That is beautiful!
What are you using for strings? I’d like to get a set of flatwounds or tapes in E to C for my short scale.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
What's On Your Workbench?
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
What are you using for strings? I’d like to get a set of flatwounds or tapes in E to C for my short scale.
Non-bass building stuff incoming:
I spent my holiday weekend out at the boss's shop. For those who don't recall, I detailed this space in my first build thread, on this post. It was currently in a state of chaos due to an adjacent tack room beginning to rot from a roof leak and everything from the tack room was thrown in the shop space so they could assess damage. But, the wife and I did some rearranging and cleaning to get a few things in a usable state, mostly the giant cabinet table saw and outfeed table along with the miter saw station. Most of the rest is all mobile, so we could shuffle things about and get at what we needed.
My first project was fixing the big Supermax 25x2 Drum Sander so that I could get a little project back on track. I had started working on what will be a set of serving platters, but my Makita lunchbox planer sniped one really bad and I got angry and tossed them over in the corner because I knew the proper answer was the Supermax. The last time I was out here (last year) the on/off switch fried on it. Literally started smoking and blew the breaker. So I had ordered a new switch and my first task was swapping that out. After a quick switch swap the Supermax was back up and running flawlessly. So far I'm in my boss's drum sander a new feed belt and a new switch, something to the tune of about $60 I've spent on this machine, but having access to what is essentially a $4,000, 220v, 5hp, 25" wide double drum sander is fine by me!
As for the serving platters, they are dead flat now and both perfectly matching thickness....
From there I moved on to the next big project....CAT WALL!
So...unlike most Americans, I'm a cat guy.
This is Freyja (pronounced Frey-yah), my Blue-Tort Maine Coon kitten:
I say "kitten" because she is currently only a year and a half old. Maine Coons don't really stop growing until about 3-1/2 to 4 years, so she could have another solid 2 years of growth left to do. I hope so, because my last Maine Coon was pretty big, weighing in at 20 pounds and Freyja feels small to me. Her daddy was 18 pounds and her mamma 16 pounds, so I suspect she's gonna be in that range by the time she is fully grown.
I had seen these hexagon cat wall shelves available online....
...but I was concerned that my fatty cat would be even worse than the portly fella in that picture and be way too big for them. Soooo.....I'll just build my own.
I had a guy in my woodturning chapter give me a nice sheet of cabinet grade plywood, so I figured it would make a perfect sheet for Cat Wall. First, break it down into individual pieces -
Then assemble into hexagon boxes -
I assembled 3 of these hexagon boxes, they are roughly 2'-4" from bottom to top and 12" deep. I used domino joinery to connect the mitered ends of the hexagon face frames for the front and back, and then just went with pocket holes for the "shelves".
Once assembled I could take them back home and start on the wall itself. My thought was to use a "French Cleat" system to attach them to the wall, because in my mind I wanted to be able to shuffle them around in different arrangements if I ever got bored of how they looked. Here they are on the wall, with Freyja giving her opinion of course -
In the end, I think I built them a bit larger than they really needed to be, which actually makes it so that I can't really shuffle them around at all. With my chair "under" them, they kind of have to go in this configuration. For those curious, yes, there's plenty of room for me to sit in my chair without any danger of hitting my head. My wife did say that it looks silly when I'm sitting under it, but whatever.
I still need to do a final sanding on these and then put a finish on them, but Cat Wall 1.0 is functioning and Freyja seems to love them. Probably because unlike the other shelves, we're not squirting her with the water bottle when she climbs on these.
I have plans to add more to this later, but for now this will have to do.
As for my actual workbench in my actual workspace....it looks like a bomb went off.
We kind of unpacked everything from our camping trip onto my workbench, so now I need to do a serious cleaning of my workspace before I can do much else, including finishing Cat Wall. As for those curious, here's the camping rig with the new truck. This is the truck I just purchased a couple months ago and ended up putting a new clutch, flywheel, throw out bearing and clutch hydraulic system in -
It did pull the RV quite flawlessly really, so I'm pretty happy about that. None of my repair work on that clutch system came apart, so I got that going for me!
I spent my holiday weekend out at the boss's shop. For those who don't recall, I detailed this space in my first build thread, on this post. It was currently in a state of chaos due to an adjacent tack room beginning to rot from a roof leak and everything from the tack room was thrown in the shop space so they could assess damage. But, the wife and I did some rearranging and cleaning to get a few things in a usable state, mostly the giant cabinet table saw and outfeed table along with the miter saw station. Most of the rest is all mobile, so we could shuffle things about and get at what we needed.
My first project was fixing the big Supermax 25x2 Drum Sander so that I could get a little project back on track. I had started working on what will be a set of serving platters, but my Makita lunchbox planer sniped one really bad and I got angry and tossed them over in the corner because I knew the proper answer was the Supermax. The last time I was out here (last year) the on/off switch fried on it. Literally started smoking and blew the breaker. So I had ordered a new switch and my first task was swapping that out. After a quick switch swap the Supermax was back up and running flawlessly. So far I'm in my boss's drum sander a new feed belt and a new switch, something to the tune of about $60 I've spent on this machine, but having access to what is essentially a $4,000, 220v, 5hp, 25" wide double drum sander is fine by me!
As for the serving platters, they are dead flat now and both perfectly matching thickness....
From there I moved on to the next big project....CAT WALL!
So...unlike most Americans, I'm a cat guy.
This is Freyja (pronounced Frey-yah), my Blue-Tort Maine Coon kitten: I say "kitten" because she is currently only a year and a half old. Maine Coons don't really stop growing until about 3-1/2 to 4 years, so she could have another solid 2 years of growth left to do. I hope so, because my last Maine Coon was pretty big, weighing in at 20 pounds and Freyja feels small to me. Her daddy was 18 pounds and her mamma 16 pounds, so I suspect she's gonna be in that range by the time she is fully grown.
I had seen these hexagon cat wall shelves available online....
...but I was concerned that my fatty cat would be even worse than the portly fella in that picture and be way too big for them. Soooo.....I'll just build my own.
I had a guy in my woodturning chapter give me a nice sheet of cabinet grade plywood, so I figured it would make a perfect sheet for Cat Wall. First, break it down into individual pieces -
Then assemble into hexagon boxes -
I assembled 3 of these hexagon boxes, they are roughly 2'-4" from bottom to top and 12" deep. I used domino joinery to connect the mitered ends of the hexagon face frames for the front and back, and then just went with pocket holes for the "shelves".
Once assembled I could take them back home and start on the wall itself. My thought was to use a "French Cleat" system to attach them to the wall, because in my mind I wanted to be able to shuffle them around in different arrangements if I ever got bored of how they looked. Here they are on the wall, with Freyja giving her opinion of course -
In the end, I think I built them a bit larger than they really needed to be, which actually makes it so that I can't really shuffle them around at all. With my chair "under" them, they kind of have to go in this configuration. For those curious, yes, there's plenty of room for me to sit in my chair without any danger of hitting my head. My wife did say that it looks silly when I'm sitting under it, but whatever.
I still need to do a final sanding on these and then put a finish on them, but Cat Wall 1.0 is functioning and Freyja seems to love them. Probably because unlike the other shelves, we're not squirting her with the water bottle when she climbs on these.
I have plans to add more to this later, but for now this will have to do.
As for my actual workbench in my actual workspace....it looks like a bomb went off.
We kind of unpacked everything from our camping trip onto my workbench, so now I need to do a serious cleaning of my workspace before I can do much else, including finishing Cat Wall. As for those curious, here's the camping rig with the new truck. This is the truck I just purchased a couple months ago and ended up putting a new clutch, flywheel, throw out bearing and clutch hydraulic system in -
It did pull the RV quite flawlessly really, so I'm pretty happy about that. None of my repair work on that clutch system came apart, so I got that going for me!
Bass is done! It plays great! It sounds great!Vent engaged...
My PU's arrived yesterday... I'm currently 650 miles away......
/Vent...
Butch…another walnut build.
Rôckhewer
Commercial User
- Feb 28, 2015
- 2,922
- 9,028
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder- RockHewer Custom Guitars LLC
Hi gang.
I posted my (secret) workbench.
But I'm also pretty stoked about my personal digs up here in beautiful Prescott.
Here's a pano inside my 11' x 12' shed.
Here's what's on my workbench! Trying to cut my flimsy ass Rockhewer logo... old school.
That's ok... I'm just excited about my shed.
Because it's not the only one.
I got 2... lol
2 sheds...
I posted my (secret) workbench.
But I'm also pretty stoked about my personal digs up here in beautiful Prescott.
Here's a pano inside my 11' x 12' shed.
Here's what's on my workbench! Trying to cut my flimsy ass Rockhewer logo... old school.
That's ok... I'm just excited about my shed.
Because it's not the only one.
I got 2... lol
2 sheds...
@Rôckhewer I'm glad you are getting settled in on your new adventure. It's like a brand new chapter.
Shed looks awesome.
Shed looks awesome.
I'm not sure on strings yet. I'll likely have to buy a 6 string set. Any recommendations? I'm looking for lighter gauge. I typically play NYXL but I don't think they make a light gage 6 set
I just ordered a 4 string set of SS GHS Precision Flats 45-95 with a single FB 28 for the C. they should be here by Monday and I’ll give them a try.
I sent GHS an email explaining what I wanted as far as and am following their suggestion.
I sent GHS an email explaining what I wanted as far as and am following their suggestion.
FB marketplace score! For $20, 2 planes, 2 eggbeater drills and a brace!
The planes need some work to fix some issues with the blades, but appear serviceable. The drills seem to work, but the older (and simpler) one seems to be in pretty good shape. The brace looks exactly like the one my dad gave me.
The planes need some work to fix some issues with the blades, but appear serviceable. The drills seem to work, but the older (and simpler) one seems to be in pretty good shape. The brace looks exactly like the one my dad gave me.
Nice haul!
Almost makes me want to checkout FB.
Almost.
I get a lot of use out of small planes like those, and still use my brace occasionally.
Almost makes me want to checkout FB.
Almost.
I get a lot of use out of small planes like those, and still use my brace occasionally.
The brace is worth the $20 and you got the rest for free!
Those eggbeaters look like Millers Falls drills. Very reliable and very simple to service/refurbish. I have several (various brands) and I use them a lot. When I need a lot of control I find them much safer than a drill motor (tuner mounting holes!).
The red block plane looks like a Stanley 110. Not so easy to adjust the cut but they have almost no moving parts and are great beater planes. The other looks like a better, more adjustable model (I think I see a movable throat plate). That might tune up to be a really good plane.
I just used my brace yesterday. Coincidentally, it was to drill through a new tote I’m making for a plane I’m restoring!
One is a "Yankee" 1530A, the other is a Goodell-Pratt.
The Yankee needs some disassembly and cleaning up to tune it up, the Goodell-Pratt is in outstanding condition and seems to work perfectly.
The Brace isn't labeled but but based on the plastic bit is probably the newest tool of the bunch.
The Red and Grey plane is a Montgomery Ward made by Stanley in the 50s or 60s! The other one is completely unlabeled, but my buddy who restores them thinks it's from the 30s. Both planes need some attention especially to the blades.
I actually spent some time yesterday cleaning up my work space. It was a busy day, started by washing my truck and the wife's Jeep, then we went to her parents and picked up some tomato cages (the joys of gardening, everyone wants you to take their rusted old junk they stopped using two decades ago), I also found some planter boxes in the pile so I took those too, swing by the Depot of Homes and grab 10 bags of mulch, stop by the grocery store and get the food shopping done, back to the house to unload everything, then put the mulch in the garden beds, give everything a good watering, get sidetracked with the typical garden chores (pulling weeds, pruning plants, etc. ), get dinner finished up and eat since it was 5:30 at that point and then that left a couple hours to tidy up the shop which had still been left from our camping trip last weekend where everything just got unloaded onto and around my bench.
Yeah, that's a fairly typical Sunday in my life.
Saturday was spent at the race shop, but since there wasn't much I could do to help on the race cars, I spent the day fiddling with my truck.
So now I actually have everything in my work space put away where it goes, I broke down the miter saw station and converted the ShopSmith back over to a workbench and my bench is cleared off aside from the neck blank and fretboard for that Tele build. I should have taken a picture for proof, because I know you guys will never believe me.
My first task is gonna be finishing up the cat wall. I still need to sand everything and put a finish on it. That has to get done before I get crazy building guitars again. But we're getting close!
Yeah, that's a fairly typical Sunday in my life.
Saturday was spent at the race shop, but since there wasn't much I could do to help on the race cars, I spent the day fiddling with my truck.
So now I actually have everything in my work space put away where it goes, I broke down the miter saw station and converted the ShopSmith back over to a workbench and my bench is cleared off aside from the neck blank and fretboard for that Tele build. I should have taken a picture for proof, because I know you guys will never believe me.
My first task is gonna be finishing up the cat wall. I still need to sand everything and put a finish on it. That has to get done before I get crazy building guitars again. But we're getting close!
This has happened to me exactly never.
I told you!
.... I should have taken a picture for proof, because I know you guys will never believe me.
Boxes. I have a million boxes on my workbench. Sometimes I think I'll never get it cleaned up and organized.
I did manage to secure the shop vac mount to the garage wall this morning, but I'm too old and feeble to lift it into place. I'll have to wait until my husband gets home from work so he can help me.
Once mounted and re-assembled, I'll be able to start to cut up a bunch of plywood for the various shelves I have planned, and then I can start to straighten up the music room and shop a bit.
Once mounted and re-assembled, I'll be able to start to cut up a bunch of plywood for the various shelves I have planned, and then I can start to straighten up the music room and shop a bit.
Was it buried somewhere in all those words?
I can only half pay attention for about the first sentence and a half. If I don't see pics by then,......
