Spirit Hill Woodworks: Jim Dillon

Showing posts with label Jim Dillon. Show all posts

2022-05-02

New Video: Modifying Scrub Plane for Coopered Lid Fairing

Currently, the project getting most of my woodworking time is a pair of small pieces, not sure whether to call them large boxes or small chests! Anyway, they have coopered lids. I'm duplicating an antique the client

Mobilizing a Dust Collector Part One

Shop Report

Here's something I'm working on at the moment. No fine joinery, nothing very pretty, I'm just making a big old dust collector mobile. I expect to be done sometime in the next few days.

And now here's some background and a few

What I Did on Summer Vacation 2020

On Friday I got home from my place near Rib Lake, Wisconsin. Since the autumnal equinox happened during the last few days of the trip, technically we can call it a late-summer visit to the woods. Temperatures were warm for September. A few nights were cool enough that I was comfortable inside my shack with a fire in the stove, but most nights were fine to sleep outside in the hammock.

Despite the warm temperatures, the sun was no longer high in the sky, as in July. Daylight hours are shorter, and the leaves turned color while I was there. Early on there were patchy bits of color here and there:

. . . but by the time I left we had sights like

Shop Report

Here's what I have going on in the shop these days. As with anything, there's more going on than you hear about in any one place!

Here's the Shaker-inspired table we built in

Stacked Birch Bark Knife Handle: New Video

I recently made and posted this video to YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2zDllohj-Q

The process of making the handle was quite enjoyable, and the result is wonderful. The handle is grippy, resilient, and warm in the hand. Even when wet! I will be making more.

2019-04-03

If I Should Die, Think Only This of Me: "How Much Can We Get for His Table Saw?"

A better title for this entry might be "The Woodworking Aspects of Estate Planning."

I have been aware of Chanel Reynolds for a few years now. I get a monthly email from her that says, in essence, "Prepare To Die!" And someday I'll do that. Maybe this is the year I finally make my will!

One thing I have done as an initial, feeble, wobbly movement in Chanel's direction, is to start

New Video: Torsion Box

Not a detailed how-to tutorial, just a quick check. We've heard they're rigid, and they FEEL rigid, but can we measure it?

https://youtu.be/2JkNi7jIkRE
I compared a very simple torsion box to a pine 2x10 by putting them across a 30" span (one at a time) with a dial indicator underneath, and stood right above the indicator.

Results? Torsion box deflected .03 inch, 2x10 deflected .1 inch. So yes, torsion box is nice & rigid.

In case it matters, the skin of the box is 1/2" plywood and the core grid is 3/4" plywood on 8" centers. The box was assembled with glue, plenty of clamps, and 16 gauge brads shot in with a pneumatic nailer.

I like torsion boxes.

2018-09-22

It's Satire, Folks

I have posted a new video on YouTube. It is a joke (literally), but there's a serious point behind it. Lately I've seen a lot in the social media woodworking world about whether somebody's work is "art" or "craft" and even some stuff about what art is.

Here's the link: https://youtu.be/rclk1Sqbbt8

And almost always, the person making the pronouncements as though they're deep original thoughts has never read anything on the subject, let alone spoken with anyone halfway informed.

It bugs me, so I made this video.

Here is the description I put on the video:

What I Did over Summer Vacation 2018 (Part 1)

In July, I used most of my vacation time to go to Wisconsin and hang out in the woods at my shack. I also got in some visits with family and friends, including Mark Duginske, my woodworking mentor and good friend. One result of the day I spent with Mark in Wausau and at his shop near Merrill is this video. We had a good time making it.