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No sir. That one’s not in my arsenal. Picked up the jack plane at a woodworking swap meet and it didn’t leave my grasp for about 6 hours today. Did however get a hand held belt sander a few weeks ago for $5 at an estate sale and that’s gonna see some use this week.

Okay. I now feel a WHOLE lot better about the panel glue up I did yesterday after spending HOURS today leveling it off with the Jack plane (on both sides). Keep in mind, this is a 4 foot by 6 foot panel of 2 inch thick red oak so I had to stop multiple times to sharpen the iron and I’m super sore, but I’m also super relieved. The ridges are all gone and now I just have a few minor high spots remaining to knock down. I’ve begun sanding and that’s what I’ll be doing for many more days in progressive grits (the panel and the legs and aprons I’ve already cut and fit all need sanding and finishing).

I’ve had a very positive experience taking this route, too

Yes One of the first investments I made in this endeavor was a quality sharpening system

Yes. My chisels are extremely sharp. They weren’t used in this part of the process though.

Chisel sharpening is good. Did that quite a bit while carving my tenons and mortises. Issue here starting was board thickness. Lacking planer, not all we’re equally thick. Idea was to get the tops flat and leave any ridges on the under side. Glue seems to have prevented that. Appreciate all the good tips Also unsure it matters but it was a rubber tipped dead blow hammer. Fairly sure that if I’d used my framing hammer it would have complied (though left horrible indentations). In retrospect, I probably should’ve glued up just 2 boards at a time. Doing all seven 2x6x6s at once added an element of time crunch I could’ve better planned for.

Spent a bunch of time last week squaring the edges of the boards that will be glued together into a panel / tabletop. Went out today and did a dry fit and tested my clamp setup and the cauls I built from scrap in the discounted cull pile at the box store. It all came together really well. Was able to tap each board edge flat to the one beside it with a hammer and tighten the clamps. There were no ridges or bumps btw then across the surface. Worked so well I decided to proceed with the glue up. When I did, however, the edges didn’t flatten to the one beside it like it did when I did the dry test fit. I’ll need to do far more planing and sanding than I’d hoped now, but I’m trying to figure out why the hammer didn’t knock the boards flat like it did when dry. Maybe the glue had setup too much already and prevented the boards from sliding up and down like they did when dry? Maybe I put too much pressure too early on the clamps? Not sure, but I hammered the shit out of the boards to get them flat but to no avail. Lots left now to plane and sand. Any thoughts?

Very nice. What did you do to join the miters together?

Finished the mortise and tenons of the farm house style dining table this weekend. Each are 2 inches deep and about 2 inches long by 3/4 inches wide. They're blind tenons which I'll secure with glue and a through peg from the side. There are 2 on each of the 4 table legs for a total of 8. Doing it by hand with chisel took a while, especially into the hard red oak, and I had to keep sharpening my tools multiple times, but they're done (tho I do plan to clean up the shoulder on one of them before glue up... I noticed during the dry fit that it's not as clean against the leg on all four sides as I want). Tried our planned finish approach on the smaller table I built for my daughters (it was my test piece). Glad I did, too. It's way too dark. We may go forward with the original plan of using danish oil with some dark tint and call it a day. Need to make a test piece to confirm. The small table was much easier, but had 8 mortise and tenons of it's own. Lots and lots of time scraping tiny slivers of wood off at a time to make them perfect. It's been fun, but gives me a much deeper appreciation of how much work goes into well made furniture. Once my next conference call ends, I'm going to knock down the nubs with some high grit sandpaper and put another coat of sealer on the small practice table. When done, I'll rub with paste wax using 0000 steel wool and mark it complete. Next big effort will be the panel glue up for the table top of the dining table. Seven 2x6s by 6ft long then lots of effort getting it flat and level across the top will follow.

I’m sympathetic to this view. The thought is like a seed which left unchecked could grow into a fruit, or garden, or forest. But not all seeds grow into something, nefarious or otherwise. Some seeds don’t grow at all. Some begin to sprout, but then falter. Some are intentionally pulled like weeds upon reaching a certain size. Others turn into something unexpected and undetrimental and often quite wonderful. But thoughts happen. Seeds sometimes flow through us like thistles in the wind. Some occasional drop to the proverbial soil and even sprout. It’s natural, and IMO unrelated to any love we have of extant significant others. What you seem to be proposing, however, implicitly requires a certain unattainable purity, one that is too challenging to achieve even for the most chaste among us. Your view strikes me as laden with unnecessary risk, as one that too often will sacrifice the good in pursuit of the perfect. I’m sympathetic to your view. Much like every journey begins with a single step, unfaithfulness indeed begins with a single thought... but not every step we take turns into a journey nor does every thought we think or every glimmer of attraction that arises within us turn into unfaithfulness.

This seems to me more about insecurity of the person hearing the comments than inappropriateness of the person making them. As others have said, it depends on the relationship itself. If it hurts the other person or causes distrust, then it's generally best to avoid it. If it's not something that matters either way or can be thought of as just silly and fun, then have at it. I'd focus more on the insecurities that lead to these feelings and work to improve those. That's likely to be one of the single best ways to improve the relationship. Avoiding certain comments tends to speak to other underlying problems and does not in any way help to address them.

Indeed, but if I'm to make another jig, my next one will almost certainly be a tenoning jig. Right now, I'm just hogging out material with back and forth passes across the saw blade on my crosscut sled. A tenoning jig would be nice as I'd be removing a clean square in just two passes. I don't have a need yet for finger joints, and would likely focus on dovetails where possible, anyway.

I would never have thought to make a tank out of ply, but it makes sense upon seeing it

I will have to try the dark filler in parallel to the white and compare. That could work

That’s awesome! I love old planes. Have been keeping my eye out for them on Craigslist in the tools and estate sale sections, but they don’t seem to come available often...most staying within the family, I’d guess. Using red oak. Cheaper and strong, but has a decidedly pink hue.

Only left to right, not front to back

Suspect you’re right, but also acknowledge that our ability to mentally screen folks in the way you suggest is rather lacking

Used my brad nailer yesterday on a minor trim repair. That was cool, and easy. Other than carving mortise and tenons, mostly doing some experiments with stain. Empiricism and all that jazz. Trying to put some age and patina on the red oak, and the off the shelf stains aren’t hitting the chords we seek. Next approach...with fingers crossed: METHODOLOGY 1 - water pop the wood (wet it w damp cloth to raise and open the grain for deeper absorption) 2 - Hit it with a dark jacobian stain 3 - Use a slurry of water based white wood putty (Timbermate) to fill and contrast the grains and pores 4 - sand it down and soften the dark stain 5 - two coats classic gray stain on top 6 - light sanding 7 - a few coats of Arm R Seal oil based varnish w satin finish 8 - wax rubbed on w 0000 steel wool 9, 10, & 11 - drink craft beer and hope to Odin this gets it where we want it DISCUSSION This may sound like a lot, but I promise the other 14 samples and mixtures I’ve done have all been for naught. In parallel, will try a 3:1 mixture of jacobian w classic gray. If that happens to work, ingestion of craft beer can begin at step 3 or 4

We certainly have a problem with guns, but I think it’s a mistake to suggest aggression is usually expressed through them in the US. Culture is relevant, but still extraneous IMO. Were there a general problem with aggressiveness, we’d also see higher rates of fighting, knifing, and all manner of other tactics relative to other nations, but we don’t. See also: Australia. There’s no need to invent reasons here. The issue is firearm abundance and ease of acquisition.

Which, ipso facto, supports the actual argument I made. Namely that gun availability is the relevant variable in question, not entertainment.

Yes, really. We’re talking about guns. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180116131317.htm No evidence to support link between violent video games and behavior Date: January 16, 2018 Source: University of York Summary: Researchers have found no evidence to support the theory that video games make players more violent.

Essentially every study conducted repeatedly debunks the suggestion that the US sees more gun deaths due to entertainment, movies, or video games. If those mattered, Japan would be far more violent than the US. The problem here is guns. Too damned many of them. So many that even immediate shutdown of all sales would have little net effect on deaths. No need to invent imaginary explanations. The root cause is clear. It’s not entertainment. US entertainment habits are not markedly different from those in other nations.

I picked up the Makita MAC700 when we moved last year. It’s 2hp and 2.6 gallons and I’ve been really pleased with it. Would of course be nice sometimes to have a larger tank (though, not for finish nailing!), but I’ve got no complaints. Good piece of kit. Oh, wow. That’s badass and a half!

I picked one up, but haven't had much chance yet to use it.

Made some progress on the practice / mini-table for my daughters this weekend. There are 4 legs and each will receive 2 tenons, so I have a total of 8 mortises to make. Got 6 done with only extremely minimal mistakes (that... let's be honest... nobody other than me will EVER notice). Gonna get ready for glue up and clamping once the next two are done. Also, bought a board and did some test stain pieces so my wife can choose color. I did eight samples... bought a 4 foot board, cut it into 8 six inch blocks, did 8 stain samples. Two coats of stain, 3 coats of Arm R Seal, sanded in between each, then wiped with 0000 steel wool that I rubbed through paste wax and polished off. Wish I could be out there doing this more. Paradoxically, I find my frustrations with work increasing now that I have such an enjoyable experience working solo with the wood. I come off stressful conference calls and just want to go do some sanding and chisel work. It's odd, but I like it.