What did you do in your shop today?

woodtickgreg said:
So why would you do all 3 at the same time?:popcorn:
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Time. I promised my wife that come September I'd start going full tilt on building furniture for our home whenever I can find time to get into the shop. With a 10" table saw, 8" table saw, and 24" scroll saw sitting around, they're taking up space that I really need in the garage. Once they're all restored, the 8" one will go into the basement for temporary storage, maybe get set up in the turning area of the basement for cutting smaller blanks. The scroll saw will also go in the basement in the turning area, where it'll give me something different to do/try when it's too cold to work in the garage. The bare saw, minus stand and motor, is quite heavy itself, so I don't exactly want to haul it downstairs for storage, just to haul it back upstairs later this year or next year to restore it.

The 10" I hadn't planned to buy, and now I own 3 table saws, but it was a Sprunger Brothers and the price was good. My plan has been to, once the 8" was restored, build a sled for it and dedicate it to crosscutting and leave my Ridgid R4512 w/ Vega fence set up for ripping. But, with the Sprunger 10" now, I'll set that one up as a dedicated crosscutting saw with its own sled. Plus I will have fewer number of times that I will have to set up and take down tables in the driveway for painting.

Plus my summer got away from me and was unexpectedly busy. I was really hoping to spend a good 6 weeks or so restoring one machine at a time. Yeah, that didn't happen... Any plans I had for this summer in regards to what I was going to get done and when I was going to get it done went out the window - both in regards to work and to shop projects. My summer has not in the least bit gone as I was initially anticipating it going.

FranklinWorkshops said:
Matt, you sure love a challenge. I always dread such work on one machine.
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Yeah, I do like a good challenge. I have ADHD and get bored of doing the same thing over and over real easily. And I'm also the type of person likes to try and do new things. When it comes to projects in the shop, I have a tendency to bounce around between projects. The other reality is that the two table saws are so simple in their construction that it took no time to disassemble and, once the work is done, won't take much to reassemble them.
 
Well, I attempted to turn Corey's pen this evening. Ordered 2 Majestic Jr kits from PSI. Opened the first, the tip was stuck in the tube side of the center band assembly, (which is the liner inside of the cap). Tried pulling it out, wouldn't move! (Couldn't get hold of it real good.) Tried pushing it out backwards, wouldn't move. Finally grabbed the pen disassembly tool, (thinking it needed a little gentle persuasion) and knocked it out, only to discover the inside of the band is threaded on the top side, for whatever reason, and said threads just happens to be the same thread used on the tip! And, the damn thing was run in 2-3 threads. Needless to say knocking it apart didn't do the threads any good, and I left the first couple threads off the tip in the top of the center band.

I would say that MAYBE they screw them in there to protect the finish on the tip during shipping, but I've never seen 2 finished pen parts in a single bag from PSI, ever. Hell they seldom put 2 parts of any nature in a single bag, let alone 2 finished parts in a bag.

So I said, well shuckey darn, (or something like that), grabbed the other kit to rob the tip out of it, (thinking it was really wise of me to order 2 kits in case I had issues with one of them), and there's no damn tip in it!!

:curse2:
 
Seems like I had a better day than @rocky1. I needed some simple business card/notepad/iPhone/whatever holders for my Etsy shop. I used my scrap/cutoff pile for these. First is made from 400 year old longleaf pine, second is a rosewood, third and fourth are American chestnut with their hand-hewn edges featured. Buyers on Etsy love old, recovered wood used in items they can afford to buy and the hand-hewn marks make it special.

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Had an Etsy order for a baby gym so I made five. Two with curly black walnut and three with curly cherry. For those who are unfamiliar with this great product, here are some photos. Infants love them, and so do the parents. They sell great.

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Well I undertook a little furniture restoration project today...

My mother had an antique rocking chair, all hand made, that was damaged when they moved into their new house, 13 years ago, and she asked me if I could try and fix it. So of course, I said I would. Three broken rungs and a broken rocker!

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First order of business was to cut parts for repairs...

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I did say it was a little furniture restoration project, quit scratching your heads!!!

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Should you ever have a moment of feeling really froggy on your lathe, try turning 1/8" dowels 4" long on your lathe! That was interesting!! Wasn't bad down to about 3.5 mm, but between 3.5 and 3 mm things just start getting really flimsy. Even at 3.5 mm you can't tighten the quill on the tailstock cause stuff just gets all bowed up and crooked, so you're pretty much turning this stuff loose. Simply touch the live center with anything and it stops turning kind of loose.

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Yeah, I know I should have cut the rocker straight with the grain, steamed it and bent it, but this is a restoration project, therefore I had to run with the original program on parts. SO... It simply got sawed out.

Had to hand drill all my holes for the rungs, as in fingers on the bit, no room to get anything else in there. Back rung I couldn't even get the bit in square, until I was in about an 1/8". Attempts to squeeze rungs in on the side with the rocker attached resulted in it splitting on the end as well, but it broke nice and clean right at the nail, so I inserted rungs, squeezed it back together nice and tight, and CAed everything in place before the urge to cut another rocker overwhelmed me.

All glued back together! Ready for finish!!

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Initial coat of Minwax Natural didn't quite get me where I wanted with this.

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Blended a little Minwax Mahogany in with the Natural to give it a little color.

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Mom is happy looking at pictures, I'm sure she'll be happier yet when I deliver it. Yes, I do intend taking measurements on this thing, and building a few more in the future. It stands a little over 6 inches high, is about 3 1/4" square.

The chair was originally hand carved by an old gentleman named WA Horne down in Trenton, FL late 60s early 70s. Dad used to have bees on his property and he gave Dad 2 of these chairs, the second had arms, and apparently legs because it walked off somewhere in time. One of those things that was on the shelf and disappeared, don't know when, just looked up there one day and realized it was gone. While there is a lot of semi-crude work in it, it is absolutely amazing in many respects. It honestly does not look sanded at all, it was carved that cleanly. The existing rungs under the chair, hand carved, varied from 2.82 mm to 3.17 mm, that's pretty amazing tolerances when carved with a knife.

More amazing yet, somewhere along the way dad gave him a beehive for a pattern and he built him a scale model beehive, complete with bottom board, lid, hivebody and shallow super, complete with 10 scale model frames in each box. The work there is absolutely astounding. Fit on everything is absolutely perfect. The largest pieces in the frames are barely 1/8" square, the rest of it, you just scratch your head and wonder how he did it.

Hopefully the old fart is smiling somewhere above, over my fixing his chair, and isn't grumpy because I didn't hand carve it all.
 
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Great job, @rocky1. Miniatures are almost as time consuming to make as standard size pieces. The craftsman who made the original was probably like my grandfather who loved to sit on the front porch of the old farm house after a hard day farming and whittle small toys for us grandkids. Great memories. It's nice that their creations still survive and are treasured.
 
I was out in the shop this weekend - but all I did was clean. I'm not in the running for the Kenbo Clean Shop competition but it is looking much better. Added a couple of shelves for sandpaper under the drum sander so the stacks don't fall over when I move it. Added a shelf under the router for the panel bit set that's too large to fit in any of the drawers. Generally just cleaned up and organized one cabinet.

I mainly did it because my wife was getting itchy about how it looked and I needed a bigger surface available so I can start assembling the fire truck. The only piece not made is the gear shift.

Oh, and I did some modifications to our little camper. Took out the hanging bars in the front wardrobes. You hang something and there's no room for anything else. So I put in 3 shelves that are sized for some pull out boxes for clothes. I added some shelves over the sink - one side sized for things like paper towels and the other sized for things like foil, etc. Makes it much cleaner to find things.

The biggest thing I did though was to add some gas shocks to the under bed storage. We had replaced the original mattress with a real queen and it was much heavier. It's nice to just have a one hand lift and have it stay open when you need to get underneath.

Actually I did these parts over the week. Our daughter and her husband borrowed the camper over this past weekend and now there are several of their friends that want to make those changes to their campers. It surprises me that other people don't think of these things. Maybe I'm just lazy :)
 
Lou Currier said:
:nopics:
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This is the outside of the cupboard over the sink.
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And here are the shelves on the left and right sides.

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Here's a picture of the wardrobe.
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And the under bed storage.

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And a couple of things I forgot to mention: magnetic knife rack and replaced the faucet with a laundry sink pullout one. The original was so close to the back of the sink that you couldn't use it without getting water on the cabinet.

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Hopefully that's enough pictures to make the thread useful:lol2:
 
FranklinWorkshops said:
Great job, @rocky1. Miniatures are almost as time consuming to make as standard size pieces. The craftsman who made the original was probably like my grandfather who loved to sit on the front porch of the old farm house after a hard day farming and whittle small toys for us grandkids. Great memories. It's nice that their creations still survive and are treasured.
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They honestly are very time consuming. Anticipated three rungs being a challenge, planned to turn close and sand down, but that yellow pine would not sand for Sugar, Honey, Ice Tea. Pretty much turned to 1/8" and cleaned up.

Strangely enough, having urges to go have a maple leaf tattooed on my ass after that project. Not sure what's up with that maybe @Kenbo could explain.

Lou Currier said:
Now if he can only finish a pen :pieface::sarcastic:
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Still waiting on parts! PSI processed my request, said it was sent to customer service to send parts, haven't heard a word since.

Assume it was one of those weeks in shipping... Tractor parts I ordered off prime on Wednesday, didn't arrive Friday, didn't show the order even processed, scheduled for delivery this Wednesday as of Saturday night still, and they were delivered yesterday, so I have my fingers crossed that I'll see pen parts today. Pen is turned, just a matter of assembly at this point. :good:
 
I just did a lot of work on my teardrop camper. Your work looks great. I am kind of a safety nut. My only recommendation would be to add a little strip above the knives so you cannot fall or hit your hand on the point. Just my 2 cents.
 
rocky1 said:
They honestly are very time consuming. Anticipated three rungs being a challenge, planned to turn close and sand down, but that yellow pine would not sand for bat guana. Pretty much turned to 1/8" and cleaned up.

Strangely enough, having urges to go have a maple leaf tattooed on my ass after that project. Not sure what's up with that maybe @Kenbo could explain.




Still waiting on parts! PSI processed my request, said it was sent to customer service to send parts, haven't heard a word since.

Assume it was one of those weeks in shipping... Tractor parts I ordered off prime on Wednesday, didn't arrive Friday, didn't show the order even processed, scheduled for delivery this Wednesday as of Saturday night still, and they were delivered yesterday, so I have my fingers crossed that I'll see pen parts today. Pen is turned, just a matter of assembly at this point. :good:
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Rock I'm leaving on vacation end of week and wont be back until Sept 9th. Please dont send package until it will arrive after the 9th if possible. I have people getting my mail and so forth but dont wanna risk it so I've been telling people not too ship me stuff during then thanks man!
 
Sounds good... Sorry for the delay, I really didn't anticipate the problem talking this long to resolve. Lou will just have to be patient!
 
Well if it's any consolation Lou, PSI sent e-mail today saying my order had been processed for shipping, and since I haven't ordered anything of late, that would have to be my pen parts! :good2:

Now whether they can get them here quick enough for me to get the pen assemble and shipped to Cody in time, is a whole different story. But since he's leaving end of the week, and I'm sure they aren't going to be here tomorrow, and the old man and I are leaving on a trip that will take 6 - 7 hours, and he keeps talking leaving after lunch tomorrow, meaning I'm not going to be back until probably 8-9 tomorrow night. I don't foresee getting it together and shipped to get to Cody by Friday morning regardless. SO.... :taunt:
 
Not in the shop, but do have something going in the shop - smoker is loaded up and drying out about 180 Lambeau Field bleacher seat pen blanks down to 0% MC prior to stabilizing. They've been in the smoker since Friday night, so tonight it's time for them to come out and get sealed up. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to get them in the chambers and under vacuum.
 
I have been working on this maple burl urn (for my dog Loki). Ca'd it with almost half a bottle. It just soaked it up. Michele wants a matte finish on it.

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Still need to make a top/cover for it. I'm thinking some nice dark ebony.....
 
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