Cat Trees Make Interesting Woodwork Projects

When I spent almost $300 on a cat tree for my pampered felines, I seriously wished I had a woodwork shop so I could have made one of these things myself. That's the problem with apartment living. No diy woodworking is likely to take place.

For those with better facilities, cat trees and cat furniture make excellent woodwork projects.   If you have cats yourself, you will save plenty of money by making your own. Also, you can customize the item so it works with your home and decor.

If you don't have cats, you could easily make some extra cash by making these things for cat owners.  Many cat owners dote on their animals and spare no expense when it comes to buying things for them.  Cat trees are much more than cat playthings, however.  They provide a place for the cat to scratch and sharpen the claws -- therefore saving the furniture from demolition.

I found an excellent Squidoo Lens that provides quite a number of ideas, tips and even diagrams for cat furniture.  It's Make Your Own Cat Trees, Towers and Other Cat Structures.

At the simplest level, cat scratching posts and trees can be made with a minimum of woodworking supplies and tools.

Retiree Produces Remarkable Woodwork Projects

DIY woodworking is a hobby that a person can pursue long past retirement age.

Central Plains News recently published a story about 83 year old Dave Sawatzsly and his remarkable woodwork projects.

Sawatzky's first introduction to woodwork as in school when he studied shop. It grew from there. Today his pieces are works of art. His projects have been displayed locally, and he was lead woodworking workshops in his home.

Sawatzky is known for his beautiful scrolling work with intricate detailing in the cut outs.  The woodworker uses an array of primarily electrical tools and enjoys working with exotic woods including rosewood and purpleheart.

Check the link below for the full article and for a picture of the amazing cabinet he built for his wife. 

http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2732852

This diy woodworking is truly remarkable.

Musical Instruments : Specialized Woodwork Projects

Imagine creatring DIY woodwork projects that bring in $16,000?

That's what woodworker Guy Harrison of Ottawa, Canada charges for a hand made violin. He sells perhaps half a dozen violins, violas and cellos a year.  It goes without saying that these instruments are of the highest quality. Even the wood is hand picked. Harrison visits Germany where he selects the best "tone woods" from specialized dealers. The wood for a violin comes to about $2000.

As you might guess, Harrison didn't pick up this craft by fooling around in his workshop. He studied for three years at the Newark Violin School in London, followed by a three year apprenticeship with a shop in Finland, followed by a stretch working for a shop in Germany. Later, Harrison moved to Canada and launched his own business building and repairing musical instruments.

Jean Larrivée, founder of Jean Larrivée Guitars Ltd. is a similar success story.  In 1967, Larrivee began studying guitar building with classical guitar builder Edgar Monch Sr. of Toronto.  While Larrivee's earlier guitars were based on the classical European guitar models, he later began adding hand designed, decorative inlays to the instruments. The popularity of these inlays grew by leaps and bounds but the cost to purchase a guitar was high.  In 2007, Larrivee began experimenting with laser engraving in order to bring the costs down and make the instruments more affordable for ordinary people. Today, Larrivee's guitars are sought out by musicians and are known for their excellent quality and workmanship. The shop is located in North Vancouver, Canada.

Here is a documentary of Jean Larrivee explaining his guitar building adventures.

Creating musical instruments are examples of highly specialized and highly skilled woodwork projects.

Hickory Suited for Certain Woodwork Projects

You may be familiar with hickory as a food additive or as a fuel for a barbecue. We all enjoy steak or ribs barbecued with a good hickory sauce. Not only that, since hickory tends to burn very slowly, barbecue chefs favor it for the slow smoking of meat.  However, hickory has uses beyond smoking meat and barbecuing.  It lends itself well to any number of woodwork projects.

Woodworkers find that hickory is ideal for some patterns for wood. It is not recommended for beginners, however. Hickory wood is derived from approximately seventeen to nineteen tree species.  Each species is somewhat different from the next in terms of how it performs in a woodwork shop.  There is no good way to tell which species you are using, so experience and skill play a big role in the final outcome.

Hickory is not an easy wood to work with. It is extremely hard and requires a very sharp cutting blade. A high speed cutting tool with a heat reflective coating is the best choice.

Hickory is fine for woodwork projects such as wood flooring and tool handles or for any item where an extremely hard wood is desired. Moreover, because hickory is a food safe wood, you can use it for tools used in food preparation. Think hickory if you're planning to make cutting boards, wooden spoons, ladles or bowls.

In appearance, hickory resembles hard maple, but oiling brings out the grain so you readily tell that it is a different wood.

CNC Lathes Require Safety Measures

CNC lathes are a great boon to any woodwork hobbyist or professional.  These machines not only save you time, but allow you to create intricate designs that might be difficult to achieve otherwise. As is the case with any DIY woodworking tool, safety is paramount.

In case you are new to woodwork, a wood lathe is a tool that smoothes and shapes wood. When you use a lathe, you insert your wood into a holder which holds the wood in place as the blade spins. CNC lathes are computer operated rather than manually operated. You use special software programs to perform precise cutting and create intricate designs.

Keep in mind that the blades move in a CNC lathe. Therefore, you must follow basic safety principles. Always wear goggles to protect your eyes and ear plugs to protect your eardrums. Do not wear clothing or jewelry that dangles and could get caught in moving parts.

When you are using a software program that you are unfamiliar with, you might want to have a practice run first before cutting the wood or other material. Watch and see where the head moves.

And of course, always follow any safety instructions provided by the manufacturer.

Using a CNC Lathe in Woodwork Projects

Today's woodworking hobbyist may consider obtaining a CNC router or lathe to accomplish various woodwork projects.

CNC woodworking is a computer controlled process used for making specific items such as cabinets, doors and others.   CNC woodwork equipment has long been the domain of manufacturers and factories producing commercial products. However, smaller models are available now for the home woodwork shop.

CNC routers and wood lathes are used for cutting intricate designs.  A CNC wood lathe lets you create items such as stair rails, and table legs, or you can use it to cut lumber into plywood or for materials to be used in veneers.To use this tool,  the woodworker programs the software to perform a certain number of turns.  You can use these lathes on any kind of timber imaginable, as well as on metallic materials including brass and aluminum.

Hobbyists can locate these woodworking tools in different sizes.  For the hobbyist with a small space or limited interest, portable models can be mounted on a bench or tabletop.

Decide which size of CNC lathe is best for you based on the amount of woodwork projects you will be doing and the types and sizes of timber pieces you will be using.

Here is an interesting video demonstrating how to make a baseball bat using a CNC woodwork lathe.

What a cool idea for woodwork projects.

Chicken Coops Make Good Woodwork Projects

Seems to me that diy woodworking may well include an interest in making chicken coops as woodwork project.

My city, like many others, has given the green light to people wanting to raise chickens in their backyards.

I will not be among them. I was raised on a farm and I know a bit about chickens.  They're noisy, they smell bad, nobody ever called them intelligent creatures and they're neurotic as all get out.  I'll be buying my eggs at the store, along with my chicken breasts and chicken parts.

That being said, a lot of people have a better attitude towards chickens than I do, and they'll be excited at the possibility of becoming the proud owners of a few cacklers.  

The thing to remember is that if chickens are not penned up, they will fly into high trees and the neighbor's yard, and the street traffic -- not to mention they will leave their droppings everywhere.

This means that chicken coops are going to be worth their weight in gold.  I don't think they're readily available yet.  I haven't seen any in Walmart, in any case. Therefore, the diy woodworker living in a "chicken friendly city" can look forward to being asked to create chicken coops for other people. 

You might as well start looking into patterns for wood and woodworking supplies for these projects.   There are plans for chicken coops available on the Net if you need one.

Civil War Woodworking -- New Book for Woodworkers

A newly published book may be of interest to those who are into DIY Woodworking.

Written by A.J. Hamler, a recognized expert in the field of woodworking, the book describes how to build seventeen reproductions of Civil War objects.  The book's title is Civil War Woodworking.

Anyone curious about Civil War Woodworking may want to view this video showing how to make a Civil War Candle Lantern.

Always remember safety first when you are working on any diy woodworking projects.