Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments.....

[Dennis Peacock]

7 Nov 2011

Good Morning,
The most recent news around my house is that the LOML and I are trying to loose some unwanted weight. We are using a free app on the iPhone called MyFitnessPal. This has proven to be a really useful tool for use and we feel that we are making some progress. We intend to loose weight slowly so the chances of keeping it off will be much higher....we hope.

The LOML and I have cleaned up the shop some more, but we've also been spending time getting things ready for our heating season, which means putting the wood rack on the back porch, bringing up the trashcans for kindling, bringing up and stacking firewood on the wood rack, and finally seasoning the soapstone stove for another seasoning of heating our home.

Two projects I need to work on that I will be getting advice on? Fixing a veneer bubble in the middle of an old piece that has been redone and fixing or remaking a carved chair seat. Both will be a first for me as well as a real challenge for me as I've never done either one.

Well, that's it for me, so what did YOU do this past weekend?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Derek Gilmer]

Zero woodworking sadly. My father in law need a hand during harvest time. So I got to help out driving grain carts (and a John Deere 690 combine for a short time) which was a blast. I'd do the work for free. Unlike my computer monkey job here at the end of the day/night of working in the fields you can SEE what you helped do. But he is pretty generous and I don't work for free. So the weekends pay put the finishing touches on the "Derek wants a delta 46-460" fund. Which will lead to spinny wood in my future :)

[David Hostetler]

We have had the absurd weekend I think to top off an equally absurd week...

Upon coming home from work Friday (early as I topped my hours pretty early due to earlier work catastrophes...) I found my wife and brother in law weren't at home (BIL is on disability and recently divorced. His POS ex wife served him papers at the Dialysis clinic, long, long ugly story...) well I figured they probably went to the Dollar cinema. She likes Vampire movies that I can't stand, so she drags her brother to them while I am work rather often...

Well, I was feeling fatigued so I figured I would take a nap, and she'd be home shortly... Well 6:00 P.M. rolls around, and she wanders in with her brother, and comes in and wakes me up...

They were at the Emergency room...

It appears that my brother in law, who is all of 4' 11" and maybe 130 lbs tripped over the neighbors Labrador Retriever who happened to run out to greet him... He managed to fracture the radius in BOTH arms... It seems the Dialysis he was on for almost 3 years sucked a TON of calcium out of his system...

So we sadly got to find out what a person can not do without the effective use of his arms or hands... It's like having a 37 year old infant in the house...

At MIDNIGHT that same night, one of the sisters in law calls us to tell my wife that her dads phone isn't working. (he is on our cell plan...) so Saturday, we rush up to go figure out what happened, and sure enough, the phone is dripping water, and even has water behind the battery, but of course no recollection of ever having the phone near water... Now mind you, I don't really care, the phone he had was my old Sony Ericsson and we have 2 others just like it, or at least had... But I am concerned that he either felt it necessary to try to conceal what really happened to the phone, or he honestly doesn't recall. Either way could be potential indicators of health issues. As Alzheimers has hit both sides of the family we are VERY concerned for our parents...

So in the process of getting THAT done, my work cell phone pretty much melts down with automated text messages from one of my largest production server clusters, storage resources were faulting taking entire clustered shares offline. I had to drive for an hour and a half before I could even begin to address the problem...

Now mind you, even though I am quite overweight, high blood pressure has NEVER been a problem for me. On the contrary I have since a teenager, had issues with LOW blood pressure. Well last week it would appear that the weight and the stress at work, which is plentiful these days, rammed both my heart rate and BP to numbers I have never even dreamed up... Went to see the doc, and he just told me to take asprin, cut out the caffeine, and avoid stress and come back in for a follow up... Yeah, avoid stress, in the job market of 2011? That's a good joke!

Well, I did at least finally get some stress relief. My "Library Box" came together, mostly yesterday. Construction is a simple plywood box, butt joints with screws. Not even bothering with glue as it would be pointless with this plywood. Maybe if I had doweled it together, but nope, not this one... I have a few screws left to go, then prime, paint, and make the french cleat system and install it.

The entire box is 72" wide, 16" tall, and 12.75" deep with 2 dividers / braces at 24" in from each end made from 5/8" ply. The main carcass is 23/32 Aracuo (however you spell that) sanded ply. All told I probably have more $$ in screws and paint than I do in the ply...

The entire point behind this thing is to get my woodworking, DIY, and automotive books and magazines out of the rest of the house. Sort of a reference library. I do plan on keeping only current issues inside the house unless I am actively researching a project...

On the arm breakage thing, this left me with having to order a paddle operated add on bidet for, uh... personal cleaning... Now since he can't reach a paddle while seated, I need to QUICLY fab up a paddle extension. I am thinking a piece of dowel with a plywood disk that he can press with his cast... LOML want's it to be pretty. I want it to be DONE... I guess I should ask her if she wants to wait while I upholster the thing...

This throws a bad wrench in the works as he was actively job searching as his disability is about to run out, and between this, and another major surgery that is related to his kidney failure / dialysis / transplant, he won't be physically able to even begin to look for work for at least 4 months of heal up time, not to mention the doctors haven't given him a work release yet...

I need to start building stuff I can sell just to bring some extra cash into the house...

[Matt Meiser]

Friday afternoon I did the glueup on first apron for the dining table I'm working on. It was very stressful, but the result came out OK when I pulled it off the form Saturday morning.

Saturday my club had a field trip to The Henry Ford. In the morning we had a presentation on what the furniture preservation staff does, and in the afternoon the curator over the furniture collection took us through the furniture exhibit, we got a peak in one of their furniture warehouses, and then a visit to the preservation workshop. The staff there is obviously very passionate about their work and the session actually ran about 2 hours longer than planned. It is really interesting to hear the stories behind the pieces. In the evening I did the second apron which went a lot better.

Sunday was LOMLjr's last football game to cheer at so we did that, ran errands, and then I worked on some table base mockups before heading to my parents' for dinner.

[Derek Gilmer]

We have had the absurd weekend I think to top off an equally absurd week...

Upon coming home from work Friday (early as I topped my hours pretty early due to earlier work catastrophes...) I found my wife and brother in law weren't at home (BIL is on disability and recently divorced. His POS ex wife served him papers at the Dialysis clinic, long, long ugly story...) well I figured they probably went to the Dollar cinema. She likes Vampire movies that I can't stand, so she drags her brother to them while I am work rather often...

Well, I was feeling fatigued so I figured I would take a nap, and she'd be home shortly... Well 6:00 P.M. rolls around, and she wanders in with her brother, and comes in and wakes me up...

They were at the Emergency room...

It appears that my brother in law, who is all of 4' 11" and maybe 130 lbs tripped over the neighbors Labrador Retriever who happened to run out to greet him... He managed to fracture the radius in BOTH arms... It seems the Dialysis he was on for almost 3 years sucked a TON of calcium out of his system...

So we sadly got to find out what a person can not do without the effective use of his arms or hands... It's like having a 37 year old infant in the house...

At MIDNIGHT that same night, one of the sisters in law calls us to tell my wife that her dads phone isn't working. (he is on our cell plan...) so Saturday, we rush up to go figure out what happened, and sure enough, the phone is dripping water, and even has water behind the battery, but of course no recollection of ever having the phone near water... Now mind you, I don't really care, the phone he had was my old Sony Ericsson and we have 2 others just like it, or at least had... But I am concerned that he either felt it necessary to try to conceal what really happened to the phone, or he honestly doesn't recall. Either way could be potential indicators of health issues. As Alzheimers has hit both sides of the family we are VERY concerned for our parents...

So in the process of getting THAT done, my work cell phone pretty much melts down with automated text messages from one of my largest production server clusters, storage resources were faulting taking entire clustered shares offline. I had to drive for an hour and a half before I could even begin to address the problem...

Now mind you, even though I am quite overweight, high blood pressure has NEVER been a problem for me. On the contrary I have since a teenager, had issues with LOW blood pressure. Well last week it would appear that the weight and the stress at work, which is plentiful these days, rammed both my heart rate and BP to numbers I have never even dreamed up... Went to see the doc, and he just told me to take asprin, cut out the caffeine, and avoid stress and come back in for a follow up... Yeah, avoid stress, in the job market of 2011? That's a good joke!

Well, I did at least finally get some stress relief. My "Library Box" came together, mostly yesterday. Construction is a simple plywood box, butt joints with screws. Not even bothering with glue as it would be pointless with this plywood. Maybe if I had doweled it together, but nope, not this one... I have a few screws left to go, then prime, paint, and make the french cleat system and install it.

The entire box is 72" wide, 16" tall, and 12.75" deep with 2 dividers / braces at 24" in from each end made from 5/8" ply. The main carcass is 23/32 Aracuo (however you spell that) sanded ply. All told I probably have more $$ in screws and paint than I do in the ply...

The entire point behind this thing is to get my woodworking, DIY, and automotive books and magazines out of the rest of the house. Sort of a reference library. I do plan on keeping only current issues inside the house unless I am actively researching a project...

On the arm breakage thing, this left me with having to order a paddle operated add on bidet for, uh... personal cleaning... Now since he can't reach a paddle while seated, I need to QUICLY fab up a paddle extension. I am thinking a piece of dowel with a plywood disk that he can press with his cast... LOML want's it to be pretty. I want it to be DONE... I guess I should ask her if she wants to wait while I upholster the thing...

This throws a bad wrench in the works as he was actively job searching as his disability is about to run out, and between this, and another major surgery that is related to his kidney failure / dialysis / transplant, he won't be physically able to even begin to look for work for at least 4 months of heal up time, not to mention the doctors haven't given him a work release yet...

I need to start building stuff I can sell just to bring some extra cash into the house...

I think it is time to start buying a few lotto tickets. It looks like all the bad luck has been used up. So you must have some good luck coming your way.

[Rod Sheridan]

Wow David, what a set of events!

I hope things improve for you.

I actually did some work on the new bathroom vanity cabinet, speciffically making the base moldings and cutting some to length. Now I need to attach them to the cabinet, and ruin the entire red oak construct by staining it black. (Don't ask, I have my orders).

I also went to the local wood working forum monthly breakfast and was able to enjoy the companionship of a bunch of other middle aged and up guys wearing plaid shirts.........LOL.

Regards, Rod.

[David Hostetler]

I know this is gonna sound funny, but I actually look forward to home projects this evening. Most of the time, I find woodworking / home repair type projects to be relaxing / stress relieving... Sadly, things have been flying apart so badly, I missed opening weekend for Deer Season, and likely won't be able to weasel away from work, or home duties in order to get my deer this year... My poor freezer, and later on, smoker... I am going to have to talk a buddy of mine into taking an extra cull buck for me this year... I gotta get some smoked backstrap...

[Jerome Hanby]

I bought 8 4-bulb fluorescent light fixtures off local CL for $68 a while back. Started reworking them this weekend. They were all t-12 fixtures with 2 ballasts each. For each one, I pulled all the ballasts and socket, wansed them down good, hit any rusty spots with an angle grinder using a wire brush, then painted them with a coat or Rust-oleum gloss white. After all of that is done for all 8 fixtures, I'll install single 4-bulb t-8 ballasts, new sockets, and power cords. I totally finished the first step on three units, finished all but painting the inside on a fourth, and have a fifth drying after the initial washing. Hoping I can finish that fifth unit and get the other three done during this week then spend next weekend wiring and testing them, then a long weekend after that one wiring my ceiling circuits and installing these things. Then, I'll be ready to put my shop back together.

As part of this I had the excuse to buy an angle grinder. Got the 10 amp Dewalt at Lowe's. From what I've read (and observed at local pawn shops), you use up angle grinders, so for about $80, I figured this one was good enough.

[Bill White]

Yeah!!!!! I sold my trusty RAS. Hated to see it go, but just didn't have the room anymore. Even got a good price.
Now I can start lookin' a a new bandsaw to replace the 11" Magna that I hope to sell.
Bill

[Jim Rimmer]

David, I hope things turn around for you soon. My prayers for you and your family members. I don't mean to sound cold because I do have great sympathy for your situation, but when I read a post like yours I realize how truly blessed i am and the little irritants in my life don't really amount to much. I hope this sounds OK; I am not boasting about my life but trying to share some care with you.

[John Lytle]

Finished a Curly Maple Keepsake box (pic attached) that I've been working on for the last month, or so.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/jflytle/16a67998.jpg

Started another project, I call them silverware trays, I've seen them referred to by other names, but... A while back I picked on a truck load (literallyy) of thin cut Maple, Walnut and Cherry lumber. Some buy bought the left-overs from a veneer mill and had it milled to his spec. He decided he valued his floor space in his shop more and sold it off. I got the load for $300 and have been using it up over the last few years. Anyway, I sized a bunch of the random length pieces and have enough to make 3 Cherry and 1 Walnut silverware tray. Certainly is teaching me the value of doing things collectively, such as sizing, cutting to length, cutting angles, etc. I waxed the above project and got all the lumber sized, cut to lengths/widths, glued up bottom panels, cut all critical angles and started cutting dovetails yesterday (I was a man on a mission).

Anyway, if the weather in Chicago holds for another weekend (fingers crossed) I hope to have them all completed (Assembled) next weekend.


John

[David Hostetler]

David, I hope things turn around for you soon. My prayers for you and your family members. I don't mean to sound cold because I do have great sympathy for your situation, but when I read a post like yours I realize how truly blessed i am and the little irritants in my life don't really amount to much. I hope this sounds OK; I am not boasting about my life but trying to share some care with you.

No worries, I get it... All I can ask is that you "pray if you got 'em"...

Just feeling like everything is coming from every direction these days... Can't seem to catch time to catch my breath is all... I could sure use some time in the shop, or in Deer Camp... Even if it is as successful as my last trip. (I shot some nice photos, but that's it...).

What shop time I am getting in these days, hasn't been making anything fancy. For me, getting a project DONE and kicking it out of the shop is like taking off a layer of stress, so the faster it happens, the better off I am...

"Do not become weary in doing good..." is far easier to read and memorize than it is to actually live...

[David Hostetler]

Finished a Curly Maple Keepsake box (pic attached) that I've been working on for the last month, or so.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d150/jflytle/16a67998.jpg

Started another project, I call them silverware trays, I've seen them referred to by other names, but... A while back I picked on a truck load (literallyy) of thin cut Maple, Walnut and Cherry lumber. Some buy bought the left-overs from a veneer mill and had it milled to his spec. He decided he valued his floor space in his shop more and sold it off. I got the load for $300 and have been using it up over the last few years. Anyway, I sized a bunch of the random length pieces and have enough to make 3 Cherry and 1 Walnut silverware tray. Certainly is teaching me the value of doing things collectively, such as sizing, cutting to length, cutting angles, etc. I waxed the above project and got all the lumber sized, cut to lengths/widths, glued up bottom panels, cut all critical angles and started cutting dovetails yesterday (I was a man on a mission).

Anyway, if the weather in Chicago holds for another weekend (fingers crossed) I hope to have them all completed (Assembled) next weekend.


John

Wow, that's beautiful! You did nice work, and that maple is just fantastic. I can't wait to see a finish on it!