I was in town yesterday running errands and 3 people told me to get out and enjoy the day. When I told one of them I was going to try he said would be outside vicariously through me.

I was almost home when I stopped at the pallet dump and there were some very nice long hardwood pallets there but they were too large to fit in the car. I drove home, picked up my Pallet Bust'ah, and returned.

I think I've got enough to build another shed now.

I broke out the compressor and my pneumatic de-nailer and cleaned up all the top boards.

Today I figured I'd actually try to do something with all the pallet wood I scored yesterday. I started to build a small tabletop, it seemed like a nice easy project.

I ran the boards thru the jointer to get one straight side, then ripped them to 1 1/2" on the table saw, and glued them up into 5+" pieces so that tomorrow I can run those pieces thru my 6" jointer, then run the other side thru the thickness plane then glue the four pieces together. Almost 2qt of glue later, I somehow had prepped exactly enough wood.

well this will be sorta on my work bench, spent brass from our machine gun shoot, had 21 buckets of 223, 556, and 9mm with a smatering of .45 acp, picked up on tuesday, from our guys, and have so far sorted only 5 buckets, once sorted throw'm in the cement mixer to clean them up and then dry them, for prep for reloading, 

last year i reloaded over 50k rounds, this year, hmmm, primers are at a premium, so am minimizing reloading and using the cheapest ammo.

i have dillion reloaders, can do about 350 an hour if i get help can have three presses going and well you know ends up bing about 1k an hour, so not too bad if all goes right.

happy friday, 

rj in az

 

 

37 minutes ago, knockonit said:

had 21 buckets of 223, 556, and 9mm with a smatering of .45 acp,

That sir, is A LOT of brass. Ammo prices have come down a decent amount around here for those calibers but still would be a chunk of change new. I kinda' hoard my .45 acp. Use a lot of .22LR for just plinking around. Love shooting my

S&W MP22. Which reminds me I need to order a few more magazines. Hope to get some range time if it ever warms up around here and quits raining.

6 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

That sir, is A LOT of brass. Ammo prices have come down a decent amount around here for those calibers but still would be a chunk of change new. I kinda' hoard my .45 acp. Use a lot of .22LR for just plinking around. Love shooting my

S&W MP22. Which reminds me I need to order a few more magazines. Hope to get some range time if it ever warms up around here and quits raining.

i sure miss the days of mil surplus ammo sales, and yeah, reloading is only way we can do the shoots, of course who ever shoots buys the ammo, so not like i foot the bill for it All, lol. 

i'm a pistolero shooter more than anything anymore, was a sporting clays and trap guy for years, but the ole shoulder took a beating and now its a 20 ga i shoot if i shoot at all. also gave up the long range shooting, kinda did it for a living back in the day. nothing like the smell of gun powder on a brisk day, or for that fact any day. 

happy friday, not looking forward to sorting remainder of buckets, think maybe i'll have offer free libations for some assist.

rj in az.

Yesterday was a travel day. Took the old 250 in for service. They've moved about 15 miles further from me to a new and bigger facility.  They are now actually on a paved road and they now have multiple lifts. The last time, they had to crawl under the truck in the dirt. A great bunch of guys, though. Their inspection revealed that the old gal needs her brakes seen to. More $$ but she's worth it. Won't be long before she'll need new plugs, too. Those V10s need a special tool to get to one of the back plugs. Inquiry revealed that they actually have one. 

Then, it was a trip into the wilds of Tucson's industrial section to get the Bosch SCMS reassembled after my ill fated attempt to make it ready for an improved dust collection ssystem. That place was another pleasant surprise. Very friendly staff in a very neat and clean facility. Got out of there for the princely sum of $16. 

Then, after a meandering but, beautiful trip through the Saguaros, with the help of Google Maps, I made it back home. 

With the old truck in semi decent shape and the Bosch all fixed, we're ready to get back to work. 

The four 5" pieces were jointed on two sides, run thru the thickness planer, run thru the table saw, cut to matching length, and glued.

Saturday's bench top...

Lid gets a collar

Via the Mitersaw...

The Cordless Version...

About to get this wrapped up. A couple flood coats of resin and install the legs and, it's  done.

Well now..ain't it cute?

And..it is made from Aluminum, to boot....or than the steel cutter  #102...I think the Brass latch might weigh more?

@frenchwwr. That's awesome Kevin. Love the look. Gives me an idea to consider for my Singer stand much like yours.

Thanks for sharing.

Tonight I cut up enough pieces of pallet wood to make this portable workbench.

I don't have a workbench and I don't have room for a traditional one so this mini bench might be a good workaround.

I found some more clamps so I started gluing up of two 5" wide pieces to make the workbench. I'm still working on how long the bench will be.

You know you have too many clamps when you occasionally find more.

As you've got a B&D Workmate under there you should add a rib to the bottom of the mini-bench so you can clamp it onto the Workmate. 

On 3/14/2023 at 7:11 AM, 4DThinker said:

You know you have too many clamps when you occasionally find more.

As you've got a B&D Workmate under there you should add a rib to the bottom of the mini-bench so you can clamp it onto the Workmate. 

And I just ordered 8 more, I need shorter ones.

I have a piece of countertop on my WorkMate that I can Clamp to thru the hole in the foot but the rib is a good idea for using it on my WorkMate in the barn.

I have a bit of a screw-up. The one I am copying was made from 2 pieces of 2 x 10 laminated together, so I cut my hardwood into 3" strips. This thing is going to be HEAVY! 

I think I'm going to mill it down a bit.

Dry fit on my bench...

Fun part MIGHT be tomorrow..when the glue and cauls show up...

I've been working on a clock for my brother in law.  He lives in Lakewood CO, and plays in a cover band there.  I thought he would like a clock in the shape of a musical note, so that is what I've been working on.  This is my second try.  The first one came apart when I was trying to shape it using a flush trim bit.  I guess the bit caught some end grain, and pieces went flying.  Same thing on the second try, but the break was clean enough that I could temp glue it back together and then cut through the joint with my band saw to get a cleaner edge.  After regluing, it seems to be holding together.  It still needs sanding, the front edges eased, and finishing.  I tried black dye, and that looked great while wet, but when it dried, it turned a dark brown.  I settled on a black stain that is indistinguishable from thick paint.  I'll use that and top coat with semi-gloss or satin.  Haven't decided yet.  Hope the picture comes through OK.  I'll post more when it's all finished and ready to ship.

 

Looking great !

Very cool and creative @PostalTom. Looking forward to seeing this to completion. Thanks.

Need to clean up and install this. ....

Stay tuned...