What did you do today?

[Tom King]

I finished sanding the bedroom floor today.  I wanted to wait until we had a strong NE wind so I could open up the North side of the house and the South facing windows in that room to clear out all the dust with a leaf blower.  It worked good.  Probably going to put the finish on this afternoon.  It's more even than it looks in the picture with light coming in the windows.

 

[gee-dub]

Put up a couple of painted shelves I made for the guest bath.

1/2" poplar with a 3/8" lip.  3/4" material for the corbels.  The color matches the sink cabinetry.

[legenddc]

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Got some time in yesterday and made a picture frame for my sister for Christmas. Should get the splines in and will sand both frames today. 

[wtnhighlander]

Despite a head cold that is keeping me out of the shop (too sensitive to the walnut dust from current project), I took a moment to stop at the Pinson Mounds State Archaeological site, and climb to the top of Sauls Mounds.  123 steps.

This place is just down the road from home, and wonderfully quiet on Sunday mornings. Even with some sort of fundraising "run" happening along the walking trails, the place just exudes peaceful stillness. Even though the area population has doubled since then, it remains almost as silent as when I came here as a kid, hiking through the forest, before the State built the nice trails and facilities.

The view from the top is pretty awesome, too. This photo looks across the museum, built to resemble the native mounds, and show my house as a tiny white spec in the distance.

 

[Tom King]

The floor is done.  This is right after putting on the last coat.  It will even out as it dries.  I pulled that tape up while it was wet.

 

[Tom King]

One big helper for handling floor finish is something to pour it out of that you can control.  I like to put a bead right next to the wet edge and squeegee it along.  Usually I use a watering can, but couldn't find one I liked in Lowes, so I used this. It didn't work as good as a watering can with a spout, but still much better than the can.

 

[Tom King]

After I had finished that floor, the 36 grit sanding discs showed up.  60 grit is as coarse as they make the sanding screens  because any coarser than that won't stay under a pad.  In the old days, and the reason I bought this machine to start with, was to smooth out a floor after a drum or belt sander and also between coats of finish.  We found out they will do more than that.

The sanding screens can be used on both sides.  It just stays under the pad which is about like Scotchbrite.  The pads come in a number of different coarseness for different purposes from cleaning to polishing.

When I wasn't looking, they came out with coarser sandpaper discs.  They have a different driver for one type of disc that has a hole in the center.  They are held in by a screw in thing in the middle.  The different driver disc costs about $150.  I just plumb missed out on that stage.

Now someone else invented sandpaper discs with long spikey fingers that all you have to do is lay it under a polishing pad like the sanding screens.  I ordered a box of those in 36 grit, which is the next step up in coarseness after 60 grit.

It took me a little over three hours to do the 12x16 room with about a dozen 60 grit discs.  I expect the 36 grit discs would have saved me a bunch of that time and disc use, but we were in a hurry to get this room ready before the next litter of puppies is due.

The 36 grit discs are single sided.  I was anxious to try them, but they'll have to lie in wait until if I ever need them again.

 

[Von]

Been fairly distracted lately and my shop time limited (and the cold weather isn't helping things), but I found time over the last couple weeks to finally put finish on this "topper" for the beer fridge I built ~15 years ago as a temporary "I need something now and I'll build a better one later" project. It was originally open and I added the doors at some point to have a place to mount the bottle opener and cap catcher. Some sanding and a couple coats of water-based poly cleaned it up nicely so I think I'll keep it :-) Yesterday the ground was frozen enough from the rain I could move it from the shop around the house and downstairs to get it back in use.

[legenddc]

Guess I won’t be ripping any boards on the bandsaw until my new parts come in. 

[treeslayer]

Yikes! What happened @legenddc?

[wtnhighlander]

Cracked trunion? Those seem to be a weak spot in many (most?) bandsaw designs. 

[drzaius]

I put a big sign on mine warning not to move the saw by the table. For myself as much as others.

[legenddc]

On 12/2/2023 at 7:37 PM, drzaius said:

I put a big sign on mine warning not to move the saw by the table. For myself as much as others.

Wish you had put that sign in mine. Wasn’t thinking that would happen as I moved it by the time.
 

Fortunately it’s under $30 for two shipped so I’ll have an extra. Spent some time checking out other things. Need to try and balance the bandsaw wheels to help cut down the vibration. 

[Ronn W]

Trying to psych myself up for a winter Project.  Making a list of materials that I need to buy like veneer for the drawers and 1/8" bendable plywood for the doors.  Haven't even thought about the hardware yet.  I have reviewed the design and pulled out the practice piece that I made at Marc Adams school lst summer.  This will be the most ambiitous project yet for me.  Hope I can find some nice colored mahogany.

[legenddc]

Forgot to mention, I took last Friday off and did the hour long drive with my dad to go pick up some cherry for the bookshelf I'm making as my winter project. Also grabbed a couple of walnut cutting board blanks around 11x17 since they were $8. 

Since I'm waiting on my bandsaw trunion I think I'll finish the cutting boards this week.

On 12/4/2023 at 1:06 PM, Ronn W said:

Trying to psych myself up for a winter Project.  Making a list of materials that I need to buy like veneer for the drawers and 1/8" bendable plywood for the doors.  Haven't even thought about the hardware yet.  I have reviewed the design and pulled out the practice piece that I made at Marc Adams school lst summer.  This will be the most ambiitous project yet for me.  Hope I can find some nice colored mahogany.

 

That's a heck of a winter project! Can't wait to see this come together. Will you do a journal?

[Mark J]

19 hours ago, legenddc said:

Will you do a journal?

ditto.

[Tom King]

It's worth looking on ebay for veneer pieces.  There are some good sellers on there, and they usually have pictures of individual pieces.  Do a search there for "crotch mahogany veneer".

[Ronn W]

On 12/5/2023 at 11:35 AM, legenddc said:

That's a heck of a winter project! Can't wait to see this come together. Will you do a journal?

I am terrible at remember to take photso as I go.  I will  try

[legenddc]

Finally got my plywood ordered for the back of the bookcase and a sheet for some cabinet pullouts. Won't get to the cabinets for a while but when you need to rent a truck to get plywood you might as well double up.

[Chestnut]

It's been a while. End of October brought in sickness that kept me busy. I then got healthy just in time to spend 2 weeks deer hunting. Following that was thanksgiving and more sickness. YAY! During the weeks hunting LOML came up with a great idea for our entry way. We have a closet that is a useless size and she had the idea to rip the walls out and build a built in coat rack with shoe storage below a bench and a cabinet above.

The one main hangup with the project is one of the walls to be removed holds the most complicated outlet in out house. The outlet is the first box after the panel for a multi-wire branch circuit that runs the power for nearly 1/3 of the lights in our house. 2 of the loads were switched for outdoor and entry lights, 2 more were other lighting loads, another load included the garage door opening and microwave.

The preliminary wire sketch was something like what's below. I was able to figure it out much more clearly after i dug into the box.

The wiring was pretty easy once i got down to it. I installed a junction box and then just dropped switch legs for the lights and cleaned up a lot of the complexity. Multi-wire branch circuits are a bit nail biting though tying all the neutrals together is an absolute must.

With that done the walls can come down.

I luckily have a few pieces of the flooring left from the previous owners. Also luck is that it was laid into the closet so i can easily take the floor apart tie in the pieces needed and make a seamless fix. The opening in the back of the existing close is going to be some fun hidden storage. I want to get as much storage as possible and the studs there are 2x6 studs so that provides a lot of space in the wall cavity.

[legenddc]

Nice to see you back again Chestnut! Sicknesses are running rampant these days. Someone has been sick in my house since Halloween.

Hope everyone stays healthy the rest of the year for you.

[Chestnut]

Another bath time another 30 minuets of work done. That's all i get a day any more but progress gets made.

[legenddc]

Very familiar with doing that.

Yesterday I was able to sneak some time in after work while my wife picked up the kids and went to a quick girl scout event. Planed down the cutting board blanks I bought, squared them all up, rounded the edges and then after the kids went to bed I sanded them all.

My replacement bandsaw trunions should arrive today. If they get here before 1:00 I can install them while on a call.

[tperson]

As you work through matching/patching the ceiling and floor, can I request some additional pictures and steps taken? I'm proficient at patching and blending drywall, but I'm a complete amateur at matching ceiling texture and have ZERO experience with patching wood floors. I don't have anything planned, but ya never know when this kind of knowledge will come in handy. 

[drzaius]

I suggest you get a cheap texture hopper gun to blend in the texture. It's not hard to do once you get some practice. The whole ceiling might need to be painted to get the color spot on.