A second video

So, unexpectedly, I made a second video.  I am not the most comfortable speaker in the world, but for what it's worth (at least the price you are paying for it), here it is!

Videos, Kitchens, and Guitars....no smoke.

Well hello there!

I am glad you have returned to my muddling through past years as I wait for my shop build to start.  I made my first You Tube video!  Not much as far as production  goes.  I just recorded it, put in and introduction sequence and posted it.  I have to give a big shout out to Jason Beams who puts out video on His You Tube Channel  who took my video and edited out my personal information.  I met Jason on the #woodwhisperer channel at irc.thinstack.net .  He is in the midst of building an ES-335 guitar at the time of this writing, and it is a very impressive project indeed.  Jason is not only a woodworker, but also turns his hand at machining and CNC work.  Along with the computer skills, a very talented individual.  So, without any more fuss.  Here it is.

I hope I embedded that correctly...lol.  If not it can be seen here.

I used Sally's Canon S-100 point and shoot camera and did the opening sequence with Windows Movie Maker.  Not a big investment, and I hope to keep it that way.  Yes, I plan on more videos...... I would like to show that someone with limited computer skills can get content on the web successfully.  I am also influenced by a horde of other woodworkers, makers, and builders who are putting out great content on You Tube too.  I hope to do a whole post on these folks one day.  There are so many of them.

If we go back in time to 2012, my life took a huge change.  In May I quit smoking.  I had smoked pretty much continually since 1979 or so, and when I realized that was over 1/2 my lifetime it kind of shocked me.  Three years later I can say that while I still have the occasional craving, it passes quickly.  May was also time to do the upper cabinets in the kitchen.  The original cabinets, typical mobile home garbage, had to go.  Even if they looked OK painted (well, maybe not).

I had planned to make cabinets with raised panel door and a nice face frame, but that got veto'd by Sally.  So I ended up with some open boxes on the wall made of pine, and they work great.

After adding some window trim and doing the wall papering on the wall, it all started to come together.

Of course, what do you do to celebrate a kitchen renovation but cook a meal.....on the barbique of course!

I make great ribs, if I do say so myself.  It takes 4 or 5 hours on low heat and they are sweet with a bit of heat.  A good dose of garlic in there for some savoury too!  I use a charcoal grill, the only way to go IMHO.

Around about July of this year I was thinking about how much money I would have spent on smoking and it came out roughly the same price as a new 12 string guitar.  So I went to Walter's Music in the Masonville Mall in London and picked myself up a new toy.

A Simon & Patrick Woodland 12 with a spruce top.  Why? I have a S&P 6 spruce top that I got about 20 years earlier and still love it, so why change?  When they are together it is hard to think that the 6 strings top was the same colour as the 12's at one time.

OK, a bit more to do on the kitchen.  The fridge died.  So, off to get a new fridge and of course, there is nothing in white.  Can we have a fridge and stove that don't match?  NO!  Can we get a fridge that fit where the old one was? NO!.  So along comes another cabinet and new appliances and the range hood??????  It stays despite not matching.  I can honestly say, I will not be looking at stainless appliances next time.  They are a pain to keep looking nice.

Of course, after another spending spree, we need something else to celebrate the kitchen again.

The old one was burnt out, they only last about 3 years.  I am due for a new one this year.

We always get the most interesting company dropping in.

So, I guess we will end off the year with a bit of panelling on the wall (pine T&G) and a place to put the guitars.

Time for Christmas again, lets get stocked up and prepared for another winter.

Cheers! and thank you for dropping by!

Table saw revisited and more

Welcome back.

If you are still keeping up, we have arrived at 2011.  I did not do a lot of wood working that year, or had much to do with it.  Instead I spent most of the year helping a friend record a CD.  No, I didn't play any instruments, I don't play that well.  Instead I had a working crash course on everything else.  From setting up the musicians and selecting and placing mics, to recording and gathering the tracks, to producing, mixing and mastering the whole process.  I pretty much engineered the whole thing, starting out with a Mackie 16 track board going into an 8 track ADAT machine.  We then ported part of the project over to a Roland VS-2000 digital console and continued on from there.  It was a really neat experience and something I always wanted to do, and never would have thought I would have got the chance to do.  The project came out very well and sounds great.  I met some really good local musicians and learned a lot.

It was not all music though.  The table saw was acting up and I had to take it apart to see what the matter was.  It turned out that a locating key, that mated up to a socket, had broken off.  You can see the empty socket that should have the keyed piece in it here.

The two parts should not be able to rotate independently.  The little tab was snapped right off.

So, I had a bit of fabricating to do.  First, I filed and ground away a section where the original tab had been to create a socket.

  So when the parts look like this when put back side by side.

Then I used JB Weld (a 2 part epoxy that I have used on numerous occasions to fix things that probably should have been thrown away.  JB Weld is one of those miracle products, like duct tape and WD-40) to affix a new tab in place.  Then I took an out of focus picture of it clamped in place.

So, now that it has been holding for about 6 years, I would have to call it a success.

I also got my block plane tuned up pretty good and put a coat of paint on it this year.

I am glad to say it is in almost constant use when I am in the shop.  I have received two more block planes since, as gifts, and I use them all.

I built some sliding doors for a closet this year too.  I completely forgot to take pictures of the build.  But I took a bad pic of it installed.  Maybe this was the year of the bad pictures.

But I did get a picture of this guy wandering around our yard.

Late in the year I had a friend call up.  He was looking for a couple of large frames for photos of a couple of his grand children.  Nothing fancy, which is good as I had never made picture frames before.  So I got out some pine and milled it up and made a pair of picture frames for him.

I didn't spline the mitre joints at all.  I probably would if I were to build them again today.  I didn't know any better, but they are still holding together, so, that says something for LePages outdoor wood glue maybe.  It was fun for my first time at making a picture frame. I want to do more of this (and have).  My friend was well pleased with how they came out.  I did an easy finish of wipe on poly for them.  I like using that and now know that if I thin out regular poly I can make my own.  I usually put on the first coat, sand that with 330, put a second coat, sand that with a green scotch brite pad (which is about an 800 grit) and then put on a third coat.  The coats are pretty thin so there is not a huge film build up.  A coat of wax rubbed in brings out a nice lustre.

So, there is 2011.  Not a lot of woodworking, but I got some done between being busy for a while with another short lived hobby that popped up.

Thanks for dropping by!