Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

3 Aug 2015

Good Morning Everyone,
This weekend was kind of a lazy weekend for me as the day job has been extremely hard for the past few weeks. I really needed some down time to relax a bit and spend it with family. The LOML and I watched a couple of movies, talked a while, and just had a good time just reconnecting since I've been working a good bit for a few weeks now. It's been way too hot to get in the shop and I'm ever so glad that September is coming because that usually means cooler weather is coming around the bend. I just can't take the heat like I used to.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Jim Dwight]

I cut to size, sanded, and finished my wife's 4 shelves for the storage units for her office. I also carried a bunch of loads of stuff from the garage upstairs to her office. She is loading the units down. This is my first furniture for the house with cuts almost entirely using my track saw. Worked well. The units are solid pine shelving boards glued to 16 inch width. The units are 7'8" and 38" long, about 3 feet tall and 16 1/4 deep. Pickled pine finish. I like cutting things up a lot more than sanding. It's nice to have them finished.

I also mowed the lawn, hauled the trash to the dump and trimmed the vines on the front of the house. It was hot but I stayed out of the sun most of the time. I can tolerate mid to upper 90s with water breaks but I do better if I am not in direct sunlight. I also washed my car.

[Charles Taylor]

Saturday morning my wife and I picked up and hauled away some excess soil from some of our landscaping endeavors earlier in the summer, then got a pickup load of mulch to cover the areas where we had removed the soil. In the afternoon we retreated inside and removed the original fireplace mantel from our living room. A few weeks ago she spied a beautiful QSWO mantel salvaged from a 1920s home in Nashville, and we brought it home a few days later. Putting this mantel in place will require a narrower firebox insert, so we got as far as loosening the existing one. We can't take it fully out without removing a gas shutoff valve, so that was a good place to stop for the day and get ready for our evening plans.

Sunday afternoon I helped my oldest girl pick up a washer, dryer, and a few other items from her late aunt's house and move them to storage, anticipating that she'll use those things if she goes away for college next year.

I got a little time in the shop Sunday evening, using up some of my scraps to make a little four-drawer tool chest. The case, which I had started earlier in the week, is complete, and some maple drawer guides are in place on the inside. All of the drawers still need to be made and the front of the case trimmed. There's a thread started by Tom Clark in the Workshops forum pointing out the value in having lots of drawers in the shop. I couldn't agree more, and with this little project I get some scrap out of the way and end up with some additional needed storage.

[Mike Ontko]

Delivered the platform bed to its new caretaker. So the project book is officially closed on that one now.


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Got out of the shop on Sunday and spent the day pedaling around San Juan Island to Lime Kiln Point State Park with the LOML.


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[James Baker SD]

Four and a half years after I started my kitchen remodel, I put the last finishing touch on it Saturday. Just did not want to start any other project until that one was done, but last steps were tricky and difficult so I kept delaying. Finally that Albatross is off my neck and I can move on to something fun.

[Shawn Pixley]

I built a couple of sand casting frames (drag and cope) out of salvaged scrap teak flooring for LOML. The we made some casting sand. Of course we needed to test it. Date night with a movie on Saturday night.

Sunday, I flew out on a business trip at 4:00 AM.

p.s. Finding bentonite clay locally is a pain

[Shawn Pixley]

Sounds like a blast! One of the best days of my life was paddling around San Juan island in a skiff catching shallow water rockfish on a black and yellow leadhead jig as a teenager. I hesitate to mention the decade.

p.s. The platform bed looks great.

[Mike Ontko]

The San Juan Islands are a beauty indeed. An old friend saw my pics on Facebook and asked if I was retired :)

[Matt Meiser]

p.s. Finding bentonite clay locally is a pain

Cheap unscented store brand kitty litter is bentonite clay. I visited where they dig it out of the ground for work a few years ago. They "make" various generic brands right there.

[Shawn Pixley]

We used some of that and it worked okay. The waterproofing bentonite seems superior for this use