Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

I am back at work and that also means that I manage to find some time to sit in front of a computer and do a bit of blogging.

This past home period saw a bit of woodworking, as I managed to complete the second traveling bookcase for my daughter. I also made 5 window frames for the small barn. I never got around to taking any pictures of all that, so you will just have to take my word for it..

I think it is fair to say that the single most important thing that happened this home period was getting a new dog. 

We drove down to near Hannover in Germany and picked up the most adorable little Newfoundland puppy. 

She has grown considerably since then, but she is just as sweet and cuddly.

It is probably impossible to not compare a new puppy with the old dog, and often the new dog will fall short in comparison due to the strong memories of the old dog and it setting te standards for good behavior.

In one respect the new puppy (Bertha) actually comes out in front of our old dog Fnug:

Fnug never really liked to stay in the workshop.

She would enter occasionally - take a look around and then leave again.

Bertha on the other hand seems to think that the shop is a great place to stay, and that is something that warms my heart.

She likes to sleep while I work at the bench, and when she is awake she helps by rearranging small pieces of scrap wood.

There are a few drawbacks too though. The major one being that she has the idea the the broom is meant as a toy, and subsequently attacks it as soon as I start sweeping the floor.

Sweeping is not very efficient with a 35 Lb puppy attached to the head end of a broom playing tug of war while you try to clean the floor.

But given her sweet nature I can easily live with that and I'll just sweep the floor while she is not in the shop.

Besides getting a new dog, we also had a really nice Christmas and New Years Eve.

This Sunday a friend called asking if we wanted to join her on a ride in the forest. Laura was at home and really wanted to participate. Mette suggested that I took her her horse, and then she would just walk besides us all. Since the ground was frozen, we were only going to let the horses walk, so Mette wouldn't have any problems in keeping up with us. 

It was such a nice trip, and I actually think that I ought to do a bit more riding. What a fine way to experience nature.

Yesterday I checked my spam folder for my email address, and I found an invitation from Chris Wong to participate in the "Wall Shelf Build-Off"

Four years ago I participated in the SSBO (shop stool build off), and it was such a great thing to participate in. 

Chris had manged to attract some incredibly fine sponsor prizes, and the entire build off couldn't have been organized any better.

I highly recommend you to register and participate in the build. If it is anything like the last event, there will be loads of prizes, for numerous categories, Since the design limits for the build are very wide, it is especially interesting to see what other people come up with. .

The skill level of the participants last time ranged as did the design. I think that the most interesting stool built last time was the innovative works of Alex Leslie. He rightfully won a prize for that entry.

Bertha resting in the shop.

Shavings from the planer stick incredibly well to a soft coat of fur.

Gustav and Bertha right after getting her home.

Jonas/ Bent, Lene/Marco, Laura/Fairy

Using the Roubo horse based stain.

I figured that the new shop stool would be a perfect project for the Roubo horse based stain.

The stain was applied using a brush, and the wood absorbed it rather quickly. As a matter of fact, part of the legs and the stretcers dried while I went to the house to get the camera. Tomorrow I will give it a second and perhaps a third coat.

Shop stool - the result

To speed up the process, I tested a copy attachment that I have for my wood lathe. And it works like a dream. It can also be used for making cylindrical parts, and since the build has to be finished in one day, and we started at 8 AM pacific time i.e. 5 PM local time, I needed the job to be carried out in a hurry so I could still hit the hay before midnight.

Asger helped with the turning of the legs, he was not completely happy, since he didn't think it would make him a better turner using such a jig.. (he will be 8 in one week, and he wants to learn how to turn now, so patience is not the strongest card..)

After the turning, I drilled some holes. It took a little time to convince myself that it was probably going to be OK, eventhough I had to eyeball the angle.
The stretchers also received their holes, and then al that was left was the glue up.

Tomorrow I will saw of the protruding part of the legs and that is all that remains to finish of the stool.

Due to some incredible luck, the stool does not rock, so I don't have to cut anything of the legs to make it steady.
The height of the stool is 21" which is actually what I was aiming at. So all in all a success.

As for the looks; I managed to make the top rather clumsy and heavy looking, but I think few people will notice, because the boring plain IKEA looking cylindrical legs will catch the attention of the beholder.

It is almost midnight, so I will call it a day :-)

The shop stool.

Asger using the copy attachment.

The turned legs and stretchers.

Holes are drilled, ready for the glue up.

Shop stool part 1

The design of my shop stool is a Windsor shop stool lke the one that Michael Dunbar once wrote about in Popular Woodworking.

I haven't decided on the design of the legs yet, but I think they will be a more simple design than the double bobbin that was shown in the article. 

First I looked for a suitable piece of wood for the seat. In spite of all the wood that I have lying around, I couldn't find a suitable piece. Therefore I ended up using a chain saw to rip a piece of half a trunk of elm that I had in the barn. The piece measured approximately 16 x 16 x 4". 

The back side was flattened using a scrub plane, and then I leveled it out with a smoothing plane. 

My normal wood lathe has got a maximum capacity of around 12", so I decided to use my old metal lathe that has got a significantly larger capacity. 

I mounted the blank on a face plate designed for the woos lathe, and clamped it in the 3 jaw chuck of the metal lathe.

At first I used the automatic feed for redusing the thickness down to approx. 2.5". I then turned the depression in the seat manually still using the metal working bit. Next the outside was turned. 

A metal working bit doesn't leave a particularly nice surface, and I also needed to turn a small bevel like thing on the lower side of the seat, so I had to device a way to make a normal tool rest.

I was able to mount a long clamp in the tool holder, and then I could use the bar of the clamp as a tool rest. That enabled me to finish the turning using normal wood turning tools.

I need to get some supper, and then the build will continue.

Happy SSBO day to everyone out there.

The blank and the chain saw. 

Ready for traversing with the scrub plane

Flat enough for the next step.

Close up of the cutting action on the lathe.

My trusty old MAS SN 20 metal lathe.

The finished seat.

Getting ready for the SSBO

Things have been very quiet on this blog for a while. Normally when I come home after a stretch of work at sea, I have som many things to do with the family, that blogging is being down prioritized.

This time I have also had to finish a commision of 3 tables and 4 benches for a friend. I had to get those out of the way to generate some space in the workshop.

I have also purchased a new machine that I had to pick up, the drive took a couple of hourse each way, so last Friday was pretty much done for by this adventure. The machine is surprisingly not for woodworking.
It is a trencher (Kettengraber in German). A nice old Case TL 200. Off course it needed a little work, but today I was able to test it. And gosh it is effective.

With those projects out of the way, I managed to clean and organize the workshop today so it is ready for the Shop Stool Build Off tomorrow.

SWMBO and our daughter will drive to Aalborg (the closest major city), to look for a dress for my daughter to wear at her confirmation in May, so I am left at home together with the boys. I pretty much plan to have them helping with the project, but you never know if they suddenly arrange a visit to a friend for playing.

I have more or less decided on the design of the stool, but I also have a design in my head that I would like to try sometime. I am not quite sure if it will work, so I don't want to risk making it for the SSBO.

OK, time to get to bed, it is half an hour past midnight, and I need to get some sleep before the build.