steven newman

rehabs...The repaired mitre saw handle...last seen in a bunch of clamps.. has been sanded, until things look smooth...and blended together... Same handle. Back on the Goodell Pratt Co. blade...gave it a stain.. Waiting on that to dry, then a coat of varnish...maybe tomorrow. may put the other handle project on hold.. I put the handle I used as a pattern back onto it's saw blade.. The longer of these 2, belongs in it's own mitre box.. It can also handle the other shorter saws...may give the "new" saw a test drive...later?

It's Monday..enough said....wake me up when Tuesday gets here ( BTW, it is raining, again..) Might work on that backsaw handle..tomorrow... Idiots were out on the road, today.....one even thought they would pass me....with 5 semis coming towards us....Hey, if one wants to do a head-on with a semi loaded with auto parts...let me know, I'll pull over, and watch. Boss want the ac unit installed into the windows....

Ok...one yard sale drill.. a bit on the rusty side...and was "locked up" where things should have been turning.. But..$2? will see what can be done.... Look any better? May be a PS&W Co. brace..or a Millers Falls/ Mohawk-Shelburne brace... Still getting a lot of rusty oil out...selector now works...Ratchet now works as needed. Cleaned the "alligator" toothed jaws.. And...the spring was still intact! Added a drop of oil to help the "head" spin better.. Did not try to remove the wood part, wasn't sure about how those 2 screws were fitted. Wood is just stained hardwood... Jaws will hold a round shank drill bit, just as well as a normal square tipped bit. 10" sweep. Not too bad of a $2 purchase?

We are trying to dry out around here....County was about washed away.... They had to add "dikes" in front of the ER's doors....had 3' outside of this door.... Downtown bellefontaine....this is South main St. just to the right of this spot.. Is Spring Street.... And, where a creek was normally 8' lower than the roadway called Ludlow... This "dry spot" is a culvert style bridge....water was going OVER the bridge... tried to go to DeGraff, OH...wasn't too bad here..but, on the other side of that hill... about 1/2 the culvert was washed out....turned south to get around... can't get there, from here....Town north of Bellefontaine, called Huntsville, OH... Also had water problems....and, up at Indian Lake, where the Great Miami River starts...there is a deep spillway,,,usually 10 below the roadway.... Almost to the top of the bridge.... had a few trickles running through the shop...I AM on a hill, after all...CSX crossing on Columbus Ave...was UNDER water... Have a full rain free day, today....things are starting to dry up....all this rain came down in less than one hour....3.75" in just 5 minutes time, BTW...

And...you will soon find out...it is not how much a tool costs.....it is the skill of the user that matters the most.....Only way to gain that skill, is to do the jobs over and over....like playing a Guitar...PRACTICE....although, there are some out there, that think they can simply buy their way....just open up a new tool's box. And learn to do...what? Open a box.... By Trade, I am a Carpenter. Yet, the tools to build a house are very different than those to build a small Recipe Box. I have a lot of tools, because one project might be building a new porch...the next a small box, and the next a 5 drawer chest of drawers... Free to visit the Dungeon Wood Shop, if you are coming through the area. getting ready to start building a desk for my computer...will do a "build-along" for that.

Shop has issues, right now.. Dungeon Creek. needed to clean off the tablesaw, too... And clean that saw plate up....tablesaw was the easy part... A little damp under it... And, needed to get the resaw toys out... As I needed to crosscut and resaw thay 2x chunk of hardwood... Saw plate? earlier, had given it a long soak in PBBlaster...which leaves a black gunky mess....wide chisel to clean the mess off, and a slight sanding.. Can even read the Goodell Pratt Co. Toolsmiths logo. even cleaned the brass as it came out of the handle.. Handle has..issues.....can either repair it, or..make a new handle....will be trying to do both... Resaw on the tablesaw..can only reach so far....ran all 4 edges through at just over 5/4" thick...bandsaw worked it's way through the remaining spot.. This is the "cut-off" scrap. The blank also had that burnt area....WR 62 to clean that up..need a pattern... Close enough...Both are Disston 4 bolt handles, for a No. 4 back saw/mitre box saw... So, in order to trace around the "pattern" needed to remove it from the saw....and find... I'm missing a little steel? Plate's etch matches the handle.. So...bandsaw to rough out the outside of the blank, and a Forstner bit for the hand hole.. Well, it is a start....drill mounted sanding drum, and a Dremel sanding drum, or two (detail work)....May take a few days...LOTS of shaping and sanding to do, then drill the holes, and the slot 7 mortise for the saw blade.... As for the "repair"? Dremel to "fair" things smooth, and blend things together...maybe a little filler as needed...we'll see. Stay tuned....

A little before and after? Picked a level at a sale the other day... 12" long...instead of the usual brass fittings, this one has steel....maybe when brass was needed elsewhere? Both vials are intact and work as needed...price tag said $2...can't find any markings on this.... gave it a wipe down, shined the steel up...got rid of the sticker....Coat of stain..coat of varnish...we have the "After" Looks a bit better? Those handles sticking up? Well, here are 3 out of the four...the fourth was made by Millers Falls for Sears/Craftsman... uses a different type of selector... Coat of clear gloss varnish seemed to dress these up? 3 from North Brothers, and the Craftsman with a fluted handle. Still have a marking gauge to clean up.. May use a fine point black sharpie, to bring out the markings of that ruler....right now, the "beam" is stuck....maybe when things dry out around here? Dungeon Creek is running across the floor of the shop.... Stay tuned...

I just putter along...

Roh-kay....New deck is done...for the Stanley No. 2246A mitre box.....out of Poplar, this time.. Used the old deck to mark out the new deck....dados took a bit of fitting, to get them deep enough... And allow the stock rests to rotate up.. Used the Stanley 358 mitre box to cut the walls of the dados....then a chisel or three to clean them out...old deck has the OEM orange coloured stain..."Pumpkin Pine"? May try to match that.... This may be a "small" Mitre Box....but it is dang heavy, even without the saw. Uses a 4" x 26" backsaw...once the Dungeon dries out a bit, this is headed back to the shop...has it's own stand down there.

Single Brain Cell Sketch Up is now hard at work.....rough measurements have been drawn up.....need to draw a set of "Plans" next.....all while sitting around with me feet in the air... Need 3 panels like this....only 30" tall, this time around.....raised panels will only need to be 1 x6 blanks...4 per panel/side.....then we'll see about frames for the insides....( these two panels were from a chest of drawers I made. ) Thinking drawer fronts can be made with that grainy board ... I think there is enough for the panels and drawer fronts....we'll see. Need to rip a bunch of 2" wide strips for panel frames....and glue up a 3/4 x 26" x 50" panel for the top....may get a bit of 1x6 pine, for drawer frames, and sides...no need to hide the good stuff inside where it can't be seen. May have to hide the Plans from Boris and Natasha.....

Going to be a couple days....bottoms of both feet have splits in them....makes walking a bit painful...let alone standing around....meds are in place...may take a couple days to get healed up.. backsaw gets a new handle made.....to replace the broken one. Then maybe start on the new desk....IF and when I can get to walking again...

On the assembly lines at Honda around here...the Team Leaders always have a special tap in their pocket....made to fit the air-powered drills used to drive the bolts and screws....in case there was a "bad" hole alignment....then the assembler would switch out the nut driver tip for the tap, "run the hole" replace with a nut driver again, and drive the bolt home. And hand the tap back to the TL...until needed..

Honey-dos...never end...the Boss went out and bought an "Umbrella" to use on the new front porch.....needed a high tech way to drill a hole.. Pexto # 8012, 12" sweep brace..with a Craftsman Expansive bit.. Adjusted to match the diameter of the "cap". Works great...until the thread "snail" runs out of the wood, and the bit stops cutting....small chisel the knock the remaining "washer" of wood out the bottom.....then install the umbrella's post.. Added a wire tie to hold this to the post...may replace with a couple screws..later. We can crank to open it, or crank to close it up( when the winds get too high..) as need be. Afraid to ask what is next...

Called a "RAMP", actually...

Spending the day doing as little as I can getaway with....and even less IF they let me.... Waiting on a stash of lumber to get used to being in my house. Was a bit damp, from unloading the van.. the 2x is for a new backsaw handle..or two.. having issues with the bottoms of my feet....very hard to walk, right now....may get them seen to after a while, today.. 21 boards...random lengths....as some were too long for the van...all but one are 1 x 6s, and one at 1 x 8, and the 2 x 6 x 3' chunk. Paint shop was open, again...others will just go for a dip in a can of varnish....( this is half of the stash, BTW)