Thread: It's that time of year again..... Home made gift season

Tweet

Yep, it's that time of year again. Has anyone else been working on home made gifts for family members and friends? My wife has been hard at it for a month or so. She has been making string art projects for kids and family members. You use wood, lay on a picture, hammer some nails in it, and then criss cross string around to make the picture. I'm not sure if I have the patience for that. Haha We're turning an old TV entertainment center into a kitchen play set for our daughter. I built our sons a wooden work bench with a peg board back on it. I'm searching for a toy vice to bolt to it now. The last big project is we are building my parents a bed frame from materials from a barn my brother and I tore down a few weeks ago. I'll take some pictures and post them after the weekend. Allyson, my wife, also re-purposed an old turn table end type table to give to her neice. Enough about my mess, who else is in the gift building game right now?

Pretty low key here. I'm doing a few wine bottle wind chimes that we give to friends in the area, but nothing big or complex this year. Cut the bottom out of a bottle, turn a piece to ride inside the neck of the bottle to make it hang straight, cut out a walnut disk "clapper" and a piece of old, old walnut stock that's been gathering dust for the "paddle". A couple of ball type lanyard knots and a brass 'S' hanger in some parachute cord and it's done.

20150726_205621 (576x1024).jpg

You left out one key element - emptying that bottle!

Originally Posted by 34_40

You left out one key element - emptying that bottle!

I should have made the offer..Arr,,no,,wouldn't work..The bottle would have got broken before it got to Kansas..

Originally Posted by 34_40

You left out one key element - emptying that bottle!

Yeah, the problem is that if emptying the bottle immediately precedes the build process the rate of breaking bottles while trying to cut the bottoms off cleanly increases dramatically.

Wood is probably the medium I least like working with but this year I decided I make some boxes for some of the family.



Two of the boxes are fitted pistol boxes (one for my sister and one for my son in law).




The other two are for my daughter and my niece, they're just simple lock boxes, although I fitted both with false bottoms.



When I got those four done, I figured I pretty much had Christmas covered…..then I realized I had forgotten my nieces’ husband who will also be here Christmas. Probably wouldn’t be too cool if all the adults coming here got a nice handmade box and he ended up with a pair of socks. Anyway I picked him up a nice Buck Knife which was pretty much just a reason to build a small fitted box for him.






Anyway, I still don’t care for working with wood, but I’m pretty happy the way things turned out.



.

Nice wood work. I just love wooden and tin boxes.

I've been doing scrap art, but not as gifts; i auction one off every Saturday at the VFW, to raise money for the auxillary.

Originally Posted by rspears

Yeah, the problem is that if emptying the bottle immediately precedes the build process the rate of breaking bottles while trying to cut the bottoms off cleanly increases dramatically.

A wee trick for cutting the bottoms off bottles cleanly: an inch of oil in the bottom of the bottle, heat a steel rebar, dip it into the oil, repeat until the oil gets hot. Eventually it will break cleanly at the top level of the oil.

Perfect for making glass fuel bowls for obsolete machinery.

(How did I learn this trick? Don't ask! )

Originally Posted by johnboy

A wee trick for cutting the bottoms off bottles cleanly: an inch of oil in the bottom of the bottle, heat a steel rebar, dip it into the oil, repeat until the oil gets hot. Eventually it will break cleanly at the top level of the oil. Perfect for making glass fuel bowls for obsolete machinery. (How did I learn this trick? Don't ask! )

An interesting approach, but a wine bottle has a sharply indented bottom (the Punt) that raises 1.5" to 2" at the peak, and the desired cut line is as close to the bottom as is possible. I've developed a good working technique, but enjoying a full bottle of wine before attempting a cut is a recipe for a broken bottle.... I would expect that the repeated heating of a piece of rebar and attempting to feed it down through the neck of a bottle into a pool of oil would also be a bit dicey in that condition, too, even if the punt were not an issue.

Sounds like a possible experiment for a flat bottomed jar or bottle, done where spilling a half cup of hot oil is not a problem....

I have tried cutting bottles, no bueno. What's your technique?

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

I have tried cutting bottles, no bueno. What's your technique?

I use a good glass cutter, held firm on a solid spacer on the bench, and rotate the bottle against the cutter to score a stress concentration/cut line all the way around - important that you do not go over the line more than the initial score. Holding the bottle over the sink, bottom just above the drain I slowly pour boiling water on the stress line, rotating the bottle, one of two times around, then turn on a small stream of cold water and follow the line again. Repeat, and it will suddenly pop off into the sink. I sometimes start by pouring about 1/2" of hot water into the bottle, swishing it around gently, and then pour it out before the cold water part. Generally a 90+ success rate.

So a light score (deeper isn't better) then temperature inversions. Cool, I need to try it

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

So a light score (deeper isn't better) then temperature inversions. Cool, I need to try it

No, like cutting any glass, the deeper the score (the stress concentration) the easier the break, but going over a score a second time dulls your cutter and creates competing stresses. Press hard, once around. The bottle wall is 1/8" to 1/4", you'll not break it pressing against the cutter. Also, you don't ever want to score glass and set it aside for an extended time, coming back to break it later. The stress concentration will dissipate, leading to better chances of an off-line break.

TIP; a drop or two of light oil on the cutter wheel edge that contacts the glass will give cleaner cut lines (less fragments and/or runs)..

Roger and mike nice projects.