More Workshop Time

What a beautiful day. The morning started out with a spring snow. The temperature was just above freezing and the snowflakes huge. This afternoon the sun found its way out from behind the clouds and the temperatures soared into the mid-40s.

My Stanley No. 45 combination plane after making a 1/4" rabbet on a piece of scrap pine.
My Stanley No. 45 combination plane after making a 1/4″ rabbet on a piece of scrap pine.

The yard is still covered with nearly 2-feet of snow, but with warm temperatures I am able to keep the workshop comfortable with just a small electric heater. The kerosene heater puts out a lot of warmth, but at a cost. It is loud.

I put Pandora radio on the computer and spent the day cleaning the workshop. And throwing things away. I have way too much stuff in the shop. I didn’t get the font half of the shop cleaned, but I got the back half looking pretty good (for me). I even dug out an antique Stanley No. 45 plane and got it working – though the blade needs to be sharpened.

A reasonably clean workshop. I even vacuumed the floor. I still have more stuff than I need, but it is heading in the right direction.
A reasonably clean workshop. I even vacuumed the floor. I still have more stuff than I need, but it is heading in the right direction.

Snow day and working on the workshop

I decided to reorganize the “office” corner of the workshop. It is too cold to get too much woodworking done, but it is nice to reorganize things.

One of the biggest additions is a computer. Ben and I had picked up a handful of $20 small desktop computes for the boys Minecraft party in March. It is pretty slow, but it works. I set it up and added it to the wireless network. Now I can stream Pandora, write in my blog, and even play Minecraft with the boys. Though the computer can really only handle one thing at a time.

Now back to cleaning!

The office space in progress.
The office space in progress.

Workshop time with Ben

Ben sawing the legs of his shaker shop stool
Ben sawing the legs of his shaker shop stool

Ben is working on building a shaker shop stool. We watched the videos from 360 Woodworking and he decided that it was a project he could build (with a little help).

A week ago, Ben and I drove up to the J. Gibson McIlvain Lumber outlet in Danielson, CT to pick up a lumber for the project. I have lots of rough lumber here, but it is mostly Cherry and Oak, both of which are a little hard for him to use. Pine is soft enough that he doesn’t have too much trouble working it with hand tools. He picked up a nice clear 12″ wide piece of white pine for the project. Yes, for the same price as lumber at the box store, you get a much nicer piece wood from the lumber yard.

Last week we milled the pieces for the project. The board was flat enough from the lumber yard that we didn’t need to joint it, so it was a quick job on the planer and table saw.  Ben even used the table saw (with close supervision) to cut the pieces to length.

This weekend we cut the braces on the table saw, and Ben started hand cutting the dadoes on the legs and top. He did most of the work himself – though he did find the angled cuts a little hard. He chopped out the waste material with a chisel without any assistance, and the fit was pretty good.

Only three dadoes left to cut and he will be able to assemble the bench.  Now to source some more pine for the boys to use in the workshop…

Snow and more snow!

I don’t usually say this. I really hope the base is open tomorrow so I can go to work.

That isn’t to say that a couple of snow days aren’t fun. I would prefer one or two vice 3.5 days in two weeks.

We did make the best of it and got some chores done in the house and even got Targa out sledding yesterday.

Susanna and Ben enjoying the snow
Susanna and Ben enjoying the snow
More fun in the snow.
More fun in the snow.