Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

28 Feb 2022

Greetings,
It's been a busy week but all my weeks seem to be busy any more. :)
Spent some time in the shop working on the queen bed for my son and he came by to help for a bit which made the work go much faster. I played bass at church on Sunday and it's back to the weekly grind today.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Eugene Dixon]

Finished the router sled/table, ala Rockler's design. Instead of long 2X's, I glued up doubled up 3/4" X 5-1/2" X 10' plywood. Mounted the router and it all works fine. The 10' EMT rails have some spring so I'll be adding intermediate supports.

Also finished the light house for USF's EM Honor Society. However, I fouled the crystal glue up and may start over. Will try to get the nameplate mounted to the base later today. Shoutout to A1Promo in Greenville NC for engraving the brass.

[Ron Selzer]

Week before last picked up a NOS motor for my Mini Max 12" jointer planer for a fantastic price and was given a mortiser for it. One step closer to getting it running. Thanks to Dave Johnson
Yesterday went to North Royalton to pick up a Jet oscillating Edge Sander for a great deal. Was given a guided tour of Thomas's shop very clean and organized.
Brought my wife into his office to admire a Carousel Horse that was made in Mansfield, Ohio years ago.
Also was shown how snare drums are made, very interesting. Not to mention finally saw exotic woods in person that I have only seen pictures of before.
Ron

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like you're not standing around twiddling your thumbs, Dennis... :D :D :D

This past week saw the physical installation of our whole house generator...an important project for us given we have an all electric house now and the more unpredictable weather is what it is. We almost lost our whole HVAC system this past fall when a major storm flooded our basement while the sump pump was shut down due to a long power outage. Our property, despite being on top of a rise, retains groundwater due to heavy clays, rock being close to the surface and a high water table. Gas work gets done this coming Friday. A second tank will be added along with the necessary plumbing. The last thing will be a couple of sturdy bollards to protect the generator, given it's on the extended driveway.

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Friday, the surveyor magically appeared about a week early...he had a cancellation...so the boundary survey I needed to move forward with my zoning application relative to the shop building was completed. The engineer was really great and allowed me to tag along during the work. It's incredibly interesting how things get done today vs "back in the day" and he even located a front corner "monument" that was completely buried and unknown to us. It was also disturbed when a stump was just ripped out of the neighboring yard. The engineer was very generous with a lot of extra markings that were material to my shop planning to insure there were no mistakes with side and rear setbacks, etc. Given the northern side line is slightly over six feet on the other side of the fence due to a driveway easement with that neighboring property, getting things correct was imperative. Saturday, in the blowing wind, I marked out for the proposed shop as required for zoning. It will go in a defined "box" and will get actually located once I can determine what exact position will result in the minimum disturbance based on slope, etc. It's looking to be closer to the back setback line based on that. It's not super easy to see things in this photo, but that right there is where the shop will (hopefully) go...

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I've been working on the plot plan and may even get the zoning application out this week after I check on a few things with the building/code guy for the Borough. (He's a super helpful individual, actually)

Related to this, I've been getting in preliminary quotes for various types of buildings. 'Clearly, this isn't the best time to be constructing anything, but at least it's helping me ascertain what my general costs will be for the options available.

I may try to do a few little things in the shop this week and maybe start on the renovation of our guest bath.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Finally got all the youngsters outside at various times to help with the completion of the rear fence. For those of you on acreage, it wouldn't be a big deal but I had to dig out 2 fast-set anchors because the posts had rutted out at ground level.
We had to jackhammer out the concrete (2 kids helping) and then reset new posts with road base instead of concrete; then everyone assisted getting the boards up in place.
A different kind of woodworking.
Also finished my half speed grinder's tool base, and today, fix my kitchen faucet so now it's warming up (12deg. C! Wahoo) I can get back to proper woodworking in the garage shop.

[Paul F Franklin]

Jim, you keep catching good breaks! Doesn't always go that way!

Ron, you got yourself a couple of deals! I thought hard about that edge sander when it was posted, but decided to pass on it just because I didn't want one more thing to deal with right now. But it seemed like a sweet deal.

Golda, our golden/husky mix (vet's best guess) blew out her left rear knee a couple of weeks ago. Given her age (10-11 best estimate), vet suggested we wait a few weeks to see how she would get along before doing surgery to repair the ACL. Well, she was managing OK with a limp, but we had to really keep her on a tight lead because she loves to run and jump and chase stuff, and we didn't want her to do further damage. Anyway, we decided to go ahead with the surgery because even if she only has a few more years, we want her to be able to do the things she loves. Vet did some screening to make sure her liver was good and checked for cancer markers and all was good, so she had the surgery on Wednesday and came home the same day. She's doing fine but we have to watch her closely to keep her from removing the stitches herself (what *are* these little strings sticking out of my leg?). Mostly she's ok but at times the cone goes on. We tried the tube sock that the vet suggested but she learned to pull it down in a about 10 seconds. She's only allowed to go out for potty trips and must be leashed. She's used to two-a-day long walks, so she's not happy, but it's only for a few weeks.

I got the old flooring ripped up in our main hall and entry hall. I screwed down the subfloor and was able to eliminate all the horrible squeaks. What a difference hundreds of screws can make! And I fitted new 1/2 underlayment and laid it in place. I will have to wait for a day when Mary can take Golda out of the house for an hour or two before I staple the underlayment down. The pneumatic staple gun freaks Golda out. Normally I would just do it when she was out on a hike with Mary, but no hikes for a few weeks. But at least the underlayment is nice and smooth, unlike the torn up surface of the subfloor. I need to paint before the flooring goes in anyway, so no real rush to get it stapled down. I'll pick up paint tomorrow and get started on that. Also have to order the new trim materials. I saved the old trim with the idea of refinishing it and reusing it, but after a few test pieces I gave up on that idea. I still have to remove the old flooring in the garage hallway, but will wait on that until the more important hallways are all done.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Wife had her right knee replaced on Tuesday, so that's how we spent our week. Tomato plants are up and growing under grow light (LED shop light.) Saw flock of turkeys out in the woods one day, and following day they came thru wooded area between houses scratching for food.