Wooden Tortilla Press

Aw; warm sunny weather, at last, the sun felt so good this weekend I got a jump on planting seeds for our garden, next to wood, play in the dirt, growing a garden is my most favorite past time. I also cleaned off all the junk that landed on my bench over the winter. For those that don't know I still don't have a shop. I have looked at several building, but still haven't found one that meets my needs and since the work is slow here I am in no rush . I still have my tool box in our bedroom, and a small bench and a band-saw on the porch. I can do most of the little project that I build with this set up. I also just purchased a scroll saw that I can set up on my bench and do some craft type projects that my better half wants. one of these projects is a tortilla press.

We looked at the metal press but they are to small and we want to be able to make larger tortillas. Then I remembered a wooden press a friend of mine had when I lived in AZ.  It was an old and crudely made thing, but did a great job at making tortillas. We looked in all the kitchen stores around our area, but to no avail, and finally Tina says to me, why don't you just use some of the small scape pieces of wood you have and make one? So yesterday I sketched a design after looking on the net for some ideas and then me and my grandson looked through my wood stash and found some pieces of 8/4 maple for the base, some 5/4 cherry for the top, and for the lever and arm I will use some 8/4 cherry. I plan on dovetailing the upright in to the base and cutting a curve on the bottom of the handle to give it more leverage.

Now I have a plan, and all I have to do is turn all this,
                                                  into this.

 

Joey

Design #2

This week I was just looking at common objects around to see if any might inspire me. an then I sat down a sketched several thumbnail drawings and the one that I keep being pulled back to was a simple saw horse. I never really thought about their shape and purpose pass sawing wood on them, but looking at it I saw where it it could be a nice little bedside table or a side table in a more rustic living room. Who know what one would look like made from cherry or walnut maybe some the lesser quality boards that has knots in them for a more rustic effect.

Joey

Wood Carving Class

I have signed up to take a woodcarving class through Wilmington College Institute for Lifelong Learning, this will be the first woodworking class that I have taken since college that wasn't related to my job as a woodworker, otherwise something I am taking just for the fun of it. The instructor for the class is Don Mertz, Don has been a woodcarver since 1975 and has written articles for Woodcarver Magazine. I am really excited about taking classes with him and will post my updates as I progress. 

If you would like to check out Dons Blog you will find it at Woodbeecarver.com, he has a really nice blog with lots of information on it so check it out.