Here are my favorite posts from 2013. This has nothing to do with which posts were the most viewed. Here are the posts that I believe you should check out if you missed them.
Round Three: The Bowl Adventure
Maple Whisky Glazed Planked Salmon
Archive for December 2013
My Favorite Posts From 2013 3 comments
Upgrades Are Hell 1 comment
Velda had been using a Windows 98 computer – when she sat at her desk. Given that operating system was being orphaned by Microsoft, it was time for an upgrade.
I was having computer problems with the laptop. Consistency is an issue, and since I was getting an alarming number of blue screens … it was time for an upgrade.
The holidays are the perfect time for an upgrade.
I now have Velda’s computer 100% together, I believe. With no back up strategy in place, however … but she’s up, for now. As promised.
My computer, not so much. I have data spread across different hard drives. I have programs that won’t run. I have 4 computers running in my office and I’m trying to put the pieces back in the right places. I do know a few things:
1. I hate Windows 8.
2. It is always challenging to keep backups up to date and 100% reliable.
3. Your computer will die. If you don’t have all data backed up right NOW, then you’ll have a problem when your computer dies. Unexpectedly. Inconveniently. Totally.
4. I could be working with wood … but that is so last week!
I Had To Mention Cutting Boards 5 comments
I was finishing up the 2nd round of routed bowls, and I mentioned that the process used to make the bowl blanks … building up the wood by gluing together several boards to get to the bowl dimensions … was the same as used to make cutting boards.
So, of course, I was asked to make a cutting board. And another. I ended up making 5 cutting boards and 3 cheese boards. Velda’s cutting board and cheese boards are discussed separately (link below). Here are the details on these 6x boards.
Alley and Christopher asked that their board be made in brown tones, so it is made from Walnut, Jatoba, Honey Locust, Tigerwood and Cherry. That board is 21″ long x 15-3/8″ wide x 1-1/16″ thick.
MrsMowry asked that her board be very red, so it is made from Purpleheart, Canarywood, Cherry and Hard Maple. That board is 14″ long x 12-1/4″ wide x 1-1/8″ thick.
I made two end grain cutting boards, as made famous by The Wood Whisperer. Fun project, though it’s definitely challenging to work on end grain like this. One is made from Walnut and Hard Maple; the other is Walnut and Yellowheart.
Finally, there’s a cheese board (PERFECT for the scraps that were left over!) which is 10-1/4″ long x 8-3/4″ wide and 1″ thick. The woods used are Cherry, Teak, Canarywood and Mahogany.
Selecting and arranging the boards is done with an eye towards grain, color and balance. This is also the time to inspect each board individually for any defects that might arise as the boards are planed down. Applying mineral spirits to the boards will give you a great look at the finished color of the boards.
Once the layout of the board is done, I taped the individual boards together until I was ready for the glue-up.
When you’re doing multiple projects simultaneously – the only way to be efficient! – organization is key.
The router table is the only way to get smooth & consistent handholds in place.
I did a 3/8″ roundover on each edge, as well.
After a great deal of sanding, it’s time to apply the finish.
I started with a double coat of mineral oil, and then did a topcoat of mineral oil and 25% beeswax. This topcoat will need to be re-applied regularly to keep the cutting boards water-resistant.
This is an end-grain cutting board: each board has been turned on end, so the knife will cut down on the grain, instead of across the grain. This design was made famous by The Wood Whisperer.
The photo doesn’t show much difference, but the upright board is Hard Maple and Walnut. The bottom board is Yellowheart and Walnut.
This colorful board was requested by MrsMowry. Canarywood, Hard Maple, Purpleheart and Cherry.
This cheese board is Mahogany, Cherry and Walnut.
As requested by Alley. Tigerwood, Walnut, Jatoba, Cherry and Honey Locust.
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Horseshoe Bend Leave a comment
Horseshoe Bend, in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah. Photo by Greg Meland. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 12/24/13.
Done – Round 3: The Bowl Adventure 1 comment
In round 3, I created a few patterns for personalized bowls … in this case, Velda drew the pattern for her “perfect sourdough loaf” bread bowl.
After hogging out the waste on the drill press, the routing begins.
Here the routing is about half done; I’m through the top layer of Red Oak and just beginning to route the Walnut.
I made two versions. The bottom one was from a single White Oak board, and the other was made from two pieces of 4/4 Red Oak sandwiching a piece of 1/2″ thick Walnut.
This blank is two glue-ups of 4/4 Black Walnut sandwiched around a glue-up of a wonderful old piece of 8/4 Black Walnut.
The perfect snack companion for a football game!
One of my favorite pieces, made from Yellowheart, Teak and Walnut. I was able to piece this together out of scrap, and the results were very unique.
Here’s the same pattern made from two very different wood combinations. On the left, 4/4 Purpleheart and 8/4 Red Oak gives a very different result from the yellowheart/walnut/teak version.
This large square server was fun to make from Hard Maple and Purpleheart. The problem is always that Purpleheart burns SO EASILY when you are sanding or routing. These pieces were still wet (they hadn’t dried out in the workshop for a few months before I machined them), so I believe that made the problem worse.
I made two of these small, shallow bowls. Woods are Koa (in the middle), Cherry (next to the Koa) and Tigerwood. Rather spectacular, and the Koa changes colors as you rotate it in the light.
This simple bowl is made from Honey Locust (on top), Walnut and Cherry. The color variation in the Honey Locust is due to sapwood in the piece that I used … that’s a feature, not a defect!
Same blanks were used for all three: 8/4 Hard Maple with 4/4 Purpleheart. The one on top shows more of the passionate color when filled with candy. Your preference?
I found some wonderful Padauk on sale at the Pasadena Rockler store for just $5.99/board foot. This large bowl is a sandwich of two glue-ups of 4/4 Padauk surrounding a third White Oak glue-up, planed to 1/2″ thick. This bowl used 3 board feet of Padauk and 1-1/2 board feet of White Oak (most of which became sawdust, unfortunately!).
The color is not re-touched. It’s really that orange.
Walnut oil was used to finish all of these bowls. And, oh my, does the color pop on this one!
Padauk is photo-reactive. Over time, UV light will change the bright orange to a warm brown. Better keep it in the dark until Hallowe’en!
This multi-wood blank is destined to be a pretty bowl. After I glued up Jatoba, Cherry, Walnut and Tigerwood, I ran it through the planer to get what will become the bottom of the bowl absolutely flat on both sides.
With the bottom of the bowl flat, I can attach it to a second glue-up of Honey Locust, that will be the rim of the bowl. I used cauls across the top of the bowl to ensure the Honey Locust was glued to the bottom blank at all points.
Colorful shavings when you drill out the not-a-bowl.
You begin to see the ultimate look of the bowl as it is routed out.
All of the bowls got their bottom edge rounded on the router table.
Some got a smooth bottom edge, but this bowl got a relieved bottom, making the bowl appear to float above the table.
The wonderful grain pattern on the outside of the bowl is a piece of Jatoba.
This brand goes on every piece … but Velda has claimed this one!
This bowl has different sections routed to different depths. The blank is two pieces of 4/4 Hard Maple sandwiched around Purpleheart, that I planed down to just 1/4″ in thickness.
All of those scallops were a challenge to get clean and pretty, I assure you!
Now that’s a bowl ready for Christmas!
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The Cutting Board 12 comments
For Christmas, I made Velda a large, long grain cutting board made of both domestic and exotic hardwoods. Here’s what I used:
Honey Locust – because as nice as she is … she definitely has thorns
Cherry – because she can be sweet
Jatoba – because sometimes I have no idea what she means
Walnut – because she’s definitely nutty
Tigerwood – because I’ve seen her angry
The cutting board measures 1′-9″ long x 1′-3-7/8″ wide x 1-1/4″ thick. That’s a very large cutting board … but that’s what she wanted. To finish, I gave it an initial coat of mineral oil, wiped it off when it was dry, and then added a Velda-made mineral oil and beeswax combination: 25% beeswax by volume. It has rubber feet so it won’t slide around; I expect it to get some use in her kitchen!
The companion small boards are made of the same woods, and are intended as cheese servers. They each measure 9-1/2″ long x 9-1/2″ wide x 7/8″ thick.
I bought Tigerwood for this project; caught it on sale and ended up using these pieces in 7 of the projects I made.
First step: lay out the boards in a pattern that is pleasing to the eye.
To make sure the boards stayed in order, I used 3 techniques. Each board was numbered in order, 1 – 17. I drew a chevron across the face of the board so you could tell at a glance if they were in order. Finally, I used blue painters tape to hold each half of the board together until I was ready to start glue-ups … I was taking 25 projects through the production process at the same time!
I assembled the board in two halves … it’s easier to only glue up that many at one time, and half of the project would fit into my planer; the whole project would not.
Break the tape, lay the boards out, and then rotate all but the last board 90 degrees to expose the glue face.
Cover every bit of the exposed boards with glue. No dry joints allowed!
Carefully begin clamping the boards together.
I wasn’t overly concerned with keeping the top surface flat, as this glue-up would go through the planer to flatten it out.
There are many techniques to remove squeeze out (excess glue) … I use wet paper towels to wipe most of the glue off.
Both sides have to be cleaned!
Let set 24 hours.
Plane the left and right halves at the same time to ensure they are exactly the same thickness … and then glue up the two halves, making sure the project is flat and smooth.
Finish was two coats of mineral oil.
After the second coat of mineral oil, I did a topcoat of a mineral oil/beeswax mixture to help give the board more protection from water.
Cutting board, 2 cheese boards.
2013: It’s A Wonderful Year 7 comments
The Mowry Christmas Newsletter
2013 began with family visitors … an uncommon occurrence for us. But this year … THIS YEAR … we had many visitors come through California. The Huberts (who get a GOLD STAR for visiting three different times!), plus Sarah, Grant, Ryan, Maria … all came to see us this year. It was a banner year for family visitors! Family is a rare and wonderful thing, and we were very fortunate to have so many visitors this year.
You know what happens when family comes to visit? Pizza!
Mom brought out this family heirloom during my visit. It looks like a pocket watch …
… but it’s a collapsible shot glass!
January found me traveling to northern Iowa to meet with my team at Smarts Broadcast Systems … did I mention that it was northern Iowa? -2* was there to greet me! But it was a great trip, and I began my second blog, interviewing small market broadcasters. 21 have been published so far; check them out here.
The best part of the trip was being able to visit Mom & Sis in Missouri. It was great, and those opportunities are all too rare.
February saw Velda and I take a long weekend to Phoenix, to visit Uncle Bud & Aunt Connie who were doing the snowbird thing in Arizona again. Love it! We took the opportunity to do a driving tour through a couple of state parks, including visiting Sedona’s Bell Rock. Gorgeous!
Another February event was our 2nd year hosting UCLA’s Dinner With 12 Strangers. Velda signed up to host with her good buddy, Debi, and they entertained a dozen students at our house. The food was great, the company was fun … and yes, they all did an 8-clap!
In March, Velda and I made a lifestyle change, as we stopped our gardening service, and I built an outdoor shed (woodworking project # 1), and filled it with a lawnmower and a blower. Just like a real gardener! We discovered that we enjoyed the gardening, and enjoyed having the yard and planting beds looking the way we wanted them. It just took us about 25 years to get back to that. Quick, that’s us!
The horizon from our driveway did change with the addition of our first outbuilding.
I was on the road again in April, going to the NAB convention in Las Vegas. A highlight was going to Cabo Wabo for a free margarita … only to pronounce it swill. We haven’t completed our search for the perfect margarita yet … but it’s definitely not made with Cabo Wabo’s tequila!
Michael completed his Master of Science degree from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in June. Done with school (at least for now) … and for the first time in 27 years, no one in our family was going to school. Now, that is a big change!
As summer was upon us, it was time for woodworking project # 2: building Payton an ultimate set of blocks. It was only slightly out of control … only 246 pieces, after all!
Muir Woods National Monument
Early in July, most of the Mowry family (Christopher, Ally, Payton, Lauren, Eric, Velda and I) went camping in the sequoias for the first time in many years. We got a great site in my favorite camp, Crystal Springs, and spent July 4th weekend under the big trees. Velda and I extended our vacation from there, going farther north to visit 2 more National Parks (making 4 Parks in one week!), and one of my favorite places on earth, the Muir Woods National Monument. It was great to see that wonderful place again … and enjoy the best grilled cheese sandwich on the planet.
Back from vacation, it was time to begin woodworking project # 3: the routed bowl adventure. This one just kept growing and growing, with three rounds of production taking over the garage for four months.
And we may have been back from vacation … but Velda proved she was crazy.
Again.
An orphan was discovered in the parking lot at her facility, and she agreed to adopt this tiny 4-week old kitten, that was soon named Walter. He’s all kitten, and now, four months later he is STILL finding new ways to terrorize the older cats and cavort around the house. That is what kittens do, yes?
In November, I took on another client and joined RAIN Enterprises as Account Manager. RAIN will stage 4 Summits next year (New York, Las Vegas, Indianapolis and Europe) … plus we have a daily newsletter that covers every facet of the developing marketplace of online audio. Check it out, www.RAINNews.com.
Velda and Alley have several products, each in many fragrances that they are now offering. They have one retail outlet … a boutique in northern California’s wine country.
Velda and Alley decided to launch a homemade lotion business, called Mrs. M’s Handmade. What caused them to do this is unknown … but there is now a nascent lotion business in the family. Big talk about the future … a website may happen in 2014. Hopefully they’ll figure out what their actual expenses and sales have been sometime before they jump farther into the marketplace!
2013 has truly been a wonderful year … family, fun, a bit of adventure and new doors opening at the end of the year. Can’t wait to see 2014!
My official best photograph of 2013 … Payton discovering a flower’s shadow on her arm.
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Round Three: The Bowl Adventure 5 comments
This multi-wood blank is destined to be a pretty bowl. After I glued up Jatoba, Cherry, Walnut and Tigerwood, I ran it through the planer to get what will become the bottom of the bowl absolutely flat on both sides.
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A Day Of Finishing 4 comments
And when this woodworker is finishing, that means branding, sanding, cleaning & oiling.
Not the right way to brand a board.
For flat surfaces, I use a random orbital sander … 60, 120, 180 and 240 grit. Each piece has to be brushed clean prior to finishing.
I used 5 different sanding machines for these projects. Hand sanding is a bonus!
It’s a rare day … a finishing day! … when my work bench and the table saw top are completely bare.
Projects awaiting the last step.
Laid out on scrap lumber so the oil on the bottom of the project can soak in, rather than being wrapped in plastic.
I wear my lucky finishing shirt … it’s got paint and stain from a number of projects. The bowls were each coated in walnut oil.
Finished pix coming soon to a blog near you!
Christmas 2013: Do we know who invented Santa Claus? Who really wrote the “Night Before Christmas?” Leave a comment
Knowing what really happened can be a sobering experience!
