Compass Rose

I made a goal during the summer to make something for my office at work that represented something meaningful to me as a symbol, but also represented a project that I was proud to display and admire as something that challenged me. I decided on a compass rose.

 

My career path was directly affected by a personal encounter with the late Stephen R. Covey in November 2004. He told a group of us young missionaries to personally ponder four questions when deciding on a future career: What do you like to do? What are you good at? What does the world need? What does your conscious tell you? I didn't realize it at the time, but those questions were at the heart of his book "The 8th Habit" which he was either writing at the time or had just completed. I took this message to heart and have based all of my career/educational decisions on my feelings after spending hours pondering these questions. I felt a compass rose would be a perfect symbol for my office, both as a symbol of this direction for me, but also as a reminder to help my employees find their voice within the company as well.

This project required some precise angles, especially since the diagonal points are more narrow than the others.

I hand routered a beveled edge on each of the pieces. The circle was actually cut from the back of an broken hallow clock. I put the clock on the table saw next to a rip fence and rotated the clock through the blade to cut off an 1/8" perfect circle off the back.

I stained the piece and cut out a notch in the back to rest on a nail for hanging.

I look at this compass everyday in my office. It is a powerful symbol to me of direction, focus and personal achievement.

Goblet

I made this little goblet/grail out of the same branch as the coin dish from my last post. The branch had already started to crack and you can see the resulting split on the right side of the top photo. The rotten portion of the tree still provided some awesome coloring though.

Coin Dish Gift

With this project, I discovered a new random hobby: making things for friends from portions of tree branches that I helped cut down or remove for that specific person. Let me explain.

 

A group of us from church were asked to help a widow in our neighborhood remove some old trees that had began to die. As we cut down the tree, about a third of the tree was decaying and the cross sections of the branches and stump showed a distinct coloration for the live and dead portions. The widow was sad to see the tree go as it was a signature piece of her backyard and represented a lot of the good times with family that she remembered. I set a cross section of a branch aside, hoping I could make something special for her.

 

I made this small coin dish and surprised her with it at her door step one evening. The dead portion of the tree ended up providing beautiful coloring to the piece. When I gave it to her, she thought it was a great symbol of how even rough times can be turned into beautiful masterpieces. She has since told me that it has meant so much to her and she has it displayed in her house.

Ball Vase

This was my second project on the lathe. Again, I started with a block from a 4x4 and cut it down to a smooth cylinder. It was a very simple, but relaxing project. I had forgotten how much of a stress reducer turning wood can be.

Mini Honey Pot

I purchased myself a lathe for my birthday! I've been saving my personal money for something special and when I saw an awesome deal on a lathe come up on a local classified website, I had to jump on it. I have not used a lathe for over 11 years. My only experience was working in the high school wood shop after school and receiving some occasional coaching from the teacher.

 

I used a small section of a 4x4 post I had in the corner of my garage to get the feel for the tools again. I simply gauged it down to a cylinder and hollowed out the end.

 I started shaping the cylinder with no real plan for what I was creating. When I got to this point, I decided it was looking like a tea cup on a saucer. As I was tapering the base of the cup, I actually broke the saucer part clear off with a careless tool maneuver. After the saucer base broke, I decided the cup looked a little bit more like a honey pot and that the cuts I had made to eventually cut the saucer from the stock looked a lot like a lid. That is when I changed plans. I finished off the pot portion and then shaped the lid individually.

 I think it turned out amazing for being the first project after 11 years of woodturning!

Lucy's Treasure Box

 I built this oak treasure box for Lucy for Christmas. I had made Jenna a treasure box for Christmas when she was 4, so I decided to do the same for Lu. With each project I make, I try to push myself to improve in either difficulty, design, or overall quality of workmanship. For Lucy's box, I decided to keep the design simple, but built it with lap joints instead of miter or butt joints that I have always used. It required much more precision than previous projects and I enjoyed building it.

 

I had to router out various depths on specific sides of each piece so that the box would fit together perfectly without gaps. I also decided to sink the base into the box rather than having a visible base at the bottom of the box. Here are some of the individual pieces of the box after they were shaped at the router table and how they all fit together with the base sunk into the bottom of the box.

 Once I glued the box together, I built a lid and routered out some space on the back for the hinges. I purchased some small round magnets at a craft store that I used in place of a latch or lock. I used a little wooden heart in place of a locket. I lined the inside of the box with a forest green felt. This was a rewarding project to build something slightly more technical than what I am used to making.

Chili Cook Off Trophies 2013

For this year's Fall Chili Cook-off, I was asked to make multiple trophies for various chili categories, as well as trophies for pumpkin carving. Rather than make multiple large trophies, I made 3 top place trophies similar to trophies in year's past and then 10 smaller "golden spoon" trophies. For the golden spoon trophies, I simply cut out ten blocks on the table saw, routered a decorative edge, and stained them. I took metal spoons that I had picked up at a thrift store and spray painted gold and attached to the plaques. They were simple but elegant, and well received at the event.