As part of my current hydroculture experiments, I am using a lot of PVC piping. And while it can be cut with regular woodworking tooling, it can be a bit brittle and crack or even explodes while cutting small pieces. Using the right blade on any saw makes all the differences. In addition, I need to make a series of stop cuts along a 4 inches pipe. Yes, could be done by hand, but a sliding miter…
Yes, my blog has been quiet for a while, not because of a shortage of projects currently on the go, but rather, yah, been busy. Part of a new project I am developing for my Rotary club to address food insecurity in our area. In a nutshell, how to grow your own food at home easily and cheaply. Supplemented by communal gardens and setting up gardens project at Senior residences, school etc. A bit of…
Been a tad busy as you may have been noticed. Not much woodworking but lots of small projects for storage and while Greenhouse No 2 is done, there is still a lot going on in the gardening front. Greenhouses put to bed for the winter. All buttoned up and stopped heating No 2 for the season. Been experimenting with various growing methods and equipment's. My end goal is to turn on more people here…
...for now. Time to catch up on a few things around the house next. This is where I started This is where we are now. The side opening has been buttoned down for the season. Install a new ventilated door up front Both front opening have been sealed, but then I ran into problems... VENTILATION and TEMPERATURE control In order to better control the temperature inside, I needed to sealed it.…
Been a tad busy, trying to get the next greenhouse up and running beside the old one. Once it is up, the older one will undergo Depot Level Inspection and Repair (DLIR) :-) It survived, wind storms, tree falling, winter storms. But it need some structural repairs. No 2 is going up to the left of No 1 Yes, she set up one of her small portable greenhouse inside, which contained the covered warming…
This week we have the visit of our son Levi and family. With our daughter coming over with her two kids, we had a total of 2 kids (Son and daughter), 5 grandkids and 3 dogs. Yes, the house is alive with laughter :-) While he is here, I enlisted him to help me with my Post drill project. Been getting ready...almost... for a while. But low on my various priorities lists and definitively need some…
Been spending lots of time organizing and building custom solutions. I got so much self involved, everything else falls off my radar. Oups, missed a few Zoom committee meetings. Sorry. With the platform and grid in use inside the garage, I was able to quickly organize most of the garage content. Moving the two AC units off the floor was a big plus. I now got access all around the Unisaw. And it…
Need a bunch of small stuff done, but useable. Finished Thursday by assembling the frames for the grid. Glued and nailed ( 2 at each connections) half lap inside dadoes. Probably a tad overkill :-) Being my last task of the day I was getting a bit tired. I had to remember to cut shorth one side of the half lapped pieces to clear the dadoes up front of grid frame. First I layout carefully all my…
Been working slowly, my damn thumb keep getting in the way :-) Finally bite the bullet and went to get a sheet of spruce sheathing 3/4 plywood 4X8. Ouch, Cdn $90 plus tax (15%) This is what $90 of plywood looks like, not too impressive :-( In this case, it will be trimmed off to fit, but still... The easy way to move all kinds of sheets good by yourself. Not cheap, but works great. At these…
After cutting all my joinery for the grid, all dadoes and half lap, with the Radial Arm Saw, I was left with a lot of small ridges which need to be cleaned. Where I left off last night. Surface left by the RAS. Usually quick work with a chisel and hand router (Stanley No 71), but in this case, there is a boatloads of them so, I`ll take a while. Even probably longer since my right thumb is…
Sunday spent a good three hours at the wood shop on Base. Brought my 8 vertical pieces 72 inches long and 12 horizontal pieces 31 inches long to cut the joinery to assemble 4 frames for my storage grid. Getting ready I used the Radial Arm Saw with its regular blade to cut all my dadoes and half laps, all 3-1/2 in long x 3/4 in deep. That was 24 half laps and 24 dadoes all nibbled one by one plus…
That would be the platform and the storage grid 9X9 on top with a set of stairs to the house, which is in progress. When I left off, I had my two beams with all their joist brackets assembled. I am working alone inside a cramped space, accordingly due to the size of the deck assembly and weight considerations, my first plan was to screw the ledger to the wall line up the front one on its posts…
Diversion No 35 and we are only in early March. Ok I exagerated a bit, but you get the idea :-) Our newly wed Son, wife and grandkids are coming for a visit soon, exciting, but of course it necessitated (??) some more re-org around the house. Currently working on a project inside garage. Turning a mess in one corner into an organized and tidy spot. That would free up lots of spaces inside and long…
Something I long needed to do but I have been putting it off for many reasons. But mostly due to the lack of available time, but when I do have some time, it is just not something I fell like doing... So finally figured out that in order for me to accomplished everything I would like to do, something has to give and I need time for myself. So I will scale back my numerous commitments I have…
Last Friday January 7th we had our first snow storm of the year, it dumped 30 cm, this past Friday January 14 we got another one which brought us 41 cm of snow. Better not be another one this next Friday... Last time I was not well prepared, should had my snow blower serviced. This time I remembered it on Wed morning called them to pick it up and they delivered it back Thursday PM. in time for…
Last nite I finally got my rows under the window, the ones under the boring till will have to wait, I decided on some changes, which will required longer cleats and different holders. Thinking I should make a holder for my cordless drill and Impact driver. That would also required a power outlet to be added nearby. Put them on then loaded them with a few holders. When I made the holders I gave no…
Been working on it, tweaking, choosing and cutting back boards, gluing, screwing etc. getting there. Today we started home schooling with the grandkids, so I had to make some room downstairs. They cannot sit beside each others doing two different classes, hence why I must vacate some of my sprawl downstairs. Finally got my cleats up on the hobby bench area, then finished a bunch of holders and try…
My French cleats projects has been rudely interrupted by a good old Canadian Nor Easter snow storm. The kind that spins around and bite you in the ass. A suivre tomorrow... Where I left off, I had sanded flushed the sides of my first three tool holders with the disk sander. I spray them with a coat of satin polyurethane and then decided to make the older holders reversible. That is I will not be…
Today I was resolute in my drive to get that damn arbor nut off, on her small table saw. Looking online was useless. Yes, found out part numbers and saw pictures of the wrench Yadi Yada but nowhere does anyone ever mentioned what bloody size it is. Size is still a mystery Model 36-540C Type 2 First thing, regroup and see what I got here 7/8 (14/16) is too small, by a smidge My next size up is 1…
Today, I had a Dr appointment early in the AM (Note to my medical team; Instead of telling me it's normal at your age, why don't you say, It's normally seen in teenagers. It would make me feel better 😁) Since I was out, decided to try a few more hardware stores around for my velcro sanding pad. First stop I found the correct one for my type of sandpaper, SIA, but its a round pad for 5 in ROS. No…
I have 3 electric portable sanders that I have not used for a while. I don't like sanding. A Black & Decker Professional 1/4 sheet sander, my first one and quite the story behind :-) A Dewalt 5 inch Random Orbit Sander and a small Porter Cable 14 in belt sander, for which, finding belts is a problem that seems to be getting worse. I bought it to replaced my old bulky Craftsman 3X21 belt sander. My…
I have been making a few holders for various tools, time to hang them up on the walls. But how? There are various ways to go about it. In the past 16 years or so, I have been using perf board with custom wooden holders . But this time I want something I can easily remove the holders yet be very strong. Hence French cleats. Nothing new, been using them to hang all my tills on the walls, but this…
For the last little while been sorting, de-rusting and taking inventory of drilling tools and implements. I have been working out of that till for a few years now, time to address some shortcoming. How my Boring till looks like today. Some of the tools boards I am making shown at the bottom Don't get me wrong, it works fine as is, but I have a multitude of small accessories required and lots of…
Been a tad busy around here at times. The Greenhouse is still standing but took a hit from a big pine which totally flatten the new metal shed I was in the process of installing and almost killed the plastic shed behind also, I think I can salvaged it, got some ideas, but it will have to wait. The 10X8 metal shed we just had moved from her property to our place And the plastic Rubbermaid shed…
Lots of work outside right now, so not much happening in or near my shops, except a bunch of fall maintenance on garden tools: Cleaning, sharpening, oiling spades, shovels, chainsaw etc. Between all of these, been experimenting with using a piece of ABS drain pipe 1-1/2 with Evaporust for handling more efficiently long pieces. Quickly found out that tapping the plastic test cap on the ends is…