What did you do today?

[twistsol]

I need to finish painting the stairway to the basement shop, So I've spent the past few days fixing the dings and nail pops in the drywall plus some of the screw ups I missed doing the original drywall finishing a year ago. Since I'll have the paint out for that anyway I patched up the shop as well. I discovered that the drywall screw ups were consistently at knee level or below. I guess I need to crawl around with the inspection light next time.

Tomorrow morning I'll get the painting done early in the morning and then back to my office cabinets project which will have a significant delay. I received an email that my drawer slides are backordered until December. The door hinges shipped but the mounting plates for them are backordered until the end of June.

[capncarl]

I second guess when I get of any back order notifications I receive. Early this week I ordered something for my Miata and when the order was confirmed it said the idea was back ordered until Nov 30. I called the vendor the first think the next day and they we’re confused when I told them I was purchasing the item because I needed it, not as a Christmas present! They said the item was already on the dock to be shipped and would I please send them a photo of my shipping order with he back order notification. This has happened to me several times lately. Home Depot is especially guilty of shipping back orders the next day!

[dbhost]

My new branding iron / makers mark came in. Got some practice. Most were too dark but I got one half decent mark.

Sorry about the lousy pic. This was done on a piece of scrap 2x6, a leftover cutoff wedge., so it wasn't sanded or anything.

Kind of wondering if I can adapt this to fit on my woodburning iron. The thread sizes are quite different, but a bushing SHOULD be doable...I just don't know if it would get hot enough.

[LCHIEN]

Dave, regarding your woodburning iron, what is the wattage?

FWIW, my Rockler wood branding iron (1" x 2" brand size) is electric and pulls 145 watts when I plug it in and it takes about 15 minutes to heat to a good burning temperature.

[dbhost]

Dave, regarding your woodburning iron, what is the wattage?

FWIW, my Rockler wood branding iron (1" x 2" brand size) is electric and pulls 145 watts when I plug it in and it takes about 15 minutes to heat to a good burning temperature.

I think the wood burning pen MIGHT pull 35w max. So yeah I guess that answers my question doesn;t it?

[LCHIEN]

Yup. That about answers it.

[capncarl]

On my 1x2 Rockler branding iron I have to rock it to get a complete even brand, like it is warps when it is hot. I’ve checked it with a straight edge and on a flat surface with a flashlight and can see no warpage.

[capncarl]

There may be a standardized thread size for pens/irons? Pens smaller, irons larger?

[dbhost]

Not sure I mentioned this yesterday, but I met up with the fellow that picked up my excess 4" DWV and ABS dust collection parts. Seems like a decent enough guy. Just got a HF 2HP DC, so I gave him the standard recommendations. Get the filter before you get a cyclone, even with a cyclone the finest of the fines get through and get airborne, you all known the spiel... (I before E except after C is an English language rule, spiel is German, spelling goons steer clear!)

Spent some time on shop cleanup. Did some troubleshooting of the new makers mark. Found high / low spots, the "tree rings: were indeed proud of the rest of hte imprimt / stamp. I made a couple quick swipes over some 120 grit sandpaper and tried it again and after some experimentation got the results I was looking for, at least on Oak plywood scrap!

Getting ready for some volunteer work in the video booth at our church tomorrow. Funny thing is, every time I am working video, I am paying so much attention to WHEN things are being said, that I don;t notice WHAT is being said... Ooops...

I am thinking for larger pieces I will want to upsize the mark, again they have the stock artwork, they just need to scale it. Might just go with a 2x2 for bigger pieces.

[LCHIEN]

Went to a local airport on the West Side where the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Assn) was giving rides on their Ford Trimotor 5-AT built in 1928.
1st commercial airliner, built by StoutAircraft a division of Ford.

I just took pictures. The plane is 94 years old. I though $85 was reasonable but the thought of getting on an 94-year old aircraft was too much. Twenty five years older than me.

Click the thumbnails for larger photos.

[Jim Frye]

We have a trimotor that flys from one of the Lake Erie islands here.

[dbhost]

Well, no pics taken because i was busy doing other things, but burning the brand just slightly dark, and hitting it with some 220 grit quickly takes the extra smoke stain off making it nice and sharp... I am good there.

Spent a LOT of time sorting through the miscellania in the shop. Today is the VERY disorganized, unsorted and rats nest of ropes. I spent WAY too long unkotting them, separating them, and winding them up in their own ball of cheap rope, and then put into another box. Found another step dust collection adapter I didn't remember I had, and what else? Ah, put up the spare LED tubes for future use...

Spending more time getting surplusses out, and organizing things before the next projects start...

[twistsol]

We spent the first half of Saturday planning the necessary weekends to travel to Sioux Falls, SD and Superior, WI to rebuild a deck, build a shed, do some landscaping, paint a bathroom, retile a kitchen, and for the kid who is only a 15 minute drive away, build a dog grooming salon in her new house, more landscaping, and updating some 70+ year old wiring.

Then shopped for and replaced all the builder basic lighting on the main floor of our house with new lighting, painted the weight room and shop and got a first coat on the basement stairway. Finally, cajoled a neighbor into helping me get the Jet AFS2000 air cleaner installed in the shop ... that sucker is heavy.

[Dedpedal]

I made a shopping list of materials I’ll need for a raised planter and a couple of shelving units for my beer can collection. I also cleaned the shop and cut a board into four pieces for a picture frame and decided that I was too tired for power tools.

[dbhost]

My front door has been sticky, gets worse every year as the humidity goes up. Checked the edges of the door, and the side with the lockset deviated outward in 2 spots upwards of 1/8", not sure why, but there it is.

Broke out the Groups and took the locks off, took several swipes at it and checked, recheked, and rechecked until it was flat, level, and parallel to the opposite side.

Will be taking the door knocker, locksets, and other pieces of door decor off, and stripping it most likely tomorrow. Once stripped will clean it up, sand it and get after it with dark walnut stain and poly.

FWIW, the door is mahogany with dark walnut, almost black stain.

Of course i could get lazy and just paint the thing in a dark walnut paint that I have...

[LCHIEN]

Had the exterior of the house professionally painted today, after they pressure washed and caulked and did minor repairs yesterday. Somewhat poorer but the house looks better.

[twistsol]

When my daughter bought a 70 year old house a couple of months ago, the inspector noted no GFCI in the kitchen or bath. The prior owner got it to meet code by just removing the outlets and putting blank covers over them. Proper GFCIs are now installed. The garage wiring is a “handyman special” but I’ll get to that if g—**** ****ing winter ever ends. I just shut off the breakers for the wires dangling from the ceiling and lost most of the active lights and outlets in the process.

[dbhost]

Well considering grounded wiring wasn't required by NEC for new construction prior to what, 1975 I think, pretty sure that 70 year old house predates that...

I worked in a hardware store in the 90s in college and we still sold the old 2 prong outlets for replacement of faulted sockets, they were clearly labelled NOT FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION.

[capncarl]

twistsol, your house with a crawl space….. is the existing wiring in the crawl space, or attic? It might be a regional thing but I can’t recall seeing a house with a crawl space with wiring in it, it’s been in the attic.

[twistsol]

I haven't checked whether wiring is in the attic or crawl space. The only time I've ever seen wiring in an attic around here is in a house that added a second story but the basement was already finished. I guess assuming wiring was in the crawl space was just blind optimism on my part.

[Jim Frye]

Cleaned up the shop. All of the machine tool work is done on the table, everything got a good vacuuming and all of the woodworking tools that have accumulated on the bench were put away, with the exception of sanding stuff and finishing things. The shop actually looks bigger now.

[dbhost]

Hauled over to the BORG, grabbed a can of Dark Walnut stain, and slapped some stain on the front door where I had shaved it yesterday. gave it a rub down and letting it soak in. Will sand the outside of the door tonight and lather, rinse, repeat.

Once the stain has taken properly I need to get the mixer into the urethane can and mix it up nice and smooth, then coat it with Urethane.

[dbhost]

Stepped back, took a look at the freshly restained door, not all of the grain is nice and smooth any more, but I don't want to sand the door itself down too far, so rough finish it is!

Saw some spots where somehow I clean missed with the stain. Gotta go back and hit them again today.

More back to back meetings. Getting ready for one for a potential client here shortly.

I have a ton to do, wife wants us to get out of hte house, so I guess we are going to go do something, Lord only knows what...

Weather is pretty good, and I need to shoot a video on some modifications I did to my camp shower over the winter for some friends to give them ideas. Been delaying that too long.