Creeker's Weekend Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

31 July 2017

Good Morning Everyone,
I got to spend a bit of time in the shop this past week and some this weekend. Made a couple of cutting boards and turned a couple of Spurtles. These are all gifts for friends. Thankfully, the temps have cooled off a bit, making it nicer to be in the shop. Rain and storms blew through and we got some much needed rain. Helped The LOML get some weeding done on some of the flower beds around the house and I got the lawn mowed...just before it started raining. Perfect timing.

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

Best of weeks to you all.

[Bill Berklich]

Finished up a shop stool. Giving credit where it's due this is a spin off of one built by Steve Carmichael in his youtube video. And, like every good woodworker, I changed it to fit my on-hand materials. I had 2x2s laying around and the screws he uses are REALLY expensive so went with rabbets for the stretchers then glued and doweled - 3" of foam, faux leather and a bit of paint completed the project . Also chopped mortises and fitted the legs for one end of my bench.

[Jim Becker]

This weekend, I continued with some changes to my shop that have long been needed to better support the majority of the kinds of projects I like and want to do. IE, better space utilization, particularly for assembly and finishing. Last weekend, I moved my lathe to the NE end of the shop where it remains accessible, but out of the rest of the workflow. This weekend, I more or less completed that part by reinstalling the cantilevered DC hood and fittings for the vacuum system. From there, I got the workbench turned 90º (which opened up a lot of floor space that's been much needed) and closed up the "window" that's below my AC unit. The latter will be the space that I move my hand tools to as they are currently above the miter station which isn't the most convenient place for them to be. I'm also going to move the wall cabinet that holds my planes from where it is now over the J/P to the same wall as the rest of the hand tools. A few more minor changes plus updating the last remaining T12 tubes to LED replacements over the lathe and I'll be done and ready for new projects.

Aside from that, the normal lawn mowing and food shopping took place and I also "dissected" my backhoe to replace the three remaining original hydraulic hoses that are leaking...had to get the old hoses off so I can get new ones made this week. I hope I get 15 years out of the new ones as I did with the old. LOL Changing hoses on the front end loader is a piece of cake. The backhoe, however...is a bit more involved and requires some, um...disassembly.

[Brian Henderson]

Tried, and I emphasize tried, to fill the formerly-inflated tires of my handtruck with foam. For one, it worked perfectly, the thing is hard as a rock. For the other, not so much. I went back out there Sunday, having given the foam 24 hours to set up, and found that the seal didn't hold. It leaked into a huge pile of foam on the floor, and at one point on the top, there was an 8" mound of dried foam where it had leaked through a hole. Now I have to see if I can scrape the foam off the floor and figure out how to refill the one tire.

[John K Jordan]

Fencing time in TN. I like to wait until it is very hot and humid outside with plenty of sweat bees and gnats to entertain me. (not) We hit a big rock on this hole, broke the two shear pins on the auger, and had to break up and dig the rock out by hand with a heavy digging bar. This is the home stretch:

fence_posts_IMG_20170731_131537_643.jpg

I do have a hydraulic fence post driver that would have been easier but we had less than 10 to set and they wouldn't have extreme tension so I decided to use the auger.

Sold over $300 of honey in the last few days. For some reason more people than in the past, many previous customers, want 1-gallon and 1/2-gallon jugs. I have about 12 gallons left but at this rate it won't last long. I'm bottling up a couple of quarts for us while I still can.

Also cutting spindle and bowl blanks from thick cherry and walnut slabs to glue up for Beads of Courage bowls. I have a demo later this month so I thought I should make one to make sure I remember all the details! This will use the method I learned from Harvey Meyer gluing thick disks together to get enough height, each partially hollowed before gluing to save a bunch of effort when hollowing the stack.

JKJ

[Tom Bain]

I spent the past week and weekend at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking which was awesome as always. Took a week-long course on decorative veneering and marquetry and a weekend workshop on making shaker boxes.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Helped my son move his mobile home. It had shifted sideways on the end with tall piers (dry stacked blocks.) Ever try to move a mobile home side ways? First you crib up using 4 X 6 blocks, the place a 6 X 6 beam across under home, the add a piece of 3/8" steel to top of beam, then add rollers (we used sch 40 pipe cut into 4" lengths,) then add a piece of cutting edge from dozer blade on top of rollers, then jack beam up until home is off piers. Attach a couple of come-a-longs to trees and frame, and drag it sideways. You don't do this on a windy day, as wind could blow it off beam. Yesterday, got old concrete mixer over to his place, as he was digging and pouring footings under piers. Go back on Wednesday AM, and lay (mortar) first course of blocks so piers will be plumb.

[Vince Rosypal]

Brought home a "load" of birch, fir and cedar and my grandfather's drafting table from BC after a much needed vacation. Awesome part is all the wood was FREE
Yesterday my daughter (7) and I started rearranging the wood storage so I could fit it in LOL.....
Already have a couple ideas of what to build with the new wood like boxes and a massive island workbench
While out there I was able to spend some time with my aunt in her shop working on kitchen cabinets.