Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

18 Oct 2020

Greetings,
After the past weeks of stupid crazy long hours at the day job, I finally got some time off work to recover as well as time to get things done around the house and in my shop. I finally have all my tools/machines working and running once again and I SUPER Happy about getting all my stuff working in my shop again. I got some things done around the house as well as getting a few things done in my shop. I've started 2 of the projects I've been needing to get started and finished. I hope to make good progress on them both this week. The LOML and I cooked out, had a bonfire and sat around the fire and just relaxed and talked. What a nice time that was. I was able to get one project finished for a local bakery and I expect to deliver that order to them by Wednesday of this week.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Lisa Starr]

Took the weekend for a trip to the mountains for "Girls Camp". The core group is five women that have done this once or twice a year for the past 40+ years. We plan no meals but rather snack our way thru the weekend, drink plenty of adult beverages, play games and talk constantly, preferably remaining in our PJs from Friday evening until it is time to head home on Sunday. This year we broke the rule and got dressed to go for a walk Saturday as the weather was beautiful. I wouldn't trade this time with true friends for anything.

[Jim Becker]

'Glad you're getting a little down time, Dennis...that rat race has been intense for you lately! And good for you to be back in the shop too...you have great talent and you also enjoy it so much.

I didn't do a whole lot of woodworking this past week, but did complete a little CNC work as well as have a client pick up their completed tack trunk on Saturday morning. Professor Dr. SWMBO and I had an interesting conversation with her...aside from being a horse-mom, she's originally an epidemiologist by education (what The Professor is) and is now a Federal prosecutor for the whistle blower type cases. I also finally and sadly cut down the old crabapple tree in front of our home that pretty much had died out except for one sub-trunk. It really looks weird having that missing from view but then again, it was no longer very "pretty", either. Related to that, I have a tree service scheduled for later next month to begin removing some large dead ash trees (borer) that are near our home. Expensive, but necessary. I do plan on getting some material milled from them to at least not waste the wood and will put out the rest for folks to grab for free if they happen to burn for heat.

Upcoming projects include a bass guitar, some CNC work for a client and a little foray into some chair making with the assistance of another 'Creeker. And a bunch of continuing home improvement/repair projects.

It's getting easier to do stuff with my eye now after just over a month post surgery. The "fish bowl" in my right eye is now less than 50% and that's helped in a huge way. Hopefully, in 3-4 more weeks it will be gone.

[Paul F Franklin]

Not too much time in the shop this week; worked outside quite a bit. In the shop I built up the MDF innards for the office counter tops and scribed them to fit nicely against the wall and adjoining tall cabinet. Milled up stock for the edge banding, mitered it into two L-shapes, and glued up the miters, reinforced with a couple of dominoes. Now working on attaching those to the MDF and then they will be ready for laminate. Also glued up some fences for a couple of table saw jigs I'm working on. Spent a little time making permanent adaptors to adapt a couple of smaller dust hoses to mate cleanly with the central vac outlet that I use for sanding, the dominos and a few other smaller tools. I was cobbling together adapters that never fit quite right, so I ordered some fiberglass tubing from McMaster that is a good fit into the central vac port, and then attached the hoses to short lengths of the tubing using large diameter heat shrink. They work like a charm; should have done it long ago. While I was at that, I added a toggle switch near the vac outlet so I can switch between normal central vac operation (actuated by switch on hose) and "workshop" mode, where I can turn on the vac with a remote switch I keep on my apron.

Outside I cut a lot of firewood, mostly ash, some maple. Only got maybe a 1/4 acre cleared of deadfall, leaners, and standing dead trees, but it was the worst and most dangerous section, so happy with that progress. Also got the gutter guards brushed off and removed a few areas of moss growing on the shady parts of the roof. Wanted to make a first pass on the leaves, but didn't get to it.

This week looks rainy, so hope to get more done in the shop.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Camped out with the Scout Troop, and mounted a scope on my new rifle. I did spend last weekend getting framing lumber for building the interior walls for the shop, which I will start working on, hopefully in a couple of weeks.

Doc