Wensday's update

Didn't get to far on the kayak today, put on two more courses and filled in the bow area. The weather was just to nice to stay inside wile the forecast calls for lots of yuck. so we went fishing for the afternoon and enjoyed some sunshine. to bad i got the truck stuck and spent all my time shoveling....

Tuesdays update

Today I didn't make as much progress as I wanted. Had a couple of distractions and a trip to town to run some errands. Beveling the strips take a little more time than I planned. I am using an old Stanly block plane that has seen better days. The shoe is flat but the iron was dull so I ran it through the grinder just to brighten it up a bit. It has been a long time since I set one of those up so there was a bit of a learning curve. So here I am, three rows up the hull, first two are cedar and the third is walnut. The walnut is a pain because everything is warped badly, I have to straighten and splice a lot.

Here we go...

Ok, things are going good in the shop today. I have taken the week off and am concentrating on the kayak. I spent most of today just cleaning up previous messes and getting things ready for the next project. I did manage to get one sheer strip on, kind of tricky, you need to bevel the connection between the deck and the hull. Looks like I still need to make some adjustments. I am finding that I need more clamps (who doesn't) and one of those fancy pull saws would be cool.

The design is a Great Auk by Nick Schade, who also wrote "the strip-built sea kayak" book i am using for a reference.

Observations

It is difficult to photograph the first real snow of the year with today’s cameras. With the auto focus and flashes the picture never turns out the way you see it. A picture can never capture the quiet, the closeness or the lazy way the big flakes wander to the ground. Defining shadows are washed out and the world is blanketed in soft slumber. The leaves are gone, the grass is gone, and the evidence of human meddling is hidden for another season. The air feels fresh and although the visibility is reduced, the clarity of our surroundings is sharp with contrasting white and black. As the depth increases even the large objects of our daily lives take on new perspective as mounds and shapes change from mundane to fantasy. For a short time the expanse lays undisturbed, free from tracks and smooth from the breeze driven snow, waiting.

Changes

196 days or so until the South Dakota Kayak Challenge. A 72 mile race down the mighty Missouri river between Yankton SD and Sioux City IA....
as of right now..... I'm not ready..

new ideas

im working on a new marketing idea that might be great for our area. ill let you know if it works..

Fall Update

the shop is quiet for a little while, we are putting the yard to bed for the winter. Fixing - painting - caulking - cleaning... all those things that need to be done before ol man winter starts blowing from the north.......soon, i hope, ill have things ready to fire up the tools and start building stuff again. the list of stuff to do is getting longer...

Another Etsy Project

I took on a custom project through Etsy, this lady asked for 100 crafty style 1/2" thick cutouts in various shapes. I do love my bandsaw, its a beautiful thing. I have them all cutout and am now doing the final sanding. Then a shot of primer, drill a hole and off they go..

Disapointment

The weather was not cooperating this weekend, with 90% humidity, i was afraid that if i cut dovetails into my next box, when it dried out the joints would be to loose... so I'm waiting for things to stabilize a bit.

How to Build a Box

Start out with a board

cut it into pieces

cut some dovetails and sand untill board

glue it all together and apply a finish of your choice

add hardware and vola! you are done!

nice job, can we do it again?

Complete the Deck..... Check!

ok is a project ever really finished? i still have a couple of lights to install and to tear down the brown fence. and i might tweak the post heights to give it more flair, and im thinking a step might be important.... but other than that.... im done!

Time to Play

This summer the main objective was to fix or replace about 10 siding boards on the house. We have some rotting going on in a couple of places and we need to plug the holes. So as long as we are doing that, we might as well put a fresh coat of paint on as well. And you know if you are going to paint the walls you should paint the soffits, and a couple of the fascia boards need to be replaced. That, of course, leads into the leaking gutters that should be taken down and repaired/replaced and painted as needed. In order to get the scaffolding to sit level around the front entry area, we have to build the deck that we have purchased the material for last year. Just the plain deck isn't good enough without a fancy hand rail, that we can install and then, tear down the fence that blocks all of the snow in front of the door every winter.

I think I'm going to pick up a 12 pack of Linnies and go fishing!

Summer Time

Summer is here and the projects are coming fast and furious. i had to rebuild my sheep trailer, chop up a tree that fell down in the yard, started painting the house, new deck going in. a couple of projects for a couple of friends, and then through in a vacation and camping weekends.... whew it might be winter by the time i get back in the shop!

Shop Time

the wife and kid are off playing for the weekend and have left me to my own devices.. woo hoo! so im firing up the shop, packing some sandwiches and no one will see me until sunday night! i have some fence orders to fill and perhaps i can spend a little time on the kayak.... have a good weekend, i know i will!

Maintance

being a happy home owner there have been a few things i have had to take care of, i know its just life, but it sure keeps me from playing with some fun stuff... shower head needs repair, snow blower needs gear replaced, scout wouldn't start, gotta hang curtain rods. gotta make more kindling and haul firewood. everything is starting to melt so we have water issues everywhere. gotta start plans for 3 different projects... good thing daylight savings time starts soon, im gunna need all i can get...

Slow Day

not much going on in the shop for now, we are setting up for 4-H lambs and the wife is working on a new piority list for me. somehow i dont think that the kayak will make it to the top of that list.

Feburary

Its farm show time again and i think im going to submit this box in the adult division. bman has been to busy to put anything together so im going to give it a shot. the etsy shop has been pretty slow after christmas, but i am enjoying the break. i need to finish some work items for the booth my office mans during the farm show week. not much else going on, we are working on an built in entertainment center plans.. we will see how that turns out..

January 2010

what a lovely time of year, as the temperature plummets into the ludicrous zone, i am planning on revamping the ETSY shop with new products and hopefully new techniques that should sell a little better. i still have a few custom projects to do for friends and relatics, and i swear on a stack of bibles that I'm going to finish the kayak this year!