Saturday, November 24, 2018

Roubo bench part 9

A huge amount of work done on this one.  It also gets me caught up on editing what video I have on this project.  I don't know when I will get back to it.  Other projects and the weather will be in control of that.  I am still working on the bathroom!


Wednesday, November 07, 2018

1000 subscribers on You Tube

My channel just hit 1000 subscribers.  For a little celebration, I decided to give away a modest prize.


Friday, November 02, 2018

Fixing up a snow blower.

A bit of a change in pace. My friend got this machine from his Father In Law. It’s been sitting, neglected for 2 years. Not using things can be hard on a machine. I took a day and fixed it up for him, now the path to his shop will be clear all winter.


Friday, October 26, 2018

Another video on the Roubo bench.

Even though the bathroom renovation and cutting fire wood is taking up all my time, I still have some editing of the Roubo bench to do.  Here is then next in the series.  It's a short one and remember, my 1000 subscriber give away is coming up and you have to be a subscriber to win.


Thursday, October 18, 2018

Getting caught up with 2 videos.

It's been busy around here.  Things are slowly progressing, but I forgot to post here in a while.  A couple of videos.  One is a tongue in cheek salute to the Maybe I've Said Too Much podcast.  The other is a shop update with cutting firewood and other exciting news.




Thursday, October 11, 2018

Bathroom pt 7

We can finally use the tub.  In this video I get all the trim around it done and the plumbing too.  I pass on a few tips in the process.  I am loving the look of the cedar.  A little bit of fiddling to get everything to fit, but I think it turned out great.  Another step in the renovation done!


Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Bathroom vlog 6: How to make and install shiplap wainscoting

Wow, a genuine “how to” video. Well, maybe not “how to”, more like “how I did”. In this one I mill up the wainscoting with shiplap joints, apply the finish, and install it in the bathroom. I kinda like the editing job I did on this one.


Saturday, September 29, 2018

Bathroom vlog pt 5

I am not calling it a disaster any more, just a renovation now.  I think the disaster part is over.  Well, except for what happened to the bank account...ha ha.  A lot of time went by for a short video, but I wasn't going to video the drywall compound and paint drying.  Just the end results.


Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Bathroom part 4, Getting to the end of construction.

Getting to the end of the construction phase and almost ready to start finish work.  It's been a long haul with some unpleasant jobs and a few do overs.  Progress is progress though and moving forward slowly is better than going backwards.


Friday, September 21, 2018

Roubo bench Part 7

Although most of my time is being spent on the bathroom renovations, I still have some footage of the bench build on hand to edit and post.  This time I am milling up some more ash to get the top thicker because...well...that's what I want.  I really need a major investment in clamps, but I guess I have champagne desires and only a beer budget.  I have to be creative in this one to get the clamping done.


Wednesday, September 12, 2018

More bathroom reno progress

Minor tweaking and all the plumbing and electric fit behind! Now no one will ever get to see all the work I did. I still have to put in the vent, just enough room there...and big boxes got delivered today. Getting closer to tubby time!


Friday, August 17, 2018

A couple of videos.

Not too interested in the blog any more.  Seems not too many others are either.  So without further ado I will just post up the last 2 videos.




Thursday, August 02, 2018

Roubo bench build Part 4

Finally! The slabs come together as one unit. My first try at a draw bore loose tenon joint. It was an interesting experience with a lot of groaning from the tight fitting tenons. I could not tell this part of the story in 8 to 12 minutes. It had to go just over a half hour, but I think the story is worth telling.


Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Roubo bench build part 3

Facing the consequences of inexperience with working with slabs this big and a bit of carelessness I carry on and get the slabs ready to join them edge to edge. I decided by the end of it that since I have no real “plan” other than a picture in my head I will push on through and fix things a bit later. Long hot work but they finally get to the point where I can start joining the slabs in the next video.


Monday, July 16, 2018

Shop improvements done.

Let’s pick up on the shop improvements where we left off last time. I build a torsion top to replace the old table for the mitre saw. Then add an area to extend the work surface, which will be a convenient place to add drawers to in the future. Then I get everything back in place, with a few changes along the way.


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Monday, July 09, 2018

Shop improvement time.

I didn’t want to start on this job, but I wanted it done. The prep work and tearing apart the shop to do work on it is always a bit of a pain. Shops are never really “done” though, so continuing on with a slow but steady stream of upgrades I finally get that last 12′ of wall in the shop done. Now it is fully insulated and sheathed on the inside. Next will be putting it all back together. Someday I hope to get the proper electrical out there. Doing it in stages and slowly means it will all be surface run when I can afford it.


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Thursday, June 28, 2018

Roubo built part 2

Some progress on the work bench.  I earned my keep doing this, and so did my tools.


Sunday, June 24, 2018

A vise and a vice

A couple of the things I like to do.  Fix things and make them work, and spend a day at the track getting a healthy dose of Nitro-methane fumes and tire smoke.


Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Wind chime re-hab

This week’s video brings me to fixing up my favourite set of wind chimes. They fell apart a couple of years ago so I re claimed some old fence boards, some string, a bit of time and a few knots to get the pleasant sounds in my yard again.

I titled the video "The one where I show my Ding Dong".  Is that too much into click bait territory?...lol



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Monday, June 04, 2018

Roubo bench build part 1B

The second part of dividing up the longer video into more manageable and viewer friendly format.  In this one I do the rough milling of the slabs for the top of my Roubo bench.  The original longer video and part 1A are both on my You Tube channel.


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Sunday, May 27, 2018

A garden from landscape ties.

Happy wife, happy life.

My wife loves her gardens.  We had to take one out last year when we did the skirting on the home, so I built a new one this year to replace it.  It matches others we have in the yard.  It is a pretty easy build, except for the pounding in of the 12" spikes.  They hold it all together and keep it from moving around too.


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Sunday, May 20, 2018

Roubo bench build Pt 1A

This is a re edit of an earlier video.  The original was over 45 minutes long and I just wasn't happy with it.  This part takes the milling of the tree into slabs and is only just over 10 minutes long.  Much easier to digest.


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Friday, May 11, 2018

Sander jig

My latest build for the shop.  I have been needing this for a while now.  I finally got around to doing it.  I was watching a Chris Cute video and that inspired me to get going on it.  I wanted something sturdy yet easy to remove the sander for other use.


I missed posting my shop update video here.  If you're interested, go to my channel and check it out.  Better yet, subscribe.  I only need 240 more subscribers and I get the little bit of ad money back.  I am not sure how long I will be blogging here.  There is not a huge amount of interest or feed back.  I have been thinking for a while to let it go.  So subscribing to my You Tube channel will keep you up to date with what is going on around here with builds, maintenance, wildlife, and who knows what else.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Making a new strop.

I threw together my first strop, just to experiment and see how it went.  Of course, I really liked it.  The only problem was that I made it out of things I had laying around and it is a bit too narrow for some of my plane blades.  Time to make an improved version. 

I put a bit of thought into the design so it would function the way I wanted it to.  My first attempt was thwarted though.  Seems that piece of ash was tasty to some bug or another.  Oh well, nothing a trip to the shelf didn't fix and I found some maple instead.

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It should serve a long time in keeping my blades keen.  I find that I strop more than I do any actual sharpening now.  I take less time, more often and give my blades a few swipes and keep them at their best.  This was the reasoning behind the design.  So it is always near at hand and ready for use in multiple ways.


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Friday, April 06, 2018

Bent lamination Guitar stand in Walnut and Ash part 3

Well, I got it all done. A little longer video, but I wanted to get to the end of it with this one while I was editing. Man, you wouldn’t believe the hours of footage NOT shown….lol. Anyway, the build was a fun one and I tried a couple of things I have never done before. My son in law likes his present and has his guitar on it now. Of course, mine got first ride because I had to video it in action. All in all, I like how it came out. Pretty close to what I had in my head, which is pretty good as I didn’t use any kind of plan, just followed the wood and the idea.


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Thursday, March 29, 2018

Bent lamination guitar stand in Walnut and Ash 2

Here I am getting the base of the unit shaped out.  I just let the grain tell me where to cut more or less.  I am not working off plans, just letting the wood tell me what it needs.  This is not the first time for this piece of wood in a video.  This is the same piece I used in my Bosch 1250 DEVS sander video.  It came out of the firewood pile.  I think I am happy I saved it.


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Saturday, March 24, 2018

Bent lamination guitar stand in Walnut and Ash

Trying something new.  This is the first time I have tried a bent lamination.  Here, in part one, I get the stock prepared and glued up.  I thought there would be some spring back, but gladly, that didn't happen.  New methods are always a joy when they work out as expected.  The jig was simple and everything worked out well.  This one will be a gift for my son in law.


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Thursday, March 08, 2018

Sanding Sticks

For the project I am working on, having some sanding sticks would come in handy.  So I made some.  There are many ways to go about making this simple item.  You can cut the wood off the edge of material you have left over and you can use the grits of sandpaper you need, mix them even.  For my use I found the wood in an area you may not expect and just used 2 grits.  It's simple, fairly quick, and easy.


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Sunday, February 25, 2018

Hanging an axe

Seems like a decent axe handle is getting hard to find.  Perhaps some of these new companies are just in the habit of flooding the market with poorly made ones and are drowning out the smaller good guys.  I don't think it is lack of good wood, hickory and ash are still in good supply, but no good if cut wrong.  My little Swedish axe finally needed a new handle.  Here is how I went about putting a new one on.  I have to say that lacquer on handles is a pet peeve of mine.  It is hard on the hands and needs to come off.  I can understand that most people would not buy a handle off the shelf that looks dirty so that is why they put the horrible finish on them.  I would rather put up with the dirt.


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Saturday, February 10, 2018

Modifying pipe clamps

When you work in the shop alone, sometimes it is difficult, if not impossible, to manipulate clamps, have a caul at each end, plus keep everything lined up all at once.  This little project solves most of those problems and makes glue ups much easier.  In addition, it provides a bit more stability when the clamps are on the bench so they don't tip over so easy.


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Monday, January 29, 2018

Oh, what fun.

Well, there hasn't been much variety of things going on around here.  A short break in snow fall means I have enough energy to get the wood pile a bit smaller.  Getting close to done.  I think we have enough for 3 winters at least.  A severe lack of shop time though.  A person can only do so much in a day, and when you push it, like I do, you often need a couple days of rest after exerting yourself.


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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Walking and talking

Just a short update.  Walking around and muttering. 

With the new requirements for You Tube advertising revenue my channel will no longer qualify.  I have the watch time, but not the number of subscribers needed.  Pretty disappointing.  I don't make much money for ads, but it was fun to see a couple of bucks come in now and then as a marker of how the channel is doing.

Shop time has been rare with the winter weather.  I have been moving snow and splitting wood for the most part.  The rest of the time it has been spent recovering as it takes its toll on my knee.  Hopefully the rest of the winter will not be so cold and snowy and I can get a bit of time in there to shoot some more video.


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Saturday, January 13, 2018

Junk Store Treasures

Well, it's been cold and snowing and melting and raining and then getting cold and, in general, being winter.  There has been no shop time and I think I am spending more time moving snow than anything else lately.  In fact, I think I have burned more gas in the snowblower than in the car over the last month.

Well, no shop time means no video footage.  But I still have a bit from earlier in the year. 

We went to one of our favourite junk stores and I spied a box of goodies and some auger bits.  I don't know what everything is.  There are some things I can definitely use though.  Any thoughts are welcome on some of the mystery items.



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