And now what did you do TODAY?

[SeaWolf]

Ripped the floors and shower out of our rental property. Installed the new floors. Will do the grout and fixtures on the shower tomorrow along with base boards. 

Next weekend new kitchen, bath room cabinets and counters. 

Only thing we aren't redoing is the garage. Although I did put new gutters on that. 

Paint etc still needs work next weekend too. 

[SeaWolf]

So since my gym is closed until further notice I went a head and did something I've been putting off because I didn't want to stop lifting for that long. 

Stemcells in both shoulders and left knee. 

My grandfather, mother, father and wife have had great results. I have my fingers crossed. 

Fun fact. Unlike a steroid joint injection, you can't have lidocaine in with the cells so the first few minutes after each injection is fun. 

[ktm]

Yesterday me and mother nature did battle.

Seems my shed somehow became a snake sanctuary.

I commit multiple small murders. They were up on the top of the side walls where the roof meets them.

 

[Augsburger]

Snakes eat mice and disease carrying bugs.  I leave all our snakes alone even the venomous rattlers because rattlers eat the black plague carrying rodents.  Because of our rattlers we have avoided the black plague ...and dumb ass nosy trespassing neighbors.

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Augsburger

[ktm]

1 hour ago, Augsburger said:

Snakes eat mice and disease carrying bugs.  I leave all our snakes alone even the venomous rattlers because rattlers eat the black plague carrying rodents.  Because of our rattlers we have avoided the black plague ...and dumb ass nosy trespassing neighbors.

 

I don't normally do. but piled up in the shed?

Imagine if the Mrs had seen it. My ears would still be ringing from the screams.

[SeaWolf]

While I love Chicago. I was born and lived there all the way through college. I feel really bad for my friends isolating in the city. 

Here in the mountains I'm good. On call so no dirt bike, trials bike, mountain bike or side by side. 

I had to settle for playing on the mountain passes in the viper. 

[Voltron]

That's supposed to be safer? 

[SeaWolf]

Perhaps not, but a much more satisfying way to go. 

Only drove the roads to the east today. Going west to Tahoe has been off limits due to late season storms. Snow pack is actually up to a respectable level after March and it just keeps coming. The water levels should be good for the summer. 

[ironbut]

Man, going up those grades with that kind of torque must be amazing!

Still, be kinda safe?

[SeaWolf]

I don't try to go fast really. Just hold the speed limit or a little over through the corners to feel a bit of Gs. But yes the 8.4L NA engine has tons of power everywhere. It actually pulls even harder starting at about 1500rpm before redline which really surprised me for an engine of this size. 

If I want to go fast I keep it to the track and because I don't want to go broke I prefer tag carts. 

Wife shot a video of the middle of the pass on her iphone. She actually cut it off before my favorite parts.. Need to setup my Sony action cam in the car. 

https://youtu.be/m0NIDXXZyYc

[Knuckledragger]

Cleared a bunch of brush:

I have nearly 4 acres and much of it is completely wild at this point.  I spent a good number of hours with two pairs of pruners (big and bigger) plus a handsaw.  I have a commercial grade weed whacker with a brush cutter saw blade attachment for it.  I was just going to take it in for servicing when shit went pear shaped for the entire globe.  The lack of power tools will hurt me in the long run, but in the immediacy I'm getting far more exercise than I would normally.

Also, I am old, fat and comically out of shape.

[n_maher]

Finished work early enough to hit the local trails. They are riding nice but we've gotten a lot of rain lately so they're a bit sloppy in parts.

 

[Voltron]

This is going to be tl:dr for many, but Steve and I have delivered the first completed project from our Shelter Shop. By far the biggest woodworking project I have attempted, and both Steve and I are very proud of the results. Steve, Claire and I promised to build a dining room table and bench as a wedding present for Claire's sister and her new wife. Here are some pics during the process of building through yesterday's delivery.

I forgot to take pictures of the 8/4 (aka 2") cherry wood boards before we started milling them down, but the lumber was excellent. We only ended up with one board that was twisted a bit, and we were still able to use it. Here is a board after some planing for thickness, and you can see the planer snipe several inches from the end, which we cut off anyway. After planing and then jointing an edge, we chop sawed the boards to rough length and then cut them to width on the table saw. The top is four boards and the bench is two.

Next, we cut in mortises on the mating edges of the table and bench boards to receive floating tenons. I forgot to take pictures of that process using a Festool Domino machine, but you can see the mortises in the first picture below. That is the two halves of the table top being glued up before gluing them together later. 

After everything was glued up and cured, we used a track saw to cut them to final length and width. All edges have a 15 degree angle, which turned out great.

Next up was sanding and finishing. We sanded from 80 or 120 through to 320 grit, and the cherry was smooth as a baby's butt. We then applied two coats of raw linseed oil followed by two coats of Tried and True original finish, which is linseed oil and beeswax. Ultimately, we also put on a coat of carnuba wax because Thos Moser does its oil finished furniture that way, which is good enough for me. 

Here is a piece of raw cherry next to the bench top with some linseed oil applied.

This is the bench top after the first coat of Tried and True. This is great stuff that Doug introduced me to, and I love. You don't even need to wear gloves it is so natural and your hands feel better after applying some than before.

We bought metal legs for the table and bench from a seller on Etsy, and they turned out to be even better than expected. We decided to rout out the underside to accept the base plates, and we also used threaded metal inserts so we could use machine screws rather than wood screws. It is very sleek and worked beautifully.

We assembled everything at my house to make sure it was all good, then wrapped it up with moving blankets yesterday for delivery. We haven't been around my sisters in law for a couple of weeks so we took precautions and wore PPE. The table and bench look pretty stunning in place, and like I said, Steve and I are very pleased with the outcome.

The happy couple are even more thrilled with the finished product and have been obsessively looking for the perfect chairs to complete the set. The cherry will darken over time and will only become more beautiful. Another great thing about the Tried and True finish is that it can be maintained with an occasional waxing, or it can be freshened up or repaired if necessary without the need for stripping the original finish first. 

From buying the lumber on March 20 to installation on April 5 is pretty quick work. Now, we have to finish another project already under way, and then move on to other projects. This Shelter Shop will stay busy for the duration, assuming we both stay healthy. Thanks for reading if you got this far. 😁

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Voltron

[MexicanDragon]

That's bloody gorgeous, Al! Well done! Really dig the legs on that; wasn't what I was expecting before scrolling down.

[n_maher]

Outstanding Al and Steve, if you have any interest in making a little label or tag to go on the under side of the table to commemorate the project I have some cherry in the shop and the laser and/or CNC router in the garage.  Maybe not for this project, but any time you want, just drop a message.  Which reminds me, I've still got a package to send your way Al...

[swt61]

One thing I have to say...

I always thought that the Festool tools were overpriced,  but after using Al's domino mortiser, three different orbital sanders and his hepa vac. I'm a huge convert. I now see the forest through the trees

[Augsburger]

Indeed!  That is one awesome outcome. I love those table legs, wish I had thought of Etsy when building my son's Tannoy speaker stands earlier this year.

You two are really on to something. What are the next projects?

[grawk]

that’s amazing work, Al and Steve.  I’m impressed.

[ironbut]

Holy cow!

Beautiful workmanship guys!

That finish looks fantastic. I'll have to use Tried and True when I refinish a cherry dresser I have!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[blessingx]

Why are we allowed only one ❤️? Beautiful guys. 

[dsavitsk]

52 minutes ago, ironbut said:

That finish looks fantastic. I'll have to use Tried and True when I refinish a cherry dresser I have!

It's really good stuff, but it takes patience and following the directions. The internet is full of people who tried to use it like a "normal" wood finish and got terrible results.

For my home from school project, I made a hammer ...

[n_maher]

^^^^^ Very nice!

[Voltron]

Beautiful mallet!

[Kerry]

Beautiful work 💕

[Pars]

Nice mallet! And the table and bench are absolutely gorgeous! Great job all!