Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

21 Oct 2019

Greetings,
Busy week at the day job but I've also been able to spend some really good time in the shop. Been cleaning up, throwing out trash, organizing a bit better, and making more space in my shop. Been working on projects and currently working on 3 wooden train engines. I hope to have them done Tuesday. I have my very first "ever" craft fair that I'm attending on Wednesday of this coming week and I guess we'll see how that goes. I don't have a lot of stuff to sell right then, but I can take orders and make those items for each one. I lost the chance of getting a beginner CNC router for my shop by 1 day but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I will wait and see what comes up in the coming weeks/months.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Lisa Starr]

Dennis, sounds like you had a great week. I'm always happy when I walk into my shop after a cleaning/straightening and it feels organized. As for me, DH and I put the finishing touches on the enclosed porch we built this summer. Like all our projects, it took a long time because I like to design something a little different and end up making many of the components rather than purchasing. We also finished up the connections for a friend's radiant floor heat in his new workshop. Thru all this, I was applying the finish to a new drill press table I built. By the way, it was beautiful weather here yesterday and so enjoyable to be out.

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like this last week was "shop organization week", Dennis. :) It was here, too. As an extension of the renovation I did to free up some space, a lot of other work had gone into better accommodation for tools, tooling, hardware and material. The "big task" this past week for me was to get rid of some old wall mounted metal hardware cases with brittle plastic drawers (very much on their last legs after decades of use) and replace them with new organizers better suited to my current needs. That took a lot of time because I really had to sort out a lot of odd-ball stuff and, of course, create all new labels for hundreds of things. I threw out the things that I couldn't ever imagine using and "un-consolidated" some things from multiples per container to one per container for easier access. The new storage fits the space better and more efficiently, too.

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When I wasn't doing that I was dealing with another downed ash tree and cutting up previously fallen trees and started on another guitar body while doing some fine tuning on the build already in progress. More of all that this week; outside weather permitting and in the shop otherwise. I have a client bringing a new project to the table later in the week, too.

[Terry Kelly]

I installed a Byrd cutter head into my Dewalt 735 planer,I went with the OEM version. The install went well ,stripped out a head on one of the Phillips head screws that held down a retainer,but ended up not being reinstalled anyway. After reassembly I ran a curly maple board cutoff thru a few times and I’m super happy with the results.....I also built a set of cornhole boards, pretty basic set I whipped up on the fly,hopefully sand and paint them up this week gonna make one side IBEW,I’m a JW out of 176, and the other side UA,my son is a 597 Pipefitter. Next will be installing a Byrd head on my jointer,got an awesome deal on it awhile ago.....

Also purchased that little 1”x30” belt sander at harbor freight ended up being $41 or so with the 20% coupon. Read several positive things about it and figure for the price it was worth a shot,used it to round out the legs on the cornhole set. No complaints it did it’s job....plus it’s small enough to fit nicely out of the way.....

[Bruce Page]

I also did some shop organization. My TS blade storage like a lot of thing in my small shop is based on available space. I got tired of pulling them out of boxes that I stored above my lathe. I decided to utilize some unused space in my paint storage cabinet.
My Rube Goldberg idea keeps them easy to access. I think it will work well as long as I don’t punch a hole in anything... :rolleyes:
The square ply blocks have 3 small magnets to hold the blade while I remove the maple knob. I made the knobs from a maple dowel that I bought at WW Supply a few weeks ago. 33$ for a 1¼” X 36” dowel - only in New Mexico

[Paul F Franklin]

Folks, seems like shop organization week is every week! I did some myself this week, but there's always more to do. Jim, If I put on my carnac hat, I predict you will need at least one of the "couldn't ever imagine using" items within the next week, two weeks tops. At least that's the way it always seems to go for me. Dennis, good luck at the craft fair; let us know how it goes. Agree with Lisa that it always feels good to walk into a newly organized shop or part of shop.

Many years ago I bought a hundred or so little pasteboard boxes, maybe 2 1/2 x 5 x 1 1/2, and I use them to store all my hardware and small parts, at least the items that I have stock of. I just write the contents on the end of the box and store them on end in those slide out bin boxes, organized by size/type. For items that I only have a few of I like the higher quality multi-compartment plastic boxes. I separate by rough category and can find stuff really quickly.

I disassembled my recently acquired stanley 5 1/2 in preparation to refurb it. Only sticky bit was the frog adjustment screw, which was rusted into place. An overnight soak with PB blaster did the trick and I was able to remove it relatively unscathed. The paint on the inside of the body is pretty rough, so I will remove it and repaint. Everything else looks to only need minor cleanup. I did pick up a Hock blade and breaker; the original iron was pretty beat, although probably usable after regrinding.

Continued working on finalizing drawings for mantel/cabinet project but am vacillating on the cabinet design and proportions. Will probably start a separate thread seeking advice. I'm ready to start rough milling the stock for the parts that are set; I was waiting for a track joiner for my track saw so I can make a 12' long track to get a straight edge on the long pieces, but that showed up the other day so good to go.

In preparation for winter, I smoked 6 racks of ribs. One we ate for dinner over two nights, the others got vacuum sealed and put in the freezer for enjoying during winter. Also grilled 3 large pizzas; same deal with them. I know there are folks who grill all winter long, but I'm not one of them, so I like to stock the freezer with favorites for the long winter. We already have about two gallons of tomato sauce from the garden harvest.

[Von Bickley]

Don't have any projects going right now. Did get a coat of wax on the tablesaw and a coat of poly on the outfeed table.

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