Year in Review 2023

 This was a tough year for woodworking.  I did not have a lot of time to do the things I wanted to do.  It started with the train.  It was a project that I wanted not to do but wanted to do for the challenge.  It was a project that I burned out on and it put me behind most of the year.  Right after I finished the train and shipped it off, I needed to work on the toys for the church build.  I enjoy doing these because they challenge me to make toys that kids can put together.  This year it was the Model T, Skid Loader, Cement Truck, and large Tow truck.  I made 20 of each this year so local kids would be able to make some.  After that was done, I needed to design and make the tractor for the scroll saw magazine.  Then I needed to make the toys I work with the youth at my church to donate. After that. it was full steam ahead on the book which is where I am now.  It has been a very busy year.

Least favorite project this year was the train.  Not because it was bad, I just burned out.  There is a difference between the first three cars and the last seven in detail.  It was also a lot of painting.  I think this is what I am most burned out on.  I don't think I will paint toys for a while.  I like the challenge and bending balsa wood was interesting.  It came from failed attempts to bend 1/16" maple.  The customer liked it and that is want is important.  It went to Italy so the cost to ship was more than the price to the toy.  It is my longest toy yet.  It was almost 12 feet long.  Lots of mistakes and figuring out moving parts. The second (I always make two of my designs to donate one) went to the Laurel House.  They put it in their charitable craft fair and sold it for more than I sold the original for.

Favorite project was the tractor.  It was a fun build and design.  I struggled with the harrow design but in the end it worked out.  I made ten of them.  Some were donated and others sold.  For future reference, all tractors need to be red, green, or natural.  Nobody like the teal and yellow or the light and dark purple ones.

I purchased two new tools this year.  the first was another palm sander.  My old DeWalt is falling apart.  it is another DeWalt.  I thought about a Festool, but I don't want to buy all the collection system stuff with it.  Festool is expensive and then it is all the addons.  I also purchased dust collection adapters for my sander and router table.  These are part of the Rockler Dust Right System. It helps keep things cleaner.  They work.  The other item I purchased was a subscription to the maker version of SolidWorks.  This was for the book.  I needed something a little more user friendly than AutoDesk Fusion (free version).  I have used SolidWorks in the past and like it.  It is a little different since I have to set up all my preferences and templates.  Work provided the templates when I used it last.

Business this year was really good.  Esty and magazine articles were pretty steady from last year.  I have received an advance for the book writing.  I also did a craft fair this year to sell off some of my inventory I brought from California.  I almost sold out.  It was a tough two days.  I will probably not do another craft fair for a while.  Honestly, I hate dealing with state and local sales tax.

Next year, I am taking a step back.  I need to focus on some project around the house that should have been done this year.  I don't think I am going to take on any more commission jobs except for the ones that I already know about.  I also am not going to paint toys this year.  It will be all natural wood tones.  It will be nice to have the book completed.  It is scheduled to be released in fall 2024.  I am looking forward to meeting the publisher again this year.  

My First Built Workbench

I finally build my first workbench that is a dedicated bench. Normally I used a sheet pf particle board
and some saw horses. This does not work well some hand tool work. I was also looking for a place to
put commonly used items that have been stored throughout the garage. It was a fun project, but cold. I
made it between Christmas and New Years during a the polar vortex. The garage does not warm up that
much.
My first comment is to the lumber. The wood frame is all out of 6/4 poplar. I would say I got a pretty
good deal on it. When I went to the lumber yard they could not find any, but the associate knew that
they had some off cuts in the back. They had large bundles of rip cuts they sell for fire wood. I knew
that I needed 4” and greater and they allowed me to go through this stack of rip scrap. It took me about
an hour to go though it and pull out what I wanted. I also put all the other boards that were over 4”
wide on top if they wanted to resell them. They sold me over 80 board feet of 6/4 poplar for $2 a board
foot. It was all clear and over 8’ long and 4” wide. FAS would have cost me $4 a board foot.
The sides and back were frame and panel. The panel was a solid MDF painted doors from a previous
employer. These were heavy and painted black. Great free wood and added a lot of weight to the
bench. The top is a piece of ¾” plywood that is wrapped with 4” wide poplar. I put t-track in the poplar
for clamping hardware. Drawer were made from ½” salvaged plywood. With the cost of plywood being
$100 for a 5x5 sheet (Baltic birch not box store grade), it was a nice savings.
I don’t have a lot of hardware on the bench except for the Rockler t-track clamps. That will probably
change over the years. I do understand the need for a vice. I have a make shift one right now. The
bench is on wheels which was the most expensive piece of hardware. It is Grizzley’s make your own
mobile base kit. I really like them. It is the 4 th base I have from them. The front is all drawers to hold my
stuff. I had it all planned out, and then measured the tools that would go in them. They were too big.
Good thing is that I was able to take out two small drawers and it all worked fine. I lost a couple of
drawers but it is ok.
What I like about the bench is that it is solid and heavy. It does not move when working on it. The holds
down on the roller stand works really well. It is also ½” lower than my table saw. This was by design so
that I can use it as an outfeed table with a ½” piece of plywood. I did not want to cut miter slots in the
bench top so I made it slightly lower. The drawers hold all my hand tools so they are no longer in the
back of a cabinet hard to get too. I do have t-track around the perimeter of the top. This does allow me
to clamp items to the to sides. It is been very helpful with stops and joinery work.

Tractor

 While trying to make this circus train, I was contacted by Fox Chapel Publishing To see if I wanted to
design and make a tractor for them. I wanted to because these are the projects I like doing and I would
be doing it how I like doing projects. I started with the design. I had to use a different drawing system
because my current company does not provide a drawing system for me to use. I downloaded a free
version of Fusion 360 to use. I chose a design that looked like the iconic tractor. The hardest part was
finding a couple of attachments for the back end. I chose to make a harrow and a cart. The design itself
is pretty simple. That is how I like my designs, simple.
I based my design around the wheels that I could find online. Bearwoods had tractor wheels that fit my
purpose. From that, I was able to work through the design for the overall size of the tractor. I made
some in all-natural wood. I painted the others two-toned. I am pleased with how they turned out. It
was a success from the train that I was working on. Fox Chapel also liked it, so that was a plus.

New Circus Train

 I was contacted a few days before Christmas to make a train for her son. I knew it was out of the US
because the translation on Etsy is not great but works. I thought she meant the train I designed. I told
her I do not do orders outside the country and that shipping would cost more than the train itself. She
was persistent and showed me the train she would like me to design and build. It looked like a fun
challenge and was way underquoted for the design. After a lot of back-and-forth discussion, I
committed to making this for her on my timeline and she would cover all shipping costs. All I was given
for the design was a website.
Starting the process was getting the design together. My limits were 1” wheels on the cars. I don’t go
smaller because they don’t say on axles and become a choking hazard. This dictated a car size of 9”
long. The main thickness of the material I used was ½”. This is the thinnest I will go on structural
components. It is also easier to groove and machine with power tools. I did not have the luxury of
doing detailed plans for this project, so it was all done on paper. Once I had the basic car the rest
followed the same design with some different variations. The hardest part was having access to all the
insides of the cars. I will go into this a little later. I started with the simplest cars and ended with the
caboose and locomotive.
Looking back, this was a project that I should not have taken on. This was a burnout project. I worked
on this for four straight weeks and for the last two months I was working on it in the evenings sanding
and painting. The project was challenging and I learned a lot. There was a lot of pushing the boundaries
of my equipment and trying new things. This is not the way I like to do design projects. I like to create
the design and know how it is all going to fit before starting. This way I can communicate the plan and
get approval before starting. I was designing as I was building. I did not know how I was going to build
the last two cars until 6 weeks before finishing. I did not know how the train was going to link together
until I was installing the hooks and eye bolts. I knew I was burning out as I progressed on each car. I had
a lot of detail to put in each car and as the project progressed, the detail dropped off and the design
became simpler.
The train was primarily made from scraps that I had and leftover wood from my workbench. My
workbench was 6/4 thick so I could resaw and make two pieces of ½” thick material. I did have to
purchase some wood towards the end of the project as well as a lot of dowels and wheels. From a
material perspective, I broke even in costs. From a labor standpoint, I lost 4 months of work. Here is a
description of each of the cars and how I built them:

Locomotive

Not my favorite car. It was a pretty straightforward design except for the cowcatcher, smokestack,
boiler, and hook placement. The challenge with the cow catcher was how to mount it to the chassis
without it interfering with the wheels and not having some complex cuts in it. This was the last car I
made so I compromised on some of the aesthetics. The groove in the cowcatcher is visible from the
side. It has a lap joining connecting it to the main chassis. I was planning on buying the smokestack but
forgot to add it to the order. I did not want to pay shipping, so I made it. I don’t have a lathe, so drill,
drill press and belt sander did the trick. The main column of the stack was sanded down turning it on a
belt sander. The crown was made by cutting a 2” dowel and drilling a hole in the center. I glued a dowel
in the hole and chucked in my drill. With a belt sander and the drill, I was able to put the profile on the
crown. Then I drilled the dowel out and put it on the main column. It would have been easier to buy a
smoke stack. The boiler did not have a lot of good surface area to glue to. I drilled a hole in the bottom
of the chassis into the boiler and then inserted a dowel. Simple fix, but visible. The chassis for the
locomotive and the rest of the train are not on the same level. So the hook needed to be in another
location. I would usually check this in the design stage, but I did not have a design stage. I tried a couple
of locations and they did not work. So I bent the hook up to reach the coal car connection.

Dining Car

This was the first car that I did. It was a pretty straightforward design. I added the applique detail on
the sides. The roof was a build-up of several pieces. The detail was painted and then assembled. The
stairs were the hardest part of the car. They are grooved into the chassis to provide support. I started
with a 3/16” dowel for the rungs. These all broke when inserting the dowel. I remade them with a 1/8”
dowel and that worked a lot better

Ticket Car

This looks like an easy car to make, but it was one of the harder ones. It is all because of the roof. The
curved roof was a problem. I wanted to have access to the car but there was no design for a door. This
was one of the last cars made so the design to get into the car was to lift off the roof. The roof was an
issue. I thinned poplar out to 1/8” thick and tried bent lamination. Which failed. I tried steam bending
in the microwave. Which failed. I changed to 1/16” thick balsa wood. I was worried that it would break
so I tried to rotate the grain. That failed. The last resort was to bend with the grain and support it. That
worked well. I used a piece of 6” PVC pipe as a form and laminated 4 sheets around it. I reinforced the
roof with battens on the inside. It worked well and that is how I did the locomotive, horse car top
blocks, and the caboose. I hope they survive shipping. They are a little softer than I would like them.

Equipment Car (Organ, luggage)
The luggage cart was pretty easy. It was a couple of pieces glued together with a lot of applique strips
added. The organ proved to be more complicated. It was one of the later cars I did sow it was made
from maple and a lot heavier than the others. I started to make the pipes using a dowel chucked in my
drill press and sanding it down the taper. I was taking a ¼” dowel and fitting it into a 3/16” hole. It was
taking forever and I was breaking more dowels than making. I decided to chuck the dowel in my
cordless drill and go to the belt sander. That worked too well and I made a pointed end. It took a
couple of tries but it worked out well. It was this technique that I used for the smokestack. The sides
were laminated 1/8” material with the design cut into it. I did not make designs for these cars
Caged Animal Flatbed Car
These cars were made in the middle. I did draw both of these out. I used the drawing as a template to
make all the small detail pieces. At one point I thought I lost one. The faces are from two pieces of 1/8”
material. I had to do a few changes on the fly for these cars. The wheels were going to be 7/8” in
diameter. This was too small and increased. I originally had twice as many bars on the cages. This was
too many and I cut the number in half. There are access holes in the top to put things in.

Caged Car
This was my problem car. I made everything twice on this. It was the design for all the other box cars
for dimensions. The door slides open. I started with 3/16” dowels and those were too big. I also had
the wrong grain direction on the rails of the door so the door broke on assembly. I ran out of poplar
material at the correct thickness for the door. I found some oak that would work. This is the only part
of the train that has oak in it. After assembling the car, I realized that I did not have enough room in the
groove for the door to slide back and forth in. I could not thin up the door for structural reasons. I had
to break apart the car and cut down the sides. With redoing the car, I also ran out of paint and had to
buy another bottle. It was the first car started and the last car completed.
Flat Car

There is nothing special about this car. I used a burr to make some of the boxes look canvass covered. I
was going to route lines in the green blocks that are supposed to mimic the tent structure. I tried
scribing the lines instead, but my scribe tool does not go deep enough. So I settled on a black, fine-point
Sharpie.

Horse Car
This was in the first group of cars to be started but one of the last to be finished. This is why the detail is
not as good as the barn car. The door was similar to hinged doors in the past. I put a lip in the side to
keep the doors from going all the way in The hard part was the two boxes on top of the roof. I could
not get the wood to form and stay. I ended up using a few sheets of thin balsa wood to do bent
lamination. Then cutting the curves to size.

Barn Car

This was another one of the first group cars. This is why it has a lot of detail in it. The design is not
straightforward. I had an idea of how the roof was going to go. I cut the 45-degree pieces with the table
saw. They were a little large for the roof pieces so I needed to make them smaller. I sat for 15 minutes
trying to figure out how I was going to do this safely. I put in the t-slot on my router table and used a
hand plane. Three swipes and I was good. This car had a lot of hand tool usage. The door also caused a
lot of thinking and overcomplicating the process. My first thought was to just dowel it in and round the
bottom. This idea would not let the ramp touch the floor and I would need to have it assembled before
painting. I ended up cutting a notch in the bottom of the sides for a dowel to slide up and down in. This
allowed for the ramp to touch the ground. The trim hid the notch and it was assembled after all was

finished.

Caboose
After I had figured out all the issues on the ticket car, the caboose was a lot easier. The steps were
solved with the dining car. It was just a matter of putting it all together.
Conclusion
This was not a project that I ended up enjoying. I was about halfway done when I was emotionally done
with it. I had other projects that I wanted to do and provided profit. I received a fire pit for my birthday
so I could burn the plans and scrap. The plans were saved by my youngest because he wants to build one someday. I told him that I would not be helping him build it.

Meeting with the Publisher

 My family decided to go to Hershey Park in May because the kids had a day off school. We were going
to spend a couple of days in Pennsylvania. Just for fun, I looked up Fox Chapel Publishing. They are the
publishing company that has published several of my plans. They were located about ½ hour from
Hershey Park. We made it part of the trip to go visit them. (I did check with them first). They had candy
at the front desk, so the kids were happy. I also dropped off the tractor design so I did not have to ship
it.
We talked about future projects. It was nice to meet the group there. They were extremely friendly. I
let them know I am open to new design ideas. They already suggested another one that I hope to finish
around Christmas this year.

Animated toys

 I received a book on how to make animated toys a few years back. It was something that I have wanted
to try and different from the vehicles I have been making. I was hoping that this would help me into
new design ideas. I compliment the author and the work he has done to make these toys. The plans
were done well and easy to follow.
I really liked the concept of the toys, but I did not like how they went together. There were a lot of small
parts and purchased parts that needed to be cut down. I felt that the parts were really small for the
target kid age. This may be the toys that I decided to make. The dinosaurs had a lot of parts and were
on the more complicated side. Looking back the basic toys would probably be just as fun or better than
the more complicated ones. I will probably not make any more of the multiple linkage toys. From an
engineer standpoint, I can appreciate the design of these toys. I may make some of the simpler toys at
another time. These toys do take a lot of different thickness of wood which makes it a little more
challenging to plan.

Year in Review 2022

I had fun this year.  not as many projects and no new toy designs.  The Etsy shop is going well.  I have had a couple of commission jobs from it.  It is nice not to have to do a lot of painting and repairs on a house.  I was able to get the garage mostly setup.  There are some minor things here and there to work on.  Now it is more about getting things cleaned up than workable.  

This year I purchased a new cabinet saw.  It is the Laguna Fusion 2.  I am really happy with it.  It has the safety devices on it that I was missing on my last saw (riving knife and anti kickback).  It is so much quieter than my old saw.  It was a good purchase and enjoy using it.  I just finished up my first workbench for me.  It is more than just saw horses and a sheet of plywood.  It has drawers for storage for all the tools that I frequently use.  I also added t-track on the outside edge so that I can clamp pieces to it.  It isn't fancy, but it is solid.  Blog post on that will be latter.

Favorite project was the blanket chest.  It looks good and came together well.  I like how solid it is and the lid does not slam shut.  I probably should of had a lighter lid but I like how it looks.

I did some animated toys this year from a book I got a while back.  Again the blog post will be latter because I have to put them together.  I was thinking that this would be a next phase in my design.  I am not thinking that anymore.  In short, the designer does a great job and amazing work.  The small pieces and the inability to lock the small parts in place make them a choking hazard.  I just was not impressed with them.  I will have to think of some other things to design

Business is holding steady.  Etsy has been doing well.   I have not done anything to grow business out here.  There are a lot of craft fairs, but I am not sure if I want to go through and get a Virginia sellers license.  Time will tell on that.  I am enjoying what I am doing now. I was able to donate to the Laurel house this year and also to operation Santa.  I had some kids help make the donation toys this year.  It was a lot of fun and will continue to ask for help.

Next year is already booked out.  I have been asked to make a toy train from a graphic.  I have started the design part.  This should take about three months.  I am going to be making chest of drawers for our room this year.  That will take most of the summer.  I am also looking at a repeat customer that runs and week long church camp and part of the time is spent building four projects.  I have the toy donations that I will be working on as well as the many ornaments to do this year.

Blanket Chest

 This is the next piece in our bedroom furniture.  This gets the sheets and blankets out of my son's closet.  This project posed some design concerns.  The first one was how it was going to fit in with the rest of the bedroom furniture.  I am using a mission style.  I have kept open sides but the chest cannot have open sides or front.  There were a lot of different ideas that I had to accomplish this look.  The one that I settled on was grooving all the cherry parts and the walnut was in insert panel.  

Another design concern was the weight of the lid.  The lid is made of three pieces of 1 3/4" thick cherry.  The total weight of the lid is 35 lbs.  I did not want the lid slamming shut and hurting someone.  There is not a lid stay on the the market, that I could find, to handle a 51" x 21" top with that weight.  I did find torsion hinges from Rockler that I liked.  The calculator does work but it said my top was too big.  If I took the lid and divided it into two lids, it said to use 2  - 60 inch-pounds torsion hinges.  So it takes 240 inch pounds to open the chest.  The lid does not slam shut.  I am happy the way the lid turned out.

The lesson learned from the lid is that the case needs to be heavier than the lid.  It does once it was filled.  When it wasn't, it was a tipping hazard.  

Other designs features that are part of the chest:

• The bottom of the chest is made from tongue and grooved aromatic cedar,  It is said to repel bugs so I put it in our of tradition
• The top has two battens that are installed with sliding dovetails.  This is the first time using this type of joint,  I did not execute it as well as I had hoped but it still works to keep the top flat.  This was the part that I was most nervous about because if I screwed it up it is a lot of wood that becomes firewood,
• All joints are mortise and tenons.  I made these using a router instead of hand chopping them out.  This seemed to be easier then drilling and cleaning them out.  They were a more consistent making the tenons easier to make.
• Inserts are walnut.  I was going to make them out of maple for the contrast.  I am glad I didn't.  The cherry will darken over time.  The two wood tones will compliment over time.
• The front was originally going to look like two drawers.  It was not going to look as good.  I was also going to add an internal tray.  That also was removed.

I really like how the features come together.  This was a challenge in getting all the lines to line up and offsets look the same.  There are a couple of things that did not go as plan.  The parts for the sides should have been the same for the front and back.  I was off by 1/4".  It all worked out.  

The other design feature is the inserts are not glued into the center curved pieces.  This is to allow the wood to expand and contract.  It may never cause a problem but I did not want the joints to break over time.

I like how the project turned out and it fits with the other bedroom furniture.  The next piece is going to be the chest of drawers.  That is next year

Buildable Toys for a Church

 I was contacted by a church in the south about making kits for youth to build at their youth camp. Of course I said yes and under costed the project. It is a little more difficult to mass produce build your own projects. I didn’t have a belt sander to make everything flat and smooth. 

They requested 4 projects and 15 of each. I could not do all the toys the person wanted, because I did not have the time to redesign so they can be put together by kids. They turned out all right. I don’t know how easy they were to assemble, but I got good feedback from them.

Simple Shop Projects

 I had a couple of small projects that I wanted to do for the garage since we moved in. Both were out of need. I have been working on using the Triton router table more. It is better than my bench top and has more functionality to it. The problem is that it is not easy to move for two reasons. The first is that all the attachments (saw and router) are underneath it and it is not mobile. The second is that it is a flat surface that is a catch all for projects and battery chargers.

I had a couple of thick pieces of “scrap” I purchased from another woodworker. The piece I used was 2” thick 8” wide and 24” long of red oak. I made a floating shelf out of the piece to hold my lawn mower batteries and the cordless system batteries. I cheated and just put a groove in the shelf instead of pocketing out the space for the wall mounting bracket.

The other project was a clamp rack for my larger clamps. I had them hanging from shelf supports. It was working but I wanted to hang them on the wall. I looked at purchasing some but I had several 2x4’s that would do the job just as well. It was a quick project but it made a huge difference in the accessibility of the clamps.

Next shop improvement project is my workbench.

Saburrtooth Burrs

 I am going to try some intarsia projects this year. A lot of them will require shaping and detailing. Some of which I can do with sand paper but others I need to take a lot off. I have used the sanding drums on the Dremel and some of the carving tools that come with the Dremel. I have been watching some videos on the process and someone recommended the saburrtooth brand burs. They were a little more then I hoped, but not unreasonable after using them. The set was about $100.

I have used them on creating deeper profiles on some animated toys that I am making. These things will take material off. These look like little medieval weapons. The will not do a finish ready surface and I will say you will start at a rougher grit sand paper to get it ready. It beats the tool wear that happens on the Dremel carving tools. I would burn them up as well as the sanding drums before finishing the part.

Laguna F2 Table Saw

 I said good bye to one of the first power tools I purchased.  My DeWalt contractor saw has served be well for over 22 years.  It was a good saw and I have no complaints.  It was starting to show it's age.  The alignment was starting to go more often and the plastic on the electrical cord was starting to go.  I had also removed a tossed the blade guard and anti kick back equipment.  These were a couple of the factors for replacing the saw.  Designs have also changed with different safety features.

I purchased a cabinet saw to upgrade.  it comes with the blade guard and a riving knife that are easy to change out.  I had looked at the Grizzly table saw and also the SawStop and decided on the Laguna F2.  I liked the SawStop, but it was expensive for what I wanted to pay.  I understand the safety of it and maybe I will move to one someday.  I have read and heard that the brakes will fault out over time and need to be replaced.  I am safe with the table saw in general.  Grizzly is a decent brand and some of the parts are probably the same on the Laguna.  The features on the Laguna and shipping costs are what made my final decision to go to the Laguna.  

Here are the features that I like about the Laguna F2:

• Mobile base is standard
• digital bevel guage
• The face of the fence slides back and forth
• It has a 36" rip capacity

What I don't like

• The T style fence.  I am use to the DeWalt rack and pinon fence which is really nice.
• Dust collection is not great, but I am using a shop vac so I will give it a pass

I have only used it a couple of time so far and I do not have buyers remorse.  It is quieter and cuts better than my old saw.  It is also a lot heavier.  I don't have to worry about it moving around.  

Kid's Workbench

In preparation of making my own work bench, I made a smaller one for kids.  I used an old kitchen island wood top that I had acquired some  time ago.  The other wood and was gathered from scrap and trash from work.  The only cost that I had in the bench was hardware and labor, which was  not cheap.  It was a good practice and design check for my workbench I hope to make later this year.  Here are the highlights of the project:

• First of all this was designed around the height of my youngest.  It is a little taller than it should be for him.  He does think it is his now.  Kids are taller than I first thought.  My bench is going to be 35".  I am six feet (almost).  Half of 48" is 24".  Good thing I tested before assembly.  I added another 3" to it and made it a better height.
• Drawers are shallow for a reason.  I don't want a lot of stuff in them.  It is mainly for kids and storage of their tools.  I am hoping to put foam with cutouts for all the tools.  This is a project for another day.
• When making five piece side make sure the glides span the two verticals.  I did not check and had to set my glides back 3/4" so I could attach them.  Not impossible, just make the task more difficult.  
• The only drawer that was designed for a purpose was the paint drawer.  All other drawers were made with the same height drawers.  This may not have been the best idea as some tools don't fit as well.  My bench will have more specific drawers and design.
• I purchased a mobile base from Grizzly Tools.  I am pleased with the result.  It does roll smoothly and carries the weight.  my only complaint is that it does not work well with 3/4" board.  It says that it will work with 1/2-1 1/4 board but the screws for the 3/4" board drag on the floor every once in a while.  The 1/2" board works great.  Since I screwed the base also into the work bench frame I am not concerned about bowing of the base.
• 
  I also purchased t-track from Rockler and some of the accessories.  I put this around  the parameter of the bench to make a cheap set of vices.  I did not leave enough material below the track for the clamps to work well.  This is something that I will remedy with my bench.  

It is not the best work I have done but it does function.  My youngest is happy with it.  It is a good addition to the shop as I start working with more kids.  I enjoy the mobility of the bench and the storage it has.

Making Changes

 There are changes happening in the garage shop.  There are things that I have wanted to do in the past three homes that I have lived in.  I have wanted to add more electrical outlets in the garage.  I finally did it because I am hoping to stay in this place a little longer than the last one.  I upgraded the line to a 20amp breaker and added 2 more outlets.  I can now have my scroll saw and drill press always plugged in.  the third is for the extension cord that I use for the mobile equipment.  

The line was pretty simple.  It was on one wall in line with the electrical panel.  There was little damage to the dry wall.  I did have help because I do not like electricity and have never done work in the panel.  He did panel and wiring work and I watched for the most part.  

I did upgrade the line from a 15 amp to a 20 amp breaker.  This is largely because I was tipping the breaker when running the table saw and shop vac at the same time.  There is another reason that I will get to later (probably another post).  

I actually looked at some of my equipment specifications and they said I need a 25 amp breaker.  There is no such thing at the local box stores.  Ironically, some of my tools have a 16 amp startup draw and a 14 gauge plug. So I knew that a 20 amp line would be fine.  If I went to a 30 amp breaker, I would need new plugs on everything.

There is a thing called new work and old work fixtures.  That was a mind blowing experience.  New work is for all the stuff that drywall is not in place.  Old work makes it real easy to put the junction boxes in drywall.  

There are a lot of breakers out there.  Make sure to know which breaker to get.  It is actually pretty straight forward to replace the breaker.  That being said, I still don't ever want to do it.

I did help install the wiring in the outlets and attach the outlets in the wall.  When we first powered the line the circuit blew.  Why did it blow, I had the ground touching the hot wire when I put the wires in the the box.  One more reason I do not like working on electricity.

Year in Review

If I said this year was great for woodworking I would be lying.  I actually did not get a lot of woodworking in this year.  A lot of this year was painting our old home, repairs and moving.  I did get better painting as I progressed through the house.  It was pretty noticeable from the first rooms to the last rooms.  I was doing basic repairs to sell the house and make it livable.  I replaced the deck boards in the deck and did some last-minute landscaping.  I don’t know if the landscaping even survived.

Tool purchased this year.  I purchased a DeWalt battery operated brad nailer.  This was a game changer for me.  I no longer had to carry an air compressor and a hose to do repairs and add moulding.  It works as well as my pneumatic one without the hose.  I am very happy with this purchase.  I also purchased a DeWalt battery jigsaw.  This is mainly to cut down large boards and repair work.

My favorite project this year was painting the final room in the house.  I was happy that I don’t have to paint for a little while.  We do plan on painting our new home, but it is not needed at this time. 

No new plans this year.  I have some ideas, mothing concrete.  There are some books that I have that I want to try some of their designs. 

Business is holding steady.  Etsy has been doing well.  I have taken off all my actual toys and made it strictly plans.  I am getting less complaints about people thinking they have ordered a physical toy.  I have not done anything to grow business out here.  There are a lot of craft fairs, but I am not sure if I want to go through and get a Virginia sellers license.  Time will tell on that.  I am enjoying what I am doing now.  I do need to find some charities to donate to.  I have a couple of leads.

Next year should be a good year.  I have a lot planned and it is mostly setup in the garage.  I have been saving up to upgrade my table saw and some of my workshop.  I am looking at the Laguna Fusion 2 table saw.  I am also looking into a dust collection system.  I also want to build a couple of workbenches.  One is going to be mine for projects.  It will be on wheels with stops.  The other is going to be a kid’s bench.  I have been doing a fair amount of research on making movable benches and I think that I am ready to upgrade from sawhorses. 

New Guinea Pig Cage

My middle child got a pair of guinea pigs over the summer. One of the things that I wanted to do was elevate the cage we got so that we (I) didn’t have to bend down as much to pick them up and clean out the cage. I also wanted a place to store all the supplies they have instead of having them all over the floor. The base is made from scrap 2x6’s that were left by the previous owner. I purchased a sheet of particle with melamine on both sides. I also edge banded all the edges. I try not to use the convenience of Amazon for wood projects, but edge band was ½ when compared to the stores and twice as much. I cannot tell you about performance, because it is the first time I used iron on edge band. It worked well and cleaned up nice. The new cage is slightly larger than the old one. It seems to work well. We shall see how it holds up.

Joining the Bandwagon: Slabs

Last month I was on Facebook marketplace.  Not a usual occurrence, but I needed to get rid of a tv wall mount fixture and moving boxes.  I put these on for free and decided to look at tools and wood just for fun.  I have heard of some great success stories and great deals happening on marketplace.  

I found someone local that was selling his off fall.  he was asking $125 for a large bin.  It seemed like a pretty good deal so I ended up buying the bin.  I was interested in it mainly because of the different thicknesses of material. The person selling it ran his own furniture shop and lumber mill at his home. he is a good source for lumber.  He also kiln dries his lumber.  There was a lot of lumber and it was worth the price I paid for it.  I don't know if I will do it again for two reasons: I can't process lumber that is less than 12" easily.  Second it is a very different approach to look at a piece and say what can I do with this board.

In this bin of lumber, there were a few pieces of walnut that had a live edge: The bark was removed and the edge was not cut straight.  I sorted all this lumber out and said "What can I make with this?"  My two youngest have been asking for shelves to display their rocks.  It seemed like a good idea.  I made a basic plan on how these shelves would be put together.  I don't know the style but it is 1/4-20 threaded rod with nuts holding up the shelves.  All the pieces are stainless steel.

The pattern was four lines where the threaded rod would be and a top and bottom to mark the upper and lower limits.  The shelves themselves were straight edge cut on one side to flush up against the wall.  There were some bug holes which I cut off trying to follow the grain to keep the live edge look.  

When the shelves were ready, I gave a pile of shelves to my youngest two kids and told them to lay out where they wanted each shelf on the pattern.  It took a little work showing them how the system worked.  After all was done they came up with an idea that was not what I pictured.  I like their idea better.

All said it was a project that was nice to do to get back in the shop.  It was a lot of planning and a not a lot of woodworking.  I had to re-saw some of the walnut because it was 2 1/2" thick.  The chunks were only 12" long so I learned how to flatten a board with a hand plane.  This is where I like the longer boards so I can do the work with a machine,  

The project turned out how the kids wanted them to turn out.  I don't know if I am happy they are putting rock on the shelves.  It is just going to damage the finish.  It is what they wanted and it was me looking at someone elses scrap asking "What can I do with this?"

 

What Have I Been Doing?

 

MOVING!!! Long story short: The company that moved me out to Virginia needed to do some restructuring during the pandemic.  I was not part of the restructuring but was able to find new employment in northern Virginia.  This necessitated another move.  Good news was, I would be able to work remotish for about a year.  This allowed my kids one full year at school and so their school year was not interrupted.  This also meant that we had time to fix up the fixer upper we purchased.

The major repairs that we hired others to do.  We replaced all the windows and aluminum wrapped all the trim and installed new gutters.  The roof was replaced, and the exterior was power washed and painted.  We hired someone to paint the upstairs hallway, foyer, and kitchen.  This included the kitchen cabinets.  These were things that I either could not do myself or did not have the time to do it.

Here is what I contributed to the fixing up:

• Painting: every room in the house was repainted. You can tell where I started painting and where I finished.  My painting skills improved with each room.  Most rooms were two toned and I like how they looked.  If I do it again, I would not use the yellow color.  Here are some of the key things that I learned in the process:
•  Painting.  Prep work is key to a good paint job.  I removed a lot of the cracked caulking around doors and moulding and replaced it.  It made a huge difference.  When I learned the trick with wetting my finger to even it out, it got a lot easier. Filling in all the nail holes and dents with filler.  There was a lot.  I think I used a medium tub of filler on the house.  For the most part I used a roller and a 2” trim brush.  I didn’t need to buy more equipment than that.  I did get a bucket for the trim work.
• Replace the deck boards.  That was a pain.  There were several that had rotted and so I replaced all 19 full length boards.  It was a 16’ wide deck.  This is where I used Home Depot to deliver the boards.  The big take away on this project was the fact that deck boards are 1” thick not 2x6.  Thank goodness I caught it before they delivered the order and I was able to change it.  I also replaced the decks on the stairs. It was a bigger pain than it was worth. After the deck was stain, it looked good
• Patched water damaged drywall.  The roof was leaking in one place over a room.  There was also some water damage in the basement from a previous overflow of the sump pump.  Both areas needed to have dry wall patches.  They looked pretty good after I was done.  I was impressed with the first time doing these patches.
• Grass.  Not going to say I did much in this area. I laid down seed and hoped it would grow.  I think I doubled the amount of grass on the property. I am not going to say it was a lot, but it looked better.  We also added some mulch and flowers which did make it look nicer.
• Caulked all the bathroom fixtures.  Not my favorite thing to do.  I don’t really like silicone and I really don’t like cleaning and scraping out moldy silicone.  I did it and the trick is to use soapy water on your finger to spread it out.
• Cleaned and more cleaned.  I understand the meaning of deep cleaning. I would say that I should do it more often, but it was a pain.  Then maintaining it was another project.  I am glad we only had to do it for one weekend.

Glad this is over.  Now it is setting everything up again.

If you would like to se the pictures of the home you can go here. These are professional pictures.  Sorry I do not have the before pictures.

Challenge Coin Flag

United States Challenge Coin Holder

I was asked to make a challenge coin holder for a neighbor.  I accepted because I like challenges, and this was a way of saying thank you to someone that has served in the armed forces.  I am grateful that I did know what challenge coins were.  It was my first time actually seeing some.  I thought they were always round and about the same size.  They are cool looking.

The design process was not easy.  The US flag does not make it easy to make a symmetrical holder, so it is not.  Thirteen stripes does not divide well.  I was struggling whether to have all the holder on the white part or to have the last holder on the red stripe making the bottom section three stripes tall instead of two.  I decided to put the lowest ledge on the red strip for any of the larger coins.  The next design point was the size.  The customer gave a general dimension of 24x36”.  Thank goodness for the internet because there is a flag calculator there.  I played with the stripe dimension and came up with 1 ½” stripe width.  This gave me 19 ½” x 37”.  Part of me wanted to make this as close to a regulation flag as possible.

The big lesson learned in this project is that you cannot bend bow and cup out of a board no matter the size and number of clamps.  I had maple piece that had about 3/16” of bow along the glue edge.  This was a 1 1/8” wide strip going into a large pane.  I thought that I could clamp and glue it out.  Each piece that I glued to it took the bow of the maple piece.  I finally got it out with five strips, but it broke with in twelve hours of removing the clamps.  I had to remake the lower section of the flag for one piece that I knew was a problem from the beginning. 

I liked how it turned out and the customer is happy. 

Year in Review 2020

New home, new state, new job are just a few of the "new" things that happened.  There was also a loss of job, a pandemic and a shut down.  This year was very much unpredictable.  I was able to get some woodworking done.  I found a guild that I was going to until meetings were canceled.  I did not find any locations that take handmade toys, so I did not make any.  In August I found out I would be moving again after the school year so I am not as motivated to set roots down and establish the charity connections.

My favorite project was probably the desk.  It did not perfectly as I had hoped, but it is a simple looking desk that is well built.  The other furniture was a nice change of pace to the toys that I was making.  I had the opportunity to make a lot of mortise and tenon joints and work with some really nice cherry.  I also gave my hand tools more of a work out than they are use to.

Tools I picked up this year.  The list is small, but they are large.  I picked up a planer.  Now that I am buying lumber in the rough I have to do more processing.  I picked up the benchtop Dewalt.  It works well for the amount of lumber I use.  I also updated my cordless tools.  My current set did not hold a chare and were only 14v.  I upgraded to the 20v and purchased an additional driver and circular saw.   I now understand why cordless is becoming so popular.  I also purchased a couple of small tools and they were game changers for me.  I bought a Woodpeckers square and ruler.  The company is known for precision tools.  I learned quickly that the big box squares are not square.  Layouts were better and they are enjoyable to work with.  I also purchased a couple of marking tools.  I have also enjoyed using them.

I did not have any new toy designs.  I am not sure where to go at the current time and looking for some inspiration.  The furniture designs are not published.  There are several plans for mission style bedroom furniture.  I did not want to add mine to it.  It was also nice just to make and not worrying about the quality of the drawings and instructions.

From a business standpoint I did ok for what was going on.  My Etsy sales doubled and the interest has increased a lot.  I have received more toy sales that I have "free" shipping on everything. I have had several people reach out about projects and personal designs.  Some I can do others I cannot.  I had to turn business away this year.  Usually I have one or two projects during the holidays this year I had six solid requests.  I was only able to custom make 4 toys.  Winfield has slowed down a lot.  My designs are stale there.  I have thought about reaching out again to add more, but they have not been very responsive in the past.  I have signed up with a startup web page that just sells plans.  Traffic is light right now but time will tell.

I am not sure what next year is going to bring except another move, another lumber yard, hopefully another club.