What did you do today?

[Jim DaddyO]

10 minutes ago, Mark J said:

That's a beauty.  Almost too pretty to use.

I'm hoping to beat the heck out of it.  I did stray from tradition on joining the long stretchers to the legs.  

 

 

[Coop]

That’s sweet bud! Nice work. 

[pkinneb]

That’s awesome great job!!

[Tom King]

Bench looks great Jim!

I never understood why people say that their bench will get beaten up.  My little Lervad, that I bought in 1977, has the finish suffering from age, but the only marks on it, that I remember, are some little burn marks made when our Son used it to work on a paintball gun.  Even my assembly bench doesn't have any marks on it from woodworking.

I never tore up any toys when I was little though, so I guess taking care of things just comes naturally, for some odd reason...... or maybe that's ocd reason.

[pkinneb]

46 minutes ago, Tom King said:

 or maybe that's ocd reason.

Yeah I have been known to have that affliction  

[Tpt life]

There is also the ability to say “...takes as long as it takes...”. Time clocks tend to be the bane of equipment. 

[Chet]

Thats a nice looking bench Jim.

[Gary Beasley]

Just got finished with the first phase of my deck repair. This all started over a year ago when our septic system failed. The plumbers had to put in a new tank, pump tank and drain field. In the process they had to rip up the middle of a small deck connecting our bedroom deck to the upper deck, about 8’ x 18’. 

After we got back from our Scotland vacation, looking at the dry weather forecast for the next few weeks here I decided it was time to put it all back together. Being true to Tim the Toolman Taylor I built it back three times as big, filling in the area between the decks that previously had gravel before the plumbers wrecked it.

After a good rest I want to build benches across half the front and along the right side, as well as building steps off the front.

 

[Mark J]

Gee, can you be away from your lathe that long?  

[Gary Beasley]

Still making sawdust!

[Tpt life]

Reading up on a fungal oak killing pathogen delivered to IN Walmart and Rural King stores on Rhododendron plants.  

[Coop]

What did I do today, and yesterday, and the day before! Three days tobuild a bird house and I still need to cut and attach the strips over the seams on the roof.

[treeslayer]

Very cool Coop, do you have pictures during the build I would love to see the construction method also what’s the space between the roof and the holes for bird entry? Oh yeah and what’s it made of and do you plan a finish on it ? 

[Coop]

Thanks Dave! I made a couple of these several years ago, one for me and one for my wife’s uncle in Louisiana. A few weeks ago we visited him and his ply bottom was de laminating so Idecided to build him another. This time I used cedar for everything except the little feeder platform on top (grayish in color and made of 1/4” ply with several coats of primer and paint.) I elongated the holes in the bottom attaching to the sides to allow for movement. The idea came from a magazine article. I’ll make a copy of the article and mail it or email it to you if you will pm me your email. As it’s made of cedar, I’m going to let unk decide on the finish or leave it unfinished. I think not have two pics of the construction. The article doesn’t mention anything about dividers on the inside but I added some. I still need to take the bottom of again to add the post supports and will take a pic of those for you.

[Spanky]

I have never seen a martin house like that house Coop.  Would that be a Big City Martin House?  But I like it.

[Tom King]

Maybe the only thing I did today that was a little bit unusual:   The ladies that look after a museum house that I built shutters for a couple of years ago had said that it was a little hard to get the wing nuts on the storm safety bars.  I ran across a set of adjustable dies this weekend, when moving some of the small tools here that I was left by a machinist friend that passed some years back.  

The shutters are so big, and in a path that multiple hurricanes have passed over, so even shut, the normal latches don't secure them against severe winds enough to feel completely comfortable with.  There are 1/4-20 galvanized carriage bolts in the middle of the stiles, White Oak "bars" that fit over those bolts inside, and stainless steel wingnuts to secure.  It was a little hard to start the wingnuts over the galvanizing, but I never thought about it.  The ladies are in their 70's, and 80's, so it was a little difficult for them, but I have all the rest of that window, and shutter system easy to operate.

I took the bolts out, and ran down the diameter of the threads on the ends by tightening up the adjustable die.  The round dies have a little slotted screw that is easy to adjust to change the final diameter.    Anyone can install the storm bars now.

 

[drzaius]

@Tom King, have you tried sourcing hot dipped galvanized nuts? They have the hole tapped a little larger to compensate for the added zinc. I didn't even know that was a thing until I had to do battle with some hot dipped galvanized anchor bolts.

[Tom King]

No problem finding the nuts. They were in bins near the carriage bolts.  I was afraid that if I used nuts, that someone, sometime in the future, would use a wrench on them.  The shutters are Cypress, and I hope they'll last hundreds of years under the big roof overhangs.   Someone would surely pull the carriage bolts into, and even through the Cypress with a wrench.

edited to add:   I had run a regular hex die on them to start with, to be able to use the wing nuts at all.  They went on like regular nuts do, and I thought that was okay.  Anyway, now they work really easily.  They start easily, and one little finger flip, and they spin all the way in.  I'm sure as decades pass, and they develop a little rust on the cut threads, they still should work okay.

[Mark J]

I made a follower for my bandsaw based on the Dec '18 FWW article.

The cool thing is I was able to make it in about an hour from bits and pieces I just have laying around because I never throw anything out.  My hoarding ways are vindicated!

Now I have to make the template so I have something to follow.

[Coop]

Mark, I know I have that mag somewhere but can’t find it. What is a follower? From the looks of it, do you use it as a guide to rest the face of a board on to when resawing? 

[Mark J]

It's for cutting a curved pattern.  You fix the wood you want to cut onto a template, then move the template along the follower and the blade cuts the wood according to the template pattern.  It serves the same function as the bearing on a router bit.  

Oh and as for the magazine, look in the bathroom.  

[Tom King]

So that metal piece doesn't set right in front of the blade, but over to the side however far you need it to be?   I couldn't see putting a piece of metal that close to a $200 blade.

[Mark J]

Here's another picture.  I haven't finalized the set up yet.  The follower will be clamped down, and I'll probably switch out to a 1/4" blade.  

[Coop]

All of my teachers, 1st grade thru college always said I wasn’t good at following instructions. Perhaps a short video when you get set up will help? Mean while, I’ll look in the bathroom for that mag! 

[legenddc]

Yeah, my brain can't understand how that follower works.

Finally got some time in the shop. Had to take Friday off to do it. I'm making the lathe stand from FixThisBuildThat and I was able to get the carcass made and all the drawer parts cut except the bottoms. My 4 year old daughter came in and helped drill some pocket holes before she decided she wanted to build something so I stopped to help her.

Hopefully I'll be able to wrap it up by the end of the week and keep the momentum going.