Creekers Weekend Accomplishments.

[David Hostetler]

Okay I know, I am not the one that usually starts these threads, but they are some of my favorites of the week, and we are well into Tuesday without one being started. Mostly likely due to the long holiday weekend...

My weekend was particularly unproductive, we have bee experiencing unusually hot, dry weather still, June was record setting with something like 8 days over 100 deg F, and only 1 day of rain. So July 4th fireworks were cancelled. It stinks, but is totally understandable from a safety point of view.

I did manage to get my lawn work completed. Mowed, weed whacked, edged, hedge trimmed, and swept up both front and back yards. Sadly, I realized that mine is one of the best looking lawns in my neighborhood, mostly because at least in the front, it isn't dying yet. Most of my neighbors lawns have turned brown already. I have been watering following the cities water restriction guide lines to the letter. This has not been particularly kind to my tomatoes and my cucumbers, but at least the grass, lillies, and roses still hold up fine.

I spent some quality time in the shop, not a lot, but enough to clear out the junk from the strong tie work bench, I now have a blank wall behind this bench, and a cleared off bench. This means I will be able to pull this bench out fairly soon, and patch / paint the wall the peg board used to hang on. I am starting to lean VERY heavily toward removing the strong tie work bench all together, and building a rolling / collapsible miter saw station. I need to figure out dust collection though. This slider has been a nightmare to collect dust from...

Sunday was as it should be. Church services in the morning, and plenty of rest in the afternoon. I really didn't get anything much done other than become human again after my long week...

I spent a good amount of quality time smoking up a mess of barbecue for the family for the 4th of July. Again with the drought conditions, I had to pretty much sit outside all day with a garden hose waiting for any errant sparks to come out of the smoker... What a pain in the tail!

Well that's it for my weekend, what did you folks do with your weekends?

[Ryan Hellmer]

I'll bite. I had a great 3 day weekend. Saturday I spent most of the day working on the dresser/changing table for our second (coming in August). I have yet to start the crib, but I figure the little one will be in a bassenette for a few months. This set will be virtually identical to the set I built for #1 (first was oak, this one will be walnut)

Sunday was out to visit the folks. It was nice, first time in a while where all three of us kids were home and we had dinner with some family friends we haven't seen in a long time. It was also nice to get some work done in my dad's shop. He's been rebuilding lately so we finally got his tablesaw set up, now all he needs to do is wire the plug on and go.

Monday was a much needed reprieve. I cleaned the garage in the morning and then did some tinkering in the shop. I finally got my lathe set up (temporarily on my workbench) and then chucked up a little piece of walnut to see if I still knew how to work the thing. A little more work on the dresser then some general clean-up. We ran a few errands before heading to the lake for the fireworks show. It was past the little one's bed time so she was a little fussy. She enjoyed the first part of the show and finally dozed off before the finale woke her up.

Overall, this it was a really great weekend. Looking forward to a short work-week and getting to see my sister and BIL in from Montana. Don't get to see them very often so this will be fun.

Ryan

[Dave Wagner]

The continuing Old Victorian House Restoration thread..A Very Nice weekend for us here in WNY..We finally got quite a bit stripped and ready for paint on the front of our house almost to the peak. The wife is getting some color on the clapboard siding and some of the window trim.

I worked on priming and getting up some of the wood siding on the garage to match the house, finished up more trim boards for the garage and made more details for around the windows to match the house. (Pics to follow). A very Good weekend for accomplishments....! (yes, the ladder is secured!)
Thanks.

200471

200470

[Matt Meiser]

On Saturday a friend came and hung the drywall in my finishing room with my help, then did 2 coats of mud while I supervised (well, I did a bunch of screw holes, but would have messed anything else up.) Sunday morning I sanded, decided it was good to go and primed. In the afternoon I went with my daughter, wife, and mom to The Henry Ford where we took in part of the historic village and stayed for the evening symphony concert and fireworks. Monday I painted, mowed the lawn and did some other outdoor chores and then headed over to my parents' for dinner. In the evening I did most of the finish electrical work, but got stuck because I need some grommets for where the wiring from the boxes enters my light fixtures. I'm hoping to get them hung tonight.

[Jim Becker]

I actually spent quite a few hours in the shop this long weekend working on another tack trunk commission...one without the drawer so it's going fast. Outside of a decorative item I need to deal with, it's built and ready for finishing. This one is QSWO with Sapele trim. Other than that, it was my usual riding lesson on Saturday, weeding the herb garden, a little cooking and playing with my new 3pt landscape rake expressly purchased on Sunday to take over maintaining our very long crushed stone driveway.

[Jerome Hanby]

Finally got around to building the drawer parts for my wife's lathe stand. Still don't have room in the garage/shop to actually work, so I dragged everything out into the driveway. Had the table saw, planner, router table, and the Shopsmith (for the jointer). Noticed that my router plate wasn't quite flush with the top and had to make some adjustments. That led me to verifying that the setup blocks I made for 1/2" material with the lock miter bit worked just like they were intended. Noticed that all my 1/2" poplar stock (with the exception of the one piece that I used to dial in the lock miter bit and make my setup blocks) was actually a good bit smaller that 1/2". So, I turned a 4/4 poplar plank into about 50% shavings with the planner and cut out the drawers. Would have been easier if I had planned the whole board at once, but somehow I miscounted sides and only planed enough material for one drawer. I cut the lock miter joints on the wide pieces then cut them into the correct width strips. This let me leave the edge that had a little tear out as scrap. Made a stupid mistake ripping one of the side pieces and let it get away from me. Luckily it just skidded across the blade and didn't pick up any major velocity, but it did mark up my board. I was just going to patch it with some filler, but about then I realized I didn't count sides properly and the rest of my 4/4 plank had just enough material to let me redo the piece I messed up and take care of the second drawer. I was just finishing the last rips when the thunderstorm started to roll in. Managed to get everything back in the shop and the only thing still outside when the rain started was me and the broom. Was just looking at my project plans, and looks like I overlooked the big drawer on the left side of the stand! Oh well, at least I have that operation down to a science.

After all the months of tinkering with it off and on, replacing my router, table, and bit with better versions, and finally spending a day making test cuts and getting everything dialed in, I have to say I like that lock miter joint. Knowing what I do now, I wouldn't touch one again unless the setup blocks came with it. After I got the 3/4" joint trial and error-ed to the correct settings, I realized I actually needed it set for 1/2", so I headed to Woodcraft, bought a couple of sticks of UHMW plastic and used one end across my setup to create a setup block for 3/4". Then I went through the trial and error again for 1/2" and cut that into the other end of the block.

[george wilson]

I spent the entire 4th. sitting in an emergency Vet. clinic with a sick cat. $350.00 later,I was given no diagnosis,but told the cat won't die tonight,so I could take the cat to my regular vet the next day. The regular vet determined,for $179.00,that the cat had sprained his back leg muscles,possibly from falling out of a tree.

At the first clinic,a lady came in with a very cute little kitten to leave there for adoption. I adopted it. It sat on my lap the rest of the evening,or on top of my foot when I was eating supper. The kitten had the loudest voice I have ever heard!!! Then,it started climbing up to my face,and would no longer stay on my lap(it did throw up into my pocket first). We have a young woman who works for us. She fell in love with the kitten so much that I gave it to her. I was hardly able to do anything with that kitten all over me,and constantly right underfoot when I was moving about in the kitchen.

They had said the kitten was female,so I thought our 2 tomcats would accept her. Turned out at the last minute that it was a boy,and the tomcats growled at him. The 2 dogs were nicer,not growling at it,but mostly just trying to keep away from him. He wanted to be friends with them,and kept trying to get onto them!

No woodworking accomplished at all,lots of rain and thunder all evening and night. At least my dogs were not frightened by the fireworks my neighbor behind my house is always setting off on any holiday.

At least,the kitten has it made,and a good home. I'd have kept him,but Aletha really wanted him bad! She has a great deal of knowledge about animals,and will care well for him.

[Jay Maiers]

I traded my Ridgid portable table saw for an older Ridgid 3612 contractor saw :).
Can that count as a gloat? It needs a few hours of TLC, a few fasteners, and some serious work on dust collection and feed tables, but I know I'm going to love it!

I spent most of Saturday putting shelves up in our garage. We moved in a little over a year ago; it'll be nice to finally park inside :rolleyes: Only in America will people stash a bunch of junk inside and leave expensive cars outside to suffer through the elements...

[David Hostetler]

I spent most of Saturday putting shelves up in our garage. We moved in a little over a year ago; it'll be nice to finally park inside :rolleyes: Only in America will people stash a bunch of junk inside and leave expensive cars outside to suffer through the elements...

Maybe, but then again, my Saturn is plastic, so who cares about that... And the pickup doesn't fit...

In the long run, I want a dedicated out building for a shop. I want to replace the Saturn with a Lincoln MKS. However LOML and I are paying debts off as fast as we can. The idea is to get debt free, then save up to buy the car. The little Saturn has to last us a few more years...