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Quarantine projects

2K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  mramseyISU 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well with the vast majority of us in lock-up for a few weeks what projects are you getting done with all your extra free time?

I moved back in August and really hadn't had a whole lot of time in my shop since the move. So This weekend I finally got started. I spent the weekend cleaning and waxing all the cast iron tops on my big power tools. They had a little surface rust from the move and it took a few hours with a wire wheel, WD40 on red scotchbrite and turtle wax. Then I finally got my bandsaw wired back up. Then I went and did the same clean-up on all my hand planes.

Automotive tire Wood Bumper Automotive exterior Road surface


Table Wood Flooring Wood stain Floor


Wood Flooring Floor Bumper Gas


Automotive tire Wood Bumper Automotive exterior Table


Sunday night the interior decorator decided we needed some Adirondack chairs for the patio. Holy crap are those things expensive if you get ones that aren't plastic. I've got a whole pile of quartersawn white oak laying around so I figured why not build the heaviest damn chairs in the neighborhood. After cutting the curves on the arms and the base pieces I realized I really need to get a finer tooth 1/2" blade for my bandsaw. Thank goodness I have a #113 plane in the cabinet for just such an occasion.

Table Wood Flooring Office ruler Floor


Wood Hood Automotive tire Bumper Table


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Plank Lumber


So whats's the rest of the gang working on right now?
 

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#2 ·
I think that since I have run power to my shop this winter and installed an electric heater it is now time to install air conditioning. But first I need to move the scrap wood pile which means I need to build a scrap bin. That allows me to install more french cleat plywood panels. With more wall space I will make more french cleat shelf supports, tool racks and storage. All that will free up space for the air conditioner. Hey, one day I will get to make a non-shop project maybe.
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well I've been busier that I'd like but so far so good. Working from home now so still doing 8+ hours a day. Did have to go into the office tho for 24hours over the weekend so yay for straight pay OT. Other than that I built a cross for my MIL for a craft she was wanting to do. It turned out well
Wood Machine Hardwood Table Computer hardware

Flower Plant Twig Interior design Creative arts


Then I decided before it got warm and the snakes got to lively I wanted to clean out under my house. It was built in the 70s. Added on to multiple times and I swear no one ever cleaned out ANYTHING from under the place. So I spent 3 hours under there with a rake. My dad came over and stayed outside and we filled up at least 10 tractor buckets full of junk (old pipes, block, wood, brick, insulation, siding and even a snake skin). And as luck would have it I broke two water lines while I was down there so I spent a couple more hours fixing those ( did I mention I'm not a plumber). By the end of that day my knees would shot since I didn't have any knee pads
Gesture Scar Wood Human leg Knee

And then Murphy moved in. My ac system had a Freon leak so I had a repair guy come and found the leak, recharged the whole system cause it was completely empty ($300 for the Freon alone) then we cranked the heat pump back on and a fitting blew and emptied the system again. At this point the heat pump is 15 years old and furnace is 29 so I told him to get me a whole new system.
Building Window Plant Wood House


I did make some floating shelves for my wife to go in our kitchen that turned out nice tho
Interior design Wood Building Wall Shelving


And that's been my last few weeks
 

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#4 ·
I just finished a small three drawer cabinet to sit under my drill press. I didn't want to go buy materials to build it so I just repurposed some that I had. It works for what I needed.

Cabinetry Property Furniture Drawer Wood


Shipping box Wood Flooring Carton Hardwood


I also got out a stereo that I have held onto for a while now. It works well so I need to figure out where it can go that will be out of the way in my little shop.

Window Building Wood Flooring Cabinetry
 

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#6 ·
I've been working on a mobile kitchen cart as a wedding present for a friend. I had until September, but being out of work I finished it way ahead of schedule. Well, it's not quite done, I still need to build a end-grain maple cutting board for the top, but I need lumber and the good lumber store is closed for the time being. Now I need to find something to do with the scraps I have to keep me entertained.

Cabinetry Wood Wood stain Gas Hardwood


Furniture Table Wood Flooring Floor


Cabinetry Table Drawer Wood Lectern
 

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#8 ·
If necessity is the mother of invention, then boredom is it's weird uncle.

I'm trying to do projects with materials I have on hand, but that means being a little bit inventive. This isn't quite finished yet, but I wanted to share here. This might be genius, it might be simple buffoonery, either way I blame the governor for making me stay inside.

Wood Shelving Shelf Gas Hardwood
 

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#9 ·
I rearranged and organized the shop. I made swap items, redoing a couple of cabinets to take of an issue not foreseen until the cabinets were installed. I need to move the refrigerator away from the wall and put it between cabinets so the door can be opened all the way. Shopping for essentials I alway try to be there at opening. Today went to Home Depot at six to buy furnace filters, went to the local grocery store at 7:00 when it opened and the last stop was Costco at 8:00. It's nice to be there when they open everything is clean and hardly anyone is there. I am now done shopping for at least two weeks.
 
#11 ·
Huh, thought I was retired. Helping with staffing at 2 different critical care Nursing homes. Fun…. So far we have a LOT of folks who are prime for this, and no takers. Staff people scared they would catch it, stopped coming in to work though. The good thing is we are now closed to new faces for the duration, and no visitors. Been years since I did hands on care, kinda different.

Not woodworking, but in between I helped my electrician buddy put in a 22kw whole house generator. It was something we talked about through the years, and just never did. Last Sunday it did it's first weekly run test.

Hope to get back to the shop later in the week when I have a few days off.
 
#12 ·
I rearranged and organized the shop. I made swap items, redoing a couple of cabinets to take of an issue not foreseen until the cabinets were installed. I need to move the refrigerator away from the wall and put it between cabinets so the door can be opened all the way. Shopping for essentials I alway try to be there at opening. Today went to Home Depot at six to buy furnace filters, went to the local grocery store at 7:00 when it opened and the last stop was Costco at 8:00. It s nice to be there when they open everything is clean and hardly anyone is there. I am now done shopping for at least two weeks.

- Woodmaster1
I've been doing the same thing on Sunday mornings. I head out as soon as the places open and get in and out before anybody else shows up. I've been one of 5 or 6 people in the store every time.
 
#15 ·
As I was cleaning up my shop from the chair project I dropped my old mallet and split the handle. So that got me started on the next project, a new fancy mallet. I had a little piece of purple heart in the scrap bin leftover from something but it wasn't big enough for much but I figured I could laminate a mallet head out of it.

Wood Rectangle Tool Table Wood stain


I decided to do this mostly with hand tools, at least the joinery so here are all the tools I used ready to go.

Rectangle Door mat Wood Purple Floor


Blue Purple Rectangle Textile Wood


I laid out the joint where the handle would go.

Table Wood Textile Purple Creative arts


Photograph Purple Wood Flooring Floor


Purple Wood Rectangle Gas Tints and shades


Then I removed the waste starting with a knife wall and ramp carved with a chisel to guide the saw. Once I sawed the cheeks I removed the waste with a router plane. Just as a side note that router plane is hands down my favorite tool in the shop. I use it on almost every project I make. I never trust that my dadoes or rabbits are the right depth over the length of my cut so I always touch them up with it and it never fails I find a high spot or two.

Wood Blue Wood stain Hand tool Gas


Blue Wood Gas Musical instrument Electric blue


Checking the fit it appears I had a little clean-up to do so both sides matched up. Once that was done I cut the dovetail on my handle but didn't take any pictures of that. I made the cut with my carcase saw and cleaned it up with a block plane and chisel.

Hand tool Wood Tool Valve Gas


Wood Composite material Gas Engineering Tool


Got it in the clamps and the glue is drying. I'm going to cross pin it with some maple dowels to match the handle so I ordered that last night. FYI McMaster had dirt cheap dowel rod in several species. It was about 1/3 the cost of ordering it from Rockler or Woodcraft. The closest source I have for anything other than popular dowels is a 2 hour round trip so I'm money ahead ordering it from McMaster.
 

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#18 ·
I bought a load of pipe dunnage as firewood but when I started to cut it up decided to salvage some of the straighter pieces, so had to build a quick sawhorse(Oak) to save my back then decided that my Lathe Bench needed an upgrade!
Still have a lot of shorter pieces of Oak a even some Maple to use up:)
Snow Table Wood Wheel Twig


Table Wood Outdoor furniture Picnic table Workbench
 

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#20 ·
Went through drawers finding tools I forgot I had and parts of things that I cannot remember what they are for. Sorted it out, labeled a few, etc. Discovered a few brass rings that screw or hinge together for turning projects, a pretty nice bottle stopper etc.
Got busy using them up mainly to get rid of them.
Finished a tray that I started when I did a spice box The inlay was done before the spice box as a test of some of the methods I used for the inlay. Cut it to size and added the trim.
Wish I could remember why I have some of the things I keep finding. Moved into this shop only 12 years ago. Oh well, at my age one is suppose to be forgetful.
Then the vacuum acted up and I found the bag inside had broken open and dust, dirt yuck everywhere.
Things are a bit neater and am thinking what is the next real project. Hmmmm
 
#21 ·
Plant Wood Window Land lot Grass


This is a work in progress. This weekend I started building raised beds for my wife's vegetable garden. For several years she has been using some small grow boxes and this year she wanted to expand.
My neighbor was using equipment to dig a trench for laying a French drain across both our properties. We've had a chronic rainwater drainage problem for as long as we've lived here. He helped me level this spot. Then I built it up with gravel to set the beds on.
We're expecting rain for the next couple of days or so. I can't wait to fill the boxes with soil and then put a fence and gate around it to keep hungry critters out.
 

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#22 ·
Got a little more done on the deck for the new shop in last two days. Also had a crew of two come lay some block. And I got some material for my cabinets inside but didn't get going on them just yet. Should be able to start on face frames tomorrow. We just lost our 13 year old Cairn Terrior Monday so the week has been a right bugger so far. Hard to get going on anything right now. : (

Property Window Road surface Wood Building
 

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#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Table Gas Machine Kitchen appliance Home appliance


I started with a general cleaning of my shop and waxing the beds on the cabinet saw, bandsaw, my wife's scrollsaw etc. Put a riser block on my bandsaw and noticed I could change my bandsaw from 110 to 220 so did that. Then made an outfeed table for my cabinet saw. Decided to get rid of a plastic shelve unit and finally made some clamp racks. No shelve unit no shelves… so ended up putting in 4 shelves and making a rolling cart that I can keep my hand power tools and nailers in. I noticed I was making a lot of dust that my old 1HP woodworkers Choice dust collector really couldn't keep up with so I got a Grizzly 0548ZP 2 HP with the cannister. Changed out all of the 2 1/2 inch plastic piping to 4 inch PVC and grounded it.
Musical instrument Wood Composite material Cleanliness Cylinder


Wood Shelving Shelf Window Gas


Interior design Floor Wall Gas Wood
 

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