Shop? tour

Well hello there.

I am a bit late this week posting.  Spring cleaning, or what ever you call what we are doing......decorating/painting, is still going on and I am really sore, so bear with me.

We went to a home and garden show and I met a guy who makes mini barns.  I asked for a quote for the size of shop I want to build, and it came to about $7000.  I didn't think that was too bad, but then someone pointed out that it was over $21/sq ft.  so I thought some more.  I would still have to build the base for it too.  I got a material quote in for the building material today from our local Rona store.  It came out to just under $3750.  I don't think I want to pay $3000 in labour on top of having to build the base, so we are back on the self build track.  I now have 4 little flags on my lawn marking the corners of where the new shop will be.  It may move a little but there is still lots of time before the frost is out of the ground and I can level the area.  I have the money all tied up for a while yet anyway, and have to put in the papers for the building permit.

Getting back to where we left 2014.

I did a few quick modifications to the table saw.  I added some drawers I made from scraps and an outfeed table to it.  I also made a new panel sled and a mitre sled.  Now everything that belongs with the saw is with it.  I still need a new saw, and if there is money left at the end of the shop build I am going shopping for one.  But for now this is what I have.

The mitre sled is copied from one Steve Ramsey made over at Woodworking for Mere Mortals ,  Steve has an excellent You Tube channel filled with free content and projects that are creative and fun.  I would say he has one of the best channels on You Tube.  Actually, there are a couple of them now, he does short videos called "Mere Minutes" too.  Anyway, the sled works well and sits in the bottom left cubby on the saw.  The panel sled on the right cubby is large but light.  Just a piece of 1/4" ply with a runner and a fence.  Pretty accurate with a 5 cut check. 

What have I been working out of up until now?  Well, most of the work gets done on the lawn.  That kind of limits me to working on nice days.  The indoor space is this.

That's it!  A leaky old garden shed that was here when we moved in.  Tight quarters indeed.  A lot of my tools stay in the house, and most of them go in with the finishes and glue all winter.  My shop time is very limited, but I enjoy what I can.  I have picked up bits and pieces over the years as my interest grew and now it is time for a big step and commitment.  I will be nice being organized and not having to move things to get at what I want, then moving it all back after I get it so I can go back to work.  

Every year towns around here have town wide yard sales.  If you look closely at the pictures you will see 5 hand saws hanging on the left side of the shop.  One I bought at Canadian Tire and is a Stanley hard point saw.  A decent enough saw, but they are not meant to be re sharpened.  The other 4 I bought at the Hensall town yard sale for $2....yes two dollars.  Two of them are Disston D-8's.  I figured for the price, they are just right to learn sharpening on.  First, of course, I need a way to hold them, so I cut up some maple and used a discarded leaf from the kitchen table (remember the table I re finished?) and cobbled together a saw vice.  

It just clamps in my bench vice and the works well.  I have since shortened it in height a bit so I can sit and sharpen.  Not bad for some scraps.

I bought the proper sized files from the local Home Hardware, did a bunch of reading, asked a bunch of questions of RogerT at The Woodwhisperer live IRC chat and restored the saws.  The 2 Disston's were kept cross cut and the other 2 I re filed rip.  I may yet retooth one of the rip saws coarser.  At 7 TPI (or is that PPI?  I can never keep that straight), it takes some time getting through a piece of wood, but they all cut reasonably well now.  I already had a saw set that I bought at a flea market on Manitoulin Island, so now I can maintain my hand saws.  They go nicely with the saw bench that lives under the work bench, and a lot of times it is much easier to pull that out rather than set up a power tool.  I have a Ryoba that I bought at Lee Valley, but I cannot cut worth a damn on a pull saw.  Some folks have great luck with them, I just don't have the touch I guess.

Oh, and what is a post without critters in the yard!  We have these two guys on pest control in the wood pile.  

Mama ground hog taking care of her babies and controlling the dandelions.

Lil' Lee is growing too.

That is one happy puppy.  Now it is time for me to take a break.  Thanks for dropping by!

Picture this

My friend called me up.  Says he has a couple of pieces of art he wants framed.  This is the same guy I made the other picture frames for, so I ask what he has in mind and he says "wood frames" and leaves it to me.  I didn't take a lot of photos, but I milled up some ash.  There are 2 pieces to frame that are similar, yet different, so I made 2 slightly different profiles.  I used water based aniline dye (ebony) to make the pieces black.

A simple coat of shellac padded on for a French polished finish.  I built another frame of ash with 1/2 laps to go around the art, then the mitred frame was attached over top of that so the mitres are supported behind them.  I thought they came out pretty neat and my friend was happy too.

I also thought I would try my hand at making a marking knife.  I got a small piece of walnut that I saved from the firewood pile and mounted it in the drill press to turn it.  I didn't use a chisel though.  I took the Dremel tool and used that to carve with.  For the blade I used an old 1/2 inch spade bit.  I used the belt sander to shape it.

Again, I used shellac for the wood and then honed the blade on my stones,

The blade is a bit short, and could probably use a proper heat treat to harden, but it is quite comfortable and functions well as it is. Not bad for my first shot.

Another job was to get the vice mounted so the rear jaw was flush with the work table.  I also lined the jaw with leather from an old belt to help get a non marring grip.  I put a piece of ash on the outer jaw.  The vice I bought from KW Surplus.  Not retailers of the highest quality stuff, but it is inexpensive and near enough.  Wood working tool retailers are not exactly in abundance around here.

While I was at it, I mounted my metal working vice to a foot that can be held in the bench vice.  It has a swivel base, so it is very handy set up like this.

That is another bit of 2014 for you.  Thanks for dropping by!

Carrying on through the cold

Well, I was sure that I would have made an entry sooner than this.  Spring cleaning is about 1/2 done now and what a job!!!!  The ceilings are starting to look nice with a new coat of paint on them.  The pine panelled wall in the living room (see, now I am going to make you look back through past entries for the picture of the living room) has all been hand sanded with 320 grit and 2 coats of water based poly has been added to what I put on originally.  It is very smooth now!  I thinned the poly to make it a wipe on.

Here is a good tip.  If you are using a water based polyurethane for a finish and want to wipe it on, do not buy wipe on poly.....you can make it easily and save money.  Wipe on poly is nothing more than thinned out regular poly, and they charge you for adding thinner!!!  With water based poly the thinner is water.  So just thin your regular old water based poly with water (distilled is probably your best bet as there are no minerals in it) 50/50 and you have it.  I went one step further and thinned with a product called Floetrol.  It worked really well and with the results I got I would recommend it.  A bit more expensive than water, but still cheaper than extra poly.  I first heard about Floetrol through Linn at Darbin Orvar , one of the many You Tube channels I follow.  I hope I spelled her name right....she has a wonderful channel full of creative ideas and projects.

So, cleaning.....Sally also decided that the wallpaper needed changing too (did you go back and check that picture?), and she was right.  I took down all the trim and she stripped the wallpaper while I was sanding and applying poly to the other wall.  We took a trip out to a paint and wallpaper store (where I bought the Floetrol) but there was very little in stock.  Disappointed, we took a chance and went to the ReStore in Exeter, and what do you know!  There is a whole rack of wallpaper!....We found some we liked and for $15 we had more than enough.  It looks great!

You see, it is not like I just "forgot" to sit and write.  I just have not had the time.  I can tell you, my aching body knows I have been busy!  We are taking a much needed break to recover.

Now, back to 2014.

I can tell you that February of 2014 was cold.....really cold.  The year of what they dubbed the "Polar Vortex"....whatever that is.  I really think the weather folks kind of make things up as they go along.  A Coopers Hawk availed itself of the pickings at the bird feeder again that month.

There is one thing that the extreme cold weather seems to bring, and that is sunshine.  It may be snapping cold with your nostrils freezing together and the snow squeaking under your boots, but you can get a decent amount of vitamin D if you are out.  I am usually not fond of being cold, but there are times that conditions come together and create a certain type of beauty.

It is OK if you can just observe it, but I have worked in this weather, and then it is no fun at all.  Touching anything metal, like having a tool in your hand, is not enjoyable.  What is a person with "cabin fever" to do when you want to do something productive and can't go out doors to do it.  You do it indoors.  Time to do some sorting and organizing of nuts, bolts, screws, hardware, etc.  Out to the shed,

and drag it all in to the kitchen table to sort.

That ate up a couple of days.  Sorting screws and hardware can be a bit tedious.  But I got it done and everything put away.  But just look at that table!  We got it years ago for free and have held on to it, modifying it a bit to suit.  But the lady who gave it to us had refinished it, and I don't think she knew what she was doing.  She either used an incompatible finish, or didn't prep right, or something because whatever she put on it was flaking off and it finally bothered me enough to check it out.   Again, cabin fever does things to you.....

I got out one of my card scrappers and took it to the top of the table.

It is just a veneered top, I had a bit of chip out which I glued back and clamped with some green masking tape.  

A few hours to get this flaky sticky crap off.

A touch of sanding, and 3 (I think) coats of gloss poly and it looks much better.

I hoped you enjoyed that little tale.  Not hugely exciting, but it was productive in winter which is sometimes difficult when you have a hard time getting around.  Now, I guess I have to get back to this spring cleaning/re-decorating thing.  I will be back for more of 2014 in a while, hang in there.  I will be making something in the next entry.  Until then....

Thank you for dropping in!