Building a Portable Target Stand

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There are many people, both men and women who enjoy target shoot for accuracy and these take many forms and use a variety of shoot pieces from pellet guns, to high power rifles, bow and arrow, crossbows, hand guns and even air soft guns. Our challenge was to try to make a portable target stand that could be used by any of these mediums, perhaps with a slight bit of modification. The other challenge was to make it from common lumber and to build it in such a way that if any of the frame took too many hits, it could easily be replaced, and this is what we came up with.

For those who are lucky enough to be a member of an organized shooting range, most ranges have their own target stands and backing, but there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of unofficial target shooting ranges where each shooter must provide their own target backing. This portable stand helps solve many of the conditions that endure at non-official shooting ranges.

The materials for our stand are pretty easy, a couple of 1x4s, 2- 2x4s, a couple of short 2x6 scraps about 2"+  long, a 1/4 sheet of Coroplast or Plaskolite plastic sheeting in your choice of color, all of which are available at any hardware or building supply store, and for the storage try, a couple of sheets of thin plywood, even doorskin material would probably work well, or you could even use more Corpoplast - that will be used for a storage tray for unused target sheets.

How to Make A Galaxy 6 Smart Phone Case

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I am always intrigued by what kinds of things can be made from wood ... such as a wooden case for a smart phone. Some of you may recall I made a case for another smart phone a few years ago. It was really a prototype to see if it could be done and what it would look like. The case was a bit on the thick side, but other than that, it worked well and looked great, but most of all, you get to learn things when you actually go about making things, I learned lots when making that first case.

With the knowledge that my next case needed to be thinner, I decided that the best way to do this would be to make my own very thin plywood back, by gluing together veneers. Before I started this whole process I decided that the workshop and workbench was not the safest place for my phone. In all the handling that would be needed to be done, I thought it would be just like me to drop it on the floor or drop a tool on it and break the glass ...  so I made wooden blank of the phone, exactly the same size and thickness. This way I wouldn't have to worry that some calamity would happen to in the process.

To be honest, I tried a few different kinds of veneers that I had on hand, but that one that worked best for this application was some Phenolic Backed veneer that came from Oakwood Veneer Company. I sandwiched the Oakwood veneer between some plain, tight grain veneer I had on hand. The process is shown in the video. Once the back was made, the next process ...

Cutting Your Own Spalted Lumber From Logs

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Woodworking on it's own is a joy, but when you can work with different kinds of woods, it makes the woodworking even more pleasurable. There are all sorts of different kinds of "figured woods" available like burl, tiger and curly woods, swirls from knots and branches, fiddle back and quilting, birds-eye and much more. Typically these woods are much more expensive than plain wood because they are much more rare so they are used on smaller pieces like special boxes for keepsakes and jewelry, musical instruments like guitars and banjos as well as for around picture frames and other smaller type wooden objects.

Another kind of ornamental wood is something called spalted wood which occurs when the wood is allowed to become wet for a somewhat long period of time and fungus invades the wood and begins a rotting process. In this rotting process the the wood and the fungus combine to often make different colorations inside the wood that is called spalting. In it's early stages the spalting can produce an amazing color with the wood, in it's later stages the fungus can affect the wood so much it that it can become too far rotted and unusable.

In this video we have left the logs to dry slowly for several months and now that they are down to 14% moisture content it's time to cut them into usable planks and let them finish their drying process ...

Cutting Board Finishes

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There are as many different opinions of what kind of coating should go on a cutting board as there are different kinds of cutting boards. The purpose of this article is not to suggest what can be used but to provide information on a wide number of products that could be used.
It is up to the woodworker to make the final decision based on where the the cutting board will be used.
In the end, the best coating for a cutting board is no coating or finish at all.

If we look at the life of most wooden cutting boards, they begin as new wood with some sort of a coating on them, usually some sort of oil-type coating. During their use they are either used to cut meat, or they are designated to cut other things like fruits, vegetables, breads and other common cutting items. In either case the cutting boards are cleaned regularly with warm soapy water, dried off then left to air dry. This process of constantly washing a drying, in a short period of time will wash off any coating that was originally put on the cutting board.

Since most cutting boards are seldom, or never re-coated after they begin use, what happens is the cutting board develops it's own patina or look that in some cases is similar to what the board was originally coated with. This is now most cutting boards live their life, which can go on for years and years. Cutting boards should be disposed of if they develop any kind of a crack in the wood, or if during their use they subjected to some very deep cuts. These kinds of cuts and cracks can harbor bacteria and pathogens that could cause illness so it is best to eliminate these threats.

Before we get into what are some of the finishes you can use on cutting boards, lets look at the short list of what you should not use, or at least be very cautious in using ....