Above 1200 Sq/FT The Retread Shed

[Gizmosity]

Gaze into the world that is my life.......while I fumble fart my way around unsuccessfully assembling an Emmert vise with a new beam and a new cam. Much merry mayhem, head-scratching and M&M consumption. I also say 'I don't know' a lot.

Also, it's not focussed very well. So that adds to the charm.

 

[Gizmosity]

As seems appropriate for this post, I'm using Notepad.

A new trip around the sun just started. I'm sure there'll be a multitude of days I want to forget and, I hope anyway, a decidedly larger amount of moments/days that I will think of that cause a **** eating grin (SEG)

Today is a SEG day. I made up my mind that I'm not working this week on work. I worked on Chrismas. I get some time for something I want to do.

So, today I start on a new-ish handplane project. Not quite new, but since I didn't actually do anything with it when I decided that making a handplane would be a great fun, I'm going to call it new-ish.

I ran into a digital copy of "WORK, An Illustrated Magazine of Practice and Theory For All Workmen, Professional And Amateur" (1889) quite some time ago on some random website and saved it. Then I lost it for.....maybe 14 years. Found it again and THIS time I'm doing something with it. I'm actually working on createing a 3D model, CAM and I hope someday soon, buying some redboard and creating a pattern for it and casting in bronze.

See, I have had a sickness for infill planes since I first saw a photo of one. I'm also a bottom-feeder. Those two traits don't really live well together. I'm sure there might be a homeless Lamborghini owner.......Anyway.

I started-starting a dovetail infill shoulder plane last month-ish. I got all the materials for it.

I'm just shy a working vise. I JUST pulled the trigger on a correct main screw for the Emmert about 30 minutes ago. So, until that shows up I'm working on a 3D model and doing drywall work. Nice contrast there, eh?

To further contrast, I give to you, for no real reason, my current Desert Island Top 20:

Here and Heaven - Goat Rodeo Sessions
PrOn Song - MC Frontalot
One Red Thread - Blind Pilot
Funny How Times Slips Away - Johnny Cash (VH1 Storytellers version)
Go To Hell - Nashville ***** (Live)
Good To Be Me - Uncle Kracker
1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Short Skirt / Long Jacket - Cake
Gone Shootin' - AC/DC
Gin and Juice - The Goards
Push - Matchbox 20
Jumpin' At Shadows - Gary Moore
My Name is Death - Red Wanting Blue
Shirt - Belle Brigade
30 Days In The Hole - Humble Pie
Maybe I'm Amazed - The Faces
In The Evening - Led Zepplin
Lenny - Stevie Ray Vaughan (Live at Carnegie Hall
Cheap Wine - Charlie Parr

Music plays a big part of my attitudes and my moods. Music plays where I am if I can arrange it. This list of 20 changes slightly every couple of years.
To be honest...it hasn't changed since 2012.

So, I'm waiting on a screw so I can assemble a vise so I can grab a hunk of steel so I can hacksaw a dovetail so I can pean a plane together.

 

[Gizmosity]

I don't hate many things. I hate cancer, drywall work and the Seattle Seahawks.

Don't ask about the Seahawk thing. I haven't cared about professional football for 20 years but my feelings for the Seahawks have been the same since June 4 1974 when they were allowed in the league. I was 7.

I like to think I don't hold grudges....but I hate the Seahawks.

Cancer....no need to even add words for that.

Drywall. Damn. I hate drywall work. I don't really mind hanging it so much as mudding it.
My mudding philosophy goes something like this:

Smear 4.5 gallons on the walls/ceiling, drop 0.5 gallons of the floor/shoes.

Sand 4.4 gallons off the walls/ceiling.

Curse. Curse loud.

Repeat.

So, I've been sanding a bit here and there, throwing a coat on here and there as I can stand it.

My wife's office will double in size and her merchandise will mostly fit in one room instead of all over the house/basement
like it is now. I'm turning the closet into a shipping area. I'm hoping I can stop hiding my tape and scissors soon.

The Emmert is sort of done. It actually works.

I'm in it.........about (cough)$400(cough). More than I wanted for sure but in the end I have a working Emmert.
I've thought about taking it apart again and throwing parts in the shot blast cabinet and painting it.
Part of me would really like it to look all shiny. Part of me doesn't really like shiny things. I'm torn.

I need to turn a handle. Ill most likely mention a need and some measurements to a couple of folks I know who
take great pleasure into making square things round. Every piece of wood they see they can imangine a bowl.
I could put wood turning into my above list. I don't have the patience to stand there and make something round.
I've tried it, I sold my wood lathe. Not my thing. I can't stand still that long and I don't like sharpening that much. Turning metal is a whole different story. I could do that all day.

I gave up NOT working on work stuff about 30 minutes after I decided I wasn't going to work on work stuff.

It's a blessing and a curse. Much of what I do for work, I just plain enjoy doing. It's hard to separate work from enjoyment.

I'm sure once classes start that attitude will shift a bit....it usually does.

 

[Gizmosity]

I have actually gotten some drywall work done. It's not 'done' but it's moving toward that direction.

I got a text message from some friends asking if I could spend a few days at their place pretending to be a finish carpenter. Any excuse to not touch drywall mud is fine by me. Pretty easy job. Everything was already purchased and finished. They bought 16' and 12' sticks and they bought MORE than enough. They're nice folks and work from home so I was able to BS and work. They are still trying to pay me for the last couple days of work I did for them (this is a 7,000sf business/home). I prefer to trade my time doing finish work for his time on my roof helping me tear off shingles next summer.

I need to go back tomorrow and finish the job tomorrow and try to avoid coming home with a check.

I mentioned some things I don't like previously, here's a couple more:

1. The term 'jointer/planer'. It's one or the other. It's not both unless it's a combo machine. Anytime I speak with someone who 'talks the talk' and doesn't know the difference between jointing material and planing material, I quit listening. I hate the fact that when I'm looking to buy a jointer on CL, I have to search for a 'planer'. This leads us to:

2. 'Lathing'. I won't elaborate. It brings up my blood pressure.

3. Chunky peanut butter. It's not 'chunky' so much as its 'DEFECTIVE'.

4. Cheese curds. I'm not super up on how cheese is made, but I'm pretty sure 'curds' get pulled from the manufacturing process of 'cheese'. It's unfinished cheese. They charge more per pound for it than actual cheese and stress how 'fresh' it is. I'll take my cheese old, moldy and delicious, thanks.

Hold on, there's kids on my lawn.....

 

[fergus]

Hold on, there's kids on my lawn.....

You're much too young to be imitating my grandfather, but then, so am I, and I do it on a regular basis.

Anyhow, keep it up. You should think about writing a legit blog, or comic strip or something. Feels like I'm reading the woodworking/home improvement version of Dilbert. Which is AWESOME.

I know what you mean about cleaning up the Emmert, but then maybe you just want to leave it as-is. I feel the same way with all the old things that come my way.

 

[jbmatth]

I'm right there with you on all but 3, chunky peanut butter is "real" peanut butter, the creamy stuff is for kids PB&J, mouse traps, and dogs so you can laugh at them trying to get it off of the roof of their mouths. LOL I think you might get the better end of the deal if you can keep that check out of your hand. Roofing isn't something you want to tackle alone or even with a small crew.

JB

 

[Gizmosity]

We'll have to agree to disagree JBmatth. But, I will say that no matter what it is, if it's 'chunky', by definition....it ain't butter. Also, She snuck me a check. But I still get him for a couple days of roof work so, win/win.

Fergus, I'm far too lazy. I see it. I think I use up a good part of my energy trying to teach people sort of boring stuff by being sort of funny. I haven't had that outlet for about a month so maybe I'm funnier in my off season? I do need an outlet. Maybe this will morph into that, I'm not sure. But, thank you for the compliment.

Some sort of Ice Storm is all up in my weather currently. My wife travelled out of town last week, came home last night and we met at our local watering hole and watched the Packer game and part of the Cheifs game. Go Pack! (I don't actually care if they win. But......every time they score this place passes out free Jell-O shots. So, while I don't care if they WIN, I do want them to SCORE. 'First and Jello ! '). Anyway.......my wife travelled to her mothers to check up on her today and this ice stuff got a little worse so she's staying there tonight, so it looks like it's just me and the cat tonight.

Back to work tomorrow. Classes start next week. I'm not sure what I feel.

 

[Gizmosity]

The ice has kept me in sweat-pants-and-coffee mode all morning. I've watched my poor neighbor slide down her 300 yard driveway several times in an attempt to get to her car that she parked in front of my garage last night. Based on that? I'm not putting big-boy clothes on and instead am plunging down rabbet holes.

I'm pretty familiar with rabbet holes. I go down them, WAY down them all the time. I've been down the Saltwater fish tank rabbet hole and manged to claw my way out. Theres still dirt under my nails from digging my way out of the Midlana race car rabbet hole. But, there's a couple of them that I'm in currently, and have been for a while and I kinda want to stay there and instead of clawing my way OUT, I want to claw my way THROUGH:

There's this whole house/shop thing I've been working on.
CNC.
Welder.
68 C10 restore.
Shop addition


House/Shop:
I've mentioned the condition of the house/shop. We jokingly call our place an 'Affordable property', technically it's a ****-hole. They have good bones, but everything else needs replaced....everything: roof, siding, windows, every inch of drywall, trim, flooring, kitchen....etc, etc, etc. My wife has lived in Central America in remote areas. As long as the roof doesn't leak and there's running water, shes fine. She's a trooper. We weren't financially ready to buy this place when we did. We're digging our way out of some carried debt so throwing large sums of cash at anything isn't really in the cards. That said, coming up with $1,000 on occasion isn't impossible, even just for something FUN, it's possible, but I have to weigh it against other things. Our finances will be completely different in less than 12 months.


CNC:
I want one. I can't afford anything worth owning. I don't consider the $1,000 kits anything I need. I understand CNC/CAD/CAM. I don't need a learning machine (it's arguable that I NEED any machine at all, but, whatever...) I've leaned toward building a Mechmate gantry mill for machining wood. (mechmate.com). I think there's a market around me for some work. I also see using it for cabinetry and custom furniture. It's also just fun. I have purchased some steel, some Windows XP computers that actually work (needed for the control software) and a control box that might be too small. This is a $6k project. I"m in it maybe $400. I need to drop at least $750 on steel and a kit of waterjet cut and precision bent parts to move forward. I'm about to pull that trigger.

I have a few business ideas that involve a VMC as well as a manual mill and lathe. That's a whole other discussion.....

Welder.

I have an old Miller stick welder. I also have a NOS Hobart stick welder that my brother in law dropped off as soon as he found out I had an outlet that would run his 2 year old, unused welder. I could use either of these to weld up my CNC frame, Y carriage and Z carriage and all the misc. stuff. But.......while stick would be fine for the main frame, it's not really ideal for the finicky parts. I've been looking at MIG. I was just going to borrow a MIG from work and supply my own gas and wire and use it over the summer. But, now i'm looking at a TIG/SMAW machine, specifically a 2016 AHP AlphaTIG 200X:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00REX6USW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Delivered to my door for $750, realistically after buying other stuff and a water cooled torch, say $1,000. I've managed to mentally cobble together a TIG cooler for maybe $100, although I doubt I would need it.

This ties into the 68 C10.

I used to have one and while I don't NEED another vehicle or a use for a truck more than once or twice a year, I'd like to restore one. I put myself through 3 years of school wrenching and doing body/paint work. I've replaced enough rear quarter panels working with my uncle and done enough complete restorations of absolute horror story cars/trucks to fumble fart my way though my own, although I might fly him over to lay down the final color and clear then help cut and buff. He does high end stuff, really high end stuff. No advertising, if you know of him and how to get ahold of him, he'll ask who referred you, because that's the only way to get in line. Otherwise he doesn't answer the phone. No lack of work. He's at least a year out...anyway. Yea, I miss my old 68. Enough to think about this stuff. I need a welder for this possible project......well, and a truck.

Shop addition:

It's 30x60 divided in two. I like the division, but 30x30 is proving to be tight for what I envision. I'd like to bump out the back 16' and at least along one side 16'. I could have a place for trailer/tractor/mowers on the 'metals' side (30x'x16'-ish), a bench room (30'x16'), possibly a bathroom and still have 30x16 available for a 10'x5' gantry mill. A lift, blah, blah, blah. Pie in the sky.

But, these are the rabbet holes I'm hunkered down in.....and I'm making myself comfortable down here.

 

[matt_i]

Very nice interests. Take a look at Fadal when you get ready to go VMC. Its an older setup, very repairable and lots of parts and support, but nonetheless a very good package.

An old(er) truck is also on my wish list. (Already have an '88)

 

[Gizmosity]

Funny, I was watching a local online auction with three Fadal 914 VMC's that were going for dirt cheap, all under power and used in education. So, realistically not used much. I think they were 1995, 1999 and 2000 machines. Floppy drives, but we still have a Milltronics lathe with a floppy drive. We just put a USB/Floppy emulator in it. You're limited to 1.44Mb but G-Code doesn't take much space.

Eventually they went for enough money that I didn't bid. I think $5.5k, $7.5k and $8k, but they hovered at about $2500 for quite a while and I was literally drooling. If this auction had hit in about 9 months I might not have won any of the lots, but I'd have been in there bidding.

I don't have 3 phase at home and it's not possible to have it brought in, it's a RPC or SPC or VFD or nothing. I was looking at rigging fees and an RPC big enough to run one of the Fadal machines. Yikes.

The ideas/dreams I have don't require anything that big or powerful. I wouldn't need anything bigger than a Tormach 770, but I am continuing to eyeball the 1100. While I might be able to get a larger machine for less, by the time you factor in rigging, power and misc, BS, I'd be much happier with a Tormach and paying a few thousand more for it. They're a known entity. We have 6 of them.

 

[Gizmosity]

Long term Studio goals:
(Studio sounds like I have my **** together more than 'shop'.)

200amp service (East side). 100amp sub panel (West side).

Outlets/light rough in (West side).

Insulation and drywall (West Side).

Repair/replace siding ( new siding on house. House siding used to repair studio).

New roof.

Gutter on front elevation.

Eliminate two 10' roll-up doors and entry door. relocate a single 10' (West Side).

16x60 addition to back and 16x46 with entry door to East side (3500sf should be enough, right?). Ahahahaha.

Eliminate existing entry door (East side).

Move water to East side addition, 1/2 bath if I can tie into existing septic...doubtful.

HEAT. F@cking heat. AT LEAST 2 separate heat sources, 3 if there's a bathroom.

WINDOWS THAT OPEN for any available cross breeze.

Figure if I write this down, maybe some of this will magically happen.

I finally ordered some cut/bent parts for the CNC project so something shop related is moving forwards. I've been doing quite a bit of concentrated research. I think I have the cost down to right aT $5k. I went into the shop today to steal my last two beers out of the fridge and dump tools out of the back of my car after replacing my MIL's battery. Too cold to do much else.


Been working on classes pretty much every waking moment. My wife is out of town again, but this time it's family medical emergencies. I'm home with not much to do but make sure the cat stays alive. Technically I'm in charge of the neighbors cat too. He's on a cruise somewhere. Checked his fridge....didn't leave anything to munch on. I hope he burns the bottoms of his feet.

 

[Gizmosity]

A very long day at work a few days ago, capped off with a pretty heavy box propped up against the garage door, just out of the snow.

Cut and bent parts for the CNC build are HERE.

A word about the parts: Amazing. I unpacked the VERY well packed box and got all the shrink wrap off. The steel is so clean I didn't have to wash my hands afterward.
The parts are even laser engraved with part numbers.

And, just for my own amusement?

My very first subassembly is complete.

Low hanging fruit for sure, but a start that's been a long time coming.

I'm eyeball deep in HSMWorks as well as PathPilot control software at work, developing labs/assignments/ etc. I've shared a few of my ideas in class and they're excited to get turned loose and break things.

I've burrowed my way into the world of Linux based controllers, veered into the Land of servos instead of steppers and had grand notions of building two, one as a plasma table and one as a router.

For now I'm going to have to be content with my 4 complete foot assemblies at home. Too much on my plate at work (and too cold anyway) to get anything substantial done in terms of progress besides spending money I don't really have and creating piles of new parts I won't do anything with for 3-4 months.

 

[Gizmosity]

I remember when I was about 5 years old looking forward to Saturday morning cartoons starting on about Wednesday. I'd get up before any station was actually broadcasting and wait for the snowy screen to churn out my 1972 Saturday morning hysteria while I chomped down a bowl of Count Chocula on the floor in front of a black and white console TV.

At 49 years of age, I get the same feeling when a new This Old Tony video comes out.

 

[Gizmosity]

The weather this past couple of days has been amazing. Despite being swamped with work, I managed to spend some time in the shop with the door open. Didn't really do much besides clean up. Towards the end, I grabbed a piece of wood off the bandsaw table and was going to crosscut it short enough to fit in the fireplace......but it didn't make it.

 

[Gizmosity]

This mornings 'FabriCobble' brought to you by......Menards, MSC, and some junk laying around.

I took over our CNC program a few weeks ago. While technically it was my 'baby' last semester, I'd already volunteered to teach some extra courses to make up for a loss of another faculty member. I didn't have time to do much in the lab over Fall.

The first issue was that of the use of coolant. The 770's method of chip collection isn't a joke, but it is somewhat of a riddle. Chip doesn't really want to leave the machine, you have to coax it.

That chip conveyor, while a great idea in theory, simply didn't work without putting as much energy into pushing chip through the machine as it would take to just vacuum it out. The conveyor is going to get used, but not for this application.

After I got the conveyor out, it was obvious that we were missing two complete coolant pumps/sumps. I found a couple on MSC that were a bit larger than the stock unit, were drastically cheaper, but required some futzing.

For what little budget I have....I futzed. I also was able to re-route/re-plumb some air lines. The way the lines were run, the air went to each of the four mills from a single regulator/oiler. The oil is for tool changers and power draw bars. The lines split at each machine and also fed a blow gun at each machine. We were going through an insane amount of pneumatic oil. So, I dug around the labs and found pretty much everything I needed to split the feed into two manifolds.
Much, much better.

The newer coolant sump needed some kind of chip catch tray. I found some stainless steel kitchen trays on MSC (Volrath) and then ran to Menards and got some kitchen drains and PVC extensions. Drilled a couple holes without breaking my wrist and threw it all on a couple of Pendaflex file folder frames I found in a junk heap.

Got here at 5am and just finished.

Also, my dead reliable Subaru? It's on life support.

 

[fergus]

Nice futzing. Seems like a few changes will go a long way this year towards preserving some budget.

 

[Gizmosity]

It's a perfect storm.......
Tax return.
Auction RIPE with Bridgeports. Auction specifically states 'we don't have a forklift. Bring a way to pick them up.' Also, they've incorrectly labeled all of them as 480V 3 phase, when they're dual voltage.
Pick up days are during my Spring Break.

I looked into renting a forklift, but sent an email asking if it's OK for me to drive my forklift in their building. Get a message back that they can have a forklift load for me.

By nature I'm a bottom feeder so I'm out of the bidding early for these if prices get dumb. I think there's enough roadblocks to keep quite a few people from bidding. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I called on a Kennedy intermediate chest (2 drawer) a few days ago and arranged to meet around 11:00 today. Got there and he'd just sold it about 10 minutes before. I did get the tools that were also for sale. Not a bad score.

3-4" Mitutoyo, 2-3" Starret, 0-6" Starret depth mic., Mitutoyo hole guage set, a sweet little Jacobs chuck and some misc stuff. All in perfect condition from a retired tool and die maker. $100. On the downside, I needed that intermediate chest BEFORE I grabbed this stuff. Now I really need one.

I'm calling the wood 'studio' done and focusing on the 'other' side for machining. Not to say if some deal comes along I won't bite. I'm still looking for a reasonably priced longbed 8" jointer and have a ton of organizing to do, but I think I can work out of it pretty well with just a bit more work, not major purchases.

 

[Gizmosity]

Cautious optimism has turned to disgust. Crazy what people will pay for a clapped out Bridgeport that they can't test. Oh, well.

The deal of a lifetime comes along every three months.

Ran into Madison to grab a pail of drywall mud. I may actually finish mudding in the next couple of weeks. While I was at HomeDepot I cut through the tools section and spied a 4 pack of Bessy clamps for a $20 bill. Grabbed 5, which was what was on the shelf. Not sure if that's a store only sale or what. Can't seem to buy them online. I'm not a huge Bessy fan, but their cam clamps are about all you can buy anymore with Jorgensen gone. For $5 a clamp for 12" clamps, I'm being won over.

Cleaned the garage over the last couple of days. Getting ready to buy/install a new door and opener in June. I need to pull all the vinyl siding off that wall to get new outside corners installed, while I'm at it I'll install a new 36" entry door and tyvek where I pull the vinyl before I put it back up. I may just buy new for that wall, there's not too much and it all has to come off for new windows in a year or two. A lot of it is cracked. The house and the shop have the same stuff in about the same shape.

Just for fun, I grabbed a #5 and started flattening the bottom of my bench top.

It's been a while since I've flattened anything this big. Need to make some winding sticks. I also discovered that I don't have a way of flattening my water stones anymore....or have a grinder to grind a hollow bevel.....dammit. Oh well. I'll figure something out......or MacGuiver it into the Subaru and drop it off to be sanded. Making shavings while listening to some tunes with the shop door open isn't a bad way to spend the afternoon.

 

[Gizmosity]

My day started off pretty good......until I got 45 minutes from home and realized I left my computer and hard drive at home in my backpack. My wife emailed me some needed files for classes, but I couldn't do much in my office. I did go through some piles of paper and had quite a date with the shredder. I finally realized I'd get more done from home so I took off early and got some quality computer time in and some grading done.

Amazingly nice day today so after some dinner I headed to the shop and was faced with that bench top.......

I machined some winding sticks and found a little bit of twist in it. I also pulled out some feeler gages. The whole middle is low. I started with a 0.010" feeler gage and mapped the high spots.

I have a #6 with a slight cambered iron in it so I planed perpendicular to the grain and removed the pencil lines, touched it up with a #7 with the grain and then remapped.

Rinse the sweat from your hat and repeat......

Slowly catching up to the low spots....

I got close enough to map with a .005" feeler gage and found the low 'islands'.

At this point I checked the winding sticks and found I still have a slight twist. One corner is just a little high. I grabbed the #7 and planed at 45 degrees to the grain all the way across and then did it again the opposite way, 45 degrees to the grain.

Finally I grabbed my 4-1/2 and planed with the grain, taking a light shaving.

There's still a slight twist, but my plane irons are done. I've got a diamond stone coming so I can lap my water stones and then I can put a good edge on my irons and chase the twist out, then go to town with the 4-1/2 again. I love that plane. Good enough for the bottom. Then I can flip it and do the top. I think the whole process took 2 hours, 1 laceration and I'm pretty sure at least 1 blister. I may get this thing done and get a vise mounted yet.........

 

[Gizmosity]

With my wife at a conference in Chicago, and now severely delayed getting home because of the parade, I've been mudding/sanding/benching (?). Got the bench flipped, the top flattened and the mound of shavings corralled.

I'm mudding and sanding 2 separate rooms so I'll mud one while I sand the other and then switch off. When mud is wet in both rooms I head to the shop and work on the bench.

I got a coat of mud up really early this morning and headed to the shop. It was 19 degrees outside and only slightly warmer in the shop. Got the ends squared up.

I started by laying out a straight edge and roughing as much material as possible with a circular saw.

Then I ran a router on the straight edge with a carbide up spiral bit with as much depth as there was tooth.

Finally, I flipped it over, cut off excess with a circular saw, used a flush trim bit in the router to flush the end up and then hit the ends with a low angle block plane,

While it was upside down for the last time, I ran to town and grabbed some 3/8"x3" lags......and a doughnut. Alright, alright....2 doughnuts. Got home and mounted the vise.

I'd planned on locating the top and legs with 1" dowels. I didn't realize that I don't have 1" dowel centers so I set about making some. Here's the vise being used for the very first time.

And some custom 1" dowel centers.

And.....that's where I'm at. The cold finally got to me and I had to go in the house and thaw out. I would imagine that it'll be done tomorrow.

For now, I need to sweep and vacuum drywall dust and clean up a bit. My wife expects to be home in a couple hours and we're going to paint the town.....beige.

 

[Gizmosity]

Sometime yesterday evening I came to the realization that I HAVE a working Emmert vise in my basement. Derp.

This workbench has a pretty simple story:

Just prior to my birthday about 1-1/2 years ago I went and grabbed the mail. In the mail were some birthday cards, a flyer from my hardwood supplier and a Fine Woodworking magazine. I had reached complete analysis paralysis on building a bench. I had/have showpiece benches designed with multiple vises and groovy hand fitted joinery. But, to really build a groovy bench you need a bench.

I stumbled into an article on a bench that was made quickly and affordably for a private woodworking school (I can't for the life of me find the article or remember who's school.....I'm digging). It was bolted together and had a double plywood top. My hardwood supplier had 15/16" Beech for $1.05 a board foot. I got some Amazon gift cards in the mail.

I ordered a Wilton vise on Amazon, called my lumber supplier and ordered the minimum amount of Beech to get the sale price, 300 bf.

I didn't really follow the plan so much as look at it and use the joinery methods. I went with a solid top. Building the bench was one of the first things I really built in the shop. I should say 'started' building, because it's still not done.

At the time, my Emmert was in a pile of pieces, with some missing and broken bits in a milk crate in a corner. It wasn't even on my radar.

This bench, as designed/built won't work to hold an Emmert.......but that's going to change.

I don't subscribe to too many YouTube channels....Oxtool, Abom, Keith Fenner and a couple others, one of which is Makertable. I watched his latest video, went to his Etsy storefront and bought a bottle opener to support his channel. I'm looking at a nearly identical plasma table set-up so his series on putting his together was a real help in nailing down my plans. It also got me thinking about mounting the Emmert with some base modifications.

I'm going to have to shift the top to have as much overhang on one end as I can, I'm leaving 2" of overhang on the end with the Wilton vise already mounted. The Emmert requires as much as possible. I'm going to lose the upper brace on that end in order to accommodate the beam. Watching his video and the above idea formed. I just sent some JPEG's and a DXF to him to get me an estimate. This will allow the legs to be fixed to something AND allow for the top to move, and I don't have to build a new base, AND I'll have both vises mounted, one on each end.

We'll see.

 

[wasfast]

I may have posted this to you earlier, if so ignore. My solution was a pedestal with a top centered over the pedestal. I all depends on how you want to use the vice and how much other real estate is needed.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=270802

See post #4 for photos

 

[Gizmosity]

Snow? Really? Really?

I had just assumed that spring was here and wasn't going anywhere. I'd planned on hitching my trailer, driving around the property and cleaning up branches from a big wind storm last week. Instead....I shoveled 3-4" of snow and managed to stay so busy that I didn't get any mudding done. : )

I spent a good deal of time putting together some video for one of my classes and while I was rendering that, I was going to put together some video of the shop/studio I'd taken a couple of months ago. I must have deleted it. So, instead of drywall mudding, I went to town, had a HEROIC dose of caffeine, came home and shot a video. I'd wanted to do it in under 15 minutes, it is, and the coffee helped get that accomplished. The muffin may have helped too.

I saw Jack Olson had recently posted a video of his '12 Gauge Garage' and that reminded me that I had filmed about 5 separate videos on my space so why not play with video editing? When I couldn't find the clips, I was hell bent on doing it, so there you go. I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to editing besides adding clips and cutting portions out. But, as my wife frequently quotes our neighbor a couple miles down the road 'Learn by doing.'

Thanks Frank.

 

[Gizmosity]

I started working on a cabinet to house most of my handplanes earlier this week. I grabbed a hunk of Aspen and got it roughed out and re sawed. While using the bandsaw, it was obvious I needed to address some issues with it.

First, the babbet bearings. The 2 upper bearings have grease fittings. While my saw doesn't really spin all that fast (460RPM-ish) grease isn't really recommended for babbet. I ordered some oil cups from McMaster Carr that will screw right into the 1/4"NPT tapped holes into the castings. The 3 bottom babbet bearings have reservoirs built into the castings that have wooden plugs to keep a majority of the sawdust out. I'd never oiled them since buying the saw and they were dry when I took it home. For now I've added some oil and crammed the wooded plugs back in. In the future I may cast or machine some covers that have an oil cup and put some wicking material in the reservoirs.

Second, blade tensioning. It was obvious when I used the saw that the tensioning mechanism in place was worn out. It's a rubber donut. Some posts and conversations on OWWM.org led to the discovery that a rubber donut appears to have been the method of tensioning on these and other older saws. I did some research on neoprene rubber cylinders and found them to be prohibitively expensive. I need less than 3" of a 3" OD x 3/4" ID cylinder. Most supply places I could find only sold in 12"-36" lengths minimum, at about $120 per foot. I scoured a few supply/surplus stores for some rubber (not too hard, not too soft) but couldn't come up with anything that worked properly. A member "Bobby" on OWWM.org did some scouting without my knowing and sourced some rubber for me. As it turns out he's semi-local to me and runs a 5-generation family owned machinery supply company.

Third, is bandsaw blades. My saw came with a receipt for 3 1/2" 6TPI blades. My saw came with those three blades, all of which are pretty much done. Given that the date on the receipt is from 2006, that stands to reason. Bobby also is supplying me with a test blade for WAY less than I was looking at through other channels. There's no such thing as a cheap 19 foot blade.

http://www.woodworkerstoolworks.com. Bobby is now on my phone as "Bobby Bandsaw".

It has taken all my self control to NOT tear all the pine and plywood wheel covers off this saw. The current covers really hide the 'curves' of this saw that I think really need to show. Once I get the lubrication, tension and blades sorted I'll dive into designing and building some smaller covers that don't hide the saw and perhaps even improve dust collection.

I am still doing a bit of drywall mud here and there. There's miles of repair work in this house. I've got on bathroom pretty much done, just need to pull the light/fan in the shower area and hit one seam on the ceiling. My wife's office is done except for some finesse on the ceiling as well.

I have been hearing stories of a 16" jointer in a barn about 30 miles from here. I got some vague story about it. I actually did some digging and made a few phone calls. It's mine if I want it for an agreed upon price. I won't be able to see it until perhaps the beginning of April. I can't make a move on it until I have time, that'll happen in early June. The owner doesn't know the brand, but verified it was a 16", it's complete, perhaps 440v 3-phase, needs a guard....and a lot of work.

 

[Gizmosity]

I have been trying to determine what brand of jointer I am grabbing in a couple of months. The owner has no idea what it is and that photo isn't telling much. I've scraped the very bowels of the Internet and come up with......well, it's old. That's all I know.

In the mean time I did a little cleaning and dis-assembly on the bandsaw.

I took the table off and it's at work. I may be able to enlist some help grunting the table up on the mill and getting it solidly mounted. It's really, really heavy. I'll need to create some stand-offs to support the whole table. I'm still toying with the idea a using a router and a template. That may be less of a struggle and something I can do by myself.

Once I get the throat opening re-machined into a true rectangle I can make some inserts.

I couldn't leave well enough alone and pulled the blade covers off. It was a rickety contraption anyway. If I have to I think I can harden it up some, modify it to allow more re-saw capacity (I think I'll max at about 14-1/2") and put it back on until I come up with a permanent solution.

Once I took the upper cover off I took off the upper blade guide and changed some mounting positions to move it as high up as possible.

That's as far as I can go until I get some parts and some machining done. I don't really see myself doing a complete teardown and restoration. I am sort of a patina guy anyway. I just want a working, safe, accurate saw.

 

[bcos]

Love the shop and saws. keep up the good work!

 

[Gizmosity]

Been cold here. I putzed a little in the shop but ultimately started to feel like ****. My wife jammed a thermometer under my tongue......and...that explains it. High fever. Meh.

Been using my 'sitting in a recliner with a cat asleep on my lap' time to do a bit of research on the West Side Iron Works bandsaw. There's quite a bit of history there. But this is sort of what I was looking for:

"Unfortunately, we do not know when the first bandsaw was produced, when the last bandsaw was produced, nor the total number of bandsaws produced. Some conjecture? One could estimate that production started circa 1868 (when Joseph built a machine shop) and ended 50 years later circa 1918 (Vintage Machinery reports, “So far as we can tell, they had stopped making their woodworking machinery line by the end of World War I.”). With production of about five bandsaws per year, about 50 per decade, the shop would have produced a total of about 250 bandsaws. Based on conjecture, bandsaw #205 would have been produced circa 1909"

Mine doesn't have a serial number, and I don't think any did. Mine is slightly different than the examples I've seen photos of. I would make a grand assumption and assume mine is either an early or late model. The changes to the pattern are fairly drastic when comparing mine to others. It stands to reason that it was either changed early away from how mine is made due to needed improvements, or mine represents a last effort for improvement or ease of manufacture.

Either way, it's close to usable again. It's cleaner than its been in a long time. It should last another 100 years.

 

[Gizmosity]

I was making progress on the bandsaw, a slow steady plod. I've got the table up on a mill and have it leveled and zeroed out. Just ran out of time last week. It's been up there since Monday of last week and it'll probably stay there until I get some time on Friday.

Last Friday night I saw a friend of mine for the first time in 3-4 months. New baby keeps him busy. Plus I found out he managed to cut three of his fingers on the table saw after being a dad for 3-4 days. Sleep deprived, late, hurrying, etc. I hadn't slept in about 36 hours and was going to go into the shop and cut tenon stock on the table saw after our dinner. Decided to wait until Saturday morning after looking at his scarred fingertips. We talked about what happened and how it happened. I'm going to take him some different push shoes and show him some different set-ups.

Saturday morning I was going to town on a set of doors for a wall hung cabinet and the bearings on the saw let out a squeak, then 5-6 cuts later gave up completely. It was then that I realized how Much of an absolute PITA it was going to be to replace them. Pretty much completely disassembled the saw in order to pull the arbor.

Got the arbor out but couldn't get the bearing off until today. Got the new bearings on, arbor mounted, belts tightened and table top on. Now to line up the table and start putting it all together and getting everything leveled again. Hope to be operational next week.

Off to Automate in Chicago tomorrow. Should be a riot.

 

[Gizmosity]

Automate was a good time, although not as big as I thought it would be. Still lots to see. Ended up running into half a dozen alums randomly throughout the show and made some critical contacts for upcoming projects.

Got the saw back together yesterday evening and finished the tenons for the doors, made the raised panels, sanded them, applied finish to them and just got done gluing the doors up. The temperature here hit 70 earlier so I frantically got a single coat on the panels and got them glued.

I've been documenting the cabinets construction (and tablesaw bearing replacement) on video, I good friend is an amateur film maker and we are going to get together and show me some editing tricks. I thought I'd use this as it'll have 30-40 small clips that need to be put together. I think it's fun anyway.

I got one photo of the doors in the cabinet prior to making the panels.

Good enough for our bathroom.

 

[fergus]

That is one nice cabinet man!

 

[Gizmosity]

Thanks Fergus....here's to hoping I get it done.

I started this and another deeper cabinet about a year ago. It's nice to actually be able to make something in my space, but I find that most of my time is spent making little jigs/fixtures/etc that I've had in other shops so to take one step forward can take days, or when a bearing goes out.....a week.

The back of the cabinet will have some brass inserts mounted to the sides so it can hang on two screws.

This morning I got the doors fit with the reveals I wanted. Then things slowed way down.

I need to decide on hinge placement.

The above photo is what I've had in mind all along, with the pivot point of the hinge centered on the door edge. I realized when I had the door fit that this won't work. The bottom of the cabinet will keep me from putting a screw in the bottom of the door. I was going to fully mortise the hinge knife into the cabinet bottom rather than running a groove out the cabinet bottom.

I gave up on the idea of fully mortising the hinge to the cabinet bottom and thought I'd run the groove all the way through and have the hinge flush with the outside edge of the cabinet bottom. Then I saw that the screw going into the door would be pretty close to the edge.

I finally decided to mount the hinge with the pivot pin aligned with the door edge and run the groove all the way out the cabinet side.

Total elapsed time fiddle farting over about 1/8"? Two freaking hours.

But, this is fun, it's supposed to be fun, so have fun dammit.

 

[Gizmosity]

I was all ready to start mortising the doors and cabinet for knife hinges until I started looking for my 1/8"-3/16" router bits........then I remembered.....I don't own one. I have piles of 1/4" diameter bits in all sorts of flavors, but hand routing with a 1/4" bit between lines 5/16" apart usually doesn't end well. I put that project on hold and milled stock for a hand plane storage cabinet.

Grabbed a few trinkets on Amazon, along with an 1/8" diameter router bit, which got here yesterday. My wife is getting ready to leave the country for a while so instead of working in the shop last night, we went out and painted the town beige.

This morning I filled a thermos full of coffee and headed for the shop.

I'd already determined my hinge placement so I got a marking gauge set up and scratched the lines for the hinges on the top and bottom of the two doors, then clamped some scraps to each side of the door so I wouldn't tip the laminate trimmer.

To set up the length of the slot I found that a #22 drill was a perfect fit in the hinge pin hole so I slipped it in and placed the hinge so the drill bit was tangent to the door side, the marked the door to show where to stop the mortise.

I free handed as close to the line as my failing eyesight would allow, then cleaned up with an old plane blade and a 1/4" chisel.

Once I had the hinge leaves fit in the doors, I laid out for the leaves in the top and bottom of the cabinet. I went with just under a 1/16" reveal between the front of the cabinet and the back of the door.

I set up a mortise gauge for the width of the hinge and the setback from the front of the top and bottom and routed those mortises and fit the hinges.

Everything seems to be as it should be

Now I can take it all apart, sand the back panels and get a coat of finish on them and while that cures, sand all the components and hit the exposed edges with a block plane. I might be able to glue it up tomorrow, or maybe tonight.

I need to get some identical thread pitch #2 screws but in steel so I can cut the threads. I also need to find a screwdriver that fits the screws so I don't ****** them up.

 

[Gizmosity]

Got home this morning from dropping my wife off at the airport for an insanely early flight, it was still dark when I got home.

Hopped in the shop and unclamped the cabinet and got ready to do the final fit of the doors and mount the hinges with some #2 steel screws I picked up yesterday.

Last week I double checked my push drill and made sure I had the right size bit...check. One slight problem:

I don't use a push drill very often, in fact I may have used this particular push drill twice in 15 years. Push drills are like that, they sit around until they are the only thing that will work (like installing these hinges) and then they'll gather dust for years until they're called to duty. I liked this one better than the other ones I had, so I made sure I had a full compliment of bits and I sold my other ones. My other ones WITH NARROWER HANDLES. So........yea.......I'm in a holding pattern.

In the meantime, I knocked together a wall cabinet to store my hand planes yesterday and I'll work on that while I grind my teeth and beat myself up for the push drill debacle of 2017.

 

[Gizmosity]

I found a Yankee Push drill (41) identical to the FOUR I sold many years back that will allow me to drill the 8 hinge screw holes in the cabinet top and bottom. I bid on one that I really liked but someone else likes it more than I do. I found a 'buy it now' alternative that should last me the rest of my life and I got it shipped for a total price of less than what I sold each of my old ones for.

I've spent a bit of time working on a cabinet to put some of my planes in near the bench. I use the 3, 4 and 4-1/2 quite a bit and a block plane I keep in an apron pocket. This is way more convenient than the bottom drawer of a cabinet at the other end of the shop.

I planed the shelves a bit thick and hand planed them to fit......I wont say 'perfectly' because they aren't. But, it was a good exercise and I need to get some of my chops back. That won't happen by just thinking about it. I also need to either buy or fabricate a slow speed grinder to grind a hollow bevel in my plane irons and chisels.

I got the insert recess in the table machined so it's square and parallel to the blade slot in the table.

I'd had in my head that I would machine an aluminum insert to fit. After I got the table re-mounted on the saw, I sort of panicked because I didn't have any aluminum around, then I thought, wood...duh. I grabbed a depth micrometer and it was , on average, 0.242"' just a hair under 1/4". I grabbed a piece of 1/4" Baltic Birch and got it done fast. I need to cut a slot in it still. I may make some out of aluminum yet, but I don't know that I need to.

This morning I headed out to a local sawyer with a solar kiln and picked through some 4/4 cherry as well as 5/4 and 8/4 walnut. My lumber pile was getting pretty thin. Summer is coming and I wanted materials on hand and acclimated. The 4/4 and 5/4 is at about 8%, not sure what the 8/4 will do when I open it up. I'm hoping he takes me up on my offer to help unload the kiln next month when another batch is ready. I'd like to get first chance on his select stuff.

My lumber rack looks a lot better with that cherry and walnut on it.

I started grading lab reports earlier this afternoon in my living room. I looked up and the hillside across the road was ablaze. My neighbor saw a window for a field burn so I spent a good part of today running around with a water tank keeping trees from catching on fire.

Back to grading.....

 

[Gizmosity]

I learned some interesting and frustrating information about my Newell upper bandsaw guide over the last week. The previous owner had both flipped the guide mount upside down and turned it 180 degrees, so it was upside down and backwards. He did this to gain resaw capacity (about 2" worth). In this configuration the largest saw blade that would fit is a 1/2" blade. This explains only getting 1/2" blades with the saw. I bought a new 3/4" blade and I couldn't adjust the guides enough to get it to fit. I had a few options, nearly all required buying something or other, ranging from $50-$250.

I went Neanderthal on it. The boss was already modified so I wasn't too concerned.

I used a hacksaw and removed about 3/8" off the bored boss to allow some maneuvering room. A few minutes with a file and it looks factory. I drew up a pattern to cast a new cast iron post clamp and I may move forward with that in October when we have a Halloween cupola pour.

Before:

After:

I was finally able to plug the saw back in and try a new wider blade and adjust the guides properly. Wow. Cuts like a dream. I do have a bit of upper wheel wobble and will need to put on and crown new tires this summer. I ended up putting the old wheel covers back on. I may make some new ones in the future, but for now I can use the saw.

I also fell victim to bandsaw lust and picked up another one. It was only about 20 miles from me and the price was right, $200. It's a 20" Cowan & Co. saw out of Canada. I imagine it's from around 1900-1920-ish. It needs a motor and a way to mount a motor. I have all that stuff laying around. It needs new tires and a bit of futzing and cleaning but for what I hope to be very little effort I'll have a great "little" 20" bandsaw. I can leave a large blade in the West Side 36" saw and use the Cowan for general purpose fiddle-farting.

I pulled the top babbet bearing caps off when I got home about an hour ago and there's quite a bit of shim material left. I cleared out all the grease, put it back together and lightly tightened the bolts. I have zero play now. With the top tire removed, I have about 0.010" of runout. It should purr when I put new tires on and crown them. The bottom shaft is giving me fits. I haven't found a puller I can borrow that's big enough to get the flat belt pully off so I can pull the lower babbet bearing cap and peek inside. I'm still scrounging.

The cabinet is all fitted up and has a first coat of finish on. I decided to not put shelf pins on the inside of the cabinet. My thinking was that there is no door stop so rather than installing bullet catches for the doors that I would instead construct an inner box that slips in the cabinet and that has adjustable shelves. If I size it correctly, I can use the bottom and top of the inner cabinet for door stops. I was playing around with rare earth magnets and if I rip a 1/8" strip off the edge of the top shelf I can insert magnets and then glue the 1/8" strip back on. As long as things get positioned properly I can put a steel pin in each door and the magnets still have enough strength to hold the doors closed.

That's the thinking anyway.

 

[Gizmosity]

Been a struggle to get much done in the shop. This year is winding down fast so there's been quite a few very, very long days. I've managed to always be in the shop for at least an hour on all but two days a week.

I finally finished the cabinet today. I just had to make some hanging brackets, hang the doors for the last time and apply some wax. Technically I need to screw the inner shelf structure in three places and I'm still designing pulls for it to ultimately cast in pewter. The magnets ended up working well enough. The cork pads I put on the doors to hide the steel pins really effected the strength of the magnets imbedded in the top shelf. You can just barely feel the magnetic pull on the door. But, it's enough.

I was able to finally get my hands on a Cullen slitting gauge. It came in the mail today, just as I finished the cabinet and hung it on the wall in the shop. The cabinet will eventually work its way into our master bathroom, but that's going to be a while.

I've got another cabinet assembled out and am in a holding pattern on that one until I figure out the inner structure. I want a drawer in it and I've been toying with the idea of a small door inside as well. Until I make up my mind I'm not going to make much progress, but that's ok, I like toying with ideas and creating mock-ups. I just cut up cardboard pieces and put them in the cabinet to play with shapes/sizes/proportions.

I have a third cabinet roughed out of some of the cherry I bought a few weeks ago. I'm letting it sit for a bit longer after jointing a face. It's stayed nice and flat over the last week so I may move forward on that one this weekend. I have a fair amount of quilted maple I had bought for a desk project I abandoned a few years ago. I should have enough to finish these two cabinets.

 

[Gizmosity]

I've been pretty busy the last couple weeks. The storm has finally passed and I'm off contract in a couple of days. Tomorrow I'm visiting some interns and then a GD&T seminar Thursday. Friday my wife's shipment can get picked up from customs so we're off to Milwaukee to grab her merchandise.

I've been plodding forward with cabinets. I have materials sorted and most joints cut for 5 wall hung cabinets. The fist cabinet for our bathroom was as much a trial run as a usable bathroom cabinet. I got some things worked out. The second cabinet I played around with drawers. I quickly rethought the cabinet depth for the others as this drawer is all of 4" deep.

I spent an entire day on what I called a 'design exploration' for drawer pulls that were recessed into the face of the drawer. With the drawers so shallow I didn't want to shorten them for an added pull. I mocked up a half dozen ideas but I didn't like any of them. I ended up drilling 45* holes in the face of the drawer. They work really, really well but they don't fit the piece at all. They also just don't work for narrow drawers, which I will be using in some of the other cabinets I'm making.But, it's going in our second bathroom so I don't really care. The drawer is as deep as it can be and I learned I needed to make the cabinets deeper. I have a pull designed that I like and it eats up 1/2" of space. I'll take that trade. I was going to cast some in pewter, and I will eventually but most likely not this summer.

I bought some Brusso hinges from a guy on EBay for a good price and bought some more from him last week. We spoke on the phone because he didn't have as many as he thought and we discussed options. After a few minutes we started talking tools and shops. Turns out he's someone I've spoken with before in another online forum. Small, small world. I'm stocked up on knife hinges now. I also got a few sets of small hinges for jewelry boxes. There's enough scrap generated from these cabinets that it makes sense to make some jewelry boxes.

Drawers.....

While I built that double router table, I still was setting bits up over and over. I ended up buying two new variable speed routers. I went with Dewalts. I'm not a huge Dewalt fan. I've never liked their tools. I use them quite a bit at work and have yet to use one that I actually liked. Their routers we have at work I have just quit using I hate them so much. I could go on and on.....not a fan. But....I bought two new Dewalt routers. So far I like them as much as a person can like a fixed base router. Height adjustment is a little sloppy and hit-and-miss, but for what I'm using them for they should work fine. I have set them up with bits that are perfectly adjusted for 1/2" material to make drawers. That's it. I built dedicated small tables and fences for them and I don't intend on ever doing anything else with them.

I took the knobs off just like I've always done with my PC690's in the past. I needed variable speed to spin larger diameter bits. These have VS, soft start and one wrench bit changes. Price was a big motivator in this purchase but so far I'm happy with them. I may have found one Dewalt tool I can actually say I like.

I'm sort of set up for production at the moment. I've got most of the kinks worked out on the cabinets and have a few jewelry box designs. I mocked up one of them today. I had to order a couple bits and random doo-dads in order to move forward.

I've set a goal to be in our annual Art Fair NEXT summer (2018). So, I have a year to produce some small batch items. I'm also putting in an application to be included in our annual Fall Art Tour for NEXT Fall (2018).

I've got the space. I have most of the tools I need. I finally found a local supplier for hardwood and I have some time in the summer to produce. So, that's what Im doing.

 

[Gizmosity]

This whole Photobucket thing I saw coming......there's always a catch with free.

So, I'm toying with a different hosting site, one that I SHOULD have just started using from the start and one that I know others use, Smugmug. My ADVRider days are over but if I'm going to pay for photo hosting/storage, Baldy (or his offspring) would be my choice anyway. Plus, really it costs like a good cup of coffee once a month.

i want to continue to be able to look back and it's worth the effort in my eyes to change photo links......although it might take me a while.

And while I'm at it, I am still creating a lot of video. My video editing (as anyone who has watched anything I've done on YouTube) is miserable. I have hours of video to sift through for stuff and when I have some time I'll put more together.

I actually put a little energy into one. If you are a woodshop kinda person you might enjoy it.

I tore my shop apart AGAIN and moved some stuff around to free up some space and create a better work flow. I'm selling some things and getting some things out of this side of the shop to make room for that 16" jointer. I should actually be able to see it after July 4th and then determine how to move it, or just pass on it.

 

[Gizmosity]

I went ahead and paid for one year on Smugmug. $47 a year and guaranteed no future BS. I do however use an IPad for this kind of thing and the Smugmug interface isn't cooperating. I ended up having to use our computer. I promise I won't make the photos this big in the future. Everything posted as of July 1 will be from Smugmug.

I told myself the last time I installed the knives in my planer that it was the LAST time. This showed up last week:

I've used a Shelix head on other planers in shops/labs I've worked at for a very, very long time but I've never owned one myself. What a difference in cut quality on figured woods. Also it is drastically quieter. Just an overall great purchase and one I wish I'd been able to justify sooner.

I tore apart some of the shop and moved some things around in an effort to maximize space and efficiency. It's quite a bit better although it's not quite done. I agreed to some trim work on a neighbors new kitchen so as soon as I get that done I can continue putting it back together

I grabbed a couple air cleaners on Amazon the other day. The WEN units seemed like a good deal at $108 each. While they seem to be doing something, I really think my space has too much volume for the two I bought to do what they're supposed to do. They aren't hurting anything, but I think the higher CFM rated/larger ones are needed for this space.

I made a decision that I'm building 50 pieces in the next year as I turn 50 soon. I've got a head start and have about 14 pieces started and in various stages. It's a little chaotic and a weird way of doing things but I am technically dealing with one major piece at a time and getting it to a similar stage as other pieces to maximize efficiency. For instance I have all the current pieces ready for drawers so I'll make all of them at once.

 

[Gizmosity]

Through a long series of events, these drawers are finally in my studio.

It took everything 4 guys had to move it onto my trailer AFTER I took all the drawers out. It’s a beast. Even has overtravel drawer slides so when I put a top on it, the drawers when fully opened will pull out past the front of the top. I paid a ransom for them. I paid what my good friend wanted for them because he can’t take them with him on his families move to the east coast. I’ve got some maple I’m gluing up for a top for it and that Emmert I finally got all together with replacement parts will finally have a place to live.


I bought some new jointer knives and they got delivered today. Started to replace my dull knives with these new ones and they don’t fit. My old ones are 0.126” and the new ones are 0.129”. If you did a screen capture of this page, saved it as a .jpg and printed it, the paper it would be printed on would be about as thick as the difference in my new knife thickness. I’ve been hand grinding the gibs down with a diamond stone…….I’ve never wished to trade my 4 knife head with a 3 knife head before. This *****.

While cutting some stuff the other day, I found a couple things hiding inside a piece of 8/4 walnut:

A rhinoceros

And a dinosaur eating what looks like Kelp. I thought it was a Brontosaurus. I was informed at a party the other day by a 4 year old that there’s no such thing as a Brontosaurus anymore. Good to know.