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Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover

Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
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sakurama

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Portland - the cool one.
Lmao - noticed that too - what I really wanna know is, what's the story with the cheesy Photoshopped-in "special effect?"

Oh, I thought you were joking on that. Ha! It’s just lens flare from the track lights behind me in the living room. I think one is going through my glasses too. If you stop the lens down to a smaller aperture point lights or small lights tend to do that crazy star effect thing. Not intentional but not avoided either.

I generally tend to like flare, out of focus, obscure foreground and generally whatever a photo book says you shouldn’t do. If a photo book says put the sun at your back I shoot into the sun. If someone says you should probably hire a contractor I will remodel the entire house myself. Before Christmas. When my entire family is coming.

It’s a fine line between idiot and genius and I’m drunkenly staggering back and forth across it.

Gregor
 

LateNights

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Nov 4, 2013
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358
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Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Oh, I thought you were joking on that. Ha! It’s just lens flare from the track lights behind me in the living room. I think one is going through my glasses too. If you stop the lens down to a smaller aperture point lights or small lights tend to do that crazy star effect thing. Not intentional but not avoided either.

Learn something new everyday - I'd have sworn it was computer generated!

I generally tend to like flare, out of focus, obscure foreground and generally whatever a photo book says you shouldn’t do. If a photo book says put the sun at your back I shoot into the sun.

I've noticed that often when I look at your photos they tell a story, so I've picked up the habit of taking the time to soak them in - which is fun because when the more technical details discussed might as well be in Swahili, at least the pictures give some idea of what went on.

If someone says you should probably hire a contractor I will remodel the entire house myself. Before Christmas. When my entire family is coming.

Dare I say it (don't wanna jinx things), at least you know you'll have something to show at the end of it all, plus if you're ever so inclined you'll make a pretty penny.

It’s a fine line between idiot and genius and I’m drunkenly staggering back and forth across it.

Gregor

Lmao, so you're saying there's hope I'll become a genius overnight?
 

bdking

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May 16, 2013
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PDX
Dare I say it (don't wanna jinx things), at least you know you'll have something to show at the end of it all, plus if you're ever so inclined you'll make a pretty penny.

As an architect I’ve worked with a few really high-end contractors (“we might be slow, but at least we’re really expensive...”)- I can’t imagine what Gregor would have to charge to make a profit.

Plus someone would hire him to build kitchen countertops & come home to find their spatulas have been replaced with milled tungsten & their Alpina torn apart to be converted to a hovercraft.

Knowing Gregor is fun.
 

hemicuda1313

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Dec 20, 2013
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6
Location
Denver, CO
That's a Emerson Silver Swan. There's lots of info on the web about it. It's a very popular fan for collectors and is quiet and super reliable. They never came in chrome but the blades are usually aluminum which can be polished. I thought it would look more "pure" in a design sense if it was all silver so as an experiment I had it chromed. It turned out well.

Keep an eye on ebay for them - they show up often but generally fetch between $100-200 which is probably about what I payed about 10 years ago so they haven't really gone up too much. Rotobeams (the one to the left) have started to really go up in value - maybe because I've bought so many! They're my favorites.

Gregor

Thanks very much for the detailed response. I'll be on the lookout.
 

BoilermakerFan

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Apr 17, 2006
Messages
2,188
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana
I generally tend to like flare, out of focus, obscure foreground and generally whatever a photo book says you shouldn’t do. If a photo book says put the sun at your back I shoot into the sun. If someone says you should probably hire a contractor I will remodel the entire house myself. Before Christmas. When my entire family is coming.

It’s a fine line between idiot and genius and I’m drunkenly staggering back and forth across it.

Gregor

:lol_hitti That's an awesome description!

Knowing Gregor is fun.

And very damaging to wallets and savings accounts!
 
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sakurama

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Portland - the cool one.
This is a one step forward and two steps back sort of post.

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With the boxes in place I had to start to figure out how to get the fir to wrap around, in and onto the the cabinets. There's a ton of stupid returns and no real obvious path or direction and I spend a lot of time staring at it trying to figure it out. I knew I needed to fur out the inside of the upper display area so I could start installing the fir so I tacked and glued in some furring strips so I'd have something to nail the fir to. Sort of makes me wonder if they should firring strips. The first board to meet the cabinet from the wall was going to have all these ridiculous cuts, miters and worrisome places where things need to join.

I decided that I needed to make the doors so I could use them in the calculations. Since they're to be 1/4" or, more technically 6mm, I decided to make them in one go.

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By keeping the boards clamped together while I was cutting them to size I kept them identical.

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I write on the hole drilling rail so I know where to drill and where to skip. The hinges have to be exactly between the other set of holes so the stop on the rail is flipped from 16mm to 32mm.

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Meanwhile the truly productive family member is ripping the scrap boards into shelves.

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The doors went on and I headed off to pistol practice where I shoot with Ben on the Portland team. It's one of my regular "guy" nights out and after I was able to ask Ben about my many mitered dilemma.

I was looking at so many miters and so much complicated joinery it was really making me feel like I was not going to be able to make this look right. Fortunately, when Ben isn't convincing me to buy, say a Pardini 22, he's also good at talking me down when I've gone to too far. His sage advice?

It's a midcentury house - everything is supposed to be simple. There are no miters in a midcentury house. Plywood isn't even edge banded (they had better plywood then) and construction is always simpler than you expect. Plus, he added, the boxes should have some kind of border to set them off. We've been using a three color chord of natural wood, white and black and I should set off the display area with some black trim. Add a border and use that to terminate the end grain of the fir. End grain miters never go well and my plan included a lot of them.

His idea was both excellent and liberating. My ideas were way too complicated and not really in keeping with the house. So today I bought some 5/4 fir which I would use to make a small trim line and to intercept the end grains. 5/4 is actually 1" in the real world and using that on the 3/4 fir (which is 3/4 - go figure) leaves it 1/4" proud which should look good I hope.

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The same jig that I used to keep the cabinet sides the same width has an attachment to make small strips so I set it for 6mm and started ripping 1" strips of 6mm - because at this point I use whichever unit is closer to me at the time.

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These will be sanded down and painted black and soon I'll have an idea of how I'm going to use them.

Sadly, it was around this time that I thought to adjust the hinges to make them square, flat and ready for the doors to accept the first fir that I noticed that they were askew and beyond my ability to adjust them with the hinge plate adjustments. Upon closer inspection the line of holes that was supposed to be drilled at exactly 37mm from the edge was off. On every cabinet.

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This is what it should look like but...

Somehow when I set up the jig I messed up and one of the two rails was off. By about 4-5mm which meant the strip of holes wasn't aligned perfectly to the edge and that made it beyond the adjustment capability of the hinges. At this point I didn't take any photos because I was feeling really queasy. It meant that all the cabinets were wrong and the only thing to do was to do them all over.

Lara tried to think of a way to rescue it but I've been down this road before. When you're using this stuff it has to be bang on accurate. Maybe you can be off by 1mm but much more and things cascade into a disaster.

I realized that because we built the cabinets all symmetrical I could swap the sides and redrill them and only have to remake one side panel where we cut the hole for the electrical box.

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I can't tell you how happy I was that we didn't glue the boxes up. We took them out, unscrewed them and banged them apart. I reset the jig and checked it about 10 times. Then a couple more. Then I re drilled all the holes (save the center panels which just hold shelves) on the back of the sides.

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So we end the day seemingly farther behind than we started. It will be a miracle if this gets done in time.

Gregor
 
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sakurama

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There is just so much to like in this thread.

Thanks man.

Spinal tap. Such a fine line between clever and stupid...

Ha, thanks for the reminder. I should watch that again.


________________________________________________​


Today was two steps forward and none back. That was a relief.

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Lara started the day painting the 1" x 1/4" trim black in anticipation of starting to lay out the paneling.

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The other helpful thing she does is straighten and clean any time she's not doing something else. She's a bit like Jorgé in that way. Also, same height.

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Ben stopped by to check out the progress and offer his insight which turned out to be very timely as I was trying to sort out the order of which boards to put up first...

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Ben's suggestion was to make the doors first and I was going to do that last. They're the dominate feature of the wall so it makes sense to build them first and then key off them. Inevitably there will be fudging and massaging to make this work but if the doors are built the rest can be laid in around them. Makes perfect sense, so step zero became doors.

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Since of course the boards don't line up with the doors I had to put them in place and then mark off how they landed on the door. The trickiest part is the notching of the board that lays partly on the door and then on the opening above.

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I use the track saw to cut most of the length with a plunge cut then use the jigsaw to cut the short horizontal cuts and then a hand plane or chisel to clean up what's left.

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Then I'd select a board trying to vary the coloring and I'd cut off 10" for the base and number it, then the next piece was cut at 1376mm (I really do float between the two units as I please - it's like my version of spanglish) and the remainder was cut to about 5-6" or so as I'd only need about 3-4" for the strip over the door. To help the door stay straight and flat I glued the boards to the 1/4" backing and then nailed them from behind. Ben says to expect them to move and or warp so if that happens my plan will be to route an inset and inlay some kind of metal frame or brace. I'm hoping that it will stay stable.

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By keeping the cuts numbered I'm hoping to maintain the grain of the front. By using Ben's suggestion of a border I don't have to worry about matching or wrapping the grain around the corner.

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The tongue and groove has a shallow channel in the back so at the edge I cut a thin strip and glue it in just to give it some stability for the glue and nail.

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The 1/4" door had the hinge cups drilled but of course they're too shallow and so when the fir is put on I needed to make them deeper. Since I already had the holes in the plywood I just centered the forstner bit in the router and used a depth stop to take them down just a few millimeters more.

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Test fitting the first door did a lot to lift my spirits. It really matches and becomes invisible on the wall. Provided I get the upper and lower grain matched pieces aligned nicely it should look great.

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The second door is done but needs to be hung. You can see the bottom of the first door is just slightly bowed out. I'm going to need to put magnets in the corners to help make sure the doors lock in flush.

Next is to lay in the vertical side boards, then the floor, the back, the top and then the fronts. Goal for tomorrow is to finish out one side completely and then the next on Friday.

Gregor
 

fastev

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May 28, 2013
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97
Location
Portland, OR
You, sir, are a glutton for punishment. I'm glad I can live vicariously through you. Fortunately, my house is late 19th century, so I can embellish anything and everything to 'make it work'. MCM's are deceiving simple-- in other words, not simple at all...

And I agree with Ben, get the Pardini...
I'm hoping I can make it out on a Monday soon after the new year.
 
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sakurama

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You, sir, are a glutton for punishment. I'm glad I can live vicariously through you. Fortunately, my house is late 19th century, so I can embellish anything and everything to 'make it work'. MCM's are deceiving simple-- in other words, not simple at all...

And I agree with Ben, get the Pardini...
I'm hoping I can make it out on a Monday soon after the new year.

Yes, I am a glutton for this sort of thing. I think it’s called “savior behavior.” I hated to see this beautiful house so abused. The other side of the coin is it was pretty well gone so I could only help.

I got the Pardini already. No regrets. I made Master last year and I’m hoping to get High Master this year. There’s a lot of Pardini’s at our club so Ben’s influence is not to be taken lightly. A Pardini may be in your future!

Looking forward to you joining us some Monday.

Gregor
 

tjpavlov

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May 18, 2012
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Providence, RI
Track saw question.... do you now have both a TS55 and TS75? I thought that you started with one but switched to the other at some point.

What are your thoughts on two two saws compared to each other? As someone who now owns a Festool dust extractor entirely because of you, I would be curious to know your thoughts. I see a track saw in my future.....
 

bdking

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May 16, 2013
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94
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PDX
Track saw question.... do you now have both a TS55 and TS75? I thought that you started with one but switched to the other at some point.

What are your thoughts on two two saws compared to each other? As someone who now owns a Festool dust extractor entirely because of you, I would be curious to know your thoughts. I see a track saw in my future.....

As I recall Gregor had the bigger track saw when this all started. My brother also started with the bigger one & sold it to buy a TS55. I've used both & definitely suggest the TS55 unless you have some specific reason you need the additional plunge depth. The weight difference feels significant.
 
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sakurama

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Yes, Ben is correct. I had an original TS55 like 15 years ago as my very first Festool purchase (with the vacuum which I still have) and when they launched the new TS55 I bought it but there were some issues with the launch and they did a voluntary recall and offered everyone either a TS75 or to be put on the waiting list for the revised one. I needed to keep working so I got the TS75 thinking the additional depth and hp would be welcome. It was a beast but not enough to out weigh the weight so to speak.

I sold it and bought the new TS55 again and would recommend the 55 over the 75 any day. It's got a ton of power, it's light and very easy to use. I'm doing a bunch of rips right now and it's a joy to use.

Gregor
 
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sakurama

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I said I'd get one side done today and I'm about as tired as I've been but I did get it done.

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Lara started the day cleaning up the window trim which had one board in it and about a 1/2" of caulk to fill the 3/4" gap. Our cat Biscuit wants very much to be a shop cat and comes and sits near us until we start up the saw.

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I covered up the side first and then immediately realized that the order I was going to do the boards was written on the wall behind that side. Fortunately I'd taken a photo of it and so I looked up this thread and continued on.

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The sides get done first and you don't worry about the ends on them as they'll be covered. The bottom goes on next and you don't worry about the back you just flush the front.

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On the return I just measure and cut the last board to fit. I also didn't really bother matching any grain or color as the bottom won't ever be seen really. Unless I make some really tall friends.

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The back got a bit wonky and I was having to give some gaps in the back to make things square. Lots of little cheats.

Meanwhile what seemed like way too many boards started to appear like not enough. I probably gave myself about 10% extra to what I thought I'd need and I probably used that in testing stains.

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Some of the boards were shiny from when I put a coat of clear on and forgot to stir it (the satin component sinks and needs to be stirred in) so we knocked them down, stirred the clear very well and Lara gave them a single light coat to get them back to the satin sheen of the rest.

We're still going to be short some boards I think so I ordered a few more.

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Lara left with Judiaann to go to some food party but after the kids were fed and in bed I decided to rally and try to finish the one side. I took my numbered pile of top boards and put an .063 thou piece of scrap over the doors and then laid in the board and marked it with a scrap of the 1/4" trim.

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It was pretty satisfying to see the grain match up. It was also inconceivable that was even considering mitering the corners. Thank god for Ben.

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For the short pieces I glue them on with some paneling adhesive and then nail them through the tongue. It should help with minimizing any movement and give it some strength. I'm also using a laser level on each board to help me transfer the spacing to the upper run. If I tap them all home too tightly I'll end up with a gap or worse. While I didn't match the grains on the top to the bottom I was able to get really close going through the scraps.

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I get lucky and the last board just slips into space with some light taps.

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I cut and install the 1/4" black edging trim and that is that. One side done. It is in many ways sort of underwhelming as it just looks like the rest of the wall with a small box pushed out. But then if I look at it through the lens of a midcentury house it looks exactly like what they would have done in this house. Someone walking in would never know this wasn't an original detail and in that way it's pretty dang cool.

I can't wait to finish this - it's been so much harder than I expected. Which comes as a surprise to exactly no one here but me I guess...

Gregor
 

Huxley

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210
Location
Colorado

Is anyone else quoting AVE on YouTube when reading this? "Tappy, Tap, Tap."

It looks amazing! All the time spent matching grain, stain & finish has really paid off. I completely get what you are saying on the 'underwhelming', I have it worse by only seeing/focusing on the many small mistakes when I finish a project.

Please take us all down the gun rabbit hole when convenient - as I search for my checkbook [GULP]. You have mentioned them in previous posts but I don't recall any in-depth write ups that compelled several of us to start shopping for exotic, well made firearms. Have you taken apart said gun(s) to make any improvements?

Also, is High Master the black belt level?

Cheers!
 
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bdking

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i-VfP4cpr-X2.jpg


I cut and install the 1/4" black edging trim and that is that. One side done. It is in many ways sort of underwhelming as it just looks like the rest of the wall with a small box pushed out. But then if I look at it through the lens of a midcentury house it looks exactly like what they would have done in this house. Someone walking in would never know this wasn't an original detail and in that way it's pretty dang cool.

Yeah, you would have gone through a bunch of material trying to get the mitres right, and I’m sure they would have scalloped or blown up in the spring when it gets more humid. Plus this detail helps establish the thin black quarter rounds, which both hide the ragged edges of the roof decking & look kickass. It’s a detail that you wouldn’t often see in a house like yours but its not out of place. And it looks kickass.
 

Kriesel

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Mar 25, 2014
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Afton, Minnesota
i-VfP4cpr-X2.jpg


I cut and install the 1/4" black edging trim and that is that. One side done. It is in many ways sort of underwhelming as it just looks like the rest of the wall with a small box pushed out. But then if I look at it through the lens of a midcentury house it looks exactly like what they would have done in this house. Someone walking in would never know this wasn't an original detail and in that way it's pretty dang cool.

I think this looks perfect. The black trim looks awesome, and I would agree it fits the house really well.

On the doors, you should put "push-to-open" latches...
 
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sakurama

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Portland - the cool one.
I think this looks perfect. The black trim looks awesome, and I would agree it fits the house really well.

On the doors, you should put "push-to-open" latches...

I've looked at them and I'd like to do that but it seems like you need a bit of relief in the back to do the push thing. If that's the case they'd stand proud as made. I've tried to find install advice on them but haven't had any luck. Have you installed them?

Gregor
 

lonestarky

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Mar 28, 2011
Messages
367
Location
Lindenhurst IL
We have them all over the place. The pin mounts to the door, the latch to the underside of the cabinet.

Barely noticeable, but you do need a small amount of lost motion to lock closed or open them.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

bdking

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May 16, 2013
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PDX
I’ve used the push-open hardware several times. I haven’t seen a system that would work in Gregor’s situation- they all need a few millimeters of play behind flush.
 
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sakurama

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Portland - the cool one.
Please take us all down the gun rabbit hole when convenient - as I search for my checkbook [GULP]. You have mentioned them in previous posts but I don't recall any in-depth write ups that compelled several of us to start shopping for exotic, well made firearms. Have you taken apart said gun(s) to make any improvements?

Also, is High Master the black belt level?

Ha, kind of. Master is an average score of 95% or put another way I hit 19 out of 20 bullseyes on average. High Master is 97% and is much harder. The style of shooting is Olympic; one hand, 50' with a bullseye a bit less than an inch. It's very zen.

I generally don't talk much about guns because they're so politically charged. My dad was an Eagle Scout, a paratrooper in the 82nd but also a hippie who loved to hunt. None of those things were mutually exclusive it seemed. It was in a time before the political spectrum cleaved the world into two unreconcilable or maybe unrecognizable halves.

While I'm not a fan of the NRA or their politics I am a fan of guns. Somewhere along the line it was decided that conservatives got guns and dirt bikes and liberals got granola and yoga. I was not at those meetings...

But I do have some super cool guns - mostly of the extremely precise european type. If there's interest I'd show some of them. For those wondering what a Pardini is - here's mine.

i-SgmFwcR-X2.jpg



___________________________________________________​


Today we hit a wall - so to speak. We ran out of wood. I think it was all those staining tests and also, the way that I've designed this tends to use a lot of shorter pieces and that screws up the count. I could finish easily if I just nailed a bunch of boards together end to end! I got some more on the way tomorrow.

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I had to rip a very long shim off a 2x4 to help make up the gap on the top of the second display area.

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I also started using the Kapex's depth stop to cut out the notches. It's cleaner than the jigsaw and faster too and if that photo makes you nervous... um, it does me too. I think I hold the wood back farther when I'm actually cutting it and maybe that was just for the photo that I held it like that. I do feel like I'm getting to that "too comfortable" stage with the Kapex. Much like motorcycles you're most dangerous when you "think" you know what you're doing but haven't the years of experience under your belt.

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One more door down and the other most of the way. I'm about 3 - 4 boards short of a cabinet. Or maybe it's one sandwich short of a picnic. Something like that.

Days are ticking away. The Christmas tree is being postponed yet again but the finish line is in sight.

Gregor
 

BoilermakerFan

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2,188
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Indianapolis, Indiana
<snip>

Ha, kind of. Master is an average score of 95% or put another way I hit 19 out of 20 bullseyes on average. High Master is 97% and is much harder. The style of shooting is Olympic; one hand, 50' with a bullseye a bit less than an inch. It's very zen.

I generally don't talk much about guns because they're so politically charged. My dad was an Eagle Scout, a paratrooper in the 82nd but also a hippie who loved to hunt. None of those things were mutually exclusive it seemed. It was in a time before the political spectrum cleaved the world into two unreconcilable or maybe unrecognizable halves.

While I'm not a fan of the NRA or their politics I am a fan of guns. Somewhere along the line it was decided that conservatives got guns and dirt bikes and liberals got granola and yoga. I was not at those meetings...

But I do have some super cool guns - mostly of the extremely precise european type. If there's interest I'd show some of them. For those wondering what a Pardini is - here's mine.

i-SgmFwcR-X2.jpg


<snip>

Gregor

I was going to ask what type of matches you shoot. I looked at the Pardini site and I wasn't sure which model you used... Their IDPA style firearms look like CZ clones and as much as I really wanted one, I did NOT care for their grip or ergonomics at all. Hated it. So is that a 22LR pistol? It looks like it's a 22 with a mechanical trigger.

And I hold very similar political and interests as you, many think I contradict myself since I really enjoy firearms and hunting, but I'm also not a fan of the NRA. Usually if the individual or individuals (left or right since I'm pretty much a center of the road type and look at each issue independently) are willing to listen, I can explain my beliefs and then they understand. On rare occasions I've had a few staunch NRA types that didn't get it, but they just let it go since I usually can outshoot any of them. :bounce:

We don't have any Olympic style matches around here that I'm aware of. There are a few places within a 2 hour drive that I could shoot IDPA or bowling pin matches, but the IDPA rules kind of annoy me and many don't run BUG classes which is the most like true defensive carry scenarios to me.

Two of my friends travel out west for long range competitions and I have no interest in having to fly or drive a full day to compete in those either, but it is fun to see their pictures and hear their stories.

The closets are looking great.
 
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sakurama

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Location
Portland - the cool one.
We started the day picking up the replacement boards but I forgot that the garage was so cold so I put the Shellac in my favorite warming spot - on the espresso machine.

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I gave the boards a single seal coat of the amber shellac to ensure the grain wouldn't reverse and then I had to look up my own thread to remember what the formula I used for the dye mixture. Luckily this thread is filled with all sorts of things I'd otherwise forget. I mixed up half a batch of the dyed shellac...

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and started to brush it on. I remembered that for the deep reddish color I'd brush on a second coat but it's very tricky to brush shellac. If you drip any it dissolves the coat below and you have spots. I had a few screw ups but overall the boards turned out great.

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While we had the mixture out I diluted it a bit and then painted the end grain and edges of the cabinets. A little bit got on the inner door but I think I may paint that - maybe something a bit unexpected like a yellow or red. It's hidden so it would be a fun surprise. I also hid a copy of the local newspaper under the second cabinet bottom. Who knows how many years it will be before someone ever looks in there but if they do an entire newspaper from 2017 might be interesting.

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I decided after seeing the cabinets that I wasn't going to store my records in there. They're too deep and it wouldn't be a good use of space. Given that it made sense to make an extra few shelves to help get a bit more out of it. Once we put the shelves in it suddenly became a cabinet - a really large one. This isn't a house with a lot of storage and the original blue prints showed that a rolling storage cabinet was to be placed against this wall so I feel like we got back to a very original intent sort of thing. That and we just got a lot of much needed storage.

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Lara said that all my shots of her were looking down and made her look older (not possible) so I told her she needed to do something that made her look up. She vacuumed the ceiling. Actually it needed it. Win win.

I just put another coat of poly on before bed so by morning we should be able to knock this out and then try to finish up some abandoned trim projects and then clean up. It's getting there. Is everyone's pre holiday family visits this hectic?

Gregor
 

Huxley

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Mar 4, 2008
Messages
210
Location
Colorado
I was taking in some of the details on the pistol photo. Any idea how the Italians get this surface finish in the grip?
 

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locul

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Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
98
This thread is as much use for us, that it is for you. "had to look up my own thread to remember what the formula I used". Done that many times.
It makes this what it is. You make it all personal, in a good way. You tell the small stories behind every picture. Detailing what you´ve done and shown your hit and misses. No way this can be done otherwise. If so, you should make a new Life-Docu Mid-century series. Please don´t make us wait 2-4 month between the uploads as with Project Binky.

Smart trigger on that Pardini. Makes for a straight squeeze with low risk in twisting that Italian affair.

ps: I need that Docu-life series to show us your take on a electric motorbike build.

cheers from fairy Denmark
 

bdking

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May 16, 2013
Messages
94
Location
PDX
I was taking in some of the details on the pistol photo. Any idea how the Italians get this surface finish in the grip?

That’s actually a Rink grip (German.)

The grips are milled on a cnc machine to leave a really rough sharp texture where your hand touches (except the trigger finger.) The grips are beautiful out of the box. For optimum fit you really need to add a little putty or grind a little wood here or there over a period of time though. The resulting splotchy mismatched look this results in really offended Gregor so he avoided working on his grips for years. Finally he worked out a way to modify the grips & end up with a beautiful results. His Vitarbo grip now looks like a flat black stealth golf ball- you’ll never see it coming.

Generally the grip-fitting modifications are on the palm side of the grip, so they don’t show in the photo he posted.
 

Jsweezy

New member
Joined
Jan 23, 2017
Messages
1
Location
Hillsboro, OR
You should have asked Lara what shes doing reading this thread and told her to get back to work!

Just kidding of course, your house is looking awesome!

Edit - I just wanted to add that when I first saw the 4th photo in post 2391 I thought Lara was playing the circle game (where you make a circle with your thumb and first finger below your waist and whoever sees it gets a free punch).
 
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mr_magicfingers

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Joined
Apr 22, 2013
Messages
70
Location
Devon, UK
I'm another 'hippy who hunts'. Was vegetarian for 25 years, mainly because I couldn't afford good quality meat when I left home and didn't like much of the mass production values of rearing meat. So I stopped.

Years later I could afford well raised and slaughtered meat and my ethics led me to hunting. Now I raise my own pigs and chickens, hunt deer and birds when able to add to the pot.

Living in the UK, we have some of the toughest gun control laws in the world. Honestly, I like it like that. I lived in Texas for a few years a while back and it was somewhat eye opening to see how easy it was to buy and own so many firearms. Naturally, over here those of us that shoot follow the politics of firearm ownership closely and of the same things in the US. It does seem to be incredibly polarised to either you're a gun-waving right wing zealot or a granola eating hippy. It's good to hear that there are more people in the middle ground.

Oh and yes, please post gun stuff, I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts on what you have and how you find them. At least this is one section of the thread where it won't be quite as damaging to my wallet as I simply can't go out and buy firearm stuff as easily ;)
 
OP
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sakurama

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Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
1,458
Location
Portland - the cool one.
Oh and yes, please post gun stuff, I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts on what you have and how you find them. At least this is one section of the thread where it won't be quite as damaging to my wallet as I simply can't go out and buy firearm stuff as easily ;)

Glad to hear your thoughts. I follow the overseas gun regulations and certainly the competitions. My feeling is that the NRA went down the wrong path by promoting fear - if they'd promoted hunting for hipsters we'd be having a very different discussion. What's better than farm to table? Field to table.

Sadly for you pretty much all of my guns are things that you would be able to buy in Europe or GB. I apologize in advance for that... :lol:

Gregor
 

Estley

Active member
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
32
While I'm not a fan of the NRA or their politics I am a fan of guns. Somewhere along the line it was decided that conservatives got guns and dirt bikes and liberals got granola and yoga. I was not at those meetings...


I have to find a way to fit that into either a bumper sticker or a t-shirt...



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