Keeping busy in a Snow Armageddon

 Last Friday January 7th we had our first snow storm of the year, it dumped 30 cm, this past Friday January 14 we got another one which brought us 41 cm of snow. 

Better not be another one this next Friday...

Last time I was not well prepared, should had my snow blower serviced.  This time I remembered it on Wed morning called them to pick it up and they delivered it back Thursday PM. in time for this one. 

Checked it out in my driveway, pushed back the snow banks, checked out Jean on starting/operations, got gas, storm beers, chips and dog treats.  Ready Aye Ready

Good thing cause this one was a whooper.

You know it was windy when you find snow at the door.

Also mean door wont open until I clear snow in front.

The old one piece swinging door

Looking out the garage door window.

Hum yeah, need to clear some snow

Garage door makes a poor shovel, have to clear it.

And we are off to snow banks.

Bring it on!

21 inch high bucket plus snow banks cutter, about 26 inch high

 and still snowbanks towering above.  No sweat :-)

The front entrance 

Typical of the paths I cleared around the property 

for the greenhouse, sheds and dogs trails :-)

About the height of the bucket a good 21 inch everywhere

With big gusty winds up to 90 kmh, we got higher drifts.

 Very happy with that snow blower, its a big snow beast.  Ariens Deluxe Made in USA, thick strong steel, heavy duty transmission, twin belts driven arg arg arg.   It will do :-)

Compared to my older one (Yard Works, green) I lost 2 inches on the bucket width (28 versus 30 in) and some in height .  Engine is a bit smaller 12.5 HP versus 13HP for the old one, but it is more aggressive due to its auger shape. Electric start, a concession for Jean but it start easy and smoothly on the first pull.

Meanwhile...

I was impressed by Ralph results cleaning his plane's depth brass adjuster with ZEP citrus cleaner, so I got some and gave it a try.

The specimen I picked, untouched, as received.

It is from a Union No 4 plane

 

Dump some in a cup to completely submerged it.

I keep a loose fitting lid just to prevent mess and slow down evaporation

This is the crud left from my brass adjuster

After a few hours soaking, blotted and quick look

Some scrubbing with a brass brush and put back in to soak

Left overnite, taken out, dried with a towel and given a quick hand brushing all over.

Pretty easy and impressive results.  Recommended.

Sparkling clean effortlessly, it's a keeper

Would shine to a high buff.

Shown besides new shiny brass on my miter gauge. 

Lately two of my newer LED light fixtures failed.  Not too impressive, one not quite one year old the other maybe 2 or 3 years, start to flash intermittently then went out.

They were both about Cdn $50 each, not cheap :-(

I liked them, lots of lights, bought 3 of the folding arms variety, 2 in the storage room and one providing main illumination in the middle of my shop.

The light fixtures in question.

The Tri-wing came from storage side, the one with big reflector 

was over my built in bench in the shop

Date code Nov 2020, not even a year in service.

That one has a date code of Apr 2016 but was purchased later

 and installed a few years later.

About 3 years service?

Lets have a look at the Tri-wing first.

That one just quitted suddenly.

Double sided circuit boards.

No physical damages apparent, no loose components. 

A few questionable solder connections perhaps, reworked.

I could not read the part numbers on the ICs, the flash revealed them.

It has a 5 Amp fuse at the input, it does test short :-)

After reassembly and testing I noticed the difficulty of tightening solidly the lamp into the socket.

Something seems to be turning loose and wont tighten.

Oh yes, see one of the wire turning into a pigtail?

The one on the side does not move when I rotate the metal socket sleeve. Huhhh?

So cut the wires and take apart socket

Wow, the connection is by friction when screwing in the metal sleeve,

 which is then poorly crimped to prevent rotation and getting loose when screwing/unscrewing 

 into the ceiling fixture socket.  Fail!

How did the other made out?  It did start intermittent flashing before finally quitting.

That one has only 3 screws covered in some caulking to prevent unauthorized entry :-)

Easily defeated for access.  Not much room on the wiring

Single sided PCB,

Again nothing look damaged

Also fused, which also test short :-)

Founding nothing out of place, put it back together and tried.

It now start to flash again, but it seems to have a regularity to it.

Bad Capacitors??

Put them asides, I may or may not get back to it later.  Very, very low priority...

Clearing everything of snow took most of Saturday, Sunday we were both tired and a bit sore.

We both took turns shoveling and snow blowing.

Not much happened in the shop, mostly putting stuff away...

and start making plans for next shop remodel projects, got some ideas percolating in the brain bucket.

Bob,  who survived snow Armageddon 2022 part 2 

Finishing my French cleats project

 Last nite I finally got my rows under the window, the ones under the boring till will have to wait, I decided on some changes, which will required longer cleats and different holders. 

Thinking I should make a holder for my cordless drill and Impact driver.  That would also required a power outlet to be added nearby.

Put them on then loaded them with a few holders.

When I made the holders I gave no attention to their lengths, I simply used whatever piece of scrap wood leftover fit the bill for whatever application I was doing.  That resulted in a varieties of holder length, which may or may not fit side by sides on same row.  That would not be much of a problem if I was covering a large surface like a wall, but I have dedicated, rather not too long spaces.  The cleats under the window are my longest so far at 40 inch.  The one over the hobby bench are 36 inch and the ones that were to go under the boring till are 26 inch.

Looking at the space under the window: 

The top three holders happened to fit side by side along the 40 inch cleat, purely by luck.

This wont be the setup I will keep, I am just trying various holders to get a sense of their ideal height and what space they would required around.

For example, the holder I made for my English cabinet maker screwdrivers required lots of space above and below.  The screwdrivers are inserted and removed from the top only. Brilliant design choice :-)

Those I will need near the bench so maybe in a different location??

The opened end holder can hold a lot of different tools, some better some wobbly.  Depends on the tool shape and the hole sizes/spacing

A variety of holders, both open ended and closed.

The Cabinet maker screwdriver one has good spacing, but it is a dedicated holder.

The closed one on top is a bit wasteful in space for screwdrivers.  

It was made years ago to hold file/rasps.

The small stubby screwdriver's one is also dedicated and hold them securely with good spacing.

The open end one can hold a variety of tools easily but depending on their handles shape can get a tad crowded.  The hole is too big to hold my socket chisels by the socket.

 

The dedicated hammers and mallets holders are very solid, I like how the tools goes in and out.  Just need to find the right height, in multiples of 4 inches due to the 2 inch cleats being spaced 2 inches apart.

Resting on my lower cleats.

It barely clear the bench. and the 24 Oz framing hammer does not.

Not that I need it around my bench anyway :-)

I am starting to notice a trend in white primer paint spots on my banging tools.

Humm, due for a clean up :-)

Tried the mallet holder on the next upper cleats.

Would be too high to fit under the boring till, where it used to live.

But would be fine on the lower one.

Looking at it, I think I will add one or more lower cleats

In order to install my cleats I had to removed a few holders that were screwed on the side of both tills.

Those would need relocating, perhaps new holders?

Then I must also finished my marking gauges holder.  I want that one to be self supporting on the bench once removed from the wall.  But first I have a boo boo to fix on it.

Had a end piece of walnut which makes beautiful small pieces of inlays 

with the right grain orientation.

I knew I kept it all these years for a reason :-)

I eyeballed them to be all about the thickness of the blade.

My bright plan is to inlay a border around the square hole

which I screw up in a NY minute with an errand jig saw cut.  Oups!

Don't have too, but want to.

Once I fix (hide) that screw up, I will need to figured out the size and shape of the side pieces to make it standing up on its own on the bench.  Again, don't have to, but want to.

I usually used a "few" gauges throughout a project, which means they need a place to go nearby.

That holder does not have to hold all my gauges, that would take the whole space under the window :-)

but rather a small assortment, and when I say small I mean roughly 10?

It is also a nice piece of figured maple, so I'll do something nice for it.  NO idea what that would look yet.  Must first look into my offcuts boxes.

Finally, since I have some extra 26 inches cleats, may as well put them somewhere else.

But where ?? 

So all in all, I think it's safe to say I'm done with that project moving on ... :-)

Off course I'm joking, it is never done around here.  Always tweaking rearranging.

I reckon I should have my shop reorganization completed by the time I reach my 80s or there about :-)

My next big projects in my shop are:

Find a better place to store some of my wood and take down that built in bench

That would give me space for a shaving horse and a Morovian bench 

Finished my drill post installation

Build more plane tills

Come up with some sort of drill bits storage.  The boring auger bits till I was using, a recycled spoon rack, is too wasteful in spaces. 

Then, coming up in the garage:  Bring in 220V, insulate, replaced garage doors, built in storage etc, etc

Should keep me occupied for a while, but the next big projects are replacing the carpet by hardwood flooring in dining/living room and building a new rear deck.  These two were awaiting the French Door installation, recently done.

Meanwhile

Another storm is about to hit us tonight.  That one is throwing out the whole enchiladas or the kitchen sink of weather at us.  Rain, icing rain, snow up to 40 Cm, 90 km/h winds then ice pellets.

I am better prepared this time.  My snow blower got picked up for service Wed AM and delivered back to me Thursday PM.  Thank you Greenwood Rentals.  My official caretaker on my small gas engines  since I came back here in 2011. 

Snow Checked Serviceable, I'm happy 

Bob, who needs more cleats and holders.  Oh, and storm beers 

Some cleats are up, a few more holders completed

 Been working on it, tweaking, choosing and cutting back boards, gluing, screwing etc. getting there.

Today we started home schooling with the grandkids, so I had to make some room downstairs.  They cannot sit beside each others doing two different classes, hence why I must vacate some of my sprawl downstairs.

Finally got my cleats up on the hobby bench area, then finished a bunch of holders and try them on.

The area in question.

Tried the first holders I finished.

3 cleats plus a top square piece

You can see this one has a bit short back board.

it was designed to be screwed on the wall.

Still plenty solid.

With my two inch spacings of 2 inch cleats, I made my board 

to span one or two cleats for support.

Then I tried various holders.

Tried various spacings from too wide to too tight.

But depending on tools put in, works about right.

The cabinet maker screwdriver one is a dedicated one.

The others are more general. 

I like it, works as I intended.  Now, I will probably make a few more holders of all sort and put more French cleats around.

But first must finished the ones in progress.

Then there is my workbench area that need clearing out so I can access the wall and I need to find my stud finder.

The cleats have been acclimating downstairs

for a while, they are ready to go up.

Meanwhile, I picked my stuff and tidy up the corner for home schooling 

Last nite had a bunch of parts glued and pined

Compressor, hose, nail guns, table covered in auger bits.

There you go, all cleared :-)

If you read this far, sent wine...

Whish us luck :-)

Bob, making visible progress, we can walk around the furniture downstairs :-)

Small weather related detour but back on track

 My French cleats projects has been rudely interrupted by a good old Canadian Nor Easter snow storm.

The kind that spins around and bite you in the ass.  A suivre tomorrow...

Where I left off, I had sanded flushed the sides of my first three tool holders with the disk sander.

I spray them with a coat of satin polyurethane and then decided to make the older holders reversible.

That is I will not be gluing the backing board and cleat on it, just screwed.  That way, I can reversed them later on.  Back to screw on the wall, peg board or French cleats.

My 10 holders in progress.

Some new some recycled.

Tried loading my drill accessories holder to see 

if it stay balanced standing on its own.

Ground Checked Serviceable.

We had great weather Wed and Thurs so I used that time to clean and spray painted my cast iron bench parts.  Its a messy job to cleaned, so I needed good weather to do it outside.  

It went up to plus 8 C .

So cleaned up my pieces outside

Then moved them up front, following the sun

When I went to flip them to spray the other side, 

the sky had turned and it started to rain.

So I retreated my sophisticated paint booth inside

Of course the pieces I had to move had fresh paint. I had some paper towels 

left in my pocket, so I thought I would use it not to leave unsightly fingerprints.

Worked like a charm, you will never notice the finger prints.  Doh!

But then Friday, back in winter, the temperatures dropped quickly and a good old nor Easter winter storm moved in.  Our first snow storm of the year, yeah...

Went out twice during the storm to clear the snow on the greenhouse

Between the snow loads and the gusting winds to 90 kms,

she did pretty good

I could had swear I clear that deck not long ago???

A good 10 inch before going to bed.

Power fluctuated a few times, just long enough 

to screws up a bunch of clocks around the house.

I gave up resetting them till morning.

This morning after the storm

More than 10 inch of snow

12 inches in my foot steps

In Canada, a Friend with Benefits is a neighbour with a pick up truck and a plow :-)

The dogs inspecting our progress.

No, the snow blower did not start.

Due for service, I knew that, but was thinking fresh gas should do it.

Nope, i'll get it pick up and service :-)

It's OK, snow blower, you rest, I got this

One hour and a half later, got her done.

Got to pace myself at my age :-)

The turn around space will need widening, but can wait for the snow blower 

That done, back to my tool holders.

During the storm, I had previously cut all the backing boards and made two new cleats pieces for the holders I had. Today I glued the backing boards to the cleats.  Later they will be screwed to the holders.

A bunch of them glued, two awaiting more work .  

I glued and pinned (23 ga) the backing on the cleats then clamped them.

Tomorrow I'll install my cleats and take it from there.

Getting there.

Tomorrow Sunday we are going back into Spring, plus 6C or so, then back into artic cold.

You gotta love Canadian winters :-)

Bob, living the retirement life in his igloo :-)