Scrub Plane + GoPro = ScrubPro?

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Chase

I said I was going to spend some time getting to know the video software and not just jump into making things. And I have a really big, for me, project that I need to get done by a certain friend’s wedding date… Well, maybe just one little video while I work on said project wouldn’t hurt.

I needed to do some thicknessing on a few legs, so out comes the scrub. Why not attach a gopro? I used one of the flat adhesive mounts, suck some magnets to it, and put that on the top end of the iron. Next time I need to angle down a little more. Still, I am pretty happy with the results. It is a plane’s eye view of how to rapidly remove wood.

I’ve Gone Pro! (sort of)

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Chase

Do you hear it? That heavenly sound? It is amazing! It is the sound of awesome consumer technology and a wife that encourages me when I have neat ideas. It is….. A GoPro!

I have enjoyed blogging with only text and a camera. My old DSLR has served me well and will continue to. I think it still does a great job (above pic is with phone for laziness reasons), but sometimes pictures and words aren’t enough.

If a picture is worth 1000 words, what is a video worth? </cliche>

After researching a bit and getting an encouraging “let’s get one!” from my wonderful wife, I decided to pickup a Hero 3 White. It is one of their most basic models, but it has a decent suite of features, good capabilities, and is compatible with pretty much all of the add-ons. At 200 bucks, I am forgoing a nice pice of cast iron plane goodness for it, but unlike a woodworking tool, this is something we can both probably enjoy.

I am going to spend a little time learning basic video editing so I don’t end up with videos that have tons of dead time and look like a Blair Witch editor reject. Can you imagine how bad that footage must be? It might be a few weeks before any video shows up, but expect cool things in the future. Actually on second thought, the Blair Witch thing might not be so bad. Imagine a video of me staring into the camera crying “Why do I keep getting tear out in this maple?!” Horrifying!

We Bee Crazy

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Chase

My wife has been nudging me to try beekeeping for a while now. She is worried about colony collapse and really enjoys honey in her tea. At first I was very hesitant. I didn’t want some buzzing swarm of doom in my backyard turning my lawn mowing routine into a battle to the death. It turns out all my fears were way over blown. A co-worker of mine had them for many years and filled me in on the facts and the day to day life of a beekeeper. Let me share a few common issues and questions that are asked.

Are bees low maintenance? Yes, they don’t really need you. You can ignore them for a month or more. Visiting every week or two is good for monitoring their health.
Don’t they sting? Yes, when threatened or under attack. If you open up their hive they are going to be unhappy. Smoke calms them down, and a veil keeps them out of your face. Away from the hive they will only sting if you start to swat at them. They are very docile! Stings are rare.
Are they killer bees? No, they are typically european bees. The africanized bees are out in the wild, and will not mix with a normal healthy hive.
Is taking honey bad for them? They typically produce a lot more than they need. They will continue to stockpile honey till their container is full. You have to leave them a certain amount for their own wellbeing, beyond that it can easily and safely be kept for human use.
Seriously, keeping bugs? They are of the Hymenoptera not Hemiptera order, so no not bugs. Also they are adorable! True fact.
Do you fedex bees? No, USPS and it is totally legal! You can order a package of bees. It is 3lb of bees with a queen in a screen cage with some food. I will be picking up a small starter hive from a place an hour north of here
Honey is bee vomit! Ummm yes. They ingest, into their honey stomach, and regurgitate it multiple times to partially digest it and add enzymes to prevent the sugar from fermenting. So it is bee vomit to the tenth power. Sweet golden delicious bee vomit!

In an effort to create a welcoming home to our soon to bee guests; I got a ton of flowering annuals! It was kind of a coincidence. I was at lowes, and they had tons of marigolds for about 15 cents a piece.

They are beeautiful. I should start a count for every bee pun I use in this blog. I am up to three already. Instead of posting every time I inspect the hive I will only bee (4) posting major milestones and notable events. Everything else will go quietly into a new page of my website. A permanent bee journal page will bee (5) up shortly.

Laundry Room Update

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Chase

After moving everything back into the new laundry room I felt I had neglected a few small things. The original light was a single bare bulb hanging from a fixture. It worked, but didn’t provide any amazing lighting. In comes the LEDs! I picked up a big round LED light with diffuser cover and installed it. Here is a before and after.

Before

After

Afterwards the lighting was a lot brighter. The top edges of the room didn’t get quite as much illumination, but walking in or working on laundry is much improved. I had to upgrade the motion sensor switch to a mechanical relay version. It was totally worth it the new one has a much better sensor than the old one, and you can set the leave-on time delay.

Lastly I think some zazz and sass were required. Peeking on etsy (dangerous sight) I found this…

Ah yes, NOW the laundry room is complete. It is a 40″ wide wall sticker and fits nicely over the washer/dryer. Also it fits nicely with our personality.

Ultrasonic Tool Cleanup

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Chase

I have been doing a lot of old tool cleanup lately. Maybe half of it ends up on my blog because I doubt anyone wants to see yet another number 4 cleanup. My technique hasn’t really changed since I first posted about it. Maybe there is a better way however. Maybe the power of ultrasonics can speed up the cleaning of old tools a thousand fold! Or not as we shall see.

My subject is a Number 9 1/2 block plane, a pretty common model. I picked it up from an antique store for a reasonable price. All the parts were present, but they were very full of dirt and rust. Specifically the adjustable shoe was completely stuck.

Now previously I would just soak it overnight in the ole Evapo Rust. This time I put it in an ultrasonic cleaner with Evapo Rust. The results were…. CRAP! After nearly an hour of going in an out of the cleaner I had what appeared to be a wet plane with ever so slightly less junk. A bit of google searching seems to indicate that rust removal is a big thing with ultrasonics. My cleaner is an old all stainless unit I got from a surplus place years ago. Time for a shaming!

That should teach it a lesson. Oh well this block plane and all its parts completely filled the basket. I would never be able to clean anything bigger. So much for time saving technology. A new large unit would probably due the trick, but those are expensive. I should just be patient and let em soak overnight.

Post rust bath

Brass brush cleaning

There we are, no rushing this process I guess. I’ll leave the flattening and sharpening for a later date. While I was working on my big secret woodworking project I might as well soak something else. I got an mixup of heirloom twist bits and brace accessories over christmas. They look rough now, but a trip through the Evapo Rust cures all!

Before

Post bath

Scotch brite makes it right

After the rust bath a soaking in WD-40 and a quick scrub with a scotch brite pad does a good job of getting into the twist areas. After the block plane, the twist bits and another small project the tub of rust remover was starting to look like the black lagoon!

The liquid is completely opaque. I hope that in a few days the sediment will fall out to the bottom and leave a clearer liquid at the top. If not, I will pour it through a coffee filter to keep the junk from contaminating my main supply of Evapo Rust.

Hand Grinder

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Chase

As part of a big haul of heirloom (my great grandfather) tools I got a hand grinder. It will hold a 6 inch wheel, clamps to a surface, and gets powered by tacos and coffee. Gorgeous!

It was pretty dirty when I started in on it. A little brushing with a brass brush got rust and dirt all over my newly cleaned work top. So much for a pristine work surface.

I didn’t really bother with any rust conversions. It wasn’t very rusty, just mostly dirty, and I was worried about getting wet stuff into a nook and not being able to get it back out again.

A flat piece of wood with a nice cleat attached served as a good base to clamp to. I started with a single layer of oak, but later doubled up because it warped too much under heavy grinding.

Time to accessorize! I picked up a grinding set from lee valley. The veritas set came with a soft 150 grit cool grinding wheel, Adjustable tool rest, blade holding jig, and angle setting guide. I have to say it was pricey but feels really well put together. Link to the product.

I had to cut off the loop that would hold the original tool rest. It was a simple right angle bit of metal with a screw to hold it in place. With this upgrade I don’t think it will be missed. To test it I pulled out an old Ohio Tools chisel. It was part of a small lot purchase from ebay. I really wanted the mortise chisel but wasn’t sure what to do with this guy.

Still, no reason to get rid of it. Ohio Tools made good stuff, and it was a socket chisel. Instead of making another bench chisel I could use a skew chisel. I don’t own any, and this guy requires a lot of grinding no matter what. Lets get it clamped up and going. The blade holder jig has pins that help hold the blade either square or at a 30 degree angle. Handy for grinding a skew!

Action shot!

I was able to keep a finger on the back of the blade and control pressure while feeling for heat. The slow speed and a close finger meant that heat damage was not an issue. The whole process took a while. 150 grit leaves a great surface that will only need a bit of work at the stone, but moves slowly when trying to make a radical change. I might use my power grinder to rough in something like this next time.

A somewhat shiny new skew chisel for me all by hand, what a great feeling. It is so satisfying to take old misfit tools and give them a good home. Well, more of a work home. No rest for the wicked!

As I mentioned earlier the single board was not stiff enough under heavy grinding. The gearing ratio means it takes a good bit of force on the handle to keep the wheel spinning quickly. I glued up another layer and put everything back on. A quick test showed that this was what the doctor ordered. Very stiff and very ready for its next job. The whole thing sits on a shelf and gets clamped into my front vice when needed.

Scrub Plane Conversion

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Chase

I have heard a few including Paul Sellers endorsing the use of a dependable number 4 as a scrub plane. The suggestion is to grind a good camber on the blade, open the throat a bit, and back off on the chip breaker. I don’t have a scrub plane yet, so it is time to press an old plane into new service. There is a big woodworking project coming my way, and a scrub will come in handy.

My subject is an old Stanley No. 4. I picked it up from ebay and did a rough job restoring it back in the day. It was my first plane ever, poor thing. In addition to a scub conversion I wanted to try repainting them. The black coating on hand planes is called japanning. The process is a little lost, but some have come up with similar modern substitutes. I might get into that at some point, till then, I am going with a very modern alternative. One of my work friends has had some pretty good results using engine enamel. This is the tack I will take.

The plane got cleaned and scrubbed as much as possible. A lot of the original japanning still remains, so this might not be the best candidate. With the dirt and loose pieces off I taped the sides and plugged all the holes with cut up q-tips.

The results were ok. I only used one coat and didn’t bother with the primer. Next time I will scrub more of the paint off and do multiple coats of enamel. A lot of traditionalists will probably be unhappy with the paint, but rust is a real issue around here. Time will tell if the coating holds or not. Till then, lets move on to the scrub portion of this show.

I used a 3″ radius to set a pencil line across the back of the blade. Free handing on the power grinder got the shape close. A camber roller on my veritas sharpening jig helped hone the rough shape into a nice edge. The frog mating surfaces got their paint sanded back off, and the throat was filed to allow a bit more clearance.

Assembling the whole thing with the chip breaker moved way back I find a bit of a problem. The depth setter doesn’t fit well with the chip breaker set so far back. I could try to grind the chip breaker’s edges a bit to get it all to fit better but I will hold off. That would be a point of no return. Tapping with a brass hammer will have to do. Let’s try it out!

The planing results were pretty good. Setting the depth is a bit tricky, but it appears to work as advertised. Working diagonal to the grain I get thick short curled shavings. You could thickness a board faster than with a standard jack and trim an edge down in short order. I approve.

Vanilla Extract Starter

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Chase

I gave away some Vanilla Extract for Christmas, and it was pretty popular. I ran out of my 4 month batch pretty quickly. I almost broke open the second pint slated for 6 months, but was able to hold off. Next Christmas there will be enough for all!

The first batch was small and before my blog, so lets get bigger! The golden ratio is 1 ounce of vanilla beans to 1 cup of vodka. B grade beans offer a more robust flavor, and a good clean multiple distillation vodka shouldn’t impart anything extra. I learned the basic technique from Vanilla Review. You can do it too, in just a few easy steps!

1. Obtain vanilla beans, jars, and vodka.

2. Cut vanilla into small segments. (finger for scale, 4 ounces pictured)

3. Place bean fragments into jars.

4. Fill with vodka, and seal. A date label is useful.

5. WAIT!!! Unfortunately, this is the hard part. My 4 month batch turned out pretty well, but I really want these to go the full 6 months. Occasional shaking is required. This batch was with 8 ounces of beans going into two quart jars filled to the top with vodka. Check back in 6 months for the extract reveal.

Cricut Cutter Adaptation

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Chase

I have been trying to adapt a swivel cutter to my Shapeoko for months. Not constantly, but I have been making lots of little attempts. Swivel cutters enable you to easily cut small thin materials with CNC regularity and precision. Paper, plastic and foam sheets, stickers, and hopefully leather.

I started by trying to chuck the swivel cutter directly into my spindle. The spindle spins fairly freely on its own, and is already well attached to my Z-axis. Most of that previous statement turned out to be true. The spinning part wasn’t good enough as it turns out. The blade didn’t rotate, it just grabbed.

The cutter has a wide flat head where the blade sticks out. This helps keep the material stuck down and should prevent puckering. Also, the blade spins much more freely in the cutter than in the spindle. So ditch that idea, I really have to hold this thing somehow. Time to build a support. I went through a few iterations of holders till I came up with this version. I wouldn’t call it perfect, but I think this will keep me going for a while. The “square” cutout does a great job of holding the round cricut head once I saw cut it in half.

Machined delrin pieces

Blue cricut head in its holder

I machined 1/2″ delrin to hold the cricut head and attach to a 3/4″ down bar. All the screws were #10-24s with a counterbore. it made for a cleaner look and keeps the screw heads from interfering with anything. I attached it to my shapeoko Z-head using two tapped screws into the aluminum bracket that holds my spindle, and two wood screws into the wood version of that bracket I made. Attaching it to the side lets me keep the spindle in place. Four screws to add or remove any time I want to use the swivel cutter.

Once everything was attached I made a simple circle with the follow patch operation from maker cam. It cut well, but I held everything by hand. My fingers slipped a little and the circle had a zag in the side of it.

The blade works well, but the clamp doesn’t. Time to use the little grey cells! I found a big 16gauge plate of metal, and stuck it under my cutting mat. Magnets did a good job of holding the paper while keeping a low profile.

Now that is a pretty decent looking circle. I like it, lets move on to something more complicated and see if the swivel cutter can keep up. If you search “fancy rectangles” you get a lot of great results.

Another small tear where the magnets didn’t hold well enough. I am getting some monster half inch ones on order. Until then my clamping is going to be a little dodgy. I used the same pattern to cut out some fancy rectangles from a sheet of vinyl chalkboard material. Now I can make custom labeling stickers for anything I want.

Paper CHECK! Vinyl stickers CHECK! I was feeling confident and went on to leather cutting. It didn’t turn out well. The blade can protrude far enough to get through the leather, but my Shapeoko lacks the power to drag it through. Trying to do multiple passes didn’t work out well either. The machine lifted after each pass and tried pulling the blade out. The blade is only held in with a small magnet, so any pulling force will pluck it out. The leather gripped it well enough to partially remove the blade. When it tried to move the blade was stuck and it ended up breaking the tip off.

My best results scored the leather but did not cut through. I will order more blades and try again, but it doesn’t look good for leather.

Laundry Room Renovation

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Chase

A little time off from work means a little time to spend on another home renovation. Lets hit the laundry room! First, the before. We pulled the doors off and all the contents out. There was no flooring in here when we bought the house.

Looking in from house

Looking in from garage

In removing the door to the garage I found an interesting discovery. There were two funny patched holes in the top of the door case. Removing all the case I found part of two broken off drill bits. In some distant past, the security system installers had a difficult day!

These were hidden in the door casing

Removed trophies from the house

With “demo” done I went to work prepping the floor and tiling. The first day was rough. I got delayed and didn’t do prep on the previous day as I had intended. Thankfully my wonderful wife emptied all the shelves before I got started. More bad luck struck when the bag of mortar ran out sooner than I thought it would. Not a great start, but at least I got most of the tiling done on day 1.

View from house

From inside

Day 2

Ok, day one had some snags, but day two should be more straight forward. I ran to pickup the mortar, and found out they were out of grout. I had half a bag left over from the font room, but not enough to finish. That will involve a long trip to an alternate lowes. Still, I was able to finish up the remaining tile at a reasonable hour.

The rest of the day I broke out all my doors and molding for a big paint off. Doing latex with an hvlp gun is a little touch and go. Every time I mix a new batch of paint, the settings change. I am really a hack at it, but the results are still a lot better and faster than rolling.

Door and baseboard molding

Garage door, and door into rest of the house

At least it would be faster if I hadn’t put too much down, and then had to deal with Florida’s wonderful 80% humidity winter. The metal door took hours to dry and ended up having a lot of runs. I stopped what I could with a brush and tried to even things out. In the end I had to bring it into the garage, hours later, still wet. I had to roller paint the casings after I installed them anyways, so it got a touchup with that job.

End of day 2 was not a complete disaster, but I spent a lot of time monkeying with wet paint and driving beachside to get grout.

Day 3

Go go go it is time to grout! I cleaned up the floor and mixed up a few batches of grout. It is a messy job, and you have to clean the tiles 100 times to get the haze off. Still though, I love grouting. In just a few swipes of the sponge you can making everything look right with the world. All the madness of renovation settles down into calm (mostly) even lines of beautiful grout.

Garage view

House view

While I waited for grout, there were a number of other things around the house that needed attention. Later in the day I braved some walking on the tile to install the two casings. It is kind of astonishing how twisted and out of square a house can be and still look ok to the casual observer. I guess that is why we have shims!

Day 4

The final count down. It is Christmas eve, and I HAVE to finish today. This is the last of my days allotted to home renovation. Let the molding begin!

I did a very basic baseboard molding around all the places you would normally see. No sense in buying another piece to install behind a dryer. There wasn’t anything before, so this adds a nice touch. Both the doors had their molding installed and everything got caulked and touched up. Getting molding to all fit right and have the nail holes filled properly is really tedious but worth the effort. I was done, stick a fork in me!!!

Day 5ish

After a brief foray to see family we had some time to put everything back together. Newly installed adjustable wire shelving offers more storage than before and makes it feel more open. The lighter flooring helps too. I could have painted it a brighter color, but the walls were mostly in good shape, and I kind of like the color it started as.

No renovation will change the fact that it is a small room in a house with not quite enough closet space. Still, I am really happy with the results. The soreness and smashed fingers will pass in days, but the laundry room will last for years.

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