Neanderthal time...

Using a dozuki saw, chisel, knife, and sandpaper, I roughed out one side of the handle for my knife from KnifeKits.com. Pics and full story to come, eventually.

Payback for my woodworking...

On the bright side, looks like I may get some cedar for drying.

Barn bench...

Wifey asked me to build a bench for the barn. After a couple of years, I finally got around to it. I did the angled cuts by hand using bow-saws just for the practice. the It took a half a day, and that includes the time to paint it. If I had used power tools for everything the build would've only take a couple of hours. You can find the plans on the Knockoff Wood site. Here's some pics of the bench waiting for someone to sit on it.

Shaker Table completed

With the 3rd coat of polyurethane here's the completed shaker table. I used Minwax Satin Finish Polyurethane. The 3rd coat really made the table smooth to the touch. If the pictures look a little odd, it's because I used some Paint.Net magic to remove the background and only show the table.

I've not been slacking...

I promise.  The past few weeks I've not posted about my woodworking.  That doesn't mean I've not been working. I've been installing fans in my wife's barn.  I was tasked with creating an arm that would support 4 fans around a 6"x6" post. There were very specific requirements that it be "neat". So, I crafted something I thought would work in Sketchup. It's an 8" arm that's secured with four 3" deck screws.  The top of the fan is held at an angle with hay string, which can be found in abundance in a barn. Once the foreman approved the design I created a test piece to verify the design. I worried some about the arm not having a brace under it, but after testing it could almost hold my weight which is much more than a 5 lb fan.

Below is a pic of the Sketchup model, and then a pic of the finished product. Because of my efforts, roughly 30+ horses will stay cool this summer.

It's been a busy few weeks...

I've not updated in a while, but that doesn't mean I've not been busy.  I've just not been busy in the garage. This weekend, however, I did get to put one coat of poly on my shaker table.  Just 3 or 4 more to go!

Why yes...

that is a Lie-Nielson #4 Smooth Plane on my workbench.  And I am happy to see it.  My dad and I took a 3.5 hour (one way) road trip to Highland Hardware today to see the Wood Whisperer and meet other guildies. We were both blown away by how many tools Highland has on hand.  Not only that, they were all knowledgeable and very helpful. I wish I had this to clean up the stock for the shaker table. Well, now I do have it, and can't wait to put it to use.