Lizzie Hearts costume

Coin Ring

It starts out with a coin with a decorative edge or date. Here, we used a 1990 US dime. 

With a hole punch and press, the centre is punched out.

With a PVC pipe, large steel ball bearing and a press, we force the coin to bend the ‘walls’ up.

The annealing process. Heat with torch. Then rapid cooling in water.

Now with a good start. Time for the elbow work. Hammering the coin to ring shape.

A little more hammering and a little more sizing. Slowly getting it to the perfect size.

Sanding off the burrs off the edges.

The polish. Inside and Out

Beanie Boo oven

Persephanie wanted to make an oven. For her Beanie Boos. Ok.

Wooden Workbench - 5 (Completed)

FINISHED. 

A compartment below to hold all the dogs and wedges.

Wooden Workbench - 4

For holding the wood that I’ll be working on, I’ll need to make dog benches. Was going to buy them, but they’re expensive. I don’t see why you’d need to spend $20+ on a stick.

I never understood why bench dogs that you buy all have a friction fit mechanical device. My solution is not drill the holes through. Just enough depth. The dogs can bottom out on them. It won’t affect the performance.

Cutting up 3/4” dowel to length

For the top of the dogs, I’m using some really hardwood leftover from another project. I’m just going to make 5 dogs. I don’t think I’ll need more than that.

And with what I left over, I made a couple of wedges.

Testing out the wedges. Dogs done!

Wooden Workbench - 3

Simple construction for the legs. Here, on the underside, you can see the handholds.

Persephanie jumped on and wanted to test drive the new table. Started to do her math homework right on a piece of 2x4. Guess I could use a break anyways.

I’m really just designing this bench on the fly. No real plans. Here, I decided to add a small compartment underneath the table top. A place to hold all the bench dogs and clamps. Or any tools that the current project requires. Making sure things are square now.

This is my sad workspace. 2 feet by 4 feet! I’m in a constant fear of hitting my car. Or dropping something on it. Makes me really aware of my surroundings. Which is a good thing.

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this project. A real tail vice would set me back $70 for the cheapest one. But, I still wanted a vice to hold wood. I was trying to come up with a  really cheap and effective solution. Then came across these bar clamps that were on sale! But, these were better than bar clamps. Instead of pipes, you use 2x4s! Which is perfect for this 2x4 project! When I’m not using the wood bench, I can pull these puppies off and use them as clamps elsewhere! Double the usage!

With a pair installed at the end of the bench, All i need is a cross member to complete the tail vice. A chunk of 2x4 with a little cutout to slip over the vice.

Next up... the accessories! The bench dogs.