Labor Day weekend accomplishments

Very little shop time for me this weekend. I've been buried with work stuff, but that's just as well, since my shop temps have ranged from about 88º to about 100º. (At about 3:15PM the current Weather Service temp for my part of Los Angeles is 105º.)

I did take a break last night to finish turn a bowl but at 1:00 AM it was still over 90º degrees in the shop. On the plus side, the lacquer I'm putting on the bowl dries in about 5 minutes. I've heard of "baked enamel" finishes...I'm trying "baked lacquer" on this bowl. :D
 
Got my new addition shingled this weekend, and still had time to play with Alyson most of the day today. (Her mother was getting her class ready for the first day of school tomorrow as she is a 5th grade teacher).

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My "weekend" started last Tuesday, with 3 days off in the middle of the week. I tore off and re-roofed the bad section of the shop that was leaking. Now if the last part starts to leak, I'm going to find some dynamite!! Worked Friday, then Sat I cleaned up the roofing debris, anchored down the tops of the multistation cabinets, re-routed the ductwork to go through the left multistation cabinet, anchored down the ductwork, and installed the foam surround in the top to isolate the duct from the cabinet. Sunday I built a Quick N' Dirty sub box for my 10" DVC woofer. Need to find some filter coils for them now so I can install and have some bass in the shop. Then Sunday after lunch, I started designing and building the router table. I've got the frame work built, and today I spent most of the day getting the Herc-U-Lift to work on the base. Took a little while, and had to steal some parts from a boxed HUL to make it work. I hope I can still make that one work for a small frame for the lunchbox planer. I think it will. Then, well I'm sitting here typing! :D I hear supper calling. Jim.
 
Got the TS hooked up to the DC. It's just a temporary setup that I plan on re-doing but it's functional. Spent a lot of time cleaning up, putting parts, tools, and extra ductwork parts away. Then I switched to something enjoyable. Started in on a test mounting of the Tucker vise on a scrap slab. Got it routed and drilled and the mounting plate & stanchion installed and got right up to the point where I'm ready to hang the vise, but I'm going to get a little help for that. I was also dogsitting for a neighbor Saturday and Sunday, so squeezed in lots of walks with China over to visit and let Buddy (a golden retriever) out for duty calls.
 
Went to a auction sale, worked on my new barn, Larry Merlau and his bride came over for breakfast yesterday morning, then cleaned the woodworking shop and today we went over to Larry's to see his new shop.:thumb:
 
Started to deep clean and reorganize the shop. LOML is helping. While she is not much on the woodworking part, she is great at organizing. The rest of the weekend was spent painting the house and doing some yard work.
 
I managed to get most of the chest done that I have been refinishing. Cut need to put a few coats of sealer on the base molding. Today I Sorted out a truck load of mahogany blanks for turnings and others to get cut into thin strips for scroll saw project. Later went over to the nebies in town and had a few cold ones. Tommrow( Tuesday) I will be going in for a minor surgery to have a nerve stimulator inplanted into my back:( and will not be able do any lifting for 6 to 10 weeks. Atleast I will have a good reason to be lazy.:thumb::rofl:
 
No remodeling today...landscaping! Trimmed a bunch of bushes to make them look nicer, grow and bloom later, and to free up space for the outside painters later on.
 
We were in Tennessee, and Thursday we made a trip to the sawmill down the road a piece (that's a Southern expression, for all you Yankees). We have a VERY good relationship with the owner, and we managed to come away from the mill with a few pieces of lumber:

This is what you see when you open the lid on the truck bed...
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And this is what you see when you drop the tailgate:
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177 bd/ft of red oak at $1.00 per bd/ft.
211 bd/ft of clear (and gorgeous) maple at $2.10 per bd/ft.

Almost all of the above is 6' shorts, some only 4.5', some of the boards are 11-12" wide, all 4/4 FAS kiln dried.

All of the short pieces you see on top and across the tailgate are cut-offs -- walnut, cherry, birch, sassafras, and a few oak -- some as wide as 10-11", all 4/4 except a couple of 8/4 sassafras------> AND EVERY BIT OF IT FOR FREE!!!! I would suspect that there is another $100 worth of lumber in those cut-offs that Don gave me, after telling me that what I didn't take would be burned. I got as much as would fit into the truck and left another full truck-load there for someone else. (Gloat #1).

Then, after I had given him a burled walnut pen that I had made and engraved with his name, together with an engraved lift-mechanism box, he has now committed to having me make pens for all of his best customers, engraved, with boxes engraved. (Gloat #2) I just ordered 50 of the boxes!

So, Saturday night we went to a high-school reunion party here in town, and early Sunday morning we hit the road back to New Mexico, arrived home on Monda afternoon. We ended up having to offload the maple onto my son's 18-wheeler, since the truck was so overloaded we blew out a new pair of air shocks. The maple will be here Thursday when son stops by on his way to California.
 
On Saturday I helped my wife's cousin put a steel roof on his parents' house. It was the first time I have ever done a steel roof. It went on well. It never occured to me, until I was sliding down the roof, exactly how slippery a steel roof could be. :eek:

I had to work Sunday and Monday so nothing new to report there.
 

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Rocking horse

Well, got the parts cut out and at the dry fit stage for a Rocking Horse I'm making for a friend.

Still need to do the roundovers, sanding, and finishing.

Ran out of sandpaper and didn't feel like running to town on monday, so spent the day just futzing around in the shop.

Made a crank for my bandsaw, handle for a handle-less japanese saw, etc...

Pretty fun weekend all in all. Spent a lot of time in the garage!

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New shop door

Finally got to start and almost finish my new sliding barn door for my shop and, boy is it going to be heavy! The dimensions are 80" wide and 76" tall. Made from Ponderosa pine rails and stiles, which started out as a 16' x 13 1/2" x 8/4 plank, and HD tonge and groove SPF 2x planed down to 1 1/4" for the field. I plan on finishing the construction, staining (actually Penofin) and hanging it next weekend.
 

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