Steve

Here is some Honey Locust

Cedar

Cherry

So, once again, I vow to have a heated/ cooled shop someday. It might cost me a fortune, but I think it’ll be worth it. I have the most free time in the winter to spend the time in the shop, anyway.

(I’m really trying to justify this, can you tell??)

Steve

Anyway, during the show, I met Waid- Spaids and his wife. They were both great people and they made a great looking couple. We chatted for a bit and then went our own ways to shop some more.

I had a great deal of thought over this router. I currently have a Craftsman 2hp router that has the fixed base on it, with a dial ring to set the depth. I have so much trouble getting the height set with it that I’m about ready to throw it out to the dogs. So, the purchase of this Triton router will make things considerably easier for me. I decided on the 3 1/4 because I would like to get into some cabinet making, and I wanted that extra power to hog out the raised panel doors. This also gives me a variable range of power in the three routers that I have. The router is a beast, though. It’s going to have to be relatively limited to being mounted under the table because it weighs in at 14lbs. It’s a bit much for trying to balance on the end of a board to shoot a bead on it.

Overall this year, I was a little disappointed in the size of the show. When I first started going, it was really huge. They had quite a few classes, some paid and most free. The classes and smaller venders were packed into corresponding showrooms directly adjacent to the main showroom with the major venders. Now, I’ve noticed that everyone, venders and classes, are just packed into the main showroom. It’s easily 30% smaller than it was 4-5 years ago. I noticed that a some more of the venders were not there this year. I hope that trend doesn’t continue for the future, or there won’t be a show….

Regardless, I had a great time. I really enjoyed meeting the other Jocks in person. I got some great new tools to try out, and I’m fired up to get into my shop. Now, if it would just stay warm outside…. I’d have it made.

Steve

I made my way over to the show. Norm Abram was there for a while, and there was a line that seemed to last forever. When the doors opened, I was the very first person at the booth, then found out that Norm was going to be 1-2 hours late. Unfortunately, I chose not to wait due to the classes that I wanted to take. So, I only got to see Norm from a distance later on, which satisfied me.

I took some hand plane and card scraper classes, and a separate cabinet making class. The hand plane classes were a nice review, but the card scraper classes I needed badly. I never can seem to get those doggone things to work well. Hopefully, this class will change that. John Gray and I took a few classes together. I met Bill- bhack- at the first class, too. He’s a great guy. I really enjoyed his conversation.

So, about 5pm rolled around and a few other LumberJocks met up front (they all came out of the woodwork, I guess). I met Jason- tooldad, Tooldad's apprentice, Bill- Printman, John Gray, and Larry- Mackmaniac.

I really enjoyed the meet… we all shook hands and BS’ed. I quickly realized that these guys aren’t hiding their personality behind anonymous screen icons and playnames, they are, in fact, THE REAL DEAL. What a great bunch of guys!

Here is a quick pic that we shot:

Jason- tooldad, Bill- printman, (the standup of Norm- Hey, he wasn’t available, OK?.. LOL), Me, John Gray, and Larry-mackmaniac.

I’m going back tomorrow for more classes and more LumberJocks.

Steve

Anyway, I wanted to tell you all that I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas. I appreciate this site and all its people, it’s a great bunch- certainly the best on the net. I wish all of you the best thru this holiday season, and please have a SAFE New Year.

I hope you all get the tools that you’ve been eyeballing…. lol

Steve

I made this hanger to solve that problem in my shop. I know, it’s not pretty, but I made it out of scrap material that I had. The hanger works fantastic. You can use it for anything with a flat blade, like saws or squares.

The entire holder is 16” long. It’s made up of short pieces of 2×4 stock- 2” wide. They are cut 90 degrees on one side, and 11 1/2 degrees on the other. If I made another one, I think I would use 15 degrees. Inside the unit are little cams that keep the saw from sliding out.

At first, I was worried that the cams wouldn’t hold the saws and the first time I went to beating on the bench, one of them would fall to it’s demise on the concrete floor. However, I beat and beat on the wall after I put them up, only to find out that the vibrations seat the saws more securely.

The rubber cams are made from 5/8 outside diameter fuel line hose (because that’s what I had laying around). The inside diameter is 3/8. I cut them 1 3/8” long. I cut the heads off some 3/8 diameter bolts and inserted them into the hose to give it a little weight and rigidity.

When you want to store the saw, you put it in from the bottom of the saw hanger first, then when the rubber cam rolls over the blade, you just tug down a bit and the saw is stuck. When you want it out again, you just push up about 1/4 inch and pull it out.

Here’s a pic before I enclosed it.

I had just enough time left to knock out a couple more simple tool holders for the wall.

Then, I had to call it a day!

—Steve

I like to do things with a certain amount of frugality... recycling everything I can and not buying new stuff. If I have it, and can use it, and it works, I’m OK with that. It doesn’t have to look brand new.

So, I came across an old American Woodworker mag (#125 Nov06) not too long ago, that had this idea for a wall slat system. The thing I liked most about this system was that he made his entire shop modular. He had this hanging slat system on workbenches, assembly carts, tool boxes, etc. Everything was able to be put on his assembly carts and organized, and then back on the wall for storage. I liked the idea of having a system with universal hanging capabilities, because that would keep my workbench clutter free from tools and hardware (at least so I think… lol!!).

Anyway, I started putting this up in my shop yesterday. I had everything I needed on my woodrack, so this project didn’t cost me a dime. If I had to buy it all new, it would have been in the ball park of $80 or so. I used some 5/8 ply for the backer, it was a shipping crate at one time. I found a good piece of paneling that was unfinished, so I slapped some tung oil on that to seal it up a little. I was lucky to have some 3/4 pine laying around, so those turned out to be the slats. I just got the system up on the wall yesterday, it’ll be a little bit before I can continue with all the orgainizers for it. I’ll make them as time goes along and more scrap wood is produced.

I made one “quickie” just to show you how it hangs on the wall, then ran out of time.

I’ve owned this old tractor for about a decade. It’s a 1955 International Harvester Farmall 200. My Father and Grandfather owned it before me. It’s been in our family for about 50 years or so. My Grandfather farmed with it, and we’ve used it to maintenance our property for years and years.

This tractor has had a rough life. It’s really been through the mill… and back, and it finally stopped running about two years ago. I took it to a mechanic friend of mine at the beginning of the fall that does an exceptional job restoring tractors. I only intended to FIX the tractor to get it to a “running” condition. Well…. One thing led to another… and I took some time ($ and a lot of cash $), and decided to restore the tractor. I helped quite a bit, but I would not have been able to work out the mechanics of it all had it not been for my very good friend. I’m grateful to know him, and I appreciate him a lot.

I’ve got some things to finish with it yet, but they are minor (My budget has to recover first, though).

Once I get the tractor in full swing, I’m going to be able to pull logs onto a bandmill to mill lumber (I know, that’s streaching it a bit, but it’s how I’m justifying this post as woodworking related… lol!!)

Anyway, I’m proud of the tractor and I thought I’d share some pics. It’ll certainly save me boatloads of time in property maintenance, and most importantly, GIVE ME MORE SHOP TIME!!!

We turned almost every nut and bolt on this tractor. All new bearings, rings, seals, gaskets, etc.

Sooo, I hurried up there to his house today and latched onto it. It’s a gem. It’s in really good shape, and has a 1/2 hp motor on it. Even the belt is in good shape. It has all of its original attachments, including the disk sander. The best thing about it is that the only place there is any plastic is on the electrical cord to the motor, it’s all cast iron and steel. It’s heavy.

Now, backtrack about 5 years. I went to a farm auction one day and bought a box of stuff that came with some old wooden bar clamps that I wanted really bad. I didn’t know what was in the box, but it didn’t matter because I paid well under what the clamps were worth. I got the box home and inside were some large belts for a belt sander. However, at the time, they didn’t fit anything I had.

Now, back to present day. I cleaned my shop out about a month ago and I found those belts again. I thought, “These are in really good shape, so I’m not going to throw them away. I can always cut them up and use them on my orbital sander.”

Well, I got the sander home today and remembererd that I had the belts. They fit the stationary sander perfectly!!! So, now I’m set. I’ve been out in the shop for the last few hours fine tuning the sander and removing some of the rust from the tabletops. The startup was a little slow, but after some polishing, the belt runs across the table with minimal friction. The sander works fantastic. AND, the best part was it was FREE!!! I oiled some bearings that sounded like they had a little squeal in them. They don’t make noise anymore after the oil. When I get around to taking it apart and giving it a good cleaning, then I’ll probably replace them.

I can’t express enough thanks to my friends father for allowing me to have it. I’ll have to go up to his place this fall and cut wood for him, or something. Here are some pics:

The Front-

The Back-

The Front with the belt sander vertical and the disk sander table at 45 degrees-

The top and side-

Thanks for looking…

-Steve