Timber framing day 1

My second year college classes started about a week ago, and one of the classes we have is timber framing. In 7-8 weeks we learn and build a 16'-8' timber frame building from scratch. My class is 16 people strong and at have roughly 7-8 hours a week to work on this.

We started by making teams off 2 and each group had to choose one section of the timber frame that they are going to make. Me and my partner choose the top plate, it takes the longest amount of time Because you have to do a lot of chisel work and cutting for the rafters (for the roof), braces(support) and beams but we figured  it would be fun and interesting.

I'm a couple of days into the project now and will up load some pictures ever couple of days trying to explain each step we did with pictures to follow And after we are done I will make one big blog post.

Molding planes

Found those old molding planes at the museum, I would love too own a couple of them even though they are hard to maintain.

Chess board

A friend of mine ask if I could teach her some woodworking stuff so I decided to  show her how to build a chess board. 

The chess board itself is made out of 2 different hard woods and one softwood and each square is 1"x1". It took us roughly 8 hours to finish both chess boards (I made one my self and I showed her how to make one as well)

To make the chess board you need two different kinds of woods, one dark wood and one light wood. I planed each board down to roughly 1-1/4". 

        Next I ripped 8 stripes from each board (8 stripes for each chess board, 4 dark 4 light).

  Lay everything out in an pattern and than glue it on plywood, Make sure you use enough glue specially on the ends other wise little pieces will fall off later on. 

 Now you rip 1" stripes across the board. I flipped my board upside down to avoid tear out.

 After you done all this you should have 8 stripes with each 8 tiles. Do the same thing as before and glue everything side by side but make sure when you clamp everything down that you put equal pressure on every side. 

 If you do it right it should turn out like this, there is glue and paper on it but that does not matter since I will use the belt sander later to flatten everything down and make it nice and smooth. 

 Last but not least you have to decided what kind of frame you make around it. Let your creativity kick!

 Finished product! I did not put any stain or clear coat on this because I think it will ruin the nice color of the wood. 

Modern looking mirror

I wanted to try this out for a long time now and finally got the chance and time to do it this weekend! 

This mirror is made out of 100% recycled wood (Fir wood) cut individual into size and shape. 

The finished mirror it self is 32"x23". 

I am not sure yet if I should keep the mirror or sell it.

I chose fir wood because it has a nice grain too it, I like the color of the wood and we had a whole bunch of left over pieces that I did not wanted to throw out.

First I had to get the frame off the mirror, It was only glued on so it was not that difficult but be sure to take your time with it so it does not break on you!

For my back I chose recycled window frame bored. I ripped them into the right width and than glued them together. After that I glued on the mirror itself with a quick drying glue.

I lifted the mirror up so I am able to use my air gun underneath it. I used glue and nails to hold each wood piece.

To cute every piece into rough shape I used the band saw and than finished it with the belt sander.

After roughly 3 hours of work i was 1/4 done! 

I put roughly 8 hours into this and 20$. It is not perfect but does look nice. It is also an really easy project to make I think.

Building wood windows.

 So finally after 3 weeks we are done with building 7 double hung windows for the "Tea house" at the Western Development Museum in North battleford Sk. We had to replace the old windows because they were in bad condition.

The new windows itself are made out of 30+ year old Fir wood planks that were roughly 3"x12"x12Ft.

First we had to cut the rough lumber into proper lengths so we can transport it into the shop for the next steps.

First we had to figure what the exact size of the windows are going to be and than we started doing the math and list of material and cutting lists to speed up the progress, keep in mind all 7 windows are the same size so it would of been a waist of time to do each window individually. 

 After cutting everything to the right length and width and cutting and making all the joints the windows are ready to get put together. 

 After all the windows and the frames are put together we start putting the first layer of paint on.

Time to put the Glass in and start window putting.

An old window nailer from 1940s, works still great! 

After doing a couple of windows it started to look better.

Taking the old windows out and putting the new ones in! 

 Final product.

Life edge maple table

This is one of my first bigger project I ever did back in High school. 

It is made out of one solid piece of Canadian maple covered in different layers of clear coat. 

The base is made out of 2"x2" steel bars welded together and polished. 

The table top screws off the metal base so transportation is easy. 

I tried selling it on Etsy for a while but never could find a buyer. 

Little presents

My boss is awesome! He just gave me those old tools for free! They are all very dusty and in rough shape but with a bit of cleaning and tune up they will look and work like new. This will be my next project on the weekend I think.

Your favorite wood working tools?

I'm a young carpenter in my second year of schooling as a "Heritage carpenter" at the Algonquin college in Perth, Ontario. I'm currently working at the western development museum in Saskatchewan as a summer student and love my job with all my heart!  I have been collecting tools for a almost a year now old heritage ones that I fix up and use again and new ones ( i am a big fan of Lee Valley tools) I believe in buying good tools ones and they are going to treat you well for the rest of your life time! Any of you guys have favorite tools you like using? Or special jigs that you find handy? Tools that you could not life without? Any tips or advise?