Draw Knives and Helping Hands

The first few logs I milled last fall I left the bark on rather then square up the log prior to cutting boards. This resulted in some wavy boards and other questionable lumber on the first log, the second went a little better. I’m glad I did this on a few logs, live edge lumber and epoxy river tables are all the rage right now. Jared kept teasing me when I started playing with epoxy that pretty soon I’d be making river tables…I blew him off. Until I started watching YouTube, then I knew I had to try it.

Just for him, I’ll attempt to make a table for his office from some of the first logs he brought me home to mill into lumber. Have I mentioned how pretty the grain is on these burr oak planks?

The kids don’t like hanging out in the shop when it’s noisy, so for most of the time I was running these boards through the planer I had the place to myself. Once it quieted down, the neighbors had to go home, boredom set in, and before I knew it, I had a whole shop full of curios kids looking for something to do.

The twins wanted to do resin stuff, but we’re out of gloves at the moment. After poking around a bit they came across some sea shells I had vague plans for. Mary and Cora felt they were too bland and happily dyed them…and my workbench in vibrant colors.

Kaylee and Wes were more intrigued by the bark removal process I had used on my lumber. Since I was just about done sanding the edges of my boards after removing the bark I brought down a couple of boards for them to work on.

I’ve been wanting a draw knife for a while, they seemed handy for things like rough shaping wood, bark removal etc. This spring a friend was able to hook me up with a couple to try out. I finally had an occasion to use them.

I’m glad the ones I ended up with have adjustable handles. With the board clamped in the vice, occasionally the bench was in the way and being able to rotate the handle out of the way was very convenient. Overall I’m really happy with how easily the bark came off with the right tool!

The next challenge is getting all the edges I’m gluing together jointed to fit better. Then on to the scary part…building the mold and pouring in the epoxy :0)

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