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What's On Your Workbench?
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
So I'm back from our big shindig at the NHRA NW-Nationals here at our local drag strip. Hopefully I can get back to my bench now. I really need to focus on that Tele build. 
For those not familiar, my wife has been volunteering on the "turn around crew" for a very long time. I think she started in 2007, according to her collection of "NHRA Official" hats. the turn around crew are a bunch of volunteers who roll up the parachutes, push cars out of the way and all that jazz down at the "top end" of the strip as the cars come off the track. It's a pretty thankless job, but you do get to be there when they climb out of the car after a win and see the excitement up close. -
It's kind of a "behind the scenes" side of the NHRA that most people never see. Me? I'm old and fat so I'm not rolling up parachutes in the hot sun all day, no thank you. What I can do is cook!
So I volunteer to be the crew chef! luckily my day job affords me access to some really cool cooking equipment, so I set up a little makeshift camp kitchen at our trailer! -
Oh, here's the camp setup.... the green one is my father-in-law's trailer and the Cyclone is mine (yes, I'm aware it needs a bath) -
And a gratuitous shot of me grilling up some chicken for tacos! (I feel like @BassCliff would have appreciated this photo) -
You also get to be at the track "after hours" and "before hours", so you get to be around for moments when nobody else is there -
Over the years I've run into random NHRA stars during the off hours times for private photo ops and interactions. When you get to sit with Antron Brown and compare your head and neck restraint and helmets, it's pretty cool.
Anyways, it was a fun weekend, but I need to get back to my bench now. It's currently covered in drip irrigations supplies for my garden, which I've neglected for almost a week now so that'll take some time tonight I'm sure!
For those not familiar, my wife has been volunteering on the "turn around crew" for a very long time. I think she started in 2007, according to her collection of "NHRA Official" hats. the turn around crew are a bunch of volunteers who roll up the parachutes, push cars out of the way and all that jazz down at the "top end" of the strip as the cars come off the track. It's a pretty thankless job, but you do get to be there when they climb out of the car after a win and see the excitement up close. -
It's kind of a "behind the scenes" side of the NHRA that most people never see. Me? I'm old and fat so I'm not rolling up parachutes in the hot sun all day, no thank you. What I can do is cook!
So I volunteer to be the crew chef! luckily my day job affords me access to some really cool cooking equipment, so I set up a little makeshift camp kitchen at our trailer! - Oh, here's the camp setup.... the green one is my father-in-law's trailer and the Cyclone is mine (yes, I'm aware it needs a bath) -
And a gratuitous shot of me grilling up some chicken for tacos! (I feel like @BassCliff would have appreciated this photo) -
You also get to be at the track "after hours" and "before hours", so you get to be around for moments when nobody else is there -
Over the years I've run into random NHRA stars during the off hours times for private photo ops and interactions. When you get to sit with Antron Brown and compare your head and neck restraint and helmets, it's pretty cool.
Anyways, it was a fun weekend, but I need to get back to my bench now. It's currently covered in drip irrigations supplies for my garden, which I've neglected for almost a week now so that'll take some time tonight I'm sure!
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Well, the Stanley No.32 is finally ready to join the fleet.
After completing the replacement tote and flattening the bed and sides I gave both several coats of BLO followed by several more of paste wax. The iron, as is typical of a 100+ year old plane, needed a fair amount of grinding to get past some previous mistreatment but it was otherwise a pretty routine restoration.
I tested it out by straightening out a scrap piece of butternut and another of oak. It cuts beautifully.
It’s pretty seldom I’m likely to need a plane this big. At 26” long it’s a little like using a school bus to smooth a board but it’s a lot lighter than a cast iron plane and it actually handles very comfortably.
Now I just need to figure out where I can stow more planes in the shop. I also need to cool it on planes for a little while and get some other work done.
After completing the replacement tote and flattening the bed and sides I gave both several coats of BLO followed by several more of paste wax. The iron, as is typical of a 100+ year old plane, needed a fair amount of grinding to get past some previous mistreatment but it was otherwise a pretty routine restoration.
I tested it out by straightening out a scrap piece of butternut and another of oak. It cuts beautifully.
It’s pretty seldom I’m likely to need a plane this big. At 26” long it’s a little like using a school bus to smooth a board but it’s a lot lighter than a cast iron plane and it actually handles very comfortably.
Now I just need to figure out where I can stow more planes in the shop. I also need to cool it on planes for a little while and get some other work done.
So this was on my workbench this morning:
This is a DOD volume pedal. The instructions say that once the feet are removed, the pedal is "pedalboard friendly". I think not. The two adjustment screws pointed to in the pic protrude at least a 1/4" below the bottom of the pedal, preventing a good seal between the velcro, and causing the pedal to rock side to side. So I made a plastic spacer.
Here it is attached to the bottom of the pedal. Screws no longer protruding below the surface. I could have used 1/4" plexiglass instead of the 3/8", but it was what I had.
On the board:
and a side view:
Sits just high enough so my foot doesn't activate adjacent pedal buttons.
This is a DOD volume pedal. The instructions say that once the feet are removed, the pedal is "pedalboard friendly". I think not. The two adjustment screws pointed to in the pic protrude at least a 1/4" below the bottom of the pedal, preventing a good seal between the velcro, and causing the pedal to rock side to side. So I made a plastic spacer.
Here it is attached to the bottom of the pedal. Screws no longer protruding below the surface. I could have used 1/4" plexiglass instead of the 3/8", but it was what I had.
On the board:
and a side view:
Sits just high enough so my foot doesn't activate adjacent pedal buttons.
That’s the real reason you used 3/8” plastic vs. 1/4” plexi. You planned it all along.
Yes, it's a volume pedal, and the entire top surface pivots front to back, which adjusts the volume from off to full. It replaced the Dunlap volume pedal which works the same way, but was just too long to fit on the board properly.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I'm struggling to keep the pedals on this board all top connectors. Though the tuner is the biggest problem. I'm not impressed with that Korg tuner, and am very close to swapping it with my Peterson (which has side mounted jacks). There are just no other top jack mounted tuners out there that I can find, that are any good.
Ugh, just discovered that Peterson released a mini tuner with, you guess it, top mounted jacks.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I considered getting one, but my pedal train is already too long!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
For several years now, my daughter has been into wool. She has a spinning wheel, knows about sheep breeds, and has books on knitting patterns from various ages and regions. Now she wants a Yarn Swift, which is a device for making a fresh hank of wool into a thread. If you can't picture that, think of holding your hands up for hours with a growing amount of wool around them. The Yarn Swift is a rotating device taking the place of your hands.
Yarn Swifts are surprisingly expensive, so she decided she'd build her own, although she's never done any woodworking. This, of course, is where I come in.
So here she is in my workshop, using saws, chisels, and other things for the first time. She showed herself attentive and eager to learn. Also, during our tea break she tried learning the Rubik's cube!
We didn't finish today, so she'll be back later this week. To be continued...
Yarn Swifts are surprisingly expensive, so she decided she'd build her own, although she's never done any woodworking. This, of course, is where I come in.
So here she is in my workshop, using saws, chisels, and other things for the first time. She showed herself attentive and eager to learn. Also, during our tea break she tried learning the Rubik's cube!
We didn't finish today, so she'll be back later this week. To be continued...
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,004
- 1
- 31,699
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
I installed/hacked my old kitchen cabinets in my garage..
My daughter visited me again and finished her yarn swift.
Not exactly workshop trousers. Oh well.
In addition to the hand tools, I let her work the band saw and the drill press. She did this in the best way: attentive, calm, focused. Always asking the relevant questions. Never did it seem to me as if it would go wrong. And it didn't.
I didn't take any photos of her on those machines, as I was focused as well.
Here's the finished yarn swift. Imagine the hank of freshly shaved wool attached on the side. The thread is pulled from that, and wound onto the swift. She promised to share a video of this process, which I will of course share with you here.
Not exactly workshop trousers. Oh well.
In addition to the hand tools, I let her work the band saw and the drill press. She did this in the best way: attentive, calm, focused. Always asking the relevant questions. Never did it seem to me as if it would go wrong. And it didn't.
I didn't take any photos of her on those machines, as I was focused as well.
Here's the finished yarn swift. Imagine the hank of freshly shaved wool attached on the side. The thread is pulled from that, and wound onto the swift. She promised to share a video of this process, which I will of course share with you here.
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