Not as exciting as battling Vader, but I finished a table for my wife. She’s been after me for 5 years to build a farmhouse table. Now she says she needs a matching bench, so look for that in spring 2023.




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Good job.  And keep still about the time line, or my wife will start bugging me again.

I have had plans for the furniture I want to build for twenty years now.

And not this weekend,  but I just signed up for my second attempt at the A100 trail challenge.  100 miles in 50 hours.  Brutal.  Made it 28 miles last year before tapping out with foot issues, but I'm planning to crush it this year.

https://northcountrytrail.org/trail/upcoming-events/special-events/allegheny-100/

Damn.  Good luck, dude.

Biscuit joiners are also things to be loved, for such applications...

I love both my biscuit joiner and my kreg pocket screw jig.  I tend to glue and screw joints in many cases.

The issue I often have using dimension 2X lumber is it tends to warp when I apply a finish.  Have had this happen several times.  May be something to do with the dry Utah climate.

Table looks awesome!

The issue I often have using dimension 2X lumber is it tends to warp when I apply a finish.  Have had this happen several times.  May be something to do with the dry Utah climate.

If you watch your grain profiles. Then you can help control/plan for warping many times. Oklahoma gets the best of all worlds with high humidity, low humidity, high heat and low heat, and it all changes within hours sometimes.

When I was a kid we had an old, rough farmhouse table in the meat house made with oak slabs for the top and frame, locust post legs and the whole thing was held together with hand cut tapered pins.   You probably couldn't have broken it short of hitting it with a truck.

My grandfather really liked splines for quick and dirty work on panels for rough use.

He used dovetails for most of his joints. I just cannot do dovetails at the rate he did them. He could do a whole chest of drawers in the time it takes me to do 1 or 2 drawers. There is something about that 50 years of practice.

God forbid, but if there ever was a technology reset (nuclear, EMP, etc.), those of us who survive will really be dependent on those who were old enough to know, or those who were lucky enough to have been taught, those 19th and early 20th century skills.

I have no fine woodworking skills, but was lucky enough to grow up in a family of people who work with metal - machinists, fabricators and such.  I picked up much of that.  Comes in handy with firearms, too.  If I can't find a part, I can usually make it - even without a computer controlling the process.  Slow, but in a post-Apocalyptic world, slow will be the norm.

I think of my grandfather's shop equipment back in the Depression.  Everything, including his metal lathe and vertical mill, ran on batteries charged by wind power.  The small windmill was connected to an automotive generator which charged a group of 12 volt batteries that supplied the power.  Also supplied lighting to work at night.  Fitting, of course, was done entirely by hand.

Agreed.  If you have never gone to an antique farm equipment show it is worth the time and effort to do so.  Seeing old steam powered equipment in operation is a jaw dropping experience for most and almost guaranteed to put a grin on the face of every child ( regardless of age ) within earshot of a steam whistle.   

Watching everything from tractors to threshers and sawmills run without so much as a single watt of electric power gives you some idea what our ancestors did for a living and how tough it actually was.  It amounts to a snapshot of the industrial revolution.  Valuable knowledge indeed in the event of a societal collapse and reversion to previous levels of technology.

Makes one wonder how far steam punk could go if electricity, for whatever reason, was no longer an option .

Just remember, the beginning of the industrial revolution was all done on steam.

Awesome. 

Joonas.. hmm...

The issue I often have using dimension 2X lumber is it tends to warp when I apply a finish.  Have had this happen several times.  May be something to do with the dry Utah climate.

2x lumber is not dried to a very low moisture content.  That can be (and is) one reason it moves once it starts drying out.  Another reason may be if you only finish 'the sides you see,' neglecting the back/bottom/ends.  It makes the board 'unbalanced,' and will contribute to warpage.

3/24/2018
CDB at Ga Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawasee
for an 82 year old, Charlie still rocks!  (sorry about the crappy cell phone photo)
and then the drive home the next morning