John Morris

You know, I just may have to surprise the guys with some extra unplanned styling DAB, thanks for the suggestion!

Well Gerald, I guess they'll see what a real professional cost when they have to go out and hire, and pay prevailing wages for a contractor insured and bonded and with a ton of overhead! Ya, they'll miss me.

Thanks Lew, they are turning out quite nice, the guys at work should happy.

Even if it was by accident!

thanks Bill, the build is going good, it was all aholes and elbows in my shop today trying to meet deadline, but it aint gonna happen. I finally just said, screw it, it is what it is. I started in on the second cabinet today, I am supposed to have the third done by end of business tomorrow, but I called the boss and said, it just aint gonna happen, more like next week, they were fine with that. The iron is my collection I absolutely love, I spent the better part of the last 10 years acquiring those planes you see, they replaced my Stanley's. In the background is a mix of Veritas and Lie Nielsen, I absolutely love them, and they are lovely to use. The shaves hanging on the wall I have not had a chance to use yet, I bought them last year with a little bit of tax refund while I was getting into my shaker rocker, and I decided I want to use some shaves in the process, so I picked up the whole Veritas chair set of shaves, so now all I gotta do is start another chair!

Keith, I like brushing the finish, wiping being my favorite, but during my quest to stay away from spraying, I like brushing, plus there is a nice peace I find while brushing a finish on. That being said, what are the max results one should expect from brushing? With proper techniques, is it fair to expect a fine smooth finish free of strokes?

Thanks for the report Gerald, there does seem to be some issues with this application, it appears it may not be compatible with our most recent core upgrade. I'll check into this further, thanks Gerald.

They're starting to get heavy already Gramps. I'll have help loading them up for sure, thank goodness!

First time I have ever used pre-finished Keith, I love it, if I do case work again that requires a clear coat finish, this is the way to go. Really, no finishing? How cool is that! A money maker if you are in the business of case work, and a great time saver.

Well my carpenter skills are being called up yet again to build some furniture for our Land Surveyors Field Office. I have been tasked to build a set of 6 lockers to house each crews equipment, the equipment consists of levels, transits, GPS equipment, radios, and other misc gadgetry that we need to get our job done. These lockers will be locked, and the shelves will be adjustable with one fixed shelf towards the bottom quarter of each locker. Here is a overall drawing I made just to get my material list together and to create a cut-list. The ply I am using is really good quality, some of you may remember the crud I used to build the Surveyor's trucks boxes, it was pure crud. I told the command that if they want me to build more for them, I need to have good material, so I was able to get this 3/4 Maple ply that is very tight in ply's, voids are rare, and a pleasure to use. Also, the ply is pre-finished, it has a wonderful factory satin clear coat both sides, so I do not have to finish these cabinets but for some of the trim and face-frame. The pre-finished was an extra 15 dollars per sheet, we purchased 16 sheets, do the math and its only 250 dollars more, that's half a days wages for me, and it would take me much more time than that to finish the cabinets as we normally would. I ripped down the sheets to 24" each, this ply is great to work with in another way as well, they measure 48.5" by 96.5" leaving extra to trim off bad edges created during travel and to also get a full 24" width on the table saw. After I ripped down the sheets, I had to cut them down to 80.5" as the lockers will sit on a 3.5" toe kick frame, we'll have an over all height of 7' per my drawing. I made the cross cuts on my CMS, cut it once, then flipped it over to cut the rest of the way, it worked great. Typically I'd set my straight edge up on the full 4' by 8' sheet and cut the length with my Skil saw, but I wanted the cleaner cut that the CMS gives, so I chose to rip the sheets down first, then finish the cross cut length on the CMS. 1st cut Flip and ready for the 2nd cut I assembled the first locker in no time, I am building two lockers at once, two lockers will be in one unit, each unit at 48" wide. I did not take pics of the assembly of the case, sorry, I'll get some on the next case. The pic below show the back panel I am installing, it is 1/2" thick, and I am using it to square up the case, I use the factory edge to secure one side of the case, then I use the end factory edge to square up the top, or bottom, doesn't matter. This way I have a case that is squared up to the back panel, it's very convenient to use this method when working with large case work, as the case can be floppy and racky. I left the back panel run wild, once the case was squared up to the back panel, I used a flush cutting bit to cut the end off, and everything was perfect, I pulled my diagonals with my tape measure and everything was spot on, both sides. Once the end was cut, I screwed it in place as well. This locker is almost done, I have the oak face frame secured, no images sorry, the divider installed, and now I need to route the grooves for the shelf standards. The doors soon to come, but I'll do the doors all at once, after all three 48" wide units are complete and installed. I have three days to complete three units, we'll see, but it's looking good. See ya'll tomorrow with more progress shots.

WOW!

Good Monday Morning! Good Monday morning Patriot Woodworkers! What did you get done over the weekend, and what have you planned for the week ahead! Inquiring minds want to know. Please tell us what's happening in your shops, your life, and any events going on with you. Thank you for being here folks! Featured Topic On a selfish note, @kmealy just posted a topic about one of my chair making mentors and inspirations. Keith shared a video shop tour of the shop of Kerry Pierce, all you Craftsman fans, take heart, a master chair builder uses Craftsman machinery, if it's good enough for Kerry, it's good enough for anyone. Community Fundrasier Soon we'll be launching our Spring/Summer community fundraiser, the proceeds from this fundraiser benefit us, our community here, the funding will help offset the costs associated with running this community, paying for software licenses, third party development fees, and most importantly, we also use the funds to help the occasional request by a veteran disabled woodworker who is having a hard time making ends meet, and may need a hand up to help purchase supplies, or even tooling and machinery. There are many members here who have been in on such projects, behind the scenes, as we usually keep these projects quiet out of respect for the woodworker in need, but I feel there are enough Patriot Woodworker's out there who have, behind the scenes, been involved, and can vouch for the additional expenses incurred by us, for helping these very special woodworker's. So stay tuned, keep your eyes peeled, and a fundraiser "raffle" is in your future! We hope you'll participate, and support our community in this annual event. Image Of the Week Ron Altier's Time Wall Clock, a masterful work of American Folk Art, I love this, thank you for sharing Ron!

I don't remember reading anything about that Keith, I am sure he wrote more about his family in other books, but that tidbit of info escapes me right now.

Another one of my chair making mentors, Kerry Pierce. Reading his books is what got me started with my shaker rockers. He's a very interesting fellow, and a great artist. I have exchanged many an email with this gentleman, he is a cancer survivor, his cancer is directly linked with the finishes and cleaning chemicals he used in his shop, he changed his finishing to greatly reduce the risk associated with cancer as much as he could. Doesn't surprise me about his memory about tools cost, reading about him you'll learn he and his wife are completely thrifty about most things, and when he acquired his tools, they were just starting out and could barely afford much, that ol Craftsman lathe per his book is an indexing lathe which is very beneficial in chair making of this type, and he was able to do away with the stand, and spread the centers apart further to accommodate the long back legs in the taller chairs. Thanks for sharing Keith! In my photo album I give Kerry full credit for my interest and inspiration.