The Cutting Edge

George writes:

“For years I have had two passions, woodworking and fly fishing. One day, frustrated with store bought fly tying stations, I decided to put my woodworking skills to the test and create my own fly tying station. Those fly fishermen who tie their own flies can appreciate this.

The fly tying station I designed is easy to use, does not take up much space and can hold all the fly tying tools necessary for your creation. After showing it to friends in my friends in the fly fishing club, everyone liked the design and the next thing I know, I was building and selling fly tying stations to the entire club.

I made this fly tying station from walnut. It blends in well with any furniture and is great for home or away.

It’s a great feeling when my love for one hobby can help me in another!”

Tom writes:

Today, while ringing up a customer’s order here in the store, I was asked to enter his business name on the order.  I asked what it was and he told me, “Carved by GPK”. I asked him what he carved and he modestly told me fireplace mantles and other things.  I then ask him how he did his carving and he replied that he used mostly hand chisels, but some rotary tools. Of course the next question was what brand of chisels did he use? He replied that he had three brands but liked the Flexcut tools the best. I did not prompt that response but it speaks very well of Flexcut as his website will show.

We then got into an in depth conversation on sharp tools.  One of his comments was that sharp tools are essential, dull tools are dangerous and the cause of accidents.  He keeps his sharpener within reach of his carving bench and uses the leather strop frequently, almost every 10 minutes.

So with that in mind, take a look at his website. 

www.carvedbygpk.com

Pretty Impressive!!!

Mike writes:

“Here is a little project I got involved in a few years ago. A gentleman I got to know who built very high quality Hammered Dulcimers, as well as an accomplished player, was looking for a new stand. His had been thru the wars over the years and was beginning to cause some problems. It had been custom made but still had some major design flaws. He had been looking for several years for a way to improve on the typical designs that were available on the market, but nothing really worked.

The typical stand is made up of four legs made up of a fixed bottom section and a slotted sliding upper section. Each leg had two large knobs to set the slide at the desired height.

The design presents 3 major problems:

• It has four large knobs on each side when folded up and the knobs  are always getting hooked on something and generally in the way.
• Since the upper slide is held by friction from the pressure from the knobs there is frequently slippage from the weight of the instrument.
• It is difficult to always set it at the same height.

 Typical stands

 I was asked to come up with a better “mouse trap” so to speak. After many different approaches, I finally came up with a positive pin lock by mounting the riser in the center of each leg. This allows easy, adjustment that is repeatable at the same height, positive positioning with no slippage and no knobs that get in the way.

Everyone who has bought one is extremely happy. I received a note from a lady who had a brand new, expensive high quality instrument and put it on her existing stand. The stand slide slipped and the instrument crashed to the floor, putting a large hole in it. She shipped it back to the builder for repairs and ordered one of my stands. I just received a note from her and she says she will never use the “typical” stand again and she is wild about the new stand I made.”

Miki, Eagle America’s store manager writes:

“As I was on my way to a place in Austinburg, Ohio I turned off the highway and proceeded north on Route 45.  Now, mind you, I have been out that way a good dozen times, taking the same route.  But this evening, something caught my attention out of the right side of my eye.  I noticed some people sitting on a huge 25 foot wooden rocking chair getting their picture taken.  One evening soon, I plan to do the same thing.  In order to get a picture of the chair, I ventured onto the web of course!  I came across these pictures and articles about the “Largest Rocking Chairs”. 

I also came across a giant horse and buggy in Mesopotamia, Ohio which is not too far from Eagle America!”

Dan, Eagle America’s founder writes:

“I used the Signpro to make this simple sign that sits in the pine grove along the driveway on the way to our house. A simple piece of scrap pine was used. I sprayed the letters with black spray ink and then finish sanded it with 220 grit paper using my Festool sander. The Earlex sprayer was used to give it an exterior polyurethane finish.

The house I grew up in had woods next to it and when I was 24, I free handed a sign like this one for my folks to display in their woods. It was named “Benton” after my grandfather’s middle name. We gave our oldest son the same middle name in honor of Pop and my son in turn gave his oldest son the same name. And so, the tradition continues on.

Dan, Eagle America’s founder writes:

“This heavy, quality made picnic table has been in the family for over 50 years. After many years of neglect and my wife complaining, I decided it was time to give it a new look. Rather than striping it all down , I used the Festool Rotex sander. Using the coarse sandpaper and putting the sander in the gear driven “rotex” postion, it quickly striped away the many years of polyurethane and other imperfections.

Once I was down to bare wood, I used 80 grit and then 120 grit to give it a final sanding. Then it was on to the Earlex sprayer where I used and exterior grade polyurethane giving it 4 coats and buff/sanding with 320 grit between the coats.

My mother in law could not believe it when we had her over for dinner. We eat out on the table in the gazebo which overlooks a river almost every night. Good quality redwood furniture is hard to find and expensive to make, so refinishing this piece was the right choice for me. Memories are hard to replace and we hope this piece will stay in the family for another 50 years.”