Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

20 Dec 2021

Greetings,
I'll start off with wishing each of you a Merry Christmas and may you be blessed with family and friends that all share good memories and good health all the days ahead. I finally made the decision to get back in the shop and do a little something for the first time in several weeks. It was enjoyable and something that helped keep my hands and my mind busy but relaxed for a change. Maybe it's time to get back to making that queen bed for my #2 son.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, 'glad you got back in the shop and yes...do that project! Wishing you and yours the joy of the season!

And...like you, I actually got in the shop yesterday for awhile. I re-terminated the cord on my lathe to be compatible with the 30 amp machine circuit, put up the tool organization for it and populated said tool organization with all the stuff. I can now get the bin that all those things were in out of the shop and move the grinder over to the end of the CNC machine so it's convenient to the lathe.

IMG_0545.jpg

I then procrastinated around dealing with the light surface rust that happened on my tools last weekend from sudden condensation and fired up the CNC to complete Sammula's (one of our birds) Christmas present...her very own charcuterie board for on top of her cage. She likes to have pellets on a board up there to munch on during the day and an old piece of cherry has been handling that work for a long time...but it's BORING! I had an off-cut from the charcuterie boards I help a friend with that just needed some "dishing" on the top. So I took that honey locust scrap and did the deed. I had a little slip on hold-down, so the dishing edge isn't perfect, but I don't think Sammula is going to complain about this nice honey locust food bar. She can be one of those "fancy" birds now.

IMG_0577.jpg

This week I'm handing off a bunch of turning stock to a local 'Creeker that was left-over at the old shop and I have no room for here and will hopefully get motivated enough to deal with the light surface rust I mentioned earlier on my tools. I have some projects planned as we finally have a buyer for the old property and will hopefully complete closing in less than a month.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that "Santa" is generous with nice tools to you all.

[Lisa Starr]

I didn't spend much time in the shop, as I seemed to have over done it last Friday installing the DRO on the WoodRat. My body deals with the fatigue syndrome by becoming physically ill. So...the weekend was spent between the couch and my recliner feeling the aches and headache of a the flu, but thankfully nothing more.

Glad to hear you made it into the shop Dennis. It is good for the soul, as you know.

[Scott Clausen]

Merry Christmas! Have kids coming into town but sadly stuck on the road 12 hours away with car trouble, so much for new cars being road worthy. Anyway I had been spending time restoring a Stanley No. 4 so the wife has been declaring that I don't need to spend anymore time "out there in that shop". I am curious if any of the grands will be interested in something that doesn't have a screen.

[Gregory King]

Merry Christmas! Have kids coming into town but sadly stuck on the road 12 hours away with car trouble, so much for new cars being road worthy. Anyway I had been spending time restoring a Stanley No. 4 so the wife has been declaring that I don't need to spend anymore time "out there in that shop". I am curious if any of the grands will be interested in something that doesn't have a screen.

Hope it's not a Chevy

[Paul F Franklin]

Merry Christmas to all!

I pulled the temp countertops and faucet out of the kitchen and the countertop guy came and did a laser template. Pretty slick and took less than half an hour. Don't have an install date yet, but probably will be mid January. Put the temp counters and faucet back in. Spent another couple of hours working on the dishwasher again; it had been working better but still wasn't right. After rechecking the pump/heater, all the sensors and the wiring, I replaced the control board and that seems to have fixed it.

I got the window frame and sashes painted and after letting them dry for 4 or 5 days, I installed the new weatherstripping and operator and reinstalled the window. Works like new and looks great too, so my wife is happy.

And I got the range hood installed. It was a little fussy because we went with 15" deep upper cabinets and most or all hoods seem to be designed for 12" uppers. One of the manufacturers makes a 3" stainless steel filler so I used that and some blocking to block in a 3" space behind the hood. And....in the process of trial fitting the blocking I managed to drop a piece and break off 4 of the 5 knobs on the range. There was some bad language. After finding out that exact replacements were only available in black (ours are white) and cost over $50 EACH, FOR A KNOB!!! I spent the next few hours fixing the old knobs.

Hooking up the ducting meant a trip to the attic and then climbing down into the space above our basement stairway ceiling to make the final duct connections. Would have been easier for a younger, shorter, smaller person but you go with the army you have.

Flooring is next.

Skid steer update: My buddy decided to tow it down to a mechanic that's worked on it before and pay him to do the work required to recover from the damage done by it getting dunked in the pond. In addition to the engine being full of water, it turns out the hydraulic oil tank did get flooded and when they pulled the skid steer out of the pond and pushed it to the trailer, the track motors forced contaminated oil to circulate so all the hydraulics need to drained and flushed. Sigh.

Mary and I did manage to fit in a few short trips to view some of the Christmas lighting displays in the area, and Mary did our inside decorating including the tree while I was busy in the kitchen.

Again, Merry Christmas to all!

[Ronald Blue]

Skid steer update: My buddy decided to tow it down to a mechanic that's worked on it before and pay him to do the work required to recover from the damage done by it getting dunked in the pond. In addition to the engine being full of water, it turns out the hydraulic oil tank did get flooded and when they pulled the skid steer out of the pond and pushed it to the trailer, the track motors forced contaminated oil to circulate so all the hydraulics need to drained and flushed. Sigh.

If the water filled the engine and hydraulics I hope you have insurance. There are more issues than that ahead and typically insurance would total a machine that's been "dunked". There will be electrical issues as well. This is going to be an ongoing battle. Final drives filled with water and much more.