Latest News and Small Project

   Last Thursday I resolved to clear  my 'to do'list.  My list had many little tasks that I had been put off or ignored for a long time.  As I was crossing off these listed items many others things rose up.  After the 'to do' was complete I then spent two more days on shop related tasks arising from 'to do'.

   What were the tasks?  A couple of hours were spent sorting through my wood rack and collected off cuts.  Over time lumber had been stacked, piled and thrown into the back corner of my shop creating chaos.  A bonus for getting organised in the back corner was the rediscovery of floor space.

  While clearing and re-stacking  I also  vacuumed the entire shop.  Of course serious vacuuming meant that all the dust collectors had to be emptied and all the filters cleaned part way through the process.  When all was said and done there was nearly a bushel of stray saw dust collected in my vacuum cleaners.

  For a break while cleaning and sorting I gave Captain  his spring re-fit.  Captain will float in our water feature and provide sunning space for frogs again this season.  Kieran and I made Captain during K's Thomas Tank Engine fan boy days. 

    Another undertaking over the two days was sharpening.  I touched up shop knives, chisels and block planes, now all of those tools are ready for action again.  I used a combination of my " Work Sharp", ceramic stones and  the "Scary Sharp" system.

   The biggest job was sorting my collection of loose screws, bolts and other bits and pieces.  Many shops have one or several large jars with mixed screws etc. in them.   I do not...I used to have such jars, but now I collect the bits and pieces for a few months and then sort them back into their appropriate place.  To do that job I pour all the weird  and lonely fasteners onto my work table, this time it filled the entire table top. First I gather all similar screws together, before returning them to their respective boxes and tins.  This way I save dozens of screws for future projects.  Next bolts with nuts, nuts alone, then plugs, marrettes and things related to electricity etc. Lastly all the weird craft items, wheels, bells, bits of wire and general miscellanies are sorted, sifted and put into jars, boxes and drawers for future use.  Since I began doing this when I moved into this new shop (new house) ten years ago I have been amazed at how many things have been saved for further use and how much money has been saved.

   Another project that I did to take a break from the domestic chores of spring cleaning my shop, properly was an eight sided box to be a plant pot.

   This rough looking piece is a 'proof of concept'.  Four of the section have 90 % edges and four have 45% edges.  The 45% pieces fit proud and are then sanded flush.  If the material is thicker and the project large enough the pieces can be connected using pocket hole screws. There is a special jig you make to aid in clamping your work.

  This piece is only 3/8 inch thick, so too thin for pocket holes. Also the material is too thin to cut the 45% edges with my mitre saw, I discovered. Since I had to cut across the grain I wasn't able to plane the angle on a shooting board either.  For my next attempt I have a table saw fixture in mind that will make accurate and controlled cross grain cutting possible.  Once this project is fully sanded and finished I think the grain will make it acceptable as a flower pot.

  Pots like this as well as small boxes are going to use up various bits of lumber that I discovered while sorting the lumber rack.  I have a number of nice but orphaned pieces of lumber that will make a  small project.  

  Anyway, now my shop is much a nicer and easier place to work.

cheers ianw

A Morning of Repairs

  Eva and I sneaked away for a couple of days to our cottage on Georgian Bay. It is nice to 

summer scenes are nicer that what we have now.
 but... it will look this good again shortly.

get away from home to relax for a while.  

    
  We watched Pay-Per-View movies ate great baked goods, did jig saw puzzles and a small maintenance job.  When you own a property there is always a small maintenance job.  The diverters on the bath tube facets needed to be changed.  An easy job you say, well it is when you have a decent product with which to work.  Initially we went to the local hardware store with the helpful people and bought a new diverter, after careful installation as demonstrated by You Tube it leaked.  I am not an experienced plumber  so I assumed I had done something wrong and re-installed the diverter and it still leaked.  Eva took it back to the hardware store with the helpful people and brought two new diverters made by a well known and respected plumbing supply company instead of a generic company and... after following the same instructions the diverters worked perfectly. I guess the lesson is buy things from well known and respected suppliers, their  quality control standards are higher. 

  This morning I went down stairs to my work shop and had to begin by clearing up the mess.  There were a couple of things that needed paint, or varnish and several things that needed repair. 

  I had a tray to re-glue, a fish to varnish, a table top to varnish, a facial tissue box to re-glue etc. etc. etc.

  

  With a piece of glass to cover this piece it would make a very distinctive serving tray.  I will continue to put on coats of varnish.  There is no question, water based varnish is easy to apply and it is easy to clean your brushes too.  Easy enough that extra coats aren't a problem.

  Last spring I made some nice boxes to cover our facial tissue and one of the boxes came unglued.  Rather the inner tube used to hold the cardboard box in place came unglued. 

 No fooling around this time, two part epoxy and proper clamp time. 

  One of the odder projects from this morning, a morning that included cutting and bleaching deer antler, (the band saw cuts the antler easily, and javex bleaches it fine) another job was using that two part epoxy to glue a foot onto a folding tablet stand: was reshaping a little tin box that I use as a pencil case.

  The tin recently got rather badly bent.  I don't know how, I guess I sat something heavy on the bag it was in.  This box is nothing special expect for its history.  Thirty five years ago my late friend Steve and I smoked those small cigars and he gave me the tin. Steve is gone, though I think about him often and wouldn't part with the pencil case for worlds.  It was a small scale twist and hammer job and the result is adequate. 

  I also did some painting:

Our yard will have 'one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish' this summer.  A finishing note: Varathane  water based varnish softens and lifts milk paint. 

  Captain will be as good as new so he can float in our garden's water feature again this year.  The frogs like sunning themselves on his deck.  Kieran and I made Captain years ago, I renew the wee boat each spring 'cause I have sentimental attachments to somethings.

  There is more house cleaning to do later this afternoon, but right now I am going to put on a bunch of warm clothes and go for a bike ride.

cheers, ianw

What's Happening in the Shop

  We have had a couple of unusually mild days so there has been some work in the yard but Monday was a long....day in my wood shop.
  I didn't make anything, but I cleaned and vacuumed and crawled around on the floor and took machines apart and vacuumed out the insides and collected and cut up a bunch of bits and pieces for fire wood.

  This is a rare sight. My small bench cleaned up completely.  You can see the KREG clamp plates on the front of the bench and in the back ground you can see a KREG clamping plate that you use with a KKS 1140 Bench clamp. I used the bench clamp with plate much more before I got a clamping table .

  At this moment, laying on the floor and my work table are the pieces for a bunk bed that I am making before Christmas holiday.

  This will be turned into a bunk bed custom made to fit into our guest bedroom for our Swedish family at Christmas time. I never slept in a bunk bed in my life but...the grand kids love it.

  The one thing I did do that wasn't shop cleaning was re-paint Captain.  Kieran out grew all his Thomas Tank Engine toys but Captain has stayed around floating in our pond.  I have nostalgia for Captain, K and I made him in the shop.

  I'll put Captain back in the pond next spring and the frogs can sit on his deck in the sun all over again. 

   Occasionally battle must be waged and cleaning must be done.  As my wife said, all time in the shop is good time, so even cleaning is okay.