Bias Tape

Not exactly worth a post on its own, but I think this method is really neat. I took two yards of sunbrella, and cut/sewed it in such a way to produce a tube of fabric with the fabric grain 45 degrees to the axis of the tube. Then I cut around it in a helix, to produce one long continuous strip of bias tape. You can search 'continuous bias tape' to find instructions.

Above you can see the intersection of two seams on the far left corner. When I got to the piece of tape which included those seams, I cut out the bulky section and spliced the ends back together.

The tape is for piping around cushions for my brother's sailboat.

The moment we've been waiting for! I wondered how the error in my cutting would accumulate after the ~40 passes--both ends of the fabric tube were parallel when I started. This was the piece that was left:

Alrighty-

Pencil Rolls, Handle Designs

This is a storage clipboard. Despite having reached the heights, experimented with a small but proper writing board, and having spent most my life using a book as a drawing surface, this is my favorite arrangement I've ever had. I prop it on my knees and draw wherever I want. I can tilt it for watercolors, or lay it flat for measuring.

Whenever I need an eraser or scale or more paper I can just open it up.

In the bottom I keep the pencils. I kept my old pencil roll in there for a while, but it was pretty awkward to lift up all the clipboard flaps AND unfold the roll every time I needed to draw. I made these new fitted rolls, so I have two fewer flaps to untangle.

I forget the potential of hand sewing sometimes.  I'm going to start sewing the tags on like this, with the blind stitch. Looks sharp, crisp to me.

Despite looking 2D and being a little rough on the edges, I did put some thought into the practicality. For instance, the pouch is cut on the bias so it can stretch a little and the top edge is more resistant to fraying. The hems are designed so the pen clips cannot snag on them no matter how they are inserted.

I sewed all the way through the back, a bit 'How Ya Doin''. If I was making them for someone else, I would do some inverting origami instead of making all these seams visible. It might even be possible to make the seams on the front side of the pockets disappear. Hmm... suppose I should draw it-

The top drawings are ideas for a oyster knife handle my friend wants me to make. The oyster knife was already made, a silly shape for a hand tool, bad design apparently. He said he couldn't really understand the drawing (below), my own bad design! Always remember the purpose of what you're making, always remember the purpose of what you're making...

I started again from the ashes, dusted off my manual drafting, and made the drawing below. Better shape too, I think.

These were a few ideas for a coat hook for my dad, made to match the style of his furniture. He hired me to make sixteen, for some coat trees I also helped with.

He decided on the round design pictured in the bottom right-

Kebiki

"Kebiki" Cutting Gauge. I made it with hand tools; the cutter is a piece of hacksaw blade I snapped to size and shaped on the belt grinder. This thing is way beefier compared to the others I see on the internet--I made it based on a drawing in a book by Toshio Odate with little sense of scale. I vaguely recall seeing a big one like this in a video. I didn't put the maker mark on it because it doesn't meet ergonomic specs, but it's very functional regardless.

Have to grind off the top of the blade and back it off a little, it's deeper than needed-

Wallet, Mats

Been a little bit! My computer bit the dust a day after I broke Courtney's, so we were without a computer for a while. I built her a new one:

I since added a recycled laptop HDD to compliment the SSD. Many reviews said to get a big case the first time you build a computer... I followed their advice with the mindset that I have never wired something in tight quarters before. I 'helped' my older brother build a computer when I was in 5th grade; so in my mind (thirteen years later) I still imagined a very complex and difficult undertaking.  Turns out, to my surprise, I can retain useful info post-puberty. Assembling the hardware was very easy. Getting all the software happy was a pain in the butt though.

It is faster than expected, we have been playing split-screen video games with controllers on it.

I made this wallet for the same brother I built the computer in 2004 with. It's made of scrap leather and a retired Flying Junior sail. I thought the suede-like inner texture of the leather would help hold the cards in. He absolutely stuffed the card pocket of his old wallet, so I made this one have a little bit of volume, maybe 12mm thick. The wallet overall is fairly compact as far as wallets go.

Stitching these seams at the end was the toughest thing I have ever pushed a needle through. Afterwards I pushed the same needle through the thickest part of the sail-it must have taken half the effort. I put lanolin on the needle to help it slide through.

What else... a business card holder:

Some fabric mats for my Dad's woodwork:

He is wary of using paper, some spiel about privacy concerns and the state of technology, so he just writes the dimensions he wants on a piece of tree (above) and hands it to me.

Fabric Mats

Some muslin mats to go atop wooden boxes my dad made.

Opinels

Someone let me sharpen their Opinel! They seemed to have similar fondness towards theirs, though they didn't trust the barrel lock. I thought that was odd, my only complaint is that it gets grit in it.

Same knife, same sharpness. This carbon steel seems to take a finer edge than just about any steel. I think their knife was actually bought in France. The newer logo looks nice, I think it's the product of CNC which might not have been around to make the die for the logo on the older knife.

Bushing and Nubs

My friend needed some parts made for his commercial kitchen. On the right is a bushing for the donut forming machine. I chose lignum vitae because I thought it would be tougher than the HDPE I had on hand, and because the lead content of bronze would have been potentially bad to have near the dough.

The screw and washer in the bottom of the bushing prevents the bushing from jiggling out of its socket in use. The rubber band below it is actually the 'part' which it replaces.

The brass parts go nowhere near food. They support a folding arm on a deep fryer. The original nubs were just plug-welded in place. They both broke off. Hopefully these replacements last a little longer.