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Friday, June 10th, What's on your Patriot Woodworker Agenda?


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A very nice weekend coming up and no woodworking planned in the shop. There will be lots of work in the shop, it just won't be making sawdust. Last year in May we took down a Maple tree next to the shop and planned on expanding the shop. Well after waiting on several backhoe operators, finally I got a call from one this week and said he would be here on Thursday morning at 7:00 am to dig my footings. So I had to get busy and take out my electrical service to the shop since it ran right across where the new footings would go. So no power in the shop, no woodworking.

 

But at 7:00 am the guy was here and started what I have been waiting for over a year to start. 

Starting footings.jpg

 

Footings were finally getting dug and dirt was getting moved. The only thing we had to watch for was a gas line that the underground locators couldn't find. The line from my house tee's off and goes to my neighbor and they were unable to located where the tee was. We found the gas line and it was not in the way so just had to dig one corner slowly to make sure we didn't get into the gas line.

 

After about two hours of work I finally have the footings dug and now I am ready for the concrete guy to come form and pour my footings and slab.

Footings dug.jpg

 

My plans are to come out 12' and run the length of the shop which is 30'.

Shop Expansion Footings.jpg

 

This will give me a little more shop room but more importantly it will give me a dedicated finishing room. I am planning on a 12' x 12' room just for finishing. It will be ventilated so I can spray or brush in the room and not have to shut down the shop while I wait on finish to dry.

Footings for shop expansion.jpg

 

I am also going to have another area to move the Dust Collector and Air Compressor to so they are out of the shop to cut down on noise. It will also give me a storage area for wood so all the small piece can go to the storage room and not be leaning up against or on flat spaces in the shop. I can't wait to get this finished.

 

So while they were digging the footings I had to dig a new trench to the shop to put my new bigger electrical cable in. Currently I had a 60 amp breaker and an undersize wire running to the shop. This was put in before I moved here. I am putting in a 4-4-4 cable that is direct bury but I am putting it in conduit.

electricial trench.jpg

 

So I got a 12" deep trench dug and ready for the conduit to be placed in the trench and the new cable installed. Late Thursday afternoon I got the cable in the conduit and let me tell you that is some stiff cable and was no easy task to do by myself but I got it into the shop and into the house.

Electricial in trench.jpg

 

It is not connected yet on either end but at least I have it in the shop and house. In the morning I will get it connected to the new 100 amp breaker in the house and removed the old box from the shop and install a new 100 amp box with room to split up circuits.

Old Panel.jpg

Above is the old box so I will remove it in the morning and start working on the new box. I really hope to have power in the shop by tomorrow afternoon and get the AC back on so we can start working on new plugs and circuits.

 

So that is my agenda this weekend, what is on your Patriot Woodworker agenda? You know we here at TPW love to see all of the projects you are working on and see pictures of the progress. So let us know what you are working on in or on your shop this weekend.

 

I'll be checking back later to see what you are doing....

 

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That's going to be an awesome addition. A separate finishing room is something I can only dream of.

 

For me, you know when the Mrs. says- "Now this is just a thought", something is about to change-

My weekend is planned...

deck chair 2.JPG

 

deck chair 1.JPG

 

deck chair 3.JPG

 

Building 2 deck chairs. Material is western cedar. These will be a gift to some friends of ours. I'll have to leave the arms off until I take them out of the basement.

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2 hours ago, lew said:

That's going to be an awesome addition. A separate finishing room is something I can only dream of.

 

For me, you know when the Mrs. says- "Now this is just a thought", something is about to change-

My weekend is planned...

deck chair 2.JPG

 

deck chair 1.JPG

 

deck chair 3.JPG

 

Building 2 deck chairs. Material is western cedar. These will be a gift to some friends of ours. I'll have to leave the arms off until I take them out of the basement.

 

 

I love those Lew!! Is this your plan?

 

Your friends will have some really nice deck chairs.. Look forward to seeing them through and finished.

 

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11 hours ago, John Moody said:

I love those Lew!! Is this your plan?

Thanks, John. 

Yes, my plan. I made a set a few years ago for our deck. I used Sketchup to design them. When "we" decided to make this set- I couldn't find my Sketchup file anywhere. Took measurements off of our set and made a few minor mods for comfort.

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Hey all those are some nice chairs Lew.

 

So what are footings John?

 

For me, the weekend is catching up on old projects that I have had sitting around and partly (to some degree or another) done

 

First there is this wormy Pecan toothpick holder type thingy

 

pecanvase2.JPG

 

pecanvase.JPG

 

I still have to flatten the bottom so it will sit straight, I tried to do that on lathe but all it did was make the tool chatter.

The outside is sanded to 400 then EEE Ultra Shine was used. I still see some scratches, so after I get the bottom straight, I'll go back through the grits again.

 

Then there is this thing that I started working on today  which is Walnut. It will be a mini Birdhouse when it's done. I started turning it today, because I wanted to get the cracking stopped.

 

It will have a fairly long finial on the bottom (to the right) since I need practice with those anyway :)

 

100_0667.JPG

 

Both pieces are about 4-4.5" tall. That's a Popsicle stick in the vase, toothpick holder thing. And yes that is Inspector Shadow, verifying quality control. Apparently it wasn't quite up to snuff, so he rejected it for another pass through the sanding stages. LOL.

 

I still have a couple of bottle stoppers to do, and I may have a pen to make for a client if they decide for sure that they want one, and what exactly it is that they want.

 

OK enough about me, what are the rest of you Patriot Woodworkers doing?

 

Edited by Charles Nicholls
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10 hours ago, Todd Clippinger said:

John - those are great upgrades for the shop! You will really appreciate those for sure! 

 

 

Thanks Todd. Looking forward to getting it all going. I hope Monday to get my outlet in for the drum sander and finally give it a try. I got everything wired from the house to the new 100 amp box in the shop and all of my previous circuits divided out and on their own breaker.

 

I'll have to check out your video, I'm sure it will help me.

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Put the first coat of Watco on the Morris chair last Friday. Then, went to Tucson to get our dogs. I think it’s dry enough for the 2nd coat today. This one will be a 50/50 mix of Watco and poly. Wiped on. Then a 70/30 mix in two days. Then wax. Meanwhile, the ottoman will get assembled. Then, it’s off to the upholstery shop. Got one more to do. Two rifle cases and jewelry case to follow. Finally, then a few shop projects. One will be a chain driven router lathe to speed production of the canes that get the hayme knobs.
Can’t die til all the jobs are finished. I’m going to live to at least 120.

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