Friday the 13th! 

 

 Been a busy week here "Two Weeks From Anywhere" working on replacing the clutch on the Stepsons 08 Cobalt.

Guess I'll have to watch for nosaJ instead of yhpruM today while we lower the engine/transmission cradle assembly later today. 

Finally got all of the plastic B.S. out of the way so I could get at the engine/transmission assembly yesterday.

If I ever meet whoever invented those plastic push-pins I'm going to punch them right in the mouth.

But first I've got to make a "Horrible Fright" run for a tie-rod seperator tool so I can pull the strut assemblies. 

Beginning to feel I'm getting a bit  for doing this stuff, it seemed so much easier to do 30 years ago. 

Oh well, I'll get a break after today while we wait for parts. We can't order the parts until I determine which clutch disc of the two listed it takes. 

 

So, What's on Your Friday the 13th Weekend Agenda? 

 

Attending a meeting of the Brazos Valley Woodturners tomorrow morning.  This is a charter club of the AAW.  It's about an hour away and meets once a month.  I guess we will see what happens and if it's something I want to continue.  

 

Plan to work on the new drying box/kiln build Sunday.  Most of the parts have been delivered, I'm still waiting on some others to arrive.  I've gone through a dozen videos on the subject and I've got some ideas of my own to implement.  I'll post a thread on the build when the time comes. 

 

My license plates came in the mail yesterday.  1st truck payment out the door today.  That kinda hurts.  I've been debt free for 7 years up till now. 

 

.40

Edited January 13, 20233 yr by forty_caliber

Woodworking club tomorrow.  I'm doing the presentation on burn in repairs.   Then on to the theater shop to continue set build and recover from the broken pipe flooding.

Going to be cold so I will spend some time in the shop playing around with something.  No real plans. 

2 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

it seemed so much easier to do 30 years ago. 

Everything was easier 30 years ago!

 

 

Still TAD to Ship's Laundry. Mess and Scullery duties now have a cane using striker.

Prepping some mesquite for momma's table. Gathering tools and stuff for an inlaid desert scene. Might need a trip to $$Woodworker's Source$$ for some inlay wood, It's about a 30 mile trip but, there's a passel of great Mexican restaurants along the way. 

49 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

there's a passel of great Mexican restaurants along the way. 

Whatcha waiting for!!!!

1 hour ago, John Morris said:

Whatcha waiting for!!!!

A 30 mi. trip takes some planning. Mebbe manana. Around dinner time....that's noonish for us hicks.

Been a busy week with a variety of tasks including some unexpected maintenance challenges so doing some R&R today other than my domestics duties. Planning to have a three meat lasagna in the oven later for dinner tonight.

 

Need to replace the 5E cable from ISP/ phone provider junction to inside break-out box. My responsibility unless I want to pay them which I don't. Probably a 2 hour job for an experienced, youthful technician so I figure 1/2 to 3/4 day for me. That includes the 5 or 100 trips back and forth to the garage to first find the right tools then getting back to the task with the tool I went in to get.

 

Sunday, church responsibilities, then supposed to meet my wife's older sister, BIL, their youngest grandson (our great-nephew), wife's twin sister/fiancée??? for late lunch at Covington Beef House . About an hour away. Great place, good food + service and owned within the same family since I was a youngster. Purpose to wish great nephew well before he's deployed to Qatar. He's on 30d leave from the Air Force. This is a reschedule from last Saturday. I missed his HS graduation celebration when I was laid up from back surgery.

 

 

Cobalt all BROKE, the engines hanging on the hoist still connected to the radiator, A/C, and exhaust the subframes supported by floor jacks,...

here's a part, there's a part, parts here there and everywhere. 

Still need to seperate the engine, and transmission, will do tomorrow when Stepson is off work and can give a hand with pulling the rest apart.

 

Asked the SWMBO when we get it done tomorrow if she thought it would be a good time to tell Craig (The Stepson)....

"Now YOU get to put it back together". 

 

Bruce, and Mark were both amazed at the amount of parts that had to be removed (Even Cheating ) to get to the point where it sits now. 

I left things connected that "The Book" says you "HAVE" to remove/disconnect to perform the work. 

Mesquite top has been de nuded of all its sawdust packed holes...on the edges. 

This does the trick. 

Tomorrow is sanding time. Then, prep for the first resin pour.

 

Edited January 14, 20233 yr by Gene Howe

nice hunk of saw dust waiting to be furniture, lol. 

gals finished up 17 small boards, (they are ready for final sanding, boards were around 9x12 or so, size kinda varied, and four big boys 13x19 , )

had an issue with my large planer, opened it up and found that one blade has or is no longer straight, has either been worn down or bent as with a straight edge, its got a valley. so.... i pulled out the spare blades, and yeah, i got the wrong ones, way too thin, so expect new ones on late sat or sunday sometime, setting the three will be a maybe 3 barley pop job, might take a day or so. lol

the little table top delta sure got a work out, gals ran a whole stack of material for more boards, i suspect they'll have me out there tomorrow, ripping some items for them, taught'm how to deal with table top planer and the drum sander, but they tend to not have a lotta patience with the drum sander, they wanna take a whole lotta mat'l off at once. but we all know how that works. anyhowz, making headway

Rj in az

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

Mesquite top has been de nuded

Can we say that here? Would that mean you put clothes on it?

Edited January 14, 20233 yr by Grandpadave52

Went out to get the mail around 6:PM and the deer herd were grazing in the front yard.  They kept an eye on me until I went into the house.  I tried to strike up a conversation but they weren't very talkative.  Kept an eye on them while fixing dinner and saw all six of them laid down even though there was a light coat of new snow.  Looked out every time I got up and they stayed until 9:00PM.  Surprised me they would lay in the snow.

prepping for an upcoming craft show halfway down to that Larry guy's, who claims he's two weeks from anywhere, place. Decided we're making some bar/cave/shed signs to add to the product mix. Decided to use Cherry because its inexpensive, carves easy (CNC), and finishes well. So off to the lumber yard tonight. Managed to sneak out of there with only spending $700. Brian must've been thinking: why we were being cheapskates this time. But we still received the excellent level of service we've always seen from the crew at Kettle Moraine Hardwoods. They have always helped us load the truck and point out special sales and deals for us. Tomorrow I'll be gluing this into panels. While that glue sets I'll continue cleaning up the not so little piles of off-cuts that accumulate over the busy months. These I glue into strips and build chaotic style end-grain chopping boards from. It's a horribly inefficient way to make boards, but it allows me to fully utilize as much of the tree as I can. Even our sawdust gets composted and spread back into lawns and flower beds. The rest of the weekend and into the week will be having "Edgar" as Trudie named our cnc. carve these signs while I spend time at the lathe making rolling pins and pizza cutter/ice-cream scoop handles.

4 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

 Surprised me they would lay in the snow.

they really don't have much choice in that do they? LOL...
surprisingly their fur is so good at insulating them that the snow doesn't really melt underneath them.

I have my inlaws in town for the next month so I am not sure how much I am going to get done out in the shop but I did get the drawer boxes finished and installed on the sharpening station.  Now I just need to make up a couple of drawer fronts and get those in place.

@John Hechel, sounds like things are hopping in your shop. I hope your craft show is indoors! And hope you do well, there.

8 hours ago, John Hechel said:

halfway down to that Larry guy's, who claims he's two weeks from anywhere,

 

 So you're coming down from "Three Weeks From Anywhere"? 

BTW @John Morris tagged me with the "Two Weeks From Anywhere" 

After the front moved through on Thursday evening it has turned cold & windy.  Yesterday I swapped out a couple light switches in the upstairs bedroom, put in LED dimmers.  Then I swapped out the upstairs HVAC thermostat for a new one I can control with my phone.

Today is also to be cold and it is windy right now.  I think our plans are to go into town and run a few errands.  I've been needing/wanting to get to Harbor Freight for a couple of weeks.  There is also an auction inspection today for me to stop and check out.  And then down to SIL's, she just bought an antique dresser and says one drawer needs something done to it...

All that said, I reckon my plans are to just stay out of the cold as much as I can.

Tomorrow starts a warm up.  I may/may not find myself back in the shop then.