Accidental Woodworker

Well it ain't xmas, it is yard work time. Along with yard work my wife has starting harping about painting the house again. Survived not having to do it last year but this one is shaping up to be different. House painting is something I can do but I really don't want to. I'll start with scraping the clapboards where the paint has blistered and spot priming them. I won't be doing the high work - we'll have to pay to have that done. With my metal hip and arthritis I am not risking climbing a ladder that high to paint the rake boards, eaves, and the second story peaks. I'm not holding any hope for getting a painter to do just that.

found it

I have looked at this stack of 3 containers ignoring the bottom one every time I looked at them. The bottom one isn't empty, it has the grout. I came this close to making a road trip to Lowes to buy another tub.

ain't happening

The little bit of poly that was left in the can has congealed and hardened. I won't be using it to finish applying poly to the kitchen ladder. I think I can get by with a pint can - I'll try ACE in the AM.

hmm.....

Got a wee bit indecisive about the grout. Do I mix up the whole tub and try the pastry bag trick or just enough to do one coaster. Never made up my mind of what to do with it today.

getting better

I think I have finally achieved consistency with mitered boxes. I have a couple dozen of this style of box under my belt. I'm getting decent corners with the heels and toes aligned with no gaps. The tops and bottoms are pretty much flush but there have been a few that I missed hitting flush with the mallet after clamping them. Gave myself an A on these but it hasn't made me like miters any better.

why not

I kind of like this wax. It is easy to apply and it looks better than just raw wood. I didn't want this to be in my desk drawer without a finish. I can get away with one application of this. I can reapply as necessary - or at least I think I can. Beats slapping on 3 or more coats of shellac.

it looks good

The raw look of the natural plywood (6mm) is in front. The box has one application of the hard wax. It imparts a low luster hue to it that IMO looks better then leaving it natural. 

I went for two walks today. I go out for breakfast every monday and I've been walking there and back. It takes about a 60-70 minutes for the round trip. On the lunch stroll I finally walked the distance I was doing before I played the bounce test with the sidewalk. That took me almost 2 hours. Felt a bit tired after that but it also felt good to be back to doing that much walking. I'm already looking ahead to see what else I can add to it to bring it up a full two hours. Before I do that I'll keep this schedule for a couple of weeks.

My TURP is getting better albeit not as fast as I would like. The peeing has improved vastly and the nightly toilet trot races are going down. Started at 6-8 per night and I'm down to 3-4 lately. I'm getting used to seeing blood that changes in color over the days. Passing the clots and scabs is still a bit disconcerting but so far none them have got stuck - fingers crossed with that. 2 weeks down and 4 more to go before it is healed. I have a follow up visit in july(?) with the urologist.

accidental woodworker

 I hadn't planned on it but my wife and I spent the afternoon driving around south county. This is the time of the year when this area wakes up and getting ready for the tourist influx. Especially so with the beaches in south county. Tourist season roughly runs from Memorial day to Labor day. Things have changed a lot since I was kid in Westerly. Lots of new developments with a lot of things I grew up knowing that are now long gone. Nostalgia isn't what it is all cracked up to be.

flushing the bottom

I made the bottom pretty tight with only 4-5 frog hairs of overhang. Mostly used the 120 sanding block to it. I only had 2 proud tails to flush and I did those with a chisel first.

got some warts and such....

There is some rot on a couple of pin sockets, chips missing, and this hole on this side. I think it was an iron thing based on the staining around the hole. Not exactly wedding gift worthy but it'll do for a shop container.

official glamour pic

Rubbed it down with Howard's feed 'n wax with 4-0 steel wool. That left a glass smooth surface. This will be a dust collector because I won't use it much but more so because it will live out in the open and not in a drawer.

needed this

I needed a small box to hold some things in my desk drawer. I had a couple of other boxes that would have worked but nixed them. This was made to fit and I had the scraps on the tablesaw.

where's the grout?

I know I bought another tub of grout - I looked back in my posts to confirm it. As usual, I hid it somewhere in the shop and after two days of searching I still can't find it. I'm thinking of applying the grout for these with an improvised pastry bag. My grout float (on the left bottom) is just shy of being the same size as the field of tiles. Can't do that until I find the )@#&%)_*@_)%_)@ MIA grout.

accidental woodworker
 

 The weather continues to be screwy necessitating keeping the heat on. The over night temps have dropped down to 45F (7C). It has barely been making into the low 60's by lunch time. I've had to wear a jacket on my post lunch strolling so I'm glad I still kept one out for just in case. The ten day forecast has warmer temps day/nite but it will be partly cloudy out to next sunday. Fingers crossed that it won't rain like it did during my stroll today.

why not?

When you have a bazillion things left undone, start another one. This is the stock I prepped to make a dovetail box with the dozuki saw a few months ago. This is the second of two boxes I made using the dozuki. I have fallen into the habit of sawing the tails together. I have found that I get straighter, square cuts if done this way.

tails done, pins next

One conclusion I have come to with respect to the dozuki saw is that it works. It cuts the tails/pins as well as my western dovetail saws.

done

Two corners didn't go together off the saw. I had to trim and fit the center full tails before the corners mated. The fit of the tails/pins overall is good with one gap on a half tail. That was caused by me having to take just one more swipe.....

Dry fit was good and the diagonals agreed. Glued it up and set it aside to cook.

hmm......

This long side is a 16th thicker than its sibling is. Not a problem because I mark each corner with the two that will be mated together.

The final report on using a western saw or the dozuki to saw dovetails. No real difference IMO. The dozuki leaves a thinner kerf and almost no fuzzy wuzzies. Of the two I think I'll stick with the western saw. The only quibble I have with the dozuki is that I have to pay attention sawing the vertical pin walls. I noticed that I saw a tapered cut and due to the thinness of the saw plate, it ain't easy to correct.

done

Got 6 coats of shellac on it and zero brush strokes in the finish. Tomorrow I'll rub it down with Howards feed 'n wax and put the wrenches in it.

bottom cooking

I will flush the bottom, pins, and tails and I'll call it done in the AM. No finish for this one. I'll probably use it in the shop somewhere to hold some crappola that I can't possibly live without.

accidental woodworker

Trying to remember and start wrapping up unfinished projects. It got past me that I still hadn't done the tile coasters. And this AM I was looking about thinking what should I tackle next? Got the tiles set in the 7 coasters and tomorrow I'll grout them along with touching up the 'bubbles' in the two tile end tables. I have a couple more months before they go south to NC but I want to be over and done with them.

The next thing is the maple kitchen ladder. I have a teeny bit of poly left but I doubt it will be enough to complete the finish on it. I really don't want to buy another quart because I know that after this I'll probably never use it again. I'm debating myself now on whether or not to make the cherry kitchen ladder. The maple one looks good but it is heavy and cumbersome to move about. I'm not so sure the cherry (thinner stock than the maple) won't be much of an improvement.

tiles set

Took me a little over an hour to butter and set these 7. Noticed that I screwed up the upper left one. The center tile there should have been a dark one with the gold tiles in the upper and bottom middle. This one will be compatible with the random tiled end table.

after lunch

The tiles had kind of set and I cleaned up any excess mastic between the margins. This tiles are wonky to say the least. I think that lends some handmade charm to their overall look. Scraping any mastic on the top face of the tiles was easy - the mastic didn't establish a 'grab' on this face.

5 coats

Happy so far with how the mop brush is laying down the shellac. It will hold a lot of shellac and I am still getting a feel for how to load it. No brush marks so far even when I dragged a dry brush over drying shellac. It doesn't need it but I am going to put on two more coats just to see how the brushing looks.

my new shellac brush?

Only one job done with it but I'm liking it a lot whole more than my Hake brush. The first one I got wasn't quite as good as this one and I couldn't find another replacement for the Hake brush. I found this one and couple of others on the Princeton brush website. I'll probably buy a couple more of them as backups.

how much?

Matt from the Woodworking in a Tiny Shop blog did a 3 series blog post on expansive bits along with a YouTube vid link. Good stuff and I learned a lot from reading/watching it. But now I have a question: is this gap too large or is it alright? I didn't get any clogging drilling the test holes with as is. I have another expansive bit but I still haven't found it. Since this one is drilling holes I'll hold off on buying another and I'll continue to learn with this one.

sigh

I can't place the large adjustable cutter here. The cutter is too high and the drill shaft hits/rests on it.

nope

I made two different things to hold the cutter in between the two shaft holders. Neither one worked - the shaft was still hitting on the cutter.

this works.....for now

The cutter edge is protected in this orientation and although it will shift and rattle around some it shouldn't get damaged. The foam in the lid presses down on it and that will help keep it stationary too. For now this will do until I can think of another way to do it (or maybe start over with a new box).

another victim

I think this is the last victim of the great poly can spill hiccup. The friction plate and the back drive wheel have some poly on them I will have to remove. The friction plate will be easy but I'm not sure about the drive wheel. I may have to buy a new wheel. However, this sander is around 30 years old so it may no longer be parts supported.

accidental woodworker

The weather has been on the screwy side for the past few days. It was warm with a couple of muggy days but then the nights turned almost frigid. The last 3 nights the temps have hovered around/below 50F (10C). I had to turn the heat on a couple of days ago because not only was my wife cold, I was too. May isn't supposed to be this cold nor require the furnace to warm things up. I have never had to turn the heat on in May before. Heads up to Mother Nature, the first of June is a week away.

ready to unclamp

I came down to the shop after dinner and I was tempted to unclamp it then but I resisted the urge. I want the bond of the top to be as secure and tight as possible.

flushing the 152 box

Block plane knocks back 99% and then I sand it flush with 120 grit. Sometimes the block plane will take a shaving in the side and sanding that boo boo out is near impossible to do, especially in plywood.

hmm.....

Wasn't expecting to see a wee bit of twist both on the top and bottom. I planed the bottom twist off and left the top as is - it is plywood and any planing to it will pop out like a neon light.

always a good feeling

The width of my box is 5/16" wider than the cardboard box. More than enough room to pull out the drill bit. Again, I made the ends wider to make it easier to shoot the miters on it.

ready for puck lights

Decided to go with two lights in the front and two here behind the chuck. I had to make a quick dash to the Dollar Store to buy more puck lights and AAA batteries.

front two

These two thrown sufficient light by themselves but they cast a shadow on the chuck. I need the back two to cancel the shadow effect.

all four on

Lots of nice, white, even light with no shadows.

burnt toast already

I couldn't shut off either of the back two. I eventually got one to shut off and then I couldn't get it to turn back on. I got the other one shut off but I cracked the lens and that killed me being able to turn it on or off. Made a decision to shitcan the back lights because these puck lights are cheap, imported garbage. Instead I'll search for some hardwired puck lights. I will try to wire them into the light switch for the 60 watt light.

senior moment

I thought I had screwed up the keepers but I hadn't. This is the bottom and not the lid. That didn't stop me from making a new keeper for the bottom. It was fitting that new one when I saw I was out in left field all by myself.

lid done

I let this cook while I was topside filling the pie hole.

brush from Joe

This is a 1", oval mop head artist brush. It is insanely soft and it should lay down any finish brush free. I don't think the hairs are natural but a synthetic blend but I could be wrong about that.

nope

A sign of quality in any brush, IMO, is can you pull any hairs out of it. I couldn't on this one and I tried for a while. That usually means you won't have to pick off any stray hairs that get deposited with the finish. I also like the double crimp of the ferrule on the shaft.

 Put the first coat on the wrench holder. The shellac laid down perfectly. The brush held a lot of shellac too. Much more than my go to Hake brush is capable of. With shellac you can't see brush streaks on the first two coats. It is only after you have built up a bit of shellac first. I don't think I'll see any brush strokes no matter how badly I lay it down with the brush.

stand offs

I made stand offs for the drill by drilling a couple of 7/16" holes in a piece of beech. (the shaft has a 3/8" diameter) I sawed out the two stand offs and sawed them in half through the 7/16" holes. I used two scraps of the keepers to position the standoffs in the box. I didn't want the keepers from the lid hitting them and keeping the lid from seating.

1" thick foam

The foam was too thick at 1" and the lid wouldn't close fully. I used a razor blade and cut it in half and that did the trick. The lid fully seated and it will keep the drill from shifting in the box.

done

I think this looks a lot better than the cardboard box. I wish I could duplicate the label from the cardboard box and glue it to my box.

not my best work

The box moved ever so slightly when I cut off the lid on the tablesaw. The short ends moved the most on me. Those are were the largest gaps are too. I am not going to obsess about and I'm leaving it as is.

re-thinking this

I don't like having the adjustable cutters rattling around loose in the box. I put the small cutter in the drill so all I have to deal with is the large one. Drew a complete blank on how to secure it in the box.

1" auger bit

Poplar may be ornery at times but not for this bit. Plowed through this poplar like a hot knife through butter.

didn't think this all the way through

Didn't look at the back before drilling.

made a difference

Yesterday when I touched this up because I saw reflected light at the toe. Road tested making another 1 1/4" hole with it.

much better

The center cutter made corkscrew shavings this time. The adjustable cutter made its share of them two. The bottom isn't dead nuts flats but a huge improvement over yesterday's offerings.

yesterday's holes

The center cutter on the 4 bottom holes wasn't cutting into the poplar at all. The one at the top is 1" and the adjustable cutter just defined the outside rim. 

better

This hole is a 1 1/4" and I couldn't get the center of it with the router plane. I got the outside area flat with it and a chisel got the area around the screw hole.

2 coats

2nd coat went on as smoothly and easy as the first one. 2 down and 2-3 to go. I'll probably go with 5 just to put the brush through its paces.

last step

I wash the brush out in alcohol and then I shape the hairs with my fingers. I allow it to dry and this helps to keep the shape of the brush. Since it is shellac I don't thoroughly clean the brush of shellac. Before the next use I'll let it sit in alcohol until the shellac in the brush dissolves again. Easy, peasy.

accidental woodworker

 I got the expansive drill number wrong yesterday. It isn't a MF No. 52 but a 152. Getting that correct didn't have any effect on working the drill which I did again. Results were better and I'm starting to get the hang of it.

velcro tape

I thought I had two rolls of 'velcro' but I don't. There are two parts to each velcro - one has the 'hooks' and the other the 'grabbies). 

filing first

There is some slag on the casting line keeping the plywood from laying flat against the bottom here. Had to expend a boatload of calories flattening this area out.

Yikes

It would appear that the poly can that fell went every where. The shiny areas are wet poly. Had to stop and clean this up as best I could.

grandson's bits

I couldn't find my auger bit file so I borrowed the grandson's. I had to use the pry bar to open this box - poly had kind of glued it shut.

ready to bore some holes

I scrubbed the screw and the cutter with WD40 and paint thinner. I touched up the center cutter with the auger file. I didn't touch the adjustable cutter because it felt sharp enough.

my two braces

The one on the left is a 6" swing and I use that for countersinking and driving screws. The right has a 10" swing and I'm looking for a larger one. The drill will go out to 3" and a larger swinging brace would work better for drilling larger diameter holes.

drilling in pine

The bit is cutting this pine much easier and cleaner than the poplar I tried yesterday. Unfortunately the snail acted like a wedge and split the pine board in two.

got a partial hole

The shavings looked good and I noticed that the center diameter cuts its hole independently of the the outside, larger adjustable cutter. However, the adjustable cutter overlapped slightly on the inner one. The board was toast and the two pieces weren't wide enough to drill another hole.

this was encouraging

Another pine board and I drilled approximately half way through. I flipped it around and continued drilling it.

not perfect

A few fibers didn't get severed on drilling from either side. Other than that, the hole is good.

big hole - 2"

Happy with the chips I was making. Both of the cutters were doing their individual cutting and spitting out shavings. A lot less effort drilling in this pine vice the poplar on round one.

another split

This hole inner diameter is clear and clean but the snail split it again. I was too close to the edge.

no hiccups in pine

The settings agreed with the resulting hole diameter. I watched how and when both the cutters worked. I'm pretty sure that both cutters work independently of each other. I'm not sure if my touching up of the center cutter changed things but it definitely cut and made shavings so much better than my attempts in poplar. Poplar can be ornery sometimes. I'll have to see how it drills with a 1/2" and 1" auger bit.

drilling in knots

Tried drilling another 2" hole with knots. Both cutters had a knot to go through and both knots went from face to face.

right on 2"

The inner hole was sightly off. I came into the middle from both sides but they ended up being slightly off.

 

last hole was a bust

Drilling from the other side but it stalled. The snail wasn't biting at all and drawing the brace into the wood. Pushing into the wood with my weight behind it did diddly squat. The cutter spun around doing nothing.

ready for shellac

Putting this off until I get a brush. Joe sent me one to try out and I should get it tomorrow or friday. Fingers crossed that I have enough shellac left to do the wrench holder.

hmm.....

Noticed my me-steak on the drill bit here. I read the number off the bit and the 2 is faded and not as evident as the 1 and 5.

more poly

This is one of the grandson's toolboxes that has the Stanley 78 in it. The poly got into this tray. Wow. The dust seal on this toolbox didn't stop the poly from blowing through it. Lucky me that the poly didn't get into any other places on the interior.

comparison time

This looks like a twin of the Miller Falls No. 85 version. 

not a match

I'm holding the chipbreaker screw from the MF 85 and it is twice the size of the Stanley chipbreaker screws. No match there which means the chipbreaker won't swap over neither.

another no match

The depth stop fits on the MF but the screw hole is right on the edge of the slot. Moot point because the screw from the Stanley doesn't fit the MF.

disappointing

I would have bet a lung that the fence post would have swapped and fit. The Stanley fence post is larger than the MF screw hole. Not even close fitting even in the countersink. Big bust on anything from the Stanley fitting on the Miller Falls.

Miller Falls iron

Lightly sanded the back of the iron - no rust pits at all. It should flatten without any problems at all.

bevel

Ran it over some 120 grit to get a feel for the condition of it. It still had what appeared to me to be the original factory grind marks. The edge shows some honing but it was very small and all of it was at the end of the toe.

The offer is still out there. I will ship this to whoever wants it on my dime - free.

quick box

I don't like cardboard because it isn't durable nor long lasting if you use it. I had a piece of 6mm plywood and I'm using that to make a box for the MF No. 152. I based my dimensions off the cardboard making it a little wider.  The made ends wider to make it easier to shoot the miters on them.

miters shot

The bottom is 1/8" plywood. I did that to keep the sides from shifting and moving once it was clamped.

cooking

I glued a piece of 6mm plywood on for the top for strengthening it. I will then saw the box in two and make a lift off lid. I also put a board under the box to aid in keeping the box flat and twist free.

mahogany box lid keepers

The lid will be about a 1/2" wide so the 6mm top should be strong enough to hold it together (the miters alone would have been iffy). The keepers are 3/4" wide and will provide about a 1/4" 'keeper'.

thanx Mike

Mike brought me up to speed on the using the flush trim bit. As soon as I read his comment I understood what he had commented on the day before. I was stuck on how I would do it and not they way his was.

accidental woodworker

 Played around with the Miller Falls No.15 adjustable drill today. At the end I have more questions than answers concerning it. A couple of things fell into how I thought they would but there are few biggies that aren't cooperating. I looked briefly on line about them but I only found ones for sale. The big hunt will be for something on how to adjust, sharpen, and use it. Failing that it will be learn it as I go.

it's fairly accurate

This is the small cutter which goes from 1" up to 1 3/4". My first attempt at making a hole was 1 1/4".

I'm impressed

You can't get any better than this. I wasn't expecting it to be this accurate.

1 1/2"

I just aligned the single line on the drill with the scale on the cutter by eye. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to get this to a 16th.

oops

Ran out of adjustment. Yesterday I thought I could position this to start off anywhere but that isn't so. I had to move the adjustable cutter in order to get it set on 1 3/4".

1 3/4"

Pretty happy with the ease and accuracy of setting the diameter of the hole to be drilled.

hmm....

All three holes are ugly looking and they were all difficult to drill to this shallow depth. The smallest hole bottom is the most consistent of the 3. The other two didn't like being drilled after the center cutter (around the snail) started biting into the wood. It had trouble doing that and it was a chore to rotate the bit. It hung up and dug in and refused to move.

The outside rim cutter defined the outer edge and cleanly severed those fibers. Almost a zero amount of fuzzy wuzzies there. But the problem was the drill stalled and stopped dead. Backing the drill out didn't work well neither. The snail didn't seem to like backing out. 

I wasn't expecting the drill to be this difficult to make a hole. Based on how the cutting edges looked and felt, I was looking forward to motoring through this poplar without a hiccup. Instead of a pile of corkscrew shavings I got mangled pieces and chunks of poplar to look at.

trying the larger cutter

Put the larger cutter in the drill and set it to make a 2" hole.

dead on 2"

So far both the large and small cutters make the size hole as set. However, this 2" hole came out worse than the 3 small ones I did. I didn't even get a 1/3 the depth I got with them. The problem seems to be the center cutter. It isn't cutting cleanly nor was it able to make a continuous shaving. After this I played with it some more but didn't see any improvement in making a hole.

won't open

The top drawer opens and closes freely but I can't get the bottom two drawers to open. I thought I had allowed for wood movement but it would appear that I didn't allow enough.

opened it

I thought that maybe the shellac had melted at the bottom and that was what holding the drawer shut. I gave it a couple whacks in the middle under the knob and a couple of inches on either side of it. Drawer slid open after that. Happy that worked because the next step would have been removing the back. And I couldn't remember whether or not if I had glued and nailed it on.

not shellac

There was a lot of finish on this edge that initially I thought was shellac. I doubted that because I wouldn't have let something like stay like this. 

this ain't shellac

I scraped the finish off with a card scraper. One whiff of this told me what it was. It is from the spilled can of poly that fell. I didn't realize that some of it had splashed up on the two bottom drawers. That is what kind of glued the drawers shut.

nope

This light bar isn't going to work for where I want to put it. It is 11" long and it sticks out into the arc the quill handles move. It is also in the way if I put it where the 60 watt light bulb is.

drawer lights

These are smaller at 6" but they won't work as a drill light. These have a light sensor that turns the lights on/off. Besides that deal killer, the light output is anemic compared to the 11" one.

from the dollar store

Went to Wally World and found nothing there. Most of what they had was USB powered or wireless on/off. These puck lights along with 8 AAA batteries was $4. They are push the center for on/off.

better

The puck light output is brighter than the 60 watt. I can see the drill press table a lot easier with it.

two are better than one

Two lights upped the visibility a bazillion fold. The pucks have an adhesive back and I stuck them to a piece of 1/8" plywood. I will try to stick this where the 60 watt bulb lived when my velcro comes in.

two light output

This will be a welcoming sight for my tired peepers. It is as bright as day here now.

nope

I was thinking of putting two puck lights on the front of the drill here. However, these two are casting shadows on the table under the chuck. I'll revisit this after I get the lights behind the chuck installed. With light there, two puck lights here shouldn't throw any shadows.

These lights run off 3 AAA batteries and they should last me a long time. I don't use the drill press that much  and LED lights could last a year or more before needing new juice. That isn't too much of a PITA to deal with. I think the problem would be finding fresh AAA batteries when I'll need them.

not a gap

I dented the tail (this pine is very soft) when fitting the tails/pins. There are two more of these that I am going to fill with wood putty.

sigh

At least it isn't a gap. The two on this side came from me initially trying to fit the wrong pins/tails. Unfortunately the sin ended up on the outside face. 

shellac today

The wood putty puts shellac off until tomorrow. Even if I didn't do that I still wouldn't have gotten 4-5 coats on today.

Miller Falls rabbeting plane

This is the MF version of the Stanley rabbeting plane. It is complete except for the fence and the screw for the cross grain spur. The chip breaker might be missing too but there is an interesting 'chipbreaker' with it. It isn't pretty looking but it works. The iron is a MF and it needs a some love to bring it back to life. The japanning is dirty but it looks to be around 90-95% complete.

Someone sold this to my wife about 12 years ago for $25. He took advantage of her big time. Anyways I'm offering it up for parts or you could possible make it into a scrub plane ala Paul Sellers. The first one to say I'll take it gets it. I'll ship it to you in a small rate box.

the other side

I will check to see if a Stanley fence and rod will fit on this MF plane. It could still be used as is for rabbeting but a fence would make things easier.

gap?

I have been thinking about this on and off all day. Should there be a gap between the center, core cutter, and the adjustable width one? Shouldn't they line up and cut shavings in unison with each other. That wasn't happening on any of the holes I tried to drill today.

accidental woodworker

 In spite of having the AM portion of my day spent on errands and a VA appointment, I got the allen wrench holder done. All the woodwork is done and it glued and cooking as I type this post. I'll be slapping 4-5 coats of shellac on it tomorrow. Maybe I'll get lucky and get all of them on in one day.

I had my last semi-annual check up with my PCP today. Still don't know why I was seen twice a year for the past 2 years. That is over and done with and I got a clean bill of health. I'll see her again next May.

hmm......

I found this yesterday when cleaning up the shop. I briefly played with putting it on the drill press. The light for it now has a 60watt incandescent that frankly sucks at illumination. 

proposed home

This is where I'm thinking of attaching the light. It throws more light than the 60 watt bulb by a bazillion percent. Even though it is in front of the chuck, I didn't notice any shadows caused by it.

how to hang it?

Can't use the screw slots and the disc on the left side will hold a magnet. The last option is the self adhesive velcro strips. None of the magnets I have came close to fitting in the disc so that was discarded. The velcro strips won the brass ring. I screwed up these two by sticking one of the pads onto itself - what was not happening was undoing that brain fart. I ordered a roll of 3M velcro that I can cut into the length(s) I'll need.

leaving it be

I started see sawing on trying to remove the egg shape. This is how it is. The wrenches don't care what the shape of this hole is, I asked.

missed this

My initial intent was to epoxy a couple of magnets to this when I realized that it is aluminum and not magnetic. The drill press pulley cover is steel and is magnetic. However, I have yet to keep a magnet epoxied to anything for more than a couple of months. Everyone I've tried with them glued to wood has failed over a short span of time. The self adhesive velcro should be plenty strong enough for this light weight LED bar.

check out the price on the box

The two forstner bits came along with the expansive drill bit. Neither forstner bit had its size on the container. One was labeled W40 and the other W41. I had to measure one of them to get its size. It surprised me to no end that they measured exactly a 1 9/6" and 1 5/8".

quick look at

This drill has some wear and tear but it shows it was carefully used and maintained. This bigger cutter has been sharpened but it also shows almost no wear/use. Everything appears to be there and functional. I'm not a box person and I'll be making something a bit more durable than cardboard to stow this in.

exit side

Tried out the 1 9/16" hole first. Got some blowout around the 9/10 position. The rest of the circle is pristine.

entry side

This face is perfect. Absolutely no evidence at all for this being drilled.

hmm.....

The Imperial wrenches dropped into the hole without a whimper. I didn't have to gather up the wrenches into the middle neither.

wash, rinse, and repeat

Torx wrenches dropped into it's 1 9/16" opening as easily as the Imperial ones did. The only quibble I see with this now is maybe I should have put another 1/4" between the 3 holders.

I got both the Torx and Imperial wrenches to fit in the  1 9/16" hole. I wasn't sure on this and I had the 1 5/8" in hot standby. There is just a little bit less wiggle room on these two than with the Metric wrenches. If I have any headaches with it I'll enlarge the holes as necessary.

dead nuts

Both diagonals were 10 1/4" on this side and the other one. There was no need for clamps and I'll let this cook until the AM.

sneak peek

The first thing I did with this was to check on how to pick it up? I had a handle thing banging around in the brain bucket but I think I don't need it. I can easily grasp and pick it up with either side. My hands are large enough to grab it at the top too. It didn't stress my fingers out because it doesn't weigh that much. I'll put the side keepers on the bottom tomorrow.

nope

Got a comment from Mike about this that included using a pattern bit. I gave this my very best goofy looks and nada. I played around with this for 20 minutes and I just couldn't get it to make sense to me or see how it would work.

got the urge

I so wanted to make a hole with this but instead I settled for checking it out a wee bit more. The snail is perfect, it has fully formed threads that aren't rolled or munged up. The point is sharp and ready to draw blood or wood. The cutter and the drill have both been sharpened - looks like several times. The bevels on the two look good - not misshaped in the least. Fingers crossed that I won't mess that up come time for me to sharpen this.

bite marks

This is made for a brace and not an electric drill. There is some evidence of bite marks from pliers above the tapered flats. Someone trying to assist with turning the bit?

interesting

This is something I was wondering about. It is a clever way of advancing and retracting the cutter. It also eliminates the need to align it initially with a set point as this will allow for full travel of the adjustable cutter R/L. The adjustable cutter has the radius points and the drill shaft has the alignment point.

looks good

 I set the cutter for 1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", and 3". Eyeballing the rule aligned wsettingith the outside rim and the snail center looked good at each one. Of course I'll have to double check this by drilling a hole with it. I was itching to do it here but it was past quitting time. I'll squeeze it in tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

Yesterday and today were warm but surprisingly a wee bit humid. After being under the threat of a downpour today, the sun finally peeked out in the afternoon. I am thinking of putting the AC in the bedroom because it was warm last night. I didn't sleep that well and every time I woke up I saw that I had kicked the sheet/bedspread off me. If it is warm again tonight I'll put it in.

not dry

Underneath the shitcan still had some wet poly. It will probably be a couple of more days before all the poly dries. Where is had dried didn't have any build up on the deck. I looks like most, if not all of the poly soaked into Mr Concrete Floor.

ugh

I want my workbench back with nothing on it, or without almost nothing on it.  Instead of working on the allen wrench holders I cleaned up and organized the shop.

not the only spot

I spent almost 3 hours cleaning up the shop. Met the goal with the workbench and the tablesaw's horizontal surface being clear for the first time in months. That is my favorite place to dump crap because I don't use it that much. It wasn't a deep clean but it'll do until I need to do that.

PM session

I really liked how these tails and pins went together off the saw. If this had been two poplar boards I would have had to done some trimming to get them to fit. The pine compressed nicely and these are tightest ones I've done in a long time.

I had to try out the first corner because I wasn't sure how the fit would go. It was snug but no hiccups seating it with the mallet on the bench.

dry fit

I had one corner I thought was too tight but I got it to fit. I used the wiggle routine I've seen Paul Sellers use fitting his tails/pins countless times. The board in front I'm using to create a tray in the bottom. Eyeballing to get hint of how high it needs to be.

hmmm....

The thickness wanted some attention too. 1/4" thick on the right and 3/8" on the left. I am going to use the 1/4" because it isn't going to be stressed or beat upon.

more layout

Changed my mind on this yet again. The adjustable drill from Hyperkitten tools is supposed to be on monday via USPS. If so I should have it just after lunch. I'm back to drilling the inner hole first and routing the rabbeted OD hole.

Of course all this is subject to change as I wait for the toys to come in. Amazon keeps pushing the time for the router bit set delivery out. Delivery started at 0900-1100 and now its 1545-1745. To me it smells like an oops - it is coming a day late.

After lunch I went to a flea market with my wife. I keep seeing/hearing on line all these wonderful flea markets everyone else goes to every weekend. The flea market I went to today was a bust. Not one single tool or gadget to be seen. There was zero anything woodworking related.

What I saw was what I call 'grandma's house' stuff. Some of it even smelled like my grandma's house. There are a couple of flea markets in Providence but they aren't open until after Memorial day. I also remember a couple of big ones in nearby Massachusetts but that was years ago. I'll have to do some research on that.

accidental woodworker

Well boys and girls, in the words of Tom Lipton - Mr Wizard struck again. I proofed the blog this AM before heading out to do some grocery shopping. But I didn't post the blog before heading out for said errand. I noticed it when I was quitting the shop for the day. Got it posted, albeit late, but it is up for your viewing pleasure or displeasure. In my defense it is something that has only happened a couple of times in the past 12-14 years.

last coat

One coaster needed some touch up but I painted all 7 of them. The holder looked good but I touched up all the edges except the bottom of the sides.

ragging on the back side

A tale of woe is coming but in the interim, the ragging is going to be slow going. The coverage and film build up is almost non existent. It is going to take a while boys and girls.

Mr Bozo said hello

I wasn't thinking nor was I paying to attention. I had the can of finish on the board and I spun it. The board wasn't centered on the shitcan and the finish opted for flying lessons. Lost a can of finish that was over 3/4 full. That me-steak sucked the wind out of sails in a eye blink. I didn't bother to wipe it up now. I'll let it dry and then scrape it off the deck.

I thought my new 'No Bozo' stickers had talisman qualities but it appears neither of them do. 

checking the tails

3  of the 4 tails were slightly out of square. I corrected them because this wood is dense and solid as a rock. Leaving them out of square could have resulted in gaps.

nope

My two large chisels weren't sharp enough to chop out the pin waste. So I thought would saw it out the majority with the coping saw. That attempt got flushed right out of the gate. I couldn't get the blade to turn from vertical to horizontal. The one I got a partial turn on stalled immediately. It absolutely refused to advance more than a few teeth. I did the waste removal on the bandsaw and that didn't go so well for me.

ugly looking

I screwed up on the first one. I zoned out that the back opening wasn't as large as the front one - the one I was looking at as I sawed. I over cut at the bottom and clipped the top corners. Ugh - gaps upcoming boys and girls.

first dry fit

This isn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. There is a slight gap at the bottom of the tail at the top. This inside has small gap as does the outside one. These may close up but I'm not so sure due to the tight grain and density of this wood.

dry fit of all 4 corners

Overall I'm happy with how it looks but it doesn't pass muster. All four corners have gaps which IMO renders it unusable. On a bright note I did good sawing the tails and pins in this stone like wood (gave myself a B+). I didn't have a warm and fuzzy going into this what the outcome would be.

worse one on the right

I didn't do good bandsawing the waste. It took me two pin sockets before I wrapped the brain bucket around how to do it. 

bottom is kind of better

The left one came out the best of the four. The tail is fully seated on the outside face but an errant chisel chop left a gap on the inside face. I did pretty good on lining the top and bottom edges on my 3/8" layout line. Overall I was encouraged regardless on doing this. I don't have a lot of time on the pond doing hardwood dovetails. This one helped to knock down some apprehensions I had with doing it. 

had an idea

This popped into the brain bucket while watching a Monday Night Meatloaf episode. I will drill the 3 inner holes first. The rabbeting router set is supposed to be here saturday so I don't know if I'll get to use it tomorrow. But when I get it I will rout the shallow rabbet for the OD of the wrench holders.

After that I will enlarge the inner through holes as needed with rasps, files, and sand paper. Getting a misshaped inner hole won't matter because the rabbeted, counterbore hole determines how the holder will fit. The inner circle is for the wrenches and it won't be seen once they are sitted.

made changes

Making a new holder with some modifications. I made it wider and longer and that should help with making it more stable. The length changed to make the bottom try bigger and I increased the height on the side verticals. On the first one I missed allowing for the thickness of the top and bottom. The imperial wrenches wouldn't have fit. On this one I made sure I had 6" between the top and bottom on the ID.

shiny and sharp

I got the tails sawn and chopped but I only got the pins sawn. Just before I killed the lights I sharpened the chisels I'll need in the AM for chopping the pin waste. The sides are pine and the chisels were sharp enough for that. However, the top and bottom is poplar and the chisels weren't up to chopping that cleanly.

accidental woodworker

 With the exception of making a run to Wally World after lunch, I spent the entire day in the shop. It has been quite a while since I have clocked a full day and it felt good. Lost track of time and I was surprised to see the clock telling me it was 1458 when I thought I had hours still left in the PM session. I don't feel like I got a lot accomplished but maybe I did in hindsight.

last coat prep

Sanded the coasters and the holder with 320 grit. I had to paint the holder twice because I had to lay in one position without painting those spots.

done

I am happy with these holders. I was playing around with all three and IMO it is impossible to get tangled up and frustrated trying to pull out the one wrench you want.

hmmm....

This isn't a bad idea. I would have probably would have liked this had I not seen the round holders.

doing some designing

There are two measurements I need to design the holder for these 3. One is the OD of the wrenches and two, the OD of each holder. The OD of the wrenches of all 3 is different but the holders are all the same size.

top of the prospective holder

This is the starting point. I also looked doing a stair step design but nixed it. It would have been too high IMO. Another hiccup was the longest wrench in each of the holders is different. The longest is 5 3/4" and the shortest about 5 1/8".

will I get lucky?

I have 2 forstner bits that might work. They are a wee bit on the inside of the circles I laid out though. I thought I had an adjustable drill bit but it is MIA. I ordered one from Hyperkitten tools and I should have it in a couple of days.

the center one

The torx and imperial wrenches have about the same ID on the inner circle. The metric wrenches inner circle is a 1/4" (diameter) smaller than the other two.

1 1/4" hole

This is a snug fit on the wrenches. It fits and it seats but this is plywood so it isn't going to go nutso like solid wood. However, I am planning to make the holder out of solid wood. I'll have to allow for wood movement.

oh so close

The torx wrenches didn't seat fully and the imperial wrenches don't fit in the 1 1/2" hole I drilled.

about a 1/8"

I could seat this if I pushed down on it but it is something I don't want to do. I want the holders to drop down and have some wiggle room. I also want a clean, plumb hole too. I don't see myself using a rasp or my oscillating sander to enlarge the hole so that it was still resembled a circle.

two ways to do it

The first way to do this is to drill the inner hole first. After that passes muster, use a router with a rabbeting bit to make a shallow rabbet for the OD of the holders.  The 2nd way is to do it by entirely by hand. Use the adjustable drill to make a shallow rabbet on the larger OD first and then drill out the though inner ID hole.

going to need a couple of more

I ragged on another coat on this up side. It felt dry to the touch before lunch but I decided to wait until tomorrow to do the other side. Based on how this coat looked I will probably have to repeat these dance steps 3-4 more times.

thought I was done with these

This final coat looked good initially. I didn't see any obvious drips/runs nor any white primer coat. Got the last coat on the holder but I might see something else I missed in the AM.

glob drips

I eyeballed each individual coaster and each one had at least one of what I call a 'drip glob' on one of the corners. These are caused by coming across the corner with the brush from the right going to the left. To avoid this hiccup, you brush away from and off the corners going left to right. 

5 lb drip glob

Would Amanda or anyone else notice this? I doubt it but it bugs me to no end in sight. I might have to touch the corners up again tomorrow.

template

As of now I'm leaning in the direction of drilling the smaller inner hole first and then using a router to make the rabbeted larger hole. I have to order an adjustable router bit because the one I have is missing the two bearings I need.

cherry and red oak

Red oak was my first choice until I saw I had some cherry. I would have less waste with the cherry too. But I changed my mind again when I put the red oak away and saw another board.

mystery wood

I think this is philippine mahogany. I got it from LS Sweet lumber a few years ago. I have enough here to whack a dozen holders if needed.

plain and simple

This is going to be an utilitarian shop project.  The only thing that I notice here is it may not be as stable as I would like. Being tall and narrow makes it tippy.

dovetailing the sides

Whatever this wood is, it is like working with stone. It is heavy and it took a lot of calories to scribe the tails.

tails sawn

These are just sawn - I still have to clean them up. That will happen tomorrow because I saw here it was almost 1500.

tricky layout

The tail is going to be centered on the top and bottom. The sides are 2" wide and the top and bottom is 2 3/4" wide. That leaves a 3/8" shoulder on both sides.
 

sneak peek

I am going to turn the bottom into a tray. This way any hardware I remove with any of the wrenches I can put in the tray.

left arm

Top and bottom sides but the worse of it is the web between my fingers. I also have some on my legs that I am clueless as to how that happened.

right arm

My right arm and the back of my right knee are the itchiest, most annoying spots to deal with. My wife bought me 4 different itch meds but I am doing ok so far with Calamine lotion. It should clear up but the weekend hopefully.

accidental woodworker

 Well boys and girls I have good news. Might mean nothing to you but it speaks volumes to me. A little after 1400 today that )_!&@$^&@%&*_@)^%*Q@)*%_( foley was slowly removed. I had to pass some urine and have its color checked by the doc before he said it wasn't going back in. I am so glad that thing is history. If I ever wanted to piss someone off and make their lives miserable, I would have them get two foley catheters. An alternative to male prison sentences?

I didn't get any shop time and I didn't bother to go to there at all. The foley was acting up again and I just couldn't find anyway to not have it pinch and grab on me. Other than that having the foley was convenient until it came time to empty the collection bag. I'm glad this ordeal is over but the doc said it is usually only good for about 10 years. Wash, rinse, and repeat at 81?

I'm still taking the same meds I had pre TURP but maybe advances in medicine will be made before I need to go through this again.

I did not know this

I have 6 Torx screwdrivers and zero Torx allen wrenches. I think I now have a complete basic set of them along with a new holder. I saw the holder on one a Monday Night Meatloaf episode. Where did this golden object come from? I never knew there were alternative allen wrench holders.

wow, what a relief

This makes so much better sense to me then the holder the Torx wrenches came with. I dislike that style because the situation can rapidly escalate to flying lessons status trying to remove the one allen wrench I needed. This round holder is clearly labeled on the top and it is a no brainer to select and pull out the one I want. Genius - the inventor should be nominated for a Nobel Prize.

I bought two more

I got the Torx wrenches and the 3 circular holders from Fireball Tools. It took 2 days to get to me for a cost of $53 including S/H. I'll replace my metric/imperial flat holders with these two tomorrow.

Fireball Tool also sells a vertical holders for all three but they are plastic. I wanted metal - something that has heft and is durable and has a reasonable longevity to it. All 3 holders are separate and I think I'll make my own holder and put all 3 together. 

I have moved on from the foley and now I'm dealing with a rash from the ivy I removed before I had the TURP done. I started breaking out a few days ago and each day I find new area that is infected. That won't stop me from hitting the deck in the shop come the AM.

For the rest of the day I enjoyed my freedom being aware that I now have to actual respond to the urge to void (void, medical speak for peeing).

accidental woodworker

 Since I'm typing this blog a day before, the foley stays in for about another day. Last night it woke me up 5 times. After it woke me for the last time I said No Mas, and just got up. During the day it wasn't any better. I couldn't find any relief from it biting and pinching me no matter what I was doing and whether or not I was stationary or moving. Some things you just have to suck it up and live with it. I surely hope that I get relief after this thing is yanked out of me.

desk work

Instead of doing this in the shop (avoiding walking up/down the stairs) decided to do this at the desk. The first step was making a template of the ID of the ring box. Then I could use that to cut out a section of the ring holder insert.

not looking good sports fans

The ID of the box isn't cooperating with getting a section of the insert to fit. All the ring slots are precut and the template falls awfully close to two edges of the slots.

2nd one

The first one was a bust. It short on the width R/L, but spot on the front to back. However, if I had nailed the R/L it would have been toast. The ring slot on the right side was gone. It abutted on the face of the box. Toast.

With the 2nd one I got a good fit R/L and F/B but only with the ring slots parallel to the sides. To my eye that makes the rings look funny. I did manage to position the template so the rings slots weren't abutting any of the sides.

confirmed

There is room for 4 rings that are centered within the ID. The bad news is the ring looks weird this way. Rings should be parallel to the front edge when opened. I played around with cutting out a couple of more inserts but nada. I'm stuck with trying to get the precut ring slots of the inserts to fit my ring box. I would be golden if I had the foam inserts first and then made the box. On to plan b, change II, revision 3EC, modifications 4 thru 9a, but currently awaiting approval.

came quick

Monday night meatloaf creator has a few sayings that I like. One is that me-steaks he makes he refers to them as Bozos. I got these stickers off eBay for $4.73 delivered to me in 3 days. 

The second saying is he refers to bad edges, errant hammer strikes, etc as 'chowda'. With him being a west coast guy and me from New England, I wasn't expecting him to have a saying like chowda. Couldn't find a sticker for that.

The last one is he refers to himself (disparagingly at times) as Mr Wizard usually as he makes a set up me-steak. Find a ton of Wizard stickers but none that I felt represented him. I'll keep looking, there are a ton of sellers out there peddling stickers.

no more Bozos

This wouldn't fit on the center stile - it overhung on the outside edges. These are nice decal stickers for the price. They have a bright and clear artwork, are thick with a strong adhesive backing. Grabbed and stuck immediately.

almost done

I managed to get two coats on the coasters and the holder today. Tomorrow I'm hoping to be done with them but I'll have to wait and see what shakes out.

better

While typing up the blog I had an idea pop into the brain bucket that I had to try out. I cut out another insert to fit the box. I then cut the ring slots (there are two rows) straight across (parallel to the front face) from side to side.

top ring row

Whoever gets this ring box should be able to fit 4 rings in it with wiggle room.

accidental woodworker

 A nurse from the VA called this AM and my wife took the call. She answers all incoming because one, I don't have my cell phone surgical implanted on my hip, and two, I can't hear/understand on cell phones. I can with my hearing aids in but I don't wear them everyday so my wife is constantly in the batters box for this. I'm also glad that she answered it and not me.

Firstly the nurse was calling to cancel the appointment I had with urology today at 1500. She was also calling to tell her that the wednesday appointment for the foley removal was also canceled. The earliest appointment to remove it was now on friday, maybe. My wife told her that I had been told the foley was coming out on wednesday vice monday and she wanted an appointment for that on wednesday (wednesday's appointment was canceled because the clinic isn't there on wednesdays).

I would have been a very unhappy camper if I had to keep the foley for 2 1/2 more days. I have an overflow appointment for 1400 on wednesday. It may take a while before I'm seen but to me the important thing is the foley is coming then or I do it myself.

primer coat done

This was all I got done today. Tomorrow I'll do the first top coat on the bottoms.

I have to sleep on my back which I do not like doing. I also have to sleep close to the outside edge of the mattress because the hose for the big collection bag is on the short side. I went to bed at 2200 and I only woke up once and I didn't have to watch YouTube to get sleepy again.

I did kind of sleep though the night but there were a few tugs during the night that woke me up. I was able to drift off again after repositioning myself. However, the tugging, pinching, grabby feeling didn't go away at during the day. That is why I stayed topside and watched Monday night meatloaf episodes. I tried to start with #1 or #2 but I couldn't find them. I think I started watching them about the #80's. I'm not sure and I'm going by if I liked them or not. At the rate I'm going I'll be caught up by friday.

foam ring inserts

The ring slots are precut 'H' shapes. There are 72 slots on each of the 3 foam holders. These are much nicer than the chinese crap I bought the first time. They came today and I can finally finish the ring box. On the flip side I have a lot of material for which I'm sure there will be at least one oops.

from ABE books

Don Williams posted about this book and I went to the authors site to buy one. First printing was sold out along with the 2nd one. No hint of a 3rd printing. I looked it up on ABE books on a lark. I wasn't expecting the book to be available so soon as used. 

This book was listed as used but it has zero wear and I would have bet a lung that I was the first person to leaf through it. The quality of it is as good as any book done by the Lost Art Press. It has a ton of japanese joints in color. The book isn't a step by step how to but the info presented seems adequate for a woodworker with some hand work experience. I have long been fascinated with this glue/nail less joinery and I'll pick out a easy one to try and see how well I can do on it.

accidental woodworker

Feeling much better today. I wasn't as tired and ragged out as I felt like yesterday. The desire to occupy space and expel carbon dioxide in the shop returned but I took it easy. I did one thing in the shop and another out in the yard. The rest of day was spent binge watching 'Monday night meatloaf' with Tom Lipton. I've been following him for years but now I'm watching his vids from 11-10 years ago.

You'll hear no more whining from me about the foley. I was crying because I had no shoes until I met the man with no feet. I am fortunate in that I won't be wearing a foley for the rest of my life. Thanx to Diego for making me see the light.

I am not driving as long as I have the foley in. Nor will I be walking post lunch. I will also miss going out to breakfast tomorrow along with missing my lunch of fish 'n chips this past friday. I hope to resume the lunch date part this friday.

painting prep done

I was going to poly the kitchen ladder after this but that didn't happen. I'll deal just with the coasters and the holder first. This will be done in a couple of steps. The bottoms first then the tops. The last step (or two) will be applying the top coat(s).

 

taper pins

I have made bookshelves with the same joinery as this holder. A couple of them developed some gaps in the shelf/dado connection. I'm not sure that will happen with this but a couple of tapered pins in each side can't hurt the cause.

after lunch

I was hoping to get the tops done in the PM session but I wasn't happy with how the paint felt. It felt dry but it was also cool to the touch - its an oil based primer. All the coasters and the holder felt the same. I'll give them overnight to cook and set and I'll check them in the AM.

yard work

I didn't experience any hiccups, pain, or weird sensations painting but I was expecting maybe something doing this. I sawed up a bunch of fence pickets that are destined for the land fill. I sawed up about 20 of them without so much as a whimper.

All the movements I made sawing I thought would translate into the foley singing arias to me. That didn't happen boys and girls. I felt more hiccups walking about in the backyard than I did sawing.  

Used it to test myself too on sawing square and plumb. I did reasonably well on the square cuts but most of the plumb cuts were angled. I tried to correct it and I managed to saw a couple plumb but I drifted back to angled ones. I have yet to use anything sawn square/plumb off the saw. As it is now I plane my edges square and plumb after sawing them.

accidental woodworker

 I had grandiose ideas for working in the shop today or so it seemed. The plan was to go slow but get a few little things done. As the time in the shop progressed I lost all interest in being there. I spent the majority of my day sleeping at my desk instead. Anesthesia has proven to play havoc with my ability to sleep. I didn't get much sleep last night and I watched You Tube twice  during the night. The cat got a little bent out of shape each time I did that but he got over it. Based on what happened to me during the daylight hours today I will probably be watching more You Tube tonight again.

I am not in any pain per se. The foley catheter is only an annoyance and it is a big one. It says hello even if I blink my eyes. Walking isn't painful but it is something that I try to avoid. That had a lot to do with me parking my cheeks on my desk chair all day. One day down and 4 more before it comes out. 

On a positive note my urine is clear. I didn't see any evidence of blood in it at all. However, the doc told me that it will be 4 to 6 before I'm fully healed.

its had plenty of time

I clamped this up the day before the TURP so it should be more than ready to come out of the clamps.

layout

I tried laying out a circular cutout but I didn't like the look of it. Instead I went with an oval-ish one to better match the tilt of the shelf.

coping saw work

This was a bit awkward due to the short stroke I could take with it. It was enough to do the cutout though. My first one was a wee wonky and the second one was a lot better. In hindsight I should have done a warm up cut because I don't use a coping saw often.

rasp and 120 grit

One side is a few frog hairs larger than its sibling. Not a deal killer because there is no way to focus on both at the same time to compare them.

the larger cutout

The height is about the same but it is about an 8th of inch longer. 

This was my output today and I didn't last an hour in the shop. I wasn't having any pain or discomfort doing this but the desire to work just wasn't there. After this I had planned to paint the holder and the bottom of the coasters and then call it a day. Maybe I'll get around to that tomorrow.

accidental woodworker

I wasn't expecting to be kept overnight. According to the doc, 90% of the people getting this procedure do go home. Just my luck that I was promoted to the 10% group. The doc said that he had a lot of problems slicing and sealing one side of the prostate. The fact that I take Eliquis didn't help things neither. So about an hour into my stay in PACU (patient after care unit) the output going into the collection was the color of Hawaiian punch. 

I was flushed with saline from after I left the OR until 0735 the following morning. The doc stopped it so he could evaluate what the color my urine was. It turned out to be mostly clear to a pink grapefruit color. Regardless all 5 docs loved that color and signed the order so I could go home.

I was totally unprepared for this unplanned hospital stay. My cell phone and hearing aids both went dead and I couldn't sleep because the anesthesia screws up my sleep cycle. I'm hoping to get 40 winks tonight in my own bed.

Because of the too bloody of a discharge I have a follow up appointment on monday but the foley catheter isn't coming out until wednesday. I wasn't expecting the catheter to be the size of a fire hose and I have two collection bags. One is for walking around during the day and a big one for night time. The doc said it was almost impossible to fill it up overnight. Fingers crossed on that not happening.

Needless to say I won't be going balls to the wall in the shop. It isn't a particularly pleasant sensation walking around with thing. But I only have to put up with it for 5 days. I have some painting and poly work I might be able to do without it being too uncomfortable. Stayed tuned, updates and pics on the 11 o'clock news.

got some new reading

I haven't made a chair yet and I think making a bulls%$t chair is a good starting point. I'll read this and I will probably make more than one to build up some proficiency before I tackle making a real chair.

walking around bag

The tubing on this one is "u" shaped while the foley catheter tubing is round - it has about a 1/4" ID and about a 3/8" OD. The doc told me it will be 4-6 weeks before I fully heal and stop passing blood and possible blood clots. No matter how it shakes out I don't see much happening for the next few days. Even I'll concede on that.

accidental woodworker

This is Mrs. Ralph. Ralph will be back to doing too much in the shop, even though he's supposed to be resting, later today. Wishing you all happy woodworking.

 

 Tomorrow (today as you are reading this) I'm the lead off for getting sliced and diced. I have to be at the hospital at 0630 to check in. I should be home around lunch time - fingers crossed. I go back on monday to get the catheter out. I'll ask again but the I'm sure the doc said I could do my normal routine. For those not in the know a TURP is a transurethral resection of the prostate (resection is a medical term for surgery). It is basically a rake and scrape of an enlarged prostate. Not looking forward to the procedure but I am towards having it over and done with.

glad I'm a pack rat

The tile layouts are set for each of the 7 coasters. I'll put them in these bags until it is time to set them. The coasters don't care which tiles they get, I asked.

the bottom one

That is the one I had to trim to remove an out of square corner. The opposite one was rounded due to me dropping it on the deck. I had to saw an eighth of an inch off.

odd looking but......

There is a pattern to it. I went back and forth on removing the middle one and making another sized like the others. Decided against that and this is what Amanda is getting.

too thick

This was a sliding lid for something that I'm repurposing for the shelf for the coaster holder. I am thinning it down to 7/16" thick.

Lee Valley scrub plane

I don't use this much as I prefer the Stanley #6. This one is a better choice for doing small scale stock like this. It is about 3 1/2" wide and 5 3/4" long.

snug fit

I am finally getting a consistent snug fit with this joinery. It has taken me a lot of years to get here. One down and one more to go.

shelf dry fitted

Got a snug fit with the other stopped dado. The next batter is the back stretcher above the shelf.

blind mortise

After I had seen the dry fit I saw that I should have put the stretcher on the outboard side of the line. No hiccups chopping the two blind mortises. I knifed the perimeter, made a knife wall, and chiseled out the area between the outside walls.

self supporting

It is a wee bit snug but that is what I wanted. I find it easier to under size the mortise and then plane the stretcher to fit the mortise.

first one done

Achieved a snug fit with the first one. It was a bit awkward getting it to depth. The router I used left a hump in the middle but it got both ends of the mortise flat and in the same plane. I chiseled the slight hump off and I will rely on the ends for seating the stretcher on.

starting the 2nd one

First step is to define the perimeter with a knife wall. That virtually eliminates me being ham fisted and accidentally making chisel marks on the perimeter.

first dry fit

Happy with the fit and the overall look. The sides are square to the shelf and the stretcher. Both the stretcher and the shelf are the same length and feel/look like they are fully seated in their respective dadoes and mortises.

too much wiggle room

I didn't think I had left this much wiggle room for the coasters. This is too much and I shortened the stretcher and shelf by 3/8".

better look at the gap

My first thought on seeing this was to make another coaster but nixed it. I want to be over and done with this and move on to something else.

better looking gap

The gap now is 3/16" which I am ok with. None of the tiles extend up past the banding so they won't or shouldn't get banged or hit moving in and out of the holder.

rounded the tops

I free hand drew a gentle curve from the front to the back. I also did a small round over on the front corners of the shelf. I was going to leave this natural but instead I'll be painting it. This way everything will be a match for each other.

oops

I forgot to do the cutout for the bottom edge of the holder. Not a horrendous me-steak but it would have been easier to cut it out before I glued it together. I'll have to do it with a coping saw after this has cooked.

accidental woodworker

 Rain, rain, and more rain. I couldn't stroll yesterday or today because of the rain. And that sucks because the exercise I get from that definitely helps me out on sunday when I weigh my tonnage. After 3 weeks of zero weight loss this past sunday I dropped 3 pounds. I would like to stay on losing side of things with this. I'm hoping to stroll tomorrow because the weather seers are predicting sunny/cloudy conditions.

nope

Shifted and moved too much to correct. This is one of the two coasters I glued up yesterday. Neither one of them are usable and have been tossed in the 40 gallon circular file holder (aka shitcan).

nail pin box dividers

The size of the pin nails go from 1/2" up to 1 3/16" by eights. 

new bandings

I bought three, 4 foot long pieces of 1/4" poplar. From one piece I got 44 bandings. I double, triple checked myself to ensure that these had enough length to allow for shooting the miters on the jig.

I only got grout at Lowes (and I got the last tub). I looked at the sealer and it was too high in price. I'm into these tile tables for a pretty shiny penny. Wood, paint, mastic, grout, and tiles have set me back about $350.

ready for poly

I sanded both parts with 320 and I used up a lot of calories doing it. I found waterfall drips in places I hadn't seen yesterday. Wiped it off with a rag and then used a tack cloth on it.

coaster work

Gluing them with the band clamp wasn't working out. Instead I glued and pin nailed the bandings on.

3 done, 4 to go

This is going quicker than I thought it would. 7 is an odd number for a coaster set but I am not buying anymore tiles to make an even numbered set.

woodworking done

This what the seven will look like. One of these I had to trim a wee bit off  the base because one corner wasn't square. I can only pick it out if I put between two other coasters. I will be adding making a holder for these - can't give them to Amanda loose like this.

Next step with these is to apply a primer coat and then the topcoat. Which will be the same as the tile tables. Setting the tiles on these should be a lot easier along with grouting them. Hopefully Lowes will have another tub of 'warm gray' grout back in stock in case I need it.

used it

Christened this yesterday and it worked. I thought there might have been a hiccup with extending the line from one face to the other - would the break for the hinge leave a gap? Well boys and girls it didn't. Each part of the saddle gizmo allows you to run the line right to the edge. That was pleasant surprise and it may turn the tide for me liking this new toy.

double drats

 The plan was to apply poly to this as the last thing I did today in the shop. That didn't happen boys and girls. All the waterfall drips were smooth and flat to the touch but I could still see them in raking light. Poly doesn't cover up sins like this with subsequent coats. So instead of applying poly I used the card scraper to remove all the waterfall drips on both parts.

pin nailer box

Flushed the bottom and the tops of the dividers with 80 grit and the LN 102.

OCD already kicked in

I started getting the heebie jeebies about filling in the empty slots with pin nails. I've had this pin nailer for over ten years and the nails too. I thought I had at least one more size but as usual I came up empty searching for it. If I remember I'll stop in to Horrible Freight and buy some pin nails when I'm in that neighborhood.

no brush work

I was careful brushing the poly on but I'm getting old and slipping. Instead of brushing the poly on I'm going to use a balled up rag. I used a shop towel to see how well it would work. Way back in the dim mists of time when I used poly exclusively I used a foam pad and T-shirt rags to apply it. The only downside to T-shirt application is you have to apply 4-5 times as much as brushing it on. But it was exactly as I remember it being.

no more haze

Another thing that slipped in the queue to be done today. I should be able to finish grouting both of them tomorrow. Fingers crossed with that happening.

Ending with a rant about belts. I have a 35" waist according to the jeans I wear. However, a size 36 belt, IMO, is too small. I bought one at Wally World and it fits but only on the very last hole in the belt. Bought a 38" belt made by the same mfg that made the 36" one. I thought I would catch a hole at least a couple away from the end one but it too only fit on me in the very last hole.

 I am of the opinion that a belt caught on the last hole in it looks like crap not to mention there isn't a lot of wiggle room if your weights balloons in the wrong direction. I'm in and out of Wally World at least once a week and the next time I'm in there I'll try on a 40 and 42 inch belt and see how they shake out. Rant over.

accidental woodworker