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Got back from the recruiters awhile ago. Here is the low down with contract. Cryptologic Linguist (35P) for 5 years with a $30,000 bonus to be distributed in $10,000 increments over her first three years. Meps return trip next week for physical and another exam that she'll pass with no problems. Swearing in to Delayed Entry Program next week. Then return to MEPS September 28th for the real deal, another swearing in at which point she's a soldier in the US Army and starts getting paid. Next day fly's out of San Diego to Fort Jackson South Carolina for Basic Training 9 weeks and a day. Then after basic she fly's back to CA to attend Monterey Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center for 9 months to 16 months depending on the language and AIT to be performed at same school. Then assignment to her duty station. My goodness, she actually did it!

John, you are a blessed man to have your father for so many years. Most of us lost our parents years ago. Cherish the moments!

A very big congratulations John, all around. What little bit I know about this girl's family, I would say the Army did good today also! As for furthering her education, she is soon to get that! And there will be all sorts of college available to her if she chooses to pursue those while in the Army.

First of all Gunny, you gotta stop using a sharpened spoon for your plane blade.

Anytime, the door is always open. if you do come maybe you can see what exactly I do wrong trying to butcher wood with a handplane….

@Larry Buskirk, I had one for several years. I was skeered of it every time I turned it on. My trepidation probably made it more dangerous than it should've been. A contractor offered me $150 for it and I jumped on it.

John, I might break the mold, but I don't think I care to see the century mark.

Larry, you are going to break the mold on this one, you're just too busy to die any earlier than 101yrs old! I was named after my grandpa, John Courtland Morris, I am John Courtland Morris II. If I was named after my dad, ya I'd be Jr. My mom hated the whole Jr. thing, so she talked my dad into naming me after his dad.

Thanks Cal After researching the language institute she'll be assigned too, it is college! Man do they study and study and study, with immersion into their assigned culture and language, she may even get transferred to the country of origin at some point, and study there for full immersion into the culture, we may not get back our American girl after this is all done, but a hybrid cultured girl. Well she's already hybrid Spanish/North American, now she can add another great culture to her resume. If she decides to not make a career out of the Army, after her enlistment is up, she should have opportunities available with the CIA, FBI, and other security three letter agencies that protect our nation. At least that's what the recruiters tell us, take that with a grain of salt, but knowing how motivated our young lady is, she can make it happen if she wants too.

These manuals may have been there already, but I received an email from Shop Smith stating they are starting to put many of their manuals online. Here is the link. Shopsmith -- WWW.SHOPSMITH.COM Shopsmith Owner Manuals Available For Download

Quite so, my friend. You know it's often said that if we knew we'd live this long, we'd have taken better care of ourselves.

My dad was proud when I graduated from OCS (in '68, right after Tet), but I never really understood how proud until my oldest son volunteered for Army (Intelligence...yes, I've heard them; he says they're partly true). The Army made me the man I am today, but they can't take all the blame! I was a C- student before joining, A+++* after getting out. It was all motivation: I just told myself that if I didn't do good in college, I could go back in the Army. That's what you learn in The Real World: not facts, not really skills, "just" motivation. *A+++: I picked the courses worth getting an A, and the others got B+ or A-. It was all transactional: I knew what I needed to get a good job, and I wasn't about to do any more work than that. What the Army gave me was the insight of what to target and how to get there. THAT is priceless. THAT is what no school teaches. I feel sorry for kids who dodge public service: they really don't know what they're missing.

He mentioned this thing about payment for the ticket. Kinda killed my vibe...

Posted some of this in Monday topic and got another done today. These are the first two eggs. The top one I call Cracked Egg . It had cracks in it so I carved it and burned the carvings. The second was burned using a coiled wire to create the pattern. No finish on any as is pic time. This one I call Independence Egg. The blank is a glue up of 4 pieces of curly maple left over from the Clewes demos. Was not sure how this would look but after dye and acrylic applied turned out better than I thought.

I use a 10" on a 9" saw, but I found a 10" guard from a later model that fits. Can't hardly find 9" blades anymore. Some operations won't allow the use of a guard, such as using a dado set, or moulding head.

Really nice Gerald! And I thought it was a bird from the get go a couple weeks back...

A video on applying a wipe-on finish (Arm-r-seal). Contrary to implications, it is not an oil-varnish blend but a thinned varnish. I used some in the last couple of weeks to put on some water-worn kitchen cabinet doors at the church. I was not sure what the finish was (suspected lacquer but not sure that someone else had not done something in the last 45 years). I sanded down the finish, applied a couple of coats of shellac as a barrier coat, applied two coats of Arm-r-seal, applied a coat of gel stain as a glaze to restore some of the lost color, and two more coats of Arm-r-seal. Sanded with P400 grit between each coat (except after glaze). Should be good for another 45 years. Wipe on finishes work very well on things like chairs and beds where there are a lot of joints and spindles. I

Michael the way I sprayed lacquer in the winter way back yonder I used two open face natural gas heaters sitting out in the room and lit them early in the mornings and got the temp up to spraying temp then turn them off and sprayed everything. Then after they dried I repeated the process if it stayed cold all day...humidity was my worse enemy in the winter for the clear lacquer would dry hazy white if I didn't check the weather before spraying.. It might be in the thirties out side but I could get the room above 55 to 60 before I would turn the heat off and start spraying.. Now I chance it using a couple of electric heaters the same way. You would think a person gets wiser as they get older but no for my thinking is, I will turn things off just before there is an explosion. Back then I bought lacquer thinner 54 gallon drums at a time and that sure would have woke up the neighbor hood... If I had to clear off the hazy coat I would add some reducer in the lacquer to slow down the drying time and keep adding more coats while the finish was still wet to slow down the process down... Sure had to watch the movement in the shop while the drying took place. I also used a product called Smoothie if cat eyes started appearing in the finish while it was still wet...Pledge polish and wax was bad for the furniture refinishers back then. If you are old enough you will remember clear lacquer was very thick back in the sixties. It had to be thinned almost 50% to be able to get it out the end of the spray gun....If you wanted a finish looking like lots of spider webs just raise the air pressure to 100 lbs or so and shoot it straight with no thinner. Little strings would be floating all over the shop...

Here's a down and dirty spray booth.

HF sells (2) different purple 20 oz guns. I prefer the one which comes with the regulator. The guns' spec sheet reflect different CFMs (I was just on the HF wed site and it reflects just the opposite of what I was remembering). I to have a basement shop and I do all of my spraying in the garage. It is to hot and the humidity is to high now to do any spraying. There is some over spray, so do not forget to put down tarps on your floor. Danl

OK hvlp it will be and I am OCD about the cleanleness of my guns. Are you HF guns conventional or HVLP? Same for the JJ and Rockler? For the spray booth during the summer I can use an explosion proof motor in a fan for all finishes but in Winter (which by the way is my main building season) how do I create an internal spray booth. My shop is 52' x 40' basement with furnance and hot water tank so I need to be very good at capturing all flamable overspray.

OK, I'll say it. Go HF! I have a no name hvlp all in one unit that's been used once maybe 6-8 years ago. Worked fine. If anyone wants it, let me know. You pay shipping.

that's really good. i didn't do well at Category 0 language

Thanks I will check them out once I find a store. Would lacquer benefit from HVLP or is it fine to use convention spay gun?

She really does Jim, thanks so much for the encouragement, you know, us parent need more help than the kids most of the time.

Thank you Al, it was hard, and after much thought about this, we had to let her do what she wants to do, we only interfered to the point that we wanted to make sure she was doing this for good reasons, and that she thought it through, our main concern was her going in, and then being miserable for four years. She convinced us. Your daughter Al is incredible, the way she approached college, and it worked for her, that is wonderful!

You are all to be congratulated John. Your daughter made her own decision and no one interfered. A lot of kids end up in college only because their parents wanted them to go, and the result was a lot of partying and not much learning. My youngest daughter started college and dropped out. She waited 2 years before going back to college until she felt it was time for her. She then worked her way thru to get her Batchelers degree and then went on to get her masters degree. She set her own goals as your daughter is doing. You can be proud of her.

Thank you sir Steve, appreciate it greatly, I'll pass it on to her, and all the wishes here, thanks!

Did they have re-enlist bonuses back then Gene?

That sounds like she'll have a very exciting and interesting enlistment. Cat III languages will serve her well for the future. Military or otherwise. After I graduated with a degree in communication sciences, the AF tried to get me to reenlist for a similar program. A language school was mentioned. Don't remember if it was Monterrey, or not. But, 6 years in the AF was enough. Besides, we had jobs waiting in AZ.

I know Sherwin Williams sells a pre-cat lacquer which is KCMA certified.

Not a man about the world John so I wonder what the letters stand for but am happy she is getting to do something she is looking forward to doing.. A grand daughter as soon as she got out of high school got her Registered Nursing licenses and has a kinda of an unusual work situation. She gets contracts from different hospitals for 6 months at a time working in the emergency rooms. First one was in New Orleans, then in north Texas and now in Taos, nm.. Wife talked her into getting into nursing and boy is she ever happy for she is getting to see lots of different things.. But the main thing that made me feel proud,,,,,, she saved her money and paid cash for a new SUV...…..I've not ever been around young kids who paid cash for their car, old or new...

I can imagine, according to my Daughter my ex is suffering badly from our son going to Merchant Marine Academy. I'm with you though, hate to see them grow up and move on, but ya gotta let them spread the wings and fly. Hopefully he doesn't have the same insanity streak I did at his age. Jumping out of airplanes, blowing things up and all.

Great news guys, she texted us a couple hours ago and said she passed the test! It's a hard test guys, and she did it! One step closer to a 35P!

Looks like the two of you done good. Give her your love and support and turn her loose on the world.

Congrats on the first place win! You deserve it!!

All just as an update the sanding between coats I do with 400 paper and have learned that you need to not put on a full coat with water based poly unlike oil based. You need to put on a very thin coat and you can stand there and watch it dry. If you go thicker it does tend to run or bubble but the bubbles (again unlike oil based) do not flow out so brush very softly. Then do not touch it. So far I am not liking water based poly very much as all. On another thread I did use grain filler over water based poly then let it harden up over night and bushed on a thin coat or water poly and it can out great. Keith I know you sang the praises of pre cat laq but it is very costly compare to poly and does not stand up as well to chemicals used for cleaning as poly but becuase it melts into the previous layer I am very much considering using it. Please let me know what the cavates of pre cat laq is and can it be padded, brushed or sprayed easily? Sorry for stealing this thread may be Keith creat a TGIF on pre cat laq use and cautions.

No, it's a thinned polyurethane. You can probably do a couple of coats without sanding but you should sand between coats.

Does this stuff melt into the other finish or does it require sanding between coats?

Amen! Chairs! I could not imagine using a varnish brushed on for chairs. What a nerve racking experience.

Looking good Gerald.

Those are really nice! I like the little display stands, too.