Simple Carpenter Bee Trap

My shop has been infested with carpenter bees this year and recently I learned how to make a simple trap. Carpenter bees, or wood bees, like to find little crevices and holes in which they nest. My trap is a simple 2x4 cut off with 1/2" holes drilled to a central chamber that leads to a glass jar. Hopefully the bees will be lured into the wood then crawl toward the light and become trapped. We shall see. I'll post an update in a few weeks whether the trap worked or not.

Making a saw blade knife

Saw blade knife with padauk handle.

I made this knife from a circular saw blade. There is an internet myth that claims circular saw blades are made from low carbon or mild steel, or just junk steel, nothing could be further from the truth. Saw blades spin at over 3,500 rotations per minute and endure significant stress while cutting wood, the steel must be high quality and very tough. Unfortunately blade makers are not very forth coming with what steel they use and the resulting speculation breeds all sorts of rumor. Many people believe these blades are made of L6, a common tool steel known for it's toughness and impact resistance. A few have sent blades for metallurgical analysis and the results confirm an alloy that is very similar to L6. Still there are a number of people who for whatever reason insist these blades are garbage steel. I'm not a metallurgist and can't say what steel is in any particular saw blade but neither can anyone else who isn't the manufacturer of that blade. What I can say is that many people have made knives from circular saw blades and in testing those knives are very tough and hold an edge well. If you need a disclaimer, here it is: cheap things are cheaply made. I believe that if you use a good quality blade from a respected manufacturer then you're likely to get good steel but this is recycling, there are no guarantees.

Step one was cutting the rough shape from an old Delta saw blade using a 10" cut off wheel in a chop saw. This steel is hardened and cuts very slowly. It is so hard near the tips where the carbide is brazed that I had to break it, even the cut off wheel wouldn't cut it. Usually you will see knives made from annealed (softened) steel which is later hardened then tempered. Since this steel is already hardened and I do not have proper heat treat equipment, I chose to keep the factory heat treat and just be careful to keep the blade cool while cutting and grinding; that meant lots of stopping and waiting.

 

 

The handle material is padauk, a South American hardwood often used for xylophone keys. It is hard and somewhat oily. The red will "bleed" out when the wood is wetted, especially with any kind of solvent. Normally the handle would be attached with pins but this steel is too hard to drill with normal drill bits so I have to rely on epoxy.

The handle scales clamped while the epoxy hardens.

The handle was shaped with disc and spindle sanders, then hand sanded with 120, 150, 220, 320, & 400 grit sandpaper. Sorry, no pics of the sanding.

The finish is shellac and wax. Not an especially good choice for a knife but the padauk is tough wood and would be fine without a finish but the shellac stops the red from bleeding.

Top down shot of the handle.

No trouble with a Roma, fresh from the garden.

See through radishes!

Grumman SP145 - Part 1: Nasty old floor

My aluminum boat is in dire need of a new floor. The original floor was carpeted plywood which the previous owner covered with painted plywood. The painted ply held up well but the original floor was turning to dust so it all needed to come out.

The above pic is after I removed the painted plywood, what you see is the original carpeted floor or what remains of it.

The hull bracing and bait well were fastened with aluminum blind rivets so removal was just a matter of drilling out the center and punching them through.

Clean and ready for a new floor. 

Simple and Easy Box Joint Jig

This is my box joint jig based off Woodfather's design which is used with a single rip blade. It has a pin that matches your blade's kerf and a set of spacers in a 1:1 ratio to the fingers of the box joint. You can easily change the size and spacing of the box joints by changing the width of the spacers. Want 3/8" fingers? Use 3/8" spacers. Want 8 mm fingers ... you know the drill. For simplicity I used 1/4" plywood for my spacers which lets me cut each finger in two passes using my 1/8" blade.

Mine follows the original plan closely with a couple of minor modifications. I added a tab to the back of the fence so it clips over the jig and stays in place on it's own. The tape acts as a spacer allowing the fence to slide freely.

I added edge banding to the fence where it rides along the jig. The mating face of the jig also has edge banding and both are waxed. The fence travels smoothly left and right.

The pin (pic above) is a screw 3.17 mm in diameter with the head removed. The kerf of my Freud rip blade is 3.19 mm. The resulting joints are snug but allow room for glue.

The block on the far right is glued in place and never changes. I used cyanoacrylate in case I ever need to remove it. Below you can see the edge banding along the top of the jig.

The spacers are held in place by a scrap of wood approximately the right length, then a small wedge is inserted to keep everything snug.

Mine is a wee bit taller and the sides come farther back. This allowed me to attach a handle. I tried first without a handle but my left hand kept searching for a hold. I find it more comfortable with a handle.

The strip of ply along the front of the fence (red arrow below) is only 3/4", not sure what I was thinking, but it will have to be replaced with a deeper version that will accommodate more than a couple pieces.

An unplanned change which didn't work out, are the runners being short in front (see above). The wood took a funny bow and were binding so I had to cut them down but now the jig wants to tip forward. Definitely leave them long in front. Adding the handle stopped the tipping so I'm not sure if I will bother replacing the runners.

Making a Wood Carving or Marking Knife with Disposable Blade

Swann Morton scalpel blades have become popular for marking knives. They are a high quality, carbon steel, disposable blade available from the U.K. David Barron, among many others, uses them in his marking knives, epoxied solidly into the handle. The carbon steel blades are easy to sharpen and take a keen edge. I ordered some last fall and have considered several ways of making the blades replaceable.

Swann Morton 01 Scalpel

I started with a scrap of Spanish cedar. Cut a slot through the end deep enough for the blade. Drilled and countersunk a screw hole to retain the blade. Then sketched and cut out the handle shape. Full details are in the build video. My apologies for the lack of pictures but this was spontaneous and slotting, drilling, and sketching the handle blank was a less than a five minute minute job.

The blade is secured with pieces of walnut veneer that fit like splines in the kerf above and below the blade. As seen in the video, I did not adequately glue the veneer or didn't allow enough drying time (probably both), and the spline failed. On the second try I used cyanoacrylate glue which is holding up fine so far. There are stronger ways to secure the blade but I wanted to try this first as it's the easiest. If it fails again I will insert a brass pin above the blade. An alternative is an inner frame of metal with a cut out for the blade, then attached wood scales. I might do that in a future video.

I am not a carver and did not make this knife with carving in mind but wanted to see how well it might work for chip carving. The blade is very thin and sharp, and had no issues slicing through poplar. My skills are obviously non-existent and it would be interesting to have an experienced carver's opinion.

Most prefer single bevel blades for marking knives as you can hold the flat of the blade against a straight edge. These are double bevel blades but by holding them at a slight angle you can achieve the same accuracy.

Video

Blades are available from:

scalpelsandblades.co.uk

or

Echo Iron Mongery on ebay

I have no affiliation with either seller.

Soldering Iron Stand

Took a break from tuning up my table saw to make a holder for my soldering iron. Nothing special, just some 10 gauge copper wire and scrap of ipe. This will come in handy on my upcoming WiFi antenna project.

Articulated camera arm

An articulated arm for holding my cell phone when shooting video or taking photos. Why use an arm instead of just a tripod? The arm allows me to position the tripod out of the way and yet have the camera close for filming. I can also move the arm over a machine or task and point the camera straight down for an overhead view.

I began by ripping three 3-3/4" wide strips from 3/4" birch plywood. Each strip was cut to length then ripped again into three 1-1/8" wide strips.

A 1/4" hole was drilled approximately 1" from each end and centered.

The ends were rounded on the disc sander.

Two bases were made, one for the phone and the other for attaching to the tripod. I cut a 1-1/8" wide dado across each base and drilled two holes.

From the extra 1-1/8" wide strip I cut four pieces around 2" long, drilled and rounded one end, then glued them into the dado. A screw through the bottom helps hold them in place.

The tripod attachment base got four 5/16" holes. I probably won't ever use the extra holes but they are there if I should want them.

The walnut tripod has a 5/16" threaded rod sticking out the top, the base slides over this and is temporarily secured with a wing nut.

The arm joints are linked with 4-1/2", 1/4x20 carriage bolts.

I made a phone mock up from MDF for testing the mount. A rubber band secures it in place.

The walnut tripod has adjustments for height and angle.

Jan 2017 Update: I still use this arm but have since mounted it to the wall to save floor space. Dimensions are between pivot holes.

Russian children's video on how to build a lathe

From what I gather the plan comes from a Russian magazine, pictured below. The video is based on the magazine and features a young boy, maybe ten years old, building a lathe from wood and bicycle parts. At the end he turns a chess rook. The lathe pictured below is a little different than the one in the video. You won’t need to understand the words to follow the build. The design is solid, with a little more care you could build a decent lathe this way.

From their website (translated via Google):
Yunost.RU – children TV channel that is broadcasting short films, which are a good tool for a better understanding of some school subjects. They are taught to carry out personal leisure and fun with good, believe in themselves, learn how to do something yourself.
(editor's note: sounds good to me!)

Back in 2007, Don Weber wrote an article for Popular Woodworking on building a more sophisticated treadle lathe from wood and bicycle parts.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/bicycle-lathe-plans