Archive

Toad Craft 09

In the last issue I mentioned how I'd be getting into washi next, but turns out nature had other plans for me this past week. When the lichens call, I pick up. I must admit that I am prone to wandering off. On our daily dog walks, Steff

Okin Craft 06

In this final issue of Okin Craft we're taking a deep dive into charcoal. In a nut shell, charcoal is graded based on it's carbon content. The higher the carbon content, the cleaner and hotter the burn. To make charcoal, wood is heated inside of an

Toad Craft 08

Today we're going to see the final steps leading up to wrapping these wood bodies with washi. This will conclude the machining and assembly steps on the cherry wood bodies. Apart from a few finishing touches these bodies are complete! In the last issue we saw how the

Okin Craft 05

We've seen the making of the boxes... now we'll be taking a look at how they're painted. All of the Okin boxes were either painted with milk paint or left raw. Milk paint is made from natural pigments with a casein (milk protein) binder.

Toad Craft 07

In this update we'll creep ever closer to getting these Toads ready to wrap with washi. Ill be showing the assembly process for joining the wood and metal parts together. First, a slot is milled to accommodate the brass backing plate that sits behind the button. At the

Toad Craft 06

For this update I'll be showing how the button sleeve is made and attached to the cherry wood Toad bodies. Each Toad is fitted with a brass button that slides in and out of a Delrin sleeve. I chose Delrin for this application for a number of important

Toad Craft 05

In the last update I showed the making of the brass heater module connector rings, and how they were connected to copper lead wires. Those lead wires will connect to a brass plate that sits behind the button, carrying electricity from the button down to the heater module. In this

Toad Craft 04

In the next couple updates we're going to take a look at the brass and copper components that make up the electrical pathway. The Toad has a very simple and durable circuit that is entirely analog. Most of it is hidden inside the wood and washi composite shell.

Okin Craft 04

In this issue we're going to take a look at making the Okin boxes. Every Okin came with it's own box made from honduran mahogany with a kraft composite shell. Some boxes came unpainted but most were finished with milk paint. I chose Honduran mahogany as

Toad Craft 03

In the last issue we looked at the machining of the heater module holes. Now, we'll continue on the lathe to finish up the next two processes that'll bring these cherry wood blocks closer to their final forms. Back on the lathe again to drill out

Okin Craft 03

Cocobolo and jatoba would be the species of choice for these Okins. Both options would be fitted with a naturally moisture resistant African blackwood mouthpiece. For this design I knew I wanted a warm toned, strong, wood. Cocobolo would be the more exotic, flashy choice. Jatoba, with it's

Okin Craft 02

The Okin was the first product that I designed for production. Before that, I was making one-off pieces. It was an entirely new experience for me and looking back on these albums it's obvious that I really had no idea what I was doing. I now know

Okin Craft 01

In 2015 I finalized the design of the Okin, a thermal extraction device powered by maple wood charcoal. In this series of articles I'll be showing the process of creating both the Okin and the special high carbon charcoal. Here's a gallery of eye candy to

Toad Craft 02

After squaring up the cherry wood blocks, the next step is trimming off the bottoms. Each block is cut to produce it's own matching wooden bottom. These bottoms will eventually come into play later on in the crafting process, for now they get labelled and set aside. Enter,

Toad Craft 01

In this first update, we'll be taking a rough chunk of wood and turning it into a precision rectangular block that'll eventually birth a Toad. It starts with the tree, black cherry in this case. I buy rough timber locally and store it for a while

The Workshop

We have two workshops, one in the backyard, and one inside our home... in a spare bedroom. They are small spaces, but they're well designed and perfect for what we need them to do. This is the heart of the outdoor workshop. A 90's Delta table