How To Make DIY Letter Stencils for Your Router : Sign Making

These are the Dimensions I used for all my letter patterns.  Obviously the width of each letter with vary depending on  the letter and whether or not it is Capitalized, but if you kept a consistent 1/8 spacer on the side of either letter your alignment will be fine.  I mounted all my letters 1inch from the base of the pattern.

Specifications for this project:

- Font- HighTower Text

- PT - 400

- 5/16 - Bushing

- 1/8 inch Spiral Cutting Bit

- !/8 spacing on either side of the letters on the pattern

- Pattern material at least 1/4 inch thick

- Pattern material 6 inches tall

With these measurements and the video below you can make your own letter stencils and signs

Stencil Making Video

How To Make A TV Stand Cabinet Out Of Old Doors

The first door I started off with was 78- 1/4 x 29 15/16.  

The second door 78-1/4 x 29-15/16

*Keep In Mind* All my measurements are based on that door size.  Finding an old door exactly the same as mine might not be super easy, but you can adjust all the measurements and cuts to work with your size door.  A general  rule of thumb is reclaimed materials will not always be square/true, so use all these measurements as a rough guide not a hard fact.  What you are working with will be different then what I worked with.  Contact us on our Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqKCuJ4_6T4H_3ZOPSPANHg page with questions.  Using this blog and our accompanying Youtube videos of the build process shows all the steps.

Part One

Part Two

 

How A HoneyBadger Makes Crown Molding 

 Starting point was a piece of reclaimed floor board pine.

 Reclaimed floor board pine

Ripped down the pine to thickness as well as saved the hassle of removing many layers of old paint.

Rough marks of where I wanted to cut my coves to match the original molding

Dry fitting the piece on the table saw. You can cut coves in lumber by running wood at an angle across your saw blade gradually to remove minimal thicknesses of lumber at a time til you get the depth you desire

Close up of my homemade cove cutting jig with lumber in place

Jig without lumber in place

First pass through the jig

First Cove starting to form

Close up of finished first cove

First Cove 

First Cove - Side View 

My second cove needed to be much narrower so the jig was adjusted to accommodate that cut

Jig in place

First run through jig

Close up of both roughed out coves

Finished crown molding after final touches and sanding

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54 degrees in the shop today 

Turning an old chair back into a wall mounted shelf 

The most tedious part was figuring out the right angle to mount the shelf and added wooden brackets.  Since this is an old chair back it does not sit against the wall at perfect 90 degrees so I had to dry mount a shelf to the chair and keep checking the angle against a wall to get it right.

In order to securely mount a shelf to the chair I made two custom oak brackets with notches cut out for the shelf angle and to attach it to the chair.  I matched some of the preexisting curves of the chair in making the bracket so it did not look overly clunky on the finished piece. 

Inside view of the bracket with notches for mounting 

Finished bracket 

Bracket secured to the chair with screws to be later filled with oak dowels.

Drawing out the shelf curve on a piece of reclaimed walnut 

Bracket attached to the chair 

Dry fit of shelf 

Walnut shelf secured to the chair and wooden brackets 

Finished product in the store.

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69 degrees in the shop today

How to make a bowling ball vice out of Mary's old bowling ball and shop scraps.  I plan on using this vice for chain saw carving.

Some cuts of pressure treated 6x6 I got from a friend that I used for the base.

Notched out.

I wanted a very heavy sturdy base that won't move with the bite of the chainsaw.

I used a $12.00 bottle neck hydraulic jack for the lifting force of this vice.

The Jack didn't come with mounting holes so I drilled three 1/4 holes into the base of the jack and secured the jack to a slat of plywood with carriage bolts.  The whole unit can be removed without completely disassembling the vise in case the jack fails.

Finding as close to center as possible.

I need a way to secure the bottom plate of the bowling ball holder to the jack, so I tapped a 1/4 inch hole into the center of the jack.

As well as added lumber to the bottom of the plywood plate and drilled a 5/8 inch hole to meet the plywood so 2 inches of the jack is secured around lumber.

Making the hole with a chamfer cut to hold the bowling ball.

I have never seen one of these bugs before but they seemed interested in the progress.

Added 2x3 side supports that the bowling ball base can ride against then it's being lifted.

Adding the top plate to the vice that locks the ball in place when you pump the jack.  Blocks of wood keep the plate securely in place.

The finished vice with the top plate secured to the 5/8 threaded rod for mounting wood to for carving.

 Top view of vice with movable vice base.

The final vice ended up being rather heavy which is a good thing since it won't move during carving.  Still I put it on a dolly for easy transportation in between uses.

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