Finished trimming those cutoffs, tentatively arranged into 9 small cheese boards.
What did you do in your shop today?
- Thread starter woodtickgreg
- Start date
Those will look great.
Finished up a butcher block top for the rack we have in the kitchen, 32" x 19" 1-1/2".
First casting done. Learned a lot, such as ensure you have enough casting fluid to fill the mold. 
Then I discovered the used toaster oven I have for stabilizing doesn’t go low enough to bake the casting. So, I babysat that to not overheat it. But, all in all, I have a block of worthless wood cast in alumilite. Wood I used was box elder that had some burl. Just cut some edges. Even though I didn’t have enough fluid to fill the mold, I still made a block enough for 6 pen blanks or 2 bottle stopper and 2 pen blanks or.....
Then I discovered the used toaster oven I have for stabilizing doesn’t go low enough to bake the casting. So, I babysat that to not overheat it. But, all in all, I have a block of worthless wood cast in alumilite. Wood I used was box elder that had some burl. Just cut some edges. Even though I didn’t have enough fluid to fill the mold, I still made a block enough for 6 pen blanks or 2 bottle stopper and 2 pen blanks or.....
Here's one of the cheese boards finished. I haven't cut the whey groove in it yet . . .
Ken, what is a whey groove? Tony
A facetious reference to the 'blood' (juice) groove that some people put in their cutting boards.
Since these are for cutting cheese the closest equivalent I could think of was whey.
Just a poor attempt at humor, my apologies.
Since these are for cutting cheese the closest equivalent I could think of was whey.
Just a poor attempt at humor, my apologies.
That is funny, I'm just slow....
So, besides breaking out my first casting and cutting off the part that that didn’t get covered, I finished up 3 bowls. Trying to get some muscle memory going and not think about work. Latter was okay, not sure of that muscle stuff. One each of maple, aspen and curly BLM. Will post a question in the turners finished forum concerning the BLM.
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First casting done. Learned a lot, such as ensure you have enough casting fluid to fill the mold.
What kind of resin are you using that requires baking Garry?
Pillsbury resins of course
Alumilite Water Clear.
Why would you bake Alumilite? It generates heat in the curing process?? In small pours, that's like little itty bitty pours, jewelry sized stuff, the directions state it may not generate enough heat to cure properly, and you should preheat your resins, but something of that size, shouldn't be a problem. That one should have been in a pressure pot while curing. Is your shop not heated???
That is what I initially thought Rocky when I first started thinking about casting. But then silly me, I read the directions. One thing I did not do was "preheat the molds"..... And then, no, my garage is not heated and was concerned. I have a small leak in my pot system so I knew I needed to keep the air compressor plugged in. Easy fix, I just need to replace the ball valve with a decent valve. Will not worry about the baking on the next batch, but since the garage is cooler, I will try to preheat the molds a little. I knew there would be some good suggestions from this......... thanks.
You can preheat your resin to Garry but it's going to accelerate cure time some. How much is dependent upon how hot you get it. Use a pan of hot water, set your resin in it before mixing the 2 parts and stir a little to distribute the heat evenly throughout. Dry the outside of your cups before mixing to make sure no water gets in your resin.
As for unheated shop, you could try heat lamps. The fumes in your toaster oven while the stuff cures could constitute a bomb waiting to go off, under the right conditions however .
As for unheated shop, you could try heat lamps. The fumes in your toaster oven while the stuff cures could constitute a bomb waiting to go off, under the right conditions however .
Dashed over after work to see how the blades looked after glue up. Birdseye eucalyptus and curly mango. Both have monkey pod stripes. Haven't been able to find a supplier for coffee wood on the big island yet.
Nice.....real nice.
Been rearranging my shop. This is my dust collecting collection:) Post pics of rest as I get it clean.
I worked on making a segmented pen blank for the pen swap. Been working on it all week. On try #5 I think I got one completed.
Not my shop, but assisted our turning club with a class today. I am really enjoying these classes as I am learning a lot myself. Guy in the center in the last picture is the “official “ instructor.
