Mr. Ujest is in the stages of setting up his workshop in our new barn.
I haven’t a clue of what exact tools he owns. Frankly, he stays out of my little world, I stay out of his. But, that truce is ending and I want to learn something as a Family so that we can have some true quality fights instead of the lackluster feeble ones we’ve had for years.
But I want to learn how to cut and make my own wooden blocks that arelike this, because, I can usually get the wood rather cheap ( good wood, not crap.). And I think blocks are just about the most excellent gift a kid can get.
And I want to learn basic woodworking. You know, birdhouses, wood blocks. Shop Class all over again that I never took because the guys in there were going to be Future Felons.
I have made a small set in the past and I used a saw rotary saw ( mitre /chop saw) and an orbital sander with much success. ( No fingers lost, hurrah!)
However, I want to learn how to make the arches and niftier peices and I don’t know what tool would be used to rrrrrrrrrrrrr out the arch part. Then I will move on to the really cool stuff like Taj Mahal cone topper pieces. ( the link provided has some totally awesome achitectural blocks.)
Conversations with said toolmaster at our house usually degenerate down to
" Why would you want to spend all that time making that when you can buy it for X." then I show him the ads for what I am looking at and his eyeballs go " Ahh-Wooo-Gah" and he will say, " It is easier for me to do it than you."
Which really translates in my brain as, " You are going to ruin my system here that makes sense to me only in my mind. Girl in my Workshop…Begone Demon! Return to Your Firey Pit of Despair and Pottery Barn and leave me Be!"
And if I ask him to do it, it will then sink down to the depths of where the Titantic sits on the ocean floor on his *Things-To-Do-For-The-Wife-That-Aren’t-Nearly-As-Important-As-My-To-Do-List. * Y’know, He’ll get to it sometime next never.
Hints, suggestions links are all happily welcome.
Your link isn’t opening for me, but I’ll assume you want to make blocks with inside curves - arches and such.
There’s three routes to go, and either will involve machines you probably don’t already have.
The first is to use a band saw. You can pick these up new anywhere from $100 for a benchtop model at Amazon on to $1300+ for one that’s bigger than you’d ever need to cut blocks. With the band saw, you’ll be able to cut whatever sort of curve you want - perfect circle, ellipse, oval, whatever. The cut-out bit can then be a block in its own right.
Another way is to use a hole saw. This will only work if the cuts you want are perfect half-circles as the way to do this is to bore the hole through the center of a square or rectangular block, then using a saw, split the block in two, yielding two blocks with half-circle cutouts. Hole saws generally need more driving gusto that a handheld electric drill can muster, so you’ll want to use them with a drill press. The cut-out bits from this are somewhat less usable as blocks on their own as there will be a hole in the center from center drill bit that guides the hole saw.
Yet another way is to use a hand-held saw. These go by various names - jig, scroll and saber. All pretty much the same thing. For this, it’ll be best to mark out the cutouts on a long piece of wood so you’ll have something to hold onto. (or better yet, clamp to the workbench) Then, cut the blocks apart. Of the three, this is probably the riskiest in terms of danger to yourself, especially if you attempt to cut on individual blocks just because it’s hard to hold small bits of wood and a power tool at the same time.
However you do it, you’ll want a drum sander of some sort to clean them up. You can spend a chunk of money and get a stand-alone sander, or just use one of the $3.95-type things that’s used with a hand-held drill. Or, in a drill press. And, perhaps a router to round off the edges. (Or just sand the edges)
What gotpasswords said. Also, don’t choose treated wood as it’s got some ugly chemicals neither you nor your little 'un will want to come into contact with. You can find plenty of pine, birch or ash at any Home Depot or Lowes for this type of project.
Also, the Dremel tools are pretty nice for small projects. While they might not be needed for the one you described, they might suffice for others and are much safer and easier to handle than some of the power equipment.
You could ask which he prefers: you using his tools, or you nagging him to make the blocks. Alternatively, you could tell him that working with tools makes you randy.
Tabletop Scroll Saws/jig saw that have an angleable plate are great for doing that sort of thing. AT least up to 2 inches or so, much thicker than tht and the little blade has problems.
When my wife came up to me and asked if she could learn how to use the tools in my shop in the barn I said :eek:
However, common sense and knowing I have a tenacious wife led me to teach her. So we went out in the barn which is next to the house and I showed what to do…that was nearly 6 years ago. Since I have Drilled a hole through my left palm with my drill press, cut half my left hand thumb nearly off, and did the same on my right hand thumb with my table saw…she has not a nick on her…
As for your OP. I’d like to add something to what lieu said. Though you shouldn’t use the pressure treated wood, you will want to make the blocks for your litt’lins out fo a harder wood and use a non-toxic table laminent on them. It is glossy, and it’s the same stuff Discovery toys company uses. So it’s safe. Otherwise, you’ll eventually be extracting slivers from their tongues…
As for tools, a nice band saw will allow you to make those corners and turns with ease. Otherise if you don’t want to spend the money a $25 jig saw will do just fine.
Good luck and have some fun…Oh a nice little table lathe like this one can be used for making that Taj Mahal
Yeah, check out classes at your local junior college or what have you. I don’t think you’d need one specifically for women unless you’re super scared of tools. It was one of my favorite classes and I had a serious fear of lathes when I first got there. Learning from a good prof cleared that right up.
Speaking of which, perhaps you could set up a mini-workshop for yourself. Buy a few tools used or cheap to get started. Once you’re proficient and know you really like woodworking, you can expand to include hubby’s tools. Maybe. A person’s tools are sacred, ya know.
One thing about the tools; I’ve found my cordless tools to be a bit of a pain. I don’t use them much right now which means they lose their charge in between uses. The next time I go to use them, I have to factor charging time, grrr. In my next life I’ll only buy cordless for tools I use often.
Thanks for the input. We have a few of the aboveforementioned tools ( no lathe, but don’t worry, folks, Mr. Ujest aims to own every tool every made even if we don’t need it. yes, yes, I know, we do need it. How silly of me.
A thought on the cordless tools is that Mr. Ujest has a drill and has bought two battery pack things for it so that while one is in use, the other is charging.
Sniffs_Markers and I both have vast collections of industrial power tools… When I was living with three guys, the joke of the house was that I was the one most at home in a hardware store.
I agree, if you are not used to power tool or are intimidated by them band saws and scrolls saws will not only be great for your project, but are also not-so-scary. (The scroll saw is kind of like a sewing machine, if you’re one who sews.) Scroll saw probably isn’t big enough though.
Another tool that may come in handy for you is a plunge router. Picture here. They are great for cutting grooves, joints and if you cheat, you can even make those fancy block shapes. It’s also not at all an intimidating and quite fun because they tend to be satisfyingly LOUD.
RRRRRRRRRRRRR!
(Damn, now I gotta go home and play with my toys.)
I did home woodworking for several years and to for nice easy cutting of those types of blocks I would use a bandsaw. You can make a circle cutting jig that will accurately cut various circle sizes. A scrollsaw is probably a little under powered for cutting 1 3/8 wood. All the straight cuts can be done on a tablesaw. My wife was very active and helpful when we worked on projects. We did the kichen cabinets and counters, several small coffee tables and home remodeling work.
We’re glad you like our blocks. The way we make arches is to use a 1/4" 6 tpi blade on a 14" band saw. We use a homebrew circle cutting attachment that uses an architect’s compass needle as a pivot. Roman arches are often made with a 1-3/8 radius cut, but we prefer to make ours 2-1/16 which makes a wider arch, and one more suitable for aquaducts and overpasses. Half arches are made by slitting a unit block half way, removing the block, setting the circle cutter to a distance just on the edge of the block, and then reinserting the slitted block in the proper position and continuing the cut the remainder of the way.
Commercial circle cutting attachments are available from Delta and others and these usually attach to the 3/8 by 3/4 slot on the bandsaw.
A hole saw can also be used to make arches, but this is best done by temporarily glueing two unit blocks together with hot melt, drilling the hole, and then separating the blocks with a sharp rap after the hole is cut. In any event, the interior of the arch needs to be sanded with a round sanding head - either the end of a stationary belt sander or an oscillating sander.
I prefer the bandsaw by a mile - the hole cutting saws are very crude and have to chew their way through a lot of wood. It’s not fun and the kerf is quite large making the semi-circles too small for the arch indent (not to mention the pilot hole in them). But it can be done.
More usefully, the band saw can be provided with a sled (a jig) made of masonite or the like on which buttresses are glued to cut triangles. Cutting these on a table saw is a bad idea, and almost impossible for wedges (ramps). This sled is run along the bandsaw fence to provide identical triangles - zip/zip.
If you want to learn woodworking, a bandsaw is a lot of fun and relatively safe. There are a lot of people these days doing very creative things with routers - hardly a month goes by without some new bit or use for a router. But a bandsaw is just as much fun, and has many purposes for which a table saw is simply too big and too dangerous to usefully get the job done. A 14" bandsaw is probably the right size for a small workshop - small enough for the average budget but big enough to get the job done. Jet and Delta both make them and they are fairly cheap. Be sure and get a fence.
I am not sure about the smaller bandsaws, but with a sharp blade and 1/2 horse or so, they should also work okay though they will not, in the long run, be nearly as versatile.
If you have any other questions, we would be happy to answer them. As you know, there is a page on our website on how to make blocks, and there is a form at the bottom that you can use.
I’ve admired Barclay blocks for a long time and since they’ve come out with the Famous Places ones ( I can’t seem to spell architechure to day) I’ve been coveting your product.
I forgot to mention that making round parts is best done on a lathe. This is a whole world of fun, and making domes and onion domes provides an excellent excuse for co-opting “he who must be obeyed.” You simply say something like “If we had a nice lathe, the shop would be a lot more versatile,” and you’ve got a lock. A cheap one can be had for about $150 and the only requirement is to attach it to a base that weighs as much as possible. Here is a good place to employ the sandbags you use in back of the pick-up in the winter. This also opens the door to dreidles, tops, and custom yo-yos. We have a 8" clothesline yo-yo here that weighs 15 lbs. Puts the challenge back in “walking the dog.”
