The Greenhorn's initial sawing season 2019-20

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, as I just wrote to Jeff in another post, sometimes you get lucky. We decided I would go down before dinner tonight and get setup while my wife cooked, then I would come up to eat, go back down and cut the legs on the two benches/ I have been fretting over this, the last time I cut legs it was pretty iffy and a bit ugly.
 SO I went down and it went pretty well. I already has the benches braced up when I took them down. The first bench dropped right in between the bunks perfect! It was, of course, an accident but I'll take it. It cut OK, but I was so tensed up trying to go very gently so it wouldn't grab.


 

The second one was longer, so I cut the 2 fronts legs, then re-clamped so the back legs were right over a bunk and cut those. Again, like a charm, but I was tensed up the whole time.



 

I got them done so fast that i had time to clean up and load them in the Mule to bring up to the shed for finishing. Then went in for dinner. As we were eating, the skies opened up with a severe line of thunderstorms. It came down in buckets. I am SO glad I didn't have everything spread out and opened up at the mill, which was the plan originally. SO we ate, I waited until the line passed, went out to the shed, dressed off the bottom of the legs, flipped them, and put on the first coat of verathane. It looks a little streaky, but lets see how it dries.

Bench #1:



 

Bench #2:



 

These are not the works of art I see from others here, but I am learning and messing around. I am not getting too invested in them until I know what I am doing a little better. Still, not too bad for a first attempt. Tomorrow a light sand and another coat.

[Old Greenhorn]

the wedding benches could be slabs you have cut off cants. and just stumps for  legs, spaced down the slab.  the neat thing if the neighbor does not want them all, is they can be rented or loaned, and then made into other things.  i had made four about 8 feet long for a chapel service in BSA, and now they are all made into other things.

Good idea Doc. I would have to find a way to attach them and make them secure. I don't think I can come up with enough dry slabs in time. Also, I am not sure what level of sophistication they have in mind. She is a NYC radio personality, and he work on Wall St.. I need just a little more detail, like how many people, how many benches, how fancy, etc. If they come up this weekend, we can talk.

[doc henderson]

i can tell you most of the young docs are doing rustic for even fancy weddings.  "It is all the rage"  as they say.  It does not have to be dry dry, just surface dry.  make some 1.5 to 2 inch slabs out of those short 6 foot logs you have talked about.  flat on both sides with live edge.  and just firewood logs cut on the mill to be all the same height and parallel and they will not need to be fastened if the log diam. is wide enough relative to the length (height).  you might take a 1/2 inch round over bit and soften the top edges.  can even angle the joint at a log support and make a half circle, or two rows with an isle down the center.  can make kneeling benches, and archway, a cross.  email me a photo of the couple and i will engrave it on some maple for you.  when is this wedding, you got a lot of work to do.  i have two docs to make cookies and engrave their names on and people will sign the wood instead of a guest book.

[doc henderson]

 

 

walnut center pieces with danish oil finish.



 

OB/GYN and Pediatrician, and their kids on their wedding day.

[Old Greenhorn]

Thanks Doc. Let me talk to them and see what they have in mind before I go over the edge. my wife might kill me if I spend my summer making stuff for somebodies wedding, but I would like to help them out. Lets see what they have in mind.

[doc henderson]

What? not go over the edge!  might make some nice stair treds when they are done with them.



 

getting dark but this is a 10 foot bench out by my campfire/burn barrel.   not much to it.



 

tea lights using your already purchased forstner bits.



 

maple coasters and wine glass holder,  engraved names on the glasses



 

the 2 blond twins that i took care of in our NICU in hays, Ks 22 years ago.  wt 1 and 1.7 Kg.  The smaller one, Jordan getting married (was the 2.2 pound one and is still smaller).  their mom and family remain part of our family.  It is good to participate in the lives of others.  they were delivered early since one stopped growing and the other was getting all the nutrition.  I think they turned out OK.  i was asked to say the opening prayer at the wedding reception.  

[Downstream]

I think the benches are great.  I have wanted to make some thru tenon legs but never seem to do it.  Also Doc how thick are those walnut cookies and how quickly were they oiled after cutting?

[doc henderson]

3/4" by 10 to 12 inch.  the larger diameters will put more stress on the sap wood and crack.  i.e. 24 inches will crack.  soaked for a few hours in denatured alcohol, then air dried a bit and then staggered in boxes for a week or two.  opened daily and rearranged.  this slowed the drying.  5 gal denatured etoh at menards for 32 bucks a can.  then a run through a drum sander (planer will tear them apart with end grain),  then danish oil and done.  I made fifty, and after friends and family took some, i got about 30 back.  

[Old Greenhorn]

 I have done benches (with a hand power planer) and the hard thing is if there is a twist.  then you start high and end up low and the other side is the opposite.  if you thin it (the cut depth) down a bit, just like with a hand plane, you can start doing 45° angles across the step offs and that will sometimes help.  

Man Doc, you hit this one right on the head. I glued legs on that slab last night and when I stood it up I could see a smooth twist going right down the length. DanG! Well, it's a junky little bench anyway and nobody could notice when their butt is on it, so I will let it go. More education.
 I ran out at lunch time today to make my monthly Lowes donation and picked up one of those planers for myself. They had a deal with the battery, so I jumped in. Was picking out finishes in the paint dept and muttered something under my breath, the guy standing next to me agreed and the next thing you know, we were talking about furniture repair, tulip wood, and sawmills for the next 25 minutes. There went my lunch hour.

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, so I am SO done with the tables. It was a learning experience, but now it is time to move on. I put the last cost on at 5:30 this morning before work. I will deliver them tomorrow when it is fully cured. The came out 'OK' and I learned a lot. I still have them same issues I had as a 14 year old wherein I have no patience for applying finishes and waiting. I hate that, I always will. 
 Anyway, these aren't too bad and the new owner will be happy. He knows the history of the wood and the tables will sit within 100' of where the tree grew. This particular tree nearly killed me when I took it down through a freak occurrence, but that is another story.

 This is the long one for under the owners picture window in the pool room.


 

 I put the live edge down on this one, not sure why.


 

The Tung Oil did bring ut the grain as I had hoped. Both tables are ash.



 

This short one is to go between two chairs in a sitting section of the pool room.



 

You can see on this edge that the EAB damage is apparent. I figure years into the future, the owner can use this to explain why these beautiful trees are no more in our mountains.



 

SO now it's time to move on. I have a maple bench in the works now but it has a twist and I used up the bottle jack legs on it, It will be an ugly step child at best. I will knock it out and give it to a neighbor for a fire pit bench.
 I have to get that doghouse built for the generator, so I best get it started. I will lose most of tomorrow to birthday parties and family celebrations, then maybe Sunday I can get something started. There seems to be no end to the work of improving the work area at the mill, sometimes it uses more time than the projects. OK, most times. I think I am feeling pressure over this wedding bench thing. Gotta get that figured out.

[doc henderson]

I put the live edge down cause it looks like that is how it is supposed to be (to me).  more surface area.  I soften the edge that can be sharp with a router.  1/8th to 1/2 inch radius.  I think those look great, 100% rustic with a bit of elegance.  perfect for a pool room ect. looks like you got the through tenon thing goin on!  hard not to split out on the back side.  they seem to be fitting well.

[WDH]

I am a live edge up kind of guy.  I like to show it off. 

OGH, on slabs with twist, you can put them back on the sawmill, shim them so that they do not rock, clamp them, then take a very light skim cut to make the top flat.  Then you use the flat face to run down on the planer bed, planing the other side flat.  Then flip and plane the side that you flattened on the sawmill just a little bit to get it smooth. 

[Old Greenhorn]

That's  good idea WDH I will hang onto. This one is only 1.5" thick and is a top slab so the 'bottom' is full round. It would take a lot of work and a jig to get it back on the mill. Not worth it for a short small bench. You won't be able to feel it with your butt when you are sitting on it. ;D :D
 BUT on something of size, your idea would work great.

Yeah Doc, I left the live edge up on that short one because it had so much character. I wanted the bug tracks to show. It tells a story. Also, there is a nice flare on one side because this was just above the butt.
 A former co-worker saw the photo and now she wants me to make her a TV table with a shelf. That will be a new challenge I hadn't planned on. Maybe I should stop posting photos. ;D

[doc henderson]

and so it begins.  be sure to get what you need.  I find it helpful for someone to ask for something to push me to try new stuff and learn how to be more efficient.  I do not charge but for Doc friends and other that can chip in, I let them donate to my polyurethane fund.  to cover expenses but let them determine the amount.  a few were going way overboard so I trended them down.  no charge for vets, or in memorandum.  I am just a hobby guy, so decide to take care of your self so you start off that way and it gets passed on with word of mouth business.  might at least help with consumables, maintenance, and a few new toys as needed, like that planer.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, that is kind of the direction I am headed in too Doc. I did pick up that planer, but figured the top board job covered most of that cost. (OK, Half, close enough.) I am waiting for the wedding neighbors to show up so that I can get a better handle on what they wanted. I have to get rid of those two tables this morning too. Losing most of the day to birthday parties today and we have t-storms coming, so I am just chilling this morning, which I don't get to do much. It feels a little weird.

[Old Greenhorn]

OK @doc henderson , i had a talk with the Happy couple today and cleared some things up while trying to draw a bead on what the expectations were. They changed their mind about benches and wanted something that was a little more 'built up' and I explained all that wood would have to be dried, planed, joined, the benches built and a lot of finishing work that was more than I could handle without equipment. They had already arranged to rent them, thinking it was way too much work, for such short usage. I did offer up 2" slabs on log rounds or hay bales, they liked that and the wood is reusable later. But enough slabs for 75 butts folks is a lot. It will be a 'lets see if we can get that one in' type of thing.
 They had focused their request down to asking if making a bar would be too much. I told them that was very appropriate and would like the challenge. i have posted some basic questions on this over in the woodworkers section.
 They also asked about some table bling and I suggested your tea candle thingies, they liked that. Also maybe something to put the flowers on. I mentioned the photos you etch and she got really excited. Sorry, I may have to take you up on that offer. How big do you make those?
 We walked their yard and talked through the layout so I could get an idea of what they really wanted in case there was an opportunity to do something neat. I helped the measure out where the tent would be, etc. In doing so I threw out some ideas and when I left they had re-arranged everything and were much happier, it made more sense to them. She asked if they could take me on as a wedding planner. Not bloody likely. ;D

 I worked on that twisted table just a little today and got the legs cut. I seem to be getting a tad better at that. This will wind up being a child's bench, I think. I may keep it in the shop for my grandsons or something like that. It's only 13" high. I have been having some trouble with my Mule in the last two weeks. I have narrowed it down to either the fuel pump, pump relay, or (worst case $$$) the igniter module. Changed the fuel filter today because it could have been an issue (when I rebuilt this 2 years ago, the tank was dry and rusty, I cleaned it as best I could, but....) that was FULL of fine rust, holy cow I have never seen so much. It didn't change the condition. I put a volt meter on it, and got it to finally exhibit the intermittent problem. Pretty sure it's the pump, but these things are so tightly coupled it becomes a chicken and egg thing. The pump is on order, hopefully it gets here before next weekend. It got really bad this afternoon. I took the opportunity to give it a wash and clean out the bed to get it presentable for the festival I use it at in a few weeks. I need to touch up the spray bedliner a bit. I also need it to be 100% reliable for that week.
 The weather is getting hotter so my workdays are getting less productive. The mosquitoes down at the mill aren't helping either. Normally I am beginning my festival preps by now, but I have that on autopilot and am just going to ride along and do whatever I have done for the last ten years. I have lists. I do need to shop and replace some gear that is worn out though.

[doc henderson]

Is it butts or butt cheeks?  cause that would cut the number in half.  and maybe that last one was cut in half.     .  glad your wife gave you permission to go off the edge as we discussed earlier.  i am happy to do an engraving for a friend.  need a pic with little background, emailed at at least 600 dpi.  or it can be done after if they want a professionally taken photo engraved.  Phone pics are fine if in focus, and you can give them my email and have them send it.  
if i were making a bar, I would make it with an almost 2 x 4 framed front, that can be covered with any kind of wood/boards.  two back legs connected by aprons at the top to the front, and reinforcement at the bottom with a shelf going across to keep the whole thing from torquing (not twerking).  i would have a lower back top at 30 to 36 inches high, and the top bar slab can fasten to the 2x4 framed wall at the top at about 48 inches tall.  i bet width and length will not matter too much if it is all proportioned nicely.  then if the top slab moves a little, it is resting on 2x4 wall and the twist will not matter as much. 3 days or more before the wedding it should/could be flattened on the mill, and finished or not depending what you (the wedding planner) has recommended to the couple.  I always thought more of the movie wedding crashers when I think of you, but i guess the wedding planner from father of the bride is not too much of a stretch.   :D :D :D
my laser can do 18 x 24 inches, but it has to be high resolution as to not pixelate at a larger size.  i usually  just do it with what width of maple I have, and crop the photo to look nice and the resulting size is what you get.  in photos the grain needs to run left to right, not up and down.  if a photo is too much trouble, I can at least engrave the names and wedding date onto something for the table.  if it is still rustic, you can cut little cookies for the reception tables, and people put mason jars on them with flowers and such.
i would say the for 75 folks you would need 150 linear feet of slabs, butt these as mentioned could be flat sawn, and prob. only take a few hours to make, if unfinished ect. and if they provide hay bales.  I will leave that up to you.  if the logs are hard to come by, and you do not have a market for slightly used, albeit sat upon slabs, you may not want to go there.
you and they have a few months to decide.   thanks for letting me help a little, and let me know what I can do.

[Old Greenhorn]

Frustrating week here. I took the initiative and ordered a new carb for the generator before it failed. It was leaking and I am tired of patching it. the aftermarket one is 'not quite' the same and it I could not get ti to run at full speed. So I quit on that to do more research and I think I will take parts out of the new one to fix the old one, If not, I'll get the right carb. This means running back and forth to the mill a lot which is my 2nd issue. The Mule has an intermittent problem  mentioned earlier which is getting worse. Up till now it would just slow me up a bit, now it is getting to where I may just get stuck wherever it quits on me. I am reduced to foot power which doesn't allow me to carry my boatload of tools around. I hope that pump arrives soon, I have a lot to do this weekend.
 Spent last night working on a co-workers 455 rancher. Glad I don't own one, but I did find his problem and returned it to him today for him to do the final fix. What a pain to work on!
 Maybe I'll just mow the lawn tonight if it doesn't rain. Oh, and the wife's van is now running very rough and sickly. Getting a pro to look it over today. We need it for her Craft show Saturday, if it's not reliable, she misses out and looses income, first show of the season for her. She in not happy and you can guess how that goes.
 I would hate to lose a 4 day weekend over broken down gear with so much to do.

[Old Greenhorn]

The frustration continues. Still waiting for the new fuel pump to arrive for the Mule and hoping that is the true solution to it's behavior. Time is running short, I have 7 days until I load it on the trailer for the festival week, which is the main reason I bought it in the first place, for just one week a year.
 Anyway. I piddled with stuff around the house, delivered that last bench to a neighbor, and did a test with epoxy. That stuff is covered over in The Bar Top Thread. I wanted to at least select the slabs for the bar and get the joined edges cut, but I have not been to the mill in a week now. Abyway, I re-learned what I remembered about working with epoxy (it's messy, you have little time, you'd better have everything planned out well, etc) and repaired the 1st bench I made a month ago just for fun. It was cracked when I made it, but a glue fill failed big time (I needed to prove that to myself, there is success in failure). The epoxy seems as strong nails, I am amazed. I sanded it it and re-oiled, later adding a coat of urethane. I'll do a little more today.
 It's been really hot, so heavy work is not appealing. The wife had a craft fair/street festival on Saturday as a vendor. She makes very nice quilted goods and this is a low risk, comfortable, town wide celebration in Roxbury, NY that she did last year and broke even. Better hopes for this year and she only does it if I go to help with the booth setup. It's a long day, we get up at 4:30 to be there by 6:30 to setup which takes 3 hours. Then I sit all day, or wander. There was a guy 3 booths down selling his wood products, everything from tuned bowls, cutting boards, some benches, tables, and some highly figured small slabs for wall hangings. It wasn't a lot of stuff, just a little of each. I stopped by once and we chatted. He let me look his stuff over and we talked techniques. I learned some things from his stuff that tells me I am on the right track. He had nice surfaces and great wood selections of unique pieces, but I thought his mechanics (legs and how they are attached, overall stability, and longevity) could have been better. ( he used deck screws and commercial lumber.) He did some things I had considered, but am now glad I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking his stuff, his customers will get good value and his prices were quite fair. His 'eye' was simply not the same as mine, so I learned something. We had an enjoyable chat passing the time. I am thinking about making some pieces for a test sale at an event like this, not doing 'the circuit' like my wife does, I have been down that road with her for 20 years, not for me. But maybe some small stuff, child stools, things like that which are roughly elegant. I am thinking on it. This would be a good show to try, it's cheap, non-juried and I could work with my wife sharing the load. She can't do the very heavy lifting anymore. I was encouraged to see a vendor that made nice wood lawn furniture and porch swings had sold a small trailer load of stuff, so there are some buyers there. My wife more than doubled her sales from last year. (Location and show changes) It started raining as we packed up, so we have drying to do today. >:(
 Back home late, and we have yet to unpack the van. Today more knocking around. Will sand and add another coat on that table. Probably walk down to the mill. This fuel pump is killing me. I ordered it last Sunday and picked a supplier in Jersey, it is only 200 miles away, figured it would get here faster than from CA, but it went from NJ, to PA, and has been sitting in CT for 3 days now, just marked as 'Transferred to USPS' this is nuts. I ordered a carb on Tuesday from OH, and it arrived yesterday, all thru USPS.
 It's been really hot here, so I am not about to set the world on fire cranking out work, but sitting is killing me. Motivation is beginning to die. With the light rain last evening things seem to have cooled a bit. I should work on my packing lists for next week and check gear.

[Old Greenhorn]

This is KILLING me! 10 days since I ordered the fuel pump and the tracking stopped in CT on Friday, 50 miles away, 5 days ago. How long can it take to ship a 1 pound box just 125 miles? I sent the seller a nasty-gram tonight because I have no idea if I will ever see it. I don't want apologies, I NEED the pump. SO I ordered another one, from a different supplier, paid the expedited shipping, and pleaded for them to ship as soon as possible. They say "by Friday" but Thursday is better and last week would have been best. I have not got a darn thing done and am too depressed to do anything else. I will try to improve my poor attitude tonight.

[doc henderson]

Just got home for the day.  synchronize our watches, and in 10 minutes from now, I will have a beer with you!

[btulloh]

OG, you did everything right yet you're the one that's getting put in a bind.  Hopefully the second carb will arrive and fix the problem.  It's enough to put anybody in a state.

Probably a good thing you re-ordered.  Around here, when it says "transferred to USPS for final delivery", it is cause for alarm.  50/50 at best.  I had the strangest conversation of all time with the manager of the PO here one time after the tracking stalled at "transferred to USPS" for several days.  Perhaps I'll detail that sometime in the thread dedicated to morons.

Hang in there.  After this kind of aggravation, karma says the new carb will arrive, it'll take care of the problem, and you can get back to worrying about the real stuff.

[Old Greenhorn]

Hah, just saw this 10 minutes after you posted. I may have started 2 minutes before you. 8)

 I walked down to the mill tonight, did nothing just checked things out. All secure, but you remember this photo of my bench when I made it?


 

The legs and top came from a punky EWP 15 years dead on the stump. You can see the slabs are butted up against each other , you could not see through the gap. Now, here it is tonight, same angle, just a little closer. A full 3/8" gap!


 

Both joints are like that. Pretty amazing. It's outside, just under a tarp, so no direct rain.

Also got some photos of the table I repaired over the weekend. 3 coats of verthane over danish oil. Before it was firewood, but now it's sold and will probably go by my neighbors dart board in the game room. We need a place to set a beer.
 The crack you see is a natural split, not a drying crack, it goes clean through and about 1/3 the length of the slab.



 

Filled with epoxy in 2 pours.


 



 

It's white ash. This also came from the tree that almost killed me. Anyway, it's done, just sitting waiting for delivery.
 AT least I got out for a walk.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, the dang fuel pump arrived today from the first seller, and now I have another due in on Friday SMH. At this point if I missed the root cause and it is not the fuel pump I have no time to get the next part inline, so I bit the bullet today and ordered the fuel pump relay for overnight delivery from CA. This $15. problem is getting an $80. solution, but at this point I don't care. It's messing up my life and I need to get back on track. Ever have that happen? some stupid thing that just throws you off and has an effect on everything else you do? I am not a happy camper, but I will try to sneak out a little early, get home and get this fixed.

[Old Greenhorn]

 8)        8)           8)
OK, the dang thing works. I had to crimp on right sized terminals and it's tight working in there, but I got it done i a few minutes. Seems to work better than the previous one. It does not cycle as much to keep it running at idle like the old one. That one would click slow and steady, this one is more less frequent. I am thinking the old one did not shut off when it should and was pushing too much fuel which is why it always burned rich when  it idled and you could smell it. It doesn't do that anymore. AT any rate I have a backup pump coming as a spare and the fuel pump relay, just in case. Took it for a long run and it seems solid. Now I have to start my festival prep and packing and get focused. Gonna get a little time on the mill Saturday morning and then re-purpose the mule for use at the festival. I run about 15 gallons of gas through it in 7 days, I can't afford a failure. My purpose there is to work as part of the EMS crew providing public safety and first aid or emergency services as required. My job is to loop the 80 acre site looking for problems before they become problems, search for lost kids, and assist the non-professional partyers survive the week.  ;D

Here is my rig last year just arriving where I camp in the Artist/Sponsor camping section:


 

And this is a partial overview of what will be my office for the next week: There is more behind the camera. We have about 5,000 full weekend cmaping passes and we get a few thousand more each day on day tickets. It's a comfy little Bluegrass festival.



 

It's a lot of ground to cover. I used to do it on foot, but I am getting too old for that and the Mule gets me where I need to be when something goes sideways. 

 Anyway, I can stop worrying about that and focus on getting ready. Lots to do yet. I also want to get those slabs pulled for the bar and figure out my edge cuts.