Shopsmith Forums

Well, we are back from the west and done with the parental duties for the time being.

Had a nice trip and a chuckle when one of my daughter's "Daddy-do" chores was to clean out the gutters. Took a look around and realized there were no trees, so no leaves to clog them up. Nice country out there in the foothils of the Rockies. The older daughter's house sits on top of a hill and off in the distance, (about 10 miles), you can see the mountains which already have a coating of snow on the peaks.

I noticed that the forum was pretty active during my vacation with the "defense of Shopsmith" and several other posts. Thanks also to Ed for keeping the thread going with "the Weekly Bog"!

We went to a regional woodworking show today which features more crafters and artisans , (about 100), than tools and equipment so it was interesting to see the variety of skills and products that are being created. The range is all the way from craft work to high end funiture, even one booth with cremation urns. That was a first for me. One of the turners got our vote for best exhibit. One of my Canadian Forum aquaintences was demonstrating how to use hand planes and getting paper thin shavings. Another thing I'm afraid I can't seem to accomplish. He was also featured in the most recent edition of the local French language Renovation & Woodworking magazine showing his small shop. It was amazing to see what he crammed into a space about 10 x14 feet. Said it took him about five years to organize it.

Of course you can't go to a wood show without spending a bit of money so I picked up a few small 1/4" boards of exotic woods and now I have to figure out what to make that would show them off in the best way. My beloved also picked up a new combination square and bevel angle that will be my Christmas surprise.

I also finished another bread knife. This one is solid maple and has some nice grain. Up to now I have liked the laminated ones best but am coming to appreciate the solid oak and maples ones more and more.

My wife reminded me I have to get to work on more projects as I have entered a craft show on December 2nd. She dosen't want much, just two more Mr & Mrs Frostys, an oak rocking horse, and a few lighted CHristmas trees and snowman that I feature each year, and some puzzles she saw at today's show. Of course I have my own list of projects but first have to get back to that CD cabinet I stalled on so I guess I will be busy for a few weeks.

Have a great week!

John

Happy you're back from your "duties". I'll bet you had a really good visit! Nice to get your Christmas surprises so early, but it's going to be hard not to use them until the 26th of Dec.

My last week has been full of shop activity. Built a sliding table for my OPR out of shop scrap. Couldn't do it the easy way though. I mis-remembered the blackboard plans. They seemed so simple, I tried to go with memory alone. Problem was - I didn't think it through thoroughly and drilled 1" holes both fore and aft of both the OPR table and the sliding table. Also had a "dropsy" episode that almost ruined the sliding table. The only good part of that operation is I was able to make inserts out of oak (again scrap) and line the grooves and counter bores with hardwood. As the inside of the OPR table is MDF, I thought that repeated uses of carriage bolts would have severely worn the counter bores. This whole episode is fully described in the last several posts of http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthr ... 804&page=2

Other than that, I turned three salt grinders. I'm waiting for the UPS guy to bring the black walnut for the pepper grinders. So I resumed the refining of the plantation shutters. Looks like all I need now is a HVLP sprayer to finish the first window.
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Chuck:

Those are nice looking grinders. I'm sure they will look good on any table. I hope there will be more pics when they are finished.

I keep saying it, but one day I must try turning.

John

Nice salt grinders, Chuck! I wish I could get beads to come out round and symmetrical. Thank God for the "80-grit gouge"! I know, more practice....

Since I haven't yet shown any weekly project pictures, I took a few pictures of various projects from the last few months. I hope I figured out how to do attachments correctly.

The bud vases are (L to R) western maple, walnut, white oak, tulipwood, and western maple. Most of them are shorter than originally planned, I'm still having lots of trouble hollowing the end grain at the top after drilling the hole, and the catches, tear out, etc., continue to be a challenge.

The "bowls" are (L to R) a lyptus bowl, African mahogany plate, and "mystery wood" cup. The cup blank came from Shopsmith- it's not usually listed in the catalog but they do sell boxes of assorted turning stock. Any ideas of the type of wood, anyone? It's got some really pretty pinkish streaks in it.

I don't have much accessible wall space in the garage, but I did free up a short shelf, so I made this storage box for saw blades and sander discs. The front is just attached with some piano hinges and latches with a hasp mounted on the top. Unfortunately, the wimpy 3/8" plywood I used for the two shelves sagged under the weight of the sanding discs, so I needed to use three support posts cut from an old closet rod. Not pretty, but it works, and I can also store all of the extra sandpaper discs and the rubber cleaning stick in there as well.

Thanks for starting the weekly blogs, John, you guys are always an inspiration.

Gary

I agree Gary, John's weekly blogs really cap off this forum to be the friendliest among them all. We feel free to exchange pictures and ideas here.

NICE work Gary! I love your work on the vases and bowls. They show good taste. Also, I want to compliment you on the blade storage box. It shows real workmanship!

I love the figure in the tallest vase. Last year I got maple that was sold as figured maple and it had similar ribbons of figure. Hated to give it away when finished.

It's anybodies guess as to the name of wood making up the small cup. If I had to guess, it would be alder, but my guesses are pretty limited to U.S. species. If it turned real nicely, kinda like walnut - it could be alder.

Gary:

Nice turnings! Another reason I like to see turned items is that it really shows off the beauty of the wood.

Nice job on the storage cabinet too. Of I ever get to accumulate some extra blades and sanding disks I will try to remember this set-up.

John

Yeah, I love that figure in the tall maple vase also. Interestingly enough, the little round vase also came from the same turning square, originally attached to what is now the top of the large vase, but it sure doesn't show the same figure as the large vase.

I got that turning square out of the "bargains" bin at a woodworking show- it cost me a whole two bucks. The rough-cut square didn't look like much, but I had never turned maple and wanted to try it, so I figured, what the heck, it's only $2. And look what was hidden inside! Turning a chunk of wood is just like opening a Christmas present sometimes.

I spent a while at the local Woodcraft store yesterday trying to identify the wood in the small cup, and the best guess we had was that it's Honduras rosewood. At least the brown and pink/red striping looked very much like a Honduras rosewood board at the store. I was shocked to think that an inexpensive box of assorted turning blanks might contain a couple of blanks of such an expensive wood, but the Woodcraft guy says that happens all the time with their own packages of assorted blanks. I had just assumed that Shopsmith was getting those boxes of blanks locally, and that they would only contain domestic hardwoods, but maybe not.

Gary

Gary - there is one thing for sure! IT'S ALL FUN!:D

Ha! Think I spoke too soon about this all is fun thing!

I think this Mojave Desert is somewhat like that "Little girl with the little curl in the middle of her forehead" When she was good, she was very,very good. When she was bad, she was horrible!

Maybe you saw on TV news about the sandstorms and big (and fatal) highway crashes near Lancaster CA yesterday. Yesterday as the wind was picking up, I decided to sharpen all the bench chisels, got that done and honed and stropped the lathe chisels/gouges. At noon, went in and stayed there because of the blowing sand. This morning went out and swept up the sand that drifted in the double shop doors. Stayed indoors all day after the cleanup and read woodworking mags. This indoor thing is why all of my posts today.

Well, today was worse for blowing sand. Went out to the shop an hour ago and to my horror saw the new, larger sand drift inside the door and the light dust all over the benches. Tomorrow, I'll be getting out the shop vac and going over the whole place. I'm not going to let that stuff inside my DC3300. Also will have to vacuum out all machines before running any of them.

Who said it's all fun?

charlese, please be careful. Take care of yourself and your equipment - in that order. I am sure you already know, but, dealing with that sort of sand can be hazardous.

It is going to be hard because you don't want to sweep or wipe and equipment surfaces because of the abrasive effects. Then, on the other hand, compressed air is bad because of the eyes and lungs.

Good Luck