I made myself a promise that I would get a new table saw this year. My craftsman contractors saw was at the limit of what I wanted it to do. It would do fine on regular ¾” stock but started to give me fits when I went to cut thicker stock. So Long Story short, (I know, too late) I offered to sell the saw to my brother, and with out giving me a chance to change my mind, he accepted. His benchtop saw was not what he expected and wasn’t happy with it. Whew…thought I was going to have to post it to Craigslist.

Well my brother Adrian (for those who don’t know, he is “lazyfiremaninTN”) was due in Friday evening, but I had already made arrangements to meet Karson and Chis that day at the Woodworking Show in Chantilly, VA. I thought I knew what I wanted when I got there. I knew Steel City was having a sale on the 6” para. Jointer. So that was on my list. I was really looking at getting a Grizzly 10” cabinet saw but I was going to consider a Steel City if they had the new Granite Top to look at.

I was correct on the Jointer, I picked it up for $499 with the built in base and they even promised to send me an extra set of knives in the deal.

As we were walking around I stopped and looked at the Delta Unisaws. The rep (who we will call Tom) was showing me what they had on sales…3 hp 10” cabinet saw, with mobile base, 30 Biesemyer Fence, extension table w/legs and a $200 credit towards any other Delta, PorterCable or DeWalt tools, all for $1314.00. It was too good to be true…I looked at Karson and he smiled and gave a nod. Just then, Tom started to look something up. Opps, he made a mistake. The $1314 price was for the same package but with either the T-2 or the Unifence. The Biesemyer was a $140 extra. I shot him a look that must have scared him because he backtracked and said he would honor what he had originally quoted. Not one to just jump on something, I told him I had to think about it. He whipped out a card and wrote his name “Tom” on it and said his price was good for today only. I said that was resonable and I would be back soon. As Karson, Chris and I walked away, I asked Karson what he thought. He thought it was too good to pass up and that I would be happy with the Delta, not many people he knew that had one complained about it.

We walked around for a while, stopped to see the General tool rep. I liked him but just could pony up for the extra money. I will end up probably getting the Excaliber guard/dust collector arm.

Back to the story, I decided to go ahead and get the saw and headed back to the Delta booth. Low and behold, Tom was busy. Every time I tried to get in his line of sight much less get his attension, he would get busy with someone else. So I left and came back a few times. Finally, I think he got the hint that I was ready and he was going to have to live up to his end. He started writing up the deal and I told him that I was interested in some PorterCable sanders. He told me to go pick them out and I headed that way. I had been thinking about a 6” right angle ROS for some time, they had one left. I didn’t see anything else that I needed (too cheap to spend any more money) so I went and got a 5”343 model. Sanders for me are sort of like clamps, never have too many. I enjoy being able to set them up with different grits and just go from one sander to the next. Who knows, may even sell it, haven’t decided yet.

I told the lady who rang up the sale that I would be picking them up on Sat. It was suppose to rain and I would need a lot of help unloading.

Adrian arrived that night and I told him what I had done…stupid me, I didn’t tell the wife. He almost blew it.

Back to the story, We (Adrian, myself our wives, kids and even the neighbor.) Arrived on Sat and meet up with Chris again. We started walking past the Delta booth and I, as casually as I could, dropped the bomb that I went ahead and bought a new table saw and Jointer. Now, bear in mind, that I have been saving for this for about 2 years. I keep a “rat hole” fund for my tools, when I go to the ATM I would take out an extra $20 and put in a bank evelope in my desk. I would also stash a lot of the money I make on the side as well. I had about $2100 in there. That ment that the money I had spent didn’t impact the budget and my hobbie/retirement was paying its own way. She took it pretty well….well sorta, I now have a much bigger to do list now.

We got home and started unloading the tools. Boy are they heavy! It took two fat guys and two teenagers to get the saw off the truck without dropping it.

Assembly went pretty well with the jointer except for one bolt. Its behind the dust chute and towards the front of the cabinet. I couldn’t reach it very well. Thank God for kids, Adrian’s son, Ian was able to reach it pretty well. I had managed to get it started and about half way on, he came in to the rescue and finished taking it off! I chuckeled at him and he managed to get the bolt back on and tightened down. 3

I was a bit concerned when we opend the table saw box the next morning and didn’t immediately see the instruction book. I quickly found it as I was taking shipping material off the saw. It was inside the cabinet, actually a pretty good place for it. Everything went pretty smoothly except when we went to install the fence system. It hadn’t occurred to me that the fence would come with mounting bolts for every saw on the planet. We went though the instructions several times and finally came to that realization.

After we had all the assembly done, we fired up the jointer, and the lights dimmed. I think I will need some extra ciruts. I knew that before, just putting it off. The jointer worked like a champ! I love it. Its very easy to adjust, cuts as clean as any bladed jointer I’ve ever used. We tested a piece of red oak on it and it didn’t bat an eye so to speak.

The table saw is great as well. What a diffence it makes. I have a Ridgid Carbide blade on it and it cuts like a dream. Its actually a lot quieter than the contractors saw I gave up. Karson was right, no complaints. If ever given the opportunity, I would highly recommend the upgrade from contractor to cabinet saw. And with the new dust collector I got at Christmas, my shop is already a lot cleaner. I still have years of dust to get out of the corners but I’m getting that little by little.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year filled with the blessings of health and success.

Greg

On my final visit, he asked me “You do woodwork too, right? Maybe you would be interested in fixing a few peices of furniture for me.” Then some idiot in the room said “Sure, I’d be happy to.” (If I ever catch that guy, I’m going to let him have it.) Not finding a way to gracefully back out, I went over to his house the next week and he only had a few pieces:

- 2 Pembrook Tables: One with a couple of burn marks in the top and one with a deep gouge in the top about 3/8 to 1/2 around. I have already repaired these, The one with the burn marks had been poorly repaired earlier so I first had to remove that be for I filled the hole and burned in some shellac. The second one wasn’t as difficult, I just burned in shellac into the deeper holes and filled in the finish scratches with some poly. I then wet sand and buff out the tops. They turned out great, shiny as a mirror. (I’d post photos but my camera went MIA for a while.)

- Dinning room table had several scratches in the clear finish from dragging chaffing dishes across it. I’ll have to layer in some poly to fill the scratches and do the wet sanding and buffing.

- Head board to his bed has bite marks from his youngest son. I will probably burn in some shellac then clean fill in the other scratches and put a couple of coats of satin poly over the entire peice.

- Night stands: both have deep scratches in the finish. Poly fill and buff.

- Dresser has finish problems, it has started to soften and become sticky. This will probably have to be stripped. I’m not sure what will make a factory finiish soften like that but I’m pretty sure that there is no way to save it.

- But the big problem is the Display case he has in his home office. It is Mahogany veneer plywood with a small chunck out of one door, and each of the corners on the base are badly chipped out. I’ll post the picutures and better discription in the Projects section.

This will probably keep me busy for a while. At least it will keep me out of trouble :-)

I started making my father-in-law a new Dough board (basicly an oversized bench hook for bread dough.) I am making it out of some maple I have on hand, not the best stuff in the world but it will work. I headed over to the wood rack, nervous, I didn’t know if I would even be able to pull down the boards that I needed off the rack. I managed, just kept my left hand down and did most of the hard work with my right. I pulled down three boards, picked the two I needed and put the other back. Now to the Radial Arm Saw. Just my luck my son happened to wander back home. I had him help hold the long end of the board as I made the cuts. (note to self, next time tell him exactly what you want him to do, don’t expect him to know it already.) On the second cut, he pulled on the board and bound up the saw, came close to jumping across but managed to hit the off switch. After I explaned what had happened and what he needed to do the next time we finished the rough cuts.

I looked a little closer at the boards, they are kind of rough but the grain makes a couple of wild turns. I wasn’t looking forward to having to lift up the plainer and set it up but it looks like it I need to try it. It wasn’t too bad, use the legs and the back (I know, not smart) managed to get it set up and ran the boards through once. Not what I was hoping for, looks like I will have to scrape them down later, the grain is a bit too wild.

I get everything the same thickness and start working on the glue joints. Again, lets try something new. I reach for my hand plane. I set up the clamps and set the boards up on edge and try the first joint. This doesn’t’ work too well. I need more control with my left hand in order to keep the plane square to the board. Oh well, at least I try. I take them over to the table saw with the glue line blade. I get everything ripped down and then mark where I want the biscuts (I use them just to help keep things alinged.)

I hit my first big ouch, without thinking, I stack up the three boards (7 ½ x 36) and instictively pick them up with my left arm as I am turning to the assembly table. Got a big protest from the shoulder that time and almost dropped them. I quickly recovered and gathered everything up and got it over to the table. I chose to use poly glue for the joints, since I am out of my tightbond III. (Its on the shopping list.)

Once at the assembly table I hook up the shopvac to the biscut jointer and cut the slots. That went pretty well, no problems, no mistakes. I set up the clamps and got down my glue tote (another ouch, again tried do this with my left hand.) The rest of the glue up went smoothly. All told, I spent about 2 hours in the shop, worked off a little restlessness, reaffirmed my love for woodworking and gained a little confidence that I will get through this eventually.

I had my first follow up this morning, spent an hour and half in the Dr’s office. First the good news, He does not think I did any damage the other night when I rolled over on the shoulder or when I got my hand tangled in the dog’s leash as it leapt from the van. I was pretty nervous that I had messed things up and would have to go through this all over again.

Second, I can return to my day job on the 18th. Provided that I limit my activities to working on the computer. That takes a lot of stress off; I couldn’t afford to take the 40% pay cut of our short term disability for very long.

Now for the bad news. Although I didn’t undo the surgical repairs, I did irritate the situation. That means I just bought myself another 2 weeks in the sling. He also informed me that I can’t go back to the wood shop until at least August. He doesn’t want me lifting or putting stress on the joint until the bursa reestablishes itself (He basically removed it in order to get at the cartilage and the bone spurs.) He wants that cushion in there in case there is any jarring on the shoulder. He said it would not necessarily do any damage itself but it would be incredibly painful and might lead to another type of injury. So, long story short, I’m out of the summer competition. But I am really looking forward to seeing everyone’s work.

I especially would like to thank Karson for his call. It couldn’t have come at a better time. I was pretty uncomfortable and getting restless and it really helped take my mind off of things for a while.

Things were going pretty well until last night, I had been sleeping in my ugly but very comfortable recliner but decided I shoud try the bed. It wasn’t as comfortable and to top it all off, I stubbed my little toe in the night going to the bathroom. I must have looked like a cartoon hoping around like that. (didn’t feel funny at the time, but in hind sight I can see it was now.)

I thought that getting back on line would be the best first step. I have really missed checking in on all the projects and blogs. I don’t make comments as often as some others but I do try and read everyone’s input. I think it is great. Martin, you have started something that is now bigger than all of us.

Good luck to all of the entries in the Thorsen Table Challenge. I wish you all the best. Please feel free to call or email me, I would enjoy the company so to speak.

Thanks again and God Bless,

Greg

First let me explain what is going on. I spent a number of years in the Army and during that time, I had dislocated my shoulders a number of times. That said, they didn’t have the technology at the time to tell me exactly what the problem was so I was given two options, physical theropy or exploritory surgery. Having seen many a young man have their careers ruined and lives total disrupted by these same surgeons, I chose physical theropy which was only marginaly effective.

Now almost 20 years later, Here I am with major damage, my Glenoid Labium is completely torn and has slipped into the joint, the tendons are either torn or damaged, and my clavical is impinging on the joint. Basicly the only thing holding my shoulders together are the rotator cuff and the impinging bones. It got to the point where I couldn’t pick up a full soda can with my left arm. Needless to say I was tired of “playing though the pain.”

I am fearfull of the results. What if the surgeon makes a mistake? What if he gets in there and can’t fix the damage? Am I too late in getting it fixed? All of these doomsday scenarios run through my mind. I know that the outcome is in God’s hands, but in my human frailty, I have my fears.

I am terrified at being idle for so long. Six weeks seems like an eternity to me at this point. I have so much to do at my day job (I am a senior Proposal Manager for Verizon Business’ GovEd division.) and not being able to get into the wood shop. I think that of the two, I will miss the wood shop the most. That is my stress relief. I commune with God, remember the things that my Grandfather and Father have taught me, and yes Frank, the wood. There is nothing more satisfying than building something that will last beyond my short time here on earth. I hope that the outcome allows me to get back into it soon.

I would like to thank all of you who have expressed well wishes and offered prayers. I am truly humbled by your support. I have done a lot of things in my life that I carry a lot of guilt over, and sometimes feel unworthy of such support. If I seem ungratefull or cold, it is not that I do not appreciate your support, it that I feel unworthy of it. It is hard for me to deal with sometimes. Please do not take offence.

I will try and get back online as soon as possible and let you know how I am doing. I want to thank you now and let you know how much this communty has come to mean to me. Even when we have a difference of opinon, we discuss it civily and with respect and more often than not come to an agreement. You all have proven that people can make a difference in the lives of others, Dusty, Marc and Karson are great examples of this. I am truly honored to have you as friends.

Thanks and I will talk to you again soon.

Lumberjock to the core,

She has kept our older dog busy…she never stops pestering him….he is a 6 yr old lab/husky mix. I admit that he was a bit too much like me, overweight, grey hair and a bit slower than he used to be. But he is taking it pretty well and has actually lost some weight.

My wife reminds me that this is another reason to keep my shop cleaned up…. I reminder her that the dog doesn’t have to go out to the shop with me in the first place. There are a lot of things that she could be hurt by. (That didn’t win me any points)

Any way I guess the point of my post is to see if anyone else has a “shop dog” and if they have any great stories about them.

I think I may have made a few converts in the process. Now go and spread the word.

The other day, while I was in my shop testing the fit of a dado joint, I got the mother of all slivers stuck in the fat part of my thumb, so I went to the first-aid kit to get a tweezers. Well, when I started to dig around for the sliver, my thumb started to bleed. When that happened, I got sick to my stomach, and then I fainted. (Even though I have never been the least bit queasy about blood in my life!) Apparently, not that I remember it happening, I hit my head on the edge of my jointer’s bed as I fell. This put a pretty nasty laceration across my forehead.

After I regained consciousness, I stood up and tried to figure out just exactly what happened, and while I stood there, the blood from my forehead spurted all over the top of my table saw. When I saw the blood on my table saw, I got faint-headed and passed out again! Luckily, this time around I just kinda slumped down and ended up face-first in a large pile of sawdust.

When I came to my senses, the congealed blood on my face and forehead had formed a sort of mask, covering my whole face. Naturally, I thought I had gone blind. So I stumbled towards where I thought the door of my shop should be and, by a sort of miracle, managed to find my way outside. But when I emerged from my shop in my weakened condition, weaving aimlessly and with my cries for help muffled by a huge clotted mass of blood and sawdust, the neighbor’s dog noticed my very odd behavior and became disturbed and attacked me, grabbing my pants leg in its mouth while growling and pulling furiously on my pants. Well, I’ve lost a bit of weight lately, and the dog managed to pull my trousers completely off. That was when my neighbor, Phoebe, stuck her head out of the door to see what was getting her dog all worked up.

So, here is my question … am I really too old to be wearing Speedo® underwear, or is Phoebe just overly sensitive?

I cannot take credit for this fine piece of work….this was put out today by Woodwork Journal eZine today….just thought it was too good not to share