New member

[Wood Butcher]

Greetings from Upstate New York (Elmira area). Cold and snowy up here, but really looking forward to Spring!

Like many in this forum, I have dabbled in a lot of areas. Woodworking, metalworking (turning and milling), casting (aluminum and brass), welding and fabrication, and bike building (recumbent bicycles), just to name a few. I like the challenge of building tools rather than buying them (I built a Gingery lathe and shaper). There is always something to learn--I've seen a lot of good information and very creative ideas exchanged here as a lurker, so I thought it was time I poked my head above ground.

I'm somewhat limited in equipment right now as some relocations over the past few years have forced me to downsize. It's tough selling off tools (and toys) that you have built, but it can become a necessity if you don't have the room for them or the time to use them where you are going. I'm in a place now where I can begin rebuilding, so the idea of homemade tools has a lot of appeal.

[Jon]

Welcome to HomemadeTools.net Wood Butcher

Cold and snowy here in Colorado too, but spring is now just 3 weeks and 1 day away

Sounds like you have a wide skill set. If you've got some pics of that Gingery build, please post 'em. I'm sure people would like to take a look.

[kbalch]

Hi Wood Butcher,

Welcome!

I know exactly what you're saying about how tough it can be to sell tools & toys that one has built. I sold a homebuilt airplane years ago and still miss it every day.

What are you thinking of building next?

When you're ready to share some of your own homemade tools, we'd love to see them. Please post them directly in the Homemade Tools subforum. We'll add each one to the database, as well as to your builder page on the site.

Non-tool items should be shared in the Not a Tool, but Homemade subforum.

Ken

[Wood Butcher]

Sounds like you have a wide skill set. If you've got some pics of that Gingery build, please post 'em. I'm sure people would like to take a look.

Thanks for the welcome, Jon.

I've got a few pictures of the shaper, the foundry furnace, some accessories built for a 7x10 minilathe, but none of the Gingery lathe itself. Stay tuned...I'll have to dig them up or find them on my old computer.

[Wood Butcher]

I know exactly what you're saying about how tough it can be to sell tools & toys that one has built. I sold a homebuilt airplane years ago and still miss it every day.

What are you thinking of building next?

Thanks for the welcome, Ken. I haven't built anything on the complexity level of an airplane, but have always wanted to. It must have been tough to sell that one.

Woodworking is next on the list. When the weather cooperates (my build space is currently outdoors), I'm completing some Shaker-inspired wall clocks that will be given away as raffle prizes at local road races (5K and 10K races for charities). Part of the fun is building them from reclaimed wood products (MDF and/or particleboard) and not having anyone be able to tell they were made from such lowly salvaged material.

I've also been sneaking in some pattern work for a die filer. I adapted the design of one from a very old Popular Mechanics DIY Encyclopedia article (pic below) to use aluminum castings for the frame and the table. It might be some time before I get a foundry set up again, but at least I'll have a project or two ready for it.

[kbalch]

Thanks for the welcome, Ken. I haven't built anything on the complexity level of an airplane, but have always wanted to. It must have been tough to sell that one.

It definitely was. The obligatory photo of my baby:



Your wall clocks sound neat; I'd love to some photos. Anything you could share on casting aluminum would be good to see, too.

Ken

[Wood Butcher]

It definitely was. The obligatory photo of my baby:



Your wall clocks sound neat; I'd love to some photos. Anything you could share on casting aluminum would be good to see, too.

Ken

Nice pic, Ken. She's a beauty!

Here's the prototype clock that I built last year. It's hanging in my living room. I used pallet lumber and aged it with a two-step process that I found online. The wood was painted with strong black tea to infuse tannic acid into the wood, then painted again with a vinegar/steel wool cocktail (iron acetate?) to give an aged appearance.



The movement, face and hardware were the only purchased items. I built it without any drawn plans, working to dimensions that looked right. For the ones I'm in the process of completing, I measured everything so I can duplicate the prototype. The finish on these ones will be milk paint.

[DIYer]

Hi Wood Butcher, interesting skill set you've got there. Welcome to the forums!