Creekers Weekend Accomplishments....

[Dennis Peacock]

19 Jan 2009

Good Morning,
It's windy and very cool here this morning. Just a few degrees above freezing, but at least we are above freezing.

The table base is all together now and the dark garnet shellac wash-coat on the table top is all finished on top and bottom. Today after I get back from the doctor, I will be cutting the slots for the fasteners that will hold the top of the base and still allow the top to move. I use those metal Z fasteners and they work well. I expect to have pics of the table and it finished and ready for delivery by next weeks Weekend Accomplishments.

Worked at the day job on Friday & Saturday. Played bass at church on Sunday and went to a friend of mine's celebration party last night as he has graduated college with his Doctorate.

My next project is to rework a very old school desk of about 100 years old for a lady at work and after that I get to start making my daughter a hope chest.

So what did YOU do this weekend?

Best of weeks to you all.

[BOB OLINGER]

Dennis,

We'd consider a little above freezing a heat wave - we finally got there over the weekend; this week looks decent as we'll be topping off in high 20's and mid 30's, but they said back to lower stuff next week. As far as accomplishments, I took a day of vacation on Fri. and started ripping rails and stiles and cutting to rough length (red oak and poplar) for a good number of plantation shutters.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Did a little house work......cooked some meals.....Tried to abysserate a newly interested turner.......watched a little football......cleaned up an old Jet VS Mini for delivery to a new owner. Watched a little football. Did some laundry....

Did I mention I'm batching it while the LOML is in Illinois visiting her mother?

[Jim O'Dell]

Not much on my end. Quick trip to OK for Christmas with my family. Brother and his youngest daughter not able to attend(He had to work, she's flat on her back with a tough pregnancy). But his oldest girl was there and I haven't seen her in about 5 years. Had a good visit with the parents. Lounged around Sunday am, trip to HD to get a ballast to replace in one of the kitchen lights, and spent a little time in the shop that afternoon. Put together 2 more drawers from the salvage I got when they tore my old office appart, and have them ready to mount. Mounted my Bessey clamp holder and put all the clamps in it, save the ones that were holding the drawers together. Nice to have them up and off the cabinet. Think I'll not go to Abilene for the dog show next weekend and try to get the shop cleane on up. I've got a lot of work to do in the finishing room to get it ready to put OSB up on the walls and ceiling. Have a good week!! Jim.

[Matt Woessner]

Dennis,
Sounds like you were more productive than I was. Sat. I did manage to install two new shelves in my pantry from some left over red oak plywood. I was going to work on my matching end table for my wife, but I got busy with other things.

I did have a b day on Friday and received some sweet new tools.
A dozuki (spell?) saw, a ro PC sander, pipe clamps, and a flush trim saw.
Along with a new subscription to American Woodworker. So I came out really good, just need to find time to use the new tools.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Made a Pinewood derby car with our Friends eldest son while we had their kids overnight. The parents are moving into their new house, so we volunteered to take the 4 kids off their hands.
Carin Boylan Special. (6 years old) Can you see the British style in his design? ;)
The race will be next Saturday at 2:30 PM :D

Carin picked the shape from several we looked at on the web. Tools we used were: lay out tools, Band Saw, OSS, ROS, sanding sponges, CA glue, compressed air blow gun, chisels, bull nose plane, a belt sander stand, and the little work stand holding the car for the finish work.
The hardest part was getting the 3/8" undercarriage clearance with the weight plate Mom brought with the kit. But with some chisels and a bull nose plane, we made it.
It was a wonderful (and wonder filled) day in the shop. 53 years ago, I was in Carin's shoes helping my Dad build my first Pinewood Derby car.
Another of the wonderful childhood experiences with Cub Scouts and my Dad. :) (I'm kind of a surrogate Grandpa to Carin.)

[Paul Joynes]

Well, I've been working on an out feed table for my table saw for the last few weekends and finally finished it on Saturday. There is a stationary portion of the table that is 18 x 48 which is permanently attached to the back of the saw and a folding portion which is 30 x 48. This makes the work surface roughly 4' x 6' when you include the table saw.

With this out feed table, I now have a way to support the melamine PB that I am using for my basement storage cabinets. I managed to get the backs and sides of the cabinets finished on Sunday. Another weekend should see them installed.

[Pat Germain]

Like Sonny, I was in Pinewood Derby mode. While my kids are now adults, a friend called to ask if I could help out at our church with the Pinewood Derby workshop. I was glad to do so.

I decided to bring along my recently procured RIDGID Oscillating Sander. Although a highly capable machine, it's really not very heavy and highly portable.

When I got to the church, two people were setting up scroll saws. I asked if they wanted me to bring in my sander. "Sure, sounds like it might be helpful," was their response. I thought a few kids might like a little shaping on the sander.

Good golly! There had to be a hundred kids there on Saturday and every one of them wanted me to sand their car. I sanded for 2 1/2 hours straight. And it was a blast. Those kid really appreciated my help. Their parents appreciated me even more. I heard numerous comments like, "Dude, you're awesome. You just saved me two weeks of sanding by hand!".

By the time the kids were done, I was covered in sawdust and worn out. But it was a grand time and I was glad to be useful. :)

I spent Sunday tearing apart the front end of my truck; new U-joints and ball joints are in progress.

[Rod Sheridan]

Did I mention I'm batching it while the LOML is in Illinois visiting her mother?

Not more than a few times Ken, which is OK because we're all getting older and probably forgot.......Rod.

[Dave Potter]

On Saturday I had to work at my second job, but had enough time to look over my new purchase for the shop that's arrived Friday. My first job gave me a gift card after the first of the year and after getting a couple items for the house, I treated myself to this (Amazon via SMC link, $152, free shipping):


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ibDC4W-3L._SL500_AA280_.jpg


I'd not been considering a router and this certainly is a whim more than a need at this point. But now that I've got it, I'm delighted with it. Now I just need to get some bits and figure out how to use it.

On Sunday was full of other obligations (shopping with my bride of 35-years and watching my beloved Steelers womp up on Baltimore) but I did find time to re-routed the 240v leg in the shop for my table saw. Originally I'd installed it a bit too low for access and code so I installed a new conduit run and box, uninstalled the first run, relocated the breaker in the box, and re-installed wire and the plug.

Not real a productive weekend, but I'm please overall. Oh, and I've started planning my next project - Thank you, Mike Henderson, for the information (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=101843&highlight=torsion).

Dave Potter

[Dewey Torres]

Made some progress on th Morris Chair, ordered a ton of turning stuff to start my new quest, finished a huge fame for work (pic to follow)

Thanks Again for Da bomb Ken!

[Jim Becker]

The weekend was as predicted...cold! And in addition to the normal equestrian activities, I got the upper cabinets in my offic (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=101971)e above the credenza. Finally! Oh, I watched the first football game I've seen for the entire season. Good game, but not the result I would have preferred... ;)

[Joe Chritz]

Daughter and I ventured into lathe turning.

I expect she will post the video when she gets it finished. The lathe seemed to bite her full force.

Bethca I told her 100 time to engage brain before hands. ;) At least she will be thinking safely while working.

Did a TV stand from a modified dresser plan. I am in "build bedroom furniture" mode currently and have one or two more pieces to finish up.

Joe

[Jim Kountz]

I got some shop time in on Sunday, roughed out and cored two more maple blanks. Tried a new grind on the 5/8" V gouge and so far I like it alot. Saturday I was in the studio with the band recording all day and into the night. The new CD will have at least 15 songs and maybe 20 by the time we're done. Its always a pita recording but in the end its very rewarding. Did all the laundry yesterday and trucked the kid to and fro his friends house.

[Rob Young]

I bought a Forest Woodworker II 40T the other day for my tablesaw (Ridgid TS3660) in anticipation of some upcoming projects. Wasn't really liking the Ridge blade I bought to replace the crappy stock blade.

After installing the WWII, I tested it on some 4/4 white oak. Cuts like butta! But some funny feeling binding happening. Time to check the setup.

Blade to miter slot = 0.003" -- check
Blade to fence = 1/64" heel out at back -- check
Splitter to back of blade, ah ha! The splitter is a little whacked and is pulling the wood into the right side of the blade. Time to apply the fine adjustment hammer to the splitter. The TS3660 splitter assembly, while it does remove and attach easily seems to be prone to bending.

Now that the splitter is fixed, how about the miter gauge to blade at 90 degrees? Seems OK but I decided to cut 27 little 3/4" cubes and make a Soma block puzzle as a test.

Milled a chunk of white oak to 3/4" (jointer and planer seem in good shape too). Then 3/4" strips. Still good. Now cross cut for the little blocks. After cutting them and lining them up I can see the miter gauge is a little off. It feels like it is still bobbling just a little in the track. Easy to fix.

Decided to also make a small cross-cut sled. 1/2" MDF base and used 4/4 birch for the front and back fences (had it handy). More white oak for the runners (cut so grain is vertical to minimize width changes). Nailed the alignment first try! Wow! Otherwise the plan was to use playing cards as shims behind a strip of 1/4" hardboard that would act as a sacrifical fence on the birch.

So, all that and only two pictures to show. I liked making the little Soma cube so much I will be making some simple glueing jigs (HDPE cutting board strips and MDF coated with wax I think). Make up a few extras out of scraps to have on hand for gifts.

[Michael Peet]

Finished a paddle for a friend. Bought a WWII blade for my circular saw. Bought a dovetail bit for my router and played around with it for awhile. Never used my router before, this is the first bit I have for it.

[Mike Gager]

got the insulation in my walls pretty much finished and started on the ceiling. my shop is a total mess and there is stuff pretty much everywhere so working on the ceiling isnt exactly an easy thing. i have to move everything that can be moved and work around the stuff that cant. i basically got about 1/5 off the ceiling insulated so i decided to go ahead and put up the osb panels in the area i was finished thinking i could then move stuff to that spot out of the way.

well lets just say hanging osb sheets by yourself isnt as easy as it sounds. i got 1 finished and called it a day lol i am still sore

i will say the wall insulation seemed to make a difference, got the temp in the garage up from 40 to 48 degrees in about 15 minutes with my little electric heater (35ish outside) would never do that before. cant wait to get the ceiling done

[John Sanford]

Not simply weekend accomplishments, but more what I've done over the last 5 days or so:

Rearranged my "backbench", a 4' wide by 7' tall shelving unit that has pegboard splitting it into two side. One side faces my workbench, and serves as my primary handtool storage area. Part of my rearranging involved making a saw holder for my new Veritas Dovetail saw and some other saws. Incorporated into the saw holder are slots for my Incra T-Rules, and for my engineer's square.

I also Swiss-cheesed my workbench, adding 10 new holes. :eek: Fear not, only two of the holes were in the top, for my holdfast. The others were in the legs, 1 for storing the holdfast, 3 in each front leg, and 1 "oops" that was for storing the holdfast but turned out to be too low.

Organized (well, about 85% complete) my hardware and fasteners. I was spending too much time trying to find the right pieces-parts.

Remounted my vise on my workbench, dropping it down about another 1/4". The vise's dog was too close to benchtop level for comfort, and more importantly, the wood cheek over the top of the movable jaw was too high.

Mounted my machinist's vise to a chunka maple that now allows me to clamp vise to the workbench and do metal stuff.

Mobilated my Ridgid OBS, and finally fastened it back down to its stand.

Finished up the Woodwhisperer Magazine Racks.

Last, on the weekend proper, I put down about 500' scale feet of ballast, watched some football (not much)

[Robert Parrish]

I finisher sanding and staining a curio cabinet that I had started last summer. Can't spray the topcoat until the weather warms up above 70 on Sat or Sun.