strangely quiet lately

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sorcerertd

sorcerertd

Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2019
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Location
North Carolina, USA
What's everybody up to? It's been quiet around here lately. I guess I'm not the only one trying to take care of real grown up responsibilities instead of hiding in the workshop? I really have only been checking in here a couple/few times a week just to see who and what's new. Hopefully, something will emerge from the shop soon. People tell me I'll have even less time when I retire. Someone please tell me that's not true. The Etsy store hasn't gotten much attention, either. There's stuff to put up there, but taking pictures isn't at the top of my priority list.

There's a small bin of pens completely prepped, squared ready to put on the lathe that has been sitting there for months. I might have done one a month this year other than the special request. I just don't seem to have time even for the other stuff that needs to be done. Having carpal tunnel surgery last year (2025) put me way behind on yard work. I'm scared of what will (not) happen when I get the other one done, but at least the dominant hand has been taken care of. A shop full of sharp things is no place for numb fingers!

To be fair, we have taken some short vacations that I don't regret at all. Florida in January, which was a rather sad trip to bid farewell to a family member who passed a couple days after we came home. If anyone has watched "The Chosen", you might be familiar with the convention they had in Charlotte in Feb. That was quite an experience! I finally got to give the show's creator a pen that I made for him quite some time ago. It's teal dyed maple burl, with teal ink (and a spare in black). RiseUP in TN, A few concerts (Mercy Me, Phil Wickham), and plans for trips to NY, OH, and WI coming up. I can't really complain too much about the lack of shop time. We've been pretty blessed.

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As far as me, I have not created anything in my shop for about 2 years. Now this past winter and still some these days I have decided to clean the shop up and organize things because it was getting to the point I could not safely work in it. While I was at it I upgraded a few tools and added a few. I have added a few jigs that will be helpful with projects come next winter. I uprgraded and just finished my bandsaw. I have an older Delta 14" bandsaw and put on a bunch of Carter products such as their quick release mechanism, their bearing guides, added a fence that is now secure to the saw. I always was using their mag fences which work well but this fence works better. I also updated the dust collection on it and started using the Magfit adapters to a few of my tools. I upgraded my Delta planer to a Dewalt735 planer with table and dust collection bag system. Replaced some dust collection hoses. Added some drill press tables to both my drill presses which will make a huge difference from what I am seeing because I have already tried them out. Finally cleaned off my work bench which I will now strickly build my projects on that. Good to get that back. That was a catch all for a long time and was using my tablesaw as my work bench as I put a sheet of plywood on it all the time to work on projects. Did a whole bunch of hanging things and adding shelves. Bought a couple cabinets that help store things now. Over all it is looking alot better and safer. The last thing was added a router lift to my router table which is so much easier to use. Some of these things I wanted for years but never did pull the plug. But I realize I am getting to the stage of my life I may not have too many shop years to play so money became no object and started this quest.

Now with this all said next year I will pick up where I left off this past year and start some exciting projects. Yes I have a bunch of pens I want to do but mainly want to build boxes of many kind. I need to use up alot of lumber I have stored. This way the lumber piles go and something useful is made that my family can easily get rid of by selling or giving away. My secret plan that I will be showing here is many many different billiard themed ideas. Stay tuned for those.

But this summer I have house projects to do and will be starting those up again probably the next couple weeks. I have an accent wall I need to work on in the house. Want to get that done this summer. As well as I need to repair my shed and repaint it. The huge project is I am doing a complete landscaping redo. Starting from bare canvas and adding sod and sprinkler system and whole bunch of other goodies. Finally next year painting all rooms and replacing lots of furniture. Then it is sit back and enjoy whatever time I have left. And work on the shop projects and you will be seeing lots of photos from me by then. At least this is the plan but we all know how life throws us all curves.

That is my summary to this date.
 
jttheclockman said:
As far as me, I have not created anything in my shop for about 2 years. Now this past winter and still some these days I have decided to clean the shop up and organize things because it was getting to the point I could not safely work in it. While I was at it I upgraded a few tools and added a few. I have added a few jigs that will be helpful with projects come next winter. I uprgraded and just finished my bandsaw. I have an older Delta 14" bandsaw and put on a bunch of Carter products such as their quick release mechanism, their bearing guides, added a fence that is now secure to the saw. I always was using their mag fences which work well but this fence works better. I also updated the dust collection on it and started using the Magfit adapters to a few of my tools. I upgraded my Delta planer to a Dewalt735 planer with table and dust collection bag system. Replaced some dust collection hoses. Added some drill press tables to both my drill presses which will make a huge difference from what I am seeing because I have already tried them out. Finally cleaned off my work bench which I will now strickly build my projects on that. Good to get that back. That was a catch all for a long time and was using my tablesaw as my work bench as I put a sheet of plywood on it all the time to work on projects. Did a whole bunch of hanging things and adding shelves. Bought a couple cabinets that help store things now. Over all it is looking alot better and safer. The last thing was added a router lift to my router table which is so much easier to use. Some of these things I wanted for years but never did pull the plug. But I realize I am getting to the stage of my life I may not have too many shop years to play so money became no object and started this quest.

Now with this all said next year I will pick up where I left off this past year and start some exciting projects. Yes I have a bunch of pens I want to do but mainly want to build boxes of many kind. I need to use up alot of lumber I have stored. This way the lumber piles go and something useful is made that my family can easily get rid of by selling or giving away. My secret plan that I will be showing here is many many different billiard themed ideas. Stay tuned for those.

But this summer I have house projects to do and will be starting those up again probably the next couple weeks. I have an accent wall I need to work on in the house. Want to get that done this summer. As well as I need to repair my shed and repaint it. The huge project is I am doing a complete landscaping redo. Starting from bare canvas and adding sod and sprinkler system and whole bunch of other goodies. Finally next year painting all rooms and replacing lots of furniture. Then it is sit back and enjoy whatever time I have left. And work on the shop projects and you will be seeing lots of photos from me by then. At least this is the plan but we all know how life throws us all curves.

That is my summary to this date.
Click to expand...
Whew, that's a lot! Stuff sure does pile up fast on a workbench. I just got another one so I can collect twice as much stuff (gotta be honest, right?)
 
sorcerertd said:
Whew, that's a lot! Stuff sure does pile up fast on a workbench. I just got another one so I can collect twice as much stuff (gotta be honest, right?)
Click to expand...
Oh things can go awry very quickly. It was ashame that I have this big work table I could not even use what it was intended for. but that is all changing now and hopefully I do have some shop time left in me to enjoy this clean up. I do wish I had a larger shop as we all do but my basement shop has served me well all these years and will for a few more. I have fallen out of love for making pens so will try doing a few but do not be surprised if you do see huge sales on kits and things here. As with my scrollsawing hobby I got bored with it. Need more challenging things to do.
 
My shop needs a good dusting. Sometimes I feel like it's time to fold. Made a pizza cutter handle beginning of April... that's about it since last May
 
I'm designing a roller ball with a brass section that will be sleeved with the same material as the body. The design is giving my fits, I'm using an old design to start but I should just start from scratch.
I just finished an oak and pine turntable (vinyl)stand based on a danish design children's seat. The angled lap joints were a challenge.
Next up are some router templates.
 
just been making a few simple turned bases in various styles for a friend who makes felt animals . prepped a lot of blanks but haven't turned any recently .
Celtic knot blanks have been a challenge as I use slow setting epoxy and there have been some "slippage events " but 🤷‍♂️

There's a wedding cake base board to make soon , sycamore and some pyrography for the couple . afterwards it can be their kitchen bread board . Getting your hands on 14" wide sycamore over here was more of a challenge than it used to be as my favourite local timber yard closed ( retired how could he !!! ) but ok now.
 
Spring has sprung here in Nebraska, well, pretty much anyway. We decided to improve and expand our raised bed garden this spring, so I've been making and doing, just not in the shop very much. I just finished trenching in 1/2 inch PVC water lines with a ball valve at each of our raised beds so I can put in a more robust drip irrigation system. Previously I had those little black hose drippers and stuff and they just weren't clean enough looking to suit me, that and the little plastic barbs would break off and cause other kinds of problems. This new system will consist of 1/2-inch PVC pipes with holes drilled in them to provide the low pressure flow into each bed with the ball valve to control the overall flow and/or to shut the water off to each bed. I also put several automatic drain valves in the system so when I turn the water off any excess in the buried pipes should drain off into some pea gravel. That's the plan anyway - we will see next winter if the buried pipes are empty and survive freezing.

I also found that part of our deck, part that was cantilevered out was starting to sag this spring - caused by a problem with a retaining wall that was starting to fail allowing one of the support columns to shift. Since then I took out the retaining wall and re-built it with a proper set back on each row of blocks and added a support post out at the end of the part that was cantilevered and sagging.

I also have a rolling cart in my workshop with a 2-foot square top. Early on I had put angle slides in and had spaced them to fit those Stanly Small Parts Organizers. A week or so ago I decided to expand it by opening up the back side and filling it with the Small Parts Organizers as well. I tore it all apart without checking on the price of the new parts organizers and Wow - what a shock, I found that the Stanly ones are now nearly $30 each! Unfortunately, I bought eight of the Harbor Freight one's. I should have bought only one first to check it out, but I had to drive an hour just to get to HF -- what a disappointment, the hinges on the lids were awful and the lids didn't even want to stay open on their own - junk, but at least they were only $8 each junk! Since then I have replaced them with the Menards Performax brand at $13 each - very comparable in form, fit, and function to the Stanley. (One of my sons tells me that they have the perfect size bins for storing cards and dice for games like MTG (Magic The Gathering).

I sure wish I had one of those 3D printers - I would love to make some custom sized bins for them, but for the time being, I will continue to just cut notches in some to get a general shape and then glue them together to form a custom shape and size, to hold things like a pop rivet tool for the one that holds pop rivets or drill bits for the one that holds various toggle bolts, etc.

So, as you can see, there are plenty of things, even some time sensitive things, that have been keeping me from making pens. I do have some bolt action's in process though -- I just need to get busy and get them finished. - Dave
 
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