Watcha Makin'?

[Magicman]

That wire should really help with the wind.  

[aigheadish]

Hahaha! The other side, you can't see, is the house and a big patch of bamboo! 

[thecfarm]

I have a grill something like yours.
I noticed the lighter fluid and the charcoal starter too?

[aigheadish]

What am I making? The wife happy... 

She's been wanting another dog to add to the family and today is the day. So far the little one isn't backing down from the big one, should be fun to watch, and the little one will end up bigger than the big one now... She seems like a sweet little doggy, though very stinky. We're naming her a tree name. The white one is Maple, still deciding on the little one, so far it's between hickory, Sequoia, and Myrtle. I'm voting Myrtle but we're open to suggestions. 

[Resonator]

Dogwood! Known for it's bark! 

[thecfarm]

We just added a kitten to our home. The first meeting of the dog and kitten did not go well. 
That kitten was 2 feet across including his claws!!!!
But all is well now.

[SwampDonkey]

The neighbor's 2 dogs and all their barn cats are over here night and day long enough to walk through, not to stay. The dogs don't seem to bother the cats, the dogs like to come over and converse with the fox in the middle of the night. 

[chainsaw_louie]

Yes, I wanted something that would flatten as large as I can cut. Besides flattening slabs, it's a major tool for counter top, bar top fabrication.

As far as the slab market; my competitors are getting more than twice what I charge for a flattened, sanded slab. So, I need to get current. I've been collecting slabs for almost 20 years and I have literally acres of them. Supposedly, next week I have contracted for some of the biggest, certainly most expensive logs I have EVER purchased to come in for reduction to slabs. Let's hope the market stays strong!

How are my brook trout doing?

@tule peak timber , that 62' flattening table with automated router is quite an impressive engineering accomplishment !  A few questions:

- How long do those routers last ?

- in some of your prior posts I thought that you mentioned using weights and clamps to force slabs and pieces of wood into a flat plane. I thought, 'wouldn't that just create massive amounts of stress in the wood that will eventually twist or warp back into the original shape?'. The router table flattening system seems a much better and permanent system to make a slab flat.   Did I misunderstand about your using weight and pressure to flatten slabs ?

Thanks.

[aigheadish]

The wife has decided on the name Hickory for the dog, which came via West, By God, Virginia, and Hickory is said with some twang in it.

[tule peak timber]

Yes, I wanted something that would flatten as large as I can cut. Besides flattening slabs, it's a major tool for counter top, bar top fabrication.

As far as the slab market; my competitors are getting more than twice what I charge for a flattened, sanded slab. So, I need to get current. I've been collecting slabs for almost 20 years and I have literally acres of them. Supposedly, next week I have contracted for some of the biggest, certainly most expensive logs I have EVER purchased to come in for reduction to slabs. Let's hope the market stays strong!

How are my brook trout doing?

@tule peak timber , that 62' flattening table with automated router is quite an impressive engineering accomplishment !  A few questions:

- How long do those routers last ?

- in some of your prior posts I thought that you mentioned using weights and clamps to force slabs and pieces of wood into a flat plane. I thought, 'wouldn't that just create massive amounts of stress in the wood that will eventually twist or warp back into the original shape?'. The router table flattening system seems a much better and permanent system to make a slab flat.  Did I misunderstand about your using weight and pressure to flatten slabs ?

Thanks.

On the engineering comment, thanks, still working out a few bugs but getting things close to where I want them.
On the router motor itself, probably not long depending on hard it is pushed. Internal cooling will be its downfall and shorten life. I consider the router throw away tooling.
On the flat plane comment: the weights I am talking about are typically a caterpillar loader driving over a slab on soft sand. This snaps the slab, breaking it along its stress points, completely obliterating its warped original shape. The clamps are used in the horizontal plane simply to squeeze the shattered slab back together, not necessarily to stress load in the horizontal plane. If you're needing to apply excessive clamp pressure, then that stress needs to be eliminated before final glueup. Otherwise, you might have some spring back. My whole thing is to get the stresses out of the slab, realign it, surface it and keep on trucking. Check out technology on how they build compound curves on ship hulls or how bent frames on automobiles are straightened. The Dr. who breaks a bone in a leg, straightens it, fortifies it and let's it heal. Think outside of the box. Gotta be smarter than the wood and make it do what you want it to, not what it wants to do. 

[aigheadish]

The new dog's name has been already changed from Hickory to Timber. When playing in the yard or with Maple she falls down a lot so my wife was upset when she thought of Timber, because it's funny and suits the dog more organically. My wife had been calling her Hickory all day yesterday but after family consultation it's been changed to Hickory Timber, calling her Timber.

[Larry]

Busy week so far. Made my first salt well or spice box. Worked to get the process down so I can speed production. Have several designs in mind.





Sunday Billy Owens taught me the traditional Ozark way to weave baskets out of green white oak splits. I hope to apply the knowledge I learned to weave seats for chairs I make.


It does my spirit good to go to the my small woodlot, find a tree, and make a useful item. Simple living from the tree.

[Resonator]

Just finished up a 3 day kids VBS show I do every summer (me and a guitarist buddy of mine have been the band for the last few years), here are a couple projects I've volunteered to build for the event:

Previous years had an ocean/fishing theme, and I made a treasure chest for the donation box. Stained pine with black painted strips for strongbox bands, and upholstery tacks for rivets.

This year had a big top carnival/celebration theme, and I built a kids version of a "High-Striker" game. I watched a short video on Youtube of a similar set-up, and "Eyeball Engineered" my version. Built with basic 2x and 1x construction (all spruce and pine off my mill of course), painted white. Game works by hitting the "X" on the 2x4, which is hinged in the middle like a teeter-totter, which then hits the volley ball on the other end, flinging it up to hit a striker, which rings the bell.

Close up of ringer, a couple 1x blocks hinged at the back, with a wrench sandwiched in a groove. This hits the bell, made from a stainless mixing bowl held with a screw in the center.

My 5 year old nephew trying it out. Hitting with both hands and all he had, he rang the bell!
From what I heard from the crowd and the kids, the game was a hit (literally).

[aigheadish]

Nice work Resonator!

[SwampDonkey]

Cool game. I bet everyone had fun trying it out. 

[Resonator]

It got plenty of use all 3 days. The event staff already plan to use it again next year, and I want to make a couple improvements to it. I may have made a little too easy, some of the stronger kids made it sound like a pinball machine.