Mannie wants you to see this

Transformation

2011-09-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

This year Susan took our flower beds in hand and made them beautiful. Shortly after I moved into this house I started building stone-bordered flowerbeds in the back yard, but didn't really do much with them.

They got kind of jungle-ly

Susan transformed them from jungles into delightful tourist attractions for hummingbirds, butterflies and bumblebees. I'd rip out the old stuff and she'd plan and plant the new stuff with a keen eye to what really works well and looks nice.

Of the three beds I saved the most difficult one for last. I had to deal with an enormous amount of elephant grass as well as two tree stumps. It took quite some time, but I finally got that bed cleared and laid out a terminus for the pea-gravel paths that run throughout our garden. Susan suggested a little destination with a rustic bench. I got my shovel, rake, and wheelbarrow and started working.

I staked out the shape of the trail and dug and raked it level and smooth.

Then I laid down a poly tarp as a weed barrier with a discarded area rug over that.

This rug, though only a couple of years old, developed a "smell" and was banished for the house this past spring. I saved it with this sort of project in mind.

Then I started hauling rocks to make the wall and anchor the weed barrier.

Today, the pea gravel was delivered, about a third of a yard of gravel filled the path to a depth of about two inches.

Next, came the bench.

I can't wait to see what Susan has in mind for plantings in this new space.

Another Arts and Crafts Library Step

2010-10-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

This one with a Civil War motif for a friend's library:

This "Arts and Crafts" movement design is really well-suited to a shop like mine. The pieces tend to be elegant (in their simplicity), very straight forward with evident joinery. I was influenced by this style of design as it was the spell my father was under in his high school vocational arts classes of the 1930s.

I love the whole Roycrofter thing.

I wonder, what will be next?

A good book is always within reach

2010-09-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

When you live with a delightfully diminutive person, and have a very well stocked, floor-to-ceiling library those upper shelves can be just out of reach.

Enter the latest project from the wood shop, the two step library step.

Cut out of a pine board, seven pieces went into this simple little project.

Going for an Arts and Crafts look, I opted for pegged construction and a mortise and tenon stringer across the bottom of the lower step.

Here, I'm sanding the tenon...

and with my scroll saw, cutting the mortise.

The fit was nice and snug. The opening above is one of the carrying holes on each side of the bench.

Glued and clamped for a couple of hours, followed by a nice dark walnut Danish oil finish. After a three day dry and rub-down...

the appropriate steps were being taken in the library.

My 5 (and a half) board benches

2010-08-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

The bench-building continues at a brisk pace. I'm taking advantage of my last free week before returning to taking classes to knock out some knockout projects.

After recently seeing a delightful documentary on old-school tattoo artist Norman Collins, better known as "Sailor Jerry" I was inspired to bring a little more color to my bench project.

I've already made five of these classic American benches, the first batch finished very plainly and the second (gifts for my sweetie) were decorated with routing, woodburning, and color.

I wanted to bring a little more design to the five-board benches I'd been making.

On this latest batch of four the relief cuts on the legs are valentine hearts rather than simple holes. I used a hole saw on my drill press followed by a band saw operation to make these little hearts.

The second variation was the brace between the legs, what I'm calling the 1/2 board in my "five and a half board benches". These are the fully assembled benches awaiting staining, decoration, and varnishing.

This bench is a gift for two very good friends who raise chickens - as pets, so I thought I'd start with a very generic hen outline and then spruce it up a little.

Using a wide range of Prismacolor pencils I came up with this fanciful creation which I call...

the Chilean Goldenback. Needless to say, It was very well received by my friends this afternoon.

Then next one was for me, very much a tattoo and very much a nod to my time (tattooless time) in the U.S. Navy.

This is a faithful copy of a classic Sailor Jerry design.

The Prismacolors are remarkably vivid on wood and I'm really pleased with the result.

The next bench, or "tattoo bench" as I'm calling them, is also based upon a Sailor Jerry design though with my own variations. That's my little mountain home in the center of the valentine with the Cumberland Valley in the background. Sunset around these parts looks remarkably like the drawing.

I think the bench reflects the happiness of the couple who live in that little house.

After two coats of spar varnish the image is locked in and smudge proof. Again, I'm really pleased with the effect of the colored pencils on stained wood.

What a satisfying way to close out the summer. Now I have all winter to plan new projects for the springtime.

Check in again,

Mannie

Cooking Night at Mannie's

2010-08-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

Cook for two nights:

Eat for three weeks:

Wouldn't June be proud of me?

Bon Appetit from my side of South Mountain!

Mannie

Mommy, Daddy; where do baby spiders come from?

2010-07-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

From this, now empty, egg case which I found in my basement...

(note the tiny exit hole)

did emerge these zillions of little spiders, ready to take their place in the food chain.

Bon Appétit!

Awaiting Developments:

2010-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

Took Me Out to the Ball Game

2010-07-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

To escape the wintry weather here in Boonsboro yesterday, some friends and I headed to a ballgame in Washington DC, where we knew it would be at least five degrees hotter.

This contest between the Nationals and the Padres was my first major league game. Fortunately, I had my posse to keep me out of harm's way. Altogether there were seven magnificent fellows in the group.

Ike, in red, furthest down, supplied us with an enormous bag of peanuts, as snacks at the park were shamefully overpriced.

The proximity to our nation's capital provides a venue for presidential mascots; here Alann is conferring with slave-holder and third white president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson.

I caught Theodore Roosevelt taking a leak in the stairwell.

When the park has more character than the team, you know something is wrong. I haven't followed baseball since the 1968 Detroit Tigers, and I was struck by the fact that a trip to the ballpark today is as much a shopping experience as it is a sporting event. This is not our parents' ballgame.

What made it worthwhile for this sportsfan was simply getting out on the town with my friends, six of whom occupy the front row on the outfield wall (only one of whom is looking up at me).

I found myself more interested in the view of the old Washington Navy Yard on the Anacostia River, than in much of the action on the field. I believe that's the retired destroyer U.S.S. Barry tied up at the pier.

Despite the heat, the shameful prices, and the joyless anonymity of the players, it was a fun outing with some really good friends.

Though I liked the hockey game way better.

Mannie

The verdict is in...

2010-07-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Me, sweltering on the deck...

the wasps shaded under the lawn chair...

and the toads, sheltered in the storm drain, all agree...

it's hot.

Birthday Benches

2010-06-30T05:09:00.000-07:00

I've been in a frenzy of making benches. I came across a nice pattern for traditional five-board benches and immediately made four of them, out of salvaged lumber, one of which I gave to a friend for his garden.

Benches, I discovered made nice gifts, and as my sweetie had a birthday coming up (yesterday) I set about to make a pair of "higher-end" five-board benches with some Arts and Crafts influence.

And they came out pretty nice

I also wanted to decorate them. Using my soldering iron...

I burned this scene of blackbirds on a limb into the first.

Into the second one I routed a traditional Roycroft design, in this case, Dard Hunter's beautiful

geometric roses.

The Dremel Trio (a new purchase) really expedited the process.

Side-by-side the slight variations in construction are apparent.

I colored the roses with watered down acrylic paint,

and followed that with six coats of spar-varnish...

which locked in the color and weatherproofed the benches.

The result was both pretty to look at...

and well received by the birthday girl.

Something I've been working on

2010-06-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

The five-board bench.
Here's a project that I've been wanting to get to, and once I got to it I was surprised at how fast it all went together. This five-board bench design is a classic and was used extensively by both sides during the American Civil War.

Using some 11 1/2 inch pine planks that I recently salvaged from a friend's barn I sawed, shaped, and sanded the five pieces in no time. Glued, clamped, nailed (minimally), stained, this project took just under two hours at a very relaxed ("where'd I leave my diet Pepsi?") pace.

This is the bench with the first coat of stain, as yet not rubbed down with steel wool, which I'll do in a couple of days. I chose to stain this rather than paint it only because the pine is beat-up in a way that gives it quite a bit of character, its also riddled with powder-post beetle holes which would have been filled in with paint. I'll be making more of these, I'm sure. Subsequent numbers will be pegged rather than nailed and painted in a variety of colors, depending on what I have lying around.

Whether used to accommodate behinds, flowerpots, drinks, or even books this handsome little table was a delight to make and a joy to behold. I'll be making a few more of these, I'm sure.

Mannie

Bunting!

2010-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me (well) will tell you that I love bunting. I like it year-round.

As I continue to work on the interior and exterior of my three-season studio (which you can view here) I landed upon the idea of installing permanent bunting to sort of go along with the whole Toy Soldiers Forever! theme of the place. Rather than using fabric, which is so subject to wind, sun, and general wear, I decided to cut and paint tempered hardboard, paint and waterproof the results, and keep it up year-round.

The painting was pretty straightforward and the 3-D look was simple to achieve.

As each eight foot section was completed, I nailed it up into position.

At the center, on a field of what appear to be flags, is a Union shield.

Up and running in time for Memorial Day and the rest of the summer.

Woodchoppers Ball - Dust removal

2010-05-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
Pablo Picasso

(what had been a typical moment in my shop)

"Robust" has never been a word that I'd associate with my particular respiratory system. Ear, nose, and throat was a specialty created with me in mind, I think. So when it comes to working (or playing) in dusty noxious environments I've always been one to use masks and respirators. That kind of protection is a great way to keep my lungs clean and tidy.

Lungs are one thing, but a whole shop is another.

The more I use my shop the more I have saw dust forming drifts in, on, and around the varous machines,
and piling up in the corners. Now that I have a shop that's actually a nice place to spend time in I wanted a way to keep that space as tidy as the aforementioned lungs.

Enter my home-made dust removal system.

I checked out Rockler and Delta and all the other tool houses and saw their fine dust collectors. The common features are a fan motor anywhere between one half and two horse power, a 1 micron filtration bag which separates the dust and sends the filtered air back into the working environment, a collection bag which collects the dust, and a frame, usually on casters, upon which the whole thing is mounted.

I read all of the reviews for the various systems which commented on the health hazards of the dust, the filtration abilities of the various filter bags, the effectiveness of each type of fan motor in moving volumes of air, and the noise generated by the fan motor. Just as there is a wide range of quality in dust collection, there is a wide range in price. I concluded that the system I needed in my shop would probably be too loud to suit me and certainly too expensive for a man of means as modest as mine. But I am a handy guy...

From the online site of Penn State Industries I priced a very affordable, highly rated, and powerful one and a half horsepower fan motor as the heart of my home made system. My idea was to design a system in which the fan motor was actually housed outside of the shop thus eliminating most of the noise as well as the entire need for filtration, and those filtration bags alone represent about a third of the cost of a conventional dust collector. With the fan outside of the garage all I had to do was construct the ductwork and blastgates as well as a small ventilated and wired structure on the exterior back wall for the fan motor, connect all the machinery with hoses to the duct and I'd be all set. And it would be perfect.

And that's just about exactly how it went.

Recently a friend fixed me up with many, many sheets of 3/4 inch plywood that had started out as high-end packing crates for an Army contractor. I wanted to make this project using as much salvaged or on-hand materials as possible. Rather than buying metal ductwork I fabricated a 4" duct out of plywood that runs for about 16 feet along the machinery side of my shop.

Nailed, glued, and clamped it's ready to prime, paint and mount.

Just as this was going on, I heard a rumble coming down my mountain road and looked up to see this welcome sight:

The UPS man with my brand-new fan motor.

Right out of the carton it worked like a charm - a handful of sawdust sucked in and that same handful blown out the other end.

Putting the motor aside I finished and installed the ductwork. The brackets were made with scrap hardwood left behind by the guy I bought the house from.

At the end of the line is a clean-out, and the fancy knob on the lid is simply from an early test of my woodlathe (waste not...)

With other "just lyin' around" wood I fabricated the various blast gates which control the access to the duct (and vacum) for each machine.

Within the duct I built a gate to control the airflow. Here it is in the closed position:

and here, open.

Using a 2" hole saw, I made holes in the duct at each machine position,

overwhich the blast gates were affixed.

Evident here is the sliding gate that permits, or prevents, air flow from the machine to the duct.

Each machine has a dust port that connects, by flexible hose, to the blastgate.

Where's all this leading? you may ask, and I'm glad you did.

With the duct installed a connection had to be made to the fan motor. As the fan motor was to be installed outside of the shop a hole (or two) had to be punched through the concrete-block wall.

Through this 4" round hole a flexible aluminum duct would connect the interior plywood duct directly to the fan motor.

Back inside again, you can see that flexible duct. That little green wooden patch below is where I drilled the hole initially in the totally wrong place.

And that motor needs a dry and electrified place to reside which I began to build after the duct was complete.

That hole in the wall was located in very close proximity to the electrical line that goes out to my studio. I was able to easily tap into that line to provide juice for the fan motor, now seen here...

snug as a bug in its outdoor housing.

The scrap mahogany dogs, plus some weather stripping,

go a long way to keeping critters out.

The louvered vents provide passive airflow to prevent rust and mildew. That little chute on the side is what the sawdust comes blasting out of.

This handy little remote:

controls that yellow power box mounted on the wall. The fan motor is plugged into that box and I can turn it on and off from anywhere within fifty feet.

Tieing the table saw into the system was a real priority as that machine is a major dust producer. this 14 foot flexible 4" hose from Rockler does the job nicely:

That large diameter really pulls the sawdust. And when the blastgate is closed, as below...

there's no vacuum loss to affect the suction at the other machinery positions.

Keeping everything mostly dust-free, tidy,

and a nice place to simply hang out in.

Its all about doing it yourself with stuff that's (mostly) lying around.

And how satisfying that it actually works even better than I thought it would!

Come visit any time.

Mannie

The Spice of Life

2010-04-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

This year's garden emerges as:

Basil!

A good day in the shop

2010-02-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

A Portmanteau in pine poplar and plywood.

Yesterday was not such a good day, but today...

I was up and out in the shop by 8:00 a.m. as I had a project that I wanted to do. For some time I've wanted a shop trolley, a cart, to move production pieces from one machine to another. There's nice carts out there but generally they're made of some sort of petroleum product and cost a lot of money. Also they're just carts. I wanted something with some versatility. So with some poplar and particle board I got busy on what began as a very chilly morning at Victory Wood Working.

This is the frame for the top portion, glued, clamped, and screwed and cut to exactly the space between the arms of my table saw. hmmmm...

The table saw is the most often used machine in my shop, however when cutting really long or wide pieces of dimensional lumber or big panels there's often not enough table surface to support the stock that I'm trying to cut.

The second rule of woodworking is that you can't have too many clamps. This is the top portion of the trolley with the lower surface in place and the supports glued and clamped that will accommodate the flush top panel. I have a plan in my head.

A counter-sink is a handy tool to use with your drill. Drilling and countersinking screwsholes will look much nicer and a drilled and countersunk hole, even so near the end of the work, won't split on you.

As the glued-up top portion dried I built the bottom portion. I mounted the casters into two-by-sixes, both for the bulk of wood to support the caster screws as well as for the added weight at the very bottom of the trolley, which will make it very stable.

Looking very gnome-like, Im connecting the top and bottom portions of the trolley by clamping, glueing, and screwing the legs into place.

And viola! as my beloved French people say. Rolled into place quite snugly between the rip-fence arms of my table saw this trolley surface, perfectly flush, provides a mobile but very stable two-by-two foot extension for my saw. It can be used on either side and also to the rear of the saw to support stock being sawed (sawn?). Note the grasping handles milled into the sides. That top lifts off to reveal...

The parts trolley. A clean spacious, and lipped surface, handy for transporting production pieces to various machine stations throughout the shop.

Another satisfying, safe, fun, and productive day at Victory Wood Working. Have I mentioned how glad I am to have built this wonderful shop?

Making the chips fly,

Mannie

Space Age Living

2010-02-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

Secrets of Single Living - Revealed!

Living alone means you're never in someone else's way.

When is a doorway more than a doorway?

In my study I don't have a desk, but I do have a flat file. Using the table saw I made a nice shelf which fits quite securely atop one of the half-extended flat file drawers. The shelf is slotted underneath to fit the top edges of the drawer runners, nice and snug and secure...

just like me. With the morning sun coming through the window at my back and the library close by I have a nice little nook for writing papers and studying.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to write this history paper using power tools.

Mannie

Return to Varikino

2010-02-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

The second big snowstorm in less than a week has Maryland and the whole mid Atlantic region at a snow-bound standstill. This is the most snow since the Pleistocene in this region.

When I looked out this morning Lara's Theme from Doctor Zhivago immediately started playing in my head. And as I stepped out on to the sun porch I was met with my own version of the snow palace at Verikino.

We had around 28 inches last week and another 18-20 predicted for this, what is currently and officially termed a blizzard, which afflicts us now. As long as the power stays on everything should be okay.

Snow had sifted through the cracks out in my wood shop providing a light dusting of snow to go along with the usual light coating of sawdust.

Back to those wintry scenes from that David Lean epic, like Yuri, I was reluctant to wander too far out into the woods lest I meet up with...

STRELNIKOV!

If this were the road to Yuryatin, by the looks of my truck...

it'll be quite some time before I'm able to visit Lara.

What a snow storm.

What a movie.

The Guns of Monocacy

2010-02-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

Victory Wood Working just milled out a job for the bookstore at Monocacy National Battlefield; a rifle rack for the wooden dummy-rifles that parents do so like to buy.

The design was very simple with just three parts; bottom disc, top disc, and supporting column, all pine or poplar. To keep the rifles from falling out I did some simple engineering and fancy cutting with my scroll saw on that top disc.

The poplar column is screwed to the base, which has had slots routed out of it to accommodate the rifle stocks.

Final assembly and the application of some Danish oil and this product is ready to go to the loading dock.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy this new shop of mine?

Mannie

Library

2010-02-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

My favorite library...

is also my favorite room in my house.

Happy reading!

Mannie

54mm Burnside Bridge

2010-02-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a little project that took about three hours, top to bottom.

Using table saw, scroll saw, band saw, belt sander and spindle sander I milled out the three main parts of the bridge.

With the new wood lathe I turned the bridge abutments.

Glued, clamped and painted, the result is a bridge in search of a creek to span.

3" Parrott gun barrel, in wood

2010-01-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I bought a large-scale Civil War cannon at a junk store. It had some hokiness to it and just last year I rehabed the carriage and the dry-rotted wheel spokes and made some minor modifications. With a fresh coat of paint it looked pretty nice. save for the barrel. Made of machined steel, it was in the profile of a bronze l2 pounder light gun howitzer barrel. I preferred something a little more modern looking. So, my first project on my woodlathe undertook the further transformation of my cannon into a 3 inch Parrott rifle.

Set-up was easy with a 15-inch length of 3x3 poplar.

Sawdust + chips = progress

The finished product in three pieces; barrel and left and right trunnions. The trunnions were aligned to the sides of the barrel and glued and clamped into position.

I drilled out the muzzle with a 5/8" spade-bit and hand filed the distinctive Parrott-style lands and grooves of the rifling.

Primer, painting, sanding, followed by three more coats of black paint produced this

Mounted up on its carraige this iron monster is ready to take to the field.

Next project? I'm thinking a 14-inch Rodman gun.

That's going to take a pretty large piece of wood.

stay tuned!

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

2009-12-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

The Italians have a word...fiasco!

This evening I saw the movie NINE, it was as close to a crucifixion as I ever hope to get.

Daniel Day-Lewis' singing could only have been improved by a reprise of his Christy Brown role. Judy Dench rasping through "Follies Bergeres" chilled me like someone walking over my grave, "My Husband Makes Movies" instead of being evocative was merely a cartoonish retrospective exercise.

Rather than being about love and passion and moviemaking and heartache and the beauty that is women, this was a hideous burlesque of automatons, croaking, and clanking from one over-produced scene to the next

In the sparse audience I only saw three people who were engrossed, one by his blackberry screen, and the two young men in the very end of my row, pleasantly chatting between less-than-furtive hand jobs. At least someone was having a good time, God knows I wasn't.

My first exposure to Nine was the 1982 original cast album,

which I discovered at about the same time a production of Nine was being mounted in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1986 (I think) I was newly single (like now) and was swept away with the beautiful music and equally beautiful women in that local cast. The play in Grand Rapids, the album, and certainly Fellini's "8 1/2" had a great influence on me at that time.

Tonight I went to the latest incarnation hoping to catch some of the magic and romance again. But it was not to be, no sir, not by a longshot.

If you love earlier versions of this transporting show, then please, "per favore" avoid this dreadful barn dance at all costs.

I had to leave early before any more damage could be done.

Somewhere, up there, Raul Julia is laughing his ass off, as Guido, God bless him, and Anita Morris is wiggling hers, as the actually sexy version of Carla

Anita Morris as Carla in the 1982 production

At evening's end it was a squandered opportunity, a misfortune, and a complete waste of nine and a half bucks. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Mannie

The three season studio

2009-09-25T05:04:00.001-07:00

This was my garden shed; an underutilized, ignored, and unloved little building at the back of my yard.

The interior was merely studs, held together by a composition of spiderwebs and stinkbug carcasses. It was dirty, grimy, and generally an unpleasant place to visit

I had always wanted to create an semi-outdoor space which would provide a refuge, a delightful respite from the world, a secret hide-out, and this shed became the likely candidate.

The first step was to sweep it out to see what I was dealing with.

Next came the construction (on the cheap) which included running electricity to the shed, putting in walls, ceiling, wainscoting, framing and installing a third window, shelves, track lighting, and carpet.

The result is very satisfying:

Behold the three-season studio. A place where drawings are made, reading is done, toy soldiers cavort, and the stars appear to shine in; unimpeded by pedestrian considerations like ceilings.

On the counter, Confederates ravage the countryside.

On the walls, Frederick Ray illustrations which I purchased as a nine-year old finally get a frame and their due.

The skull collection sits in repose against a frosted window.

My drawing board and table (made with mahogany scraps left by the guy we bought the house from) wait for an inked pen.

Three windows and track lighting make for a very light, airy, and happy space (not to mention the starlight!).

A very recent addition includes these matched cast-iron cannons, standing sentinel at the door, a gift from the neighbors (another Navy veteran, come to find out).

That chair, never a good fit in the house, seems made to order out here. This is where I do most of my reading for class.

Enjoying my secret hideout, while burning the midnight oil, north of Boonsboro.

Mannie

Like Rip Van Winkle

2009-09-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

[a sculpture I made 20 years ago]

I think I feel like Rip Van Winkle did upon waking from his 40 year slumber in the forest. Like Rip, I feel like I've been gone for awhile, it's a little discombobulating.

Unlike Rip I don't have moss in my hair, birds in my beard, and a moldy hat.

No toadstools growing out of my rifle stock (no rifle for that matter)...

nor vines sprouting around me.

Its good to have patient friends waiting for you when you return from a very long, very fitful sleep.

I think I'd like to stay up for awhile.

Advancing Rebels

2009-09-22T11:38:00.001-07:00