Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

14 Feb 2022

Greetings,
It's been a really busy week this week with the day job and trying to get a few things under control in the shop. For some odd reason, my little cell phone stands have taken on a life of their own and people are asking for them. So, I'm turning scrap wood into nice little cell phone stands and people are loving them. Oh well, like most of the things I make, they too will lose popularity and then I won't need to make any more.

I did find a tablesaw that I'd like to add to my shop but at $65K for a tablesaw....I'll opt to keep what I have. I would like to add another tablesaw to my shop space, another cabinet saw to be exact but I'll keep looking for a good used one somewhere and rebuild it to make it what I want.

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

Best of weeks to you all!!

[Myles Moran]

I finally got a full day in the shop, but unfortunately it was spent sweating copper instead of woodworking. A mix of leaking stops, removing a saddle valve I was worried I would damage my tablesaw if it ever started leaking and a section of pipe that absolutely refused to fully drain and dry meant it took me all day.

On a plus note, I'm very proud of my sweating skills...... when it's set up clamped to the work bench. At least my position sweat joints are serviceable, even if my solder is a bit sloppy.

[Mitch schiffer]

I had a busy week in the shop my new planer (oliver 4470) and bandsa (harvey 615) came in this week. I also took delivery of a idry vacuum kiln that I set up at my business partners shop. A bearing went out on my powermatic edge sander I spent about 5 hours fixing that. I also had to try to reconfigure my shop since the new planer doesn't fit in as well where I kept the old one, but that is a ongoing process.
Dennis that must be a heck of a tablesaw for 65k!

[Kris Cook]

Spent the week as I had time turning these

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Into these

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[Charles Taylor]

Over several weeks as time permitted, I've been building a chest to keep in the workshop and organize some tools, etc. The chest is made of cherry scraps, some of which narrowly and undeservedly evaded the firewood pile. I've used this project to continue my self-education in hand-cut dovetail joinery. This past weekend I brought the last corner together for a test fit and then routed dados and grooves for a back, a top tray, and drawer runners to be added.

One day I hope to be able to show off work that rivals some of our other Creekers, crisp, mitered dovetail corners and all, but so far I'm still at the rank amateur level, with gaps that could be negotiated by a skilled 747 pilot. It's all about learning, though.

Shortly after Christmas, I showed off the display case I made for my wife's gift from her father, which was his (and his grandfather's) old pocket watch. She showed it to a colleague of hers, and he wants a similar display for his watch. He asked for a finish that's "dark, almost black". So I made iron acetate (steel wool degreased and immersed in white vinegar) and tested it on walnut, cherry, and red oak. After just one day there was enough strength to the solution to yield very good results with the walnut and cherry, so I applied shellac and wax and sent them with my wife to see if either of the samples appealed to her colleague. The red oak did very poorly, but things might be different after several more days. At any rate, the ebonized walnut was the easy winner.

[Jim Becker]

Busy can be good, Dennis!

I got the ventilation completed for the kitchen and only have a little drywall repair left to complete the project. Having some warm days made the outside work a lot more pleasant. I'm very thankful that the interior of the soffit was conducive to the need and it provided a direct pathway to the outside.

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There was also a little bit of time spent in the shop on Saturday after playing "pick up sticks" in the back yard...it was nice enough that I could open the door, do a little cleanup and finally get the whole set of tools I had been carrying around for 9 months during the sales process of our old home all put away. That gave me a little time to consider what improvements I might want to make with organization as I move toward a shop build with a clean slate.

This week, a couple of dead trees will come down in the backyard, one of which is smack in the middle of where the proposed new shop building will go. Contractor neighbor down the street and his spouse bought the property next door to rehab and has a crew coming in to do tree work there...he offered to take down my two dead ones plus another on the property one step further down owned by a nice lady whom he helps out with house stuff. Not sure what the next project will be here, but there are some good candidates and at least one that will involve actual woodworking.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I completed 4 banjos and a neck that had been in the works for a few weeks, and got all the setups done by 10 PM Saturday so I guess it all counts for last week. Now it's time to start some new ones.

[Paul F Franklin]

I got the backsplash tile grouted and caulked; will give it a couple more days to cure and then will seal it and cross that off the list. Next up is a little actual woodworking as I have to make a custom transition between the kitchen flooring and family room carpet. There's a curved section with a 3' radius and then a straight section. It will need to be about 2 1/2-2 3/4 wide with a rabbet to allow the floating floor to move a bit, and a flush side to meet the carpet. The flooring is a gray stone look, so I'll likely end up using a gray semi-transparent stain plus top coats on the transition. I have to pick up a can or two of stain to experiment. I have a few other small punch list items: mounting a couple of Led lights over the pantry cabinets (ran the wiring already, just need to mount the lights, then I need fill some nail holes in the trim and a couple of mis-drilled drawer pull holes (doh!). There's a little more base to install on one wall, but I can't do that until I do the flooring in the hallways. With any luck will be able to call the kitchen done this week.

[Myles Moran]

Dennis that must be a heck of a tablesaw for 65k!

For that kind of money it better hand me a cold beer while it does all the work.

[Charles Coolidge]

I got this thing delivered, then came down with Ebola or something the past several days.

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[Eugene Dixon]

Put the walnut center top on the pantry shelves. Turn the lights off, I'm through in there.
Installed LED strip lights under and above the upper kitchen cabinets. Dearly beloved be all happy! Me? I'mm looking for the sunglasses and tanning lotion. Also, went to the church's building and converted 5 fixtures from florescent to LEDs.