What did you do in your shop today?

Well, started a wood fire to take the chill off of the single digits morning yesterday morning. Decided to load the stove before heading to work and saw sparks blowing out of the "Magic Heat" stack blower. Not a surprise welcomed with wood everywhere. Dampered down and left for work and had someone come over and babysit the stove until my morning run was done. The lower left 2 tubes had finally flaked through.
1641422547294.png So we put in a new unit we had sitting around the last 10+ years. 1641422626246.png It works, but really worthless compared to what we had been using. But 4 holes to 10, no brainer. Decided to buy a new "Magic Heat" unit. Most of the places I called were out of stock and said it was a seasonal product and not reordering. Ah,YA...seasonal, however too stupid to realize this is the season. What kind of drugs are they on? Then I thought, 'farmer math' says let's save a few bucks and see what we can do now. Schedule 40 blackiron fits snug. 017.JPG Heavy gauge outdoor conduit is schedule 20, but galvanized. Should have used the 20ga. to increase air flow, but used what was on hand. So, $7.00 for some furnace cement, lathered on schedule 40 pipe shorts and wa-la. 018.JPG
So that was yesterday. Looks rough, so today added a little spray on...and there was enough for the top of the stove... 019.JPG
There was more so I emptied the can on the remaining pipe. 020.JPG
There, that looks better and saved (postponed) $230-$285 on a replacement unit.
 
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I've got a new great nephew born on Thursday, the first for my nephew and his wife. Great Grandma (my Mom) has been working on a counted cross stitch birth sampler for the last few months and decided it would be extra special if I made the frame for it. So, spent the afternoon dusting off the flat woodworking tools and working on a prototype.

Only needed the table saw, 5 different router bits, plow plane and smoothing plane. Think I've got a design that will work finally, will make one more iteration tomorrow with a wider beaded inlay and decide between the two.

Walnut with cherry inlay, about 1.5" wide.

picture frame.webp
 
I've got a new great nephew born on Thursday, the first for my nephew and his wife. Great Grandma (my Mom) has been working on a counted cross stitch birth sampler for the last few months and decided it would be extra special if I made the frame for it. So, spent the afternoon dusting off the flat woodworking tools and working on a prototype.

Only needed the table saw, 5 different router bits, plow plane and smoothing plane. Think I've got a design that will work finally, will make one more iteration tomorrow with a wider beaded inlay and decide between the two.

Walnut with cherry inlay, about 1.5" wide.

View attachment 220620
That's going to be an attractive frame. Make sure the rabbet for the cross stitch is deep enough. I made one once for my wife's work and failed to ask if she wanted glass in front of the cross stitch or not. She did. Made it a very tight fit trying to get glass, cross stitch, mounting board, and backing board all in there and still have room to seat some pin nails.
 
That's going to be an attractive frame. Make sure the rabbet for the cross stitch is deep enough. I made one once for my wife's work and failed to ask if she wanted glass in front of the cross stitch or not. She did. Made it a very tight fit trying to get glass, cross stitch, mounting board, and backing board all in there and still have room to seat some pin nails.
Definitely will. Ran into that problem before with purchased frames for her work. It's 1/2" deep now, but won't make the final cuts until she has it mounted and I know what I'm working with.
 
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Finished an urn for a friends dog. 197DA149-3F14-4A78-8214-AA5B85E29D81.jpeg

Made some progress on a counsel table my wife and I are building.
55EA4D70-8EE9-4666-AB2D-06E0E733E355.jpeg AFD31DBE-2595-4233-8308-033BB440ED4F.jpeg
Yes, those are pocket holes. :blush-33:🤡 I’m sorry.
 
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Well, I'm stretching a bit to qualify for this thread but I think I can make this work. I do a fair bit of my axe carving outside so, my yard is part of my shop. It's also my lumber-yard... Long story short, large Oak up in the back two feet off my neighbor's fence and within reach of his house, been standing dead almost two years now and a winter storm was bearing down on us yesterday, promising very strong winds so, the only woodwork I've been able to make time for lately.

Strapped on the climbing spikes and tied off about twenty feet up. Aimed to drop it between a small-medium Maple and another tiny Maple. Smashed the larger Maple good but didn't drop it on my jerk neighbor's house.

IMG_3594.JPG

IMG_3593.JPG

Not bad for having it hit the groung in the dark as the wind was getting started.

.
 
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Well, I'm stretching a bit to qualify for this thread but I think I can make this work. I do a fair bit of my axe carving outside so, my yard is part of my shop. It's also my lumber-yard... Long story short, large Oak up in the back two feet off my neighbor's fence and within reach of his house, been standing dead almost two years now and a winter storm was bearing down on us yesterday, promising very strong winds so, the only woodwork I've been able to make time for lately.

Strapped on the climbing spikes and tied off about twenty feet up. Aimed to drop it between a small-medium Maple and another tiny Maple. Smashed the larger Maple good but didn't drop it on my jerk neighbor's house.

View attachment 220991

View attachment 220992

Not bad for having it hit the groung in the dark as the wind was getting started.

.
And that maple is already split small enough for the stove, just needs to be cut to lengths....Nice job. Sure you can do plenty with the wood if you find the time.
 
And that maple is already split small enough for the stove, just needs to be cut to lengths....Nice job. Sure you can do plenty with the wood if you find the time.
I have this OCD thing about splitting my firewood uniformly but, yah, Ill call it kindling.
Red Oak is like a weed around here and not my favorite for working with, though I haven't done one of my signature greenwood scoops with any Oak yet... and I did say I was going to do one from every wood in the local forests.

My son did find a critter nest in the center of a knot from a long ago broken main branch. From the entry hole & the nest inside, I fear it was one of the local Screech Owls. I may cut that section out and mount it high up on the wall of my shed under the roof extension. Rest is likely firewood.
 
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I have this OCD thing about splitting my firewood uniformly but, yah, Ill call it kindling.
Red Oak is like a weed around here and not my favorite for working with, though I haven't done one of my signature greenwood scoops with any Oak yet... and I did say I was going to do one from every wood in the local forests.

My son did find a critter nest in the center of a knot from a long ago broken main branch. From the entry hole & the nest inside, I fear it was one of the local Screech Owls. I may cut that section out and mount it high up on the wall of my shed under the roof extension. Rest is likely firewood.
That's a great idea, Kyle. If there's a natural hollow with entrance hole the right diameter, birds will find and reuse it if you can mount it in a tree somewhere. Birds can be a little picky when choosing a nest sight - things like height above ground, which direction the opening faces, whether the opening is protected from rain and snow entry, etc. Here's a link to the Cornell Ornithology web site that provides info on bird boxes, specifically the eastern screech owl, if you're interested:
Building nest boxes
 
That is one very long crotch. What Is the word and did you mill yourself? Can't wait until I see a finish on this piece. Nice job.
No one has ever told me that..... :redcard:

White Oak and no, I did not mill. Bought it from the Amish a while back. We are likely using a matte finish so there won't be a lot of pop to it, but as you can tell it is pretty prominent.
 
No one has ever told me that..... :redcard:

White Oak and no, I did not mill. Bought it from the Amish a while back. We are likely using a matte finish so there won't be a lot of pop to it, but as you can tell it is pretty prominent.
Beautiful piece by the way. My wife also likes all the furniture I build to have a matt finish. It could be just our imagination but I like to put finish on my tables that cause the grain to “pop” and then apply my matt finish. Seems to work for my eyes anyway. Lol.
 
Ok slight pause in sharpening - have to go change from big valley — Lil Mikey hates big valley!
 
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