What did you do today?

[DennisCA]

Smoked a pork butt overnight, small by american standards 3.5lbs but plenty for me. Annoyed that I missed the chance to put some baked beans under the meat to catch the drippings however. That always makes the best damn beans in the world.





Wrap in foil and let rest in coolers for a few hours. Making some vinegar based coleslaw to go with, and some sauce.

[Dan Dubeau]

I picked up an old greens mower (Jacobsen 518) this week and got it running today. Good old Honda, quick clean of the carb and some new gas and it fired right up. Guy I got it from, bought it 15 years ago from a golf course, and never used it. Stored under his deck at his cottage ever since. The reel and bedknife were rusty, but still some meat on them. After I fired it up I engaged the reel to see if spun, and to my surprise everything worked as it should. Soooo, I took a stroll out to the backyard and cut in a quick "green". Obviously a proper grind and backlap are due, but that can wait until the fall/next spring when I've got something proper to cut.




The plan is to build a big double pin green in the middle of the yard, and have 9 tee boxes hitting into it from all directions, ranging from 40 yards to 120. I might be able to get 150 if I knock some scrub trees down. Too late to seed now, so I'll just chip away at building the green over the next couple months, and seed in the fall/spring. Mower needs a bit of cleanup too, and some tweaking. In the meantime it was pretty fun to play a few "holes" tonight hitting into it and by chipping into the hula hoop .

[Cenedd]

Spent the day in the loft clearing out the junk left in it by the previous owners so there was room to put more of our own junk. At some point I think the previous owner had taken advantage (or more like been taken advantage of) one of those government initiatives to insulate your loft. They'd used glass-wool and literally just rolled it over the top of the decking. This stuff's evil. You disturb the stuff and you rapidly end up hacking up a lung. So I was up there in a full-face respirator with my gloves duct-taped onto my sleeves like Edward Fortyhands. Took me the day as I had to do it in quadrants moving the stuff out of one, clearing and then going on to the next but now the part you can (mostly) stand in is clear and it's a lot less noxious place to be. Might pick up some more racking shelves so that it's functional storage rather than dump-it-and-forget-it storage.

[The Metal Butcher]

I was talking to dad today and he's ready to downsize the shop and move woodworking machines back out in the open, so it seems the Sidney lathe, Royersford drill press and the Miller tig will be coming home with me in the next few months.

Looking forward to it.

[Baz]

Had some tinned crab for lunch. Thought it better to have then rather than supper as it said 'best before 3 minutes past eight pm'. (2003)

[J Tiers]

I put a "new" workbench over in the woodshop/grinding area. Am using it and seeing what I like or not. It's a steel frame bench with a wood top. So far I know I need to get a vise for it, but the frame is in the way for the vise I have available. It is also a little light, although it is quite rigid. I have access to a larger vise that I may swipe from its present location. I think that one has the rods low enough to clear the frame.

Current project is a box for all the unused Benchmaster parts, the parts for the horizontal setup, that are not used for the vertical configuration. I got a wood box out of the shed and it looks like it will fit everything. Gonna be a heavy box, I'll need to put some steel strapping around it. Pics later.

[DennisCA]

Oof this was a workout. Coming to the conclusion I need a pair of sturdy sawhorses for the finer hewing, standing bent over isn't very fun for my back.

[danlb]

A 1/2 second power hit left everything in the house alone. Even the clock on the stove was still correct. But the cable box was stuck in a loop that constantly displayed "you are in limited mode" and a couple of lines telling us how they are trying to fix it.

Two calls to spectrum and it was fixed. The online chat "support tech" could only reset the box and tell me to power cycle it. The one I got on the phone (WITHIN 2 Minutes of initiating the call!!!) instantly knew what to do when she heard "power hit" and had the TV working in minutes.

This, my friends, is a miracle.

Dan

[Noitoen]

Oof this was a workout. Coming to the conclusion I need a pair of sturdy sawhorses for the finer hewing, standing bent over isn't very fun for my back.

I would think you should build a trailer wheel band saw. You would waste less wood and energy

[DennisCA]

And after I've spent thousands to make three logs into beams I got a huge bandsaw left over with no place to put it, and I'd sitll be looking for more logs so I can hew them with an axe in the traditional way which was what I wanted to do.

Also all that waste isn't waste, biggest stuff is excellent firewood, for cooking in particular, or starting with. And the smaller stuff is great for garden use, covering soil for instance.

[rwilliams]

Dennis,

Looks straight and flat, good work and exercise. Did you use a caulk line as a guide? I am an old guy; I remember my father, in his late 70's hewing a couple of timbers when I was a kid,. it is amazing what can be done with an axe in good hands.

Bob

[DennisCA]

Thanks, only rough hewn so far, I went over it last night and refined it. And yeah using caulk lines.

I followed the principles in this video (guy prepping a log using medieval methods):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8DD5NQ1L7c

I did use a chainsaw to make the stop cuts however....

[Noitoen]

Thanks, only rough hewn so far, I went over it last night and refined it. And yeah using caulk lines.

I followed the principles in this video (guy prepping a log using medieval methods):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8DD5NQ1L7c

I did use a chainsaw to make the stop cuts however....

Hand cranked type period chain saw?



Just kidding

[Baz]

How about making an adze for finishing - might be less bending over.

[JFLingg]

Something you could build with those timbers, the barn I grew up with in Michigan.

JFLingg