Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

19 Oct 2015

Good Morning Everyone,
Not much to report on this week as I've been working a great deal at the day job as well as trying to just relax and do much of nothing over the weekend. Do you ever have one of those weeks where you've pushed and done so much that when the weekend shows up that you don't feel like doing much of anything? Yea, that was me going into this past weekend. The good news is that I'm off work all week this week and my hope is to get several things done around the house to include my guitar project and my daughter's blanket chest that she and I started last year. Seems like the older I get the faster time flies. :)

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Mike Ontko]

Happy Monday, Dennis!

I'm with you this week--little energy left over for doing much of anything productive over the weekend. I've got the beginnings of a seasonal head cold that a lot of folks around my corner of the country seem to be carrying around over the past couple of weeks as we transition officially into Fall. I was across the US-Canadian border this weekend, however, and ended up at the Lee Valley store in Coquitlam (went to the South Vancouver, BC shop first but they didn't have what I went there for). I ended up picking up a Norton 4000 stone and a packet of a honey-amber analine dye to try out on my beech coffee table, once I get the top finished. After that, I was at a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra event and then back at home for the remainder of the weekend. I did manage to cut the out the plywood section that I'll be using for the coffee table top, and then got cut the thick banding pieces that I'll use to wrap it with. I thought it would be easier to miter and glue on the solid beech banding as square stock and then it'd be much safer to cut the beveled edge profile I'm going for after the glue sets and I can work with the full length and width of the top.

Other than that, I'm off to my regular 9 to 5 for the week!

[Anthony Whitesell]

Thanks to the knowledge base here, I have finished running and affixing the PVC conduit for my outside (and part of my inside) electrical upgrade/rework. I found a 3ft long 3/4" OD spring at McMaster-Carr (for $12 shipped) that fit good inside the 3/4" PVC. I made a fix from some old stock including a 6" radius quarter circle arc to use as bending jig (pics to be posted later). Combined with a heat gun and the sticky post on conduit bending, it worked fantastic. The result looks very clean and robust. I was able to pull the the 8g and the two 12ga circuits without an issue. It was mentioned it would not be possible, but I didn't find an issue. Being at max fill (40%) I could have added any more. I would not have wanted to try. The tie-in at the panel is not complete yet, as there are two other circuits being added as well. One of which is not ready yet. It was quite a successful weekend.

[Charles Taylor]

I kicked forward the projects I had been working on the previous weekend. A shelf/hanger bar is installed in the laundry room, more flooring is down in the attic of the workshop, and boxes are installed for a couple of extra lights going up in the workshop. A little bit of the wiring is done, but the more difficult part--running a new circuit from the panel and through a wall switch--is still in front of me.

We still have an unfinished project of replacing the house's original fireplace mantel with an antique salvaged from a home in Nashville. That's been at a standstill as we await the gas company to re-run a line to the firebox, which will finally happen this week.

[John Sanford]

Got back to working on my new workbench. Basically, all I managed was to get the blank for the leg vise chop glued up, then cut it down to rough size. I also face jointed a bunch of pallet wood I cut down a while back. I wasn't planning on working with the pallet wood, but I had to make adjustments to Uncle Max, my jointer, and I used the pallet wood as test pieces, then said "hell, I might as well face the rest of it while I'm set up." After getting the chop blank glued up, I trimmed one edge on the bandsaw, cleaned up that edge with a pair of handplanes, trimmed the other edge on my table saw, then thicknessed the chunk.

After that, it was time to have fun plowing the mortises in the chop and leg for the Benchcrafted CrissCross arms. Messy, not fun, had multiple challenges, but I did finish the mortise in the chop and all I have left to do on the leg mortise is squaring the ends and cleaning up the steps on the walls. The steps are there because my bit selection and template material selection are out of sync, so I ended up having to cut most of the mortise using a template and the remainder with the template removed. Good thing I have an assortment of sharp chisels...

[Keith Westfall]

I thought... "How long can this take?"

I needed a small shed out back (5 X 12) to fit the space, so it should only take a few days. Pretty simple.

8 days later, and I just hauled away the last of the leftovers. :( Just have to cut up the left over 2 x 4's that aren't worth keeping for my daughter fire pit and then I'm done.

Shop is a mess, stuff everywhere, so maybe I'm really not done yet, if I include the cleanup of the shop...

I think I work a lot slower than I used to when I was younger. But it will be good to fire up the CNC again... :D

[Justin Ludwig]

Made 5 gals of Pale Ale. Worked on a prototype 6pack beer caddy that will be xmas presents for buddies filled with beer I made. Figured out a quick throw-together box joint jig isn't good for accurate cuts. I'll be making a jig next weekend or start piecing it together after work throughout the week.

The weather was phenomenal this past week, but we're still under a burn ban (1.5 days of rain in 60 days). My scrap pile at the shop is getting ridiculous.