AFib

There is nothing as boring as an Old Fart talking about his/her medical condition. But this Blog is also my journal so today I will do a short post on current and upcoming medical issues. No response or even others reading is expected, the post is so I have a memo to self.

I've been in AFib for the last three weeks, with pulse running steady at 100 bpm plus or minus about 10 bpm. BP has been inverse to pulse rate. I'm booked for an electroconversion Thursday. Still some debate if I will go through with it but whatever I've got to get back to a sinus rhythm.  For the last three weeks any activity kicks my ass. I ain't gonna live that way.

In addition a month or so ago I tore a biceps tenon in my right arm which in turn has aggravated the torn rotor cuff. Bottom line, once back from vacation (first of September) I'm going to face up to rotor cuff repair. I expect recovery will be six months to a year, during recovery I suspect I may turn sinister or at least learn to do a few things left handed.

There are not going to be many big projects in the near future. I expect most of my shop time will be sitting on the shop stool with a whisky or tea and looking at my tools. Once recovery is under way maybe doing some rust hunting and refurb.

Juneteenth

I was working and missed posting about Juneteenth. June 19th aka Juneteenth is one of the most important but largely forgotten dates of USA history. On June 19th 1865 General Granger landed on Galveston, Texas with the news the war had ended and all men were free. For the first time in US history we started, with many missteps, to live up to the Declaration of Independence.

In a just and sane world June 19th would rank alongside July 4th.

I hope you'll had a wonderful Juneteenth.

ken

Motorcycle Update

I went by the motorcycle shop today to check on the status of the insurance on my 'Wing.  Not much has changed, their adjuster hasn't done anything at this time so my settlement is still on hold. They did mention they would make me a good deal on one of their used stock 'Wings.  I'm not too interested in another 'Wing, they are great bikes but my riding needs, if I have any, have changed. But during the conversation I mentioned that a couple of years ago I had tried to buy back the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 LT I had traded in on the 'Wing they just burned to the ground and wondered if they still had the V2K.

To my surprise it was stored in a back room, dusty but still all there. I'm not saying I'm going to re-buy it but.....Damn I loved that bike much more than I ever did the 'Wing. The 'Wing is/was a wonderful tool, one of the best Iron Butt bikes ever made but it has no soul. The V2K on the other hand is nothing but soul, shiny in chrome and paint, with two coffee can pistons throbbing between your legs as you feel direct contact with the world and machine around you. Like I said, damn I loved that bike.

A few photos of her:

MsBubba on the V2K in a gas station Winkelman, AZ as I rode the V2K home from the dealer. I must say she wasn't real happy with me at the time. Like most women, too practical. Her question was: "Why do you need another bike, the one you have is perfectly good." Of course there is never a good answer to that question.  Later when she saw the 'Wing for the first time she said "Take that ugly thing back, I want my beautiful bike back."

A glamor shot near Gate's Pass:

Another:

A younger and thiner OKGuy near Winkelman, AZ:

Crossing the bridge at Lake Roosevelt, AZ:

Stop light in Globe, AZ:

One last photo, camping in the White Mountains:

There was one through the windscreen with the speedo over 100mph but No need to bore you more :-).

ken

LN Replacement Iron Update

I've only the LN #8 left for iron replacement. I expect it will be done sometime but there ain't no hurry because it seldom comes off the wall. If I had a working brain cell it, the #8, would have been gone long ago. Metal jointers are just too big and heavy, after 15 or 20 minutes of slinging that sucker around the shop my body is crying no mas no mas where with one of my wood jointers I can work long enough to get something done and still function the next day.

Sorry for the digression, sometimes the fingers have a mind of their own. It is a pretty simple fix to route out the depth adjustment hole on the cap iron. I used a Drimel with a diamond bit taking just a small amount off before test fits. On most of the cap irons the fit was good after two or three tries.

I've worked the planes with the new irons and modified chip breakers and the feel is the same as a unmodified plane with LN iron. No more backlash than before, if you have LN planes and want to use other irons it is worth the trouble.

Here is a staged photo of my set up:

ken

Lie-Nielsen A-2 Plane Irons

A couple of years ago Lie-Nielsen stopped production of O-1 tools. I can understand from a bottom line standpoint but....There is that damn but again....Some of us really do not like to use A-2 cutters. I like the LN planes, they are very well made if a little heavy, I can live with heavy. Living with A-2 cutters, not so much.

So of course Hock and Lee Valley come to mind, they both make very good O-1and LV makes PM-11 irons as well, there is just one tiny problem. Both Hock and LV plane irons are just a silly mm thinner than LN's irons. That difference keeps either from mating with the LN frog. The LN depth adjuster has a steep slope and to mate with the cap iron requires a cutter of LN's thickness, other wise it will not let the cutter/chip breaker mate with the frog.

I've gone back and forth, sell all my LN planes but I like 'em except for the irons. Live with A-2 cutters, OK I've tried....It's like a bad marriage, you can make it work but is it worth the effort. What to do, what to do. I've had a Clifton iron on back order for months now (Its specs show it is the same thickness as the LN) but so for no joy.

I finally did a little red neck engineering and enlarged the depth adjustment slot on a Hock chip breaker and installed a LV O-1 iron with the modded Hock chip breaker in the LN #4. It works, the iron/chip breaker mate with the frog and there is little "slop" in the depth adjuster.

I'll live with the mod for a few weeks and if there are no problems the rest of the LN's will get the same adjustment.

This Is My Week To Post About Fire

You should never let the gods know your life is good, if they find out they will slap you around just because.

In the last week, my Houston renter of 15 years wrote he has bought a house and will be moving out on the 4th of July. I had wondered why I had not received May's rent.

Saturday I received a letter from the IRS, never a good sign if there is a return envelope included. It was not too big a deal other than they wanted payment plus penalties for the 2015 taxes I "owed". Humm....those were sent off April 7 and the check has cleared the bank. Turns out someway the 2015 taxes were credited to 2010 taxes which were paid in full a long time ago, 2010 to be exact.

Then this morning I called the motorcycle shop to see if there was any progress on my 2008 Goldwing's start problem. Their answer was I'll let you talk to the general manager. Also never a good sign. The general manager opened with "Your Wing almost burned the building down. The only thing that saved the building was our good sprinkler system." My question was, "I guess my Wing was destroyed?" Ended up the insurance adjusters haven't been out yet and they will get back to me.

Then of course as posted in an earlier post I had tried to burn my shop/house down with a BLO rag last night.

OK gods, I'm humble and my life sucks go slap someone else around. I'll hold your drinks.

ken

Burning The House Down

Damn Bubba you almost burned the house down. The shop was still hot from the day and I had it closed up so it wasn't cooling off. I'd wiped the tool chest lid once more with the BLO soaked rag before taking a short break for some tea and a cool down. I left the rag bunched and on the top of the tool chest while I cooled off. As I was going back to the shop I noticed a smell and my eyes were burning, it was stronger in the shop but there was no smoke. I looked around and noticed the BLO rag. When I picked it up it was very warm, unfolding it reviled black burned areas. Here is a photo of the rag:

I couldn't have been out of the shop more than 45 minutes to an hour and it was a single rag setting in the open. Normally once I finish with a rag I'll put it in a metal bucket filled with water until I can dump them in the trash but even that will be no more. If I am going to leave the shop for any reason finished or not with the rag it is going in the bucket and I'll make sure the bucket has enough water to cover the rags.

ken

The Fat Lady Has Sung

The almost but not quite traveling tool box is finished. It took several weeks longer than I expected for that sentence to be typed. Whatever, the tool chest is in place with a top and a load of tools. For now it holds most of my wood stock and molding planes, some of the marking and measuring tools along with other misc. stuff. The shop wall cabinets have been moved a couple of times to make a spot for the tool chest where it will be functional and at the same time keep the old tool storage functional as well.

I'm not sure this is the final resting place for both the tool chest and the wall cabinet and tills but for now it seems to work.

On to the tool chest: The inside is unfinished Cypress, the outside is painted with red milk paint and the top is BLO'ed White Oak and Cherry. To my eye it looks pretty good even with all the mistakes and as best I can tell it will fill a shop need.

If it doesn't, the grandpeanut will have a big red toy box. A couple of photos of the chest in its new home:

And one with the top open:

We had a great Spring in the desert, wonderful cool, dry, nights and mornings with midday highs mostly in the mid 80's. While we knew it wouldn't last it was great while it did. Well Summer is here, I saw 108F on the truck thermometer yesterday and it is expected to go over 110F today. I'm starting summer shop schedule, Up and in the shop no later than 0400 work till 1100/1200, break for lunch, a quick dip in the pool, and a nap, back in the shop late afternoon/early evening for a couple or three hours. Life is good.

ken

Tool Box Lid Waiting for the Glue To Set

When I draw bore joints most of the time I will use a little Hot Hide Glue on the pins. Glue is not needed in the joint but the hide glue lubricates the pin and I feel makes the joint go together easier. A long way around to....The lid is together and I'm waiting for the glue to dry so I can trim the pins and clean up the under side of the lid. Once that is done I'll add the dust seal, clean up the top side and do the hinges. Then that sucker will truly be finished and I can move on to other things.

The lid waiting for glue to dry:

I've a couple of days off over the weekend. There are a few Casa Chaos things that need to be done but for the most part I should be a free man as long as I stay out of MsBubba's line of sight.

A new PhillyPlane try plane showed up today, I haven't had time to do much more than unwrap but it looks nice. I expect the iron will take a little time to bring to working condition and it may take a month or two for the shock of the desert to finish doing its thing to the stock. I'm not sure what the UK's RH is but I expect it runs 60% or more most days where here in the Old Pueblo most of the year our RH's are around 10%, only going higher than 20 or 25% during Monsoon season. Stupid wood tricks sure to follow. I haven't checked the bed angle yet but because it is a single iron plane I expect Phil gave it a York pitch. Photos once I have it up and running.

I'm really thinking about dumping most of my metal stock planes, I'll keep one or two #4's a #3 and I expect a couple of #5's but the rest may end up on the block. I need to sleep on it for a couple or three months but......

Tool Box Lid

Going into the day job early evening today, so I had a few minutes to rub together in the shop and the tool box lid needed some love. I had time to cut rebates or at least the X-grain ones. The Panel is Cherry, ended up about15mm thick and needing a 9mm thick tongue set back 10mm. While I have the LV rabbet plane, for a single panel like this a wood rebate plane works just as well and is less monkey motion.

I use marking gauges to make two marks, one for the set back and the other for the depth. For a long rebate like this one I will chisel a "V" groove. Then it is just a matter of riding the groove until you have a shoulder, as my clients would say "A sheet of cake".

First photo is of setting up:

The ECE rebate plane is a sweetheart, light, with a good iron, and it sets and holds well. Even better it doesn't cost much nor does it require work to set up like a vintage plane.

This is of the rebate about half done:

Last photo, testing the fit:

I still have not decided; does the tool box stay a tool box or is it the Grandpeanut's new toy box.

ken

Jnats

I've posted much of this on SMC but here it is in Blog form.

After all these years of always going back to Ark Oil Stones as my goto honing and finishing stones. These times they are a-changin', I've mostly made the transition to Jnats for honing and finishing. As with all things wood and especially with all things sharpening....YMMV.

When sharpening I try to look past shinny and instead look at the final scratch pattern and the edge produced. Honing and finishing on Jnats give me the best I've been able to see of both and I've been like a country song with sharpening stones, I've danced with most of the pretty girls.

Japanese Natural Stones in addition to having an organic beauty can be very easy to use with less mess and they tend to not be "fussy", not needing flatting as often as synthetic water stones. The biggest problem with Jnats is they can become an addiction with the user always wanting just one more stone...."life would be perfect if only I had that Nakayama Asagi I saw on So's web site". BTW, the Nakayama Asagi from So is in the mail.

My Sharpening Bench set up with Jnats:

From left to right. In the stone pond is a Karashi set up stone. If I had to guess it is about equivalent to a 1000 to 2000 synthetic stone. On the Karashi's right is a Takashima Ooban finish stone. The Takashima is not a very hard stone, from Lv 3.5, but produces a beautiful slightly hazy finish with a very attractive Jigane (the soft iron backing the hard steel). To the right on the bench are two more Jnats. the first on a holder that says 1200 is a Aiiwatani Kiita finish stone that is a little harder than the Takashima. Both the Takashima and the Aiiwatani give a finish much like a 8K to 10K synthetic stone. The last stone is a Tsushima Nagura, it has been painted with a traditional black Cashew Lacquer on all sides and the bottom. Again this is just a WAG, as it is on all the stones, the Tsushima is about a 5K to 8K stone.

The following photo is of three chisels, the two outer chisels were honed and finished on Jnats, the middle chisel was honed and finished on Sigma Power Ceramic stones. You may be able to see the difference in the Jigane between the chisels. The light on the left chisel obscured the Jigane but it is almost exactly the same as the chisel on the right. What you can not see is the scratch pattern, while the Power Ceramic sharpened chisel out shines the Jnats it does not have as fine a scratch pattern.

The Jnats work beautifully on Western chisels as well, here is a AI chisel next to a Japanese chisel both finished on Jnats. IIRC the finish stone was the Takashima Ooban.

As always....Click 'em to big 'em.

ken

A Journal Entry

Just a warning, todays post is a journal entry. Before Blogs I kept a journal, not every day but often....Kinda like I Blog. Lately the Blog has been more about woodworking than anything else because I've been doing woodworking more than anything else. On to today's journal entry.

The last three or so weeks can best be described as interesting....And that is where I will stop. I wrote a lot of boring stuff no one but me would care about and it was too boring even for me. The short version: The last three weeks have been spent dealing with a series of un-related health issues. None of which were serious but enough to keep me from working. As a list: Type 2 diabetes, passing a Kidney stone, Tearing my right biceps tendon, and last a week of bronchitis that has kicked my butt. 

I've a journal entry so a couple years down the road and I try to remember when and what happened I can see a date and a list.

Maybe something on the tool chest lid or another tour of the shop in the next post, hell even a post on sharpening would be more interesting. Whatever, some bright object will catch my eye. 

BTW, the 'Wing is in the shop, I figure with my soon going part time I might have time to do a couple of RTE's. The Dirty Fat Girl may run TBMRITS (I-10) once more. 

See you guys on down the road,

ken 

Tool Chest Lid

No photos because, who knows....The stock for the tool chest lid had been setting on the end of the main work bench for a couple of days waiting for me to finish moving the shop fixtures around and making room on the benches to work.

I'd marked the stock out several days ago so all that was needed was room and setting up to start chopping the four mortises. I decided on 3/8" mortises mostly for two reasons, the mortises were going to be 50mm deep and I find a deep 1/4" mortise a real PITA to chop. May be technique but there is a big difference between chopping a 1/4" vs. 3/8" mortise. The only problem was the rails are not quite 4/4 leaving the cheeks a little thin. BTW, the rails are Cherry......I bet you can see what's coming from a mile away.

Sure 'nuff about 40mm into a 50mm mortise, the last of the four needed, the cheek split. I must have looked at it for five minutes working my way through the 5 stages of grief before the first "fuck" followed by several more. After finishing the required cursing and then looking at the split, it wasn't in an area of high stress and it was clean and attached, I opened it up, squirted some glue in the gap, clamped that sucker down, and went to Costco to graze on the free samples and to pick up something for dinner.

When I took the clamp off this morning, even knowing where the split is, I can't see it. Once coffee time, scratching doggy butt, and getting Msbubba out the door is done, I'll carefully remove the last 10mm of the mortise and then start on the tenons.

The panel is ready for glue up.

New Configuration AKA 10lbs "Stuff" in a 5lb Shop

One of the reasons for the marking gauge post the other day was I needed to move some of the shop fixtures around to make room for the new tool chest. Today was the day.

I had plans to make all new fixtures, even picked up some Cherry "shorts" at a shop fixture price to do the job but as I looked and measured I figured out that the old fixtures would work with just a little rearranging. Faster than a speeding bullet I was on it before I could change my mind.

Here are some photos of the rearranged shop:

The east wall from the working end of the main bench. Not much, if anything has changed on this side. On the sharpening bench the left end is used for Ark oil stones, the right for the Jnats.

The north wall from the back side of the main bench. The saw till is in much the same position but just a thin one lower. The plane till moved from the right to the left and much lower. The chisel till stayed on the right but is raised enough to fit under the tool chest lid (once finished). and the junk cabinet was moved high to the right. You can see where the red tool chest will live.

The northwest wall now has the Plano Vertical Panel clamp mounted. One of the wall cabinets was removed. the other moved to the west wall and higher, and the shelf and chisel rack were shortened.

No matter how much I squint it is still too much stuff. No matter how much I move it around it is too much stuff. I am working to cull but even that is slow because it is either throw it away if you want to be shed quickly or it will move out very slowly if you want to find a good home. I'm in the slow phase for now but the throw it in the trash-give to Goodwill is looking better all the time.

Bob, thanks for the note....My heart goes out to you and your family.

ken

House Keeping

In my endless quest to put 10 lbs of stuff into a 5 lb shop, I spent the day rearranging the deck chairs. How's that for mixing metaphors?

I needed to clean out an area at the right end of the secondary work bench so the wall can be used to mount the Plano Vertical Panel Press. That required removing a couple of wall cabinets and re-installing one of them. In turn the cabinet install required cutting down the length of a couple of shelfs used for chisel and plane storage. Not to bore you but you should get the picture, moving one thing required moving two others which in turn required emptying and moving four other storage areas.

In the moving of storage units I found a number of marking gauges that had been squirreled away for various reasons.  Ended up being close to thirty of 'em, most of which had been put away because I found them lacking in some way. Many because the fence and stem would not lock at 90 degrees. BTW, I posted about the marking gauges on SMC earlier.

Anyway here's a photo of the herd, the most used ones are near the rear:

A photo that may show what I'm talking about. I pulled three example marking gauges out of the pile. One was my goto kinda high dollar Marples combination gauge, next was a cheap as you can buy Marples combination gauge, and last was a pretty high dollar marking gauge from one of the better woodworking retailers. 

Pay no attention to that round blue thing at the bottom but from left to right the better Marples, the cheap Marples, and the not very cheap gauge. The lines were made by locking the stem then putting fairly light pressure left and knifing a line followed by approximately the same pressure right and making a knife line. The right two knife lines diverge at about 2 degrees. 

Is it easy to fix? Yep, all the maker has to do is pay attention to where the locking screw pushes the stem. 

As always YMMV and does it make a big whoop, not really just me being cranky but one thing I hate is a marking gauge fence that wiggles once locked. Even it there is no chance of it moving fore or aft the wiggle bugs the hell out of me. 

ken

Back on The Short Bus

It seems I've spent my life riding on the short bus, tilting my head like a dog looking for a treat, and being the last to know something. It's happened again.

A year or so ago I did my teenager rebel against getting old and said no mas, no mas to watching my diet.....If I die so be it....I can't takes it no more, and went on a binge of eating and drinking just what I wanted when I wanted it....Damn life was good. Except I went from around 200 lbs (about 30 lbs over weight) to 240 lbs. Damn Bubba you are fat, your "fat" pants are tight and you haven't seen the equipment in months.  Bottom line, about a month ago it's back on low carbs, forgoing my loved beans and cornbread, tacos, and any thing else that is good including beer and whisky.

Life sucks.

MsBubba to the rescue. Yesterday while surfing the web she came across an article that said: "Whisky has no carbs", the skies are blue once more, the birds are singing, and there is a rainbow on the horizon.

Of the two, booze or food, I would pick food any day but one is a hell of a lot better than none. BTW, maybe I enjoyed the new found freedom a little much last night but that 12 year old Macallan was sure smooth going down.

Other than a boozy afternoon I did get a little done in the shop. The Cherry shorts for the tool box lid have not showed. It's not a big deal, I can make and fit the lid with the box loaded, so that is what I did. The big advantages of loading the box are twofold: I get it out of the middle of the shop and placed where it will stay and I get most of the tools moved to their new place so I can move forward on making 10 lbs of stuff fit into a 5 lb shop.

I did not clean up the interior of the box, all the joinery markings are still there, I did not plane or sand either the inside or outside of the trays and dividers, or the inside of the box. I figure in a 100 years or so if, and it is a big if, it doesn't become a toy box per Bob then folks looking at it might enjoy seeing the tool marks and the marking out of the box and joints.

I expect the "load" will change many times but here is the first load. Top drawer mostly things used daily and/or normally found on the workbench. Second drawer most of my joinery planes and tools. Back side of case H&R's with molding planes, middle wood stock bench planes, front wall will have a chisel rack and saw till. All subject to change often.

Some photos:

From the side with both drawers open.

The front with both drawers open.

The front with drawers closed to the rear and some toes.

The front with drawers closed forward and a red belly.

Not too bad considering how life gets in the way. Looking back I started the tool box build around the first of March, so a couple or three months for the build. I can live with that. 

ken

First Coat of Paint

Just what the title said. I'm making the second tray while waiting for the first coat of "Red Pepper" milk paint to dry.

It will take a couple more coats of the Red Pepper and then it will be decision time....Stay Red or use a overcoat of another color. One of the things I like about Milk paint is as it wears it doesn't flake but will reveal the paint and/or wood under the top coat. If I decide to go with a different top coat the question is.....Which one? Black always works well with a red under coat, I've never tried Blue over red and think it might be interesting. I expect yellow or green would be kinda indifferent.

Whatever I'm ready to move on to either the travel work bench or some shop furniture, unless MsBubba has other plans.

ken

One Down,,,,One to Go

Heard a loud "pop" in my right shoulder a couple of days ago while doing some honey do's around the house. I've a appointment with the Shoulder Doc Monday, I expect he will want to cut. In the meantime I'm learning to work one handed .

I'm pretty much in the short rows on the tool box, one tray down and one to go. I expect I'll finish the second tray in the AM. Then it is just paint and lid to finish the sucker off.

I'd been holding off on the top, waiting for the new Plano Vertical Glue Press to arrive, turns out UPS delivered it last Monday, "Left on Doorstep". Whatever, Advanced Machinery has found it and will see it is on its way this coming Monday.

I've a spreader holding the saw till in place while the hide glue sets and I've tried a few things to see how they fit. Only problem found so far is the Japanese paring chisels are too tall to fit on a side wall, I'll have to make a paring chisel till in one of the trays.

If I can stay out of MsBubba's line of sight tomorrow it will have at least a couple of coats of milk paint by sundown.

I've found some very nice 4/4 Cherry shorts at an attractive price. The second tray is Cherry from the shorts and I plan on using them for the lid and panel. If I do, the lid and panel will be left natural with just a BLO finish. The inside will be left unfinished down to leaving the pencil marks and joinery notes. My excuse:....It's a tool box.

ken 

More You Gotta Love Hot Hide Glue

One more reason to love hot hide glue. When I went to put the bottom of the first tray in the box, the top runners were a silly mm too wide.  What to do, what to do? After running through all the options the best and easiest was to dig out the heat gun and a wet rag to undo the glue up. No harm no foul, cut about 6mm off the runner and re-glued 'em. Anyway, I'm stopping at two trays, both about 250mm deep. Tomorrow I will finish the trays and start the lid.

ken

You Gotta Love Hot Hide Glue

I'm working on the inside of the tool box. I needed a break from moving that sucker around. With making the partitions and trays there is no lifting and grunting, just some ass scratching trying to figure out where everything goes and how big it needs to be. The good news is once the lower tray runners are installed right or wrong it is pretty much a done deal except for deciding on one more or two more trays.

For installing runners and dividers inside a box there ain't nothing better than hot hide glue because it is almost impossible to set clamps. With hot hide glue you can just do a "rub joint". As you should be able to see in the photo, the lower runners are setting on a spacer as I wait for the glue to cure.

Once the glue cures I'll decide on one or two more trays. I'm leaning towards two more but....I need to see how much space is left after the the lower tray is completed.

The saw till is on the left side of the photo (will be the front of the tool box) and it has 4 slots for saws. I figure two hand saws, one X-cut and one rip and two back saws both carcass. space on the right is for the molding planes and H&R's. Center area is for the bench planes and maybe a joinery plane or two. 

I expect there will be room for a chisel till on the front wall over the plane till and maybe on on the back wall as well, it will depend on how wide I make the trays.

No matter how big you make it, and this box is too big, you run out of room before you run out of tools.