It’s been 131 days since I looked at you, threw my hands in the air and wrote a blog post… (Yes…) but let’s not dwell on my inability to keep you up to date (bore you to tears) and write…
A lots happened, but the reason we’re here today is to celebrate this little challenge I found! It’s called the “Lunch Time Scrap” challenge, it’s for beginner wood-working enthusiasts… Basically you do what it says, Take a lunch break, use something from your scrap pile and make something functional.
I had a 15cm piece of 19mm (19’ish!) dowel that my friend Kate forgot to take back to kinder! I had a thin stick of maybe oak that I cut off a board about three years ago… it’s been sitting in my pile “just incase” - IYKYK. Annnd I had a small bit of older oak from a cupboard that my neighbour had in HIS “maybe i’ll use this one day!” pile, he messaged me about a year ago, maybe more, and said “Hey, you want to make something from this lot” …of course I did! (And it’s sat there ever since) ..anyway, this was a small off-cut from one of those boards.
Also, protective footwear…
So, I sat them on the desk and thought “Yeah, something to rest my little iPad on?”
Gear Used: (These are Amazon links - If you click them, your children will behave for two weeks!)
7” Ryoba Japanese Pull Saw - Seriously, if you don’t have one, get one.
A Builders Square - Quick and handy for getting stuff square.
A Forstner Drill Bit (And my drill/driver)
Titebond II - Just a splash
That was about it! I mostly hand-sanded the little contraption, and then finished it with my favourite, Collombatti Naturals Raw Linseed Oil with Bee’s Wax… (And a square of ripped up tee-shirt)
Get some, just to hold and sniff if that’s your thing… (click)
Anyways, Yes… Wood and Glue, no screws in this one, so most of the lunch break was the glue setting up, usually takes about half hour, so what I did was cut everything to size, give it a good hard, quick, sand and then glued it together - I didn’t clamp it, I let gravity help…then five minutes before the end of lunch (which when you work for yourself is a bit flexible) I put some Linseed oil on and left it alone to get dry - oil and glue.
My iPad is old, it’s handy for recipes and eBooks… That’s what this stand is for!
Main issue I had was that I only had a 20mm drill bit, the dowel was 19mm, so I just decided that I’d roll with it! Keep the sawdust from cutting the dowel and some of the sanding dust, mix it into the glue to form a bit of a filler slash paste slash glue and it turned it ALMOST fine… one leg was about half a mill offset to the other, so I had to sand a slight angle of the tip of one for it all to be steady and sit flat..
With a little more time, I reckon the sanding and finishing could be perfect, but it isn’t, it’s for me..
Anyways, Fun Challenge, beats scrolling Youtube while finishing off a sandwich I’d mostly dropped in my keyboard.