finished the shaping of the tang on the bandsaw.

I then marked the bevels I wanted the blade to have. I shaped the bevels with a hand plane and a spokeshave. 

To start carving the fuller, I first a established a line with a V varying chisel. I then carved more with a round carving gouge. I finished the fuller with a cylindrical sanding block.

I then cut a piece of beech on the table saw. This would act as my guard. I roughly shaped it on the belt sander. To make the slot for the tang I first removed as much material as I could with a forstner bit. I then finished the slot with a chisel and mallet.

I then started making the handle. This is two beech parts. I completed the groove for the tang with several rip cuts on the table saw. Each time I moved the fence slightly back. I cleaned the saw marks with a chisel. I then glued the handle parts together.

I wanted the blade to fit in the guard. So I routed the area needed and finished it with carving gouges. I then created the bevels on the guard on the disc sander.

I carved the shape of the handle. I first used the V carving chisel and then shaped the rest with gouges.

I made the pommel on the lathe out of a beech piece. I used the bowl gouge for shaping. I also used a flat chisel, a parting tool and a spindle gouge. I used a forstner bit to drill a hole on the center of the pommel. I then shaped the tip of the tang cylindrical with a chisel. The pommel fits snuggly on the tip of the tang.

I then glued all the parts of the sword together using wood glue.

After the glue dried, I blended the shape of the pommel with the handle. I did that with a flat rasp. I then moved to a file and finished with sandpaper.

I sanded the sword starting at 100grit, moved to 220 and finished to 280.

I also added a hanger on the pommel. I first predrilled a pilot hole.

I finished the sword with 8 coats of shellac.

I am really happy with the way it came it out, I hope you like it too!

How to make a simple wood bowl on the lathe

In this video I show the techniques and tools needed to turn a simple wooden bowl. I used niangon wood for this project. 

First of all this is a side grain bowl. It is easier to hollow this way, with minimal tear out.

I marked the diagonals of my blank and drew a circle with a compass. I roughly cut out the circle on the bandsaw.

I then mounted the stock on a face plate with four screws.

I turned the stock true using my roughing gouge. After that I switched to a bowl gouge and started shaping the exterior of the bowl. 

I then used my calipers to measure the diameter of the jaws of my chuck. I then marked the area on the bottom of the bowl to make a mortise to fit my chuck. I made the mortise with the bowl gouge and a parting tool. The parting tool was used in  a diagonal. This way the mortise’s walls are at an angle. As a result the chuck’s jaws can hold the bowl much better because they are at an angle also.

This piece of wood has a knot. This is a fragile area, so I reinforced it with super glue.

I sanded with 100grit moved to 220, then 320 and finished with 500grit. At 500, I wet sanded with mineral oil, which is food safe.

I then mounted the bowl on my chuck and started the hollowing process with my bowl gouge.

At some point I used my depth gauge to check how far I went.

I finished the interior with a few light passes with a round scraper.

I sanded the interior and finished it with mineral oil.

The bowl came out great. My stock had a really big knot and I was afraid it might brake. Fortunately everything went well and the knot gives a really nice character to the piece!

How to make a cylindrical box out of basswood

I made this box ( actually bowl ) out of tilia wood. It's design happened by accident. I tried to correct a mistake with simple design elements.

First of all I jointed the sides of my wood on my jointer. I then moved to the thickness planer and finished flattening the stock.

I then cut the piece to rectangles. I made those cross cuts on my table saw, using my cross cut sled.

I then glued the pieces together. I made two special blocks for the glue up. Those prevented the pieces from sliding around, during the glue up.

I then cut the piece to a rough cylindrical shape on the bandsaw.

I mounted the stock on a face plate and turned it true using a roughing gouge. I then used the bowl gouge and the parting tool to create a mortise for the chuck. 

I then reversed the piece and mounted it on the chuck. I begun hollowing with my bowl gouge. Using a flat chisel as a scraper I flattened the outer side and sanded the piece. Using similar methods I made the top cap of the box.

I then closed the box and mounted it between centers. I used the bowl gouge to turn the cap flush with the rest of the box.

At this point everything was going well until a piece just broke off. I reglued the pieces I found and decided to add three decorative circles to kind of trick the eye from viewing the crack.

After the glue dried I used the bowl gouge to even everything up. I then painted the interior of the box, with water based wood stain.

Using a rotary tool and a sanding drum I shaped the crack to a circular shape. I then created two more circles with forstner bits.

I sanded the pieces with 100grit and 280grit.

I then finished the piece with about 8 coats of shellac.

My box was now ready! I hope you like it!