Watcha Makin'?

aigheadish · December 23, 2024, 07:07:56 AM

Yes to all the above! I've got like 5 different sizes of drum sander, and I'm definitely doing a fair amount of shaping with it. I've attempted to make sure the bandsaw table is square but I need to look again. I've certainly thought things were square when they were not. This bandsaw is new and I was quite surprised last time I checked square on it as it had somehow gone out after my initial setup.

I need to relook at an oscillating drum sander the kind that goes up and down, it may be time to take that hit.

I use the rubber eraser block quite a bit to freshen up my sandpaper, it seems to work quite well.

Thanks guys. It sounds like sanding is life.

aigheadish · December 23, 2024, 05:50:53 PM

Welp, I've been holding off on taking the oscillating spindle sander hit for several years, because the price tag has shocked me every time I look but thanks to 100 bucks from my mother, for Christmas, and another hundred bucks out of my wallet, the harbor freight model is, initially, incredible. Sure, the quality and smoothness of its machinations could be better but the results after just a few minutes of sanding versus the drill press drum sander and the belt sander I have are remarkable. I wrestled the piece around on the drill press but a nice and gentle press up against the spindle sander had all the saw marks gone in about 5 minutes.

Similar to when I forget what the backhoe is capable of, I fired this thing up and giggled like a little girl at what it was doing and how much better it made a process. Mother of God. Yay!

beenthere · December 23, 2024, 11:31:20 PM

If you can't see them, then they ain't there.

mroldstyle · December 24, 2024, 04:41:22 PM

Until you put a finish on it!

Old Greenhorn · December 24, 2024, 06:27:45 PM

Yeah, funny how that works, isn't it?

Wlmedley · December 30, 2024, 05:19:26 PM

I posted some pictures of some old beams that came out of my mothers old house on the wood identification section a little while back. It was determined that one was chestnut and the other was Cucumber tree. Sawed both up into lumber and planning to make something for my siblings and myself in memory of the old house. Don't have a whole lot of lumber so decided on some shaker style step stools which I have already made before along with a couple other members. Finally got one put together except for some more sanding and some sort of finish. Will probably need to start with a thin coat of epoxy as there is a lot of bug holes that should probably be filled. Turned out to be a pretty big job for me and I still have three more to do.

doc henderson · December 30, 2024, 05:30:45 PM

great job Bill.

Wlmedley · December 30, 2024, 05:56:25 PM

Thanks Doc, I've sold enough lumber this year to buy a planer and a router and a fellow gave me a jointer so I have a pretty low cost hobby at this point. These three tools made a big difference in what I'm able to do. Hopefully I'll learn how to use them a little better. Always something to learn. This forum has been a big help.

SwampDonkey · December 30, 2024, 06:07:05 PM

Those tools will keep you interested anyway.

I'm letting some maple wood dry in the shop a few days. Then saw out and smooth a bunch of sticks. That's litterally all they will be, but they have fancy part names. Shafts, lamms, jacks, treadles. Just a bunch of sticks with holes.

Old Greenhorn · December 30, 2024, 06:48:12 PM

Oh MY! That is beautiful Bill! Good on ya mate! I'd use a water white finish on that one for sure. With respect to the bug hole fills, A little late for this one, but I do all my filling work before I finish processing the wood. That way you can flatten it easier, even run it through the planer if needed. Filling after I have everything cut to size just makes it so much tougher for me. I generally skip plane the wood, do my fills, then either finish plane or sand it. Then I start building. Just a thought for the next ones.
BUT, by golly, that looks So nice!

Wlmedley · December 30, 2024, 10:40:53 PM

Tom, I believe you have the right idea about filling the bug holes and other imperfections before assembly. Something I really didn't think of. I started on some epoxy work this evening and I'm going to have to let it dry and turn it several times to get it all covered and then sand it all over again.It's going to take quite awhile.If it turns out good I'll do my glue ups and cut enough parts to build three more but try doing the epoxy work before assembly. I'm not really worried about getting every little hole completely filled but thinking more about keeping the wood stabilized. I think the bug holes sort of add to the looks.Thanks for the advice.

aigheadish · December 31, 2024, 06:34:38 AM

Neat grain on that Bill! Good job!

Nebraska · December 31, 2024, 07:50:02 AM

That is very nice.

rusticretreater · December 31, 2024, 11:31:44 AM

I get annoyed with epoxy filling bug holes. Air gets trapped in there and escapes slowly. You come out the next day and see the hole is not filled to the top. So I use a pin or a brad to poke into the epoxy to allow the air to escape and the epoxy to settle while filling which makes it better.

tule peak timber · January 01, 2025, 05:43:34 PM

I spent Christmas trimming out the guest house with brushed blue stain Pine, whacking out a little picnic table from some Redwood scraps, and building a Walnut root vanity for a whacked out designer.

Old Greenhorn · January 01, 2025, 10:16:33 PM

Whacked out designer is right!

Geez Rob, your stuff always looks great, but I am just wondering how that 'vanity' is going to wind up looking in the final installation? Is that something where the end client will think it looks really cool until they start dealing with it on a daily basis?
Reminds me of a custom built house just a few houses down built 35 years ago. It had a lot of stuff in it that made me go "HUH?!" and it looked cool, but all the subsequent owners have been spending a lot of money fixing stuff that the architect never seemed to care about, like heat, crawl space ventilation, or roof leakage. You know, Little things like that. The original owners who had the house built tried to sell it and it took them nearly 10 years to do so. They started at $850k and finally sold for $300k 3 months before COVID hit. I have watched the 2 owners since pour money into the place fixing stuff to make it a real home. The big kicker that won't go away is a spiral staircase that never met code and is the only way to get to the second floor. There has been a lot of beer wasted sitting there and staring at that staircase trying to figure a solution. It does look pretty in a magazine shoot though.

WV Sawmiller · January 01, 2025, 11:54:43 PM

Tom,

If you can post a copy of the floor plan I am sure the design committee can solve the problem.

I wonder how much an elevator costs?

tule peak timber · January 02, 2025, 05:08:14 AM

Tom, The vanity is going to be mounted with back lighting, not against a wall in the rear, no backsplash, no trim, and a sink on top. I've been going at it with the designer for months on this simple one.
Years ago, I did another wacky bathroom where water came out of the wall ,hit the sink which floated in a midair vanity suspended by stainless cables from the ceiling. The walls themselves were end grain blocks of alder rising from the floor to the ceiling in a curving arch.
Got to love designers!

aigheadish · January 02, 2025, 07:16:32 AM

Neat work TPT! I love that chunky table base!

tule peak timber · January 02, 2025, 08:04:12 AM

The entire table-legs set is scrap/trim off of the mill held together with splines. I'm toying with the idea of experimenting with a new finish from AwlGrip that just came out to top coat the epoxy for out door use. If it holds up I'll start using it for customer furniture pieces. Always looking for the silver bullet in finishes is darn near a fulltime job.

doc henderson · January 02, 2025, 09:18:42 AM

let us know Rob. thanks for doing the R & D.

Old Greenhorn · January 02, 2025, 09:34:18 AM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on January 01, 2025, 11:54:43 PMTom,

If you can post a copy of the floor plan I am sure the design committee can solve the problem.

I wonder how much an elevator costs?

Don't think we didn't discuss it at length. The first couple that bought the house (she was a lawyer and he was a commercial architect) tackled some of the big stuff like the moisture in the crawl space and two full new bathrooms (turns out n the original build somebody had shot a nail through a drain pipe and that pipe slowly leaked for 30 years. All the walls inside were an inch or more of black mold.) But those stairs, with all his access to custom fabricators in the city and all his skills and resources and experience, well, we just could not find an elegant solution without ripping out and re-doing major structural parts of the house. There was just no floor space for a normal stair system to land on, even in the runs.
The roofs on the house and separate garage were designed with a single ridge beam, about 10x16x 60' long set over opposite corners so that the roof areas were triangles. The garage was the same, but smaller. Those beams had no end cover or protection, so guess how they look now? I wonder what those beams cost to make and deliver?

aigheadish · January 07, 2025, 08:52:30 AM

Here's my first not-great-but-finished-enough attempt at my bandsaw box. This purpley stuff seems to burn very easily. I have another that I'm working on, with much nicer proportions but I'm burning it quite badly while sanding, even though I'm using pretty low grit and very little pressure on the sander. I'll have to try some different wood on the next one. It still looks ok. It's fun to work on so I'll keep practicing. These pictures are not the one I've got pictured above.

21incher · January 10, 2025, 06:40:10 PM

Quote from: aigheadish on January 07, 2025, 08:52:30 AMHere's my first not-great-but-finished-enough attempt at my bandsaw box. This purpley stuff seems to burn very easily. I have another that I'm working on, with much nicer proportions but I'm burning it quite badly while sanding, even though I'm using pretty low grit and very little pressure on the sander. I'll have to try some different wood on the next one. It still looks ok. It's fun to work on so I'll keep practicing. These pictures are not the one I've got pictured above.

Looks great for the first one. You chose a tough wood to work with for learning and did great. That will age to a beautiful deep purple in a couple months if exposed to sunlight.

SwampDonkey · January 12, 2025, 08:37:47 AM

Been sanding some sticks, 32 pieces for shafts need sanding on four sides and the ends and corners so string heddles can move freely. That's a lot of sanding. In 2 hours I got 8 done.

I figure 8 more after dinner, repeat tomorrow and be done. Lots of other stick parts need sanding to. Nothing too exciting about sanding sticks, but needs done.

The pile of sticks.

8 sticks sanded, stacked beside the lathe