Weekly Blog - August 24th

[john]

Well I'm back, at least I think I am.

The charging station that I talked so much about was turned over to my daughter while at the cottage in July, without the latching mechanism, as the ball catches did not arrive in time. I thought I would post a picture but can't seem to find them on the camera. I'm almost sure I took a couple.

Used the string of nice weather this week to apply sealer to my driveway. Of course I was a little short so the bottom end is not done. Now normally this should not be a problem, but since I bought the sealer in the U.S. it would require a trip to Plattsburgh to get more. I prefer the U.S. formula as it contains sand and the local products do not state this. Now I have to make a decision, to go, or not to go.

I started on a couple of Mr & Mrs Frosty outdoor decorations this week so I could do the cutting outside in the nice weather. The original pattern did not call for a stand, but when I had a request for one to be used indoors, I crafted a stand from a piece of 2 x 6 with a 5/8" dado cut 1" deep about 1" in from the front to stand the display in. Three dowels going through pipe brackets on the back into holes in the stand support it. Last year I added 1" to the bottom of the display to allow for the part in the dado.

Well that was the start of my problems this year. In my haste, (where have you heard that before), to get going, I forgot to add the extra inch . Too late now, they are all cut out. I guess I'll never learn.

As the nice weather winds down, I will have to ratchet up my project work for a craft show in December. Recent editions of woodworking magazines are giving me some new ideas. One project that I had wanted to make was a chineese checkers game. I bought the special drill bit and marbles over a year ago from Rockler but haven't done anything. The latest Wood Magazine has a plan included so that may help get me off my butt.

Well, I guess that's it for this week.

Have a Safe and Fun week!

John

[jmoore65]

I had a reasonably productive woodworking week. It being nice weather here in Northern Virginia, and being at home all week (vs. intermittent summer travel).

I roughed out 2 small bowls from green wood (includes cutting the log in 2). The second bowl was roughed out using an Oland tool I built on Friday. I was surprised how well it worked. However, I am having a problem with the drive spur holding. It seems to break the grooves I've made for it.

I'm in the process of building a replacement bed rail for my son's loft bed. The current one is the "temporary one" I made 10 years ago... I've got the new one glued up - and am in the process of staining it. Of course, he suggested 2 colors of stain vs the 1 I was planning on...

I also managed to do some alignment work on the ShopSmith. I checked the table alignment, which was ok. The fence was out of alignment a bit - so squared that up. I was hearing a bit of noise during cuts from the back of the blade. Hopefully that will stop now. This task included building a dial indicator jig to expedite (meaning take longer) things. :-)

My brother's birthday was last Sunday, so I quickly made a pen and pencil set for him - using Zebra wood. I was halfway done with a gift box made of wood, when I was told I was out of time. So - that project is still ongoing.

I did a bit of reorganization of tools as well. Last weekend I built a batch of 1" and 3" tall boxes to store tools in. I got them a bit more sorted out today. I need more boxes...

John - it's funny to hear you talk about Plattsburgh. I went to college up there in the early 80's. Your mention of making trips down there reminds me of the Pyramid Mall parking lot on Sunday evenings. Lots of leftover packaging and old parts from visiting Canadians doing some quick car repairs before heading home...

I'm hoping to have more time this weekend to make sawdust...

Jim

[john]

Jim:

Pyramid Mall as you may have known it, is no longer there. First they built a new mall north of there and called it Champlain North. Pyramid became Champlain South. The high Canadian dollar in the 90's pretty much killed the trips to Plattsburg for cheap goods so the south mall was demolished. Lowes is now a major resident in that space and that's where I got my driveway sealer.

The Canadian dollar is now closer to par so trips have started again, but with the new global economy there is less price differential so items that couldn't be passed up in the 80's are not that much of a bargain.

However, wiping poly is a bargain at about $8.00 - $9.00, compared to about $17.00 up here.

That and a visit to Applebees for lunch usually gives us an excuse for a day's outing. Oh yeah, cheap gas helps pay for the trip.

Have fun.

John

[charlese]

Hi guys! I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland! "I'm Late, I'm Late, for a very important date!

Late getting here to the Sometimes Weekly Blog! Whew!, finally made it.

I is good to hear that folks are getting back into their shops after the summer breaks.

There are now two shutters in the shop, ready to paint. Can probably get that done tomorrow. Whoops! forgot about the sanding after the first coat. Well, they should be done by Wednesday.

Our Son and Daughter-in-law came up Saturday and we had B. Day celebrations fr both of us. A little late, but a lot better than none! Also was very happy to get rid of the two bushels of wood scraps. She LOVED them!

In another thread I griped about computers. Well, last Friday, the BCM (Body Control Module) on our van went haywire. Doors wouldn't electronically open, A/C wouldn't work, back up indicator said I was about to run into something, no dashboard gauges worked, headlights were always on. Aren't computers fun?

Took the experts three days to get the BCM (computer) up running again. All is well, until next time.

Back to shutters-- The first one took me a couple of months to plan and complete. Thing with them are now getting better, as the last two got assembled in about 4 or 5 days each, depending on how much other stuff there was to do. In the process of making these, I've found I no longer use one of the jigs (designed by Norm Abram) to make pin holes in the stiles. Now use the Mark V as the main jig for that purpose. I found that I was over jigged in an attempt to make things simple. This was not necessary when the Mark V is a better jig all by itself.