Wood crafts anyone?

[68383GTS]

Ok I am losing my job in Oct.I have thought about buying some wood tools such as a band saw,table saw,router,scroll saw,radial arm saw etc.And making and selling different wood crafts.Right now I do not have the money to spend but maybe I can start watching craigslist for some tools and start out small.I am going to have alot of time on my hands and do have the garage space.
I did work in a wood shop for 2 1/2 years and do have some art skills.So do any of you make wood crafts?If so do you sell them?And what are some of the things you make?

Thanks,Jim

 

[68383GTS]

My Mother gave me this last Christmas and I know I could make this,and other dogs and cats...

 

[DaveBonds]

I want to try my hand at some bent wood furniture.

I want to start doing some vacuum bagging and get some nice veneers for making plywood furniture.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=...ood+furniture&safe=off&tbm=isch&um=1&imgdii=_

My friend Milton, used to go by "Skinny", big dude, used to make skateboard decks. Way less likeliness of warping out of the mold with vacuum bagging 3 deck sets of seven plies per deck, than pressure concave molds on a ten ton hydraulic press.

It also means you only need a positive side of the mold for the plywood to lay over, slap the whole thing in the vacuum bag with the veneers and wet glue between them. Saves a lot of space and the need for heavy equipment. Just your own vacuum bag setup that you can make easy from common hardware stuff and the bag material, purchased online.

His skateboards were insanely strong and hold up under his ***. His recipe; good kiln dried great lakes maple veneers and tite-bond with a roller to apply it. You'd be surprised at how much abuse it can take and hold shape.

Also, vacuum bagging doesn't scratch or mar the wood, so you can place design work on the wood veneers before bending, with a vacuum bag. Pretty awesome for doing deck graphics. I used to do a lot of screen print prepped illustrations for his decks.

 

[DaveBonds]

Core structure of this coffee table can be just about any kind of plywood.

Looks like one mold was made for each 1/3 section of the Y. You could even do that mold out of another piece of wood and clamp it. Wouldn't require vacuum bagging, because it's not a compound curve.

The zebra wood outer veneer was joined after the main structure and cut with a razor at the center, then filled. The sides are cut from one piece of veneer, hollowed, but you could piece smaller veneers.

This coffee table sells for $1,295.00, just to give you an idea of what this kind of work brings.

I will be spending some time next year doing this.

Another project that I'm helping my friend with is making a cutaway 4spd aluminum transmission coffee table with a small electric motor to run a rubber contact wheel on the clutch disc, with LED lights that illuminate the gears, from drilled spots on the inside of the case.

I did all of the cutaway work, so you can see the gears moving. The shifter has a custom stainless handle and lexan bubble round top, and S bend snakes around the boomerang tempered glass, with martian landing gear legs that use the transmission as a base for the table, with four short arms that support the glass top.

So, when guests sit next to the table, I guess is more of an end table, they can play with the shifter and watch it go through the gear selections. I'm trying to decide if I want to make it run something slowly, like a moving lamp shade or something, with some brass links, maybe.

I'll get pics when it's done.

 

[moparmat2000]

i love the look of wood work projects. i appreciate it because i just cant work wood like some people can. it is an artform and thats what i love about it.

my medium of choice is metal. either welding it at home on my cars, or fabricating and riveting it when im at work on the aircraft i help maintain for a living.

BTW the formica top that the wooden dog plaque is sitting on reminds me of my grandma's kitchen table years ago. she had passed away back in the early 1980s. the old green boomerang print chrome legged table. i remember going there on sundays after church. she used to make the best homemade spaghetti sauce. aaaah the memories.

thanks for sharing.
matt

 

[Burntorange70]

Not a wood worker but I do make arrowheads and knifes out of stone and glass. I use either wood or antler for the handles and have hafted a few points on to shafts to make arrows.

 

[grassy]

...I make furniture and some wood "art" but I don't like selling it...it takes the joy out of it...

If you can, I would look for older equipment because it is better quality...my band saw must be 50 years old..

Good luck.....I went back to school in September hoping t find some sort of skills that will make me employable ..

Good luck..

 

[clhyer]

Several years ago I had an internet woodworking business. I had made some goals for the business and met them, so I was pleased with my results. I basically had three "lines". I had a set of yard & garden small stuff - birdhouses, bird feeders, squirrel feeders and the like; a second line was outdoor furniture that I teamed up with a local Mennonite woodworker with. He made the parts, and we sold them as kits with printed directions and a video tape (New Yankee Workshop style) showing how to assemble. The third line was custom projects, anything from fences & gates to porch swings, gliders, tables.
That was a part time thing, I had a job. I got so busy that I wasn't spending any time with my family unless they were helping me in the shop. So, after meeting the goals I established I pulled the plug. That was when my son & I started our first resto. Oh yes, my last "project" with the woodworking was our two car detached garage - set up for woodworking, but used for 10 years to restore our two cars.

That was the early days of the internet. I didn't have a lot of competition. I am sure it would be a little more difficult today. You just have to find your niche and run with it.
C

 

[blue missile]

I also build furniture, the pieces I restore for others I get payed for, but I build new pieces for us here at the house.
The bar is a resto mod of a curly cherry 1800s overmantle. the rest are as the wood spoke to me.
Andrew

 

[66MOPAR77]

I want to try my hand at some bent wood furniture.

I want to start doing some vacuum bagging and get some nice veneers for making plywood furniture.

https://www.google.com/search?safe=...ood+furniture&safe=off&tbm=isch&um=1&imgdii=_

My friend Milton, used to go by "Skinny", big dude, used to make skateboard decks. Way less likeliness of warping out of the mold with vacuum bagging 3 deck sets of seven plies per deck, than pressure concave molds on a ten ton hydraulic press.

It also means you only need a positive side of the mold for the plywood to lay over, slap the whole thing in the vacuum bag with the veneers and wet glue between them. Saves a lot of space and the need for heavy equipment. Just your own vacuum bag setup that you can make easy from common hardware stuff and the bag material, purchased online.

His skateboards were insanely strong and hold up under his ***. His recipe; good kiln dried great lakes maple veneers and tite-bond with a roller to apply it. You'd be surprised at how much abuse it can take and hold shape.

Also, vacuum bagging doesn't scratch or mar the wood, so you can place design work on the wood veneers before bending, with a vacuum bag. Pretty awesome for doing deck graphics. I used to do a lot of screen print prepped illustrations for his decks.

I have some plans on how to make a steamer to make bent wood, simple to do and cheap made from PVC pipe

 

[moparmat2000]

I also build furniture, the pieces I restore for others I get payed for, but I build new pieces for us here at the house.
The bar is a resto mod of a curly cherry 1800s overmantle. the rest are as the wood spoke to me.
Andrew

Wow now thats good lookin stuff. I love inlaid wood. The different colors and wood mosiacs are cool.

I went to visit the Strasburg railway myseum in pennsylvania back when i was a teenager. They had a special passenger coach that a railroad owner would use. Sometimes these would be coupled to the rear of a train. Very opulent private coach, with inlaid wood trim, and wood carvings, silk curtains. This was the railroad owners private car. Like rich people today would use a private jet. It even had a brass gage panel inset into one wall with a clock, barometer, thermometer, and a speedometer. This thing had a bedroom, full bath, and its own private kitchen and servants quarters. It also had an open balcony on the back of it.

The thing that struck me as cool was all the inlaid woid, and the attention to detail.

Matt

 

[blue missile]

Matt, Thanks for the kudos,
just so you know, rather than using veneers, the tables are made out of either 3/4" or 1/2" solid wood pieces. After they are all glued up I put them through a large auto feed belt sander to flatten the top.
Andrew