Category: Woodworking
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Turning a Carving Mallet
Read more…: Turning a Carving MalletI want to share my process more here on the blog, so here is how I made a carving mallet on Sunday. I made this mallet so that I can use it to strike gouges for bowl carving, which I want to experiment with. This style of mallet is easier to use for striking gouges…
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Wooden Dreidels
Read more…: Wooden DreidelsOh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I turned it on a lathe Not quite how the original goes, but more fitting for a woodworker. I turned three dreidels on the lathe over the past week for Hanukkah gifts. It was nice to get back out in the shop and make a couple things after a long hiatus.…
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A friend asked: I was wondering what your …
Read more…: A friend asked: I was wondering what your …A friend asked: I was wondering what your go-to recommendation for a book for a beginning spoon carver would be? Also what beginner level knife set (if any) is the most preferable? My answer: For beginner knives: You need a Sloyd knife and a hook. I recommend a Mora 106 for the sloyd and probably…
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Building a swing set with A-frame brackets
Read more…: Building a swing set with A-frame bracketsThis is part one. Part two is adding a climbing wall: https://cagrimmett.com/2024/03/07/adding-a-climbing-wall-to-an-a-frame-swing-set/ Part three is adding a slide platform: https://cagrimmett.com/2025/05/03/adding-a-slide-platform-to-an-a-frame-swing-set/ We just built my son a swing set using Eastern Jungle Gym’s A-frame brackets. When I started out, I couldn’t find a guide that laid out everything I needed to buy, how to put it…
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Dry vase
Read more…: Dry vaseI got back out in the shop today for the first time in a while. I decided to split a piece of cherry I’d been saving and turn it. With the first piece, I had intended to make another French rolling pin, but a few unfortunately placed cracks foiled that plan. Only the middle section…
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Finished the Skin-on-frame Adirondack Guideboat
Read more…: Finished the Skin-on-frame Adirondack GuideboatI’m thrilled with how it turned out. Detailed build post coming soon. Until then, I’ll be out rowing on the Hudson.
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Spoon Carving
Read more…: Spoon CarvingSome spoons, scoops, and spatulas I’ve carved in the past two years: My Process Roughing: I tend to cut out most of my blanks on the bandsaw, though sometimes I axe out my blanks. Occasionally I’ll use a drawknife on my shavehorse. Shaping: I shape with both a Foredom rotary tool and a standard Mora…
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Making kitchen tools from a log
Read more…: Making kitchen tools from a logA friend gave me some nice cherry logs that I sealed the ends of and let dry for the past year. I haven’t done much of my own milling, but I decided to get one of the logs out and see how much I could make out of it. What I ended up getting out…
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Bread Lames
Read more…: Bread LamesLike a lot of folks, I’ve been baking sourdough bread this year, and I wanted a bread lame to score the top. While making a few other projects, namely spoons, I split two small pieces of cherry with a natural curve that I thought would be perfect for a bread lame, so I got to…
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Turning Candlesticks on the Lathe
Read more…: Turning Candlesticks on the LatheBack in September I made a serious effort to learn how to turn wood on the lathe. I turned a few tenons on the stool legs earlier this year, but that is it. I was on the hunt for a good beginner project and Amanda asked for some candlesticks, so I got to work. As…
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Turning Christmas Ornaments
Read more…: Turning Christmas OrnamentsWe decided to change up our Christmas decor this year and go with an all natural aesthetic. Dried orange and cranberry garland, a basket instead of the tree stand, and wooden ornaments. I’ve been learning how to do lathe work this year, so after Thanksgiving I started turning ornaments. I’m still pretty new to turning…
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Wooden Joiner’s Mallets
Read more…: Wooden Joiner’s MalletsI made three wooden joiners mallets this year, following the Paul Sellers videos (1, 2, 3). The first has a head of laminated Beech and an Ash handle. Mostly because that is what I had around! There are no nails or screws in these, just wooden joinery. The handle and mortise in the head are…
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Malloreddus Boards
Read more…: Malloreddus BoardsAmanda was watching a video about different types of handmade pasta (we had a lot of time on our hands during the pandemic and finally got some flour!) and asked if I might be able to make a malloreddus board. I decided to give it a try! I started with sawing and planing down a…
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Coffee Filter Holder
Read more…: Coffee Filter HolderAmanda and I wanted to hang our coffee filters in a little nook above our coffee grinder, and I happened to have a lot of free time on my hands back in April, so I decided to make one. This one by Yoshitaka NakayaArchived Link that inspired me: I didn’t really have much of a…
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Cape Falcon F1 Kayak Builds
Read more…: Cape Falcon F1 Kayak BuildsOver the winter of 2018/2019 and summer of 2019 I built two Cape Falcon F1 skin-on-frame style kayaks. I want to be better about documing my projects here, so I’m taking a few posts to document the backlog. The primary benefit of a skin-on-frame style kayak is how light it is. They end up being…
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Maintenance on a Shopsmith Mark V
Read more…: Maintenance on a Shopsmith Mark VFixing a stuck floating motor sheave and cleaning out years of grime on a Shopsmith Mark V.