But, Martin has made a site that is friendly so lots of friendly people login and have stayed around.

My thanks go out to all of you for your participation and for Martin for having the desire and insite into what makes a great site better.

Now on to 50,000.

David McClure teaches science and coaches at Faubion Middle School in McKinney . He is also a Teacher Voices volunteer columnist.

$5.37. That’s what the kid behind the counter at Taco Bueno said to me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out some lint and two dimes and something that used to be a Jolly Rancher.

Having already handed the kid a five-spot, I started to head back out to the truck to grab some change when the kid with the Emo hairdo said the harshest thing anyone has ever said to me. He said, “It’s OK. I’ll just
give you the senior citizen discount.”

I turned to see who he was talking to and then heard the sound of change hitting the counter in front of me. “Only $4.68” he said cheerfully. I stood there stupefied. I am 48, not even 50 yet a mere child! Senior citizen?

I took my burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong with Emo. Was he blind? As I sat in the truck, my blood began to boil. Old? Me?

I’ll show him, I thought. I opened the door and headed back inside. I strode to the counter, and there he was waiting with a smile.

Before I could say a word, he held up something and jingled it in front of me, like I could be that easily distracted! What am I now? A toddler?

“Dude! Can’t get too far without your car keys, eh?” I stared with utter disdain at the keys. I began to rationalize in my mind. “Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man elderly! It could happen to anyone!”

I turned and headed back to the truck. I slipped the key into the ignition, but it wouldn’t turn. What now? I checked my keys and tried another. Still nothing. That’s when I noticed the purple beads hanging from my rearview mirror. I had no purple beads hanging from my rearview mirror.

Then, a few other objects came into focus. The car seat in the back seat. Happy Meal toys spread all over the floorboard. A partially eaten doughnut on the dashboard.

Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I flew out of the alien vehicle. Moments later I was speeding out of the parking lot, relieved to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in my life. That is when I felt it, deep in the bowels of my stomach: hunger! My stomach growled and churned, and I reached to grab my burrito, only it was nowhere to be found.

I swung the truck around, gathered my courage, and strode back into the restaurant one final time. There Emo stood, draped in youth and black nail polish. All I could think was, “What is the world coming to?” All I could say was, “Did I leave my food and drink in here?” At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle, and then go straight home and apply for Social Security benefits.

Emo had no clue. I walked back out to the truck, and suddenly a young lad came up and tugged on my jeans to get my attention. He was holding up a drink and a bag. His mother explained, “I think you left this in my truck by mistake.” I took the food and drink from the little boy and sheepishly apologized.

She offered these kind words: “It’s OK. My grandfather does stuff like this all the time.”

All of this is to explain how I got a ticket doing 85 in a 40. Yes, I was racing some punk kid in a Toyota Prius. And no, I told the officer, I’m not too old to be driving this fast.

As I walked in the front door, my wife met me halfway down the hall. I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket. I promptly sat in my rocking chair and covered up my legs with a blankey.

The good news was I had successfully found my way home.

The first day is for members of the Signature Club about 400 people attended that day. I’m not a member so I didn’t go. I went as a guest on the Friday and Sat, Sept 25 and 26 2009. It was more crowded on Friday than it was on Sat.

My son Daniel (The guitar Player) LR’er GuitarFreak had to work both days so we were late getting there.

Fridays schedule was 1:15 to approx 10:00 PM, dinner was provided and free soda, coffee and water all day long.

Sat schedule was 9:30 Am to 7:00 pm but they didn’t finish the concerts until 9Pm on Sat night.

Because of our late arrival each day were not available to take advantage of all of the seminars but someone told me you need to take the factory tour so we signed up for a Sat tour.

PRS does not give tours of their factory. Maybe one a year but there have been none in 2009 and probably none in 2010. So taking it as part of the Experience PRS was an honor.

They have just completed the building of a new factory addition onto the original factory. The occupancy permit was not issued until the day before our tour so there was only 2 groups that had moved to the new building. The Amplifier build and the Private Stock storeroom. The Amp group got there about 3 hours before our 3:00 tour.

We entered into the area which will become the wood room. This is in the new building.

Behind these roll up doors will be a 125 degree room that holds wood until it gets to the 7% moisture content. To the left of these rooms is a room that has a temp of about 185%. It brings the wood down from about 20% moisture to the 10% range. They also cook the fret boards for about 35 days to shrink them before putting them on a guitar neck. They don’t want them to shrink when in a customers hands and the frets to stick out over the edge of the neck.

The Amp room is on the second floor.
They are building 15 Watt and 30 Watt Amps.

These have a circuit board with hand wired control knobs.

The 50 watt Amps are all hand wired.

It is a tube Amp.

The wiring station.

A workstation on the new factory floor.

In the background is the new spray booth for spraying the guitars.

Another under construction work station and in the background is the drying room for the newly sprayed guitars.

Off to the left is a private area that is off limits to us, but was where I really wanted to go. It’s the Private Stock area where all of the wood is stored for custom guitars. The customer can come and select the wood and what and how they want their guitars built.

We then left the new building and went to the old factory floor.

We entered through the current wood room in the old building.

The are blanks that will become the backs of the PRS guitars. They are mostly mahogany. They arrive as long planks they are air dried on the premises and are then cut up into approx sizes to be placed in the hot boxes to bring the moisture content down.

A sample of guitar tops for some of the guitars.

The guitar tops are not resawn locally. They buy them already resawn and that way they are able to grade the blanks as they arrive and don’t have to worry about embedded defects.

The wood manager does a rough grade of the blanks and sets them aside. After they have had some rough finishing done on them they may be graded up or down.

The one on the left and figure in the body area but is light in the top portion of the body. The second one has some nice tight figure. The third one is a quilt figure and might be going to the private stock area.

Samples of neck blocks and finger board blanks.

Some of these might arrive as lumber and are cut to size on site. The rosewood necks arrive already cut to size. The finger boards come in already cut to size.

Necks are the first thing to be made on a guitar. After the neck is completed then a body of the guitar will be scheduled. The necks have many more steps than the body so they are completed and then the body is scheduled.

The billet is sent through the CNC machine and is cut to rough size.

You can see in the center of the picture a neck that has been formed at the glue point for the body and at the other end. If it’s so good so far it is put back in and the round portion is cut on the neck.

If it’s OK there it will have a finger board glued on with epoxy glue. It will be CNC’d to size and then an accent strip is glued in place. And then more milling etc, etc etc.

The finger boards have inlays placed in them. The inlays are outsourced and the cutting of the inlay into the neck is outsourced.

More milling, by sanding the inlays flush to the surface, replacing any defective ones. They they sand the top of the finger board to a 10” radius curve. Other MFG’s might use a different radius.

They putting in the frets and finishing them off flush to the sides etc, etc.

When they are completed that they go to the area for holding so that a body can now be scheduled.

The top of the body is selected from a rack of tops.

The body man will surface the bottom and joint the inside edges of the top. He also planes to thickness. he then walks through the door into the wood room when we first entered and picks up a bottom. He joints and planes it to thickness. He glues the tops onto the base wood and puts them in a press.

They stay in there overnight.

He lays a template on top of the body and draws the outline and then bandsaws to about 1” outside the line. These pieces now go to the CNC machine for machining.

They are placed on a vacuum block that will hold them in the CNC machine.

They come off with all of the milling done for the electronics and neck attachment points.

They then go to sanding. Sanding is the entry level job at the factory. You must get through that before you can go to any other job.

He is using a 10,000 OPM sander over a dust collector table.

A sanded top.

The top then goes to be matched up with its neck that was previously completed.

A hold area of guitars up to this point.

A Private Stock guitar that is not getting banged around with all of the other standard ones.

Down in the bottom of the hole is all of the information about the guitar. So if it’s a custom color it tells the paint man what color to use.

On the left is a guitar body.
To the right is a body painted. The sunburst is a 2 finger process. It’s not suppose to be any deeper into the body than 2 fingers. (Who’s two finger you might ask, If it’s really wide they had a big fingered painter working that shift.)
To the right is after wet sanding to 1200 grit. I didn’t ask if they use water or oil on the wet sanding.
To the right of that is after buffing.

After Wet sanding.

After buffing.

We now go to electronics.

They have a custom coil wiring machine to make the coils to their needs.

The different stages of a pickup for a guitar.

They then start to install all of the electronics in a guitar. This is another Private Stock guitar being built for a proud owner.

This is an employee guitar.

One of the benefits of working at PRS Guitars is at certain times of your career you can purchase a guitar at material cost. You don’t have to pay any of the labor costs. You go around the factory and select the best employees at each station and ask them if they will help build your guitar. It’s considered an honor to be asked to do that. I believe I heard her say that on certain anniversaries of employment you also get a free guitar.

Everyone we talked to stated that this was the best job that they have ever had.

Many happy employees.

PRS is starting to build Acoustic Guitars. They currently make around 25-30 per month.

Here is one that was in a holding rack.

They buy the sides I believe.

They are wetted and wrapped in tinfoil and put in this hot press.

Other presses are seen here.

It comes out of the press in the classic shape.

It is put in the jig and held tight and headstock and tail stock are glued in.

It’s then put in the shorter form and the top glue blocks are put in and the stiffing braces in the sides. The stiffer the side the the more vibration you get on the top and bottom and the better the sound.

The top has bracing glued in place.

And then the top and bottom are glue on. In the very background you will see a green guitar that looks like a mummy. It’s all taped up for the glue to dry.

On the far right you will see a guitar with a neck attached. It fits into a big dovetail in the body and locks in place.

Definitely a fun tour. I’ll plan to take the tour again next year and get to see the new building all setup and working.

Looks like some new carving for all.

I wish to thank Major League Woodworking

The prize consisted of a T shirt ”Property of Major League Woodworking Shop Dept”, A Maple Mallet which is modeled after a Baseball Bat. It’s made from an approved bat billet and is made at one of the countries premier baseball bat factories.

Also a Maple Marking Gauge for giving a perfect ”base line” for starting woodworking joinery.

Also a pair of ”Dug-Out” paring blocks for paring dovetails. They can also be used for marking gauges for marking out your hand cut dovetails.

All of these tools were made from perfectly White Maple

Thanks for the contest Martin and thanks Major League Woodworking and Tom for the gift.

And it came in a well packed box.

Front Row David Morrison LJ Jock Dave
Left Karson Morrison (Me) LJ Jock Karson
Tall Dude Jack Dalton LJ Jock Jack Dalton
Right Al Hendershot LJ Jock DustyAl
Far Right Ed Nock LJ Jock Edward E Nock II

We had about 40 people at the picnic and lots of food.

Al brought a box that he made and that he hasn’t posted yet. You need to get that done Al.
I brought the Platter that Jeffthe woodwhacker made for me.

Jack brought a knife that he purchased and then made a new handle for and he also brought a new jig for cutting flutes that he bought. Jack you need to post it also.

Lots of food

Lots of people.

Good luck on your picnic planning.

When I read his title I thought he might be asking my question. It wasn’t so I’m going to ask it here.

When I buy wood at the sawmill I usually get 5/4 stock so that when it dries it’s still a little over 1” thick and can be planed to a great board. Sometimes the wood is 1 3/8 to 1 1/2” thick. Should all of this wood be planed to 13/16 or so. Or is it desirable to keep them thicker in areas where a thicker board is not a problem. Top, bottom, aprons, shelves. I wouldn’t put thick boards on one side and not put it on the other side. Or, one thick shelf and not all shelves.

I don’t like making extra shavings if it’s not usually required. I was looking at a stack yesterday of some maple, about 300 bd ft (Surface area) that is almost all dried and still 1 1/4” thick. They all look to be flat and would not require major surfacing to eliminate defects (bow, cup and twist).

So what kind of machining is required or suggested. (I don’t plan on resawing 3/8” off to salvage some of the wood). This pile is a combination of tiger, ambrosia, and burl all mixed up, and in some cases all three in the same board.

If it went to some boxes, it could be resawn perfectly to 1/2+ thickness. But 300 BD ft of box material is a lot.

It’s 30” high with a small flat spot, maybe 8” wide, on the bottom and 32” high. The flat spot is at least 2” thick, The rest of the burl is not as thick.

It was sanded or planed flat when I bought it but it has shrunk as it dried so there are now low spots on the surface. The back is chainsawed flat, which means not really flat. The edges have been water blasted to remove all bark and so there are some sharp pointed pieces of wood.

I haven’t asked but I’m sure that my wife would not let me make a table out of it. Because, with the grandchildren and the sharp edges, it is probably not compatible.

Too big and heavy for a clock, and not sure if I want to cut it up into smaller pieces.

Looking for suggestions.

Polar Bear: I come in Peace

Norbert Rosing’s striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon
tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada’s Hudson Bay.

The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the
polar bear wandered in.

It’s hard to believe that this polar bear only needed to hug someone!

The Polar Bear
returned every night that week to play with the dogs.

May you
always have love to share,

Health to spare,

And friends! that care

This is the back that will be screwed up to the drawer and so it will never be seen again. So here is your last chance. It’s quilted maple veneer.

I used it because it was big and i had a lot of it and I wasn’t sure that I’d ever use it so now some is gone.

I can’t believe that I never took a picture of the drawers being sprayed. But, here they are installed. on the drawers.

The 5 drawer cabinet in the back of the island.

The 3 drawer cabinet in the island. These drawers required book matching veneer on each of the drawers.

The 4 drawer to the right of the island and left of the range.

The 4 drawer cabinet to the right of the range.

The cabinet to the right still doesn’t have drawers made.

The 3 drawer cabinet beside the refrigerator.

19 drawer fronts all installed. The top drawer is the same size on all cabinets with the exception of the 5 drawer cabinet. The 4 drawer cabinet have all drawers the same size. The 3 drawer cabinets have drawers of approx 7”, 10” and 12”.

So now I made a jig to drill the holes for the drawer pulls.

The jig is mounted on top of the drawer front and centered on the drawer.

All drilling is from the front.

The drawer handles are made to match the cabinet and drawer fronts. They are Yellow Birch heart wood for the mount and sapwood for the handle.

These drawer pulls are like the pulls that Darrell Peart is using on his cabinets that he posted here on LumberJocks.

I asked Darrell about the pulls and he referred me to James Krenov

The pulls are shown on one of his cabinets in this video.

Smitty also posted this on LumberJocks and he had the pulls that I liked.

Here is a piece made by Bibb

So I made the pulls. They are 1 1/8” high 1 1/4” wide and 13/16” thick. The rod between them is 7/16” and was cut with a doweling jig. I thought I’d posted it before but couldn’t find it so I guess I’ll have to make a new post or review.

The pulls had a pilot holes drilled in the back with the same hole spacing as the drawer front spacing. The jig that I used to drill the holes also Set the spacing for the mount blocks.

The first one mounted.

I ratchet drill to put in the hex head screws.

Drilling the holes in the drawer fronts.

The 5 drawer cabinet in the back of the island.

The 3 drawer cabinet.

And the 4 drawer cabinet.

The 4 drawer cabinet to the right of the range.

The drawer pull up close.

19 drawer pulls installed.