What did you do in your shop today?

Trob115 said:
I finally finished building my kiln out of our freezer that quit. Grand total cost was about $900, if you count the new freezer cost :lol2:


I tried it out last night and it is working well. For about $100, you can turn any old freezer or refrigerator into a drying kiln. My old freezer was about 20 cu ft so I have a decent amount of space.

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The last picture is a cheap bathroom fan I mounted to the top of the freezer to cool the kiln /move air. It's plugged in to the thermostat and is set to come on at whatever threshold value I set it at.

All in all, a really easy setup and efficient way to make a kiln.
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Way cool Trey - I'd like to make one, but mine would also have a hygrometer and a humidifier and it would be used as a curing cabinet for salamis and other charcuterie!
 
that would be cool. You could easily add both to this setup. I might add a hygrometer just for my own curiosity to monitor how it does with a load of wood.
 
Lazy day. Too dang cooked from working on a deck on the south side of a house all week to do much.
I did find time to make a little sawdust with a planer and sander (ros). No I dont have the big drum sander yet...
There was a busted cherry log that I thin cut down to solid wood to see what treasures might be hiding in a broken crotch area. I went to the pile, grabbed a piece at random and sanded it. Oiled it and showed it to HER. Only then did I see what was hiding in my cherry aquarium. Ran back outside and brought in the other two before me pittie cross puppy decided they were new chew toys.
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Then I rested and went back out looking for figure. I think I found figure. 20210827_174919.webp 20210827_174423.webp
That is with and without flash. Real color is somewhere between. This was a free maple tree from just down the road that was a very bland off white when I cut it, with a couple dark streaks through it. I age adjusted it and it colored a bit better I think.
 
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2feathers Creative Making said:
Lazy day. Too dang cooked from working on a deck on the south side of a house all week to do much.
I did find time to make a little sawdust with a planer and sander (ros). No I dont have the big drum sander yet...
There was a busted cherry log that I thin cut down to solid wood to see what treasures might be hiding in a broken crotch area. I went to the pile, grabbed a piece at random and sanded it. Oiled it and showed it to HER. Only then did I see what was hiding in my cherry aquarium. Ran back outside and brought in the other two before me pittie cross puppy decided they were new chew toys.
View attachment 215076View attachment 215077
Then I rested and went back out looking for figure. I think I found figure.View attachment 215078View attachment 215079
That is with and without flash. Real color is somewhere between. This was a free maple tree from just down the road that was a very bland off white when I cut it, with a couple dark streaks through it. I age adjusted it and it colored a bit better I think.
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The cherry looks like angel fish. Beautiful color! And the spalted looks pretty cool too. :)
 
2feathers Creative Making said:
Lazy day. Too dang cooked from working on a deck on the south side of a house all week to do much.
I did find time to make a little sawdust with a planer and sander (ros). No I dont have the big drum sander yet...
There was a busted cherry log that I thin cut down to solid wood to see what treasures might be hiding in a broken crotch area. I went to the pile, grabbed a piece at random and sanded it. Oiled it and showed it to HER. Only then did I see what was hiding in my cherry aquarium. Ran back outside and brought in the other two before me pittie cross puppy decided they were new chew toys.
View attachment 215076View attachment 215077
Then I rested and went back out looking for figure. I think I found figure.View attachment 215078View attachment 215079
That is with and without flash. Real color is somewhere between. This was a free maple tree from just down the road that was a very bland off white when I cut it, with a couple dark streaks through it. I age adjusted it and it colored a bit better I think.
Click to expand...
Sawheat!
 
To damn hot here to do anything outside so I worked inside on a vintage sewing machine for Betty.
This is a Singer model 201-2. This is a pretty significant machine in singers history. It's a direct drive machine, no belt, and all the controls including the light are on the front of the machine. It was called the rolls royce of singers because rolls used them in the upholstery shop for the interiors of the cars. This on serial number dates at 1942. I spent some time today going through it, checking the cords and the motor, greasing and oiling. It now runs like a well oiled sewing machine. Lol.
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It sewed through 3 layers of vinyl and 4 layers of denim at the same time.
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When we did this test we ran the heaviest needle it would take and some pretty stout thread too.
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I have another one just like it, a year or 2 newer, but it's having some problems that's going to take more work. The motor is bogging down and I don't know why yet. Gotta get a new cord for it to do further work on it.
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These machines are great, super smooth, and they can lay down a high stitch count per inch. They are very simple machines, easy to work on and service, and a joy to use. Now Betty has a machine that falls right between her domestics and heavy duty leather machines.
 
2feathers Creative Making said:
That is a great all purpose machine right there. Anything shy of saddle work should be usable.
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Agreed, and if she does ever need to sew anything that heavy she has a cobra machine that can sew up to 7/8" thick leather.
This is Betty's Cobra. This was the day she got it and I put it together for her.
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And here it is in her sewing room. We are still working on setting that up.
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Today all I did was move a bunch of stuff around in my very humid basement to dig out a dehumidifier. Basement is at 87% humidity!!! Humidity upstairs is at 59% its just been a miserable few weeks here with high Temps and high humidity.
Stripped a bunch of old sewing machines for parts and they will go out to the curb Thursday night for trash pick up on Friday. These are not machines that are desirable or worth wasting any time on to get working. But fans are on in the basement and dehumidifier is running and it's parked right on top of the only floor drain in the basement. To damn hot to do anything else in the shop, it's not even that humid in the garage but it's hot! Lol. I still need to get the new bearings in my jointer but I'm waiting till it cools of a little and the humidity starts to come down in the basement.
 
Finishing up packing the basement I had to start the small lathe a couple more times. Needed to strip and refinish a couple blanks, a Hope, Faith, Love and a Wall Street III. Bethlehem olive wood and mesquite restively. Used walnut finishing oil and walnut high build on them. Inserted one little piece backwards and had to rob another kit for tube and transmission. Luckily that little container had not been packed either. Oh well….. nice to have a distraction.

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Poured some epoxy today,quickly realized I forgot an important step,should have sealed it first. Had a few spots that just soaked up the epoxy. So,I’ll sand it smooth and pour some more.

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This morning humidity in the basement is down to 78%, dehumidifier appears to be working.
 
Was at a Buds yesterday picking up a big burl and checking out his latest work in progress, chainsaw carved from one Bull Pine log... and we turners use coring tools on a 20” or less blank to save wood. The object de art is what matters, not what you leave on the floor.

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Burl Wrestling…
Here’s the burl from yesterdays visit above, got it in the shop today and sealed it till I can get it cut up with the others in the fall when it’s cooler outside.

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That needs to fall out of your toyota and fall into mine! :sarcastic:
 
Jonkou said:
No chance of it falling out even on the plastic bed, had to wrestle it out and even though it’s been 2 yrs drying in the barn it still gotta be over 200 lbs.
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Those are like wooden geodes (aka thunder eggs around here). You can't wait to see what's inside.
 
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