Grinding away.

By the time I got home and ate dinner last night, it was around 7:30.  I was tired and probably more than a little cranky (apologies to my wife).  But I did manage to push myself into the shop to get a little work done (thanks to my lovely wife who asked me to retrieve the days laundry from the basement). As planned, my night centered on getting my new grinder ready to go for the weekend.  I really need to grind a nice camber on a plane iron so I can hog a quarter inch of thickness off about 2 feet of 1x12.  Taking the old grinder off of it's stand was of course an easy task.  Two nuts and a little cleaning later, I was in business and ready for the new grinder.

The old grinder, still operable, but with fixed tool rests.

I opened the new box and put all of the pieces aside.  When I took out the main unit, I knew I was going to face a little problem.  The base of the new unit was noticeably higher than my old one.  I really should have looked before I went to work.  No matter, I went to work on the assembly, I could look for mounting hardware when I was done.  Surprisingly, the box contained all of the needed parts and the assembly went off without a hitch.  I didn't even have to consult the vaunted owner's manual (I'm fairly certain I've heard all of the safety procedures from the legal department before).  I did glance at the manual at this point out of sheer laziness.  Being more of a weekend warrior type machine, I had hoped that there would be a template for drilling the mounting holes.  My hopes were quickly dashed. Glancing briefly, I didn't even see a two holes, x number of inches on center.  A good reminder that laziness rarely pays off.  I broke down and took the ten steps to grab my bench rule and got to drilling.

Now back to the hardware to mount it.  I have a fairly impressive collection of orphaned hardware. For 40+ years my grandfather never threw away a piece of hardware and I haven't had the heart to part with any of it.  On top of that, I was raised a true "Yankee" myself and I've added a fair amount over more than a decade.  And at this point I was dealt another lesson.  I think at some point in the near future I must either gain the patience to sort through thousands of odds and ends or break down and take the time to better organize my stash.  Long story short, I opted for some reading before an early bedtime.  I'll be stopping at the hardware store on the way home from work tonight.

New grinder, nearly ready for action.

On the bright side, I'm only a few minutes away from starting on the plane blade and should be able to get that done tonight.  My schedule seems to be fairly clear for the weekend as well.  I should be able to accomplish a decent amount of work.  Hopefully I'll have plenty to show here in the next few days.