Happy Saturday! Hope everyone had a great day and you were able to get some shop time. This was my first day back in the shop after my eye surgery. It was a warm but overcast day here….mid 70’s and windy. Had to open windows and turn on one of the fans….I knew this day would arrive! I’d like to start out by welcoming several new friends to the update. We have about 25 new friends since the last time I was at the shop. For the old friends, you can skip to the next paragraph…for the new friends, this is a great way for me to keep in touch with everyone. I try to keep it fun and informative at the same time. Also I encourage feedback or comments. And if you have anything you’d like for me to address….I will try. Hope you enjoy…sit back and buckle up because here we go!

Day didn’t start out as good as I had hoped for my first day back. The anticipation all week had me amped up. Had some pre-shop errands to run this morning so I was kinda rushing around. On my way to get a haircut my vision became cloudy in my surgery eye. Made it through the hair cut then off to the wood store….only to find out they had the last 3 pieces of Shedua. I bought up two of the boards because this may be it for awhile. Then off to the shop. My eye was still bothering me so I put a call in to the doc. While I was waiting for a return call, I just couldn’t get going. I had planned on starting the Memorial Box for my Daughter’s Aunt and just couldn’t get the wood combination right for what I had. I was hoping to make the entire box portion, floors and lid out of the Shedua but the floors require a fair amount and it would seriously eat into my remaining supply. So I put that on the back burner to get it figured out. It is important that this project looks good….like I see it in my head. Then I was going to work on a deer shelf I had started at the first of the year and the board I was planning on wasn’t wide enough….and when I took it down….a shower of sawdust came down onto my face. Thank goodness for safety glasses.

The doc called back and said not to worry. The eye can do some crazy things up to a month after. The body is adjusting to a foreign object (new lens). Also said it could be blood pressure or just seriously dry from the wind. So I had lunch and by then it was getting better. The saw dust still bothered it all day.

The first thing I worked on was a repair job. Had to cut out a new crown for a tambour clock. That got me back in the groove. Then I cut the end pieces for the quilt rack I’m building. The fish is NOT my pattern but if you like it I can head you in the right direction. I picked up some cheap reader glasses this week (surgery fixed distance but not up close) and the lines were so crisp and clear. Honestly it’s been a LONG time since the lines have looked like that. I have no excuse now!

After the quilt rack I started in on the lower upright section for the Anniversary Clock. Took several attempts to come up with a good game plan. I needed about 3 more hands. I tried clamping it different ways to come up with the best and easiest way to do this. After a deep breath and stepping back I came up with a good plan. So for any of you planning on building this one…pay close attention to these pictures. I started by clamping squares in place on the top of the box. This allowed me to set the pieces into the exact location. I then glued the main piece into place and clamped a square to it to assure that it was straight vertically. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT…I CAN’T STESS THAT ENOUGH! Where I used squares, you could cut strips of wood and clamp them to the box top. I then shot a couple of straight staples into the upright. After the glue dried, I then set one of the half uprights into place and set the mid box onto it to locate the top. I then clamped it to the main upright and stapled it. The final step was to attach the other half upright. I removed the mid box and placed the other half upright, put the mid box back on and clamped it to the assembly. This worked out really great and I checked the assembly in both axis and it was really level with the lower base. (Check the bench top, lower box top and the mid box top….side to side and front to back). The upper upright won’t be as much fun next week.

I promised last week a picture of the clamp I use for doing glue ups. (This is just two pieces of wood for demo only). I start by making sure I have two edges that mate nicely and a good grain match. If your grain doesn’t match good then you have a very obvious seam. I put a piece of wax paper under the glue seam. Then I slide the mobile clamp up against the piece and then flip up the cam clamp. I finish by adding two clamps across the seam and checking to make sure I have minimum mismatch. Some times you need to clamp it down to the main clamp…if it bows up. These clamps work great (LINK). This is only one of many links. I searched on cam woodworking clamp.

I finished out my day by working up the wood for the head section of the free website clock. If you haven’t downloaded it yet….go to the free patterns section of our website www.wilckenswoodworking.net and check it out. In fact….we are going to hold a contest for this clock. The plan is to send in a picture of your completed clock and we will have your peers vote on the best one. The winner will receive a free pattern from WWW. We can’t wait to see the pictures! But of course you have to download the new page every other week. I may even throw in a pattern for the first picture I get. More to come on this as we get to the final pages. Today I got the sides and back cut out and the front started. That will be homework this week. Also as home work this week I prepped two of the confirmation medallions that a couple of people want. Yeah the difficult one of the four. Look for pictures of those next week.

Then during clean-up…..the day finished out like it started. I accidentally vacuumed up one of the stop jam nuts for the small drill press. I couldn’t find it in the vac tank so I dumped it out onto the floor. Bad mistake…..tons of dust in the air….and in my eyes. I searched but couldn’t find it so I started carefully vacuuming the saw dust back up (dang I make alot of saw dust!) and the hose kept clogging up. Well I ended up breaking the end off of the vac hose. The hose is only 25 years old! And I never did find the darn jam nut. Stopped at Home Depot on the way home and picked up a new one. After Dad looked down and got mad at me for breaking it….I’m sure he had a good laugh!   🙂

I need to finish here by Thanking everyone for making this possible. If it wasn’t for you….I’d be sending this to myself and that wouldn’t be any fun. All joking aside…..it’s you that makes it possible for me to do what I love to do and to be able to share it with you. You are who makes woodworking what it is and what it means and I respect you for that. I love talking to each and everyone of you here and during the week. Hope everyone’s weekend finishes out great and your week next week is good. Don’t forget to check us out on the web and on facebook and please check out the approved vendors we have listed on the website. They are there for a reason. We approve them! If you have a question or a need please fell free to contact them. I need to finish this up before it becomes the Sunday Update. Speaking of which….next weeks will most likely be a Sunday Update. It will be a short day at the shop because of a Charity Gala Saturday night. So….until next time….keep the saw dust flyin’ (but keep it out of your eyes….)