Gurrrr and other words not said at the dinner table

[ken hatch]

After days of moving shop fixtures and cabinets around in a futile effort to made the shop bigger....Strange how if you start with 500 square feet no matter how you rearrange you end up with 500 square feet:confused:.

After freeing up the bench tops from all that moving stuff, I started chopping the mortises in the Cherry rails for the tool chest lid. There are just four of them to chop the only semi difficult aspect is they are fairly deep and narrow, 3/8" X 50mm. Cruising along with the Turnpike Troubadours playing in the background. BTW, if you haven't checked out the "Red Dirt" music scene, you should. There are some really smart song writers working the genre. IIRC they were in the chorus and I was singing along "you wrecked my house, you wrecked my car, you wrecked my life, and left the pieces scattered on the lawn". Ah so easily distracted, on with the story. I'm doing the last mortise of the four, down to about 50mm on the far end and 10mm left to remove on the near end to finish, being careful because I know how easily Cherry splits. Need I go on.

I guess it took a couple of seconds to work through the 5 stages of grief before I very eloquently expressed my innermost thoughts. What was it Sam Elliot said: "Some days you eat the Bar, some days the Bar eats you".

Come to think of it, maybe the singing did the number on that last mortise.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

When my listening music moves me, I stop working and move to the music.

Sometimes though I do swing my mallet and chop to the music.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

I was listening to warren zevon's 'lawyers guns and money' at some point this evening. Love that song.

[Nick Stokes]

That would be "Turnpike Troubadours".

And yes, they're great.

[ken hatch]

I used to date his cousin many, many years ago. She and Crazy Shirley were roommates....I think there was a song about those were the days my friend :). Love the old Delta blues and you ain't a Texan without Willie on the radio every day but some of the new stuff coming out of Stillwater, Norman, and Austin blows me away.

I think I can save the rail. The split is high and contained. The rail is in a clamp with glue and before clamping it closed where I couldn't see see the split. The joint will be draw bored and I will put the spilt on the face side so the cheek will be pushed in instead of out. Or I may make another rail. For now it is best to walk away and see what's in my single malt stock.

ken

[ken hatch]

That would be "Turnpike Troubadours".

And yes, they're great.

Doesn't surprise me, sometimes I have to run through a half dozen names before I get around to MsBubba's:p.

ken

[Bob Glenn]

I've taken to listening to classical music while working in the shop. A little less distracting and a little more inspirational.

[ken hatch]

I've taken to listening to classical music while working in the shop. A little less distracting and a little more inspirational.

Yeah, Willie's "Stardust" is a great album.

I'm so ashamed of my self :p, the hands did it with little or no help from the brain. What's the old saying....you can't help redneck.....

I do wonder how many woodworkers have music in the background while they work and if they do, what genres. I usually will have on some of the old Texas/Delta blues shouters like Mance Lipscomb, either Austin or Red dirt, or maybe some of the great Texas singer/song writers from my prime years like Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark. And if MsBubba isn't trying to sleep, play 'em loud enough to hear. Like Jim when a good one comes on I may stop and listen, makes for a good tea break.

Thanks Bob, you gave me an opening to take off on a tangent while awake in the middle of the night. Now it's time to go back to bed or just give up and go to the shop.

ken

[Mike Holbrook]

ROCK & ROLL! Shake it until you break it!

[george wilson]

Ken,why are you mixing metric and Imperial units? 3/8 x 50MM?

[ken hatch]

Ken,why are you mixing metric and Imperial units? 3/8 x 50MM?

George,

I work metric but my pig stickers are Imperial. Mortises are one of the few times that happens. I suppose I could do the conversion and say it was 9.5mmX50mm but I'm too lazy for that plus I can never remember what 5/16 is :) in metric.

ken

[ken hatch]

Un-clamped the rail this morning and finished the mortise. It held with no problems and where the split is will have little stress. Even with close examination I can't see the crack it looks just like a figure line. I may regret doing it but I think I'll use the rail. The worst that can happen is at some date the mortise fails and I have to make a new lid.

ken

[Luke Dupont]

Ken,why are you mixing metric and Imperial units? 3/8 x 50MM?

Maybe it's the sense of beauty that comes with such anarchy.

Or maybe it's like when you're speaking with your bilingual friends, and you just start speaking a mishmashed hodgepodge of English and Japanese (or whatever the languages happen to be).

Now, I've got to go number my pieces "a, b, c"!

[Jim Koepke]

I do wonder how many woodworkers have music in the background while they work and if they do, what genres.

My current playlist is quite eclectic. It crosses many genres and styles. From ABBA to Zimmerman (both Richard, the complete works of Scott Joplin and Bobby aka Bob Dylan) the Andrews Sisters to Walter Brennan, from Big Band to Jug Band.


I can never remember what 5/16 is :) in metric.

I hope the smily means you are kidding.

The 5/X fractions are the conversion points to remember for those doing comparative conversion from inch to metric or metric to inch.

5/128 = 1 mm
5/64 = 2 mm
5/32 = 4 mm
5/16 = 8 mm
5/8 = 16 mm
5/4 (1-1/4") = 32 mm

Another to remember is most automotive lug nuts are 3/4" or 19mm.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

George,

I work metric but my pig stickers are Imperial. Mortises are one of the few times that happens. I suppose I could do the conversion and say it was 9.5mmX50mm but I'm too lazy for that plus I can never remember what 5/16 is :) in metric.

ken
5/16 of what? 5/16 of a mm? that would be .0123 mm (12.3 um to us cool people). Maybe you wanted to know 5/16 of a meter. That's super easy in metric, just 1000 times what 5/16 of a mm is because we all know a millimeter is 1/1000 of a meter. The better thing though is just to think in metric, forget fractions altogether and just move decimal places around. Of course, I'm just funnin with ya - its another wet&cold day here.

[Jim Koepke]

The better thing though is just to think in metric, forget fractions altogether and just move decimal places around. Of course, I'm just funnin with ya - its another wet&cold day here.

How is metric better?

Will it make my dovetails tighter?

Will it make my potting benches or rocking horses sell quicker at the farmers market?

Will it cure baldness or anything else?

When all is said and done, how will converting to metric improve my life?

Who will pay to have all my inch denominated tools, hardware and lumber changed over?

Yes, metric is a simpler system. Converting my whole life to metric will not be as simple as counting to nine. Maybe using a system that isn't simple keeps our minds working beyond simple.

BTW, I have worked in both systems. For most of the things I do the inch system is preferred.

As to the weather we are going to get close to 90ºF here, 32ºC.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

Doesn't surprise me, sometimes I have to run through a half dozen names before I get around to MsBubba's:p.

ken
While she stands there looking patient, I assume.

[Luke Dupont]

How is metric better?

Will it make my dovetails tighter?

Will it make my potting benches or rocking horses sell quicker at the farmers market?

Will it cure baldness or anything else?

When all is said and done, how will converting to metric improve my life?

Who will pay to have all my inch denominated tools, hardware and lumber changed over?

Yes, metric is a simpler system. Converting my whole life to metric will not be as simple as counting to nine. Maybe using a system that isn't simple keeps our minds working beyond simple.

BTW, I have worked in both systems. For most of the things I do the inch system is preferred.

As to the weather we are going to get close to 90ºF here, 32ºC.

jtk

As much as I see an advantage in Metric in the sciences and engineering, I do think imperial has a big advantage in one sense: it's intuitive.

People dealing with metric always give measurements in exacting millimeters. "Oh, my bench is 762mm wide!"
Who can intuit that? I have a very good intuitive understanding of "2 and a half feet," on the other hand, and can even eye it surprisingly accurate.

I can look at something and immediately say, "Oh, that looks like an inch / half an inch / 3 quarters an inch / 2 feet / a yard" / what have you. But I'll never look at something and think, "Oh, that looks like 350 millimeters." Now, of course, metric has centimeters and such, but the fact that people have such a strong tendency always give you an exact measurement in millimeters is telling of the mentality that goes along with it; one of exacting precision over intuition.

I think it kind of encourages an exactness of measuring that simply isn't needed, or particularly helpful in traditional woodworking, where measurements and dimensions are arrived at organically and transferred from piece to piece. One can build just as accurately without ever having consulted an inch or millimeter.

[ken hatch]

While she stands there looking patient, I assume.

Bill,

I wish, most of the time she just walks away. I'm sure thinking the OF has truly lost it this time, where did I put the number of the home?

ken

[ken hatch]

I didn't mean for this to turn into a metric Imperial thread. I find I make fewer mistakes and it is easier working metric. As always YMMV. Even though I work and think mostly in metric my shop is a combined Imperial/metric shop. Some tools are Imperial some are metric, 99.99% of the time it is a big whoop, it makes no never mind if I chop with a 1/2" chisel or a 12mm chisel and is the same with most operations.