Woodworking Treasures

I'm in the process of cleaning out my workshop of unnecessary stuff that does not add value to the work flow.
A daunting task I might add.

One thing that I will NOT be getting rid of are these wood shavings.
Back in June 2009 I had the pleasure of helping my dad repair the front porch to his house.
These are from the wood shavings that he made while working on this project.
Miss you dad.

Woodworking - Woodworker Hoarding

Here's a little something I put together about a year ago. It kind of goes along with the theme of my most recent video on cleaning up the scrap. I did not make my workshop look like this for the video (but I did kind of make it a little messy-er for the video). For over 90% my workshop really was like this - and many times over in the past. There have been times when I just get busy with stuff and don't take the time to keep it picked up. 


My workshop has been nowhere near this bad since I cleaned up this mess a year ago. However, currently I am feverishly working on getting the workshop in tip top shape. I am removing stuff from the workshop that does not add value to the work flow. Taking things out that I was basically just storing in the workshop for that "someday" when I might need it. No more. It's going into my neighbor's yard. Just kidding - actually I will be finding room for stuff in either my storage shed, in the basement or, if I discern that I simply don't need to hand on to it it's going to get a new home ... somewhere else.


Enjoy!

Cleaning Up Shop

Since I had a floor refinishing job get postponed due to the client having unplanned gal bladder surgery, I had made the commitment to use the time this week to get my shop cleaned up and organized. I dropped the kids off at school Monday morning and was pumped and ready to get some cleaning and organizing done in the shop. Something that is desperately needed.
After a quick stop at the store for some essentials I headed home. Then I had to take care of some auto insurance issues and a couple of other financial matters. Then I headed down stairs.

First thing I had to do was finish some work in the basement. I had recently sealed a crack in the basement wall using an ejected epoxy system that works really well. But it left the wall with a big bump over the crack. I had to grind that down flat, so that the wall mounted cabinets could go back up. Okay, got that done and re-installed the cabinets and did some clean up. Okay, now it's time for lunch and I'm hungry. Can't work like that.

Made a sandwich and then cut the dickens out of the edge of my hand with the CutCo kitchen knife while cutting the sandwich in half. Had to take time and patch that up. It may have been deep enough for stitches as I could see some meat, but I could move my hand just fine. But who needs urgent care when there's plenty of duct tape on hand -

"duct tape on hand" - ha ha, get it? Actually I didn't mean the pun, but it is what it is.

While I'm patching up my hand my neighbor calls. Uh oh. I forgot that I committed to helping him with something. So there went the rest of my day. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Next day - drop the kids off at school. Run to the bank to deposit a down payment on a cabinetry job I just contracted. It has been months since I first estimated this job (storage shelves for a walk-in wine refrigerator), so I then went to re-visit the location where the cabinetry is going in, so that I can re-confirm the available space. After running a couple more necessary errands I was finally back home.

First thing I had to do was to break down a table in the back of the basement that I didn't get to the day before. While doing that I'm wondering why I smell a strong odor of dryer lint. I find that the flexible dryer vent, which I have been planning on replacing with 30 gauge 4" duct work, had leaks and was no longer usable. So I get out the duct work and get this done. It had to be done now. In a household with children not having an operational washer and dryer is a major inconvenience along with not having an operational shower or toilet.
By the time I finished this, my day was shot, but at least it was proDUCTive - ba da bing.

Okay day three now - dropped off the kids at school, ran a few necessary errands and finished this blog entry that I started early this morning ... oh. I'd better get changed into my work cloths and get my butt down stairs now. Oops.

Scrap Wood Cleanup

Okay, So I'm a woodworking hoarder. What woodworker isn't, at least in heart if not in the scrap bin? Recently I was cleaning out the scrap and stuff from my scrap wood storage and found it a difficult process with some tough decisions. However, in an effort to recycle wood scraps and keep them out of the land fill, a lot of the wood ended up with other woodworkers I know in the Cincinnati Woodworking Club and relatively very little actually went out in the trash.
I decided to make a quick, fun video out of the process.
Enjoy!

How to make your own laundry soap!

When this formula for making laundry detergent was shown to me by my in-laws I have to admit that I was skeptical. "Think of how much money we can save!" My wife exclaimed. As enticing as the money savings sounded I still questioned the efficacy of this soap. So I told my wife that we'll wait a little while and see how her sister ends up liking it. In the meantime we went on using the same name brand laundry soap we had been using. In fact we probably spent another $100 or more on laundry soap until I finally decided to give the stuff a try.

I found the process of making the soap very easy, that the soap cleans the laundry very well, that it's actually a hypoallergenic laundry soap, and for less than a half hour of my time I'm saving hundreds of dollars a year on laundry detergent a year.

In addition to offering custom woodwork and floor refinishing services I also like to offer some simple home ec information.

After you check out this video please stop by my web sites and check them out.
www.dogwoodtales.com
www.floorrefinishingcincinnati.com

Upcoming stuff

It's amazing how busy life can be at times. It's hard to keep up with all of the demands of building a business and managing a home. Part of my business includes refinishing hardwood floors and so I've been doing a lot of those lately. It's not glamorous work, but hey it pays some bills! But I haven't stopped working on things for the website - even if it's only stuff I have planned on paper or unedited video files that need to be edited into a final video for publishing. Here are a few things I have in the works.

For starters, I have a video I'm going to put together of a island counter top I made last summer. It's of solid zebra wood. Not only do I have video of the construction process, but I also have video of the subsequent repair process - due to a failure in installation on my part, the counter top split! Yikes! But I got through it and repaired the top. I never had anything like that happen before, and hopefully never will again. But I hope where I can't serve as a good example I can at least serve as a horrible warning and help prevent you from making a similar mistake.



I have some video of other woodworking related things as well, but I'm also venturing out into non-woodworking video content. Let's face it. If you want to watch a video on someone making a wooden toilet seat made of exotic woods with inlay, it's probably out there somewhere (actually, after thinking of that just now I decided to look that up on YouTube and came frighteningly close to finding just that - with that thought in minds I think I'll go ahead and make one, what the hell). So instead of boring you with only woodworking projects, I want to also provide videos packed with useful content for things to help you around the house and whatever else I can think of or come across. One such video I have in the works will show you how you can save a lot of money by making your own laundry detergent. And if you're like me and have more children than the national average you can save hundreds of dollars in a year by making your own laundry detergent.

Well, right now I have three little girls to get to bed. Now you can see why I haven't had a lot of new content in my website in a while.



New, helpful and entertaining content coming very soon!

Making a Tapered Tenon Shoulder

A shop tip that I submitted on Wood magazine's web site a few years back was published in the print addition of Wood Magazine issue #164 September 2005.

It shows an easy way to get an exact fit when cutting tapered tenon shoulders that will match up to tapered legs.

Because it the shop tip is now property of Wood Magazine (since I was paid for the tip), I'm keeping the video exclusive to Woodtube.

Here's the link to the video - enjoy!
http://woodtube.ning.com/video/tapered-tenon-shoulder#