Working plan

I want to thank Shy Lev-Ari, a viewer from Israel, for suggesting this video. A lot of us take sanding wood for granted, yet it is the most basic skill we need to know about woodworking. Ive often quipped that woodworking is 10% design, 10% construction, and 80% sanding.

But with all the grades of sandpaper available,  its something that can easily confuse the beginning woodworker. In this video, I have tried to boil sandpaper down to its basics.

Essentially, woodworkers need to know that you can do almost anything with only three grades of sandpaper: 80, 120, and 220. 80 is the coarsest grit and is used for leveling out rough wood caused mostly by machine marks from saws.

From there, move up to a 120 grit sandpaper to smooth out the marks left by the coarse 80 grit paper. Finish off your wood with a 220 grit (fine) sandpaper.

You can learn a lot more about sanding and get more detailed, but for most of us, we really dont need to bother sanding past 220 grit. Let your finish provide the smooth feel of your project.

We had a great Open Studio Memorial Day .... It was easily our best turnout ever. We estimate there were 250-300 people total over the two days ... Lots of clients, a couple of neighbors and lots of people with their Southern Vermont Artisans driving tour looking for signatures for the raffle drawing ... There were four artists at our site so that was probably at least part of our draw. Kit sold a bunch of jewelry and I sold a couple things ... Penny did ok, and Denise was happy to have been included for the first time at our site ... She had not previously met Mr. Lucky, and was happy to assist him with a hat choice .... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
Shopping
Youd think this would be Mr. Luckys ride, but it belonged to another visitorwe had crowds like this several times, both days ....they parked on the lawn and up the hillChecked out the progress on Wills banjo building
Just a few of Pennys paintingssold my sculptureand my coffee tableand Mr. Lucky checked out with his new hat ....

Last week I was so happy when I found the exact (well almost) size board that I was looking for the gallery wall in the office. I started with this pin board and then this painting, but the scale was bugging me - I needed something big!

So I found a large piece of MDF and trim at Habitat Restore for $15 total. Which was an amazing price, trim is sooo expensive!

We cut the board down a little so it was straight and cut the trim on 45s to make a frame, primed and painted.

Then we designed a stencil, cut it out and got to work! If you follow me on Instagram @sarahmdorseydesigns you may have seen this photo. 


Stenciling can be an affordable way to add pattern to a surface without fabric. Since this stencil was a little more detailed, I had to go a little slower ... it took about 2 hours.

Then last night, we cut a greek key stencil out for the corners and once dry, taped the straight parts in between the corners with painters tape to connect the lines.


 We attached the trim with screws from the back, and here is what it looks like this morning.


I love the idea of using bulldog clips instead of pins (which wouldnt work with my board anyways) via The Hunted Interior.  A great way to keep holes out of pictures and organize categories!

At office stores the cheapest I found was 2 for $3.49. Really, over a dollar for a clip?? I found 4 for $1.88 at Wal-Mart, so I think Ill go back for those.

Statement pieces can be so expensive, so I was thrilled when I only had to spend $15!! (will be about $20 with clips)

Finished pics soon! 

Rule #1 in the hunt for old tools is: “Things are not always predictable.” This rule is often expressed as “You just never know.”

A corollary rule (let’s call it 1A), is “Be persistent.” This rule is often expressed as “Let’s stop here. They look like they might have old tools.”

Let me illustrate these two rules by way of example.

Last year, I was down in Southern Oregon over spring break. I saw that the annual Antique Show was being held on the weekend. It cost $4 to get in the door, and catered towards the collectors. This should NOT have been a good place to look for old tools – but, being a big believer in rule #1, I went. And I scored big. I found a Stanley #62 low angle jack in great shape for under $100 dollars. Not cheap, but a very good price on this plane in this condition. And its also where I found the infamous cigarette "nib" card. Sweet! Totally worth my time and $4 door fee!

Here’s the #62:


Flash forward to this year. Again I am in Oregon for spring break (family). Again the Antique Show is being held. Again I go, pay my $4 to get in and – strike out. There is nothing, NOTHING, there worth buying. In fact, one of the only hand tools I can find is a battered Stanley 120 with a tag attached explaining the page number in a book that set the price of this junker at $85. Wow! I’m out the door in 20 minutes.

That’s Rule #1 – you just never know…

Now, on the way home Rule 1A came into play. After the disappointment suffered at the show, all I wanted was to go have a burger and a milkshake. However, as I cruised down the road I came across a mini-storage complex with a “flea market” sign at the side of the road. Hmm. I slowed down for a closer look - mostly clothes, videos and car tires. Not a chance. But maybe…

I turned around, went back and parked. I started walking the rows of the complex and it was not looking good. Lots, and lots of junk. And, it was incredibly random. There would be a table set up in front of an open unit – and on the table would be a shoebox full of used plastic cigarette lighters, a bag of sand, a pile of plastic picture frames with no glass, empty perfume bottles, some jugs of anti-freeze and a flat of fresh limes.

But I kept walking, and eventually it paid off. I found “the tool guy”, and although I didn’t get anything amazing, I did get some nice old tools at a great price.


I scored: four old wood handled screwdrivers, a nice pair of 6” Sargent & Co. dividers, a pencil sharpener, and a Stanley #42X saw set in pretty good shape. And the total price was $9. Awesome!

Rule #1A rocks!

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We have had this old chair around for so long I cant tell you where it came from. Suffice it to say, it came to us unencumbered, meaning it had no seat. I was trying to think of an alternative material to replace the paper cordage seat that was all but gone when we took over the job of caretaker for this simple and small bundle of sticks. Well, I was at the hardware store and saw this nylon cordage in 50 bundles, light-bulb , yes this could look very nice and a bit unique. After my daughter was able to decipher a picture in Drew Langsner book (The Chairmakers Workshop),we went to work and here is the result.
As you can see, it didnt perfectly fill in all the space on the stretchers, For a first try it looks pretty good and it is stout. It has only loosened up the slightest bit and that is with people taking turns sitting in it as it is like having a new guest in the house. That is to say, it is getting a lot of attention.

Just learned about this design today. I need to use my shop vacuum for the circular saw I use on my PBB, but I hate having to clean the filter all the time to keep it efficient. There are a number of separators on the market that run form cheap to expensive, but all seem to be only marginally effective. This design is fairly simple and I would think very simple to build. The claimed efficiency is excellent, I have seen nothing that leads me to think otherwise. Check out this link to see the design (http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm) and this one for the inventors forum (http://www.cgallery.com/smf/index.php).

Here are pics of my drawings of one I plan to build.



I finally got around to building a separator, but decided not to use the barrel I designed for originally.   It was too large and tall for the area I wanted it to sit in.  Instead, I bought a 20 gallon metal trashcan.