Blog Post #2

I have begun and finished my first project. I made a card spade. You can tell that the final object does not exactly line up with the drawing that I made, but I think it turned out well regardless. I think that I was trying harder to keep my finger than trying to finish. The following images show steps I have gone through to complete the project.

Here is the piece of basswood I had sawed off before beginning to work on my project. I imagined the shape of the spade in my mind by created a shape of a heart with a cone from the bottom and I visualized the amount of basswood I would need. For this piece, I sawed the material by hand, a tedious and time consuming project, even for basswood that is known as a softer wood. I now know that it would be much easier to use an electric saw to do this step for further projects.

I drew my imagined spade on both sides of the wood block, using a pencil and ruler to make sure the object is symmetrical. You can see that I designed the spade to have the top portion meet at a point with two arch outwards, but in the final product it arches inward. This was a result of me not realizing the direction of the grain, moving horizontally, making it very difficult. It would have been much easier if the wood’s grain was vertical, instead, but I am pleased with the outcome either way.

I got as close to the outlined shape as well as I could, and it is visible that I am having difficulty having the wood arch inwards towards the point. This was also the beginning I used the knife on basswood and I noticed it was difficult to find a good place to hold the object, without having my index finger in front of the knife. I assume it will be easier on a larger object, but I will find out soon in my next project.

I made the decision that I could not arch the spade’s sides inward enough, so I began whittling the front and back of the piece, while making the decision to create a circular base instead of an ovular or rectangular one. I and on occasion accidentally forget the direction of the grain, accidentally going against it.

I finished cutting out the spade and made sure the spade is round from all sides, including from the bottom. I also decided to create a stand for the spade instead of the cone reaching the bottom of its base. The shape is there, but all of the edges need to be smoothed out.

Here is the finished spade after smoothing out corners with the knife and sandpaper. And for my first project I think it turned out fairly well. It is a bit rough around the edges and has a couple spots here and there, but the knowledge I have gathered from this project was invaluable, especially knowing the direction of the wood’s grain before beginning a project.

Weekly Comments:
Dani Grafton
Fred Sorg-Taylor
Ruby Lee