Extremely Average

Ecocandle said:

New Year...New Hobby

I have been known to take up a hobby or 37. At 42, on the cusp of 43, and well into the 'balding' years, I have decided that, in lieu of a midlife crisis, I would take up woodworking. Don't get me wrong, a new car and a 27 year old with huge, firm, hands would be wonderful; But I can't afford the 27 year old, and I am not into cars that much.

In the summer of 2009, I went to an arts festival in Des Moines. The gentleman, who won best of show, did so with some amazing etched clay bowls. I am not sure why those clay pots inspired me to take up wood working, or if they were the only inspiration, but shortly thereafter I found myself living in the thriving metropolis of Martelle Iowa. I had my first ever basement.

Without a lot of money to buy all that one needs to build furniture, I started with magazines. The first one was called, "Start Woodworking", from the editors of Fine WoodWorking. I read tips on tools, ideas for projects, stories about great woodworkers, and I began to formulate a plan. I would start with a workbench, the workbench on page 24. The editors of the magazine did a good job of designing a project with the beginner in mind. They even provided a DVD with instructions that were really helpful.

The bench took several months to complete, though the plans were designed so that one could complete it is a weekend. I would guess that I spent 5 hours of thinking about building the bench, for every hour of actual working on it. I thought about what I needed to complete each step, but I was always only focused on the next step. The first step was to buy the 2×4s, 4×4s, 3/8" threaded rod, and a miter saw. Not an electric miter saw, a cheap manual one. I could afford it, it would cut, and I didn't at all care about how long it would take to make each cut. I also discovered in the garage and old hack saw that I could use for cutting the threaded rod.

With the wood cut, I decided I wanted to sand my lumber. The next purchase was a small Black and Decker 'Mouse' sander, some 80, 120, 180 grit sandpaper, and a cool looking level that I didn't need but it was shiny and I was powerless to NOT buy it. The next few weeks found me sanding each piece a bit each day. Barely into my first project I was already getting addicted to the process. The feeling of the construction grade lumber in my hand, after it had been sanded, gave me the slightest glimpse into the beauty of working with wood. I thought about how it must be to run my fingers across a piece of glass smooth mahogany or birds eye maple.

The plans required that I route a 3/8 inch groove into the stretchers. Before I read this magazine I didn't even know what a router or a stretcher was. Each new term learned, each skill set explored, opened up the possibilities that developing woodworking skills offers. And each discovery brought the reality home that care needs to be taken to master each aspect of woodworking. So before I could move on to routing I needed to do a bit of research. This is how one turns a 2 day project into a 2 month quest.

I read reviews and comments. There are many good routers to choose from and I decided to go with the Bosch 2.25 hp router with both the plunge base and the fixed base. I bought 3 bits. A 2" Spiral Downcut CL 2BB and a straight 3/8" by Amana Tools, and a 3/8" Up Spiral bit by Freud. I have come to the conclusion that Freud and Amana Tools are the two best out there. Admittedly Amana makes 2 levels of router bits, and I can't speak to their low end line, but the high end bits have been a joy.

With the router in hand, I had all the tools required to build my workbench. Each step was approached with a sense of confusion and fear. The first time I used the router I was filled with trepidation and pizza, as it was after dinner when I gave it a try. I spent close to 40 minutes setting up a guide for my router. Pieces of 2×4 clamped with 2 24" and 2 36" Jet clamps on my make shift workbench, allowed me to position the router to route. I had read that it is best to take several small passes for safety. Since I was already a bit scared that the router would spin wildly out of control and drive itself into my spleen, leaving me bleeding and generally disappointed, I decided that small passes were a good idea.

It worked as advertised. My first 2 passes made a wonderful 3/8" grove in my wood. I was filled with pride and sure that I was well on my way to being one of the greatest woodworkers of the last 700 years. My second board didn't go as well. I had tightened the collet on the router, though apparently not enough and it had slid up slightly. This had produced a slight up ramp for the groove. My ego needed this set back and I retightened it and decided that I was the greatest woodworker in my basement at that moment. This was good enough for me.

The rest of the project required gluing 2 pieces of ¾ " ODF together to form the top, drilling some holes in the 4×4 legs, and attaching the 9" Jet vice. The only difficult part was installing the vice as it didn't come with instructions, but my own insecurity about getting it right, made me take it at a glacial pace. When I flipped the bench back over and put a piece of wood in the vice, I almost wept with joy.

At the end of the quest I learned several things. 1) When marking wood to be cut or drilled, avoid doing it while watching college football. My bench still bears the scars of several errant holes. 2) Drilling holes with a hand drill, so that they are straight, requires a bit of practice. 3) High quality drill bits are much easier to use than really old, worn out, dull, bits. This likely applies to all tools, the better the quality, the better the results. 4) Fostner bits are cool. 5) I love my workbench, with its shiny red Jet 9" vice. 6) The journey before me is perhaps the most exciting one I have undertaken in my lifetime.

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Ecocandle said:

A Tenuous Grasp



"Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers."
-Alfred Lord Tennyson

As you may know, I have mortised. Can mortise be used as a verb? Obviously it can, though I am sure my 7th grade English teacher is rolling over in her grave. Actually, I don't know if she is dead, probably just wishful thinking on my part. I digress.

What is a mortise without a tenon? It is sad. It is lonely. It is unfulfilled. It is ying without yang, peanut butter without jelly, Simon without Garfield. Ok that last one wasn't a good example, as Paul Simon has done pretty well solo. Apparently I am still digressing.

After my 3 practice mortises and 4 real mortises, I realized it was time to create a verb out of tenon. I have read all sorts of interesting articles giving techniques and jigs one can use to cut tenons on the router table or table saw. I have neither yet. In a fit of impulse buying I had purchased a lovely coping saw a few weeks earlier. A Robert Larson saw made in Germany. I reasoned that with all the Germans have had to cope with in the last 100 years; they probably know a thing or two about this type of saw.

I find my coping saw to be quite wonderful. It cuts nicely, but alas it is not the tool for tenoning. I know this now. I am still very pleased to have it in my tool collection. I decided to try my Marples Japanese hand saw. I had not really used it in earnest before. It has two distinct types of teeth on it. This seemed to me to be significant and I reasoned that I should find out what each set of teeth was designed to do.

I wondered over to finewoodworking.com, where I gladly pay $4.95 per month to be a member. I figured I could find something about Japanese hand saws, and while I was looking I saw an article, "Guide for Cambering a Jack Plane Blade". I don't know what 'Cambering' is. I am equally uniformed as to what a 'Jack Plane' does. I assume it flattens large blocks of cheese. Not wanting to get distracted I passed on this article.

I found a wonderful article which had a diagram, which was vastly superior to the one I have here. Now I just needed to find a definition of 'rip' and 'crosscut', and I would be set.



I meticulously marked the board, took my saw to the basement, and clamped my bit 'o' hard maple into the vice. I decided I would cut off the short blocks on the end of the tenon first. This didn't take long at all. I then sawed the long bits off. I now had a tenon with four shoulders that were grotesquely uneven. Not to worry. I grabbed my trusty Black and Decker mouse sander and went to work. This was an abysmal failure. I now had shoulders that were smooth but not flat. Wisdom gained.

Never being one to get too stressed about failure, I decided I would take my mallet and see about gently inserting the tenon into the mortise. By gently I mean hammering it like Thor. This worked nicely, and though there was only one side of the combination that looked reasonable, it was so solid I couldn't pull it apart.

I have since learned that that first mortise tenon combo was too tight. It seems that when glue is applied the tenon will swell a bit. Though I didn't know that the joint was too tight at the time, I did know that it looked dreadful. So I brutally unjoined my joint and set the two pieces on the table. It was apparent that my grasp of tenon cutting was tenuous at best. I decided to sleep on it.

The next day I thought about it some more. It would be best to approach the cut differently. I would draw a box around the piece of wood, where the shoulders are supposed to be, and cut that first. It worked slightly better than my first method. Then as I was comparing the two, I had an 'ah ha' moment. I bet that the Master Woodworkers, clean up their tenons with their chisels!

With the speed of an Indy car driver, I grabbed my chisel and sheared off a bit of the shoulder. This was fun, and appeared to be helping. I spent a good deal of time chiseling off tiny bits here and there, occasionally setting my chisel on the shoulder and using it to see how close I was to flat, and then I learned a valuable lesson. If you are chiseling across a shoulder and coming up on the end of the board, it is best to stop and chisel back into the board. I learned this when I shaved the slightest bit off the shoulder and took a huge chunk out of the side.



Before I tackled the last two I looked up the best way to start a cut with a Japanese handsaw. I also drew a secondary box 1/32 below the 1st one. This made thing easier. I cut to the 1st box and chiseled to the 2nd one. It was also brought to my attention that one should hold the saw near the end of the handle, not apply too much downward pressure, and to just let the saw cut. Apparently these types of saws like to cut in straight lines. I am not sure that my saw is aware of this, but it does a pretty good job. A good enough job that I am planning on upgrading to a better saw. Any ideas or suggestions from the peanut gallery would be greatly appreciated. In fact, here are three questions I would love to have answered.

1. What is the best Japanese handsaw for cutting tenons or dovetails?
2. How do you get clean and flat shoulders on your tenons? (if you cut them by hand)
3. What is your favorite land mammal?

With my newly acquired knowledge I was able to improve the tenons marginally. I would give my tenons a c+, but only because the class is graded on the curve, and I intentionally signed up for woodworking for toddlers. Those 3 year olds with their barely developed motor skills, they make me laugh. In all seriousness though, I would imagine that just like in all other aspects of woodworking, practice goes a long ways towards perfection. So I am going to keep at it.

"The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions."
-Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Ecocandle said:

Out Into The Cold



It is cold in Iowa today. It was cold yesterday too. It will be cold tomorrow. Despite this I realized that I hadn't been to Home Depot, Menards, or Acme Tool in several days. I was beginning to get that itch. I needed a fix. So I bundled up and hopped in the car and off I went.

I had a vague desire to buy some rare earth magnets. Do I have a project that requires magnets? No, of course not, I just really wanted them. The reason that the advertising industry is so successful is that there are people like me. I recently read an article or saw an ad about rare earth magnets. I don't remember which it was. I just know that the seed was planted in my mind that they are really cool.

I have no idea what sort of woodworker I will be. Will I faithfully reproduce a 1755 George Haupt commode? Perhaps a Federal chest of drawer will strike my fancy? Or a Greene and Greene inspired end table? Right now, I couldn't say where this journey will take me. I do know that I like to learn how to do new things. So it is quite likely that I will pick many of my early projects, based upon the skills they require to complete, rather than what I would like to have when I am done. I am learning how to use hand tools now, so for the foreseeable future there will be lots of gratuitous chisel work.

This brings me to the point of today's rambling. The joy of woodworking extends well beyond the physical construction. I take pleasure in reading about woodworking, or watching The Woodsmith Shop on Iowa Public television, or just thinking about projects that might be in my future. Of course one of the best rushes, as far as I can tell, is looking at, learning about, and buying new tools and woodworking accessories.

I knew a woman once, a professional Jazz singer. She did very well financially. She tried to explain to me why she had over 1000 pairs of shoes, she tried to justify it by explaining that many of the pairs were less than $350.00, she described the feeling she had just owning them. I did the math. I couldn't conceive of a world where I would want to spend $350,000 dollars on anything that didn't have a walk out balcony and a view. It was what she loved and she had the money.


As I left Acme tools, having drooled over a random orbital sander and vacuum from Festool ($800 ish), the $3000 Saw Stop table saw, and tens of thousands of dollars of Freud and Amana router bits, I thought about the woman with the shoes. I think I finally understand her love of shoes.

Magnets in my pocket, carefully placed on the opposite side from my wallet, I headed home. When I got home I looked around and realized that in my world, one of tech, most things I own hate magnets. I spend most of my life at my computer, or more accurately surrounded by my computers. It was clear that the only place that it would be safe to take them out and play with them, was in the basement, among my tools. I love tech, but I also love it that the magnets won't erase the hard drive on my 9" Jet vice. Sitting at my workbench I took out the magnets. I bought both ¾" magnets and the little holder thingies (I like to use technical terms whenever possible, in this case it wasn't possible, as I would have had to get up and go all the way downstairs to find out what they are called. Perhaps not possible is too strong, let's say that it was inconvenient, and I couldn't be bothered. My daily digression)



They are fun. I like to learn something about woodworking every day. The other day I learned that if one has rare earth magnets and one puts them in the little holder thingies, it increases their strength by 4x. Today I learned that if one is playing with their new rare earth magnets and puts one into its holder thingy, it is no small feat to get them back out again. I used my vice and a poking device. I put the magnets back in their little case and the thingy back in its case, and put them in a drawer. I felt satiated. I had made an impulse purchase, which was loosely related to woodworking, and I had gotten out of the house. The only problem I can see with today, and this blog post, is that it hasn't lent itself well to photos. So I have included several gratuitous cat photos. His name is Harley. He is NOT my cat. He is however, a master craftsman, specializing in reproducing the works of Karl Friedrich Schinkel (Ok, that last part isn't true. Harley is a cat, he doesn't have opposable thumbs)

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Ecocandle said:

My Days as a Ninja



It seemed like a long time ago. The year was 637 AD, and I was studying under the master Ninja and Carpenter, Sado Asuka. His philosophy was, 'To master the blade of the Ninja, one must master the tools of the Carpenter'. He said this often. We built a Shinto shrine in his back yard and a rumpus room, for his kids. It was strange that he spoke English, but I digress. One day I was using the hand tools, as I was told, practicing my Miyajim-tsugi, or as the master said, in his best East Anglia accent, 'halved oblique scarf joint', when an elder from the village told me that I was needed, to help build a defensive wall, to protect the village from a pending attack.

I followed him to the area where the wall had collapsed. Holding true to the teachings of Master Asuka, I used only my hand tools to meticulously cut and join the logs, even though there was a perfectly good Bosch circular saw a mere 5 meters away. Though I knew the circular saw would speed up the construction considerably, I held true to my teachings.

Before I had finished the wall, a horde of marauders attacked. Three people died, a dozen people, including myself were injured, and hundreds had their feelings hurt. My injuries were severe and I was to be carted, by ox, to another village, where I could receive better treatment for my wounds. It is unfortunate that on the trip, the ox got spooked and fell off the path, into the ironically named, Ox Death Crevasse, pulling me with him. Neither I nor the ox survived.

Many centuries later, when I was reincarnated, as a middle aged woodworker with delusions of blogger, I would remember the error of my ways. It is important to master my hand tools, but it is equally important to get into the habit of finishing projects in a reasonable amount of time.



With the memory of my ill fated wall project and the succeeding oxen cart death ride on my mind, I thought about how I might complete the feet on my Krenov saw horses. I also realized that it had been seven days since I had purchased a tool. Seven! In some parts of the country that is almost a week!
Though I had considered ordering some chisels, I made the decision to buy a jigsaw instead. Off to Acme tools I went. They had many jigsaws and I had looked at them all before. I have researched jigsaws and already knew that I wanted the Festool PSB 300 EQ-Plus. They have this tool and I asked the sales person about it. He pointed out several features that I wasn't aware of and the deal was done. I bought it. This is not the story of my new jigsaw, but the story of its packaging.



He went to the back and got my jigsaw. It comes in a hard plastic case. The handle is in the middle of the lid. It looks strange, but it is actually very comfortable to carry. The latches are heavy duty and fasten securely. The case is molded in such a way that it is stackable. Apparently they have designed the outside of their tool cases to fit together with one another. So if I later purchase their random orbital sander, and I likely will, the case will stack neatly on top of the jigsaw. There are also slide up latches that allows one to connect the cases together, so they don't fall off, if you are pulling them on a cart. Should I also decide to buy one of their uber cool dust collectors, the top of the dust collector is designed for the tools to sit on it, and because it has wheels, you can cart your tools around together.



I love brilliant packaging. I haven't been this excited about the packaging of a product, since I worked at GEICO, "Where a 15 minutes could save you 15% on your auto insurance.", and a friend showed me the new iPod. He called it a Nano. I had to have one. This was my first iPod. I still have the iPod and the packaging. I believe that the packaging is a good indicator of the quality inside. I know, you can't always judge a book by its cover, but if a company puts so much time, thought and engineering into the case, it is reasonable that they probably spent some time building a pretty good tool too.

So I will finish up my saw horse feet with my jigsaw. The practicing of cutting with my Japanese hand saw will continue. And I will mourn the loss of the villagers and the ox that perished because of my unwillingness to use the right tool for the right job.

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Ecocandle said:

She Took My Breath Away



Since I began blogging, I have taken to carrying around a small notebook, pencil, sharpener and eraser. I am more of a pen person, but using a pencil feels right to me. I was at the bar in the Dublin Underground, drinking an RC, no straw, my usual drink. This is my favorite place in Iowa City. It is a friendly place.

I was really focused on writing down some thoughts about possible future blog posts. I didn't notice the woman taking off her coat and sitting down one seat over on my right. I didn't hear her order the glass of white wine, or notice the look on the bar tenders face when he first saw her. I was scribbling away, when I felt the slightest tap on my right elbow, and as I looked up, she said in a French accent, "What are you writing about in zee little book?"

Normally that would be a pretty easy question, since I was the writer, and it wasn't one of those tricky multiple choice questions, I should have been able to fire back an answer immediately. It wouldn't have been a problem, had I not looked up. Had I kept my eyes on zee little notebook, I would have been able to say something like, "My woodworking blog". I saw her face first, and my response was, "I…um…It's…huh…I don't remember. What was the question?" I was having trouble breathing. She giggled and pointed my notebook.

I then went into a somewhat incoherent rambling about it being notes for a blog which I have been doing since Jan 2 of this year, and lots of other details, which just kept pouring out of me. The little voice in my head was screaming at me, "You are blathering like an idiot" I was pathetic. She sensed that this could on for a while, unless she intervened, "What is zee blog about?" This second question let me gather myself a bit, and I took a breath and said, "It is about woodworking."

She wore a white silk blouse, black skirt, and had short ebony hair, with the sort of face that launches a thousand ships. I think she said that she liked woodworking, but my head was still spinning a bit and I missed some of her response. It wasn't until she mentioned something about retiring from French national gymnastics team, after she grew 6 inches her senior year in high school, and had been a lingere model for the last 7 years, that I was able to focus on what she was saying again. It was a good thing too, as she asked me another question, "What is the URL for zee blog?"

She had her iphone out and typed in the address as I gave it to her. Since I knew that if I opened my mouth I would begin to blather on like the idiot again, I sat quietly and fidgeted with my pencil. "The photos are tres beau, did you take them?" I was a bit less shaky by this time, so I said, "yes, I enjoy photography."

We talked a bit about photography and then she asked, "So you have the wood?" At that moment I felt the urge to tilt my head slightly to the right and raise my left eyebrow. Tragically I suffer from the rare affliction eyebrowus parallelus, from the Latin, which means the inability to raise either eyebrow without raising the other simultaneously, thus keeping them parallel to the eyes. She quickly corrected herself, "Do you have a favorite wood?" To which I said that I like hard maple and walnut. She reached over and touched my arm, looked into my eyes and said, "I would love to see your wood." Damn eyebrowus parellelus!

She held out her hand and introduced herself. Her hand was warm. Her expression was kind and calming. I guessed that I wasn't the first guy to stammer in her presence. Feeling at ease, I said, "It is nice to meet you Sherri Seurat, my name is Brian Meeks."

Her father was an avid woodworker, and she was the great granddaughter of Georges Seurat. We talked about photography, her modeling career, her grandfather, and I was much less of an idiot than I had been in the beginning. I don't know how long we talked, but every minute was a delight.

I was telling her about my little workshop when she asked, "What sort of air filtration system do you have?" I said that I don't have one, but I wear a mask. The look of shock on her face startled me. "You don't have zee air filtration system? Don't you know that air quality is important in keeping your lungs healthy?!" Her voice began to rise. "My father never took care of himself; he breathed that dust every day until he died." She got up from her seat, sobbing, grabbed her coat and fled up the stairs. I was stunned, but I followed her and went outside just in time to see her hop into a cab and drive off. I watched her head off along the river towards the mountains. The beauty of the setting sun was lost on me. It looked cold and sad.



Thirty-seven minutes later I was loading the Jet AFS-1000B Air Filtration System into my car. I am pleased with my purchases. It has a remote. I can breathe again.

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Ecocandle said:

She Took My Breath Away



Since I began blogging, I have taken to carrying around a small notebook, pencil, sharpener and eraser. I am more of a pen person, but using a pencil feels right to me. I was at the bar in the Dublin Underground, drinking an RC, no straw, my usual drink. This is my favorite place in Iowa City. It is a friendly place.

I was really focused on writing down some thoughts about possible future blog posts. I didn't notice the woman taking off her coat and sitting down one seat over on my right. I didn't hear her order the glass of white wine, or notice the look on the bar tenders face when he first saw her. I was scribbling away, when I felt the slightest tap on my right elbow, and as I looked up, she said in a French accent, "What are you writing about in zee little book?"

Normally that would be a pretty easy question, since I was the writer, and it wasn't one of those tricky multiple choice questions, I should have been able to fire back an answer immediately. It wouldn't have been a problem, had I not looked up. Had I kept my eyes on zee little notebook, I would have been able to say something like, "My woodworking blog". I saw her face first, and my response was, "I…um…It's…huh…I don't remember. What was the question?" I was having trouble breathing. She giggled and pointed my notebook.

I then went into a somewhat incoherent rambling about it being notes for a blog which I have been doing since Jan 2 of this year, and lots of other details, which just kept pouring out of me. The little voice in my head was screaming at me, "You are blathering like an idiot" I was pathetic. She sensed that this could on for a while, unless she intervened, "What is zee blog about?" This second question let me gather myself a bit, and I took a breath and said, "It is about woodworking."

She wore a white silk blouse, black skirt, and had short ebony hair, with the sort of face that launches a thousand ships. I think she said that she liked woodworking, but my head was still spinning a bit and I missed some of her response. It wasn't until she mentioned something about retiring from French national gymnastics team, after she grew 6 inches her senior year in high school, and had been a lingere model for the last 7 years, that I was able to focus on what she was saying again. It was a good thing too, as she asked me another question, "What is the URL for zee blog?"

She had her iphone out and typed in the address as I gave it to her. Since I knew that if I opened my mouth I would begin to blather on like the idiot again, I sat quietly and fidgeted with my pencil. "The photos are tres beau, did you take them?" I was a bit less shaky by this time, so I said, "yes, I enjoy photography."

We talked a bit about photography and then she asked, "So you have the wood?" At that moment I felt the urge to tilt my head slightly to the right and raise my left eyebrow. Tragically I suffer from the rare affliction eyebrowus parallelus, from the Latin, which means the inability to raise either eyebrow without raising the other simultaneously, thus keeping them parallel to the eyes. She quickly corrected herself, "Do you have a favorite wood?" To which I said that I like hard maple and walnut. She reached over and touched my arm, looked into my eyes and said, "I would love to see your wood." Damn eyebrowus parellelus!

She held out her hand and introduced herself. Her hand was warm. Her expression was kind and calming. I guessed that I wasn't the first guy to stammer in her presence. Feeling at ease, I said, "It is nice to meet you Sherri Seurat, my name is Brian Meeks."

Her father was an avid woodworker, and she was the great granddaughter of Georges Seurat. We talked about photography, her modeling career, her grandfather, and I was much less of an idiot than I had been in the beginning. I don't know how long we talked, but every minute was a delight.

I was telling her about my little workshop when she asked, "What sort of air filtration system do you have?" I said that I don't have one, but I wear a mask. The look of shock on her face startled me. "You don't have zee air filtration system? Don't you know that air quality is important in keeping your lungs healthy?!" Her voice began to rise. "My father never took care of himself; he breathed that dust every day until he died." She got up from her seat, sobbing, grabbed her coat and fled up the stairs. I was stunned, but I followed her and went outside just in time to see her hop into a cab and drive off. I watched her head off along the river towards the mountains. The beauty of the setting sun was lost on me. It looked cold and sad.



Thirty-seven minutes later I was loading the Jet AFS-1000B Air Filtration System into my car. I am pleased with my purchases. It has a remote. I can breathe again.

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Ecocandle said:

Henry Wood Detective Agency: Tommy 'The Knife'



Henry took a couple of pictures of the cauls. He told Luna that he needed to head into his office and made her promise not to leave the house. She said she would read a book. Henry took the paper with him, he turned on the shower, and only then did he read the 'Big News'

The headline read 'Missing'.

An accountant with the prominent Manhattan law firm of Smith, Havershome and Blickstein is missing, and the Police commissioner Jonathan O'Rourke has indicated that the entire department is scouring the city. Mr. Alexander is wanted in connection with the racketeering and money laundering case against famous mobster Tommy 'The Knife'. He has crucial evidence in the case and the commissioner has asked the entire community to be on the lookout for the missing accountant.



The article went on to provide a bunch of conjecture regarding the case, most of which wasn't at all accurate, but did fill out a fairly thin story. At least now, Henry knew which mobster was after Mr. Alexander. Tommy 'The Knife' was a ruthless thug who preferred to use a barber's straight edge to a gun. He had risen up through the ranks by collecting for the most powerful loan shark in the city and now ran a veritable army, made up of the dregs of society. Henry took a shower and shaved. He told Luna that he was off to the office and made her promise to stay inside, again. She did.

The snow had ceased to fall. The streets were wet, but traffic was light, as most had taken off work and stayed home. The drive was easy and Henry's thoughts turned to the case. What could be the next clue? He thought about the journal. He needed to get it to the DA, but first he wanted to go to the office and see if anyone had been around to see him. He also wanted to go meet Miss Culberson, as it appears the Journal doesn't have anything to do with her father, and he wanted to find out who put her up to hiring him.
Henry parked his car in the alley down the street from his building. He rounded the corner and immediately saw the crowd gathered around the front of the charred building that used to hold his office. He didn't stop to ask what had happened. He knew the answer. He went to his apartment, which was only 5 blocks away. He kept the apartment in the city as his official residence. Henry made sure that he spent at least one night a week in the place, just to keep up appearances.

He was careful. He used the back entrance. There wasn't anyone around. The back stairs were empty, but Henry was extra careful. He listened for anything out of the ordinary. It was quiet, except for the baby crying in 5B. When he stepped onto the landing he didn't see anyone. Henry pressed his ear carefully against the door and again he heard nothing, not so much as a mouse in the house. It turned out that there weren't any mice, only rats. He opened the door and walked in. The door closed behind him.

"Mr. Wood, you owe me two tires." came from the man sitting in his comfy chair.

Before Henry could come up with a clever response, the man to his right, welcomed him with a sock to the gut.

"It seems youz been sticking your nose where it don't belong, Mr. Wood." said the man in the chair.

Henry was about to say answer, when he got another greeting to the midsection.

"You tell your buddy Big Mike that he messed with the wrong guy. If he wants a war then we will give him one."

The thug behind Henry brought something down on the back of Henry's head and he dropped to the floor.

The knocking at the door caused Henry to come to. He moaned and said, "Come in."

Big Mike walked in as Henry was trying to sit up. He looked around the apartment. "They tossed your place pretty good, eh buddy?"

"I was thinking of having a decorator in anyway." Henry said.

"I told you that they were some bad guys." said Mike, while helping his friend to his feet, and continued, "Maybe you best tell your buddy what you have been up to?"

Henry and Mike turned the kitchen table back upright and got a couple of chairs. He grabbed the bottle of bourbon from the counter and two glasses. "Was there anybody hurt in the fire?" Henry asked.

"No, it must have started around 3 am; we don't know the cause yet. You think it was your new friends?" Mike asked.

"I don't believe in coincidences." Henry threw back the shot.

"Now what have you found out, that has gotten Tommy's people on your back?" Mike asked as he poured Henry another one. Henry filled in Mike on the details, including the message they left for him. Mike promised to look into Miss Culberson for Henry. Henry told Mike about the journal and explained that he had it hidden and that they needed to get it to the DA. They each had another shot and sat without saying a word.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Creating the Cauls



In Vol 28, No. 164, on page 6 of Woodsmith magazine is the article which describes the Adjustable Panels Cauls. It was sent in by George Johnson of Canton Oklahoma. They give the dimensions and I followed them somewhat closely. I visited my local Home Depot to buy the goodies I would need to make my cauls. I purchased (4) seven feet long, 1×2, in hard maple. I like hard maple. I also purchased (4) 36 inches long ½ x 3 inch pieces of Oak. I only needed one piece of the oak, but I wanted the other pieces for another project. So only buy 1 if you don't want extra, and to be honest, I didn't use the entire one piece either, I only used 18 inches.

As for the hardware, I came very close to making a tightening handle blunder, when I nearly bought a handle with the male threaded rod attached. This would have been a mistake. The handles need to be female which allow the threaded part of the 5/16th carriage bolt to pass through. Which brings me to the quantities of stuff I needed, the plans required 4 handles, 4 washers (I bought 8 to allow for losing a few), (24) #8, 1 ¾ "flat head screws (I bought a box). I also bought a box of 1 1/4" flat head screw, because I didn't believe the instructions. The 1 ¾ looked way too long. They were not too long and actually worked wonderfully.



Being new to woodworking, I lack confidence, so I bought extra stuff, which I didn't need. I then reinforced my fears when I purchased (3) 5" 5/16" carriage bolts and (1) 5 ½" carriage bolt. I blindly trusted the little bin that told me I was buying 5 inch, and it was very sneaky in giving me a 5 ½ bolt. I fixed the problem by buying (3) 5 ½" and (1) 5" the next day. So I have an extra set that will allow for thicker boards to be in my glue up. In the photos I used the 5 ½ inch bolt. I may buy some longer ones too. The reason one can't just buy really long bolts is that the threads don't go all the way down the bolt. If I had bought a 7 inch, I wouldn't have been able to tighten them all the way down.



So here is how I built my cauls. I cut (8) 36" pieces of hard maple, using my Japanese hand saw. I was amazed at how quickly it cut through each piece, and how beautiful the cuts turned out. It was definitely the right tool for the job.



I like sanding. I have read that many woodworkers don't like sanding their projects. It is considered drudgery. I took 2 pieces and clamped them into my vice and sanded the top to a nice rounded edge on the outside edges on the top side of the two pieces. My reasoning was, it was a waste of time to sand the inside edges, so I didn't. I also didn't sand the bottom edges, because I wanted them to remain flat. So I sanded up each pair. I used 80, 120, 220 grit paper and my mouse sander.

The next step was to cut off 1 ½"blocks from the piece of oak. My Japanese hand saw handled this task as well. The blocks are used as spacers between the pieces of hard maple. There are 3 spacers per caul piece (top and bottom) and created the gap that allows the carriage bolts to be threaded up through the top and bottom. It means that one is able to move the clamping handles in to the edges of the wood when clamping, to apply the most pressure onto the wood being glued up.

So with 12 pieces of oak cut, I stacked them together and sanded the tops, rounding the edges. This was done for aesthetics.

The next step was to screw everything together. I placed a spacer in the middle, at 18 inches and one on each end, set in 1 ½ inches from the edge. I have no idea why they weren't all the way out to the edge, but in the article, that is how George Johnson did it, and it looked good to me. I then flipped the pieces of wood upside down, with the rounded edges on the table, and placed my oak spacers in the correct positions. Next I clamped everything together, before drilling pilot holes. I then used a countersink bit to drill out a bit of space for the flat head screws to set into the wood. To make my life easier I got out both of my cordless drills, using one as a dedicated pilot holes driller and the other for the countersinking and the screwing in of the flat head screws. ( I am not sure all of the verbs in the last sentence really exist, but I digress)

Once all of this was done, I just needed to cut some blocks to hold the carriage bolts. The instructions called for 3 ½ inch blocks, but I had a lovely piece of hard maple that was 12 inches long, so I went with 3 inches for each block. Yes it was a daring move, but I am not afraid to live life on the edge. I sanded the 12 inch block before I made the cuts. I also drilled the holes, first with a Fostner bit, then with a regular bit. This meant that after I cut them into their 3 inch lengths, they were ready to go.



The last step was to check the flatness of the bottoms of each caul section. I had focused on making sure that the tops were flat, because I intended to flatten any that needed it, using my router. There was only one that needed flattening, so I used my 2 inch flush trim bit. It is a really nice bit, made by Amana. I spent $128.00 on this bit. That seems like a lot, but I have already used it a bunch of times. And it cuts like a hot knife through brie.

When I finally assembled the cauls, they looked even better than I had hoped. Now I just need to find a project that requires a glue up.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

To Build or Not To Build



A while back I talked about my desire to buy or build a router table. Today I have decided. I will build. It will be glorious. The factors that influenced my decision were many; quality, precision, flatness of the table, and to some extent cost. When I weighed all the factors the scales were greatly tilted in favor of buying either the Incra super system or the Veritas system. I choose to build, because I wanted to.

In a day or two, the router plate I ordered will arrive. This will cause much stress and fear, as I will likely need to drill some holes into it. It is possible that I will devote twenty to thirty hours measuring and remeasuring the placement of the holes, before I break down and call in someone from NASA. Since I don't have a drill press or know what type of bit to use, I calculate my chances for a cataclysmic failure to be at about 84%.
I began work on the stretchers. They are made from 2×4s. I have designed the table to have the same table top dimensions as the Kreg table, 24×32. When I say designed, I am using that term loosely, as I am actually just modifying the plans I used to build my work bench. Those plans were designed by the editor of Fine Woodworking magazine, Asa Christiana. My plans simply call for different dimensions, a set of freaking laser beams, and a Gatlin gun. It is actually going to be a router/urban assault table.

I am setting each leg in from the edge by 3 inches. The legs will be made from 4×4s. This means that the side stretchers will be 11 inches and the front and back will be at 19 inches. So I bought (2) 8 foot 2×4s and (2) 4×4. I also purchased 10 feet of 1×6 oak. It was pretty and I wanted it. I may use it as part of a fence or as a mount for the gun.

I was all set to cut my 8 stretchers when it occurred to me, that I should sand first. The voice in my head, with a thick German accent, said I was being 'Stupid'. I didn't listen to my inner German voice and I went ahead and started to sand. While I was sanding, I noticed several things. The first was that sanding one long piece was easier than sanding 4 little pieces. The second was that I didn't need to clamp and unclamp everything so often. Now admittedly, I would have used bench cookies were I sanding 11 inch pieces, to do the four inch faces, but still, it seemed more efficient. The third aspect that I really liked was that I didn't have to change the sand paper as often. I started with 50 grit on the belt sander. I then changed to 80, 150, and 220 on the mouse sander. I went through this cycle with each of the 4 sides. Obviously there would have been 4 times more grit changes, had I sanded each piece individually.



So that was all I did today, with regards to my woodworking. I sanded a 2×4. Not very dramatic or sexy, I will admit, but that is today's report. I feel I have let my reading public down. I have brought great shame to myself, my family, my ancestors, my sister's cat, and several neighbors here in Martelle. I can live with that.



On an entirely different note, today has been a banner day for the readership of the old blog. It is interesting that the eastern sea board, completely shut down by snowmageden, has had a fair number of people turning to my article on creating the cauls. The normal readership, which does not count the several hundred wonderful people which read the blog on Lumberjocks, is around 100, with the largest contingent being the 12 people from St. Louis who started reading a week or two ago. As of the writing of tonight's rambling, the number of people who stopped by to check out the blog was 261, with 77.78% being new visits. I don't know how many of those will return to see this post, but to those that do, I say, Thanks a bunch. I hope the snow melts for you quickly. And to the 12 from St. Louis I ask, do you know Eric Liu?

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

True Dat



Progress is accepting what was once the goal, as common place, seeing the new goal as within reach.

-Aki Haruki, world renowned sharpening monk.

I am not afraid to reference a blog post from my first week! Nor am I afraid to strive for greater accuracy in my cuts. After sanding the 2×4s to within 2.54 centimeters of their life, I made my marks and cut four friendly nineteen inch pieces. Though I am much better at using my Japanese hand saw, I am no 'Aki Haruki', mostly because he doesn't exist, but if he did, he would be really good at making dead on perfect cuts.
When I checked to see if the angles were 90 degrees, they were pretty close. A month ago, that would have been fine. Instead I felt confident that I could do better.





I am sure that people with table saws are able to cut very accurate cuts, with perfect angles, and one day I too will have a table saw, but until then, I am going to get good results using the tools at hand. The most important tool, in my opinion and Hercule Poirot's, are the little grey cells. Here is how I accomplished greater accuracy and trued-up my stretchers.



First step, determine which of the four boards is the shortest.

Second step, clamp this shortest piece to the edge of my workbench, which has a lovely 90 degree corner and two straight edges. I made sure that the board lined up on the long edge. Next I checked the end of the board, sliding it up to the edge of the bench until one corner was flush, while the other corner hung over slightly. I wanted the corner, with the angle that was greater than 90 degrees, to be at the corner of the workbench. In a sense, the slope is heading away from the corner. The reason for this is that I felt it is easier to start with zero material to cut and then ease into the excess.



Third step, I not only wanted to clamp the board down, I wanted to establish a 'stop block' for the length. After I had two clamps holding the board down, I placed a third clamp, behind the board. This third clamp would establish the correct length for boards 2 - 4.

Fourth step is to set up the router. The router bit that I used is a 2 inch flush trim bit by Amana. It is a very nice bit. I put this bit into my Bosch 2 ¼ hp router.

Fifth step, route the edge.



After this I simply unclamped the board and flipped it over, there was very little excess that needed to be trimmed off the other end, apparently I had come rather close to getting that one right on. Of course, I didn't see any harm in making it slightly better, so I routed that end too.





I then repeated the steps with one change. I used one additional clamp and clamped the first board next to the other boards, just to provide a little extra support for the router base. When I finished all four, I checked the angles and they were great. The boards were also the same lengths.

One day I will have all the machines and tools that will render these steps obsolete. Until then, I am not going to let my lack of a table saw, band saw, or drill press, stop me from making fun stuff. I like fun stuff.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Amazing Customer Service



Today I received a call from Dale at ACME Tools in Cedar Rapids.

A couple of weeks ago I asked if they had any router plates. Dale said that they were out but there were some that were supposed to be arriving any day. He checked the computer, and the order was a couple of days past due. I find the people at ACME tools to be helpful and they are very patient with my lack of knowledge. The next two times I walked in, Dale saw me and said that the Rosseau plate wasn't in yet. I didn't even have to ask, he just remembered.

Yesterday my Rousseau router plate arrived from Amazon. I had finally decided on Monday that I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to give ACME the sale, but I was ready to get going on my table. So when Dale called today, I had to tell him that I had just received one. Not only was he nice about it, he proceeded to give me all sorts of tips about how to install it. After a few minutes, when it became apparent that I wasn't following everything, he said, "I won't be here tomorrow, but tell you what; I will draw a diagram and put it under my register." About 15 minutes later he called back and told me that he was ok at drawing but his written explanation wasn't quite so clear, so he set up a little display behind the counter to show me how.

I thanked him profusely and hung up the phone. I love ACME tools and this is just one of the examples of how great they are to their customers. And today I wasn't even a customer; I had bought it from Amazon! If you have an ACME tools nearby or perhaps one day you will pass one, please take a moment and drop in, I am sure that they will be as friendly as the Cedar Rapids ACME Tools.

My Rousseau Model 3509 router plate is quite cool. I am eager to get to the point where I get to install it. Today was not the day however. Today I needed to route dados for the 3/8th inch threaded rod. As part of my extensive collection of three router bits, there is a Freud 75-106 3/8th Up Spiral Bit, which has yet to taste wood. I love my Freud circular saw blade and was excited to see how this bit handled the task at hand. When I cut the dados in my workbench, the Amana bit cut wonderfully, but being a down spiral, I could tell it wasn't the right bit for the job. It pleases me to report that the Freud bit is magical in its cutting prowess. The first pass was approximately 1/8th an inch, as a test. The Freud cut like a hot samurai sword through a pile of Jell-O with tiny bits of fruit in it. The up spiral created lovely shavings and pulled them out of the way.







To cut the dados on the edges of the eleven inch 2×4s I rigged up a setup using the stretchers and part of the dado jig. The first step was to take one of the guides off the jig and clamp it to the stretchers. The first two boards went fine. The third didn't go so well. I wasn't quite careful enough with the clamping and the board got pulled away from the guide. I have included a picture to show what happened. Another cut was made, and though it doesn't look pretty, it will work just fine.



The longer stretchers require the dado be on the face of the board, so I carefully marked each stretcher. The stretchers were clamped to the twins, Teri and Tracy, who are my saw horses, if you are new to the blog. This setup worked really well and the cuts went without incident. So now the next step is to cut and sand the 4×4s. I don't know how the router table will look or work when I am done, but I can say the stretchers are much better than the ones I did for the workbench. So I am happy. Ok, I am off to watch the rest of the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Frantic Speed Shopping



The sun was out today and it was the first time this year that I noticed the days seem to be hanging out a bit longer. They are sneaky that way, sort of creeping up on spring. After all the snow this winter, I will welcome spring with a giddiness that I haven't experienced in years. Of course, it was still cold out, when I got into my car, but the sunlight on my face warmed my spirits considerably.

I had errands to run. I needed to get some petrol and oil for my car. I was craving a Jimmy John's sub, so that was also on my list. The top task on my list however, was to try to make it over to ACME tool before they closed, so I could see the Festool rep. I had marked on my calendar that he would be in town on the 24th and 25th and today is the 24th! Since I purchased Mary the Jigsaw, I have been interested in seeing either the 5" RQ 125 FEQ or the 6" RQ 150 FEQ sander in action.

The Festool representative, Matt, had a piece of tiger wood, which had recently admitted to cheating on his wife with several types of exotics, from all over the world. Not only did I get to see it in action, I got to do the sanding! It was fantastic. He explained how to hold it correctly and also told my why it was important. Because of the design, it sort of looks like one might hold the sander too far back. He explained that this would lead to horrible chatter. So I did as he had instructed and there wasn't any chatter, it was smoother than a famous golfer picking up a porn star.

We started with some 120 grit and worked our way up until we were using some weird space age polishing pads. I have read that new woodworkers often over sand. The 6" RQ 150 FEQ sander, which has a random orbital setting and a gear setting, also has an attachment which collects dust. The dust collection was incredible. There simply wasn't any, the tiny little vacuum seemed to get it all. When I had made it through all the grits and polishing pads, the wood was polished like a new driver.

Before I knew it, the store was closing. I wasn't prepared to make my purchase today, as I like to mull tool buying decisions over, but I also was not at all prepared to leave ACME tool empty handed. That would be crazy talk. So in a near panic I scooted over to the section with measuring and marking devices. I swooped down the aisle, deftly grabbing a Crown Tools 10 ½ inch bevel in rosewood, a wheel marking guage by Shop Basics, and then frantically hailed one of the remaining workers, to unlock the Freud router bit cabinet. The ACME guys are always friendly, and they never rush me, but I have developed a terrible habit of making them wait on me to close up, so I am trying to do better. I looked at my iphone and I had my new ¼" double flute straight bit, with one minute to spare. I plopped the stuff on the counter and bought them. Whew that was close.

Worry not, if you thought that the closing of ACME, cut my woodworking shopping short, for I still intended to wonder over to Home Depot. Between ACME tools and Home Depot is a Jimmy John's sub shop, so that played right into my plans. I had the #5. Yummy!

As many of you know, I am working on building a router table. I have some ¾" ODF, which I thought I might take two sheets of and glue them together for the top. I have decided against that option, in favor of a more expensive one. I want each project to teach me a bit more about woodworking. So I have decided to glue up a bunch of 1×2 pieces of hard maple and oak, to create the table. Of course, I will be standing the pieces on their edge, so that the final thickness will be similar to the 2 pieces of ODF, but it will let me do some gluing. Also, I have been dying to try out my cauls, so this should be fun.

There is one additional benefit. I plan to assemble the tops, such that there is an opening, which is about a half inch smaller than my router table plate. This eliminates the need to cut a hole. I will give a more detailed explanation about how I approached my table top, after I have completed it. I bought 70 linear feet of wood, a piano hinge, and some Titebond II Premium wood glue. All in all, a good day, and now I get to go downstairs and cut some wood.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Frantic Speed Shopping



The sun was out today and it was the first time this year that I noticed the days seem to be hanging out a bit longer. They are sneaky that way, sort of creeping up on spring. After all the snow this winter, I will welcome spring with a giddiness that I haven't experienced in years. Of course, it was still cold out, when I got into my car, but the sunlight on my face warmed my spirits considerably.

I had errands to run. I needed to get some petrol and oil for my car. I was craving a Jimmy John's sub, so that was also on my list. The top task on my list however, was to try to make it over to ACME tool before they closed, so I could see the Festool rep. I had marked on my calendar that he would be in town on the 24th and 25th and today is the 24th! Since I purchased Mary the Jigsaw, I have been interested in seeing either the 5" RQ 125 FEQ or the 6" RQ 150 FEQ sander in action.

The Festool representative, Matt, had a piece of tiger wood, which had recently admitted to cheating on his wife with several types of exotics, from all over the world. Not only did I get to see it in action, I got to do the sanding! It was fantastic. He explained how to hold it correctly and also told my why it was important. Because of the design, it sort of looks like one might hold the sander too far back. He explained that this would lead to horrible chatter. So I did as he had instructed and there wasn't any chatter, it was smoother than a famous golfer picking up a porn star.

We started with some 120 grit and worked our way up until we were using some weird space age polishing pads. I have read that new woodworkers often over sand. The 6" RQ 150 FEQ sander, which has a random orbital setting and a gear setting, also has an attachment which collects dust. The dust collection was incredible. There simply wasn't any, the tiny little vacuum seemed to get it all. When I had made it through all the grits and polishing pads, the wood was polished like a new driver.

Before I knew it, the store was closing. I wasn't prepared to make my purchase today, as I like to mull tool buying decisions over, but I also was not at all prepared to leave ACME tool empty handed. That would be crazy talk. So in a near panic I scooted over to the section with measuring and marking devices. I swooped down the aisle, deftly grabbing a Crown Tools 10 ½ inch bevel in rosewood, a wheel marking guage by Shop Basics, and then frantically hailed one of the remaining workers, to unlock the Freud router bit cabinet. The ACME guys are always friendly, and they never rush me, but I have developed a terrible habit of making them wait on me to close up, so I am trying to do better. I looked at my iphone and I had my new ¼" double flute straight bit, with one minute to spare. I plopped the stuff on the counter and bought them. Whew that was close.

Worry not, if you thought that the closing of ACME, cut my woodworking shopping short, for I still intended to wonder over to Home Depot. Between ACME tools and Home Depot is a Jimmy John's sub shop, so that played right into my plans. I had the #5. Yummy!

As many of you know, I am working on building a router table. I have some ¾" ODF, which I thought I might take two sheets of and glue them together for the top. I have decided against that option, in favor of a more expensive one. I want each project to teach me a bit more about woodworking. So I have decided to glue up a bunch of 1×2 pieces of hard maple and oak, to create the table. Of course, I will be standing the pieces on their edge, so that the final thickness will be similar to the 2 pieces of ODF, but it will let me do some gluing. Also, I have been dying to try out my cauls, so this should be fun.

There is one additional benefit. I plan to assemble the tops, such that there is an opening, which is about a half inch smaller than my router table plate. This eliminates the need to cut a hole. I will give a more detailed explanation about how I approached my table top, after I have completed it. I bought 70 linear feet of wood, a piano hinge, and some Titebond II Premium wood glue. All in all, a good day, and now I get to go downstairs and cut some wood.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Flatening with A Router



The whole point of devoting my early woodworking days to building stuff for woodworking is to learn. Today, while reading the latest issue of shop notes, I learned that the router table top, which I am building, is a laminated top. I guess I had always thought that laminated only applied to thin strips glued together. I don't know why I assumed there was some sort of arbitrary thickness requirement. Now I know.
The seven sets of laminated sections have become three. The middle section, which will become the portion which holds the router table plate, is twenty two inches in length. I decided that it would be prudent to test my flattening strategy on the shortest section, thus requiring less expenditure to replace, should things go horribly wrong.

A while back I created a dado jig, which allows me to cut a dado using my router. Steve (and others) suggested that, since I don't have a planer or a hand plane to do the job that I should use my router to shave off a uniform layer, and thus leave a flat surface. Of course, I would need to do some sanding afterwards, but it seemed like a good idea, and definitely worth a try.

Because I get a thrill, every time I put to use, something which I have created, I used the legs for the router table, and clamped everything to them. I recently learned that it is best to insert the router bit all the way into the router and then lift it a small amount, before tightening it all the way down. My bit got stuck and Del at ACME tools in Cedar Rapids got my bit unstuck and fixed the collet. He didn't even charge me. Del Rocks! Each time I go to ACME, he teaches me something new.

So I carefully put my 3/8th inch up spiral Freud bit into my router and began routing. Each pass was flat and true initially. The jig allows me to make one pass to the right, then rotate the router, and make a pass back, thus removing 3/4th of an inch in total. The cuts on the backward pass seemed to be slightly deeper than they had been. I thought the bit might have slipped, but that was illogical. If it slipped, then both the cuts would be lower, not just the back pass. I looked at my setup more closely, like some sort of film noir detective.

Upon closer examination, I realized the problem. The first pass was just in slightly from the edge of the boards, leaving a small swath that was the same thickness as the uncut portion. So with each pass the cut section grew and when the jig was no longer resting on the small raised section, the back pass guide was slipping down slightly. The minutia of the problem is not terribly interesting, but I felt good about catching it and solving the problem with a shim.

It took a long time, but I successfully cut away a layer of unevenness and left in its wake a flat surface. So could I sand it, in such a way, as to maintain the flatness? I have a 3 inch belt sander, some 50, 80 and 120 grit belts. I reasoned that with even pressure and uniformly timed passes, the sander should remove wood at a constant rate. I was completely focused. I made sure I had a nice wide stance and applied very little downward force on the sander, letting it run across the wood. I tried to avoid much overlap, as that might cause a problem. A couple of passes with the belt sander and I went to a finer grain. I checked the flatness after the 80 grit and it was very close. So I put on the 120 grit and made one pass and then rechecked the flatness. I was especially careful, as I felt that I was on the verge of success and I didn't mind moving slowly, if it yielded the results I wanted.

When it was done, and I ran my hand across the flat smooth surface, I was ready to celebrate. But I decided I wanted to check one more time, with a different straight edge, just to verify. Sure enough it is flat! Now it is true, that I spent 3 hours doing what anyone with a planer would have done in 10 seconds, but that is ok. It was fun.

This is the flattened portion at the bottom of the photo and the unflattened section at the top.



I have a lot left to do. I need to flatten the other two sections. Then, I think I would like to flatten the bottom too, just so it looks nice, when I lift up the top. That is all for today. Now I think I need a larger bit, to make the task somewhat easier.

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Todays blog is actually titled...



Hello Lumberjocks,

The actual title is "The Footprints of My Words".

My friend is having a party tonight. I have decided to leave the secret undground bunker in Martelle and attend. As you may or may not know, I post my blog to 3 spots every day. Here, at blogspot, and my new domain extremelyaverage.com. It is a lot of work to update them each day, and eventually I want to just have the one, but I fear that my Lumberjock friend and their cats may not like the new location.

So tonight, in order to save a bit of time, and to get some feedback, the blog has been posted at extremelyaverage.com . I ask that you give it a look, let me know what you think, and if you are one of the regularly commenting people or cats, to try out commenting on my site. I am still figuring out this whole Wordpress thing, so the feedback would be lovely.

I am sure that my very clever readers will wonder if it took more time to write this non blog post blog post, than to just post the blog, and the answer is that yes, it took longer.

So if you wish to read today's blog, head on over to http://extremelyaverage.com , or click on the banner at the top of the page. If you are disgusted that I am too lazy to post tonights piece here, then I am sorry. Ok, off to eat some cookies and mingle with people in real time.

Sincerely,

Brian Meeks

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Todays blog is actually titled...



Hello Lumberjocks,

The actual title is "The Footprints of My Words".

My friend is having a party tonight. I have decided to leave the secret undground bunker in Martelle and attend. As you may or may not know, I post my blog to 3 spots every day. Here, at blogspot, and my new domain extremelyaverage.com. It is a lot of work to update them each day, and eventually I want to just have the one, but I fear that my Lumberjock friend and their cats may not like the new location.

So tonight, in order to save a bit of time, and to get some feedback, the blog has been posted at extremelyaverage.com . I ask that you give it a look, let me know what you think, and if you are one of the regularly commenting people or cats, to try out commenting on my site. I am still figuring out this whole Wordpress thing, so the feedback would be lovely.

I am sure that my very clever readers will wonder if it took more time to write this non blog post blog post, than to just post the blog, and the answer is that yes, it took longer.

So if you wish to read today's blog, head on over to http://extremelyaverage.com , or click on the banner at the top of the page. If you are disgusted that I am too lazy to post tonights piece here, then I am sorry. Ok, off to eat some cookies and mingle with people in real time.

Sincerely,

Brian Meeks

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Ecocandle said:

Introducing My Router Table

Hello All,

For those who have been following my router table building adventures, I am pleased to announce that it is a fully functioning table of routing. I love it. I am especially pleased with the dust collection adapter I created. It not only works, but looks pretty good in my humble opinion. The best part is that I have learned a bunch.

http://bit.ly/bUwY1B

Ok, now to conjure up ideas for my next adventure.

Thanks,

Brian

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

Your Horoscope is ready...

Hello LJs,

Many years ago, I started to write as a way to entertain my friends at GEICO. I would often compose a set of horoscopes and send them to the those with an odd since of humor. Tonight's blog discusses my continued practice with cuts, but quickly degrades into a set of horoscopes. I hope you enjoy.

http://bit.ly/aEKJsr

Brian

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

No Woodworking Today

Hello LJ,

Today I hung out with friends, golfed and met Gwyn, who is almost 3. It was a delightful day, but didn't include any woodworking stuff. Sorry.

http://bit.ly/9sJCH9

Brian

Click to expand...

Ecocandle said:

The Practice Worked

Hello All,

I think this is the best set of Pins I have ever cut. In fact, I am sure of it, as I haven't cut that many. Are they perfect? No, but as long as I keep improving, and having fun, it is all good. I even took a photo of one of the set of pins, before I finished cleaning it up, at a point where I would have probably thought I was done before. Now I know I can do better, so I keep working. I love this stuff.

http://bit.ly/bIy4HK

Brian

Click to expand...