Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments.....

[Dennis Peacock]

28 Feb 2011

Good Morning,
Today is my dad's birthday. I will be calling and talking with him later on today. I am thankful for every day I get to spend with my dad either on the phone or in person. It's funny how life changes and our view points change as we get older.

We got woke up last night at 11 PM by an earthquake of all things.!! A tornado I would expect but an earthquake?! It's being reported that it was a 4.7. All I know is that it woke everyone up in the house and we all met in the middle of the house.

Been looking over my design of wooden forks. In a way I like them but then again I feel they need a little more "design refinement". Maybe I'll get to try out a better tang design today.

Today, I sit here with a sad heart. I saw where our woodworking friend Andy Hoyt has passed away. Please remember his family in your thoughts and prayers.

That's it for me, so what did YOU do this past weekend?
Best of weeks to you all.

[Shawn Pixley]

Spent Saturday returning from Brazil and tired from jet lag. Sunday was a slow day getting a first coat of waterlox on a table I am finally near completing. Good to be home. Today back to work and start the week of reviews for my staff.

[Matt Meiser]

I was shocked to read about Andy last night. He will be missed.

I took Friday off other than a couple conference calls. Plowed 4-6" of drifted snow, then flushed our well after a second round of chlorination due to coliform being present in the first sample. I'm told that's not uncommon due to disturbing stuff underground and sometimes it takes a couple rounds. Hopefully we'll pass the second sampling today because the next step is what they call bulk chlorination where they pump heavily chlorinated water into the well under pressure. Sounds expensive. While that was running I burned all my scraps, a couple pallets we had around, and the crate from my J/P. Also picked up my truck from the shop where it had been all week for repair after getting hit in a parking lot at the beginning of the month. While it was there they had a paintless dent removal company come in and take care of a bad door ding on the other side. Its not perfect, but a lot better than it was for only $50.

Saturday morning we woke up and I heard running water. It wasn't in the master bath or the hall bath on the other side of the wall, so I went down the basement and found a big puddle on the floor and water running down--there were 2 pinhole leaks in a copper pipe supplying the hall bath's tub. I was able to do a temporary repair reaching up into the opening and cutting off the pipe above the leak, then putting in a repair using a Sharkbite fitting. I need to figure out how to do a permanent repair using PEX soon. The rest of the weekend we spent at my parents' since we had family visiting from out of town.

[Greg Peterson]

Hung some sheet rock in the shop, rerouted some outlets (note to self - if you put the outlets above 48" from the floor, sheet goods will never block all those outlets you thought was a great idea!), got shop put back together, for the most part. Installed two new T8 fixtures in the laundry room, replacing one single 100 watt CFL - nice and bright now. Prepped doorway between laundry room and shop to install pocket door. I installed two walls between the laundry room and shop for noise damping purposes. So the wall that has the doorway was originally configured for a swinging door. But then I decided on a pocket door since space is a premium. So the shop wall had to be unanchored from the concrete floor and from the joists. Fortunately I left enough slack in the wiring in the shop wall to allow pushing the wall over 2 1/2". I have a nice and heavy, 36" solid core with a window that will allow the wife to peak in before entering.

Making progress.

[BOB OLINGER]

Started ripping some red oak as our next home improvement project is upgrading all the baseboards and door casings. Used my new Sawstop and worked great. I can't say I'm too impressed with the above table dust collection system. It is designed to suck the dust at or above blade level through a flexible hose that connects with the lower outlet at the back base of the cabinet. It appears the 4" outlet from the base takes a high percentage of the suction and leaves little for the flexible hose. Anyway, we'll monitor it. All-in-all, it's a super improvement over the previous contractors saw that had no dust collection.

I got the first run of stock ripped, but no further. The next steps will be through the thickness planer, then through the molding machine - a new set of knives from Tim at Custommolding Knives. I've also decided to install a sub panel as new equipment, more lights is demanding more circuts.

[Art Mulder]

Was saddened to hear of Andy Hoyt's sudden passing. My condolences to the family.

Did some much needed shop cleanup on Saturday. I am trying to work toward better, more compact, and more efficience storage. The shop isn't getting any bigger, so it's got to get smarter.

Tried out my new compact metal detector (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=45125&cat=1,43513). I received a couple of 100+ year old studs (actual size 2"x4"!!) from a friend renovating his country farmhouse a few months ago. These are straight and clear and I'm thinking of turning them into some picture frames. But first, they need to be cleaned up! With plaster lath walls there is a 1-1/4" deep nail hole every 1" along the side, and every one needs to be checked to be sure there is no broken nail still inside!!

And on Sunday afternoon I got started helping my kids on two (of the needed 3) kubkar/pinewood derby projects. Seems like the hardest part is getting them to settle on a design

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Saturday was my wife's birthday. Fixed breakfast and worked around the house. That evening took her out to dinner at her favorite chinese restaurant.

Sunday finished installing cabinet hardware and began troubleshooting problem with a toilet in the main floor bathroom.

Sunday evening picked myself up off the floor after learning of Andy Hoyt's death. I will miss that man. My condolences to his family.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

I spent a bit of time working with my boys on their pinewood derby cars. They're only 7 and 9, and this is a first for them so I was taking it in small steps. I let them pick the design and I cut them out on a BS - one picked a race car (of course!), but the other one picked.....a ship! I have to laugh at some of the things he does. He wants to name it the Titanic. I hope it gets some sort of award for most original. I had them sand them down, then I showed them how to spray paint - with my assistance at first, but then they got the hang of it. primer and then a few coats of color yesterday. hope to finish them up this week.

[David Hostetler]

I managed to get laid up on Saturday with a migraine, so I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. I managed to convert an old 40LB cat litter tub into a router table lower dust hood. Not real pretty, but real functional so far... I shimmed up the inert plate, and did some other fine tuning to the router table / wing.

I managed to lay out the Scotts Bonus S weed & feed for Southern Lawns on both front and back lawns yesterday. The weather has been in the upper 70s lower 80s since the day after Valentine's day, and the weeds are getting plenty aggressive... No mowing done yet, to heck with the HOA yet...

Next up LOML and I took her brother grocery shopping. He is on the mend from a kidney / pancreas transplant, and is staying with us while he gets back on his feet. His stamina is improving, But by the time we got out of the store he was wiped out.

LOML and I took the dog to the park yesterday and went for a 2 mile hike with a hyper 10 month old Beagle / Lab mix... He enjoyed it at least...

Lastly, I built yet another way NOT to make a SCMS dust hood prototype out of cardboard. This one seemed to make the dust and chips come shooting straight back at me... I think I am narrowing it down somewhat. I need to build a cart for the miter saw with folding wings, that way I can get it out of the way!

[Maik Tobin]

Yesterday I completed this walnut and curly maple side table. I have made many tables like this using cherry instead of the walnut....I really like the contrast.

[Matt Woessner]

Spent most of the weekend recovering from a sinus infection. However, added the drawer pulls and a couple coats of BLO to the train table I am currently finishing. The best part is that it will be ready for the sons first bday on March 11. Looking forward to the next project in the shop and brainstorming. Checked some cows, and helped the wife get some cleaning done apart from that.

[Mike Monroe]

Sat. - dimensioning and gluing up recycled douglas fir stock for queen bed corner posts. Attended a piano recital in the afternoon, movie in the evening.

Sun. - cut 14' douglas fir 2x10 roof rafters into 6' and 8' lengths, more stock for the queen bed. Finished gluing up the last corner bed post (still need to veneer the sides with the glue seam). Finally installed the filter brush upgrade kit on the G0440 cyclone. Started designing bed side table to complement the queen bed.

[Ruhi Arslan]

Spent both days at the Somerset Show. Saturday started with a quick visit and tour to Tad's new shop in progress. Thanks gain Tad. Rest of the day was a the show browsing around. I went back Sunday to attend some of the "seminars". I learned some and more. Of course I spent more money. :)

[Jim Rimmer]

Went to a new (to me) candy store in the Houston Heights area; Clark's Hardwoods. I've been going to Houston Hardwoods which is a great place but Clark's seems to have a bigger selection and is better organized. Did some sanding on a chest I am refinishing for LOML. The cleaned up the shop of all the sanding dust so I can out the finish on alter this week.

[Rod Sheridan]

Well I put the grout on, so my new coffee table is completed..........Regards, Rod.

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, this was the weekend TLOML picked for us to go out of town. Had a college girl that is the daughter of one of our adopters stay with the 2 rescue dogs, and we took off for Marble Falls, TX. Got there a little after 1, took the dogs to a city park to exercise them, and we fixed a sandwich for lunch. Drove to Main Street so Glenna could do some shopping. We didn't find anything, and were surprised at how few stores there actually were. Through by 4:30 and checked into the Motel. Rested a while, then went to supper down at the River City Grill on the lake. Not bad, way too much food! Nice atmosphere, and friendly people. Watched some college basketball. Bed.
Sunday, got up and exercised the dogs. Checked out of the Motel and went to the Bluebonnet Cafe for breakfast. Very nice!! Left town and drove out to one of the other lakes, LBJ, then took off north through the Hill Country to Lampasas. Back north on 281 with a detour to Dublin, TX, the only place that still bottles Dr Pepper with pure cane sugar. I got a Dr Pepper freeze, and LOML got a float. Both very good. Also came back with a case of cans.
Home about 3:30, unpacked, and I went to the shop to cut out 5 or 6 of the Irish Setter pieces I'm making for the National Specialty in May. So I did get a little shop time!!:D All in all a very good weekend. Jim.