I feel like a man with a new suit, shoes, shirt and tie! It doesn’t happen very often but I shut down the shop and went through all the major machines, not just one or two. I now have sharp blades on everything, all at the same time, no less. Sent out a half dozen saw blades, jointer blades, planer blades, even bought a new blade for the bandsaw and cleaned out the dust collector.
Had a bit of frustration with the planer. The cutting head and table were out of parallel just a hair. It’s one of those deals where you have to remove the chain that lifts the cutterhead on the four posts, move the gear on the post, one cog at a time, and then get the chain and idler back on without moving anything. I had to work by feel since I wasn’t about to turn the beast up side down so I could see. Must have taken 15 times to get it right but I finally got it.
It won’t last long but it sure is nice to have everything tuned up and sharp. I don’t have to search for a sharp spot on the jointer that isn’t nicked. Even replaced a couple of flourescent bulbs that were burned out or flickering. I’m smiling to see my stack of saw blades dressed in protctive wax, just waiting to go to work when I need them. I might even sweep the floor and clear off some accumulated junk so I can see the bench top, but I don’t want to get too carried away.
Replies
Hi Hammer
Now your'e done. how would you like to come and visit me?
I occasionally have these moments and as you say the feeling is great.
wot
I would love to come visit you, Wot, never been in that part of the world. It must be incredibly beautiful. I just made some parts for my brother in laws sailboat, wonder if he would let me borrow it for a few months.
Music
What, you changed the flourescent bulbs that were flickering... Now what will you do for music?
Me next ! Though I have to say after reading the sharpeningmicorbevelbackbevel dialog, every plane was resharpened and every chisel as well. Nice new concave grinds, back lapped, and bevel and micro on em all. Suddenly, I don't feel like a dullard at all!
Morgan
A while back I hooked up some old speakers in the shop along with Sirius radio and an iPod. Those lights just were not always in the groove.
I think I should send you my chisels, Morgan. I'd be cutting wood like butter
Is it best to cook it or eat it raw ?
I wanna know what you been eating. Sounds like it gives ya' energy. Any side effects ?
It must be spring fever, roc. That and the fact I had pushed everything just shy of smoking.
First.. congratulations! I do a shop maintenance after every project (average two months but dust bins as soon as they need it) which takes about two days total. Kind of like cutting grass.. if you don't let it get knee deep you can mow quickly enought without having to pull out the John Deere with a bush-hob pulled behind it. lol
Regards...
My shop is pretty small, Sarge. I'm forced to keep everything in it's place because there aren't any other places! I filled my large shop vac 3 1/2 times today running a router table. I can tell when it's full, the chips start flying at me, usually one foot into an eight foot piece.
Glad you avoided smoking. Going out of fashion. Bad for ya
> must be spring fever<
Ah. Thank God !
Truth be told I was NOT looking forward to trading in my coffee and pastries power food shop breakfast for spirolina and slimy raw crustaceans , humming bird livers or some such.
Although I have heard that a diet regularly supplemented with humming bird livers gives one an uncanny ability to sharpen without a honing jig.
hummingbirds
I have a hummingbird nesting atop my porch light again this year. I spoke to it about a potential liver contribution, and it expressed grave concern about the effect of such a contribution on its health insurance.
FUNNY SAWDUST
Hi roc
Dunno about eating roc, I think he has been smoking some funny sawdust.
wot
Just the opposite, Wot. With new blades I'm not smoking anymore.
I actually started my sawdust making career not far from you, Forestgirl, in Oregon. I'm going to ride that Pacific coast highway again one of these days, maybe this fall.
It's nice to have a 'ready to go' shop.. I hope that you left alittle sawdust on the floor so you do not feel 'out of place' in the shop..
As to the bench top (and sometimes the top of my tablesaw) get so cluttered I just go back into the house and listen to music rather than find all the objects 'proper place'...
I think I may put my bench and table saw on a platform with a hydraulic lift (like a dump-truck) that will automatically dump the contents, on either, every hour. I have a concrete floor so it would may remind me to 'PUT AWAY MY TOOLS!
Will, I have honeycomb rubber mats on my concrete floor, they have saved my tools a few times. Another advantage is you don't have to sweep the floor until the holes in the mats are all filled, that takes a while!
Great Feeling
Having cleaned and reorganized my shop just recently, I know the feeling. I try to maintain a 6-month maintenence schedule (January and July) to clean up machines, wax table tops, lube moving parts, check wear and alignment, etc).
While your tools surely won't stay sharp, hopefully they will hold alignment.
I could use a shop reorganization, Chris, but despite the clutter, I know where everything is, most of the time. Maintenence, waxing, sharpening happens quite frequently in my shop but I don't think I've ever had everything with new blades at the same time. Of course, my bliss came with a $189 sharpening bill but I should be set for a spell.
Organized Mess
I know what you mean about know finding stuff among clutter. What I hate is when I organize, then no longer am able to find things. Aaargh!
$189? Rest in comfort knowing that new blades for my DW735 cost $90 locally, or $250 for Infinity carbides.
I remodeled and rearranged our kitchen last year. I still open the wrong cupboard for my coffee cup in the morning!
It took some time but I learned to put every tool back in it's spot as soon as I finished using it, even if I would use it again in a few minutes. Nothing worse than spending 20 minutes looking for something you just had 2 seconds ago. A few items have been painted day glo orange, like my bench brush. It can still disappear if I don't put it back on the hook.
I got quite a bit done for my money, 6 15" planer blades, 7 10" blades of varying tooth configurations and count. It's those 80 tooth blades that add up with pricing by the tip. I thought I had an extra sharpened set of planer blades but the extras were used and I fogot to send them out. Kudos to Alpha Carbide for getting it all back to me the same week. I"ve had some great customer service from many places, lately.
I need to do much the same thing. Thanks for the inspiration. Now, for the perspiration. ;-)
Just try to keep your cool, Ralph, if one of your machines won't cooperate with adjustments. I had to walk away from my planer in the middle of it for a minute, but I prevailed.
Murphy's Law
The odds that your planer blades with find that staple hidden in the edge of a board increase in direct proportion to how recently you've sharpened the blades. I only tuned up and sharpen one tool at a time to spread my frustration over dulling them evenly over time as I could not deal with everything going dull on the same day.
And as far as tuning up all the tools and cleaning the shop all in the same day......Simply out of the question. I would get distracted at some point and start building something.
I am definitely not the sharpest tool in my shop.
Bret
Hush your mouth, Brett. It just so happens I did find a staple in the edge of a board yesterday but it only cost me a bandaid. I only tuned and sharpened, didn't say anything about cleaning up. If I did that, I'd be afraid to do anything and mess it up.
Trip around the world
Hammer:
With all the people that would like your help with their power tools, including me, you could work your way around the world. We would all be glad to see you.
Jim
My memory's good, it's just short.
I stand corrected....although you did mention emptying the dust collector
Bret
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