LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
139K views 296 replies 71 participants last post by  NedB 
#1 ·
The Beginning

For all of my new (at this point in time anyway) LJ friends, I thought I would take a couple of minutes and go over how I got started in woodworking and where I hope to 'go' on this crazy journey called a woodshop.

My woodworking hobby got its start a Long time ago on a small farm down in Drumore PA when I was around 13 . My cousin Lewis had a wonderfully equipped shop, with everything from a tablesaw to a metal lathe, he did it all in there. I got to use his bandsaw and sanding station, plus the drill press on occasion. I had free access to his scrap pile, and built lots of little scrappy projects whenever I visited.

Fast forward to 1999 or so. I moved in with the LOML and 'our' kids. I was lucky enough to get three wonderful stepsons with the LOML, they're currently ages 20, 14 and 9. Somewhere around the year 2000 James said he wanted a captains bed. We went shopping and only found wobbly oak stuff. Well, I couldn't see paying what they were charging, so I suggested I could make a better bed for less money than what they were charging. Well, with no more than a homeowner B&D circular saw and 12v drill/driver and a workmate I put together a platform bed which is still standing three boys and 9 years later. It was and is pretty rough around the edges, but it is still sturdy.

Somewhere down the line, we moved the two younger boys into a room together and I bought a set of plans online, and built a set of bunk beds. For those, I decided to upgrade the tool set, and bought a 10"CMS. Naturally enough I managed to buy just before the pricecs dropped. Oh well… My CMS isn't a slider, and that's about the only feature I wish I had. It isn't enough of a deal breaker that I will replace it any time soon. That bunk only recently came down, where it was cut in two, and reassembled as two low loft beds for the older boys. I also bought my router somewhere around that time, though it really hasn't ever gotten a good workout, but that's about to change in the coming months.

I built both beds in my side yard, on that workmate. Around that time I discovered several forums, Woodnet, Woodcentral and Woodworking.org. An offer to meet over a cup of coffee led to meeting with my mentor, John. Coffee and some woodworking BS turned into a shop visit to his very rustic barn shop a week or so later. That led to several more visits, and then all of a sudden I had a Key to the shop! John had a whole lot more tools than I did, and he was very patient in teaching me to use them. I started saving, and eventually bought my own TS, which move into the shop which I now shared with John.

I lucked out and bought the 'last' Ridgid 3612 at the local BORG on something of a spur of the moment purchase. It had been marked down , so lincluding tax it came home at about $450 out the door. It replaced john's venerable craftsman 9" benchtop saw, which wasn't that bad of a saw, other than the fence and total lack of guard.

A little paragraph about the barn shop. It was a carriage house which we rented, and had a sub-panel and a roof… the walls were uninsulated and had numerous gaps, and hot and cold running chipmunks. There was a rough-poured concrete floor on half of the shop, the rest was a dirt floor. We shared that for a year and a half, until our landlady wanted more money. More than we wanted to pay for such a finely crafted structure, so we decided to find another shop to rent. That led to the 'shop mahal'.

We found a commercial business incubator with an open bay, and after a quick DBA and tax number, we were in 'business'. Name only, we were really just a couple of guys sharing a shop. The shop mahal, however was expensive in the long run. I learned a lot in that shop, and can never repay John for his generosity and teaching.

about two years ago, I moved out of the shop, because my job at the time was such a time sink that I just didn't have time to spend in the shop. John moved into another shop at that time, but all of my tools went into storage, where they have stayed for the most part since then.

Last spring of '07 I got a new job, and made the decision to build my own shop. I bought a bunch of materials and according to the kids, 'ruined the yard' putting my shop in the middle of the back yard. 'Oh well, there are side yards to play in. 'was my response. I'm such a meanie yaknow…

My shop is 12'x20' and has 10' sidewalls and a gambrel roof.

Long before I found LJ I started a shop blog, which is in my sig line. Drop in for a visit there to see the complete saga of my shop build. It has taken me over a year to get to this point, and this week I'm planning on moving in most of my stuff and materials.

My tool set is almost 'complete'.

in addition to my tablesaw, I have a DW734 planer, PC 693 kit with both fixed and plunge bases, the 10" Delta CMS, a Delta benchtop DP, HF bandsaw, delta Midi lathe, generic bench grinder and a handful of hand tools etc…

all of that plus my benches and other items will be moving into the shop in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks for visiting, and if you're ever in the Syracuse NY area, drop me a line, I'll put a pot of coffee on and we'll visit a spell.

I've got a bunch of shop photos for the curious, check them out here:

Shop photos page
 
See less See more
#119 ·
Shop clean out Done! Next!

At this point, despite taking today 'off' from shop time, I'm going to call the interior shop cleaning 'done', in that once I put away what is left on top of my bench, I will have it all cleaned up and ready to work. Now it is on to bigger & better things.

I've had my shop in various states of progress for about a decade. I've made a bunch of things from the shop itself, to several beds, a bunch of cutting boards and so forth. One thing I haven't had access to in almost 8 years is a router table. My mentor John had one, but when he and I split up our joint shop, I packed up my PC 690 router, and he kept his Hitachi M12 with its router table. (among other things)
I suppose I'm pretty typical for a north american electron burning woodworker; I use my TS as the 'central tool' in my shop. This has served me pretty well up til now, but there have been times when i wanted to have a router table again.
I'm of two minds on what to build:

Router Wing Extension: given how small my shop is, I suspect this will be something I will build eventually. I'm not all that enamored with that solution, in that when you're set up for router work, the TS isn't available and vice versa. For larger pieces, a larger table will be useful, but honestly, the next 6 months, I expect I won't be doing That many large pieces.

Benchtop Router table: This is what I'm planning on building. I've got a large 'working' bench which will easily support a benchtop table. I've read a bunch of finished projects here on LJ, and have decided I'm going with a simple box with a hinged top. I'm going to keep it pretty basic. I have a piece of laminated countertop (actually I have several), which is a) free, and b) disposable if I screw things up. I have a couple of spare fixed bases, one of which will be dedicated to this table.

This coming week is going to mark a slow down in actual woodworking time for me, I do church directory photos for a living, and I've got a bunch of commuting to do this week, between home and Rochester NY, about 2 hours one way. Luckily, I'll be near a Woodcraft, so at some point on Saturday I'll be going toy and supply shopping a bit. Woohoo!
Thanks all for checking in. See you on the boards.
 
#121 ·
Goodies arrived yesterday!

I splurged on a couple of new toyls this week:


Picked up (had shipped…)
a set of forstner bits:




a band clamp (see overall pic above)
I want to do some of the EZ Mitre boxes, and figured a band clamp would be useful for them!

and an expanding collet chuck for the lathe:




hey, I'm a Photographer… gotta play a little bit dontcha know…

Thanks for looking, gotta dash off to work in a bit.
 
#123 ·
my Weekend is finally here: Projects and plans

Hi folks,
It was a good week, in addition to the shipment from woodcraft the other day, I also stopped at a Woodcraft Stick & Bricks store yesterday, picked up a couple of things, saving 15% because of their anniversary sale.
Automotive tire Audio equipment Gas Auto part Automotive wheel system


I eventually want to pick up a HF DC, at which point my little old Jet will hit the classifieds with a budget price on it, so some other new woodworker can have a leg up on their shop. Looking to that point, I picked up a couple of fittings so I can build a chip separator drop box. Essentially the same thing as the trash can separators, only box instead of can. why?
Awhile back over on Family Woodworking where I'm a Mod, one of the founders of that forum described building his 'dream' shop. He built an incredible DC system, which would be way overkill for my compact shop, but the drop box idea always stuck in my mind as a 'good thing'.

I also picked up some casters for a new air cleaner which I'm going to build around a furnace 'squirrel cage', which will double as my planer stand.
Light Automotive tire Gas Engineering Machine


If I can get through the distractions, I'm going to build a router table today.
pics and what not when i get finished.
 

Attachments

#124 ·
The Punch-list

Morning all! [_]D
Regular readers will know that I managed to complete a new tool build this week. I find myself at a bit of a cross-road point today though. My shop has been in the works going all the way back to '08, and just like any other good shop, it is never 'really' done. In my case that is definitely true.

Three major points that need to be done in the next two months are:

Finish installing the siding on the upper section of the shop, My shop has always qualified as a 'well ventilated' space. I have the siding on hand, I just need to climb the ladder several times and hang the sheet goods above the 12' high point. I have a fairly strong concern for heights however. SO this is going to be a challenge. I also need to cut and fit some plywood soffet pieces.

The Door to my shop is a rough and ready affair. I'm going to rebuild the doors and tighten up the gap around them (small rodents and birds have loved the easy access up til now). And in fact I believe I'm going to cut the 'doors' down to a single Door, albeit keeping it at 4' across, plenty wide enough for easy access for the largest project or material. I also need to build a new set of steps, the ones I have now work, but I'd like a shallower rise.

I'm going to be putting in a passive solar heat system to extend the shop season (I might need to use my Kero heater in the deep of winter). That is moving to the top of my list, the calendar says that I have 2.5 months until the snow flies (roughly columbus day around here). I've got to pick up some supplies for that project, but they're small $ items, so for under $500 I will be able to heat my shop, or so I hope.
 
#125 ·
Been one of those weeks...

Morning all [_]D

taking a few minutes this morning to catch up here.

I'm a professional photographer (as opposed to just your average person who owns a camera), and my 'employer' scheduled me for a training class this week to try and teach me to become a salesman for their products.

Well folks, the class was 'good' as such things go. Instructors were earnest, knowledgeable and I did learn a few things. HOwever I've decided that I'm going to take some of that instruction and despite their urgings, I'm going to apply it for my own benefit, and not necessarily to theirs. I took a good hard look at my classmates, and than at myself… and I realized, I've been wasting my time in the environment that I'd been working in. SO I'm going to hang my shingle and start up my own studio. If I can 'sell' as they taught me, I'm darned sure going to get 100% of the profits, not just 16% which is my 'cut' from any sales under their model. Sales is a fact of life in any business, and it can be a challenge in this economy, but if you make a good product or provide a good service (photography is a bit of both…) and you're extremely lucky and/or talented you might make a living at whatever you do.
I'm not going to continue to run myself ragged, give up my home life and not see my youngest boy grow up for very little money. Instead I'm going to work hard, fledge and build a new business and enjoy being around my family. I may still run myself ragged, but I'm going to do it for my benefit, not some corporation.

Now, tool thoughts…
because I had a three day road trip for work, I've had zero shop time since the weekend. It is raining today, which means I'm not going to climb any ladders and hang siding on the shop, however I Am planning on getting out there and
1) finish my router table (install the base plate under it)
2) build a shelf for my grinder
3) hang some lights
4) finish my wolverine clone
5) start some end grain cutting boards

thanks for checking in and 'listening' to my ramblings.

-Ned
 
#132 ·
Suffering from 'what-next?'-itis... time for a shop cleaning update

Here I am about a month into my shop renovation and clearing… and I find myself in a bit of a quandry:

What should I do or build 'next'?

I've got 'all' of the major tools at least marginally functional now, but I keep thinking of new 'aha, that would be cool' projects. that keep popping up.

for example, I just got my lathe area in 'order'. OK, that's nice, but now I'm thinking there are more 'organization' talks I need to do. My workbench is full of clutter, and I don't really have a good place to put most of it.
I have a stalled project piled up on top of my newfangled bench… because I need to pick up some more wood for some critical parts so I can finish the jakes' chairs.

I think what I'm going to do today is clear the decks… the stuff on my workbench AND the parts for the jakes' chairs are all going to be stowed away. If I get those done, I'm going to reward myself by building a quick box or two just for the pleasure of a quick finished project.
 
#136 ·
Happy Birthday - the report

Morning all,
Well yesterday was my birthday, and my loving wife and kids gave me two tools, plus some clothes. Since I doubt you LJ's would care about the clothes, here are the new tools:
Bumper Table Wood Gas Flooring


Just an 18v Jigsaw (with laser sight) and a countersink/driver bit set. Not earth shattering, but they'll be well used out in the shop. I have a relatively complete kit of Ryobi One+ tools, so I'm well stocked with two chargers and several batteries already. Now I just need something to build with the jigsaw.

I got several hours in the shop yesterday, re-introducing myself to the workflow out there. I decided to build several boxes from some short boards I had stacked up. I dusted off my dado stack, cut a groove for a plywood bottom, and have three boxes halfway done, plus one more that I need to cut the sides to length:

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Flooring Hardwood


Wood Flooring Hardwood Tool Engineering


I did things the 'hard way', need to go read up on the EZ-Mitre method of building a box. As these were existing boards, already jointed and planed to thickness, I wasn't going to get a full grain wrap, but I'm pretty pleased with the two sided wrap on one of the boxes:

Hood Window Wood Automotive exterior Rectangle


They're all small boxes, 3" x 4" on up to 4"x5" or so, the woods used were maple, oak (which I normally don't work with, though these boards are handsome…) and one 'dunno wood' from a long ago salvaged pallet. I'm going to go grab some breakfast, then head out to the shop and putter some more. Hopefully by lunchtime, I'll have some progress shots to share.

For now, however, I'm going to pretend I'm from New England and have Cake for breakfast (devil's food in case you were wondering…)
 

Attachments

#137 ·
Happy Birthday - the report

Morning all,
Well yesterday was my birthday, and my loving wife and kids gave me two tools, plus some clothes. Since I doubt you LJ's would care about the clothes, here are the new tools:
Bumper Table Wood Gas Flooring


Just an 18v Jigsaw (with laser sight) and a countersink/driver bit set. Not earth shattering, but they'll be well used out in the shop. I have a relatively complete kit of Ryobi One+ tools, so I'm well stocked with two chargers and several batteries already. Now I just need something to build with the jigsaw.

I got several hours in the shop yesterday, re-introducing myself to the workflow out there. I decided to build several boxes from some short boards I had stacked up. I dusted off my dado stack, cut a groove for a plywood bottom, and have three boxes halfway done, plus one more that I need to cut the sides to length:

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Flooring Hardwood


Wood Flooring Hardwood Tool Engineering


I did things the 'hard way', need to go read up on the EZ-Mitre method of building a box. As these were existing boards, already jointed and planed to thickness, I wasn't going to get a full grain wrap, but I'm pretty pleased with the two sided wrap on one of the boxes:

Hood Window Wood Automotive exterior Rectangle


They're all small boxes, 3" x 4" on up to 4"x5" or so, the woods used were maple, oak (which I normally don't work with, though these boards are handsome…) and one 'dunno wood' from a long ago salvaged pallet. I'm going to go grab some breakfast, then head out to the shop and putter some more. Hopefully by lunchtime, I'll have some progress shots to share.

For now, however, I'm going to pretend I'm from New England and have Cake for breakfast (devil's food in case you were wondering…)
A little practice never hurts.
 

Attachments

#148 ·
Fall is almost here: time for heat & other concerns

Here it is late August (where DID the summer go?), and when I've let the dogs out the past couple of mornings I've noticed that it is almost chilly out there. Not cold by any means, & compared with the massive heat we've dealt with the past couple of months it is quite pleasant. That doesn't mean it isn't cool, and I've got one very large project on my punch list for the shop that I've decided is going to the Top of the list this week:

I've never 'finished' the end walls of my shop off. OSB and plywood doors have been 'good enough' for me up til now. Since returning from VA however, it has bugged me that it isn't finished as it were. The North end at least has the handi-panels on it up to the rim joists, but the upper section there is OSB as well.
Last night my 'daily' photo for my 366 photo a day project was this:
Grass Triangle Ladder Landscape Tints and shades


As you can see I have some junk to clear out, and a bunch of wall space to work on.
This face of my shop is the closest thing I have to a true southern face, which means it is about to become the main support for my new passive solar heating system. I'm going to be modifying the doorway from a pair of poorly fitting 3'x 8' plywood affairs to one 4'x 7' door. I'll essentially keep the left side of the doorway, and fill in the other two feet with part of the new solar collector. I'm going to be installing a 6' x 10' solar siphon system on the full right hand side of this face. I may go higher, but that will essentially waste heat on the upper section of the shop (my ceilings are 15' high or so, and I'm going to put in a heating season only ceiling of rigid foam insulation just above the top sill) I'm going to wrap the design around the corner of the shop and build a 'wing' which will be 4'X8', angled out to get maximum south/southeast gain, sticking out from the shop about 1' or so.

This morning, I've been clearing the decks in the center of the shop entry (there was a bunch of household 'crud' which had crept into the shop in the year we were in VA, and I didn't think I had room in the 'shed' to store it… come to find out, I've got Loads of space to put it… the LOML just won't like it much when she finds out I've rearranged the shed). Tomorrow I'll go down and pick up two more sheets of OSB and by the weekend I'll have it all installed.
I'm also going to try and get the handi-panels cut and installed on the upper section (in fact, I'm going to start with those once I get a safe work area cleared out in front of the steps). First however I'm going to relax a bit with a cup of coffee and watch the Woodsmith Shop.
 

Attachments

#149 ·
Some new cutting boards

[_]D Morning all, Since the powers that be frown on WIP photos in the projects section, here are some in progress photos of what i did yesterday:
I was cleaning out the tool shed (distinct from my Shop… it is where the lawn stuff, and family stuff is stored) and I found a whole bin of short cut-offs plus a single 5/4 cherry board. The board was weathered (it was when I got it) and I've had it for at least 8 years now. My how time flies when life gets in the way of woodworking.
The board was about 7' long and about 8" wide. I didn't get a photo of it in rough form, but here it is cut into 2.5" to 3" boards, and planed to 7/8 or so thickness. The boards are about 40" or so long, should get a couple of nice cherry end grain boards out of it.

while I was in planer mode I reached up and grabbed some random boards from my 'cutting board stock' as well:

Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Plank


A couple of maple, some chocolate (walnut) and some different cherry (different only that it wasn't from that one board), and some butternut (white walnut)

Wood Road surface Flooring Floor Rectangle


I'm and old hand at the wood whisperer style end grain boards, so this part is easy for me to do. I think this time I'm going to try something a little different, and try some other angles and what not, have to see where I take it, I'm not sure just yet where I'll go.

at this stage however it is all just stock preparation.

I need to pick up a switch for my jointer, not sure how it got this way, but it is a plug and play jointer… plug it in and it runs… no switch at the machine. Yeah, that's got to change if I'm going to keep it. (which i am, no budget for a new jointer at this stage of the game)

However I got it set up so that I was able to go from this:
Wood Vise Tool Wood stain Hardwood
and this
Tire Hand Wheel Automotive tire Wood


to these:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Tool Plank


Wood Gas Hardwood Flooring Machine


I wound up with quite a pile of 'short' stock to work with. The boards from these will be 'random' rows. I'm going to see how the wood decides to go together. I shut things down around 9PM last night, I have a neighbor whom I don't want to annoy too much, and I figure jointer and planer noise (with the shop door open) are not all that conducive to his sleeping.

Wood Gas Hardwood Wood stain Machine


I'm going to watch the woodsmith shop and then go clean up my mess from last night, and see what other trouble I can get into. Thanks for stopping by.

Ned
 

Attachments

#150 ·
Some new cutting boards

[_]D Morning all, Since the powers that be frown on WIP photos in the projects section, here are some in progress photos of what i did yesterday:
I was cleaning out the tool shed (distinct from my Shop… it is where the lawn stuff, and family stuff is stored) and I found a whole bin of short cut-offs plus a single 5/4 cherry board. The board was weathered (it was when I got it) and I've had it for at least 8 years now. My how time flies when life gets in the way of woodworking.
The board was about 7' long and about 8" wide. I didn't get a photo of it in rough form, but here it is cut into 2.5" to 3" boards, and planed to 7/8 or so thickness. The boards are about 40" or so long, should get a couple of nice cherry end grain boards out of it.

while I was in planer mode I reached up and grabbed some random boards from my 'cutting board stock' as well:

Wood Floor Wood stain Flooring Plank


A couple of maple, some chocolate (walnut) and some different cherry (different only that it wasn't from that one board), and some butternut (white walnut)

Wood Road surface Flooring Floor Rectangle


I'm and old hand at the wood whisperer style end grain boards, so this part is easy for me to do. I think this time I'm going to try something a little different, and try some other angles and what not, have to see where I take it, I'm not sure just yet where I'll go.

at this stage however it is all just stock preparation.

I need to pick up a switch for my jointer, not sure how it got this way, but it is a plug and play jointer… plug it in and it runs… no switch at the machine. Yeah, that's got to change if I'm going to keep it. (which i am, no budget for a new jointer at this stage of the game)

However I got it set up so that I was able to go from this:
Wood Vise Tool Wood stain Hardwood
and this
Tire Hand Wheel Automotive tire Wood


to these:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Tool Plank


Wood Gas Hardwood Flooring Machine


I wound up with quite a pile of 'short' stock to work with. The boards from these will be 'random' rows. I'm going to see how the wood decides to go together. I shut things down around 9PM last night, I have a neighbor whom I don't want to annoy too much, and I figure jointer and planer noise (with the shop door open) are not all that conducive to his sleeping.

Wood Gas Hardwood Wood stain Machine


I'm going to watch the woodsmith shop and then go clean up my mess from last night, and see what other trouble I can get into. Thanks for stopping by.

Ned
Wood Wood stain Plank Hardwood Lumber


there are at least 4, possibly as many as 6 cutting boards sitting there:

Wood Rectangle Floor Wood stain Flooring


Maple, butternut, cherry and walnut

Wood Rectangle Yellow Wood stain Floor


Maple and cherry.

and another maple, butternut, cherry and walnut

Wood Rectangle Floor Wood stain Hardwood
 

Attachments

#153 ·
Rockler answered the call & the Brown truck delivereth

Morning folks! Been a quiet week out in the shop. There were two days when I didn't even make it out there at all, which is Not how I want to 'run' things, but life got in the way. That was OK though.

I spent two of the non-shop days with my youngest son, we went to the movies and saw 'the Dark Knight Rises'. I'm much more of a Marvel fan than DC in the comics realm, but I sure do like the latest iteration of the Batman movies, not just Dark Knight, but the whole 'trilogy' starring Christian Bale. Can't wait for the next movie.

The other day was spent going to the NY State Fair near Syracuse. We had fun touring the fairgrounds: including riding the tram together.
Glasses Sky Car Wheel Sunglasses


Patrick wants to run a Diner, and Guy Fieri had a show at the fair on Wednesday. His opening was excellent, 'People ask me if I Love being a Chef, and I tell them First thing I am is a Dad, then I enjoy being a chef'

Outerwear Smile Vision care Sunglasses Standing


He made 4 dishes, and put on a fun and inspiring show for the packed 'house' of about 5000 people. Two things stood out, he did a bit of Q&A with the crowd, and several times was asked 'how do I get into running a restaurant' his reply impressed me (I hope it did Pat too); to sum up he said something along the lines of ' you have to get in a restaurant and work behind the scenes, there is no get rich quick scheme or fast track to running a Diner etc.'

Enough about the 'distractions', you want to know about shop time and the UPS man showing up at my house.

Regular readers will know that I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago, and in my family, Birthdays usually involve a check, and in my opinion, Birthday money is to be spent on things that you wouldn't normally buy on a daily basis.

SO I took that to heart and ordered a few toyls from Rockler. One box arrived on Thursday:
Wood Gas Building Hardwood Wood stain


Wheel Plant Tire Air gun Grass


That's their Dust Rite floor sweep. It comes with the handle, long section of tube and a nozzle. My little one lung DC just barely has enough suction for it, but it does the job:
Wood Pipeline transport Gas Composite material Engineering


Rockler had a sale on (when don't they?) and I picked up 4 24" Irwin Parallel jaw clamps. Despite the reviews here and on the rockler site, I'm quite happy with their performance for the price. They're not Bessey k-bodies, but I can't afford k-bodies at the moment. For the price of 2 k-bodies I got 4 Irwins. They're pretty darn massive, and should serve me well in the shop for years to come:
Wood Wooden block Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Table Engineering Hardwood Wood stain


I know one thing I'm going to be building Today in addition to planing down those cutting boards… a new Clamp Rack. Those suckers are Heavy! I'll make a rack to hold all 6 of my parallel jaw clamps (I have a pair of K-bodies as well) along with my numerous f-clamps.

Thanks for checking in, have a safe day out in your shop!
 

Attachments

#154 ·
Rockler answered the call & the Brown truck delivereth

Morning folks! Been a quiet week out in the shop. There were two days when I didn't even make it out there at all, which is Not how I want to 'run' things, but life got in the way. That was OK though.

I spent two of the non-shop days with my youngest son, we went to the movies and saw 'the Dark Knight Rises'. I'm much more of a Marvel fan than DC in the comics realm, but I sure do like the latest iteration of the Batman movies, not just Dark Knight, but the whole 'trilogy' starring Christian Bale. Can't wait for the next movie.

The other day was spent going to the NY State Fair near Syracuse. We had fun touring the fairgrounds: including riding the tram together.
Glasses Sky Car Wheel Sunglasses


Patrick wants to run a Diner, and Guy Fieri had a show at the fair on Wednesday. His opening was excellent, 'People ask me if I Love being a Chef, and I tell them First thing I am is a Dad, then I enjoy being a chef'

Outerwear Smile Vision care Sunglasses Standing


He made 4 dishes, and put on a fun and inspiring show for the packed 'house' of about 5000 people. Two things stood out, he did a bit of Q&A with the crowd, and several times was asked 'how do I get into running a restaurant' his reply impressed me (I hope it did Pat too); to sum up he said something along the lines of ' you have to get in a restaurant and work behind the scenes, there is no get rich quick scheme or fast track to running a Diner etc.'

Enough about the 'distractions', you want to know about shop time and the UPS man showing up at my house.

Regular readers will know that I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago, and in my family, Birthdays usually involve a check, and in my opinion, Birthday money is to be spent on things that you wouldn't normally buy on a daily basis.

SO I took that to heart and ordered a few toyls from Rockler. One box arrived on Thursday:
Wood Gas Building Hardwood Wood stain


Wheel Plant Tire Air gun Grass


That's their Dust Rite floor sweep. It comes with the handle, long section of tube and a nozzle. My little one lung DC just barely has enough suction for it, but it does the job:
Wood Pipeline transport Gas Composite material Engineering


Rockler had a sale on (when don't they?) and I picked up 4 24" Irwin Parallel jaw clamps. Despite the reviews here and on the rockler site, I'm quite happy with their performance for the price. They're not Bessey k-bodies, but I can't afford k-bodies at the moment. For the price of 2 k-bodies I got 4 Irwins. They're pretty darn massive, and should serve me well in the shop for years to come:
Wood Wooden block Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Table Engineering Hardwood Wood stain


I know one thing I'm going to be building Today in addition to planing down those cutting boards… a new Clamp Rack. Those suckers are Heavy! I'll make a rack to hold all 6 of my parallel jaw clamps (I have a pair of K-bodies as well) along with my numerous f-clamps.

Thanks for checking in, have a safe day out in your shop!
Nice clamps!
 

Attachments

#155 ·
Kickback! Shop's closed for the day... (minimal injuries)

I was trimming down a cutting board blank to width, had finished the cut and was pushing the cutting board through the end of the cut when I must have pushed sideways 'just enough'. And I had a wooden frisbee spinning across the shop. Just barely caught my knuckle on its way by, as well as my turning muscle. (belly)

Leg Human body Gesture Finger Thumb


my hand isn't swollen, I'm just heavy.

sorry to show this, but figure someone might learn from my stupidity

Human body Sleeve Scar Service Knee


well my nerves are shot now… but I did go out and get my camera (forgot to put a chip in it)... then I cut the affected area on the board off with the bandsaw… just before I locked up the shop for the day.

Brown Computer keyboard Computer Peripheral Input device


Wood Wood stain Tints and shades Boat Hardwood
 

Attachments

#156 ·
Kickback! Shop's closed for the day... (minimal injuries)

I was trimming down a cutting board blank to width, had finished the cut and was pushing the cutting board through the end of the cut when I must have pushed sideways 'just enough'. And I had a wooden frisbee spinning across the shop. Just barely caught my knuckle on its way by, as well as my turning muscle. (belly)

Leg Human body Gesture Finger Thumb


my hand isn't swollen, I'm just heavy.

sorry to show this, but figure someone might learn from my stupidity

Human body Sleeve Scar Service Knee


well my nerves are shot now… but I did go out and get my camera (forgot to put a chip in it)... then I cut the affected area on the board off with the bandsaw… just before I locked up the shop for the day.

Brown Computer keyboard Computer Peripheral Input device


Wood Wood stain Tints and shades Boat Hardwood
The table saw can be a harsh mistress. Glad to know it wasn't worse.
 

Attachments

#166 ·
Time for a new crosscut sled

I was cross-cutting the blanks for my latest set of cutting boards when I noticed that my cuts weren't square. Not a big deal in this case, as I'm only going to be planing them down to thickness anyway, but in the long run it means that a Lot of projects have been 'just a tad' off, probably for awhile now.

Table Rectangle Wood Textile Beige


that shows the 'variation'

here's my venerable sled, just something that i threw together awhile back:
Wood Wooden block Hardwood Plank Wood stain


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Flooring


it is about as simple as you can get, simply a sheet of 3/4 lumber core luann plywood, with poplar risers. I added a blade block on the back, and it has plastic runners.

It has more than served in the shop for a Long time, but I'm going to be making a new sled in the next couple of weeks. I need to finish my solar heat system soon, snow season is mere weeks away here in CNY… so I need to get going on that
 

Attachments

#167 ·
Time for a new crosscut sled

I was cross-cutting the blanks for my latest set of cutting boards when I noticed that my cuts weren't square. Not a big deal in this case, as I'm only going to be planing them down to thickness anyway, but in the long run it means that a Lot of projects have been 'just a tad' off, probably for awhile now.

Table Rectangle Wood Textile Beige


that shows the 'variation'

here's my venerable sled, just something that i threw together awhile back:
Wood Wooden block Hardwood Plank Wood stain


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Flooring


it is about as simple as you can get, simply a sheet of 3/4 lumber core luann plywood, with poplar risers. I added a blade block on the back, and it has plastic runners.

It has more than served in the shop for a Long time, but I'm going to be making a new sled in the next couple of weeks. I need to finish my solar heat system soon, snow season is mere weeks away here in CNY… so I need to get going on that
If snow season is just around the corner, then…..
Repurpose your old TS Sled into a downhill snowsled!!! Lol.

Seriously though,
Pictures of your solar heat system would be very interesting to see…....
 

Attachments

#172 ·
Cleaning Day!

I was out in the shop for a bit last night, planing these down:

Rectangle Wood Table Wood stain Font


And afterwards I was cleaning up the inevitable stray chips and dust with my new dust-rite nozzle. I noticed, however that it wasn't doing such a great job of picking up. You guessed it, my DC is Chock full at the moment. So, job 1 today is to empty the DC, then I'm going to attack the creeping meatball that always shows up in my shop. That's my term for clutter. I've got the first meeting for my Royal Arch chapter this evening, so I basically have from now til 4pm to get things accomplished… let's see just how much I can get done today.
 

Attachments

#173 ·
Cleaning Day!

I was out in the shop for a bit last night, planing these down:

Rectangle Wood Table Wood stain Font


And afterwards I was cleaning up the inevitable stray chips and dust with my new dust-rite nozzle. I noticed, however that it wasn't doing such a great job of picking up. You guessed it, my DC is Chock full at the moment. So, job 1 today is to empty the DC, then I'm going to attack the creeping meatball that always shows up in my shop. That's my term for clutter. I've got the first meeting for my Royal Arch chapter this evening, so I basically have from now til 4pm to get things accomplished… let's see just how much I can get done today.
Nice cutting board.
 

Attachments

#177 ·
Information overload

Irregular readers of my irregular musings will recall that I moved back to NY 3 months ago. We've been busy re-settling into our home here, and we've been busy with loads of projects around the house. You've seen what I've been up to, with refitting my workshop. What I have now is immeasurably better than what it was before I left. I always enjoyed going out there, but now I can actually get something accomplished.

Publication Book Retail Shelving Art


That's what my DW (dear wife) un-earthed from our office yesterday… it was in a storage tote, and while I'm happy to have access to my shop library again, I'm at a bit of a loss at the same time… I'm trying to streamline things in the shop… but that pile of material has to go 'somewhere' out there.

That's at least 40 to 50 magazines and books… and while not every page is relevant to what I want to do out in the shop, I've got a ton of 'projects' in the wings already, from more recent magazines and internet sources. I've got a couple of errands to run, then I'll be finding a home for those mags and books.
 

Attachments

#178 ·
Information overload

Irregular readers of my irregular musings will recall that I moved back to NY 3 months ago. We've been busy re-settling into our home here, and we've been busy with loads of projects around the house. You've seen what I've been up to, with refitting my workshop. What I have now is immeasurably better than what it was before I left. I always enjoyed going out there, but now I can actually get something accomplished.

Publication Book Retail Shelving Art


That's what my DW (dear wife) un-earthed from our office yesterday… it was in a storage tote, and while I'm happy to have access to my shop library again, I'm at a bit of a loss at the same time… I'm trying to streamline things in the shop… but that pile of material has to go 'somewhere' out there.

That's at least 40 to 50 magazines and books… and while not every page is relevant to what I want to do out in the shop, I've got a ton of 'projects' in the wings already, from more recent magazines and internet sources. I've got a couple of errands to run, then I'll be finding a home for those mags and books.
Ned,

For several years I stored my woodworking magizines in totes labled by year and publication. This proved to be satisfactory as far as keeping them clean and dry but wasn't exactly handy when it came to accessing that one that had the project/article I needed to refer to NOW.

About 4 years ago I bought a 4 drawer file cabinet, at a yard sale (cheap), for the shop, to file warrantys and operator manuels and such in, and after setting up one drawer with hanging files for that purpose, I had a few magizines on the bench that needed to go back into the totes, and then it struck me that I could organize and access them more easily if they too were in a file cabinet. ...sooo a couple different ideas went round and round in the gray matter and then it came to me that the magazines could be draped , one over the front and one over the back of each hanging file and still leave the center vacant to hold pull-out patterns or copies of patterns and articles which were taken from either of those two issues. Each drawer holds approx. 80 magazines, by Publication and chronologically. It will never replace the convenience of digital publications, but for printed copies this is quite handy.

I now have two, four drawer file cabinets set up in this manner and all magazines, pull-outs, and hand drawn patterns, operator manuels and even copies of Lumberjock projects and plans are at my finger tips when I need them.

...just a suggestion for your new and improved shop.

Work Safely and have Fun. - Grandpa Len.
 

Attachments

#182 ·
1500 days ago... and current project update

almost 4 and a half years ago; 1500 days ago (according to my 'blog list' page) I posted my first blog entry her on LJ's which was about my woodworking journey.

I'm still on that journey, and lately it has become nearly the center of my activities. I don't get out to the shop every day, but even on the days I'm not out there, I'm still doing something online related to woodworking.

Currently I'm in the midst of a massive cutting board project. Massive as in shear number of boards, not the size of any particular board:
Wood Gas Wood stain Hardwood Composite material


the LOML has requested that I go into full production mode and get her a bunch of cutting boards and she's going to hit the craft fair circuit. well, I have 'plenty' of lumber, and also plenty of time on my hands at the moment, so I'm 'going for it'.

I picked up 15 bf of walnut from a local lumber supplier, but that and some new hearing protectors are the total expenditure for the project so far. I expect I'll also be picking up a bottle of TBIII before the week is out though.

In the midst of cutting the stock to width, I wound up having some serious 'binding' problems with all of the boards. I could understand if it was in the maple. I'm finally using up some rock maple I bought years back, which is among the worst 'reaction' wood on the face of the planet. However it is 'free' and I'll get through the project and buy new & better lumber when I'm done.
Table Wood Wood stain Gas Plank


I'm using Maple, Walnut and Cherry. Now cherry and maple are prone to burning, and I'm using a Woodworker II blade on my venerable TS3612. I 'should' pick up a rip blade, but that's not in the cards at the moment. All three species were very tough to cut, to the point where I was tripping the breaker on a regular basis no matter how slowly I tried to cut the 4/4 materials.

My friends over on familywoodworking.org put their collective heads together and we figured out that my blades had excessive pitch built up on them;
Automotive lighting Hood Grille Wood Motor vehicle
(note, I was checking fence alignment with the blade at that photo… with saw unplugged)
I also aligned my splitter/guard on the saw better. It still isn't 'good', but It is Much better than it has been in years. Once I put it on, and set it, it now stays put, where before it would move on every cut.

I picked up a bottle of Simple Green, and proceeded to soak, then scrub the pitch off of the teeth. Evidently, the normal concentrated formula is not good for saw blades, only the kind the orange borg sells is good for them, but I hadn't read that, so I used the 'standard' version. HOpefully one application won't affect my blades too much.

I still need to tweak the fence a bit, think I'll do that in the morning after the LOML heads off to work.
I'm getting a pretty serious gap problem still, not quite to this extent, but noticable:
Furniture Wood Automotive tire Bumper Table


I'm pleased to report that after a good cleaning, my blades now look like this:
Automotive tire Circular saw Gear Wood Rim


Wood Orange Font Art Tints and shades


Plant Grey Wood Font Tints and shades


Here's the stack of lumber, midway through planing to thickness.

Wood Hardwood Engineering Lumber Machine


Next I will be finishing up getting them to smooth, then will do the usual glue up, cut apart, etc… on them.

Project photos once I get them to 'finished' status.
 

Attachments

#183 ·
1500 days ago... and current project update

almost 4 and a half years ago; 1500 days ago (according to my 'blog list' page) I posted my first blog entry her on LJ's which was about my woodworking journey.

I'm still on that journey, and lately it has become nearly the center of my activities. I don't get out to the shop every day, but even on the days I'm not out there, I'm still doing something online related to woodworking.

Currently I'm in the midst of a massive cutting board project. Massive as in shear number of boards, not the size of any particular board:
Wood Gas Wood stain Hardwood Composite material


the LOML has requested that I go into full production mode and get her a bunch of cutting boards and she's going to hit the craft fair circuit. well, I have 'plenty' of lumber, and also plenty of time on my hands at the moment, so I'm 'going for it'.

I picked up 15 bf of walnut from a local lumber supplier, but that and some new hearing protectors are the total expenditure for the project so far. I expect I'll also be picking up a bottle of TBIII before the week is out though.

In the midst of cutting the stock to width, I wound up having some serious 'binding' problems with all of the boards. I could understand if it was in the maple. I'm finally using up some rock maple I bought years back, which is among the worst 'reaction' wood on the face of the planet. However it is 'free' and I'll get through the project and buy new & better lumber when I'm done.
Table Wood Wood stain Gas Plank


I'm using Maple, Walnut and Cherry. Now cherry and maple are prone to burning, and I'm using a Woodworker II blade on my venerable TS3612. I 'should' pick up a rip blade, but that's not in the cards at the moment. All three species were very tough to cut, to the point where I was tripping the breaker on a regular basis no matter how slowly I tried to cut the 4/4 materials.

My friends over on familywoodworking.org put their collective heads together and we figured out that my blades had excessive pitch built up on them;
Automotive lighting Hood Grille Wood Motor vehicle
(note, I was checking fence alignment with the blade at that photo… with saw unplugged)
I also aligned my splitter/guard on the saw better. It still isn't 'good', but It is Much better than it has been in years. Once I put it on, and set it, it now stays put, where before it would move on every cut.

I picked up a bottle of Simple Green, and proceeded to soak, then scrub the pitch off of the teeth. Evidently, the normal concentrated formula is not good for saw blades, only the kind the orange borg sells is good for them, but I hadn't read that, so I used the 'standard' version. HOpefully one application won't affect my blades too much.

I still need to tweak the fence a bit, think I'll do that in the morning after the LOML heads off to work.
I'm getting a pretty serious gap problem still, not quite to this extent, but noticable:
Furniture Wood Automotive tire Bumper Table


I'm pleased to report that after a good cleaning, my blades now look like this:
Automotive tire Circular saw Gear Wood Rim


Wood Orange Font Art Tints and shades


Plant Grey Wood Font Tints and shades


Here's the stack of lumber, midway through planing to thickness.

Wood Hardwood Engineering Lumber Machine


Next I will be finishing up getting them to smooth, then will do the usual glue up, cut apart, etc… on them.

Project photos once I get them to 'finished' status.
I have the ts 3650 and had th same problem when my fence went out of alignment….Yep they want to bite back when you neglect them :)
 

Attachments

#188 ·
End of year wrap up

Hi folks,
the hollydaze caught up with me, and I've honestly not been out in the shop in a week or more. (it is winter and we've got all of this nasty white stuff on the ground…)

I had a very good christmas tools wise:




I finally have some Thompson Lathetools gouges: 1/2" detail, 1/2" V Bowl gouge and 1/4" detail gouge.



Wixey angle gauge


idetail digital caliper


Couple of pretty cool tools from Kobalt






handsome little 'Sarge' brand pocket knife with a beautiful maple burl for the side pieces. (I'm not a knife guy, but this one is fast becoming my favorite to carry around)

I've been continuing to make cutting boards, and even had a several sales just before christmas. I had a friend from high school contact me, and order 6 small cutting boards:






representative sample of the boards

I had another issue crop up with my recently repaired planer… not the same issue as before, and I haven't taken it to the shop for repair. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and upgrade to a DW735 sometime after the first of the year.

Cross your fingers for me, i've applied and interviewed for a dispatcher job with a large grocery distribution company, hope to have the new job by next weekend (if I get it).
 

Attachments

#189 ·
End of year wrap up

Hi folks,
the hollydaze caught up with me, and I've honestly not been out in the shop in a week or more. (it is winter and we've got all of this nasty white stuff on the ground…)

I had a very good christmas tools wise:
Input device Peripheral Computer keyboard Wood Office equipment


Computer Peripheral Computer keyboard Input device Wood


I finally have some Thompson Lathetools gouges: 1/2" detail, 1/2" V Bowl gouge and 1/4" detail gouge.

Computer keyboard Peripheral Input device Gadget Communication Device


Wixey angle gauge

Computer Computer keyboard Peripheral Input device Space bar

idetail digital caliper

Hand tool Pliers Wire stripper Metalworking hand tool Tool

Couple of pretty cool tools from Kobalt

Wood Computer keyboard Input device Peripheral Bumper


Computer keyboard Wood Input device Bumper Peripheral


Computer keyboard Input device Wood Peripheral Office equipment

handsome little 'Sarge' brand pocket knife with a beautiful maple burl for the side pieces. (I'm not a knife guy, but this one is fast becoming my favorite to carry around)

I've been continuing to make cutting boards, and even had a several sales just before christmas. I had a friend from high school contact me, and order 6 small cutting boards:
Brown Rectangle Wood Wood stain Hardwood


Brown Rectangle Wood Wood stain Flooring


Rectangle Wood Flooring Wood stain Floor


representative sample of the boards

I had another issue crop up with my recently repaired planer… not the same issue as before, and I haven't taken it to the shop for repair. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and upgrade to a DW735 sometime after the first of the year.

Cross your fingers for me, i've applied and interviewed for a dispatcher job with a large grocery distribution company, hope to have the new job by next weekend (if I get it).
Nice bunch of NEW Goodies!

Cutting boards too… All, very nice.

I know how you feel… With plenty of Cold Rain, etc. I've also managed to catch a bad cold… nose running all the time and a very rough cough… taking some stuff… not working very good… a little but, could be better…
Yesterday, the sun peeped through the clouds a little bit… I didn't feel like getting out in it!

Keep up the good work… sneeze, wipe, cough cough…
 

Attachments

#193 ·
The Grand Plan for 2013 -ok, you can stop laughing any time now... B-D

Hi folks,
My thermometer is lying to me at the moment (it says 40° but I really don't believe it), so I decided to come in from the shop and thaw out my fingers for a bit.
A little history: my shop has grown from literally a chop-saw on a picnic table to a fairly well equipped (if cold) small barn over the past 5 years. Before I built my shop, I shared shop space with my mentor for a few years, after building stuff in my yard, working out of the garden shed. I've done the typical 'buy a tool when you need it' thing, and for the most part that has worked out pretty well. I have a good solid core of tools and a fair supply of lumber on hand. I've always been great at starting a project, but not so good at finishing them however. SO it being early in the calendar year, I am going to try something new: A Plan for the year in the shop.

January is going to be simple, it is 1/3 of the way done, I have a short window of above average temperatures outside so between now and the end of that unseasonably warm weather I'm going to do a massive clean up and sort/organize. If I get enough done I'll try and turn some handles for my new Thompson lathe tools, but I'm not going to count on that happening. I left a Huge mess out in the shop getting the cutting board blitz done.

February and early March I suspect are going to be very quiet out there. I'll mostly be doing project planning and research unless we have a warmer winter than I suspect we are going to.

Later March will be when I will be getting the supplies for the projects, and I'll be starting in on them as I can time and money wise. Also, working on stocking up for my cutting board shop: Artisan Boards

April: Once the Lake subsides in our backyard from the snow run off, I'll be out in the shop as often as I can be… continuing to work on the projects from February's planning sessions. Also: Get a sub-panel run out to the shop.

May: This is when things are going to get 'interesting'. I'm going to try and do a few major projects in May:
1) build three new Doors for the shop. One a 'man' door which will go on the long side of the shop facing the house. I"ve got the doorway framed in the shop , I just have never built one for it, I've always used the large pair of doors on the end of the building instead. THe other two doors will be replacement doors for the pair in the end of the building. I'm planning on them having large windows in the upper half, and screens so I can open them up for cross ventilation during the spring & summer.
2) Along with the new doors, I also will be building a wrap around deck and new entrance stairs to the shop. That's always been on my list of things to do, but never made it to the top of the list.
3)build a bump out on the North end of the shop for the 'New' dust collector I've got sitting down in VA

June : Major Production run of cutting boards and other wood items for Artisan Boards plus build a new Deck for the house.

July: support a major house renovation project; new kitchen and bath, plus trim carpentry throughout the house. More cutting boards…

August: hopefully wrap up the reno project, prep for september. still more cutting boards

September: If funds and plans coincide: Move the shop building. My shop sits on concrete pads and a stone bed, I'm going to contact a 'camp jacking' company and get a quote for relocating from the center of the yard to a corner of the yard, giving the family back the majority of the back yard. Now I just have to convince the CFO that it can be done. I know I should do that before I build the steps and new deck, but I just don't see the funds happening much before September.

October: Christmas Gifts

November: You guessed it LOTS of Cutting boards

December: clean up from November.

I'll be printing that out and posting it in the shop for the occasional laugh.

disclaimer: this plan is subject to modification at any point in the year… and is carved in Jello to begin with.
 
#199 ·
Rediscovered a Lumber Source in CNY (central NY)

I just made a happy re-discovery of a 'local' sawyer whom I've dealt with in the past. For those in the central NY area, chime in here if you're looking for some decent hardwoods, Zach is the sawyer, and he has maple, ash, elm and hickory in 4/4 up through 10/4 at $1/bf. It may need some seasoning, but hey, that's what lumber racks are for, right? I'm planning on making a run up his way in about a month, month and a half from now, just about the time that my shop should thaw out and the slush fund for materials and tools has recovered.
 
#203 ·
I just hope that's not a train...

Hi gang,
at the risk of jinxing myself, I've had a bit of good luck finally. I left my last full time job back in August, and have been looking for a better job since then with predictably little success. However the past couple of weeks have seen a change in the job market. I started a new job last week, driving school bus for a local company, and I also got a call back on another job I had applied for, the interview for that went pretty well, and Yesterday I got the call back and a verbal offer from them. I will get the formal offer today.

edit… Forgot to mention what the new job is… I'll be doing courier work delivering prescriptions to nursing homes from a centrally located commercial pharmacy. (as opposed to a public pharmacy, this one solely distributes to institutions).
SO the light at the end of the long dark tunnel has appeared, now I have to make something of it!

Looks to be a decent opportunity to make some money, and will also allow me shop time, between the two jobs I might actually get a couple of new toyls later this year!
 
#212 ·
Back in the shop (soon)

My almost 8 yr. old DW734 has seen better days. and I pulled the trigger on a new Steel City 40100 13" planer as an investment in my cutting board venture. I also ordered a pair of Bowclamp cauls and a set of replacement wrenches for my PC router.

While I'm waiting for the planer to arrive, I'm going to be doing a bit of Spring cleaning, since spring has finally sprung and I won't freeze out in the shop. I'll update with photos once I get some progress done.
 
#213 ·
What made you choose this over the Dewalt 735?

I'm sure the Steel City will work good for you… it seems like all of their products are GOOD!

Now, for some cutting boards! LOL

Have fun with your new tool & be safe.
 
#218 ·
sometimes you just have to walk away...

after getting the shop in relative order, I decided to try my hand at turning and carving some spoons as a 'getting back into the swing of things' project after the winter.

yeah….right…

I cut several spoonish shapes out of some poplar, figuring, hey it's a soft-er hardwood, easy to carve, right? suuure. I dig out my spoon plane, and my hook blade and proceed to go through all of the blanks in short order, saving just one of them, which wound up as a spatula instead of a spoon.

oh, and I discovered that my spoon plane blade is indeed sharp… note to self, get a chain mail glove… asap, this will help keep the bright red stuff off of the product.

then I grab a piece of 'dunno' wood, which was a bit thicker than the poplar, and instead of cutting the shape, then carving the bowl out, I scooped out the bowl, Then cut the rough handle etc… intending on turning the handle down to round on the lathe. can't manage to do that, the handle looks like an angry drunk beaver with halitosis attacked it, and then just as I try and get it smoothed out I hear a squeak, then a snap and the 'bowl' end of the spoon just disappears.

mutter, mutter, curse….

ok, grab a hunk of maple and start cutting out a pair of spoon blanks on the bandsaw… evidently symmetry is not something I can manage on the bandsaw tonight either.

I turned out the lights, locked up the shop and came in to dinner.
 
#219 ·
Yep, Poplar is deceivingly harder than it looks… I love it… you can Finish it to look any way you like it!

Good luck…

Gotta go… Later…
 
#221 ·
New Tool in the shop!

My old DW734 was making some really weird noises the last time I used it, and I've had it in the shop twice at $100 a pop to get it up and running… well, this would be the third time and at that rate I figured I might as well get a new planer. I may still get the 734 fixed, but probably will put it up for sale at a discounted rate and let the next guy fix it.



I ordered and received a new Steel City 40100 13" planer. It is your basic lunchbox planer, no cutterhead lock (one feature I miss from the DW734),

One nice feature it did come with is the dust chute, which has both 4" and 2.5" inputs (same chute, just additional plastic for the 2.5"). My 'new' DC has a 2.5" hose, and it works quite well with the new planer.



just for fun a quick mp4 of the new planer and DC working together, pardon the really dark view, and the wobbly camera work…

 video OTL_8529.mp4

 video OTL_8530.mp4

I bought the planer so I can get cranking on some more cutting boards in the next few weeks. I just applied to and was accepted to sell some cutting boards at an area craft show coming up in July.

My shop was 'clogged' with bed parts for my most recent project, and I still have a few boards left over sitting around in there. I need to stash them in the 'these arent' the boards you're looking for' corner of the shop and move on to something more productive this coming week.
 
#226 ·
Stop the Bus I want to get off!

I started a new management job yesterday, and that of course is exciting! I will be managing a 'fleet' of contractors who deliver pharmaceuticals in and around central NY. This is all well and good, but I'm still a week away from leaving my bus driver's job. I put in my notice for next friday, and this morning I'm wishing it was already Friday. I want to be out of there for two reasons, the new job has a great amount of flexibility in the hours I will be working, and the social environment at the bus barn just drives me up a wall. I will be hard pressed on wednesday when we have our weekly meeting not to stand up and say 'people, you work with children, you don't have to act like they do though…'

As i mentioned, at my new job, my shift will be evenings and I will also cover one weekend day for dispatch, really means being available on the phone and a couple of hours a day on site when the loads are distributed. I could be in my shop making sawdust the rest of the time, and after next Friday that is my plan.

I have a craft show coming up in 2 months and I need to get cranking on production, I want to have a wide variety of boards on hand as the show is in a town where there i$ $ome $eriou$ ca$h to be made. Small college town, bedroom community to Syracuse and lots of the hoi poloi live there. The show is in support of their volunteer ambulance corps, so the locals turn out and shop hard there.

SO time to put my new planer into gear, get some stock dressed down and get to making boards…
 
#241 ·
Busy Busy Busy...

Hi gang! I'm alive and well, just really busy with my new job.

I'm a manager for a small courier service, and I do both deliveries still (I was a driver, took a mgt position for more $), as well as manage the 'fleet' of independent contractor drivers, as well as coordinate with our three main customers etc…

I just picked up a new car for work. My aged and rapidly aging Buick Rendezvous was showing her age; I may still fix her up, but most likely she'll just sit in the yard until we trade her in on a 'new' family SUV.

Wheel Car Automotive parking light Land vehicle Vehicle


That's my new Aveo5… econobucket, yet fairly well 'loaded' features wise. Cruise, air, power windows etc…

even a small car can still be a lumber hauler though… buddy of mine is moving and didn't want to haul about 45bf of cherry 'shorts' to the new house. SO I went over and helped him out (at $3/bf!)

Car Land vehicle Vehicle Wheel Tire
 

Attachments

#242 ·
Busy Busy Busy...

Hi gang! I'm alive and well, just really busy with my new job.

I'm a manager for a small courier service, and I do both deliveries still (I was a driver, took a mgt position for more $), as well as manage the 'fleet' of independent contractor drivers, as well as coordinate with our three main customers etc…

I just picked up a new car for work. My aged and rapidly aging Buick Rendezvous was showing her age; I may still fix her up, but most likely she'll just sit in the yard until we trade her in on a 'new' family SUV.

Wheel Car Automotive parking light Land vehicle Vehicle


That's my new Aveo5… econobucket, yet fairly well 'loaded' features wise. Cruise, air, power windows etc…

even a small car can still be a lumber hauler though… buddy of mine is moving and didn't want to haul about 45bf of cherry 'shorts' to the new house. SO I went over and helped him out (at $3/bf!)

Car Land vehicle Vehicle Wheel Tire
LOOKS COOL, Ned!

Sure nice to see that it passed the acid test… nice haul of wood! LOL

Sounds like you got a COOL, efficient car… perfect for the job!

Be safe…

Thank you.
 

Attachments

#243 ·
Busy Busy Busy...

Hi gang! I'm alive and well, just really busy with my new job.

I'm a manager for a small courier service, and I do both deliveries still (I was a driver, took a mgt position for more $), as well as manage the 'fleet' of independent contractor drivers, as well as coordinate with our three main customers etc…

I just picked up a new car for work. My aged and rapidly aging Buick Rendezvous was showing her age; I may still fix her up, but most likely she'll just sit in the yard until we trade her in on a 'new' family SUV.

Wheel Car Automotive parking light Land vehicle Vehicle


That's my new Aveo5… econobucket, yet fairly well 'loaded' features wise. Cruise, air, power windows etc…

even a small car can still be a lumber hauler though… buddy of mine is moving and didn't want to haul about 45bf of cherry 'shorts' to the new house. SO I went over and helped him out (at $3/bf!)

Car Land vehicle Vehicle Wheel Tire
Nice car, Ned.
 

Attachments

#246 ·
Greetings from beyond the edge of the world

Hi gang,
I know some of you have thought I fell over the edge of the world… Not at all.
I simply haven't had much blog time, or if I did have time, I didn't have a lot of progress to report.



That is what I've been 'up to', and who really needed to see yet another set of end grain boards in progress here on LJ's?

the LOML booked me into a show this coming weekend, and I've been out in the shop


going through all of the necessary steps to get those boards ready for the show.



My new planer is working out great! I couldn't be happier with the purchase! My Shopsmith DC is working well too, but I'm fast coming to the conclusion that a Dust Deputy is in my future after this week. I'll need to get another 2 1/2" hose and so forth, but hopefully after this weekend I'll have some shop money to play with. The Dust Deputy and a Ridgid spindle/belt sander are on my very short list of tools right now.



more later… just took a short break for some water and clean air…
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top