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Art Canvas Drying Rack

JoeBcrafts Art Canvas Drying Rack Blueprint

This Art Canvas Drying Rack can hold 5 of your works. The design makes it versatile enough to hold many different sizes of canvas as well. Shown in the picture below is a 16″x20″ canvas and a 20″X16″ canvas. Canvases can be larger so long as one dimension does not exceed 20″.

Drying Rack made of 1x2 pine

Drying Rack Assembled Dimensions

Drying Rack Assembled Dimensions

Materials and Cut List

Drying Rack Materials and Cut List

This Drying Rack has been designed to sit on a desk or large shelf. Another feature of this design is that it is easy to adjust it for different needs. If you have larger artwork, the only adjustment is to make the cross members of the shelf longer. The rack can be modular. Build multiple racks and stack them for more canvas capacity. The possibilities are as endless as your artistic vision.

I made this Art Canvas Drying Rack for a family member and it currently is the only one. If you have a woodworker in the family (or know someone) that can make it for you, great! If you are a woodworker, make it for someone you know. If you’d like me to make one to your specifications, contact me via facebook, email, or send me a conversation at Etsy.

“So from all of us here, I’d like to wish you happy painting, and God bless, my friend.” Bob Ross

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Black Walnut Items Ready for You

Live Edge Black Walnut Countertop Wine Rack

There are some new Black Walnut items for sale in the JoeBcrafts Etsy Shop. Some items are solely made of the rich brown Black Walnut heartwood. Other items have Black Walnut paired with Ash. A couple have it all; dark live edge, light sapwood, and rich brown heartwood.

Live Edge Black Walnut Countertop Wine Display

Live Edge Black Walnut Countertop Wine Display

This Black Walnut item is made from a 13″ wide slab. The slab had a substantial crack and bowing. I cut the slab down the middle and used these two pieces as the sides. The wine saddles are also made from a piece that had live edge. The orientation of the pieces creates an item with two characters. From one side the wine rack is rustic with live edge, cracks, and spalting.
Rustic face of the Countertop Wine Display
The other side brings only rich brown heartwood and a more modern feel.
Rich brown modern face of the Countertop Wine Display

Live Edge Black Walnut Serving Board

Live Edge Black Walnut Serving Board

A 12″ wide slab works well as a serving board. Pile on the meats, cheeses, or other delectable foods it is robust enough to take it. While perfect for its function, it also has a form worthy of display on its own. The ends of the board are cut with an angle to match the live edge sides. Continuing the trapezoid/pyramid theme are the feet. They are tapered at the same angle as the ends.
The feet and underside of the Live Edge Black Walnut Serving Board

Checkerboard Black Walnut and Ash Wine Bottle and Glasses Caddy

Checkerboard Black Walnut and Ash Wine Caddy

Black Walnut and Ash are paired together on this item.

Share a bottle of wine with a friend using this wine caddy

Share a bottle of wine with a special someone. The first conversation can be about the lovely wooden thing that held the glasses and wine. Maybe later the conversation can turn to what is within the next item.

Black Walnut Ring Box

Hinged Black Walnut Ring Box

Like a walnut, there is something delicious inside. This item has a lot of the rich brown Black Walnut heartwood with just a hint of the light sapwood. That special someone is sure to almost be as excited about the box as the ring or other trinket within.

More Black Walnut Items

These are just a taste of the decadent Black Walnut items that currently are available in JoeBcrafts Etsy Shop. New items are added regularly, be sure to check in often.

JoeBcrafts Shop at Etsy

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Black Walnut Milled

Black Walnut Pieces fresh off bandsaw mill

Over Memorial Day weekend I was able to get several pieces of former firewood turned into Black Walnut lumber on my bandsaw mill. These pieces were “scheduled” to be chopped into firewood by one of my friends. I realized that these pieces of wood weren’t simply more ash that had been killed by Emerald Ash Borer, and so I rescued them from becoming simply firewood.

I milled the 14″ round x 2 ft sections into 1-1/2″ to 2″ thick slabs along with a couple 4″x4″ solid walnut blocks.

The first things I have made with them are a couple trivets. One trivet is solid Black Walnut.
The other trivet is a combination of Black Walnut, Mulberry, and Ash. All 3 woods were milled using my homemade bandsaw mill.

Solid Black Walnut Trivet

Black Walnut, Mulberry, and Ash Trivet

There will be more items made from this lumber. Be sure to check out my Etsy storefront.

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Wooden Bandsaw Mill (Post 2 of 2)

Bandsaw Mill Tension and Tracking Adjustment

Bandsaw Mill Continuted

A continuation of the design of my Bandsaw Mill. Be sure to read the first part of the Bandsaw Mill design

Wheel Block

I designed the wheel blocks to be made of multiple pieces of wood. I did this so I could orient the grain for strength. I will refer to the pieces by their number as shown is the picture below.

Wheel Block View 1

Wheel Block View 2

Wheel Block View 3

Pieces #1, #2, and #3 have a 5/8″ hole for the axle bolt. I set up a jig on my drill press to make sure that the hole got drilled in each piece correctly. You can see my penciled in arrow on piece #1. I had to shim piece #3 in the jig with a piece of wood equal to the bolt head thickness. Pieces #1 and #2 are oriented so that their end grain is not load bearing. Notice that piece #5, the one that receives the tensioning bolt, is screwed into and glued against edge grain of #1 and #2. Piece #3 has its grain running 90° to #1 and #2 so this makes the whole block a 3-ply… just really thick plywood.

Wheel Block View 4

Wheel Block View 5

Piece #5 is fancy compared to the others. I first drilled a small guide hole all the way through the center of the block. Then I drilled a recess for the washer with a forstner bit on each side. The inside I drilled a second time and then cleaned up with a chisel to create the slot for the washer. With the large holes cut, I switched to a 5/8″ forstner bit and drilled all the way through. To complete the block it was off to the bandsaw to cut the material out to finish the bolt slot. To keep the bolt from turning, i drilled and tapped for a 1/4″ bolt. The tension bolt slides in and the outer washer is held on with a small screw. The outer washer acts as a retaining clip to hold the bolt into the block.

The way I assemble is a bit different than most of the guys/gals I watch on youtube. Most of them glue and use a hundred clamps, then might put in some screws to “hold while the glue sets”. The first thing I did was to line up #1-3-2, insert a 5/8″ bolt, and thread on a nut to sandwich everything together. Once satisfied that those parts are lined up, I drill pilot holes and put in screws. I take it apart, then lather on some glue, get the screws started to where they just poke out a bit so they index into their holes, lightly clamp, then drive the screws.

Observations about the wheel block. At first I couldn’t get a hold of a 10″ long bolt. So I had to improvise with a shorter one. This lead to me having to drill out a larger hole in all of #2 and most of #3. This was a BAD situation. There is a tremendous amount of stress transferred to the axle and wheel block. I only had 2″ of pine supporting that load and that lead to the axle widening the hole and creating cracks in the block. Once I had a 10″ long bolt things worked much better since I could create the “sandwich” I intended to have all along. I really should make a new block with the 5/8″ hole only.

Tensioning and Tracking

Tensioning is done with a coupling nut on the bolt, there is no spring. I used a coupling nut to have as many threads as possible engaged on the bolt to try and prevent thread damage. When the wheel block is almost at full travel and the blade is tight, the coupling nut is almost completely filled with bolt thread.

Tensioning and Tracking

It took me a while to decide how to do the tracking adjustment. I thought about having another bolt threaded into the wheel block, but since the block moves the tracking pressure point would also change. Then I had the brilliant idea to use a modified stop collar. I drilled out the threads of the stop collar to 5/16″, I cut the head off a 5/16″ bolt, put the bolt into the collar, and drilled a small hole to hold my finish nail pin. There is a piece of metal on the back of the main beam that allows the bolt to be shortened by tightening a nut. The beauty of this setup is that the tracking adjustment doesn’t have to move along the travel of the wheel block. There is enough slop between the tension bolt, collar, and tracking bolt to deal with the changing angle as the tracking nut is tightened.

Blade Guides

I created a video about my blade guides.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahm3wgoGlwA[/embedyt]

I use the roller guide style found on commercial mills. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on “real” ones, so I made my own with a 5/8″ bolt (head ground down to match the bushing), a 3/4″ long 5/8″ ID bushing, a 3/4″ washer since it mates nicely to the bushing, and a stop collar to sandwich the assembly together. That gets put into a block that has (2) 5/8″ bearings. The block is adjustable up and down on a second block that attaches to the bottom of the beam. The second block is adjustable in/out from the back of the blade. I attach the block to the beam with a 5/16″ bolt that is threaded into a brass insert in the beam. I can adjust the blade guide location along the beam with the other inserts I installed. I figure that I don’t need infinite adjustment in blade guide location. Being able to move the guides on 12″ intervals is good enough.

Conclusion

While I wouldn’t want to use this mill for commercial milling, it is more than adequate for weekend warrior hobbyist activities. There are some adjustments that I need to make to improve the performance, but the bottom line is it gets the job done.

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Wooden Bandsaw Mill (Post 1 of 2)

Bandsaw Mill first cuts

Homemade Wooden Bandsaw Mill

The following is a short video and a detailed look of the Homemade Wooden Bandsaw Mill that I built in late 2015 to middle of 2106.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SvR8SaWqk8[/embedyt]

Why make this thing?

I’ve been a hobbyist woodworker for a long time. Most often my woods of choice have been pine, oak, and poplar that can be purchased at home centers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these, but I have been wanting to use woods with more character. The arrival of Emerald Ash Borer to Indiana was kind of a push to make it happen. I grew tired of seeing so many beautiful trees being cut up into rounds and offered as free firewood on craigslist. I wanted to be able to give these and other trees new life instead of a second death this time by fire.

I began to scour the internet and youtube for mill options, and boy are there options. Bandsaw Mill, chainsaw (Alaskan Mill), swing arm (large circular saw blade), etc each with advantages and disadvantages. I settled on a bandsaw mill style as it is familiar to me and in my searching I had come across several examples of wooden equipment. I found a setup by Geek Woodworker on the Lumberjocks forum that I decided to start from. My mill has several features in common with his, and some other things that make mine unique.

Step #1: The Power Plant

I knew that I wanted to make this bandsaw mill have a gasoline engine as I wanted to be able to mill where there is no electricity. Given that this would be an experimental mill, I didn’t want to spend too much on anything just in case it didn’t work out. In my research it appeared that I would need somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10 hp depending on cut width, blade speed, tooth angle, etc. I chose to go with a 6.5 hp engine from Harbor Freight as they are “cheap” (inexpensive and replaceable). An additional reason to go with this engine is that these things are widely used by go-kart building enthusiasts. Clutches with pulleys are widely available and I purchased one with a 3″ pulley.

Step #2: Deliver the Power

To distribute the power I decided to use 18″ wheels. The target blade speed is in the neighborhood of 4500 FPM. This puts the wheel RPM at around 1000. The engine turns around 3000 RPM with a 3″ pulley and so I made a 9″ drive pulley for 3:1. I haven’t verified what the actual blade FPM is, but it works for my needs as it currently operates. A 4L-660 v-belt joins the clutch to the drive pulley. I checked online at Woodmizer’s site to see what length blades are standard. I got a 1.25″x0.42’x158″ 9° from them (there is a Woodmizer locally in Indianapolis).

Step #3: Support the Power

The main beam is a box with 2×6 top and bottom with 2×4 on edge front and back. There is no glue, it is only screwed together with 2-1/2″ exterior grade screws (this allowed for me to modify things… which I had to several times since I was designing on the fly). Each end has a 2×6 with a horizontal slot to receive the 5/8″ tension bolt. The ends are not identical, however.

End “A” which is the non-driven end also has a 2×4 behind the 2×6. I had intended for the drive side “B” to have a fixed wheel block. I realized after I had shortened the beam on that end that this wasn’t going to work well (given the slop and inaccuracies between a hole in pine and axle being a cheap bolt). So the driven “B” end has a shortened wheel block and no 2×4, but there is a piece of 1/2 plywood.

The boxes for the legs to go into are made from pieces of 2×6, 2×4, 1×4 (cut to 3″ wide) and some MDF. After using the mill and watching the video, it is apparent that this part of my mill is a weak point. I will have to find a way to reinforce against side to side and twisting.

The gantry legs are pairs of 2x4s. The verticals are mortised into the horizontals and MDF gussets add rigidity. 5″ MDF wheels with 1/4″ bolt axles allow the gantry to roll in the 3/4″ aluminum track on both sides of the log bed.

The top of the legs have MDF caps with a 2×4. The threaded rod for up/down adjustment passes through the 2×4 and MDF.

Originally I had the rod on the back of the leg. The old location for the coupling nut can be seen on the picture above with the engine. This location caused the blade and beam assembly to lean forward. So I turned the caps around, drilled holes through the 2x6s, and added a new 2×4 block under the beam to trap a washer and coupling nut. No more droop, problem solved. I chose to use a coupling nut to have as many threads as possible in contact with the threaded rod. I don’t have a leg lock, so the 2 threaded rods and coupling nuts are holding up the weight of the saw and engine all the time.

The rest

The construction of the wheel blocks, how the tension and tracking works, and the blade guides will be covered in another post.

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Welcome to JoeBcrafts.com, I am Joe B.

A picture of Joe B dressed in shirt, tie, and jacket

“A Mechanical Engineer by day.
A Woodworker at play.”

I am a Mechanical Engineer and in my spare time I like to do woodworking projects. They might be small trinkets, furniture, or other things that someone needs. Creating things has always been something I enjoy. As a kid I played with Lego, Tinkertoy, and built things from scrap pieces of wood. There were plenty of tools in the garage since my dad was a Mechanical Engineer, had a go-karting hobby, and is a DIY handyman. At first I only got to play with the handsaw and hammer, but as I got older I was allowed to use the power tools. I helped dad build decks, build a 3 car detached garage, and many other home improvement projects. There is just something about being able to point at something and say “I made that.”

For my own home, I have built several pieces of furniture. My first pieces were a pair of end tables and a sofa table. I then built an entertainment center. When my kids were in the Thomas the Train phase, I built them a table for the train set. Now it is used as a Lego table. The in-laws have a couple furniture pieces. My most recent furniture pieces are the 4 kitchen table chairs. I even created a pattern for and sewed the slip covers. Being a Woodworker is my passion, but I believe that everyone should be a Renaissance Man. I can do something of a lot of different things.

This site is a place to display these projects as well as being a portal to my Etsy shop where you can purchase some of these creations.
There is a link to that shop at the top of this webpage as well as right here: JoeBcrafts on Etsy.

Welcome to JoeBcrafts!
Thanks for stopping by.

Joe B