[DavePolaschek]

Swab newbie. I'll be in.

Still trying to wrap up three in-progress projects, but they're all moving forward and I've got some vacation time coming, so I'll get something put together. It'll be a surprise for me, too! Pretty sure whatever it is will be made with only hand tools, so that's something.

 

[DavePolaschek]

I am. I have a cordless drill for small holes and putting screws into jigs, a big-ass corded drill for drilling Really Big Holes (1.5" holes for workbench legs, for example), and a circular saw, but mostly I use hand-tools. Got a new rip saw on order from Bad Axe Tools for ripping 8/4 ash or red oak into 2" squares for legs and tool handles so the circular saw will probably not get used much in the future.

My ears have been ringing since 1995. No point in making it any worse with power tools.

 

[DavePolaschek]

Think I figured out what I'm making while I was eating lunch. Now I just need to figure out HOW to make it…

 

[DavePolaschek]

Is it too early to post the first teaser photo?

Pretty sure what I'm making will come out of that pile.

 

[DavePolaschek]

Well, everyone here can use a lumber rack, right?

 

[DavePolaschek]

Josh, I emailed yesterday around lunchtime, but don't show up yet as registered. Did I botch the email address, perhaps?

 

[DavePolaschek]

Sorry about that Dave, it hit the spam filter, but I got you down now.. sorry about that.

No worries. Thanks!

Now that I'm officially in, it gives me an excuse to knuckle down and finish the projects that are currently cluttering up my shop. Need to get ready for the swap!

 

[DavePolaschek]

I finished one backup idea I had today. Probably won't need to use it, but if my primary plan goes completely sideways, I now have a plan B. And I also have one fewer project half-done and taking up bench space.

 

[DavePolaschek]

Hmm. Good thing I've got a box of blue gloves in the shop. Now I just need to remember to put some on when I get a box to open…

What's the rule? Shellac sticks to anything?

 

[DavePolaschek]

Hmm. I guess I could put a cord on the item I'm working on…

Maybe a guy could hang it around his neck that way.

 

[DavePolaschek]

I cleaned the floor of my garage / shop, mixed up a batch of shellac for one project (a butter dish) that's been taking space on my bench, made a stretcher for my new shop stool, and put a coat of oil on my new bench-top, the butter dish, a burger flipper, and the plan B project. Tomorrow I shellac the butter dish, test fit the stretcher so I can figure out the length I need to cut the other stretcher to, and maybe get my backlog of projects down to one or two so I have room to start working on the project for the swap.

Some days I swear I spend more time cleaning the shop than I do messing it up. Today it felt like about a 50-50 mix.

 

[DavePolaschek]

You know what they say, reduce, reuse, recycle.

 

[DavePolaschek]

At the moment, the tool I need most is a broom. Or a time machine. I've got three other projects that are all within sight of the finish line that I need to clear so I can start working on my swap project. Or rather the prototype for my own shop, and then I'll make the one that actually works for one of you.

Plus my buddy who does metalworking thinks this is the weekend he's going to make scorps for us, and then I'll need to crank out a set of handles. And my kerfing plane and frame saw arrive from Bad Axe next week, and I'll have to put those together so I can use them to make… something.

Unless I get Dave. Then I'm shopping on etsy, and I'll make sure it has extra flowers. Or macrame.

 

[DavePolaschek]

Would you settle for the dustpan in the newest popular woodworking?

Definitely. I was thinking of building one of those once I was done with the swap.

 

[DavePolaschek]

If it were mine, I would run it over to my friend who does metalwork and ask him to anneal it and then re-harden it, but he has a forge handy, so doing so is no big deal for him. If you attempt to temper it in the oven and "make it too soft" all you'll have done is gone a little too far towards annealing. You can always attempt to harden it again, though that's a lot easier with a forge or a torch.

 

[DavePolaschek]

I've almost wrapped up the three projects that were cluttering my workbench. Evenings this week should be enough to get them wrapped up and posted on here, and then I'll have a clean(-ish) bench so I can start working on the swap project. But one project was my first time working with shellac, varnish, and epoxy as finishes, so there was a lot of learning going on. Hopefully I didn't teach the neighbor kids too many new words along the way.

 

[DavePolaschek]

Huh! I bought some materials for the swap from a company in Austin, TX, too.

 

[DavePolaschek]

I've finished my shop stool and salt & pepper shakers. Butter dish should get wrapped up and posted by the weekend, and then I just have to put away enough tools that I can see the top of my workbench again. The metal bits I need for my project are supposed to arrive tomorrow according to the UPS tracking, so I really will be completely out of excuses for not getting started some time this weekend.

Unless I start some other new project. :/ I do have two windows sitting in the corner of the shop that need to be stripped, fixed, re-glazed, repainted, and then put back up. That could easily buy me another month of procrastination…

 

[DavePolaschek]

Sorry to see you go, Jeff, Hope you can hang in, Dave. I finally got started and planed two sides of a chunk of 8/4 red oak flat and perpendicular with a bench plane, then ripped it with a hand saw, and used up a coping saw blade cutting pretty curves in it. One more evening like this one, and I might have a progress pic.

It won't be as pretty as Kenny's birdhouse, but then I don't have any t-track, so I'm handicapped…

 

[DavePolaschek]

Good thing I made three of everything: one to screw up, one to keep, and one to send. You don't mind minor mistakes, do you, Kenny? The finish is a little rough, but I figure a coat of black enamel over the top of everything will fix that right up!