Back in the shop

It's been a while since I posted anything but then it's been a while since I have spent appreciable time in my shop. Knee issues and general 'too much to do' have made the trek to the shop a challenge. It's more painful for me not to be out there than it is to be there but shop safety means focusing on the work at hand. After all, I am still quite attached to my fingers. I have made a few pens and other projects that I may post later but nothing exciting or new. For now we will look ahead.

In any case, I'm back in the shop with some new helpers and observers. You'll meet them along the way.

The current project is a large one . . . finishing out our basement. Stay tuned for updates and photos of the work.

Adding some safety

About a year ago I added an extension table and fence to my table saw. When I did that, the blade guard could no longer be mounted on the saw. Along with that went the splitter and anti-kickback pawls.

After paying my friends at my local Woodcraft a visit, I ordered the Excalibur Over Arm Blade Cover. The arm mounts to the end of my table extension and reaches over to suspend the guard over the blade. It includes a connection to my dust collector to remove dust from the area of the blade.







The support bracket mounts on the end of the extension table. There is an unpublished requirement that the table top be a minimum of three inches thick. I rabbeted a 2x6 to fit the end of the table to expand the thickness. The six mounting bolts go through the end of the table top and the added board.








The mounting bracket includes a lock mechanism. When unlocked, the arm can swing to the back of the table to be completely out of the way. When in the locked position, there is an adjustment to make sure the arm returns to be in alignment with the blade. The vacuum system attaches to the bottom of the arm at this point.







Installed, the arm has plenty or reach and strength to be over the blade. Support arms under the table provide adjustment to get the arm parallel to the table top. A flexible pipe delivers the suction from the overhead arm to the guard.






















Parallel arms keep guard level to the table.













 A handle locks the guard out of the way.

Next stop, a zero clearance insert and splitter.

Turning Duck Calls

Something I have been making a few of here and there is duck calls.  Using an insert from Woodcraft, I turn the body using the included instructions.

In this particular case I wanted to use some wood from my property and I was looking for wood with plenty of figure.  I selected a knotty area of this black walnut branch.

After cutting the needed length, I squared up the blanks and cut them to final length.  As I had hoped, the grain in the blanks was wonderful.






The hardest part of making the duck calls is drilling the necessary holes.  The smaller one, at 31/64ths, is only 2 inches long and pretty easy. On the other hand, you also need to drill a 3/4 inch hole 4 inches long.  Both holes need to be centered and relatively straight.

Mounting the blanks is slightly different than some turning. The kits sold by Woodcraft use an expanding foam chuck that passes through the drilled holes.  Turning is done one piece at a time.

The shape of the call be almost anything you want.  I like to make mine easy to handle.

As planned, the grain has a lot of movement to it and is enhanced by the finish. This is the mouthpiece. The large tenon will hold a brass ring that will protect the call from a lanyard.




























The finished call.

Product Test - Emile Henry Bred Cloche

I love bread and was really excited to test the Emile Henry Bread Cloche.  The unit met all expectations and promises.

Initial impressions:  Upon unpacking the I was immediately impressed by the finish on the unit.  The exterior of the cover and the upper surface of the plate has an extremely smooth semi-gloss finish on it.  Mine is a beautiful black and I'm sure the red is equally attractive.  The finish feels like a quality finish.  It is smooth but not slippery.

First use:  I chose to use a recipe I was familiar with instead of one of the nice selection of recipes that came with the cloche.  The recipe was intended to make two loaves so I baked one in the cloche and one in the open oven per the directions.

I shared both loaves with our dinner guests and asked their opinion on the differences telling them only that I used two different baking methods.  The loaf from the cloche won hands down.  My guests felt the loaf had a more pleasing crust, a nicer texture, and better flavor.

Clean up was easy though I do have questions for the manufacture regarding care of the unit.  The inside of the cover is not sealed and I wonder about getting it wet or getting soap on it.

The plate is grooved and I found, per the instructions that came with the cloche, that a light coating of flour was sufficient to eliminate sticking.  I was able to wipe off the bulk of the flour with a dry paper towel and removed the remainder with a damp rag.

With a 10 year manufacturers warranty I can look forward to may years of amazing bread.  The homemade bread I used to make and love just got way better.

Product Test - WeatherSmart Pro

The WeatherSmartPro is part weather station and part sprinkler system controller.  The two components work nicely together to manage the amount of water delivered to your landscaping.

The weather station component is a wireless remote that provides temperature and rain amount information to the controller.  It comes with a sturdy aluminum bracket and mounting screws.  The bracket is designed such that it can be mounted in most any position you need.

The controller is well designed and consists of two pieces.  The controller and the base.  The base gets mounted to your wall and holds the connections to the power source and valves.  The controller slides on and off the base and has a battery backup.  This means you can take it to your easy chair to do the programming.

Programming is highly flexible and easy.  For starters, the controller can handle 6 circuits.  Add to that a ton of flexibility in when it cycles.  You have multiple start times with options to water on odd or even numbered days, every day, or selected days of the week.

Then there's one of the best features.  The controller uses the temperature and rain amount information from the wireless remote to adjust the amount of water delivered.  This provides easy and automatic water conservation.  As I think back to when I lived in California, this would have meant I didn't need to reprogram the controller between winter and summer.

The documentation for the system is well written being clear, accurate, and well organized.  About all you will need it for is the steps to establish the communications between the controller and the remote.  It's not that it's hard.  It's just easy to get excited and do things in the wrong order.  Programming the controller is intuitive and quick.

All in all, this is a great product that I would highly recommend.  And hey, the box came with labels that said it was next to nothing or free for some areas.  I don't think you can go wrong.

Shop Organization Projects

My shop cabinets have been on hold because there just hasn't been room to work.  With the addition of the longer table saw fence and the lathe, storage for the cabinet wood materials became a must.  A place for sheet goods and sticks has been in the plans since the early shop layout plans so it really just became time to build them.

Like my cabinets, I started by building what was in my head in SketchUp.  Below is the wall mounted stick storage drawing.

The arms are some left over 1/2 inch plywood.  The remainder is 2x4s.

Here is the finished product.

The sheet goods rack is 2x4 and 2x6 materials.  The three racks aren't attached to each other or the wall so when I don't have any sheet goods in the shop I can move them out of the way retask the wall space.  I think they would even work away from the wall.

New in the shop

It's here.  My new Jet 1642 lathe that is.

The lathe has a 16 inch capacity over the bed and much larger when the head is pushed to the other end bed and you turn off the end.  At 2HP it has the power to spin it too.
Manufacturer's website
Woodcraft website

My initial impressions of the machine are very good.  The machine arrived without a mark on it thanks to my friends at Woodcraft in New Berlin.  At 440 pounds that can't be easy to do.

Getting it into the shop was loads of fun and took five people.  More on that when I get the pictures.  I need to thank Steve, Travis, Thomas, and Grace for taking a night out of their schedule to help me.  Also Barb for grabbing an baking pizzas for the lot of us.

The head stock has some great features.  A spindle lock and index, digital readout, reverse, and speed control are all in easy reach.  The power source for the machine is 220V single phase but it has a built in inverter that converts it to three phase.  According to the manufacturer that makes for smoother speed control throughout the range.  One thing I know, this thing is quiet.  No vibration, no noise.

Next up is spring cleaning and some racks to hold my supply of wood.

Shop Upgrade

This was a great weekend.

Arriving in the shop yesterday was the Saw Stop 52" fence and extension table.

The table and fence system was easy to install on my older Craftsman contractor style saw.  I was able to get it at my local Woodcraft.

I have to admit I was very impressed with the quality of the documentation.   I wasn't sure what to expect but the documentation is well written and presented well.  While I don't have immediate plans to replace the table saw, I will certainly consider the Saw Stop based on my experience with this component.

Wait until you see what's next.  It's on order but I don't have a delivery date yet.  Here's a hint:  "It will sure turn your head."

RoboReel Power System

I was recently selected to test the RoboReel Power System (portable version) through my membership in the Handyman Club of America.   Below is the results of my testing.

 The RoboReel is a cord reel with motorized retraction and several safety features.  It is replacing multiple extension cords in my shop.  The 50 foot, 12 guage cord has a 15 amp limit with a circuit breaker built into the wall plug. The unit is relatively heavy at about 20 pounds but in combination with the anti-slip feet on the frame, it doesn't slide around when you pull out the cord.  Just how easy does the cord pull out?  I set the unit on a piece of cardboard on my smooth cement floor.  Even on the cardboard, the unit didn't budge.

The business end of the cord has 3 receptacles.  Nothing unusual there right?  But there are other features there as well.  There are three LED lights to indicate whether or not the power is on. When fully retracted, there is no power to the receptacles.  As you pull out the cord, power is turned on when the cord is extended about 18 inches.

In the center of the receptacle ball is a dual-function button.  Pressing the button once turns the receptacle power off.  Pressing the button again retracts the cord.  With the power off, pressing and holding the button turns the receptacle power back on.  A button on the top of the base dome provides the same functions as the button on the receptacle ball.

The retraction is a two speed process.  Initially the cord is retracted at high speed.  At a user programmable point, the retraction switches to low speed to keep the receptacle ball from whipping around.

The RoboReel base unit has some nice features of it's own.  I've already mentioned the non-slip feet, the power/retraction button on the top, the easy deployment, and the 15A breaker.  It also has a 360 degree rotation feature that is very nice.  While this feature will see limited use in the units current location in my shop, it will be highly useful once my shop is complete and it has a more permanent home.









The rotation is very easy as is illustrated with the next video.

The RoboReel has some nice safety features as well.  Beside the circuit breaker in the wall plug, there is also over temperature protection with audible alerts.

The manufacturer also offers a wall mount for the portable version of the RoboReel as well as a ceiling mounted version.  The portable version lists at $279 with the ceiling mounted version $20 more.

There is only one thing I would change about this product and it really isn't part of the product itself.  I wish the wall mount was included and not sold as an accessory.  Other than that, this is a great addition to my shop and I'm glad I have it.

Cabinet progress

I finally got back to working on the cabinets for my shop.  The assembly of the carcass for the test cabinet is mostly complete and the final coat of finish has been applied.

On to the doors and drawers.

Daughter-Father Project

We had the pleasure of having Kymberlee, David, and the three kids with us for the holidays.  Kymberlee had this idea for a wall hanging so we headed out to the shop for the evening.

After a couple hours of sawing, resawing, jointing, planning, sanding, and finishing the project is complete. They started out as oak and walnut logs from our woods.  After processing the wood we put a couple coats of poly on them.  Then the words were applied with a paint pen then a couple more coats of poly.

It is so much fun to share my shop with someone.  I can wait until the grand kids are old enough.

The cabinets are started

The practice face frame is complete.  It is the first of seven I have to make.  There are four more just like this one then two without the drawer slots.

I've decided to use Kreg pocket joinery for the cabinet construction.  This process drills holes at an angle in the back of the pieces then drives self-tapping screws in the making piece.  For my first attempt using them, it didn't go too bad.  I learned a few things that will be helpful making the other six.

After completing this cabinet, the remaining six will all be made at the same time to save set up time and increase consistency,  The practice cabinet will stand alone on one of the shop's side walls.  The others will be side by side, along the back wall, with a continuous top.

Fall Harvest

Image from maps.live.com

One of the things I love about where we live is the way we can use the various resources.  We love walking through our woods.  One of the times we were back there we found some large pieces of wood that had been cut up.  We noted they had also had a tarp placed under them to keep them off the wet ground.  The next summer we went back there thinking we were going to cut them up for firewood.  To our surprise, they were very large pieces of black walnut.  Since they no longer qualified as firewood, we let them be.

I haven't been back down there much since.  The trails through the woods have grown over and a ton of trees have come down in storms.  With the nice weather this weekend, I decided it was time to bring them up the hill.  The pieces were so large I couldn't even roll them so cutting them up was a painful necessity.  Below are the piecess I collected today.



To give you an idea of the size of these things, here is a picture of my size 13 boot on one of the average size pieces.

The best part, there are two pieces down there yet that are larger in diameter than my 20" chain saw,  The one is about 6 feet long but the other is only about 3 feet long.  On the other hand there are 2 or 3 walnut trees that are down in there too.  They are about 12 inches in diameter and 75 feet tall.  These trees are in a dryer area of the woods and are not fully on the ground so they will be good for a while yet.

My plan for this wood is turning blanks.  I may resaw some for use in other projects but not sure of that.  The logs need to dry out some more so there is time to decide.  I"m sure there is opportunity to sell some of it, but I hate to do that too.  I know if I sell it off, I will never get the opportunity to work with walnut like it again because of the price.  Now all I need is a full size lathe to be able to turn it on.

Below is the nostepinne I made from another walnut tree on my property.  I still have several feet of that branch in the shop waiting for the perfect project.

Some Assembly Required

After spending 3 months learning Google's SketchUp followed by designing my cabinetry (and of course the pre-requisite redesigns) it's time to start building.

 

The wood is in the shop and construction will commence shortly.  After some consideration I went with the oak.  I just love the look.  The only alternative I really considered was maple.  Though beautiful, I thought the maple might be just a little too plain.  I do have some concern that the oak will be too busy but I am not planning on staining it.  It will be finished with a clear finish, which will add a slight yellow component to the color, but I think it will still be amazing.  There are, of course, other, and cheaper, woods that could be used.  By and large, the price difference is negligible and I think I would regret spending the time on something that wasn't what I really wanted.

 

 

I have been able to carve out some time to get on the new scrollsaw.  The scrollsaw is probably my favorite tool.  This Noah's Ark is a project I designed several years ago.  The animals are borrowed from another project.  The first was made for our church in New Jersey.  This one is number two and has a special destination.  Maybe someday I will make another one but that will probably be it.

Of course, there's always pens in progress.  This one is Cocobolo (I am making 3 of them).  Immediately after cutting, the wood is a pleasant brown with a nice grain pattern.  It also comes with a nice little surprise in that it oxidizes very quickly (overnight) to add a beautiful golden hue to the wood.  The waterbased finish I use seems to accentuate the tones (perhaps adds to the oxidation).  These pens will have a gold kit to round out the cigar style pens.