Thanks, but I see my projects as 20-footers. They look good from a distance, but get up close and I see the mistakes. My gf says I‘m too hard on myself
Thanks, but I see my projects as 20-footers. They look good from a distance, but get up close and I see the mistakes. My gf says I‘m too hard on myself
Have to agree with your girlfriend. It looks like excellent craftsmanship to me.Thanks, but I see my projects as 20-footers. They look good from a distance, but get up close and I see the mistakes. My gf says I‘m too hard on myself
I know exactly what you mean. I think we are very critical of things that most will never see or know to look for. I’ve tried to get past that but I can’t. Heck on that cattle alley I ground out a few welds for purely cosmetic reasons just to weld them back in prettier. It was really unnecessary. I’ve thrown nearly finished leather working projects in the scrap because one stitch was off looking. You do very nice work but now that you’ve alerted me there are flaws that only a perfectionist I must go back over your pictures. LolThanks, but I see my projects as 20-footers. They look good from a distance, but get up close and I see the mistakes. My gf says I‘m too hard on myself
To make it easier for you, here’s a close-up showing two mistakes. The hole around the dowel tore out while I was drilling it, so I had to use sawdust from the same piece of wood, mixed with wood glue. Unfortunately, the repair is darker than the wood. The other mistake is the horizontal divider, where I messed up the measurements not once but twice, as evidenced by the walnut insert repairs. I repeated the wider repair at the other end to balance it out, but still. Not a piece I’d sell for anything more than the cost of the wood, if I were putting it up for sale. So yes, a 20-footer
I’m working on another wood project now, and I got to thinking: “What tool do you woodworkers find indispensable for your work?” For me, it’s a dial caliper marked in fractions. That thing gets used ALL the time in my projects. What about you folks?
Pieces of metal to work on and with. And metalworking tools. I'm more a wood butcher than wood worker. I have learned, in the past 50 years, to slow down and try much harder to get things right, so it's possible that I'd do better these days. Not going to bet on it though.
And I do envy slightly all the folks who can do very nice work in wood. I've got one of the fractional calipers. It's the first one I ever owned, and I paid $1 for it at a flea market over 50 years ago. I could put my elbow on it, and not remove my hands from the home keys, but it almost never gets used for anything truly important. YMMV, obviously!
Made two bottle openers tonight. Im shutting the forge down till fall! It is too effin hot out in the shop with that forge blazing!
This is a short list of what I have crammed into a 29' x 24' garage that I also keep four cars in also (two of the cars are Fiat 500s). A 2 stage 80 gal. air compressor, bead blaster, Grizzly 18" drill press, Precision Mattews mill, Precision Matthews 11 x 30 lathe, Matco Screaming Eagle HD 54" roll-around tool chest, Craftsman 54" top chest, bench top parts washer, torch and bottles, small benchtop vertical band saw, Lincoln mig welder, Eastwoods HF tig & stick welder, small benchtop reciprocating cutoff saw, 6" dual wheel carbide grinder, 12 ton hydraulic press, engine stand, 2 ton cherry picker, steel work bench, 8" benchtop disc sander, three 6" bench grinders, 14" fiber blade cutoff saw, and this is just the larger items. So, you can see I need more room than anything. If I find a knee mill, the mill I have will have to go.I'm trying not to look for a knee mill. For years! Having enough hard time trying to squeezing in all the tools I already have. South Bend Heavy 10L toolroom lathe restoration project. Atlas TH42 is operable. Just bought it a Themac J-3 tool post grinder that needs "a little work." Smithy CB-1220XL 3-in-1 machine my brother bought for me. It's in the middle of restoration, too. Atlas MF Horizontal milling machine, and a HF 44991 mini-mill, Craftsman 12" 2-wheel band saw, taiwanese 4x6 horizontal bandsaw, and Craftsman 15" drill press, all restoration projects. Two working drill presses, one 8", the other 18" or so, and 900lbs of cast iron. Ancient Craftsman 200amp AC tombstone welder, HF shielded wire welder, and my poor brain is about worn out trying to remember...
Had the former back porch, and the former garage for space, now have lost the garage. Youngest child moved back in.
Got to use several brands of knee mills when I was taking my class in machining at Francis Tuttle, would LOVE one! Also want one of the Clausing Colchester lathes like they had. I liked the 13" as it was closer to what I already had at home, but it's 2700lbs. I think that would be risking breaking the slab in the former back porch. I've found two of the lathes I'd like, so far. $7K each, very used. Ain't happening until and unless I win the lottery.
Today I made a replacement handle for a folding handle on my lathe. The plastic handle that was on the cheap Chinese folding handle was cracking so, I made a new handle out of brass.
Man, I kinda wish that I lived closer to you so I could befriend you and learn some of your machining knowledge. I've always liked the idea of being a machinist because I like to do things with my hands, but I went a completely different direction and became an office monkey. Plus, I think I'd enjoy it more as a hobby than as a vocation (like most things).
