Alive and well... Bangles & Solar Project, Several Shout-outs

Hi folks,
 Just in case you wondered where I've been. Work and life have reared their ugly heads and eaten a lot of my free time. Sparing the gory details, suffice to say I have been out in the shop, just not taking time to blog about much.

BangleBowl2014

One fun thing I threw my hat in was the 2014 Banglebowl contest started by Zac Higgins and Kyle Toth . Zac and Kyle threw the idea together and Marc Spagnuolo was kind enough to host the contest on the Woodwhisperer site.  They had over 50 people submit photos and/or videos of their bangles, which can be viewed and voted on here: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/bangle-bowl-voting/ …

My entry is a Paduak bangle, about 2 3/4 " in diameter and 1 1/2 " wide. It is just a smidge over 1/8" thick.

I've been getting involved with the woodworking corner of the twitterverse. Both Zac & Kyle are part of that community. Thanks guys for spearheading this contest, and for sharing your expertise and how to videos!

I had a blast learning to turn this bangle, and I'll be doing many more segmented pieces over the winter.

Solar Project: 

I finally got some work done on my solar wall project today. I ran out of daylight, but thanks to my son Patrick, I got several important tasks accomplished. First we removed the old shop door which I had simply screwed to the face of the shop when I first started the solar project last fall.
No pics of the process, but we removed the door, and the hardware for it. Then we put some tyvek up, and cut the t-111 to fit the wall. The large arch will be 12' across the top 20" high, and then with 3' legs on either side of the original shop doorway, as I mentioned in my earlier post.

Here's the general plan. Today we wound up with the right and left green vertical sections applied to the wall. I have the 2x4's cut to box that in, which I'll apply tomorrow if it doesn't rain. I'm going to focus on getting the outer (green) section up and functional by the weekend. The yellow section is eventually going to be redone. I'll wait to do that on the next warm day so that opening the shop wide open won't be a problem. In a pinch however, I may simply enclose it as another panel, gaining about 8 sf of gain out of it.

Check back later, I'll add photos of what I accomplished today. In the meantime, I'm going to go back out and find my kreg jig. I need to get all of the 2x4's drilled so I can attach them tomorrow.

Online Content Shout-Out

I thought I would give an additional shout-out to several online Content Creators I have learned a lot from of late. Please take a moment to check them out! (in no particular order)

Mike Waldt's YouTube woodturning channel Mike is a talented turner, who puts a lot of good teaching in every one of his videos.

Matt Vanderlist -Matt's Basement Workshop

How can I mention Matt without leading into:

Marc Spagnuolo's theWoodWhisperer.com 

Marc and Steve Ramsey have again teamed up for a Woodworker's Fighting Cancer build. 

Marc's version is here: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/multi-function-toy-chest/

Steve's version is here: woodworking for Mere Mortals 2014 Toy Box build

Build either version, send Marc a photo of it and you'll a) have a cool toy chest for your kid/grandkid or to donate or give away, PLUS  Marc will donate $5 and corporate sponsors will match that donation. This year's organization is  the Cancer Research Institute. 

I'm not sure if I'll have time to build one, looks like a quick project though!

Matt Cremona is a hobbyist woodworker who has a very cool youtube channel. Check him out, you'll learn a lot!

Frank Howarth is a stay at home dad with an incredible talent for woodworking and making videos. Subscribe to his youtube feed, you will Not be disappointed. Be sure and check out his playlist of stop-action videos here.

I mentioned Matt & Marc, and  no list would be complete without mentioning Shannon Rogers. His http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com is always an inspiration.

One excellent teacher who needs your support right now is Cap'n Eddie Castelin. His videos pack a lot of knowledge in them with a dose of humor and a bit of self promotion. Cap'n Eddie's facing some serious health problems at the moment, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
His youtube channel is here, and his website is http://eddiecastelin.com

I'll save more for later...  Those should keep you busy for awhile. 

Winged Bowl

Hello my loyal reader (s?)... I've had a busy couple of weeks at work and out in the shop.  Not a whole lot to talk about regarding work, but lots to discuss with the shop.

Natural Edge Winged Crotch Bowl

I turned my first Winged bowl last week. It is about 6-7" across, cherry. I'm letting it dry awhile and will finish sand it and put some finish on in a couple of months (or so).

Bottom of the bowl

that gap to the left was fun to deal with.