Pressing Business

Some jobs are clear priorities.  One of those crossed my path this weekend.  My wife and I sent the children upstairs to clean and neaten.  Several trips later, all of the trash had been collected and we had a new candidate for the" Isle of Misfit Toys".

Flight grounded indefinitely.

My wife had purchased this plane used some time ago.  It wasn't terribly well made, and while not one of our son's favorites, I guess I had a soft spot for a wooden toy that required more imagination than most toys on the market today.  Besides, it was an excuse to putter around in the shop on a day when I didn't have the ability to work on something more involved.  At a glance, it looked like an easy fix, just glue the wing back on. Off we went to the hangar for some much needed maintenance.  

Once in my shop, lucidity (and a cup of coffee) kicked in.  Not only was the wing broken free, but the entire tail section had been snapped off along the grain line.  Judging by the wood color, my son had never enjoyed the plane in it's entirety.  Looking further, on the bottom of the wing, there had once been landing gear.  Now, being something of a perfectionist, clearly, just gluing the wing on would not be an option.

My first order of business was to glue the wing back on.  I figured that if he enjoyed the plane in that state for so long, he would continue to, at least for a while.  Then I would assess what more could be done.

A little closer to air-worthy.

Next, I sawed the remaining tail section back to a 90 degree angle to the sides of the plane's body. That would give me a solid surface to glue to.  The body of the plane was slightly thicker than  the one inch stock that I had in the scrap bin.  So I planed down an off-cut from one of the bedside table legs I had on hand.  Once I reached the proper thickness, I drilled both pieces for a dowel, as the curved bottom of the plane would not allow for proper clamping.  I rough cut the tail piece and glued it up, using a rubber band to hold it in place.

Once all of the glue had dried, I cut a new rear wing in a profile to match the main wing.  I attached that with glue and brads.  I'm hoping to keep this plane on the flight line for some time to come.

The plane, waiting for a little blending on the tail section with chisels and a rasp.

Over the next few evenings, I hope to shape the tail section and figure out what to do about the landing gear.  I was going to cut the wheels with a plug cutter I had, but as with many tools, it seems to have gone missing for a time during my on-going shop reclamation project.  I'll keep looking as I also work to remove the growing pond of snow melt from the shop.  

Thanks for visiting, and I hope to see you again soon.  I'm off to bail more water out of my shop.

A Weekend of Odds and Ends

As last weekend approached, I was greeted with some good news, and a dilemma.  The dilemma, as I mentioned last week, was the water infiltration into my shop.  I had worked hard to eliminate what had already gotten in, and to remove snow from around the house to a less threatening position in the back yard.  I mentioned that, as I was writing my last post, the snow was falling.  And it continued throughout the day and evening.  The foot that we received quickly replaced all the snow I had removed and with more warm weather the last couple days, also replaced the water in the shop.  So I once again took up my shovel to relocate much of the newest snow.  We'll see how well that will worked in the coming days.

As for the good news, we are nearing the end of our fiscal year at work, and I have some vacation time leftover, so I will be taking Fridays off for the entire month of March and hopefully that will translate into some productive shop time, fingers crossed.  Also, this past Saturday, my wife and children spent a good portion of the day with a friend and her son, so between Friday and Saturday, I was able to visit two antique stores for a little rust hunting.  On Friday, I nearly purchased and old Miller's Falls block plane, but at the last minute decided against it.  Something about the shopkeeper's attitude reminded me that somewhere in my shop, I had an old Stanley 9 1/2 that had belonged to my grandfather. It was gonna need some work, but I have nothing but time (tongue in cheek).  Saturday's trip netted a couple small egg-beater drills.  Both were small, one for me that needed some cleaning, and one for my son's tool chest.  His was nearly pristine, but a brand I had never heard of.  Off to the big box for some cleaning supplies.

So back in the shop, I spent about twenty minutes finding the block plane.  Not as bad as I remembered it being, but definitely in need of some work.

A little rust and a couple non-moving parts.

A little better from this angle.

I disassembled the entire plane and the body and blade went into a rust removing bath.  The bath made quick work of the blade, just a couple hours.  It came out looking nearly brand new.  Not bad for a plane that is at least thirty years old and has seen very limited use for the last two decades.  The body was another story all together.  Between two soakings, the total was about twelve hours in the bath.  In addition to the rust, it also removed some loose paint, so I'll have to touch that up, hopefully some night this week.  The blade will need some honing as well.  The cap was easy.  No rust, just a lot of dust and grime.  A little WD40 and an old toothbrush and it's as good as new.  I'll show the after photos as soon as the process is finished.

A much needed bath.

While the plane was soaking, I took a look at my new drill.  Nothing complex at all.

A "few" years of dirt and grime.

One screw and a couple parts removed, and on to the cleaning.  A few more minutes with the toothbrush, and reassembly, and the drill was ready to take it's place in my chest, and more importantly, go back to work.

One small project finished: a miracle.

Also filed under odds and ends, I am continuing my sharpening odyssey.  On Friday, my wife and I visited Michael's so that she could look at some much needed painting supplies.  I figured she would be a while weighing her options, so I wandered the store for a bit with that classic "deer in the headlights" stare.  I thought it would be a very cheap (read free) stop for me, but au contraire.  In my wanderings, I stumbled across the leather section.  Something unusual happened, a timely thought. While I stood there, I realized that I still didn't have a means of a final polish on my edge tools after sharpening.  A couple bags of leather remnants later, and I avoided having to make a return trip. Saturday evening, I used a generous coat of yellow glue on some scrap wood, layered on the leather and covered it with plastic wrap and clamped it up overnight between two additional boards.  Sunday morning, I cut the leather to the edges of the board.

Another simple project, but at least it's completed.

It's just about time for work, so I'll leave the most "important" work of the weekend for tomorrow. Thank you for visiting.

Winter Doldrums

Having wandered around the blogosphere, (maybe more than my fair share) I know that there is no shortage of posts dealing with this extraordinary winter which just seems to keep on giving and giving.  In fact, big puffy flakes are falling as I type.  I hope that my readers will humor me as I add one more.

As always here in Rhode Island, we had a snow-less December.  The one day of the year I can be fully accepting of mother nature's winter blanket (Christmas) past with cold showers of rain and the sickening browns of dead foliage.  And then, without even so much as a few dustings to acclimate ourselves, we were welcomed to winter with the snowstorm of "historic proportions" in late January.  Since then, it's been a series of lesser storms, one or two per week, sometimes every other day, just to refresh any snow that may have melted in between.

I'm sure that I am not alone, but my house sits on a corner lot that even during the best of weather, seems impossibly small.  I am fortunate enough to have a large driveway, but also sidewalks on two sides of the property.  And so, every morning when I awake to a "winter wonderland", I have to do at least enough shoveling to get myself to work and our children to the bus stop.  At lunch, I often spend more time further cleaning up, and sometimes even more time at night.   It's a common occurrence to have to move snow banks as the storms progress.  My tiny yard struggles to accommodate the snow from the driveway and two sidewalks.  No big deal, I just work until I'm tired, take a break, and pick up where I left off.  But this year has been special.  This year, my wife hasn't driven since her injury in November.  And being the way of things, I allowed temptation to get the better of me.  I allowed the snow to build up on and around her car.  Oh yes, I've seen the warning signs.  Steadily her hand has regained function.  She has started doing things around the house that she had been unable to for quite some time.  Somehow, I managed to ignore the signs until they practically slapped me in the face.  Last week, my beautiful, wonderful wife took my car and went for a drive.  I savored the moment of victory for all of a few moments, before my gaze turned to the window, and the sight of the humongous snow bank that was, at one time, her car.  And so, fellow inmates of this horrendous winter, I picked up my shovel and went to work.  It didn't take me long to realize the cost of my lethargy.  Several storms and several freeze and thaw cycles had made my work all that much harder.  Now, I am relegated to removing the top layer and praying that the sun will loosen the next layer.  It seems to me a perverse form of archaeology.  With luck, by spring, I will be able to reclaim a past civilization from the grips of ice and snow.

Phase one of digging out complete.

And that is my first excuse for being absent from this blog for so long.  My second, is actually the opposite (yes, i know...I'm difficult to please).  This past weekend and earlier this week, the mercury in the thermometer stirred to a point slightly above freezing (although the difference was imperceptible in my frigid shop) and we had several days of bright, almost springlike sun.  And while all of that made my digging out far easier, it also presented a new problem.

The bench side of the shop, adjacent to the driveway, and the ever growing pond.

The far side of the shop, where the onslaught of melting snow has just begun.

I knew when I first toured the house that the basement was damp and probably had some water issues during heavy rains and spring thaws.  The furnace, water heater and storage being placed on blocks was a dead giveaway.  And in fact, I have gotten used to small puddles throughout the basement on occasion.  But never like this.  It's actually gotten me to thinking.  If I turn my basement into a reservoir, at least I could cut the city water bill.  As tempting as that might seem, I've decided that I'd really rather not sacrifice my shop for the cause.

And so, when I am not digging out the car, or pumping out the pond, I am willing myself to the task of moving snow away from the foundation of the house, and hoping the melting snow will find its way to the harbor, without a side trip to my shop.   At the very least, perhaps someone else's basement? (I know this is terrible, and I'm very sorry for the thought.)

I have, however, found the time for some mundane cleaning and repair tasks in the shop.  Most notable is the cabinet I am now using for my miter saw.

A photo from an earlier post.

I was able to find the time to remove all of the detritus that had found it's way into the cabinet over the last decade.  And I'm happy to report that I even managed to properly store, or throw away all of it (as opposed to my usual practice of piling for a later date).  I also was able to cut the back and secure it to the cabinet.  Lastly, I was able to rehab the slightly warped right side door and get it into place, although the effort was slightly greater than what it took to make it in the first place (in fairness, it was made with power tools, all of this work was done by hand, and my current mood may have played a role).

The cabinet is finished and ready to store a variety of saw accessories.

 

And life continues here in Rhode Island.  Certainly, it is not always as planned, but tomorrow will come.  It may even be a better day, with more time in the shop and hopefully here at the blog as well. 

Thank you for visiting, and I hope that wherever you are, spring is just around the corner for all of us. Please be safe and well as we "patiently" wait out the winter doldrums.