So after two failed attempts at making a video of this project I’m just going to go ahead and post the pics of what I’ve made. There’s two of these now, fixing to be a third when I get a new method for recording videos in place.
The first one was made from cedar and was the cost effective route I went for basically prototyping my build process, getting things in camera and the whole nine yards. It went well for the most part except the camera wasn’t up to par, kept having to plug the damn thing in to charge it, ran out of space on the SD card, the list goes on. Add to that it was the first time making a video and it was well over 3 hours long even after editing. Part of the reason for that is I hit a snag in my design when the hinge I wanted to use wouldn’t actually work the way I wanted it to work. So mid-video I was forced to redesign things and recover. So here’s the shots of the prototype cedar one, it’s functional but not completely “show quality”.
Seeing as how I purchased the camera from a pawn store I took it back and exchanged it for another, supposedly better one with dual slots for SD cards and better functionality all around…. in theory.
So back to the Home Depot for some more lumber, this time I opted for some oak since both sides of the board were already smooth it meant less time filming me sanding down the wood. Time was also saved because I learned from my assembly and design errors of the first one and I was able to make a 33 minute video after editing was complete. This proved to be another problem.
The camera we got this time is possessed. It turns on when it wants, charges when it wants, changes various settings when it wants and won’t stay in focus no matter what I did. Add to this the fact it exported the video in an obscure format it made things a bit more complicated to work with. The goal of this is to have fun and share things, not pull my hair out… I don’t have all that much left these days. And as with the previous camera, it wouldn’t do HD video either despite the little sticker on the side that said it would. I’m guessing someone put it there because even the website says it won’t do HD video. But I pressed on with the build of the oak stitching pony because I was already committed.
The end result was a VERY nice and sturdy tool I will definitely be making more of and perhaps even offering up for sale. Couple of things I still want to do differently but all in all I will love and use the hell of this for many many years to come. Just check out this sexy show pony…
On the oak one, I finished it with Howard’s Feed and Wax as well as used one of my “Iron Cross” knobs for the screw. The jaws were lined with a nice dark brown leather and all in all it’s a very nice finished product that far outshines the prototype both in looks and function… as it should.
So now with two of these under my belt I’m confident that when I have a proper or at the very least, acceptable means of recording good quality videos, I will be able to replicate another one at some point very soon, edit the video and sling it up to YouTube for everyone to enjoy.
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