DaleM's Blog at LumberJocks.com http://lumberjocks.com/DaleM/blog Tue, 19 May 2009 17:49:25 GMT My workshop just got a little more crowded http://lumberjocks.com/DaleM/blog/8821 I wanted to post this to share with you some of the gifts my mother-in-law, my brother, and a neighbor gave me recently. So, I just retired from the Army last month and I’m pretending I’m retired for real for just a little while before I start another job. Because of that, I have had some time to travel and visit my family so off we went last month; myself, my wife and four kids to North Carolina to visit my mother-in-law. While we were there, my MIL, my wife and I went through some of the old tools that were gathering rust in the shed since my father-in-law passed away a few years ago. I took a picture of some of the tools that I brought back with me. The nicest ones are the early 50s Disston saw, still with some bite on the teeth even with the rust and age, and the Stanley planes which need restored. The Stanley No3 just needs a good cleaning, but the Stanley 192 has a blade in it from a much wider plane. The other two planes are a Great Neck Corsair and a no-name. I’m thankful for all of the tools of course, not least of all the four honing stones as I just dropped my old one and broke it.

http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv232/daledman/Disstonsawandtools.jpg
http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv232/daledman/Stanleyno3no192greatneckcorsair.jpg

A couple days after we got back to NY from NC, I headed out again, this time alone, to see my family in Kentucky. Before I left KY, my younger brother gave me the walnut lumber that he just had sitting in his garage and the Osage log, both of which are pictured in the back of my truck. Osageman inspired me to try to make something with this tough wood that no one around there seems to want to use for much of anything, but as far as I know it doesn’t grow around here so I had to import it. My younger brother did use some Osage logs for framing a shed, bark and all, but mostly just burns it.

http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv232/daledman/Osageandwalnut.jpg

I also owe a special thanks to my neighbor for thinking of me when he was cleaning out his old garage a couple weeks ago. There was a lot of old rough-cut lumber which came with the garage when he bought it years ago, mostly pine but a few gems in the mix so he let me sort through it before he threw it out. There is some elm, oak, and some other yet to be identified wood included in the stack in the last photo.

http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv232/daledman/freewood.jpg

Anyway, this will keep me busy for a while, restoring some tools and planing some wood and of course I will be taking advantage of all the information shared by my fellow Lumberjocks throughout all of it so thank you all and I hope to be able to share some projects as I build some things with the tools and lumber. Also, please, someone tell me how to post pictures directly without cutting off most of the right side of the picture. Thanks

]]> Tue, 19 May 2009 17:49:25 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/DaleM/blog/8821 DaleM DaleM Clamps and other things http://lumberjocks.com/DaleM/blog/7791 As I’m heading down to my basement at almost 2 in the morning (or is it almost 3? damned daylight savings time) to un-clamp one glue-up and clamp another I can only marvel at my own procrastination. I don’t know how many times over the years that I’ve wished I had more clamps or I’ve had many parts ready for gluing at one time but had to do them sequentially (spelled it right after only two tries) due to a shortage of clamps. Throughout those years I’ve bought many tools: a bandsaw, a jointer, a planer, numerous hand tools and a few bottles of glue which I’ve somehow managed to use without buying more clamps. Right now, I’m building a guinea pig cage because my wife wants me to, for a friend of hers, so I must. It will be a two story cage, six feet long, with a full cage on top and a ramp to the lower part which will be half cage and half cabinet because that’s what she said it will be. It will be unstained and unfinished because apparently guinea pigs are sensitive to these things. Okay, so I’ve digressed just a little but I know tomorrow, without a doubt, I am going to buy more clamps.

]]> Sun, 08 Mar 2009 07:09:46 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/DaleM/blog/7791 DaleM DaleM