Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

17 Feb 2020

Greetings,
I started oncall duty today and you are most likely tired of hearing me complain about oncall, so I'll stop there.
I've upgraded my Z axis on my Shapeoko 3 XXL cnc router to the highly rated HDZ. I got it installed this weekend and I hope to make a first cut with it this week. But that all depends on how things go at the day job this week as we are down one person this week, from 4 to 3. I haven't been in the shop actively working since the delivery of the huge dining room table. I have projects I need to work on and get done but I simply struggle to find the time to get out there and get busy. I'm tired of all the rain, the cloudy skies and maybe I struggle with a bit of work burn-out and a bit of being down because of all the stuff we've been going through both day and night at the day job. I hope retirement comes fast....around 6 years from now.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Paul F Franklin]

Dennis, if complaining about the day job lessens the load a bit, we are happy to listen (or at least I am)! The weather will get better and you are among kindred spirits here. Hang in there!

I finished up my router table and got it hooked into dust collection; I'm happy with how it came out. I then spent some time cleaning and organizing the shop after that project. Starting to work on design phase of office furniture project. Have a few small shop things to work on while I get the next major project designed: refurbishing a couple of Stanley planes, more sharpening, that kind of stuff.

Had an unplanned diversion when our Bosch dishwasher started displaying an E09 code at end of the cycle. Turns out it is a failed heater element, which on the Bosch is part of the circulation pump. Not a hard or expensive fix; just requires pulling the DW out for access. It seems a fairly common failure on the Bosch units. Ordered the part and am doing dishes the old fashioned way for a few days until it gets here.

My other non-shop diversion has been working on taxes. The tax law changes of 2018 were not good for me last year and are not good for me this year. But I guess we all like to complain about taxes. That's it from here.

[Joe Pratt]

Spent all weekend in the garage working on a set of Selig Z-chairs. After blowing out a few pieces of Iroko on the router table, I spent a few hours researching advanced template routing methods and learned quite a bit. Wasted some material, but definitely improved my knowledge and skills.

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, the time will come when "on-call" will be a distant memory. And congrats on the x-axis upgrade. That should kick things up a few notches!

Eclectic week for me last week...a small turning job for some chair spindles for another local woodworker, a cremation urn for friend's pet and finishing up with a "first look build" of Geoffrey Noden's new "Craftsman Package" Adjust-a-Bench product that I was able to get early dibs on. I'll be doing a thread on that in my copious free time. I also spent some time "chasing a unicorn"...5/4 clear pine for a client project. I should have it tomorrow or Wednesday but had to by a lot that was nearly twice what I need for the project. There apparently are only a few "suppliers to the suppliers" that carry the stuff. My local source actually had to pony up for a couple grand of additional lumber just to get my shipment and I thank him for that for sure. It's not from his regular source.

This week I got started with a much needed shop cleaning as I'll be getting going on the aforementioned project once the lumber arrives... (12) custom locker doors for an equestrian operation's new barn lounge area. Clear pine rails and stiles with knotty pine fields. I need to get started on my downdraft table now that the second bench is ready with a temporary surface as well as get back on my latest guitar project.

[Paul F Franklin]

Jim, probably too late for you, but if you have menards out there, the local branches here stock clear pine that they call 5/4 but is S4S to about 1.125 thick, if that would work for you. I've bought a fair amount of it. You have to sort through for the straight pieces as always, but the good news is there are usually straight pieces. It comes from New Zealand of all places.

[Charles Taylor]

High school softball season has begun, so I have a little less to a lot less shop time on the weekends than I do during other parts of the year. I spent a little time on Saturday preparing the plywood substrate for a chair seat and the corner pieces of the frame that will support it from underneath. A remnant of leather for the seat arrived on the doorstep today, so I may be able to do the very simple upholstery job during the week. Next weekend or after is when I can take the curved back rails from their setting forms and begin milling them to put the chair together.

Sunday I replaced a failing light switch and a toilet water supply valve, then handled the cooking duty for dinner.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, probably too late for you, but if you have menards out there, the local branches here stock clear pine that they call 5/4 but is S4S to about 1.125 thick, if that would work for you. I've bought a fair amount of it. You have to sort through for the straight pieces as always, but the good news is there are usually straight pieces. It comes from New Zealand of all places.

No Menards. I can buy clear pine at my local independent lumber yard no problem. But it's S4S and "construction lumber". I'm not going to use that stuff for doors on a commissioned project from a client. I also can't use something like Radiata pine which is very common in the box stores. That's not a match for what's already in place.

[Bryan Lisowski]

Jim, nothing better than pine costing the same as walnut.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, nothing better than pine costing the same as walnut.

Yea...$5.50 bd/ft. And I had to buy a 117 bd/ft "lot" which was the smallest available. I only need about 80 bd/ft for this project. But I know it will be good stuff at least. It will not go to waste! In fact, I may use the remainder for a new door for our powder room which has been on my "list" of to-dos for sometime now.

[Rod Sheridan]

Yea...$5.50 bd/ft. And I had to buy a 117 bd/ft "lot" which was the smallest available. I only need about 80 bd/ft for this project. But I know it will be good stuff at least. It will not go to waste! In fact, I may use the remainder for a new door for our powder room which has been on my "list" of to-dos for sometime now.

Hi Jim, I don't buy much wood since I built a band mill, however I needed some 4/4 QSWO, what a shock $12, per board foot.

As to what I've been doing in the shop, well I started a cleanup/organize effort. I made 6 wall cabinets and put pegboard up under them, a bit more pegboard to go and some more organizing and it should be nicer to work in the shop.....Rod.

Cabinet 1.jpgCabinet 2.jpg