In the Shop Today- Oct. 2019

  Today I planned to spend more time in my shop. I am returning to my 'work 30 minutes, stretch out 60 minutes-repeat often as possible' schedule.  I have things I want/need to do and I really don't want back pain to stop me. 

  First thing I did was sharpen one of my wife's fine serrated blade kitchen knives.  To touch up the fine serrations I needed my triangle needle file and my magnifying headset .

this is another of those tools that I only use a few times per year,
but would be stuck without.

  After I sharpened the knife I set to work to up grade my bathroom caddy. 

  I had up cycled as orange crate and have been using it since December  2016. Over time I got tired of bottles and stuff falling over and getting trapped underneath the handle. The caddy needed a couple of internal dividers added to the design.

  To make the dividers I used my rip saw, planes, drills, dowels and bench top planning jig.

The wood began with a piece of reclaimed lumber from a skid.  First I ripped the board it to width with a hand saw, holding it on the new raised bench top.  Now that is much easier and at a better height.

  After I used a hand saw to  rip the wood  to width I hand planed the board holding it with my planing jig. I used my mitre saw to cut the wood length, hand tools are nice, power tools are quick. 

  I glued and pinned the dividers in place with 1/8 inch bamboo skewers cut to one inch dowels.  Dowels are used because I don't want rust stains from screws in the caddy/tote  which will get damp in the bathroom.  I have made several projects with the 1/8 bamboo pins, the pins really are just for alignment 'til the glue dries, but they are cheap and available. 

    The caddy was painted bronze last time, purple this time.  When I am out and about I pick up cheap cans of spray paint for jobs were the colour  doesn't matter, currently I have purple.  I added the two internal dividers to keep things from falling over while I move the caddy around.

  The planing jig is something I made in May 2017 and used on my lower work table, but really like on the raised work surface.  

I added a couple of semi-permanent dogs
 to the end of the jig. 

  Just for an update:

planter with foam box insert
back on my Mom's patio.

  The cheap paring knives that I sharpened can be replace for a couple of bucks, the planter uses a discarded foam packing box and the bathroom tote thing is an up cycled orange crate and skid lumber.  I like to be able to repair and remake things to keep materials out of the land fill sites as much as possible.  

  I have a couple more knives to sharpen and a small box I am gathering nice wood for to keep me occupied for the next few 30 working-60 stretching days.  The larger raised work surface seems as though it will make a big difference in the long run.

cheers ianw

What happens when my back gets sore.

  When I have had several busy days in a row, days with extra walking or oddly enough extra sitting the arthritis in my back reacts badly and I am sore until I fully relax for at least two days, sometimes three.  Of late I have not been able to put 2 or 3 days relaxed time together and so each day is crap shoot as to what I can get done before side lined totally.   

  While I am sore life goes on and there still are a ongoing stream of little things that need doing.  For example, yesterday we pulled our dishwasher out and scraped spray foam insulation off the out side, it needed knives, putty knives, plyers, screw drivers and the shop vac to clean up.  A shop tip: a Dollar Store serrated bread knife cuts spray foam really well, costs $1.25 and is easier to hold on to than a loose hacksaw blade.  I also spent time polishing the plastic guard plates for the stained glass studio, drills, buffing wheels, cloths etc. If you are going to get into big jobs polishing things, cars, boats etc get the machine for the job.  What ever little job comes along means tools taken out and probably not put back where they belong, because the task used up all the available back mobility.

  What happens is this:

bench piled high with small tools
used recently.

work table covered with projects
and stuff dropped off on the way by.

  There are plastic containers saved for later use, the sander than prepared the flower box and various clamps, clothes and bits of wood.  This is not how I like my shop but use and drop is the routine I use while saving my back as best as I can.

  Today, I couldn't stand it any longer nor could I do ANYTHING in the shop with the work space in that sort of shape.

what the bench actually looks like, with its own
work light.

 the work table cleaned up with the
new raised bench in place

  Having gotten the space into shape I decided to add to my Mother's flower planter.

  

  The stencil was hanging on the wall. The paint was a $1.00 sample colour and I thought it added a nice touch to an otherwise big brown box.

  While I was at it I  used the same stencil to begin a design on some coasters.

  These will get more detail and contrasting colour once everything is dry.  Probably these coasters will end up as a Christmas hand out.

  Today I sent about two hours in my shop before my back started to complain loudly,  half the time cleaning.  However there is satisfaction in  cleaning a shop too.

  cheers, ianw

Picture Frame and Flower Box

  My eight year old Grand daughter loves to crafts and make pictures for Eva and I.  We have a couple of her paintings in our bed room and recently we were given two more pictures to put up.  All pictures look better mounted and framed and so I retired to my work shop and make our drawings a frame.

  I glued the two pictures to new watercolour paper and to a section of foam core.  The frame is made from thinly sliced 2x4 spruce.  I used my thin strip ripping jig on my table saw to make the the pieces.  Often cheap wood has character that makes it unique and interesting, as in this case.

thin strip jig, Sept 12, 2013
(all my jigs are red or orange )

Next I sanded  the wood, then stained it and glued it to the foam core backed paper. I decided that I would not make the typical frame and am pretty pleased with the result.  

  I am polishing clear guards from glass grinders for my wife's stained class group.  It is a slow job using a soft polishing wheel, white compound and lots of patience. Again it is because I hate throwing things away when they can be repaired.(with some effort).  The easy solution is to buy new guards and throw the pitted ones away, making for more plastic trash.  I'm planning to invest the time to renew the life of the safety guards.

  A few years ago I made a fairly large planter box for my Mother's patio. The size was based on a foam shipping box which made for a water tight, fairly light inner liner to hold the soil and water.  After all these years sitting in outside in the sun and winter snow the box was looking pretty shabby.  Remarkably the foam liner box is still in good shape and usable. 

  Originally the cedar box was varnished with a couple of coats of outdoor varnish and then ignored for years. This summer its age was obvious and that most of the varnish had worn away.

  First the  box was sanded vigorously to remove what remained of the varnish.  Since unprotected cedar turns greyish over time I opted to stain the box 'walnut' before varnishing it this time.  Cedar has a good track record of weather resistance, this planter box was still perfectly solid, just tired looking.   I'll put a little time into this project over the weekend and take it home to my Mom early in the week.  That's what sons do.

 cheers ianw

Another Work Bench Blog

  Since hurting my back a few years ago I have been on a seemly endless quest for a comfortable work shop environment.  I have  raised my work bench/table on blocks, and then taken it down.  I have made a small version of a bench top bench that clamped into my bench vise and still I continued on my quest.

  

  This version was solid but the work surface was only 8 1/2 by 29.  It was just not quite large enough for most needs.  The height was good and I did like the  available dog holes, but it had no vise or real clamping ability.

  In 2013 I tried a version I called "the box":

  I don't remember what was lacking in this design but clearly it didn't last for very long.  I suspect that it was not large enough either. So, the current effort at the perfect work station for me is: The Pew Bench, so named because it is made from 3/4 laminated oak from a church pew.  

  It has a work top that is 40 x 19 x 3/4 inches that adds  5 1/2 inches of height to my solid work table. The working height for my new work station is 39 inches, which is high but I am 6 feet 1 and have real trouble working bent over.  This bench top bench is pretty solid but can be lifted off if  the other  work station is needed.  Also I have a second smaller work bench in the corner at which I can work while sitting on a stool, its a good spot for carving/wood burning etc. 

  The underside of the Pew Bench: 

  The ultimate type of legs remains to be decided but the trestles that were used with the small bench are solid and the right height so, for the time being I screwed them to the  the pew bench.  I put sand paper on the bottom on the feet too. I may need to make a couple of trestle supports that will match this bench height for projects that are just little too long

   The board with the holes enables me to use the pipe clamps as a vise, an idea that I saw somewhere else, I didn't invent it.

  I can hold material for edge planing while moving the clamps from as close as 4 inches to as wide as 14 inches.  

  On the one end of the bench top is room for my Home Made Moxon style vise for end grain work. 

   The other end features my bench vise.  If I were building from scratch I would buy this vise

  

  However I already had a heavy duty vise on the work station and though it is overkill, I moved it to the pew.

   So far the Pew bench is heavy enough and stable enough that it doesn't need to be clamped down except when I do heavy work on the vise end.    To give the acme screw and runners room I had to move the leg closer toward the middle than is optimal.  I may replace that side leg or drill some holes in it so that I can move it closer to the edge.

  The next stage is to do a few jobs on the bench and see how it feels.  It is not designed for heavy hammering and big jobs,  so I am hopeful that I will have a work station what will  enable me to work longer in my shop.  Who knows this maybe the holy grail of work benches.

cheers, ianw

P.S - Happy Thanksgiving, we've got lots to be thankful for.

and our friends around the world.

Fall Fair Season

  Next weekend is the Rockton World's Fair in Rockton Ontario.  Eva and I have been involved as exhibitors and volunteers for at least twenty years. Eva bakes up a storm and usually wins the big trophies each year while I quietly enter bread baking, carving or art depending on how the spirit moves me.

  We took the weekend away and then have returned to the full fall schedule.  In my shop today I was busy matting and framing painting for my grand kids and my self.  I know you don't need a wood working shop to cut matts and frame paintings but...you do need work space and a few tools.  I couldn't work without my big carpenters square or my utility knife.

  Another item that I have used for a few days lately is my slow cooker pot.  I could be using it to keep my hide glue at the correct temperature, but in this case I have been using it to make apple butter.

  Last Friday I peeled and began cooking what began as 12 quarts of apples in the slow cooker.  I cooked the apples for sixteen hours and then we left for the weekend early Saturday.  Today, Tuesday I cooked the apples for another ten hours and got three bottles of apple butter, a little over two quarts. (one is already gone to a good home). I like making things in the shop that I can use and I also like making things that I can eat.  These apples were free for the picking and so....we have a special treat for no cash outlay.  ( I've always said that if you are willing to spent time, you can save money).

  The other big project today was bread.

 This year I have entered three bread categories: White, 60% Whole Wheat and Multigrain. This is the finished multigrain right out of the oven, it is whole wheat, white, rye and five grain cereal and smells great. The loaf of while was done by lunch time and is already in the deep freeze.

  The last loaf is my 60% whole wheat,

 it is proofing while I type.  I realize  that this isn't wood working, but...it is making and if you are a maker in wood, why not expand your horizons?  There is a world of information, instruction and help out there for you  while you learn to make new things.

  If you don't want to make for your local fair, volunteer, the volunteers are the folks that make sure these events continue year after year. 

  See you at the fair,

  cheers, Ianw

  

  

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