Creeker's Past Weeks Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

21 Dec 2020

Greetings & Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays!

I've been busy with playing Christmas music for 2 different organizations as well as working with very short staff at the day job. Precious little time to work in the shop! We just went through another layoff/workforce reduction and I'm still employed and I'm happy to be employed. I've been told that "who wants YOUR job!?" Well, I like doing what I do...I just don't like the office politics that upper-level people try to play. Leave me alone and let me do the job I was hired for!

The benches are getting close to ready for finish. I have things I need to get done but I'm oncall this week and I'm the primary one working this week while everybody else is out for the holidays.

I hope that this finds each of you well, warm, and still employed. At this point, I mind as well wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Some of you will be traveling for the holidays and some of us will not. Be safe!!!

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

Best of weeks to you all!

[Charles Taylor]

Merry Christmas!

I spent much of Saturday at the ER with my wife, who's tested positive for COVID-19. She works there, so she was well cared for by the family of coworkers she knows well. It's ironic that she's dodged it for nearly a year while treating scores of others who've had it, and now she has it just as the vaccine becomes available (she started showing symptoms late last week, on the day she got her first shot of the vaccine). We came home that afternoon.

With my wife doing a lot of resting and sleeping, I was able to spend a little time Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon squaring up the mortises I had routed in the legs for the kitchen buffet I began recently. Sunday afternoon I also milled up the rails for the cabinet, getting as far as making the tenons. In my plan, I chose to offset the tenons of many of the joints in the interest of a little extra strength. That of course gives me extra opportunity to make a mistake such as trying to cut a tenon cheek on the wrong side. I never waste opportunities like that. Fortunately it was just one out of twenty tenons made that way.
IMG_3630, 800.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, I hope Santa brings you a few days off to make some sawdust or something like that.

Not a really productive week shop-wise. Distractions a-plenty. I did do a little cleanup and cut some clear lexan on the CNC for on one of our birdcages to help keep more bird food off the floor...one of our smaller birds likes to "bath" in the food dish...silly birb. I did a little design work for an updated drill press table and started a little preparation for making the neck for my bass project. Oh, and plowed a little snow that came down at the end of the week...'didn't really "need" to do it with a flock of Subarus, but with all the delivery vehicles coming through, it was the right thing to do...it's not really safe for them to stop out on the road.

This week is likely to be eclectic due to the holiday. I have cooking to do on Thursday as we're having our big meal that evening with your younger daughter's boyfriend here so he can and she can do the same at his house the next day. Two big meals for them on Thanksgiving day was too much.

Charles, 'hoping for your partner-in-crime to have a fast and complete recovery!

[Paul F Franklin]

Sorry to hear about your wife Chuck, hope she recovers quickly and fully. And thanks to her and all the medical professionals doing their best to get us all through this!

I finished up two shop projects that I started last week. First was adding some more strobes to my dust bin full sensor so I am less likely to miss the signal. I added a second power supply and a solid state relay to drive them. While I was at it I added a ground strap to the barrel. There was one to the lid, but since I line the barrel with a plastic bag the barrel itself wasn't necessarily grounded. Should eliminate the static zaps I was getting when emptying the barrel now that humidity is pretty low. I also moved the photo sensor a little closer to the center of the lid. Oneida's instructions said to place it a "few" inches from the outside rim, but since the outside fills faster than the center the sensor was triggering when there was still a fair amount of room in the bin. I moved it a couple inches toward the center and now the bin fills fully before the sensor trips. (all the more reason to avoid missing the signal).

Second project was a rack for next to my table saw to hold all the table saw thingies. It fits out of the way under the sliding crosscut table, but is still easily accessible. Nothing fancy, just a couple of pegboard panels with a simple frame and legs. Works great.

Didn't get much done on the office desks I'm building, between those shop projects and other things that came up, like shampooing the carpet in a few rooms. I did sort through all the stock I milled up and sorted it for color and grain and labeled what pieces come from where. There are close to 250 pieces in the two desks, so marking them well will help me keep them straight. Despite having milled a fair amount of extra stock, I couldn't find suitable pieces for the back rails. I want the grain in them to extend smoothly across the whole desk and wanted them to be fairly straight grained. Well I wasn't happy with the boards I had selected for them, so I dove back into the stickered stack of stickered sticks (say that 3 times fast) and found a better candidate.


Merry Christmas to all!

[Todd Trebuna]

Been slightly busy ramping up for the delivery of the Covid Vaccine, so work is busy. But I have a few projects in the shop. Mostly small ones. I am working on a Walnut end table for my wife, which has been put on hold in favor of christmas gifts in various stages of construction. I've done some tea light candle holders. IMG_20201219_161630_794_resized.jpg My other project, which you guys helped me with is a toy box for my Baby daughters dog. (She's 21 and got married last year for context...#oldguy) She and her husband have a 2 year old pit/lab mix. A great dog with ALOT of energy and a killer instinct towards all things rubbery and/or stuffed. She asked if I could build a box for Willow's toys? I said, sure....so she's getting a Walnut and Maple "Toy Box". I scroll sawed out a "W" on One side IMG_2604.jpg and filled it with epoxyIMG_20201219_105110_resized.jpg. The other side got scroll sawed as well...IMG_2602.jpg with the word "victims" IMG_2605.jpgIMG_20201219_105106_resized.jpg. The tape failed while the epoxy was curing, so ended up clamping another board to the bottom and then planing to the finished thickness and thus removing the poured out epoxy. It's ready for the bottom, which will be dropped in with a hole for easy removal and a natural oil finish. I probably have 2 hours of work left on it. It looks great and she'll be pleased. She still uses the massive Oak dresser I built for her 8 or 9 years ago.

[Daniel O'Neill]

Dennis sorry to hear about the layoffs. It's stressful to go through.
Chuck Sorry about the Mrs.
Congrats to all on project progress

Finally got the closet organizer done "enough". Used mostly scrap plywood that I've been moving for a few years. I think in the future if time allows I'll build a couple of drawers that open without hitting the bifold doors. For now it allows the 3 year old to move rooms and makes way for the 3 month old's room to begin fully setup. (She's in our room for now) Still this will allow us to get a little better organized in terms of who's stuff is where. The "construction" room for the 3 year old was an office so it's been a long process emptying it out and building the closet shelving and installing around naps & crying . Good times though. I like taking our son into the shop. I don't get anything done though but he likes being in there sometimes with me and I look at it as an investment when we can build stuff together. (hopefully)

CLOSET 01.jpg CLOSET 02.jpg CLOSET 03.jpg CLOSET 04.jpg

Have a great day!!

[Julie Moriarty]

My front door opens and I hear my neighbor say, "My kitchen is on fire!"

About an hour earlier he had called and invited me over for burgers and fries. He's a restaurateur and a very good cook. But I had already eaten and declined. So I thought he was trying to get me over to show me what I missed.

As I walked across the street, it was obvious he wasn't kidding. I walked into the house to see if there was anything I could do but he had put the fire out. I was quickly overcome by smoke.

I ran back to the house and grabbed the four respirators I had and came back, handing them out to whoever was there. I was reminded of the fire I lived through when I was 12. Thick black smoke along the ceiling, lighter smoke below.

Wearing a mask with vapor cartridges, I walked into a bedroom to open up the windows. My eyes were burning from the smoke but I managed to open up some windows before having to go outside. I went back through the house opening every window I could then went back home to grab every fan I could find to blow the smoke out of the house. It seemed like the smoke would never clear.

This was a week ago Thursday. Since then I've been helping him put the place back together. And doing the design for a kitchen he's been talking about for quite a while. We've come a long way and I think he's beginning to see light at the end of the once smoke-filled tunnel.

Today he comes over and says, "You've been talking about that tool you can't afford. We're going to buy it. Now!"

I told him it was expensive.

Didn't matter.

I told him I hadn't earned it.

"I don't care."

And he ordered it.

We still have a long way to go to finish the work. But I can guarantee you, it will be a job well done.

[Paul F Franklin]

Wow Julie, you win for most excitement of the week! Not that anyone wants that kind of excitement. And talk about quick and clear thinking under duress. I'd sure like to have a neighbor like you. And your neighbor sounds like a stand up guy too. Good luck with the project, look forward to hearing more about it.

[Charles Taylor]

Wow Julie, you win for most excitement of the week! Not that anyone wants that kind of excitement. And talk about quick and clear thinking under duress. I'd sure like to have a neighbor like you. And your neighbor sounds like a stand up guy too. Good luck with the project, look forward to hearing more about it.

Seconded. That's quite a story. Good neighbors are wonderful to have.

[Daniel O'Neill]

Seconded. That's quite a story. Good neighbors are wonderful to have.

Yeah that is quite a story!!

[Malcolm Schweizer]

62ADEDC3-4B1A-4525-BA1C-4520342AD5C8.jpgI made a cutting board with my 7yo daughter. I did the saw work and she glued and clamped. I just guided her when clamping. She sanded and added the finish (just mineral oil)

44AD8C06-60E3-46AF-81FF-796635FBB56A.jpg

[Jim Becker]

That's outstanding, Malcomb...and clearly, the smile on her face eclipses the project, too! She did a great job working with you. I hope that continues far into the future.

[Gordon Dale]

The smile says it all!

[Todd Trebuna]

That is time well spent. Great job on the board and your daughter is lovely. Proud dad of 3 daughters, none of which ever wanted anything to do with my shop. .

[Andrew More]

Built a sorter mobile rack. Just fits under my work bench. Made from 2 pieces of salvage oak from an old table top for the sides, and 2 pieces of old growth pine from a night stand (I think). Shelves and back are brand new 1/4" plywood.