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I want to thank all of you for your concern and prayers. I was diagnosed six years ago with worsening heart failure a legacy from my grandmother on my fathers side. With today's medicine I have lived almost 20 years longer than she did and a couple uncles died early too. This go around my heart decided to go racing sometimes hitting over 150 beats per minute but was not AFib. Doctors were not sure what was wrong. Anyhow, they got me a concoction of drugs regulating the heart but I get short of breath just walking from the living room to the kitchen. Hopefully this will improve. Nine days in bed took a lot out of me on top of the heart condition. I'm working on that and feeling better daily. You guys are the best!!!

I do alot with hand tools and all my dovetails are cut by hand saw and chisels. This was practice making a "swallowtail joint" with cedar and pine. It's quite attractive but difficult to do. Especially doing four corners of a box. Thanks fit looking! Cheers! MrRick

I made this "Slide Under Sofa Table" out of Pine and can't express enough how useful it has been. In fact my wife may want another. It can be placed anywhere along our living room couches. Even though we have end tables and a center table when guests are over and more than a couple of adults are sitting on the couch the Slide Under Soda Table comes in real handy!! Cheers! Thanks for looking! MrRick

Most here know these have a been a staple for me for several years. Here is the latest batch of mason jar honey dipper lids. These will go to a local bee keeper who sells her honey in pint mason jars. Assorted Indiana hard woods. Graphics are done with a small hobby laser.

INTRODUCTION “Trompe l’oeil” is an old French phrase that literally means “it fools the eye.” It has a long tradition in the art world—and in woodworking too. When you first saw the ribbons, did you think to yourself, “Are they really made of wood?” Wooden Ribbons makes a terrific presentation on a wooden gift box particularly if there’s something special inside. The ribbon itself is fairly basic, but it’s made in a way that can be adapted to many different designs. These can be made out of any wood. I’ve made these out of Pine and Cedar and also Walnut and Maple. Making the bows and ribbons just involves one trick: They must be cut on a scroll saw. You will also need a table saw. STOCK PREPARATION These ribbons are made by laminating several woods together. Each of these pieces as shown are 3” wide. The cedar piece is ¼” thick and the two pine pieces are ½” thick. You can make this what you want. Experiment. In addition, you make their lengths according to the length of ribbon you want. It’s a good idea to have the grain of each running in the same direction. Glue them up. When dry, remove the clamps and square up (trim) the laminated block. Then lightly sand all the surfaces with 220. You’re ready to make ribbons and bows! CUTTING A STRAIGHT PIECE I wanted about a 1/16” thick straight piece. This is the portion you see wrapped around the wooden box. I set my table saw fence and sliced off this piece as shown. Then I lightly sanded the faces. Note that the laminations are on the side as it is cut. This applies when cutting other pieces. CUTTING CURVES and BOW PIECES Here I mark up a curved ribbon and a loop for the bow in pencil as shown. You are cutting on each side of the pencil lines. This gives you your thickness. You can shape your pieces to amazing curves, etc. The sky is the limit. Again note that the laminations are on the side as it is cut. Again, it is mandatory to have a scrollsaw for this. COMPLETION Now all you have to do, if needed, is to lightly sand it up. Then apply a finish. I find spray lacquer to be quite nice and it adds strength to the possible fragile pieces. I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! The possibilities are endless with this technique! Thanks for looking! Cheers!! MrRick

Looks like you put a lot of thought into this and it shows. That's a lot of weight to move and your answer looks quite suited to the job. Nicely done Steve.

Sorry @Gunnyand @John Morris. Just having a bad day. Got a covid shot and a flu shot a couple of days ago. The following morning, I didn't even have the strength to get out of bed. Never had this problem before but it really hit me this time. Couldn't even sit up in bed until later the next day. Still feeling kind of blah. Today I had all kinds computer problems and then problems that were eventually solved with the VA.. MY patience is really lacking these days. Never had much luck with carving John.

Just sitting here wishing I could do something useful. Getting old really gets old.

This weekend I started exploring and practicing different Greene and Greene techniques. The details of which are found on furniture, boxes, frames, etc. Here... I pillowed the box finger joints and temporarily placed a pillowed plug to see how it would look. The journey continues.

Owner gave me this router after asking me about some woodworking tools he was looking for.

For the record, only a fool would try to baptist a cat, lol. Even this old preacherboy knows better to mess with the Spawn of Satan.

Alex makes it look so easy. I've seen him do it in person a couple times during the old Woodworking Shows in Indianapolis; had the fortune to talk with him after his presentation programs. A really nice guy not to mention a bandsaw wizard.

Over the weekend finished the wheel barrow handle replacement project and a couple other small projects. Week ahead, I suspect mowing will be on the agenda after 1.75" of rain over the weekend assuming of course we get some rain free days. Several other outdoor projects I need to get done also by the end of next weekend weather permitting. In between, maybe some puttering in the garage cleaning, reorganizing and possibly refurbing some tools.

I've been asked several times to do remote demos for one occasion or another. Craft shows, other craft hobby clubs, etc. etc. I actually bought a midi lathe, a Delta 46-460, for that purpose. Well, I fell into a deal on the Delta and I told myself that's why I was buying it. That's been probably at least 3 years ago and I'd just never figured out a good way to transport it and make it quick and easy to set up. The other day I saw a portable miter saw stand and wondered if that would work. Decided to give it a go and bought the "Bauer" version from Harbor Freight. The Bauer line is harbor freight's "middle" quality line of tools. Never thought I would say this but they're not a bad value. Anyway, here is what I came up with, haven't seen a setup like this before but if it's already been done please forgive. Here is the lathe mounted and ready to turn. I wouldn't want to try and turn a full size bowl with this setup but it should be just fine for demoing things like tops, honey dippers, ornaments and finials etc. The stock legs were just too long and made the lathe way too high. I didn't want to cut them off so I bought a length of 1 1/2" EMT conduit and made new legs out of that. I'll paint them black and I found some rubber tips that fit just right for the bottoms. The lathe will slide to either end and lock down and that helps with the weight when loading, setting up, or folding it for transport. I won't say setting it up is a piece of cake but it's certainly manageable. A serendipitous bonus is the slides are long enough to provide a mount for a safety shield or tool tray. Here is the stand folded down and ready for transport. One nice thing is the stand is designed to store vertically and have a pretty small footprint when not set up for use. The band clamp is just there for insurance as I just don't fully trust the cam locks on the slides when it's in a vertical position.

Three consecutive days in the shop!!!! And a forth coming up! Maybe I'll get around to take some pics tomorrow.

I did a little woodworking over the weekend, making a dent in half done stuff that's been on my bench for a while. Also finished the fuel filter change on my Jeep, had to cheat and watch a video to get it right (diesel, somewhat more complicated change than I'm used to). Last night I was doing some leather work. I need a new belt!

In trying to keep it succinct the process is a bit taxing. If you're not into it for the beauty of the journey but rather the results it will be tedious. Joy must be first. Cutting the fingers can be a challenge to get tight but the difficulty comes in the "pillowing". It's awkward for the inside fingers. Next is the plugs. You better have very very sharp punches. With cedar and pine there's a tendancy for the wood fiber to tear and edge crumble before shearing. I'm still in the process of "dos and don'ts" but love the possibilities!

I did this just before dinner last night. I've done two corners of a cedar and pine box. These are actually inlaid with a square hole punch from Lee Valley.

Good to see you posting again, stay well my friend!

Good to hear you are improving, and praying you continue on track. Bless you, Dan.

Thankful you're on the mend, feeling better and home. Prayers for you to continue to improve, regain strength and the medications to be effective. Take care and don't overdo. You were greatly missed from here.

Dan, it's so good to see you back! It's sounds like you still have some recovering to do, fingers crossed for a speedy one.

got the new sticker put on the car plate this week...wore me out

Thanks for your concern, John. Other than the vagaries of old age, I'm doing well. Don't move around as fast as in my younger days, though. New phone # is 928-555-1212. Don't think my email addy has changed. It's still pkni@frontiernet.net.

Pk...moved things around a bit... Dust bunnies were evicted...next... Back corner view... Front corner view... Open the drawers a bit.. Showing off the dovetails that some people like... Other front corner...close up the drawers, for now.. Just an old tool chest? This space will soon be covered in those tool cases I have sitting around....may add a shelf? Letting this sit and dry a day...then see IF it needs a second coat of stain, or the first coat of varnish...stay tuned...

I took the bull by the horns and went to see the patient advocate at the hospital where I had the procedure done and got the bill from. She is very familiar with veteran issues and knows who to contact and how to navigate the various systems to get answers. The bottom line is: if the hospital preformed the test without proper prior authorization the financial responsibility for the test is on the hospital and not me. It may take a little time, but they will get it resolved. The billing has been removed from my account.

More progress and getting closer to being done. Hardware is mostly installed. toilets are installed They put shoe molding in. Painters are doing final paint and touch up. Sod is stacked awaiting laying. Gravel is here for driveway. Moved porch furniture down today to stack at the woodpile. Then followed with packing and discarding. Almost discarded as much as I packed. Oh got practice backing tandem axle trailer. I may be getting better at that.

Thanks gentlemen! Lew, I do the laser engraving on bare wood. It just seems to work better for me that way.

Chestnuts started coming in a few days back.

Is ANYONE sure that Stephen is OK?

I'm a dedicated hand tooler. Would not have it any other way. Those are lovely. Mine are much simpler. but will do the job I need them for.

Got wood organized in shop over weekend. Today a friend helped me move the last tools out of shop to Ranch Shop. So glad that fun is done . Now for some outside jobs and inside packing.

You are entitled to a bad day pal. Why hold it in, we are here for each other in such times.

You're in the right area to visit most that are open for it. Better do it before you retire and move away! The only one I've been to is the Gamble house when we were visiting the ex-inlaws in Pasadena. I've built a lot of G&G style furniture, the shop I worked for in Tucson did a lot of it. It's fun stuff. We often used old hollow chisels from the mortiser for punches, either for places the mortiser didn't reach or to clean up ones done with a mortiser and needing to be a little deeper or something.

Love the journey Rick! And I have always admired the Greene and Greene, I've oogled images of their architectural style and furnishings for hours, someday I'd love to tour one of their homes, great work Rick, please keep us up to date on how ya coming along!

A seal coat of Amber Shellac, 2# cut.. Will get rubbed down, tomorrow, and given a top coat of Warm Gloss Poly.... almost done...stay tuned...

I'll second all of the above! Good to have you back.

Prayers for continued recovery and strengthening. So glad to hear they have you on the road to recovery.

Nice day yesterday, but very warm. We reached 84° with only the slightest of wind and if you were in the sun it was toasty. This morning we're at 60, mid 80s later. No chance of rain from the Atlantic storms either, apparently someone told them how nuts things were in this country and they are both hightailing it out to sea.

Good to hear you are alive and as well as can be expected after all that. You were missed greatly.

It's a euphamism. Raining like a stuck pig bleeds. What I meant, anyway.

Great to hear from ya Gene! Thanks for checking in, we miss ya here! So what's keeping you away from the ol Patriot Woodworker? Must of been Lew, he harasses everyone.

There are a lot of competitive brands these days. Way-back, you could get Craftsman from Sears and Delta/Rockwell from other independent suppliers or some hardware stores. Big box stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, and even Wal*mart and Amazon did not exist. So Shopsmith set up demos at fairs, shopping malls, etc. You could buy there and have delivered or picked up in Dayton.

Almost done... Corner glue joints are all nice and cleaned up.. all gaps closed up. Final sanding before stain will be tomorrow's tasks... Stay tuned..

Ok..start here.. Parts for drawer #4...I had to first drill the pilot holes into the sides, and cut the starter bevels...then...a little assembly.. then stash this away.. And repeat all the above for Drawer #5.... Moved the tablesaw out of the way...Grabbed Drawer #1 and hauled it to the vise.. Glue joints got leveled, filled and generally cleaned up...cut 2 dowel rods to fit 2 knobs..glued them together....drill 2 holes and installed the 2 knobs with glue and a c clamp.. Did not have enough Rosewood scraps tp plug the groove holes...used pine instead...can always come back with a black sharpie... Knob details Stash this drawer back in the case, repeated the above for drawer #2.. Right about here..me "Get up & go"...got up and went...let these sit a spell... Stay tuned....