Ebonising Test Strips

Per the English Woodworker's method of ebonising wood I did a few test strips. From left to right are: Poplar, Red Oak, White Oak, Cherry, and South American Walnut.

The "test" is quick and dirty, one application of tannic acid followed by the iron solution. For finishing the the tannic acid would require several applications before the iron solution but I have an idea of how the ebonising would work on different woods.

White Oak responded as expected, the Cherry was a surprise how well it worked. The South American Walnut was pretty much as expected, it will go almost black with just oil. Poplar might work better with additional applications of tannic acid prior to the iron and the same would apply to the Red Oak but as tested they were both disappointing.

ken

I'm Not Sure There Is Enough Whisky

What can I say other than I'm sorry world.

ken

LED Lights

MsBubba's studio has lights. For awhile I had doubts I would be typing that line any time soon. We celebrated the completion by sitting in the studio with Whisky and Wine while a great thunderstorm complete with pea hail raged around Casa Chaos.

I ran two 20 amp circuits with a total of eight outlets and a 15 amp circuit with 3 outlets for the lights. She is happy, you can't have a much better outcome.

BTW, LED's time has arrived, I found 4' LED shop lights at Costco for less than $30 USD. Not only do LEDs last longer and use less power they put out noticeable more light. Costco had replacement bulbs for my standard 4' shop lights for <$14 USD a pair. So in addition to putting LED's in MsBubba's studio I changed the bulbs in my shop lights and added an additional LED fixture over the planing bench.

The additional light sure looks good to these old worn out eyes.

Next up is a slow change out of all the house lights as LED lights become available.

ken

Another Day of Pulling Wire

Thirteen more days to go before I'm back in the monkey suit with a Sim strapped to my ass and I spent it pulling wires. I wish I could say today was the end but I'll still be working on MsBubba's studio's lighting tomorrow.

My shop is back to useable shape and I even found the Cherry table top I put in a "safe" place before doing the shop and electrical work. The "safe" place was really safe, I like to never found the top. Anyway, once I finish with the studio lighting it is back to my shop and I hope to finish the Oak and Cherry side table before going back to work.

Photos to follow and more when I have more,

ken

Shore Power

I've spent the last couple of days installing a 50 amp shore power station for the motorhome. As with all things electrical what should be a 4 or 5 hour tops job ends up taking all of two days and an additional couple of hours this AM.

The only logical source for power was the shop load center but there was just a small problem, there were not enough lugs for an additional 50 amp CB. So first order was installing a new load center, which of course required removing most of the storage shelfs, tools and clamps near the old load center.  Add in the required six trips to Home Depot for any project and the necessary doggie butt scratching and ball throwing for any day at Casa Chaos and a four hour job turns into a two day slog.

Anyway here is the 50 amp shore power service center, exciting isn't it:

I must have been working in "imperial" as the conduit ended up about 40mm too long, love flex hose. I know a real craftsman would have taken the conduit apart and cut off the offending 40mm. As I said I love flex hose.   

I figure there are another couple of days work before I can go back to making things in the shop because the new load center is larger than the old one and none of the old shelfs fit. Oh well I needed to work on the west wall storage anyway.

ken

 

Finally

It's in the short rows. I will not be able to truly relax for another 20 or so days but....It's over.

I mentioned to MsBubba that this has been the biggest threat to the world since the Cuban Missile Crisis....Of course she looked at me blankly, getting old is not kind to your store of cultural references, and I ended up rolling her eyes to the back of her head.

Recovery from surgery and the disconnect of the GOP (Grabbers Of Pussy) during an election season has me at lose ends. I will be happy to get past November 8th (The Doc has signed me off to return to work on the 11th of November. Not a bad one-two for sanity) and return to the normal chaos of Casa Chaos with puppies, woodworking, RV's, and MsBubba taking most of my attention.

Speaking of woodworking and RV's, I'm replacing the shop's load center today. I needed a couple more slots in the load center to run shore power out to the Motorhome. A bitch of a way to spend the day but it needs to be done. Of course from MsBubba I hear "Why can you do the shore power for the RV and not install the lights in my studio for the past two years".  There is no good answer, I guess lights in her studio are next.

PS is doing a rocking chair build. I may follow along with a build of my own. I'll need to find some nice 8/4 White Oak, the last hunk of W.O. in my wood pile is being used for the current side table build. The two together might be nice, a rocking chair needs a side table.

ken    

Best of The Best

Like many big companies mine has an "reward" weekend where they bring the "Best of The Best" worker bees to the head quarters for a dinner and a "grip and grin" with the CEO. If you hang around long enough it will be your time in the barrel.

Well it is my time to waste a weekend. The best you can hope for is to not step on your dick too many times and get out of there before anyone knows your name.

Back Sunday,

ken

All The Whisky In Scotland

Can't make it all better. In the '60's we had a chance to end the power of the racist lizard mind. Nixon, damn his festering soul, I sometimes wish I believed, because if there were a god she would condemn him to the lowest level of hell for giving the racist a home and outsized influence for the last 50 years. Trump is the result, the end product of the Southern Strategy. All the ugliness, anger, entitlement, and know nothingism of the current GOP (Grabber Of Pussy) leader and base all flow from Nixon.

Because of the resultant pandering to our worst nature by the Republican Party over following years I have maintained there are only three reasons to be/vote Republican: You are Rich, a bigot, or just fucking stupid. Today I will change that to just two reasons.

I can't get a recurring thought out of my mind that while Clinton "won" the battle tonight even more important she won the war by not putting the stalking, abusing, man-child away. Of the three possible outcomes, Trump "win", Trump "knockout" by Clinton, Trump losing but muddling through. The worst for the Republican Party was the muddling through because it allows Trump to continue but still bleeding support. What I can't get out of my mind is Clinton played this to perfection, that she didn't want a knockout with either Trump quitting or being thrown overboard by the RNC. Either option would introduce too many wild cards, the old "better the devil you know than the one you do not".

If Clinton wins on the 8th the world will be in good hands, tonight just brought it home.

       

Finished The Planing Bench

The fat lady has sung her heart out. The planing bench is finished. I lowered it as posted earlier, added a apron, and a crochet. It will be interesting to see if I use it as much as I suspect I will. The few things I've planed on it, flatting the top and just did the edge of a 4/4 board just to see it work, seem much easier than on the higher joinery bench.

Anyway here is a photo, click it to big it:

ken

Apron Glue Up

There are two more things to do before the planing bench is ready. First is adding an apron to the front and second is installing a crochet.

The front apron is in glue up and will be added in the AM and the crochet is marked out and will be installed after the apron.

Get all that installed , drill the holdfast/support holes in the apron and the bench will be ready for work.

A photo of the apron glue up, I'm adding a 2X to the back of the apron for better holding by the holdfasts. Once the glue sets I'll glue the apron to the slab and put Spax screws down each leg.

Shoulder update; PT said "Hit the road Jack, don't come back no more" this morning. I see the Doc on the 18th. and expect he will return me to work sometime after the first of November. It has been a good run, now if I can remember how to run a Sim.

ken

Truing the Planing Bench

The planing bench hasn't been trued in several years as it was mostly used as a flat surface to glue and finish things made on the main bench. Now that it will be a reference surface it needed truing.

The first pleasant surprise was how little it was out of true with just a slight twist, high left far corner and low right near corner, and a small belly down part of the middle. I've removed the twist and the belly and now it is just a matter of digging out the #8 and finishing up.

One other, maybe not a surprise, but pleasant is how much easier it is to plane on a 800mm surface vs. a 900mm surface.

I will add a crochet planing stop to the left end and see if I can find the old deadman. If it is gone (I never throw anything away unless it is something I will need later :-)) I will make another for use with the crochet.

Back From Mexico

That woman is a traveling fool. I picked her up after she had spent 24 hours traveling from the UK to Tucson. On the way home I asked if she would like to go to Mexico for the weekend, with an aside that I would understand if she wanted to wait a week or two. Answer: "Sure, let's leave early AM". BTW, she knew there was a new RV in the drive but was skeptical about it, she thought it was too big.

About half way to Rocky Point she looked at me with the "damn I hate to say this but you were right" look and said: "You were right, this is really nice". I wish I'd had a recorder going because it doesn't happen often.

Anyway we spent four days and three nights on the beach in perfect WX watching the dogs swim, the pelicans feed, and the porpoise porpoise. In between I ate a ton of tamales, had a beer or two and napped when it all became too much.

Bubba 1 is a dream, set it on 1700 RPM (slightly over 60 mph) and I appear to get about 10 mpg, sometimes a little more and of course sometimes a little less. With a 90 gal. tank it has an effective range of about 600 miles. Pulling the 5th wheel most of the time a little faster than 60 mph but maybe only a mile or two better milage and the difference in comfort is an order of magnitude.  I should have lost the 5th wheels years ago.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

More Shop Changes

The shop is about as messy as can be but I've some photos of the new basic layout. I expect there will be several days of re-hooking up dust collection, sweeping, picking up stuff and either finding a new home or putting it in the trash....In other words a few days before it will be a functional shop.

First image is from the left end of the joinery bench. The drill press is near the right end as is the lathe. The tool box is set so as to be easily assessable from either work bench.

This photo is from the right end of the joinery bench. The sharpening bench is off the left end of the joinery bench also easily assessable from either bench.

Next is from the joinery bench looking out the shop with the planing bench in the foreground. I lowered the planing bench to 800mm, about 31". the joinery bench is 900mm, about 35".

One more photo, this one from outside looking into the shop.

For now I've moved the 8" joiner into the "tool room" for storage until I figure what to do with it. If anyone local or doesn't mind a drive wants a joiner, it is a good one. It just doesn't earn its required floor space anymore. BTW, even with the mess the shop feels better. I expect once cleaned up and connected it will function much better.

 

Shop Changes

In the never ending quest to fit 20 lbs of stuff into a 5 lb shop I will be moving stuff and changing work flow. The two big changes are going to be lowering the secondary bench 100mm (4" for Bob and other metric challenged folks) and then moving it off the wall to a place in front of the main bench. The secondary bench will become my stock prep bench and the primary bench will be used for joinery. With the repaired shoulder I need a lower bench for planing. I do not have enough strength or endurance to plane with my arms plus I'm using wood stock planes much more than before.

To make room the 8" joiner will be retired to a place along the back wall, maybe even into the tool room until it can be sold or disposed of in some way. If anyone would like a 8" joiner with a Bird head now is the time to speak up. It is FOB Tucson and I'm not interested in shipping unless someone wants to pay way more than the joiner is worth.

The bandsaw will move into the joiner slot or at least close to it. I'm not sure where the drill press will go but it is used too much to not have a good home. The 20" planer and the table saw are hard calls, I still use both on occasion. Could I do without? Yep, but for now they earn their space, kinda.

The tool chest will move to the right end of the two benches to ease tool access for the prep bench.

BTW, yesterday's lowering of the tool cabinet and plane till 100mm has really made a big difference in ease of work flow.

Photos once everything is in its new home.

Morning After

Restless night last night, I'm not sure what's to blame TV, whisky, or the late night iced coffee but not a lot of sleep. Of course it could be today is my last full day of no adult supervision. The critters and I will have to beaver away to cover the tracks of almost a month of high living and just over a day to get it done.

On to other things. I've a couple of Atkins panel saws. One is 20" with, as best I can count, 15 or 16 tpi. The other is 22" stamped 7 tpi. Neither is filed as I would like for a panel saw to be filed. I'd like the big one to be filed 10 tpi rip and the small one either 11 or 12 tpi rip.

I'm not up to changing either one. I'm going to contact Mark at Bad Axe to re-punch the tooth line. BTW, the things you find when digging around in the shop. These two were stored away with a pile saws I got from a guy that needed gas money to get home. They have been in the shop two or three years and I didn't have a clue they were in the pile.

Anyway here are a couple of photos:

The 20"

The 22"

As always, click 'em to big 'em,

ken

Made it Through

Miracle of miracle I made it through and can still stand....I've got to admit it was touch and go. What an Ass.

It's Whisky Now

All I can say is the only way to watch is with the help of a good 12 year old single malt. Damn the morning headache.

Changing Shop Fixtures

I spent a little time in the never ending quest for the perfect shop setup. Today's was a biggie, I moved one cabinet and the plane till down about 125mm. That's not a big change but it brings the plane till down just enough to make it easier to reach the planes and the chisels stored in the plane till.

Notice the Martini on the work bench, there will be a better view to follow:

The day is over and either whiskey or martini is a good way to celebrate a productive day. 

Depending on how the night goes there may more than a few more while I yell at the TV.

It is going to be a long month and a few days and I expect a few sleepless nights before it is over.

See you guys on down the road,

ken

Tarantulas In The Kitchen

A mystery here in Casa Chaos. In the last week I've had two tarantulas taking a stroll across the kitchen floor. The first one was huge and black, this one was smaller (it's all relative) and brown. I've not a clue how or why they got in the kitchen. They are much to big to just work through a crack and too slow to dart in through a open door.

Anyway I'm getting pretty good using the metal strainer and cardboard to capture and release. I need to remember to take a photo if there is a next time.

Working in the Shop

I started a small project this AM. To kill time while I couldn't work in the shop I watched several of Richard Maguire's videos. If you haven't watched any of the English Woodworker's videos you really should, Richard is a hoot and a good teacher.  One I really liked was the "Side Table" build. The part that hooked me was Ebonising the legs. That I have to try.

Anyway cutting to the chase, I'm building a similar side table but with a Cherry top and White Oak stretchers and legs. This morning I started prepping the stock and did the top glue up.

A couple of photos. Cutting White Oak for the legs:

Ripping the leg stock:

It felt good but no endurance, I needed a couple of breaks while ripping the legs.

And one of the top glue up:

As always, click 'em to big 'em.

ken