Ma and Pa's Blog

Today would have been a good day for the grandsons to visit. Here is what they would have seen.

Tree Trimming Crane from Pa on Vimeo.

We delivered the toy fridge and spent last evening and this morning with Mike, Jenn, Caleb and Owen.   It was a fun visit, and we staged some photos for manipulation before we left.   You can see the results here.  I think we’ll need a bigger place to gather for vacations — with all the additional children and grandchildren.

Jeff suggested that Sebastian might enjoy a puzzle box, and I’ve been learning what it takes to make one.  I’m not there yet.  Working from a plan I found online, I’m coming the conclusion that plans just scratch the surface.   The plan suggested gluing up pieces cut from 1/4″ plywood.   That sounded tedious, but easy enough.   The plan also gave dimensions as multiples of the stock thickness (T), so it could be scaled for other stock sizes.   My first attempt resulted in a two inch on a side cube — or what would have been a cube had I not destroyed it trying to assemble it.   For my second attempt (below) I doubled the size of the cube but continued with 1/4″ plywood.  I ignored the overall dimensions, using only dimensions from the edge that defined the guide rails and interlocking tabs.   The result was a glue-up that was easy enough to work with, but that required a lot of corrections.  And, after the corrections, the box would only assemble and disassemble with much fiddling — way too much fiddling for a six year old (or for a sixty-one year old, for that matter).   My next attempt will be the same overall size from 3/4″ stock, and I’ll route the lips onto the edges rather than gluing up the sides.   I’ll also route some slots to accept the central box base and sides to assure that it is properly located when attaching the front and back plates.   With a little luck, I’ll be successful.   If not, I’ll choose another project.  In the meantime, I AM having fun.

I built this play fridge for Caleb and Owen — an addition to the kitchen set they received for Christmas.   I hope they have as much fun playing with it as I had building it.

Christmas decorations . . . and mallets.

Keim Lumber — wow!   This place has anything a woodworker could want  – from inexpensive hardwood remnants to exotic woods and veneers.  Everything is displayed for hands-on examination and selection.   I need to go back soon with a project in mind.   Oh, and we had a very nice drive through Amish country — Heini and Guggisburg cheese shops, an apple orchard, lunch and Keim Lumber.

After many (too many) attempts, I finally managed to get SketchUp working under openSuse linux — using the linux wine app (Windows program loader / translation layer).   Now I can make my woodworking plans without booting Windows.  I think I last had it running when I was using Ubuntu — and, perhaps, on a previous computer.   It’s been a while.

PS — Almost as soon as I posted this, SketchUp stopped working. Argh! An update to wine appeared to defeat my fix. After some head scratching (and much cursing) I was again able to celebrate — quietly — at 2 AM.

I just finished putting down a new laminate floor in the patio room.   The results are amazing, if I do say  so myself.   The project started yesterday AM finished this afternoon.   Thanks to Bob Saraceno for spending yesterday afternoon guiding me through (make that doing) a repair on a water damaged portion of the original floor — an unexpected side project.   The repair is now the strongest area of the floor.   Also thanks to the manufacturer of the flooring (Uniboard Lock-’n-Seal sold at Sams Club).   The materials were flawless, and the design took all the precision work out of the installation.    Anyway, we’re very happy.    Quarter rounds will be added to finish the edges — after my legs and knees recover.

This is my second glued up project. It’s a cutting or serving board.

Trivet.  Trivet.

. . . [insert chuckle here]

Trivet

I’ve wanted to try something like this for some time.   It was as challenging, as I expected — especially so without a planer to smooth the top.   The pattern was not the most efficient for clamping during gluing, but I like the look.   The top was finally smoothed (after too many attempts) using the router.   A few router marks remain, but I’m happy, and I learned a few things.