Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments.....

[Dennis Peacock]

13 Dec 2010

Good Morning,
I hope this finds each of you staying warm as the temps seem to have gotten lower that I expected. It was 20º F this morning when I woke up and that's pretty cold for us here. I'm really glad we have our woodstove to keep us warm.

Well, I got the privilege of helping Mark Cothren do some panel glue of for a baby cradle that he is working on for his son and DIL. It had been a very long time since some of those areas of the shop had seen any "action". It was very pleasing to me to help Mark and to be in the shop again.

You know, there are many things that happen in our lives that can cause us to drop our shop time and focus on what's really most important to us (even if we truly admit it or not), our families. I won't go into all the details, but....for the last 4 years I've been dealing with an older son that has some problems and some of them can be life threatening. My dad has a very rare type of cancer that they can't seem to find a way to treat it and I wonder every day just how much longer my dad has left on this old earth. My FIL was being treated for kidney failure due to high blood pressure via dialysis. As you may recall, he passed away the day before Thanksgiving, it was sudden and unexpected. I've been dealing with my youngest son who has made some very poor choices and it's been a daily struggle with him to walk the pathway of life. I will never leave his side. But...on a happier note, my daughter has met someone and she has accepted his love and they are now planning for a wedding. He's a wonderful young man with a heart the size of Texas and he does meet with my approval. But don't you worry, he and I WILL be having a "man to man" talk very soon so he gets the "full understanding" about their relationship and my daughter.!!

Well, that's it for me. I hope and pray that you have finished all your Christmas shopping and homemade Christmas gifts. To top it off, I'm getting excited as I will get to see my wife in 8 days from now!!!!

So..what did you do that past weekend?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Did a little turning on Saturday. Still not satisfied with the results. Will try again this afternoon.

Sunday relaxed.

Dennis you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. Hang tough Bro!

[Neil Brooks]

Wow, Dennis.

If memory serves, there are two classes of stress: eustress and distress. The former is good stuff. The latter is bad stuff.

But they're both considered stress.

And don't YOU have your share :(

Decided it was time to make my first "proper" workbench, and ... on the cheap.

Following the FWW article about a decent bench for $175, I ordered and got some Lee Valley bits, and bought a bunch of 2x8s of Doug Fir.

Got them ripped, jointed, planed, and ... in glue-up (in bundles of 4 boards, so the end results will fit through my jointer, and then the planer).

Never too many clamps ;)

With luck, today they'll get their final surfacing and The Big Glue-Up, and I'll start on the base.

So ... the key phrase for MY weekend is ... Buckets O' Fir Shavings :)

[Matt Meiser]

I finished up my desk project on Saturday, then Sunday since the weather was bad and we weren't going anywhere I spent several hours cleaning and sharpening my planes and a couple chisels. One of my planes suffered from a head on collision between the blade and a bench dog last week which took a good bit of time on the Worksharp to get out. Most were nicked and dull and some had developed some rust. If anyone knows of a good source for a container of desiccant, I need to get one to keep in my tool cabinet. While I was working I thought some about what my next project should be.

[Callan Campbell]

Replaced the leaking heater core on my Montero with a new heater box since no one seemed to carry a heater core anymore for it. Found an old mouse nest on top of the leaking core as well. I now have better heat in the old truck than I ever did since the old brass core was getting pretty clogged over the years. The new core that came with the heaterbox is aluminum, and really does the job well now.173658

[Bob Riefer]

I cut some pipe into 12 inch lenghts, and built some lumber racks above my miter counter. Turned out fine and I learned about drill press usage during the process.

I also picked up a TON of corian counter material from my BIL (well, probably 1100 pounds worth actually). He's replacing with granite. Anyways, I have enough to re-do my own kitchen (which NEEDS it) and was able to get one of the odd shaped pieces cut into a nice counter area in my shop. Will mount it on the wall cantilever style this week. The rest will be used for jigs and odd tasks.

Cut some excess melamine board and excess osb to create mini-slatwall type of system for hanging some parts bins I picked up for free awhile back. They hang nice and straight and securely now.

[John Shuk]

Matt,
Gun supply houses carry it for storing guns.

[Matt Meiser]

Perfect. An excuse to visit the local Cabelas.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shooting/Gun-Storage/Gun-Safes|/pc/104792580/c/104730480/sc/104369580/Hydrosorbent-Silica-Gel/733629.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fshoot ing-gun-storage-gun-safes%2F_%2FN-1100213%2B4294771040%2FNe-4294771040%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU

[Brian Tymchak]

Got the repairs on the snowblower done just in time... Used it 2 hours later..

Unfortunately, no time in the shop :(. going to have to get my priorities in order I guess...

[David Hostetler]

Kicked my tail in to overdrive this weekend. Cleaned out middle bedroom which is in line to be converted to a nursery, but we aren't ready to fill it yet, and my Mom is coming for Christmas... So the crib got taken down, and converted to a full bed, and all of the baby stuff got put up in the attic for now... And the drywall repair to the closet got kicked into overdrive... I replaced rock, floated, and taped the entire closet ceiling, textured and primed half of it. The other half, pending me finding the can of spray texture...

I also swapped out my B&D 10" CMS for a 12" HF Slider. A cheapie, but so far so good. Everything dialed in dead accurate, no play in the head that I could tell. Should make some good cuts for a long time to come, but I got the warranty just in case...

[BOB OLINGER]

Finished hanging the last of 29 interior red oak plantation shutters. These were made in 2 installments - about half last year, balance this year - had to be done and installed prior to our annual family Christmas dinner on Dec. 19. I do have a few more magnetic catches to install, but the shutters, new window casings (milled with my ShopFox mini planer/moulder), and corner blocks all installed - a BIG job done.

[Paul Murphy]

I finished up my desk project on Saturday, then Sunday since the weather was bad and we weren't going anywhere I spent several hours cleaning and sharpening my planes and a couple chisels. One of my planes suffered from a head on collision between the blade and a bench dog last week which took a good bit of time on the Worksharp to get out. Most were nicked and dull and some had developed some rust. If anyone knows of a good source for a container of desiccant, I need to get one to keep in my tool cabinet. While I was working I thought some about what my next project should be.
desiccant: "silica gel is readily available in the form of high tech cat litter"
http://www.mv.com/users/besposito/woodworking/diydesiccant.html

[Chris Kehl]

173686I'm heading for the finish line on our Arts & Crafts bed...173685

[John Sanford]

Put in the Mountain Line and both the Blue and Alternate Blue Lines across the bridge. Relaid the Red Line at the west end of the bridge to get it's alignment matching with the abutment. Took saw, chisel and file to fine tune the clearances at the far end of the bridge. Saw to it that the branch off the main wiring bus was done and tested it. All that's left is to add a few more drops, then solder the drops to the local bus and test, test, test. Of course, since I have to have it finished by tomorrow... gonna be interesting. That's a whole lotta soldering for one evening...

If everything works out reasonably well, I'll have some pics to post next week.

[Kent E. Matthew]

Absolutely nothing. My motivation meter failed to register anything at all.

[Jim Becker]

Finished laying the wide pumpkin pine floor in the "study room" area of the 250 year old portion of our home and started sanding it. Did some holiday shopping as well as had my regular Saturday dressage lesson. (equestrian)

[John M. Johnson]

Went to Lowes with two of my girls and build a train box car at their Build and Grow. Came home, turned on the real tools and turned lots of Red Oak into lots of smaller Red Oak and dust. Jointed, more dust less Oak. trued up the side on the TS, more dust less Oak. Planned, less Oak more dust. Hit the router table and made 6 doors for a bathroom remodel.

Then I sat outside and listened to my neighbors talk about all the dust on their cars and pool filters being full (I exhaust my DC to the alley).

[Bruce Elasik]

Been installing a metal roofing "ceiling" in my shop/garage ..... but its been so cold..... everything is slower when its that cold---looks good tho--bright white---with 3/4 of it done, its a lot brighter already.