Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

1 Dec 2014

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving to those I missed along the way. We didn't travel this Thanksgiving as we simply didn't have the time off to do so nor did we have a decent vehicle to make that long trip without fear of it breaking down. The LOML took our 2005 Honda Odyssey minivan to the dealership on Friday to get it serviced and she returned home with a new 2014 Honda CR-V. The van was needing more repairs (again) and we decided that we needed at least one vehicle that we could depend on. We hate buying cars and we greatly dislike car payments but it is what it is. We traded in our minivan for the CR-V and the LOML is really happy about a dependable vehicle and I'm happy because we aren't having to keep paying for car repairs that we haven't planned for. IMHO, car prices are heavily "inflated"....I mean, who can afford to buy a minivan now days that cost almost $40K? But I won't go "there" as all it does as raise my blood pressure.

My youngest son is doing really well now and we are supposed to start working on the antique blanket chest today in the shop. I'm "really" excited about working with him on a project in the shop.

That's it for me....so what all did YOU do this past Thanksgiving weekend?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Chris Hachet]

Let's see-

Wood for some more trim in the house is thickness surfaced and ready to go.

Performed additional cleaning in my shop, the scraps that I am never going to sue are now in my neighbors fire pit.

The Oak Mission style table I had been building for the family room is getting close to final glue up.

Built a temporary work bench out of construction lumber the size I am thinking of making my permanent bench. Mocked up a few leg sizes and other details, making my final decisions as you read this...

Repaired the rotted mailbox post that my wife had been wanting repaired for six months.

Tuned up my compound miter saw.

Watched a video on front vises on you tube, to better consider the Lake Erie Tool Works Vs. Benchcrafted debate I am having at the minute. Right now the idea of the Benchcrafted Criss Cross is winning out.

Scored a nice old walnut table from a trash pile. While the table is too far gone to be worth saving, I am going to be able to utilize some very nice free walnut for a Jewelery box I want to make for my 13 year old daughter.

Actually convinced my wife the $350 for the Benchcraftred hardware I want or the $500 for the Lake Erie Toolworks bench screws is actually cheap compared with $2K for a new bench from Lie Nielson. She also agreed that the new Bontz saw works hand saw I want is money well spent, since I am getting so much use out of my other hand saws. I am indeed a lucky guy!

[Ralph Butts]

My woodworking this weekend mostly consisted of chain sawing the tree that fell across my driveway, taking out our power. The Friday night snow storm that came through my area left a lot of ice covered trees. It has been brutally cold. Hats off and a sincere shout out to SnoPud linemen for their awesome work. Got the lines secured and fixed in less than 24 hours working in less than optimal conditions.

[Chris Hachet]

My woodworking this weekend mostly consisted of chain sawing the tree that fell across my driveway, taking out our power. The Friday night snow storm that came through my area left a lot of ice covered trees. It has been brutally cold. Hats off and a sincere shout out to SnoPud linemen for their awesome work. Got the lines secured and fixed in less than 24 hours working in less than optimal conditions.

Hmmm...I have a froe and a splitting axe....

[Charles Taylor]

Thursday through Saturday I was at my dad's home in my hometown, along with the other family members who had also traveled there for the Thanksgiving festivities. But I had begun my weekend last Wednesday, which I spent putting up a beefy shelf in the tool shed and continuing the task of painting parts of my drill press restoration project. Sunday afternoon I wrapped up the shelf task and painted some more, then helped my wife bring out some of the Christmas decorations.

[Chris Hachet]

Thursday through Saturday I was at my dad's home in my hometown, along with the other family members who had also traveled there for the Thanksgiving festivities. But I had begun my weekend last Wednesday, which I spent putting up a beefy shelf in the tool shed and continuing the task of painting parts of my drill press restoration project. Sunday afternoon I wrapped up the shelf task and painted some more, then helped my wife bring out some of the Christmas decorations.

Would love to see pics of the drill press restoration when it is done.

[Charles Taylor]

Would love to see pics of the drill press restoration when it is done.

I'll be sure to post some.

[Mike Ontko]

Finally beginning to put the shop-in-a garage into action. Finished a simple 2x4 and MDF bench based on a design featured in FWW. Then, built a crosscut sled so I could cut accurate slots for the cutout pieces of my reindeer. Finished the reindeer over the weekend and set them up on the front lawn to serve as decoys for the real deer that frequently travel through.



ForumRunner_20141201_081827.jpg



ForumRunner_20141201_081901.jpg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Last Wednesday family members from Phoenix AZ and Vancouver, WA began arriving. From Wednesday through Sunday we had 12 people staying in our small home. 5 of those people were "little people" with an 8 year old great-grandson, a 5 year old great-grandson, twin 4 year old granddaughters and a 2 year old grandson in the house.

The entire weekend was family stuff.

[Chris Hachet]

Finally beginning to put the shop-in-a garage into action. Finished a simple 2x4 and MDF bench based on a design featured in FWW. Then, built a crosscut sled so I could cut accurate slots for the cutout pieces of my reindeer. Finished the reindeer over the weekend and set them up on the front lawn to serve as decoys for the real deer that frequently travel through.



ForumRunner_20141201_081827.jpg



ForumRunner_20141201_081901.jpg

I built a similar bench but used Melamine as the top. it works fantastic as a finishing bench.

[Steve Wurster]

On Friday I finally got the doors and drawer fronts installed onto my built-in. I also moved a junction box so it won't be behind the wall once I install the moulding.

Saturday was Family Day; it's been 4 years since we adopted our son. So that was nice. We all went out to lunch and otherwise hung out at home.

On Sunday I started building a mobile base for my bandsaw. It will be a box-type unit with 2 drawers. All I got done so far is building the main box and installing the casters.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, belated Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.

What did I di this weekend?

- waited on a plane on the runway in Clagary for 3 hours because they ran out of deicing fluid, got home at 4am Saturday

- put up all the outside Christmas lights in a balmy +13C...........resulting in Diann commenting "Don't you normally wait until it's a least -15 and snowing to do that?" Like Rodney Dangerfield I get no respect.

- went out for fish and chips with a bunch from the Canadian woodworking forum, nice to see everyone again.

- took down all the photographs/plates etc from the plate rail and put all the Christmas houses.........They look nice with the lights on.

That's it for me...................Rod.

[Richard Hash]

Well the weather in Houston was divine over the holiday weekend, and I sure didn't want to spend it on the sofa watching football, so I puttered to the garage and made a mallet. I didn't need a mallet, but it was calling out my name, so there you have it. Mesquite head and osage orange handle, not for any aesthetic reason, that's just what was in the scrap bucket that had the right dimensions. The mesquite is from a Woodworkers Club of Houston field trip to a bandsaw mill near (I think) Bastrop, circa early-mid 1990's, and the osage orange my dad sliced up for me in 1998 (from Nashville, TN). Yes, I know the grain orientation in the handle isn't ideal, but osage is pretty tough, and the handle isn't pinned, so it's replaceable. It will turn a nice golden brown in the next couple years.

Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it :-)

Mallet-1.jpg

[Charles Wiggins]

I was off work Weds. Thurs. and Friday this year.

Weds. was my blow off day. LOML had to work. I had an appointment in Hendersonville so after that I wandered around the BORG for a while. We don't have one in Rutherford Co., and I prefer it to sLowes, plus I wanted to check for 4x4 PT fence posts for my weekend project.

Thurs. we went to my parents' and had dinner together. I was there the previous weekend and had already put up the Christmas tree and strung the lights on the front porch, so I got to relax while my sister decorated the tree.

Friday and Saturday were all about fixing the fence around the back yard. We had it built almost four years ago when our puppies were still puppies and a couple of weeks back I noticed the middle of the fence across the back yard was leaning inward. Turns out the three posts in a row had rotted in the ground. I suspect the BORG ran out of PT and substituted regular SYP. The stuff they used was all yellowish instead of the old fashioned green, so it would have been easy to miss.

There were two basic challenges. 1) Replacing the posts while the yard was in use. I couldn't just tear out a section of fence. The dogs would disappear. 2) Getting the posts in exactly the same position.

I replaced them one at a time, and ended up with a plan to take the rails loose from the post and swing them inward like two halves of a gate and stapled plastic mesh across the gap to keep the dogs in. Then I located the post with stakes and lines, dropped the lines, removed the post and the concrete base (Fun!). Dropped in the new post, adjusted the hole depth for post height, located the post with the lines, leveled and braced it. New concrete, 4 hour cure, reattached the rails, move to the next post. I also discovered that I needed to replace one of the lower rails because the rot from the post had worked its way into the end of that rail too.

We've also had a problem with a gate post that has been slowly getting more and more lean inward since the fence was build. While I was at it I decided to find out what was going on there. Well, that post had ZERO concrete on the back side where all the stress went every time the gate was closed. It had concrete on the other three sides but not the back. So I dug out behind the post and corrected that. Put an anti-sag kit on the gate for good measure.

I removed the last of the bracing and reattached the last set of rails this morning. So the fence is repaired. Finally. Until spring when I get to stain the fence. Again.

[Jim Becker]

I got time in the shop on Friday and Saturday as well as Sunday morning working on my latest tack trunk commission. Assembly is essentially complete; inside is finished (water borne) and I'm just awaiting a graphic appliqué that I'm having laser cut by another SMC member to arrive so I can move on to final finishing. The remainder of Sunday was spent installing a new pond pump. "Turkey Day" was nice with a big meal at a friend's house with 20 other people...I even uncharacteristically watched a football game. LOL

Dennis, great choice on the new vehicle. I do understand about the payments, but at least they are regular and known, unlike sudden, large repair bills on an unreliable car.