1 hour ago, knockonit said:

Totaly out of the norm, but whats on my bench right now is a predator 3500 generator that decided to not start after being stored over the summer, i use it to run a couple dancing men at our craft shows, haven't been to one yet this year as ole gal and i have been in colorado for the last month, grandkids and SIL retired from the Army after 30 years, quite a career hes had, 7 combat deployments, retired as a Brigade CSM, sure am proud of him,

any howz, getting old hands inside an area that midget hands fit to work on it, is ugly.

i'm' too cheap to take it somewhere, lol

oh yeah, and i hope to put some pics together to show some of the newbies we made for craft shows.

rj in az

Mine's running right now, the instructions say to run every 90 days.

This project just off of my bench and out of my shop.

Curly Maple. A pain to work with. Colonial Maple stain, with matte polyacrylic to seal it.

4D

2 hours ago, 4DThinker said:

This project just off of my bench and out of my shop.

Curly Maple. A pain to work with. Colonial Maple stain, with matte polyacrylic to seal it.

4D

The second picture has interesting leg angles

15 minutes ago, lew said:

The second picture has interesting leg angles

That was an "accidental" configuration of the very first one of these tables 30ish years ago. The sketches that led to the build were always just like the first photo above. It wasn't until I'd made the parts that the "options" for how to put them together appeared. The bonus is a change of the table height depending on how you put them together.

Fred gives good advice. You're sanity has to be worth something 🤣 and a big thank you to your family for their service 🫡

Edited October 29Oct 29 by Rusty S
Added txt.

On 10/28/2026 at 9:44 AM, knockonit said:

Totaly out of the norm, but whats on my bench right now is a predator 3500 generator that decided to not start after being stored over the summer, i use it to run a couple dancing men at our craft shows, haven't been to one yet this year as ole gal and i have been in colorado for the last month, grandkids and SIL retired from the Army after 30 years, quite a career hes had, 7 combat deployments, retired as a Brigade CSM, sure am proud of him,

any howz, getting old hands inside an area that midget hands fit to work on it, is ugly.

i'm' too cheap to take it somewhere, lol

oh yeah, and i hope to put some pics together to show some of the newbies we made for craft shows.

rj in az

Carbs gummed up? Maybe some carb cleaner? I had a $90 lesson about that once.

Then ran mine dry every month with a cup or so of gas. Also used stabil and ethanol free gas.

On the bench, this evening..2 items...one at a time..

Case needs a top...and this will be the Show Face of the Top...the other face?

Top of the Top..?

And the underside..

Just sanded a bit, after the plane was done...

I don't so this osten, so this is just proof I'm doing something, even if it is small. This is the carcase of the jewelry box I'm making for one of the great granddaughters. As with everything I do it's slow going. Newman taught how to make a mess out of the bench, but I'm still not as good at it as he is.

I made a Lamp for a woman out of an old flip-down side toaster once.

On 10/28/2026 at 9:39 AM, 4DThinker said:

Curly Maple. A pain to work with.

It certainly is. But it is a very satisfying experience to successfully attack it with a hand plane, and so very rare an experience!

Something missing?

Hmmm...

Well, this USED to be on the bench..

Before it was set over into the Saw Til....

Same saw as..

This rusty & Krusty saw wannabee.....

Even has a readable Etch...

C.E. Jennings

Hand Made

No. A 7-1/2 Panel saw...

A 10 pointer Cross cut saw,,compared to..

Looks a bit better? Cuts?

Rusty section is that first test cut....the rest of this cut, took the same amount of time...and cut a lot more wood...

On 11/4/2026 at 8:28 AM, steven newman said:

Something missing?

A broom ? 😁

I use a Leaf Blower....Brooms don't work too well on a Gravel floor.....

This just left my workbench and is on its way to my garage for some coats of spar varnish.

A cargo bed divider for the bed of by Chevy Colorado. To keep groceries near the tailgate. Velcro strips on the bottom will keep it stuck to the carpet bed liner. When not needed I can pull pins to release the side brackets and fold the back down so the hand holds line up and the brackets will fold down flat.

4D

After the leaf blower got done did...

As the area inside that red circle, was ankle deep in planer shavings....

That stack of storage tubs is 3 tubs tall. Was trying to get all the leftover Ash and Pine boards down to 1/2" thick

these 2 USED to be 3/4 x 12....they now be 1/2" thick, by 11-1/2 "wide.....

Had 4 planks of "Kiwi Pine" at 1/2" x 6" x 24" Project Lumber...decided to match all the good leftovers to match up in thickness.

Now looking for a Project or 2 to build with all of this...

Just got this off my bench. A small guitar amp. The circuit is a 1957 Fender Champ (5 watts). I bought the amp kit and soldered it all together. The circuit is stock except for using a 5V4 rectifier tube instead of the 5Y3 the schematic called for. The cabinet is curly maple with cherry inlaid dovetails. The dovetails were done with a Leigh D4 dovetail jig. It was fun but I do not think that I will ever inlay dovetails again. The speaker is a 12" Weber Red Dog rated for 15 watts. The finish is oil.

Others have said the same thing about doing DT joinery, never again....a lot of times after using the D4. But you got a nice look on the amp so don't give up on them just yet.

Never say never; very good looking case, well done.

3 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Others have said the same thing about doing DT joinery, never again....a lot of times after using the D4. But you got a nice look on the amp so don't give up on them just yet.

Thank you, Fred. I've used the D4 for many large items like guitar amp cabinets. I suspect that I would use it again for something like a blanket chest.

However, these days my woodworking has been focused on smaller things like boxes, and I've been cutting all of my dovetails by hand. It took me a while and a lot of wasted wood, but I find a genuine satisfaction out of doing them by hand. It has also shown me a couple of deficiencies. One - my eyes. They are getting weaker and I now keep a set of "cheaters" on my bench at all times. Two - my lighting. Twenty years ago, I had all the light that I needed in my shop. Now, I find myself constantly needing more light to do the same tasks. This winter will see a much-needed upgrade to the lighting in my shop. I don't know yet what the solution will be, but I need more light for sure.