Table Top Ready for Varnish

  Before I get to the table top I will share some of the distractions that are ongoing.

  I re glued and  screwed the music stand I made a while ago (September 19th 2016)  It was a dark and windy evening on Wednesday and my music stand blew out of my hand and across the parking lot, breaking which is why it needed to be repaired 

  I had to repair a push stick featuring a really nice handle from a jack plane, that fell on the floor and got stepped on. Needed to be fixed.

  And worth the trouble since it is very nice for working on my jointer.

  Also, today.....I took my first bicycle ride of the season.  I collected my new bike at Brant Cycle and road it home.  That was a bit of an exercise for early in the season, it was only 2 degrees about freezing when I set off for home.  An hour and twenty minutes of great riding and a chilly face. (that's where I was this morning David)

Giant LAFree E-Bike

  The e-bike lets a fat sixty-one year old man ride like he is a teenager.  I road 35ish KM today in the cold and didn't even care. I love the bike it, it is comfortable, quick as I want and it was reasonably priced. WOW.

  The other wood working project began with a need, of sorts. 

  Working on pallet wood often has me begin the sanding process with my 4 1/2 inch grinder and sanding disks.  So I have a grinder, various disks, an arbour tech cutting disk, several wrenches and other stuff.  I finally decided that these various things were drifting and needed a proper home.

  This is to be a storage box, all it needs to do is keep the grinder and its friends together when on the shelf, so I gathered up materials from the bins.

  So the bottom of the box is:

a pocket hole project.  I love my KREG jig.  It made two pieces of plywood destined for the fire place into something useful. 

  When I put the ends on the box I used pocket holes too. And for right angle assembly there is no substitute for the KREG Right Angle Clamp. 

  

  For the sides I got even more thrifty.  I have a couple of old pieces of Masonite, that were sink cut outs.  The pieces are warped, but almost indestructible.  Since the pieces are too small to be used to make an impregnable criminal hide out they've just sat on a shelf in my shop for years. 

  

  My Freud thin kerf rip saw blade cuts a slot almost exactly the width of fifty year old Masonite.   So I cut some slots and used various bits of left over plywood and made the box slightly more of a production that it would have been I my wood scraps were larger.  The Masonite almost makes it appear as though I was doing something special, instead of something cheap.

  A piece of old belt and a couple of screws and the box if done, sanded and filled with the extra bits and pieces that accompany the grinder around. 

 So the table top:

  Pretty interesting I think.  It will get a couple of clear coats on top, once I decided whether it needs indoor or outdoor varnish.

  A shop tip to complete the blog.

  You should keep a yellow or orange coloured pencil in your shop to mark on dark wood and Masonite etc.  

  cheers ianw

  

Rack in the Bathroom

  Shortly after we moved into our new house (5+ years ago) we both realized that our master bathroom is larger than my first apartment.  We decided to make use of the space by my building a rack which sits over one of the heat vents in the bathroom.

    As you can see this is a pocket hole project.  Where I used the self taping pocket hole screws as designed the project worked fine.

  Where is used the screws and allowed them to be exposed to the air and damp, they begin to rust. (not surprizingly)  I decided to get on this little job and replace those rusting screws.  I had two options.

1. stainless steel screws. 

  Or: remove the screws, drill out the holes and replace them with wood dowel.

  I opted for using dowels as you can see.  I found that I had 1/4 inch dowelling and I didn't have any of the stainless steel screws.  This job wasn't big enough to warrant ordering special fastening hardware, If there were more repairs necessary, or if quality of finish had been more critical then I would have ordered the screws.

  FYI- stainless steel screws are weather resistant etc., but sometimes their sheer strength is lower than quality hardened screws.  You need to adjust the torque on your driver or you will twist the heads off your screws.

cheers,

File Box

  Home organization is an ongoing challenge, as with all people of a certain age we have tonnes of stuff, much of which seems to have no readily apparent use.  What we do is keep  receipts and invoices,( sometimes for years) in spite of the promise that the computer would provide a "paper less" office, paper is still the only way to prove what you have done, or of what has been done to you.   We have a couple of file cabinets and we also have a hanging file.  Writing this reminds me, it is time to cull some of the old paper. (a winter's eve project)

     The office supply stores have very good plastic hanging file holders that have wheels which makes them easy to push  around the office.  Plastic is light, cheap and ugly, my solution was to create a wood frame to hold the plastic frame, the wood is sturdy and just looks nicer.

   The wooden file frame was a pocket hole project.

   I was able to make the frame and screw it together quickly and easily.  The other thing that is good about the pocket holes was that the entire project was sanded and finished before it was finally assembled.  There are no fasteners showing and though the project was made from local builder supply lumber is still looks much nicer than plastic.

Kreg Tools Newsletter

  The Kreg Tool Company has embraced the internet and social media with more vigor than many other tool companies out there.  Their Kreg Plus news letter is an example of what Kreg is doing on line.

  I have been a subscriber since the start and I always find that it is a worthwhile read, the postings aren't filled with new and exciting information but being reminded  of things is not a bad thing either.  The October newsletter is worth a read as a reminder tool.

  The Kreg Tool box filled with Kreg Screws, nice.

 You all know that I am a pocket hole kind of guy.   I often turn to the pocket hole joint for it speed and ease,  though I do like box joints on the router table too.  ( I need to try out that jig.)