creeping cutters

How can router cutters decide, halfway through a job, to creep up out of the collet! it defies all rules of logic and physics!
I know some of the reasons - dirty shanks, damaged shanks, insufficiently tightened collets, even blunt cutters I think but it still remains one of life's little mysteries.

Jewellery boxes for next Christmas

An eight foot board with boxes 'mapped out' and ready to cut up.

This is the result of going off in a different direction. Lots of box pieces all roughly cut and waiting to emerge like a butterfly...

I really must get back to the jewellery boxes I started...

Tullie House jewellery box

I started the day in one direction and ended up going in a completely different direction. I'm making a jewellery box for Tullie House so I'll take pics of that as it progresses but yesterday I was ambushed by two huge planks of burry oak. For some reason I just took it into my head to dig out these planks and start to map out a large box for a photo album - also due for January...

Maintenance

What joy! What unalloyed bliss! 2012 has finally got underway with a bit of serious maintenance of my machines. And what a difference a well oiled and greased planing machine with new blades makes. Something like the difference between cutting a loaf of bread with the back of the knife and the sharpe side.
New years resolution: Maintain machines more frequently....
I know I should but when there's boxes to make...
Happy new year faithful readers. The life of a boxmaker goes on..

'vapour lock'

I did promise in my last post to tell you about a vapour lock. A vapour lock

"is an old car mechanical term from way back when. It's when the gas line in your car would overheat and turn the gas into vapor which would automatically stall your car, dead in it's tracks because of lack of fuel. They did something in auto technology to correct this problem as I have not experienced it in over 20 years"

(thanks to John Hodur in the States who enlightened me on that)

And the connection to boxes? It happens to me all the time - I get stuck on a little problem and until it's solved I can't go forward. I can't go around it. I have to solve it and go through it. 

The last time it happened was with the magnets for some treasure boxes.The 3mm magnets were about 2.9mm and were a bit sloppy in the holes and the 4mm were fine but a bit too big and I'd have to send back the 3mm that I'd bought...

I'm slacking

The funny anomaly about writing a blog is that the greater the time gap between entries, the less there is to say.
I think I've been doing work that I've spoken about before, and I've had a birthday, and... I've run out of excuses.Well - the only way is forward...
A little batch of 'treasure' boxes was finished yesterday - next time I'll tell you about a vapour lock...

HMS Victory Box

I'm making more trays! This time for a box made from oak taken from Nelson's flagship HMS Victory