Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

26 Dec 2022

Greetings,
Christmas has come and gone now. The LOML and I have made it through our 1st year without our oldest son. He passed away just before Thanksgiving last year at the age of 31. Spent some time in the shop and I've decided to add a couple of tools to my collection. I'm adding a 2nd tablesaw, a stroke sander and I am also adding a 100W CO2 laser cutter/engraver. I'm getting all 3 items from local people and used equipment. I'd like to buy new, but I can't afford new....so used it will be. Made several cutting boards for Christmas and made it on time for each of them. Now it's time to wind down and think about what I want to do to reorganize my shop and make it a better place to work. After all, I'm planning on working in the shop when I retire and I'm hoping to retire in 1-1/2 years from now.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, it's good you're getting shop time and I like the additions you mention, especially the laser. That's a remarkably versatile tool and will really fit in with a lot of the "production" items you produce for personalization, etc. Good plan for the future, too...retirement is just the start of a great phase in life!

This past week saw a lot happening with the new shop including finally getting the major stuff moved in so I can figure out where it will all live "permanently"...which we all know changes over time. LOL It will be awhile before I'm fully moved in, but progress is happening and that makes me happy. It's a great space and I look forward to spending a lot of time in there doing projects that are hopefully "worthy".

The holiday was nice with both daughters plus the younger's SO there for presents and brunch.

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I got two woodworking related gifts...

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And since I do the cooking, a couple of things related to that. Dennis, have you ever heard of this particular sauce?

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Wishing everyone the best New Year!

[Mark Rainey]

Dennis, thanks for sharing your story with us. I am ambivalent about Christmas, sometimes there are great expectations to be "happy" and, at least for me, I cannot control my emotions to that extent. Jim, thanks for sharing family holiday pictures. You have a beautiful family. And I love to cook too Jim. I am a pizza fanatic. I am thankful for this forum and all the good will and information sharing. I am working on my third dining chair which involves a lot of carving. I would like to see a carver from 1740 in action, I imagine he would complete in one hour what takes me 2 days to complete. But I carve on!

[Brian Tymchak]

Happy New Years to all!

Although it's been installed a few weeks, we had to replace the furnace after it started to fail in November. Almost all of our major appliances are reaching EOL so we decided to eliminate a big chunk of risk all at once. New furnace, A/C, and water heater. I joke that for Christmas, I got my wife a new furnace, she got me a new A/C, and we split on the water heater.

As far as woodworking goes, I've once again been cutting building blocks for a local non-profit, that in turn, supplies to a state based program for children in need. I've got a big batch of about 6000 in progress.

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This being the 5th or 6th big batch of blocks over the last couple years, I've worn thru the graphite pad on my stationary belt sander giving me an uneven result. It took me a couple hours to replace that yesterday. Lots of acetone needed to get all the old adhesive off the platten. I was a bit surprised to find that acetone will eat thru nitrile gloves... it was worth the effort though. I now have a truly flat surface on my sander and can sand a perfectly square face.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Last week I completed a couple of banjos, one custom build that is already shipped and a stock one. In the kitchen I put in a hinged counter above the chest freezer, and some shelves above that.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We spent the last week traveling to West Yellowstone, MT where we met up with our DIL and 3 youngest grandchildren. We toured Yellowstone National Park in the summer 4 years ago with the 3 grandkids and I wanted them to see the dramatic difference the animals endure in the winter. We saw lots of bison, trumpeter swans and Canadian geese. The snow wasn't deep enough to drive the elk down off the the mountains yet, so we didn't see any elk this trip. The other two times we have done the winter tours of YNP, were in February when the snow was really, really deep and the elk had moved down so they could use the roads for travel too. Though they don't plow the roads in the park, they do groom the roads. The snowmobiles and snow coaches do keep it packed so it's easier walking for the animals. We endured daytime temperatures in the -18ºF to -23ºF and one night it got to -38ºF. Dressed properly one can enjoy being outdoors in those temperatures. One of the granddaughters and her mom snowshoed one afternoon in -15ºF temperatures.

[Jim Becker]

Zachary, that was a great idea to put that hinged work surface above the chest freezer...it would have potentially been wasted space otherwise and now it's usable work surface that will be nice to have from time to time, I'm sure. I like the cabinets, too.

[Nick Lazz]

Wife asked for a guest bed a week before Christmas... I call this the 'Framer's Rustic Bed'.. with end tables using left over tile from a bath remodel. Merry Christmas!
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[Jim Becker]

That's outstanding Nick!!!

[Paul F Franklin]

We had a quiet Christmas; the weather on Friday and Saturday was cold and snowy and even though it had stopped snowing by Sunday, it was still cold and travel was iffy, so we elected to stay home and skip the usual visits to family in the area. We had a nice dinner of lamb racks, a variation on hassleback potatoes and asparagus...very yummy with leftovers for a few days. Mary is off for the week since the university is closed and she has been baking up a storm...baguettes and apple pie and homemade cheesy crouton crisps to go with tomato soup from garden tomatoes. The indoor lettuce garden is in full production so we have fresh lettuce for salads each week. We have been eating very well indeed!

Shop-wise, I have the first coat of enduro-var on all the bookcase parts. I elected to prefinish most of the parts before assembly, and since I can't spray when it's cold out, I padded the finish on by hand. A little fussy and time consuming, but it's low stress and looks good. Still shooting to have the bookcase done before new years. Looking forward to getting rid of the metal wire shelf unit next to my desk in the office and replacing it with the new console bookcase.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Twas a "Blue Christmas" in our house. On Monday I came down with Covid, and on Thursday wife tested positive. Limited symptoms, for me bronchitous, and for wife slight fever and terrible cough. Both put on antivirial med, which seems to have worked, just made a terrible taste in our mouths. Next day after finishing med, bad taste goes away. Food again tastes good. Because Christmas dinner was cancelled, we may be eating ham on the Fourth of July, as we had planned for 20+ people. Christmas also sad as my almost 105 year old friend was taken to Hospice for end of life care. I've known her for almost forty years. I will miss her!

[Brian Tymchak]

Wife asked for a guest bed a week before Christmas... I call this the 'Framer's Rustic Bed'.. with end tables using left over tile from a bath remodel. Merry Christmas!

Great work Nick. It would have taken me a week to get the design done. Love those lamps too. Perfect for that bedroom.