Descending Ashtray

I just got an annoucement in the mail yesterday that The Woodworking Shows is/are coming to Portland October 20, 21 and 22. Happily, this coincides with “Girls’ Weekend,” and Sarah will be out of town at the coast. If you’re following along at home, this leaves me unsupervised for the biggest Tool Porn festival this side of the Mississippi.

Don’t think you’re off the hook, Brandy. The show is in Des Moines the weekend before - October 13, 14 and 15.

I went to this event two years ago, and it was a lot of fun. There are booths from every major tool manufacturer, and a lot of small ones you’ve probably never heard of. The smaller ones tend to be the most interesting, though, showing off unique products that accessorize things you already have. I enjoyed seeing a chainsaw mill in action, and the product demonstrators are pretty entertaining, if a little over-enthusiastic about marginally useful features.

It’s also neat to see and touch things you’ve salivated over in catalogs or online. Most vendors are selling these products, and the prices are competitive with online prices from a casual glance. If you’ve got some specific purchases in mind, probably best to research pricing before you go and compare when you get there. Many of the vendors offer “show specials,” too. Plus, you avoid shipping charges …

Anyway, a lot of fun, and the web site offers a “bring your spouse for free” deal, although that may temper your purchasing ability somewhat. Admission is $8.

As you can see from the image above, we’ve really got our work cut out for us in building a larger-than-life version of Brio’s Labyrinth game for the Holocene Mini-golf event. Andrew and I began a few days ago by milling some lumber, and I assembled the center portion of the game last (Monday) night. This evening, Bruce and Andrew came over to help finalize this part of the game. Here’s Bruce locating one of the bumpers. It was pretty math-y work, and Bruce did a great job, though he was a bit lippy.

I cut the bumpers to length, and Andrew was the nailer. (The odd-looking brad nailer is my cordless 18 ga. nailer, sans battery. While it’s a heavy nailer for plugged-in work, it is one of the few 18 ga. nailers I’ve seen that accomodate a 2-in. brad.)

When all the bumpers were installed, we were pretty proud of ourselves, and more than a little surprised our cocktail napkin of a plan actually worked. All in all, there are more than 40 holes (thanks Bruce), 2 and a quarter inches in diameter, cut with a hole saw. Took 3 batteries to cut that many, but it looked great all put together. The holes are not scaled to the game’s size, but rather, scaled to the golf ball’s size. So, it should play a little easier than the small version. We hope.

And of course, we had to test it out. We haven’t built the x-y tilt mechanism yet, but three guys can do a fair approximation after a beer or two. It took about five tries, but we actually succeeded in navigating the maze. We were pretty sure it would be impossible (just like the real thing), but the dimples in the golf ball slow it down to a manageable speed.

Stay tuned!

I have been making some progress on this painting but I am realizing that I don’t really enjoy working off of a photo. I feel confined and limited to what I can see.

I have began to roughly lay in the foreground trees. I need to add a little more detail and then I will work on the figure. What do you think?

The Des Moines disc golf club asked me to do a painting, so that is why I am using this picture as the subject. Any suggestions on what I can do with my painting to make it come to life? Here is the actual picture.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy - The Letting Go

What can I say Will Oldham has done it again! This is a great album!
Tracks #1, #4 and #12 are probably my favorites.

The Last Kiss - Written by Paul Higgis and starring Zach Braff

Despite the cheesy title, I thought this was a really good movie. It was almost a little to close to the situation that Brandy and I are in. We both realized this and walked away from it feeling inspired!

Wow, I can’t believe I let it get that bad. “How bad WAS it, Dave?” So bad, I hadn’t worked out there in a few weeks, that’s how bad. 5 hard days of cleaning, and two full trash cans later … it’s done. And I’ve been out there tinkering two nights in a row. Tomorrow begins production on the Labyrinth project. It’s really a pleasure to work in a happy shop. Hopefully I can keep it that way! I realized I’ve never done a proper shop tour, so here’s a quick one.

Front and center is the Jet table saw I got used from Leif before he moved. It’s pretty heavy, and not going anywhere anytime soon. Above that is the Jet air filter, which really works great. I got this before I got the dust collector (Craigslist purchase, not pictured), and this did a pretty good job filtering the air that passed through the shop vac. Now that I’ve got the dust collector with the 1 micron bag, it doesn’t have to work as hard.

The white table next to the table saw holds a Bosch 1617 router. Next to that is my Delta 22-580 planer. Both have been great tools, although for some reason, the dust hood for the planer is not included in the box. It is a very neccessary accessory unless you like sweeping. The walls hold all manner of hand tools, from spokeshaves and chisels to pipe cutters and other metalworking tools. On the back wall is my drill press (my first power tool) and some utility storage that holds finishes, my toolboxes and misc. projects, templates, etc.

To the left of the drill press is the area I call “the gallery.” Here, I keep sculptures and artwork in progress, and odd rusty bits (washers, springs, bottlecaps, bolts, house numbers, glass fuses …) for use in my flowers and other art projects. The “ART” sign above was “borrowed” from Waveland Golf Course in Des Moines by one of my friends from high school. The “C” and “S” in “CARTS” were scratched off and the sign has always pointed the way to my workshop studio.

Every workshop needs a dart board, and mine does more than most, being unofficial headquarters for the Fart Duckers. I have a strict rule against alcohol and power tools, so these kegs are a bit of an aberration. Long story short, they are leftovers from my friend Bruce’s wedding. There’s another keg in the beer fridge, which gets used at backyard parties, mostly. To the left of the kegs is my newest toy, the big 18″ Jet bandsaw. It’s really overkill for my current skills, but the old one I had wasn’t cutting it (and by “it,” I mean almost anything) anymore. In the foreground is one of many Craigslist Tool purchases, an old 6″ Powr-Kraft jointer, which still works beautifully (and includes a 1HP motor someone before me added!) almost 60 years after its production.

I think that’s enough Tool Talk for now. Suffice it to say, the shop is making me very happy right now, and it’s been a joy working amidst so little clutter. Here are a couple of cutting boards I whipped out in my jubilation! I’ll mail one to the first reader other than Drew or Gabe to comment (be sure to include your e-mail address). Unknown species-es, probably 7×10 inches, with a foodsafe oil finish.

Well, I finally finished the big shop cleanup on Sunday (pics tomorrow), and I was glad to get out to the shop tonight for some fun. Before I start any new projects, I wanted to try a new circle-cutting jig idea I had for my small laminite trim router. The first circle jig is nice, but a little bulky, and can only work with fixed diameters. I was hoping for something a little more manageable and adjustable. I think I’ve got it.

As you can see, there is a sliding machine screw which can be inserted into a hole drilled into a workpiece. The radius is determined by the screw’s distance from the router bit, and can be adjusted by loosening the thumbscrew and sliding the screw closer or further to the bit. Here’s a shot showing the bottom of the jig and how it’s attached to the router.

A little closer view shows how the machine screw is tightened - by a small nut which slides in a routed channel in the jig. Works great.