What did you do today?

[highup]

I use turtle wax for my planer bed. Rub it on and rub it off. Never waxed my table saw bed but I could see that being a good idea. I used furniture wax for my miter saw wings but then again those are made of wood so a wood wax makes sense.

Here’s today’s sunrise for you.

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The back room in my place is my little shop of horrors..I don't heat it, so in the winter it would get a little surface rust. I have a can of slippery spray stuff made for saw blades and table surfaces.
Top cote?
Now, if I can find it. It's spendy unless you buy it at Habitat

 

[C.J.]

Wax, some fancy spray or even a smidge of motor oil. Just something to keep the rust from forming will do you wonders. Every once in awhile I would leave my saws set up in my yard if I knew it wasn’t gonna rain. I would have to cover them with a tarp to keep few from settling on them. Maybe a sheet or something thrown over top of your tools would keep the rust at bay.

 

[highup]

Bostik must have bought Top Cote. They had a small spray can at one time. It was over $10. It reduces buildup on saw teeth and it's slippery. I used it on my Makita aluminum table saw to make it slippery.

 

[DarisMulkin]

use turtle wax for my planer bed. Rub it on and rub it off. Never waxed my table saw bed but I could see that being a good idea. I used furniture wax for my miter saw wings but then again those are made of wood so a wood wax makes sense.

I used my table saw yesterday and found one half of the table was rusted. It was covered so didn't know it happened, I thought I had it oiled good.

 

[C.J.]

Building a new kitchen cabinet in a trailer that needs some much overdue work done to it. Dude likes the vintage look so we ended up going with a 1/4” sheet of laminated mdf because it matched the best with everything else in the trailer. I made a frame then fastened the laminate skin to the front of it. Drilled some holes, routed some stuff and who knows what else I did but in the end it came out decent and all the drawers slide properly so I’m happy. Gotta make some walnut trim to picture frame the drawers tomorrow.

 

[zannej]

That looks very cool, CJ.

Speaking of cool, what is NOT cool is my house right now. AC isn't working well. It got up to 76 and its not supposed to go over 70.
Changed HVAC filter, bleach down condensate line, cap on condensate line secured, turned AC off for several minutes and back on again. No luck. Checked that compressor is running outside. Tree is growing over it, but it was running. Need to take that tree out and cut back the weeds around it.

Cats had another fight and broke a glass measuring cup. Haven't picked it up bc I feel like garbage. Ear infection spread to other ear somehow and the gland behind the ear is swollen and sore. Hurts to yawn, chew, and swallow. Had a fever again but it broke. Been sweating and have 3 fans pointed at me now.

Milk went sour so I had to toss it. Need to get more tomorrow. Not looking forward to a grocery trip.

 

[C.J.]

Here’s a good start to your day!

 

[C.J.]

Got in this morning and started working on making trim pieces for the cabinet drawers. Made a test piece outta some scrap maple. Looks good but customer wants a different look. So now I’m making new drawer faces and edge banding the sides. Ain’t no biggie, I love a challenge. Switch gears and bust a move and next thing you know you’re asking yourself why the hell is this guy using the old countertop. All I know is people with money are funny.

Anyway, I knew my first drawer faces were exactly where they should be so I made a jig to center the drawers on the new faces with a 1/2” reveal all around. They gotta be exact because when you look at all the drawers installed, any variation will be seen.

 

[C.J.]

If you look at drawer #4 in pic #5 vs pic #6 you’ll see it was a bit crooked. Had to take the drawer out and recenter the new face and go at it again. I’ve got 2 pieces of aluminum trim I gotta install on the cabinet edges tomorrow and that’s it, this trailer is outta here!

 

[highup]

Vinegar works great Daris. Lay some paper towels over the surface so they overlap a half inch or so. Be neat along the edges, meaning don't let them hang an inch over... Just right even with the edge.
Now drizzle the vinegar over the entire surface, just enough to make it damp. You don't want it dripping off the edges. Use a sponge or maybe a roller.... or your fingers to help even out and get the paper towels to lay flat.
Might even lay some Saran wrap over it, then let it set overnight.
It will turn ugly overnight.... browns and orange.
Remove the paper towels one at a time and use them to rub the residue from the table.
It works really well.
I wiped mine down a few times afterwards with paper towels soaked in warm water. I'd dissolved a bunch of baking soda in the water to neutralize the acid.
Now some clean wet ones, then dry it off.
I did give it a very light scrubbing afterwards with paint thinner and some scotchbrite to even out the color......more dry paper towels, then WD 40 .
Try it on something else that's rusty to see how it works. If you like it, then do the table saw top.

 

[highup]

If you look at drawer #4 in pic #5 vs pic #6 you’ll see it was a bit crooked. Had to take the drawer out and recenter the new face and go at it again. I’ve got 2 pieces of aluminum trim I gotta install on the cabinet edges tomorrow and that’s it, this trailer is outta here!

Back to the future.

 

[highup]

That's some very impressive router work, sunny boy. (not a spelling error)
What kinda tempate did you make? .....and how do you climb into it at your starting point? I ask because I'm not a router technician. It's very cool.

 

[highup]

I measured carpet for a new home yesterday that's under construction. It's ready for the last sanding of the engineered wood floor. I mocked up what I think needs to be done for a carpet edge where it meets the hardwood in the 5 bedrooms. Currently, the wood is cut straight at each doorway, leaving a sharp, square edge. That's not gonna fly with a looped patterned wool.
The wood is currently almost 1/16th over 3/4" thick. It's an 11 or 13 ply 8 inch plank. I'm sure it's over $30 a foot installed. It's ready for a final sand, then finish.
Before they do that, the edges of the 5 bedroom doorways will need a modification to bevel or radius the square edge.
I mocked up the edge after routing with a 1/4 or 3/8 round over bit. That was way to much.
I bought a 1/8" Freud round over bit today... I think $38
I needed it today, not "overnight"
This is quite a home...... no shortcut whatsoever. 110% won't be enough by my standards.

 

[highup]

Here's my mockup with the carpet they chose. I could go a tiny bit higher, raising the tackstrip, but I'm kinda liking it like this. The carpet +pad is parallel with the wood, tho where the tackstrip is, it's ever so slightly lower. I think this will wear better. It's a 32oz synthetic felt pad. Bloomsburg of course recommends their 32oz wool pad.
I'm leaving this sample for the home builder to show the customer. This is a vacation or second home. The carpet won't be made for a couple of months, so before then, I'm sure at some point they'll fly in to town to check progress on the home and ok what thinkin' here.
I've worked in some nice homes before...... But this place is a real wowza.... actually an Ahooooga!

 

[C.J.]

I love using routers. Cleanest and most accurate cut I could get. Jigsaw wouldn’t have cut perfectly straight and prolly woulda chipped in at least a couple places. Skill saw, F that, why not just gnaw at it with your teeth cus that’s what it will look like.

I used a 1/4” flush trim bit to route the openings. I woulda liked to have used a 1/2” bit but I didn’t want to give up 1” of material (1/2” on each side) so I went and picked up a new 1/4” bit just for this task. Smaller bearings can give up the ghost real quick if you really start laying into the cut. The heat from the cut alone will fry that tiny assed bearing before you’re done so spend that $25 and get a new bit.

From the back side of the cabinet face I drilled a 1/4” hole right up next to the cabinet frame. Then I inserted the 1/4”router bit into the hole and let the bearing follow the frame for each opening. It’s an inside cut so you route clockwise. All that extra BS wood you see is just bracing to make sure the inserts stayed put until I was done routing them. Can’t have that **** floppin all over dontcha know.

In the 2nd pic I’m installing the drawer faces. Drawers are already installed. I need to get the face centered exactly in the opening. 1/4” spacers are the perfect wedge for the 1/4” gap. If I did it right there will be an exact 1/4” gap around each drawer face and the pattern lines up perfect. That way even if the drawer is crooked, the face is perfect.

 

[highup]

I be impressed. (Practicing equity and inclusion)
....and parentheses
Even if I knew what I was doing, the first sheet of that pretty wood, would become a template for another project. . It's very nice.

 

[C.J.]

Corian!!! Or maybe another brand of solid surface countertop. This particular one isn’t Corian but I still call it Corian so there you go. This one is really cool. Marble looking and it’s translucent. You can see light through it. Dude is already planning on putting lighting under the lip. Wonder how that will look when it’s done, prolly pretty neat I imagine.

Anyway, cutting this **** stinks. I imagine this is what cancer smells like (like hitting FRP with a torch a little too long, without the burning part. No burning cancer, just cancer). The adhesive smells like a perm. Wear a respirator.

Speaking of adhesive, how often do you guys check the plungers on your guns and oil the shafts. This stuff uses a 10:1 mix so if your plungers aren’t even it could initially affect the mixing ratio pretty significantly. Also, how many of you squirt out a test strip of adhesive? I squirted a longer one than usual this time but that sacrificial strip of adhesive helps to purge any unevenly mixed adhesive before you actually start applying it where you need it. Improperly mixed adhesive doesn’t cure and you won’t know it until your countertop breaks.

Before you start squirting adhesive you better be ready to roll. I test clamp my pieces where I want them and apply blue tape behind them. This helps with clean up. Next I hot glue stop blocks to the blue tape. A quick wipe down of all surfaces to be adhered and it’s go time. Apply adhesive. Place pieces into adhesive. Thoroughly clamp pieces. You can never have too many clamps. Drink some coffee for 10 minutes or so. Touch adhesive. Drink coffee for another 5 minutes. Remove clamps on stop blocks that I hot glued to the blue tape. This is where the magic of the blue tape comes in. Get your putty knife under the blue tape and start lifting. You’ll have to bump the stop blocks with your putty knife when you get to them but they will release and pull up with the blue tape. All that adhesive ooze on the back side gets pulled up with the blue tape as well. Now you just run your putty knife along the back of the self edge a few times for a final clean

Few more minutes and you can remove all the remaining clamps. Now I’m ready to flip the top over and start shaping and sanding it.

 

[highup]

On the wool carpet job I just mentioned.
The customer wanted the same patterned wool carpet that was in the room at the golf resort rooms that we installed 3 years ago.
He and his wife stayed in one of these suites at some point. He fell in love with the carpet.
He's from CA, and building a second home here, maybe 3rd 4th or 5th... how would we know?
Tho you can't see it, nor the ocean, the practice green of this world renowned golf course,
(actually 7 golf courses now)
is probably 100 feet away through impenetrable trees and brush. While measuring the home, I could faintly hear an occasional golf cart whizzing by off in the distance.
Anyway, the home..... a vacation home, is probably just over 5000 square feet of comfortable gloriousness. Now there are fancy, expensive, "Hollywood" style homes ....all white marble and high gloss everything with gold leaf on everything.
Then, there are large, well constructed, COMFORTABLE and easy on the eye, expensive homes. This is one of those. The builder is local. He is probably early 40's. He's dad was a local builder who recently passed. This young man started focusing on these expensive homes about 4 years ago. His workmanship is impeccable. Very, very nice gicing 2500 feet of finish on site engineered plank, 2000 feet of wool carpet in the 5 bedrooms and another 800 feet of tile, not including the 5 shower walls and ceilings. Each bedroom has a nice, large bathroom.
Here's the big one.
The man wanted the exact same patterned wool carpet that was in the room at the golf course suite. The shop checked for pricing. I know it was inches away from $100 per. We needed 240 yards .....for those 5 bedrooms.
We discovered a couple of roadblocks.
#1
There is a 350 yard minimum order.
(We need 240)

#2
They don't make that pattern anymore.

#3.
.............But they can make that carpet because they still have the pattern on file.

The customer was informed that he would have to purchase an additional $14,000 worth of carpet, beyond what he needed.
........no big deal.
Is capitalism great, or what?

.....later, thinking rationally.
Is that really a big deal?
People, ordinary people buy used cars day in, day out for $14,000.
I gave the shop a price of $25 per yard. I won't get rich by any means, but I know I'll have a couple weeks of good paying work in a couple of months.
The carpet isn't scheduled to made for a couple of months, so I will have questions later...... For SMLI, Dairis........and Ramey.
Dumb questions, but I will be asking them anyway. I'm not proud.
The new shop owner knows I don't want this job that I measured.
He told me today...
"I have some bad news for you"
The homeowner gave a green light to the carpet price.
$14,000 for buying additional carpet and that was not a big deal?
There is really knowbody within 120 miles that will, or more realistically 'can' install this carpet. Nobody will install woven here. Give em $50 a yard and I'd guarantee there would be no takers.
...they want slapperdown LVP on the menu and no carpet.
It's hard to coax installers to do carpet at $9 per yard with rental carpet.

 

[C.J.]

I be impressed. (Practicing equity and inclusion)
....and parentheses
Even if I knew what I was doing, the first sheet of that pretty wood, would become a template for another project. . It's very nice.

You wouldn’t believe how many times I rely on using templates and jigs to make things. If I have one good version of something, I’ll use that as a template to make a template of the thing I need a template for. Now I have a template that I can use to make a test piece. If I like the test piece I’ll move on to making the real piece. If not I’ll adjust the template or make a new one. Material is expensive. Test pieces are cheap.

This material is a 1/4” sheet of MDF with laminate on both sides. Just like cheap laminate floor planks but it comes in 5 x 9 sheets. Modern day paneling?? I adhered the panel to my cabinet frame, which if you think about it, is itself a template. Now you have a template to route your cabinet face to. How nice is that. I’m using a bearing bit and it’s following a template, the cabinet frame. I have to go and inspect my template to make sure it’s acceptable since the router will produce an exact copy of the template. Where is the bearing riding? Do you have screw heads or nail holes in its path? Nail pops? Knot holes? Anything really. It’s gotta be dealt with or else. Now all you’re doing is guiding a router along a template and as long as there’s no interference with the bearing following the template perfectly, you’re good. I chuckle only because I’ve had routers jump on me before and it’s always scary when it happens. Routing an under mount sink in butcher block makes me pucker every damn time.

 

[highup]

You wouldn’t believe how many times I rely on using templates and jigs to make things. If I have one good version of something, I’ll use that as a template to make a template of the thing I need a template for. Now I have a template that I can use to make a test piece. If I like the test piece I’ll move on to making the real piece. If not I’ll adjust the template or make a new one. Material is expensive. Test pieces are cheap.

This material is a 1/4” sheet of MDF with laminate on both sides. Just like cheap laminate floor planks but it comes in 5 x 9 sheets. Modern day paneling?? I adhered the panel to my cabinet frame, which if you think about it, is itself a template. Now you have a template to route your cabinet face to. How nice is that. I’m using a bearing bit and it’s following a template, the cabinet frame. I have to go and inspect my template to make sure it’s acceptable since the router will produce an exact copy of the template. Where is the bearing riding? Do you have screw heads or nail holes in its path? Nail pops? Knot holes? Anything really. It’s gotta be dealt with or else. Now all you’re doing is guiding a router along a template and as long as there’s no interference with the bearing following the template perfectly, you’re good. I chuckle only because I’ve had routers jump on me before and it’s always scary when it happens. Routing an under mount sink in butcher block makes me pucker every damn time.

In your writings and descriptions of the processes, I'm right there with you.
In reality.... I'm 2000 miles away, wishing you luck.