My Journey

Trimble said:

Quest for "Flat"

So, I'm just starting to learn woodworking. I've wanted to learn woodworking since I was much younger… The thought of building my own computer desk someday has secretly lingered in the back of my mind for many years.

Recently, I was given the task of building shelving for a storage building to store most of my stuff (I share a house with my in-laws… ick). For fathers day, my wife bought me a cheap Ryobi router table from Home Depot. I've always wanted a router table, so I used this gift as a sort of 'jumping off point' to launch myself into learning about woodworking.

I already have a table saw. It's actually my father-in-law's, but he's letting me play with it for whatever I want to do with it… So, I figured with a table saw and a router table, I have everything I need to start building stuff! Then I learned something important. Sigh.

I found the Wood Whisperer's website and went back and started watching his videos. I very quickly learned that getting boards FLAT is a critical priority at the start of any good project. Crap! I don't have a jointer. But, I learned that I actually sort of have a mini-jointer in the router table. So, I decided to start trying to see if I can joint at least the side of a board with it. Then, I realized what makes a cheap router table so cheap - Plastic Parts.

As it turns out, the fence on my router table is NOT absolutely flat, because it's made of injection molded plastic. Sigh… But wait, plastic can be flat too.. I just have to sand it flat. So, I bought some sand paper, and decided to sand the fence flat. I needed a reference flat surface, and as it turns out, the surface of the router table itself is flat enough to sand against.

Many years ago, I had to flatten another surface. I had an AMD CPU for my computer, and I wanted to over-clock it, so I had to lap the surface perfectly flat to mate with a heat-sink. That worked so well that the chip and the heat-sink actually stuck together as if they were glued together - when I lifted one off the table, the other came with it simply due to the vacuum between the two pieces. So, I figured I could do it again for my table fence.

So, tonight, I spent an hour lapping the plastic pieces of my router table fence. Sadly, it will take even longer to get the surfaces perfectly flat. Both sides of the fence were warped enough that lapping flat has taken a very long time. I hope to get both parts flat soon. (I only get about an hour at a time in the shop before I get interupted by family… sigh)

Here I am lapping part of the fence flat.

Here you can see the little bit on the bottom edge that still isn't flat.

Maybe I'm cheap, but I find that if I clean the dust out of the sandpaper, I can reuse a piece of it for a long time.

Thanks for reading

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

Quest for "Flat"

So, I'm just starting to learn woodworking. I've wanted to learn woodworking since I was much younger… The thought of building my own computer desk someday has secretly lingered in the back of my mind for many years.

Recently, I was given the task of building shelving for a storage building to store most of my stuff (I share a house with my in-laws… ick). For fathers day, my wife bought me a cheap Ryobi router table from Home Depot. I've always wanted a router table, so I used this gift as a sort of 'jumping off point' to launch myself into learning about woodworking.

I already have a table saw. It's actually my father-in-law's, but he's letting me play with it for whatever I want to do with it… So, I figured with a table saw and a router table, I have everything I need to start building stuff! Then I learned something important. Sigh.

I found the Wood Whisperer's website and went back and started watching his videos. I very quickly learned that getting boards FLAT is a critical priority at the start of any good project. Crap! I don't have a jointer. But, I learned that I actually sort of have a mini-jointer in the router table. So, I decided to start trying to see if I can joint at least the side of a board with it. Then, I realized what makes a cheap router table so cheap - Plastic Parts.

As it turns out, the fence on my router table is NOT absolutely flat, because it's made of injection molded plastic. Sigh… But wait, plastic can be flat too.. I just have to sand it flat. So, I bought some sand paper, and decided to sand the fence flat. I needed a reference flat surface, and as it turns out, the surface of the router table itself is flat enough to sand against.

Many years ago, I had to flatten another surface. I had an AMD CPU for my computer, and I wanted to over-clock it, so I had to lap the surface perfectly flat to mate with a heat-sink. That worked so well that the chip and the heat-sink actually stuck together as if they were glued together - when I lifted one off the table, the other came with it simply due to the vacuum between the two pieces. So, I figured I could do it again for my table fence.

So, tonight, I spent an hour lapping the plastic pieces of my router table fence. Sadly, it will take even longer to get the surfaces perfectly flat. Both sides of the fence were warped enough that lapping flat has taken a very long time. I hope to get both parts flat soon. (I only get about an hour at a time in the shop before I get interupted by family… sigh)

Here I am lapping part of the fence flat.

Here you can see the little bit on the bottom edge that still isn't flat.

Maybe I'm cheap, but I find that if I clean the dust out of the sandpaper, I can reuse a piece of it for a long time.

Thanks for reading

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

New Toy!

Wow, so much can change in just 24 hours. (yeah, i'm going to pretend I wrote this last night hehehe)

So, yesterday, I was slaving over a hot sheet of sand paper trying to lap the plastic parts of the fence on my newly gifted router table, in hopes of being able to use it as a mini jointer to make at least some little flat boards…

Well, today, I spent a little time looking at Craig's list for Charlotte NC, and found an add for "Millwork tool" including a "Craftsman 6 in jointer $35". That was all the description there was. Notice the lack of important keywords such as woodworking, lumber, machine, power, etc. So, I got the feeling this might be one of those rare deals where the seller isn't quite sure what he's selling… or at least what it should be worth. He probably didn't get many calls.

So, I hopped in my mini-van and drove out to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. As I was driving, I kept pondering "what are the chances this thing is going to be a biscuit joiner and not really a joinTer?" Alas, the ad said "6 in" so I figured it had to be real. and for $35? serious?

Well, I arrived and got a look at this piece of equipment. At first, my heart sank. "What a piece of crap!" "I can't work with that thing, it's a giant chunk of rust!" were the phrases that went through my mind.

But, then I got to thinking… "Wait a minute… what am I looking at here?" and "We're only talking about $35 bucks here… I spent more on a copy of Starcraft 2 for my kid" started going through my mind.

Luckily, I had brought my trusty combination square. I trust it to be reference flat, as I can hold it up to a piece of glass and it sits perfectly. So, I laid the square on the in-feed and out-feed tables to check for flatness. I had to brush away some of the dust and rust, but my trusty square sat true. Under that rust is a perfectly flat, not-warped mass of cast iron from a day when tools could be passed down from father to son to grandson, and so-on.

So, I bought it. Loaded it into my van. And Drove it home.

Now, I'll admit I'm cheap. I try to get away with spending as little as possible on my hobbies. It's especially important to be cheap when it comes to having inlaws who are constantly nagging about not spending money, and wife who isn't quite yet taking this hobby seriously. So as I was driving home, I kept thinking to myself "Am I being TOO cheap? A new jointer would have only been a few hundred bucks…"

Well, as I drove, I pulled out my iPhone and started googling "Restore antique jointer". To my surprise, I found articles not only about restoring jointers, but actually about restoring Craftsman jointers of same era, and actually almost the exact same model. I also found the original owner's manual online. It seems that restoring this thing is actually not only possible, but very likely to yield forth a fantastic tool once the rust and grime have been dissolved away.

As we drove, my wife called a friend and I overheard her mentioning that her husband now has a new project to work on that will keep him out in the shop. I guess that's kinda true

So, without further ado, I present to y'all my latest acquisition, an antique Craftsman 6" Jointer, complete with 3/4 hp motor.

Edit: I've moved all the photos, and the links broke, so I'm fixing them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

What I've been up to

I probably should have written more often. Sorry 'bout that.

So, when I last posted, I mentioned the new toy - an antique Craftsman 6" jointer. Sadly, it's sitting in a corner collecting (saw)dust.

I ordered a bottle of Evapo-Rust, which has arrived, and I played with it a little. I put a rusty box knife blade in a teacup with some of the stuff, and it did pull the rust off of it, after 30 hours… And it did pull quite a bit of carbon out of the rust, and coated the entire blade with a dark grey soot-like coating, which rubbed of easily with a shop-towel. There is still much pitting where the rust was.

This makes me worry somewhat about removing the rust from the jointer… I hope the tables aren't pitted too much. I do realize, however, that it has to be done either way. The rust has to come off, and this stuff, Evapo-Rust can do it. I just need to gasp take the jointer apart, and give it's pieces a bath. Sadly, that means I'll have to reassemble the jointer, which means I'll need to reTUNE the jointer, which I don't know if I'm quite ready for yet. I need a long, trusted straightedge, and I don't have on yet. I am very tempted to get a few dial indicators to measure thousandths of an inch, since they seem to be obtainable from Amazon without too much money… and the guy at Woodgears.ca seems to use a lot of them in his jigs.

Wow, the jigs that guy makes! Holy $#!+... Are those amazing or what??!? I mean, just look at THIS ONE and THIS ONE!!! Those are awesome.. I never thought to make a jig so tall, but why not?

Anyway… moving on.

So, my daughter's birthday is coming up soon. And it hit me that I was supposed to make her a dollhouse. Either I or my wife had bought a kit a few years ago, a dollhouse kit made out of wood. It's very thin plywood, and all the pieces are pre-cut punch-out style, so it doesn't feel like doing woodworking… But, it IS wood, and it DOES need to get done. So, I stopped working on the jointer project for now, and set up my workshop to begin construction and painting of this dollhouse. So far, it's been all punching out extremely rough cut pieces and sanding, over and over, but I'm sure I'll get to the painting and gluing part soon. I'll post some pics when I have them.

So that's where I am.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

More on the dollhouse

Well, a few more days have gone by, do I thought I'd post another entry here.

Last time, I mentioned the dollhouse kit that I need to build for my daughter. It's a nice little kit, but it comes with some very thin plywood that tears out every so easily when punching it out of it's frame… I've spent much time popping out the pieces and sanding the edges.

My wife bought some paint in the colors that we determined my daughter likes, but we still haven't come up with the color scheme plan yet. I'm not really certain that the colors make for a good house scheme, but she likes 'em, and she's gonna get 'em.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw up a post about it, and give y'all some pictures to look at, seeing as how noone seems to leave comments unless there's pictures. hehehe.

Here's the box the kit came in. The default color scheme should be helpful in trying to figure out what to do with my daughter's colors.

Here's the plans for the house. Nice step-by-step advice on how to get this thing together.

Here are the sheets of plywood before I started punching out the pieces.

Here's some work-in-progress shots of taking out the pieces and sanding them.

It's hard to get good help these days. Here's my helper

Once I'm done sanding, it will be time to paint. I have plenty of blue tape to protect the glue-able surfaces, so I'm going to paint before assembling, as I think it will give a better finished project. I'll post more pics when I get them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

More on the dollhouse

Well, a few more days have gone by, do I thought I'd post another entry here.

Last time, I mentioned the dollhouse kit that I need to build for my daughter. It's a nice little kit, but it comes with some very thin plywood that tears out every so easily when punching it out of it's frame… I've spent much time popping out the pieces and sanding the edges.

My wife bought some paint in the colors that we determined my daughter likes, but we still haven't come up with the color scheme plan yet. I'm not really certain that the colors make for a good house scheme, but she likes 'em, and she's gonna get 'em.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw up a post about it, and give y'all some pictures to look at, seeing as how noone seems to leave comments unless there's pictures. hehehe.

Here's the box the kit came in. The default color scheme should be helpful in trying to figure out what to do with my daughter's colors.

Here's the plans for the house. Nice step-by-step advice on how to get this thing together.

Here are the sheets of plywood before I started punching out the pieces.

Here's some work-in-progress shots of taking out the pieces and sanding them.

It's hard to get good help these days. Here's my helper

Once I'm done sanding, it will be time to paint. I have plenty of blue tape to protect the glue-able surfaces, so I'm going to paint before assembling, as I think it will give a better finished project. I'll post more pics when I get them.

Click to expand...

Trimble said:

More on the dollhouse

Well, a few more days have gone by, do I thought I'd post another entry here.

Last time, I mentioned the dollhouse kit that I need to build for my daughter. It's a nice little kit, but it comes with some very thin plywood that tears out every so easily when punching it out of it's frame… I've spent much time popping out the pieces and sanding the edges.

My wife bought some paint in the colors that we determined my daughter likes, but we still haven't come up with the color scheme plan yet. I'm not really certain that the colors make for a good house scheme, but she likes 'em, and she's gonna get 'em.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw up a post about it, and give y'all some pictures to look at, seeing as how noone seems to leave comments unless there's pictures. hehehe.

Here's the box the kit came in. The default color scheme should be helpful in trying to figure out what to do with my daughter's colors.

Here's the plans for the house. Nice step-by-step advice on how to get this thing together.

Here are the sheets of plywood before I started punching out the pieces.

Here's some work-in-progress shots of taking out the pieces and sanding them.

It's hard to get good help these days. Here's my helper

Once I'm done sanding, it will be time to paint. I have plenty of blue tape to protect the glue-able surfaces, so I'm going to paint before assembling, as I think it will give a better finished project. I'll post more pics when I get them.

Click to expand...