Now, the merger:
Just this morning I picked up on the news item telling about Stanley Tools and Black & Decker merging. Stanley stockholders will have about a .5% advantage in the new corporation.
They seem to think they will cut costs significantly while producing the same product lines.
Let’s hope they don’t go down in quality.
Having a tool company manufacturing in the USA is good for the job situation, but mergers like this sometimes save on costs by reducing the work force.
Here’s me, hoping these two USA companies will continue to make their tools here and not overseas.

d

The evil genius in his workshop thought up a plan.
Plotting and planning with his SketchUp program he designed this:

Retiring to his workshop, he built the strawberry cage and installed it on the planting bed, thusly:

Here is a closeup in which the frame and netting are more easily examined

And so, the EG (Evil Genius) could turn his attention to more pressing needs.

But sometimes the demand is for a large spiral column.
This mill, model 1500EX is a long bed machine, signified by the EX in the model number. So I made the columns outside the front entry to our house/knit shop.

But there is an inherent problem with large, solid columns.
They split.
No matter what material is used (plastic excepted), it splits.
The process goes this way:
As the outer parts of the column dry out they contract.
Not much, but it doesn’t take much.
The inner core doesn’t contract at the same rate.
So the outer layers are now too small to cover the inner, unshrunken core.
Result?
Cracks.
Just look at the logs in a log house. Most of them split.

Most commercial columns are hollow, preventing the problem.

My columns are hollow, too.

Here’s how I do it.

I accentuated the lines showing the birdsmouth cuts that join the pieces in a six sided hollow form

Blocks are fitted to the column to fasten it in the mill. Then the form is milled round, first, and then the detail is milled in.

Here’s a short practice piece that didn’t have the birdsmouth joints, but does show the spiral forms.

The actual columns were finished outside with good primer and exterior gloss enamel. Then I filled the inside with foam to prevent moisture and insects from coming in.

Best regards,

d

The lights went on.

I glued up a turning stock and went to work.

The first thing is to affix the connector.

Then it goes into the Legacy headstock.

Notice the pen marks. If I need to take the work out for anything it can go back in exactly where it was.
The other end is supported by a dead center just like a lathe.

The first step is to round the blank.

The first rope cuts.

A little sanding and the ridges start to disappear.

I did a lot more work and decided, in addition, to taper the work. Finally, it started to look like the vision in my head.

As long as I’m showing you how I made this cane, I might as well show you how I support a cane that has fresh finish on it.

Except for some fine sanding and a coat of hard wax, that will do it for this piece.

Thanks for watching!

d

Its necessary for it to telescope because it has to blend with the profile of the other cabinets, mostly bookshelves, and because space is at a premium in the room itself.

So the desk, closed, is only fourteen and a half inches deep and fifty one inches wide. Highly unsatisfactory dimensions for a desk. But the author of the Honey-Do list asks for a desk here, so this is it.

!http://www.butlercountryknit.com/telescoping desk.jpg!

Oh, why do I do this?

Perhaps I’m obsessed!

Its a catalog of turnings and furniture parts.

1. I have NEVER purchased anything like this from anyone.
2. The items in the catalog are so expensive as to be ludicrous.

An item picked at random is a 42” long “Fluted thin-long post farmhouse leg”.
In cherry wood theyre asking 79.95
In pine its 49.50
In walnut its 100.95
None of these are provided with finishes.

I may be missing out on a good thing! I could make these parts and I’d love to get these prices.
But, realistically, I don’t think people who have the slightest woodworking skills would pay these prices.

But, if anybody asks me for turning I may use this catalog for a pricing guide. ;-)

d

So, since there was oak scraps on the bench begging to be used, I built this one.

I didn’t spend a dime on it, either!

Thanks for looking.

d

The standard in woodworking shops has seemed to be fluorescent lamps. I have a couple of those fixtures near the tablesaw. I don’t care though, for the kind of light at the work and I don’t like the cost in energy. Lately I’ve been all worked up about being green.

I really would like to see some advancement in LED lighting, but I haven’t seen anything that seems practical and I’m running short on time to work out something myself.

Yes, I have the background and tools to do that, but not enough time, what with everything that’s going on.

A new development has spurred me on. I had a new overhead door installed, and unlike the old one, there were no windows in it.

Result: a black hole in that end of the shop.

So I determined to use present technology to get a better result.

CFLs are a pretty good interim technology and the costs are coming down while quality and efficiency seems to have improved greatly. So I decided I wanted to use that approach.

But I don’t like the idea of having about half the light absorbed by the reflector in a standard fixture. Redesign!

So I built a prototype with glass mirror reflector panels. In it are two very bright 26 watt CFLs

Like this:

I had to be careful about size because there’s only 7 inches clearance above the OH door when it opens.

So the result:
The shop with only the fluorescents above the tablesaw.

And then the new lamp is lighted:

I’m more than satisfied with the results. The light quality is more like daylight, and that should help when finishing. It is more light than I’d get from a 2 tube 4 foot fluorescent fixture. And, the total power load is 52 watts.

I think I lke it.

At least until we can have some good LED fixtures.

Don

This summer is the power utility’s time to cut back on everything that is near the power lines. They asked my neighbor if he wanted the trees cut back severely (which would have likely killed them) or would he like to have them cut them down entirely at the power company’s expense. Well these monsters were a hundred feet high if they were an inch, and being Norway Maples, they were greatly at risk anyway. So he jumped at the opportunity to get them taken down free. The job could have cost him ten thousand dollars or more because they had to be taken down by means of a great crane. Any other way would have been dangerous because of the nearness of high voltage power lines.

ANYWAY!
I had a little talk with the neighbor and he had no problem with me harvesting the burls. Yes, burls, plural. I’ve never seen such a proliferation of burls on trees standing next to one another. Three big maples, all with fine burls.

Today, we went over there and hacked and haggled until we were worn out, and I got about eight nice burls, but the prize was the one in this picture:

Yes, that’s a metal yard stick on top!
This thing weighs about a hundred pounds.
I have no idea, at this moment, what to do with the thing, but I couldn’t let him burn it in his stove!

d

BUT – -

It can have a positive spin!

For years, I haven’t been able to throw away any wooden handle from old mops, broom, shovels, ice choppers and what have you.
Why?
It represents manufactured wooden articles that may become useful someday, and when that day comes, I’ll be vindicated!

So – - – the day has arrived.

I’m restoring an old rocking chair.
Correction: I’m resurrecting one. This thing was dead.

It had big dowels in the rockers, which rockers are now passed beyond. They just didn’t exist when I took the chair in. Bigger than any dowels I have in my supplies.

But one of those good old handles I had saved was the perfect size to replace the old, now rotten, useless dowels in the chair.

Hah!

So there!

Not throwing things away can be a good thing – - – if you wait long enough.

Heh heh heh heh.

d