Lathe Tool Box, Machined Bushings

All tools fit snugly. The inner frame is removable, so it can be changed when these tools are ground to nubs.

I'm helping someone make a prototype of their invention. He needed these saddle spacers for joining pipe and tube side-to-side. Pipe had an OD of 1.3" and tube had an OD of 1.25", which I matched on the spacers.

The mill is not powerful enough to spin a boring tool or fly cutter, so I made these wooden fixtures to attach to the rotary table. Both of my machine lathes were out of commission, so I used the wood lathe for drilling, tapping, and facing. The crescent shape on the left was turned on the wood lathe, where the reference surface on the bottom was also cut. This makes it pretty close to square when set against the rotary table surface.

Installed on the finished item:

Shoe Repair

Done with my sewing awl, right through to the inside. It was tricky on the inside where I had to catch the loop 50x with the shuttle ("hook"), without being able to see it, and in a tight area. The result is good though!

Working on forging O1 tools with a wood-fired forge. Forging has been successful, heat treat has not. Very minimal setup. Will continue attempts and saving for ash bucket (one tablespoon at a time), torch (one shoe repair at a time).

Pole lathe hook

Japanese type turning tool attempt one. Not thin enough, will probably just use on pole lathe.

Tongs in progress (need these!). 1018.

Pole lathe center. Tip (far side) will be ground, hardened if I can manage.

Big Spoon, Saw Handle

Biggest spoon yet! 10 in. or 254 mm long. Just carved, not sanded. Oiled with walnut oil.

I also repaired a saw. I bought this cheap saw (blade) when I lived in a dorm and wanted to woodwork there. The crosscut side is not bad, the rip side leaves a lot to be desired. The handle was terrible; eventually it just fell apart and stopped holding the blade. Not that it ever really held the blade, but it lost all friction if you will.

The saw blade hung on the wall for a year, until tonight when I snapped. I hacked out a new wooden handle from a scrap of cherry. It took ~1.5 hrs.

I spend most of my awake hours with some sort of handle in my hand, and it's made me snooty. My hands get injured quickly with plastic or rubber handles, from blisters, or from having to squeeze them so tightly. Oiled wood handles are my favorite. In whittling for hours at a time, my hands are tired but they feel fine with the wooden-handled Mora knife. Sometimes I need to use my plastic-handled one. My hand starts hurting only a few minutes after picking the plastic one up.

I'll shorten the screws when they get in the way. Maybe later tonight, when the thought of them gets in the way of me falling asleep.

Edit, 1 a.m.:

 

Screws shortened, chamfered, thread lock applied, heads aligned, and lanolin applied to bare steel surfaces. Send help.