What did you do in your shop today?

I did my usual come home from work and check my emails and check in here as well. Then I hit the shop for an hour or two. I got all the rough machining done on a batch of detail chisels. Now I just have to grind back the tips to my liking and sand them. I got some end mills, drills, and taps in the mail today so I can continue with the chisel builds. I will be making a full size round too. Yesterday I broke a tap off in one of the chisels I was making, I took it to one of the shops I go to as they have a laser. The tap was for a very small #4-40 machine screw, the operator pinpointed the laser beam and blew the tap out and the laser never touched the tool I was making! He saved it, it was so cool to watch!
 
Today was a good day in the shop for me. Probably kinda boring for everyone else as it is kinda the same stuff again. Just machining some chisels for the wood spinners. I do enjoy it though, I love running my old machines and making anything, whether it's wood or metal. For those that are interested I took a bunch of pics today.

I finished all the detailers yesterday, all the ends ground the way I like them for clearance and sanded in preparation for the black oxide treatment.
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A stack of detailers all done. And a batch of roughers ready to be machined. round-finishers-005.webp

Today I started the machining on the full size round cutter finishers. Here you can see the 1/2" shanks with lay out blue applied and my lines layed out as well. First 2 are cut.
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A pick from above, first cut back to my line.
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Side view, also cut to my line, no cnc work here, everything is by eye and turning handles. round-finishers-004.webp

My set up in my Burke mill.
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A full view of what I am doing here. This is my Burke #4 horizontal mill with a vertical milling attachment for using end mills.
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More pics and a video are coming.
 
Some more of today's progress.
It takes 3 different cutters to get to this point. Then I apply more blue and mark for the screw hole.
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Here you can see how the cutter will sit. As usual I use ewt cutters because I have found none better and they are made in the u.s.
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This is a new design change for my tools, I have made this tool in the past, but this is an improvement on the design and takes less work with the dremel. I leave the cutter proud so the edge can't get chipped. When I think of improvements I implement them so the tool is better. round-finishers-010.webp

Got a start on the drilling, countersinking, and tapping. You can see how I scribe a line around the cutter when I test fit it. I test fit each cutter on each tool. The tools will be ground back to the line at an angle for clearance and sanded.
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5 down and 10 to go, then the grinding and sanding before the black oxide coating. I am very pleased with how these are coming out, they are going to be nice tools.
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Cut, planed, sized and further prepared drawer stock. 60 pieces + spares- 15 drawers. Cupboards sure would be easier. :banghead:
 
Organized my wood. I had to step over wood and unopened boxes of wood just to get in the shop. Now that it is organized, it looks like less than I thought. I guess I can buy more. Just have that pesky college payment due tomorrow for our oldest son.
Jay
 
I finally finished the 'move around' of machinery and work spaces so I could begin work on my hand tool cabinet and have it in place once assembled. I now have two lathes, the grinder for sharpening, and all tool storage for lathes on one side of the garage for efficiency...whew. The workbench and hand tools and assembly table, plus wood storage, are on the other side of the garage. Still not used to the set up, but after moving my mother's garden tools and storage shelf out of the way, I can now walk between my work areas at the center of the garage. The effort really opened up my spaces and it feels good to get it organized, finally, for the cabinet build. I'm hoping this is my Last workshop makeover of my lifetime! Is that possible?
 
"Last workshop makeover of my lifetime! Is that possible?" Brings up the title to an old song "Impossible dreamer"
 
Man Greg!!! You are a milling machine!!!!!!
 
Got home from work today and carried in my new old iron Baldor carbide tool grinder in pieces, all cast iron. Then I finished drilling and taping the holes for the finishing tools, then it's grind and sand, maybe tomorrow.
 
What does new years day off mean? Shop time! Worked on a new style of chisel that I have not offered for sale in quite some time, I have made many design changes and improvements to it as well. So here's some pics of today's progress.

This batch will be 15 1/2" full size round finishers, here you see the machining is all done and the rough grind and shaping of the ends of the chisels is done.
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Here you can see how I like to shape the ends for clearance of the carbide cutter. full-finishers-002.webp

Then I apply more bluing and mark for the final grind. I hand fit each cutter to each chisel. full-finishers-003.webp

This is how they look after they are marked for the final grind. I don't have to remove much material to get to the final shape. But I do remove some more material to bevel the bottom of the tool for clearance. It's just a little extra detail that I like to do.
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I also grind a little chamfer on the back side of the cutter pocket with a dremel so the cutter has clearance and won't get chipped. Another small detail that I like to do to my tools. full-finishers-005.webp

This is a shot of all the tools finish ground and the ends sanded to 180 grit. full-finishers-006.webp

This is the way I like the cutter to protrude from the tip, also notice how nothing will touch the cutting edge of the carbide so it won't get damaged.
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Top view.They are coming out nice!
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Bottom view, good clearance all the way around.
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I put a lot of thought and effort into these tools, I don't just hack them out. I try and make a high quality tool for the end user. Maybe these pics will show a little of what I put into the tools that I make, it's not all machine work, there is a lot of hand work in them too.
 
Here's a couple more of todays work in the shop.
First one of 15 done and ready for black oxide coating. 14 more to go.
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This particular batch of steel had a lot of pitting and mill scale for cold rolled, I have sanded as best as possible and they do feel smooth to the touch but some pitting is still remaining. I think they will look fine with the black oxide coating. It would just remove too much material to try and get all the pitting out. Once they are coated I don't think it will be visible and definitely won't effect the performance of the tool. This was sanded with 180 and then 220. These are going to be very nice tools, I'm pretty proud of them.
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As always, very nice, Greg!

I spent a few minutes in my shop working, but didn't really get much done. Then we had company this evening. My wife had invited a friend and her husband over for dinner. I hadn't met her husband before tonight. We got along real well. He works as a machinist and then builds and sells guns as a hobby. He's got a garage completely full of metalworking and gunsmithing tools. We went down to my shop for a while and talked shop. He enjoyed checking out my tools, wood, and projects and talking woodworking. Woodworking is not something he wants to get into doing, but he thinks its really cool and definitely appreciates the craftsmanship and skill of woodworking. He really appreciated my old iron - my old Delta 14" bandsaw, and it was the tool he spent the most time checking out. We had a really good visit.

We'll be heading over to their place sometime soon for dinner and I'll get to see his shop then, which will be awesome. He's got some impressive machinery in his garage it sounds like. His latest major tool purchase was a CNC metal lathe, not too long ago it sounds like. (Yeah, that was a really major tool purchase for him!) I'm looking forward to checking out his shop!
 
I got sidetracked. Our coffee grinder pooped out. So...since my S.O. collects old coffee grinders, I took the one she was willing to part with and started to work it. Cleaned up the metal parts with my dremmel and wire wheel. Need to get some metal polish and black paint. Then I'm going to see if I make a box out of the wormy chestnut I have been saving. And I need to make a drawer to collect the grounds.
Pix in a new tlopic when I start....
 
ripjack13 said:
I got sidetracked. Our coffee grinder pooped out. So...since my S.O. collects old coffee grinders, I took the one she was willing to part with and started to work it. Cleaned up the metal parts with my dremmel and wire wheel. Need to get some metal polish and black paint. Then I'm going to see if I make a box out of the wormy chestnut I have been saving. And I need to make a drawer to collect the grounds.
Pix in a new tlopic when I start....
Click to expand...

I'll look forward to seeing that thread! I've always wanted to restore or take an old coffee grinder and make it usable (and then use it), but the ones I've come across have always been far too expensive... Hoping to find a reasonably priced one someday!

There's nothing like fresh ground beans for the morning coffee. Off to fire up the grinder and get coffee going here in a few. Mmmmm...
 
What did I do in my shop today? NOTHING!! I haven't been able to get out there for the past few weeks because of problems around here. Power outages (for 5 days), work and most recently today.........a frozen water pipe. I'm hoping that if I work my butt off today to get the water pipe fixed, I will be able to get out to the shop tomorrow. I'm hoping anyway.
 
Thursday evening I started turning a tapered rolling pin, at the request of my wife. Needed to be done for tomorrow so she can give it to a friend as a bridal shower gift. Got that done today. Laminated hard maple with a 1/4" piece of cherry in the center. After I finished that up, I started roughing out the mallet I'm making for a swap on another forum.

Then I started the big rearrangement of the shop! A lot of sweeping and running the shop vac. So far I've just about filled a black garbage bag with sawdust and wood chips. Not done yet. Still got some sweeping to do, a few things to move into their final placement, then rearrange the lights (and add in a couple more) and then it'll be back to doing work in the shop! So far I'm thinking that I'm really going to like the new layout. I'm not done yet, and it already feels like I've got more room down there! (Which means it's probably time to buy some new tools, lol!)
 
I tried organizing my shop- Gave up quickly- It is hopeless so I started makin a mess again- I feel better now...............
 
I worked at a complicated pen some more, and I also made two other pens, and started on a coffee scoop. I also cleaned my lathe bed - it was getting a bit rusty and the banjo & tailstock were getting hard to move. I rubbed it with steel wool, and I sprayed it with Boeshield T9, and I'm going to let it sit until Monday.
 
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