Gabe Lueders and Dave Selden have been friends since high school, and artists since birth. This is a new means of collaboration for both, separated by many miles; Gabe is in Iowa, Dave in Oregon.
This thing really cranks out the BTU’s! It takes about 4 gallons to fill up the tank, which they say will last about 17 hours. I have been using it off and on all week and the tank is about half full. I was at Menards recently and they have cast iron wood burning stove kits for about $150. Maybe next year I will make the shop insulated and get the stove. There could not be a better way to turn your scrap wood into heat.
Just when I thought I was safe, the need for another power tool arises. The Mortiser. I am just borrowing it from a friend but could be a handy tool to have around. Since I am making 10 double hung windows that means there are twenty individual sashes and with each sash there are 4 corners that need to be chiseled out. Which comes to 80 corners. I did not have any problem when I made just one or two windows but 10 windows is a whole different story. This a perfect example of how much time you can save with power tools!
Since it’s still too cold here to make it out to the shop, I thought I’d continue the “enormous tools” theme from yesterday.
Who is that skinny young guy?
In 2002, Sarah and I were lucky enough to get a guided tour of the Brooklyn Train Yards in Portland’s Brooklyn Neighborhood district. Currently a switching yard owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, the yard also features a full-size turntable used for turning whole locomotives around to move them in and out of the “roundhouse” for repairs. Now, the roundhouse is occupied by a local steam preservation group that is restoring several old engines. Hence the giant drill press.
As a lover of rusty bits, I was like a kid in a candy store, snapping all sorts of interesting photos, a few of which are below.
I took a class from the Northwest Woodworking Studio a couple of years ago, “Three Simple Finishes” with founder Gary Rogowski, which was so informative my head nearly exploded. At the time, the studio was in kind of a weird location, on the second or third floor of a mazelike, dilapidated storage center. I went down to their new building in SE Portland this morning to register for two classes in February: “Making Brass Handplanes” and “Handplanes: Tuning and Using.”
As my skills improve, I find I’m using planes more and more to shave off a bit here and there (although if I was really improving, I guess it’d be right the first time!), but it’s hard to learn the best way to use a tool just by trial and error. I thought I’d get some professional help, and polish up a few of my rustier garage sale acquisitions at the same time.
In the “Making Brass Handplanes” class,
“Using simple hand tools, a propane torch, and a drill press, you can make planes like the ones used in the musical instrument trade. Or you can design your own to adapt to your special needs. You’ll learn the basics of hardening and tempering tool steel as you make the blade for your plane.”
I think it will be cool to make some of my own tools instead of buying everything. Instructor Ken Altman uses his to craft violin and cello bows that look pretty amazing. Maybe I will develop some kind of specialty plane that shaves the inside of holes smooth. Plus, this particular all-day class happens to fall on my 28th birthday!
While I was there, employee Gary was kind enough to show me around the new space. It’s pretty great, with huge ceilings, plank floors, about 8 traditional benches, and a separate room full of power tools. One in particular dominated my attention, though:
Can you believe the size of that bandsaw! And you thought mine was big! I guess it came from a ship of some kind, along with its unpictured, but equally large brother, a 12-inch jointer. Gary said most large ships have shops on board to mend parts that need fixing while at sea. Probably keeps the crew entertained on the long voyages, too. I think it’s pretty awesome that when they moved into a new shop, they couldn’t resist adding another major tool at the same time (something I have definitely been guilty of)!
I made this sculpture in college but I have always thought that it looked cool in the snow. We have been getting our first real snow fall of the winter. With the help of global warming it seems to come later every year.
I did have some fun shoveling my own drive way for the first time! It is funny how jobs like mowing the lawn or shoveling the driveway can be exciting when it is your own house as opposed to doing it for your parents, which I remember always sucking. Perhaps this is a sign of growing up. Which is something our generation seems to be putting off. At least I have not wanted to grow up yet. I still play with wood blocks and legos and slide around on the snow with my Birkenstocks that no longer have any treads.
I put the planer to the test this morning and took about a 1/4″ off of this entire stack of wood. It worked beautifully. I first set up a roller stand to catch the feed coming out of the planer but started getting planer marks at the end of the board, especially of there was a slight bow to the wood. I seemed to get better results if I would catch the wood by hand. Have you had any problems with that?
I filled up the entire dust collecter bag with woodchips. It was empty when I started! I wonder if sawdust can be put in compost bags? Either that or I wonder if you can send it to a MDF factory?