Looking for a planer?

 Quite a few people have been buying tools lately - probably because they're staying home more, and working in their garage/shop, building cool stuff. 

A buddy just told me about the Dewalt 735X that just went on sale. If you're looking for a great deal on a planer, check this out.  They're shipping this with an extra set of knives, and the infeed/outfeed tables. Pretty good deal, for a 13" planer.

Welcome to autumn!

Some people love the holidays (don't include me with that bunch!) and some people love Spring, when the dreary days of winter end.

 Me? 

I've always loved Fall - with its cooler temps, football season, leaves changing color, and well... Hatch chilis roasting over flames. My local grocery store set up a roaster, 

and I bought a case of chilis for them to roast. Medium hots, thank you!

The smell is unbelievable, 

and the crackling of the charred skins is music to my ears. 

The garden does weird things at the end of the summer - the tomato plants start growing like weeds! These almost doubled in size, 

 but stopped producing fruit. The taste of a home grown tomato will soon be just a memory. That's OK, there are other fish to fry. 

 The shop is a mess, and it's time to gear up for classes that start this week.  The dust collectors are over flowing, 

and some of our chisels are a disaster. WTF? Who leaves a chisel like this? 

We're expecting some huge deliveries of wood,

 and even added a chainsaw to our arsenal. This bad boy with its 20" bar will handle logs that we previously struggled with, and officially makes me a bad-ass. 

Fueled by sugar, 

most of these tasks are completed in no time. 

Re-filling the glue bottles, 

cutting up material, and finishing up our projects was the goal for this past weekend. 

Here's Eddie's dining room table - the first piece of furniture that he ever built.  It's based on Jory Brigham's design, and he nailed it! (well, not literally.) 

Some times - the littlest things make the biggest difference!

A HUGE thank-you to Eric and Ken of Legacy Woodworking for gifting this Festool imperial thickness gauge to the school. 

It’s not that we don’t like metric measuring devices in the shop. To the contrary - going all metric would make life easier… but jumping back and forth between metric and imperial measurements is tricky with all of the students using the Domino in the shop.  So this new thickness gauge just makes life easier for all of us.

Seneca manufactures some great accessories for Festool’s arsenal of tools… thanks Eric and Ken! My students will thank you, as well, the next time they use this tool. As one reviewer stated - “less strain on my imperial brain” 

Finally - as we settle into Fall, I'd like to congratulate everyone who has handled the strain of Covid and politics and fires in the west - it's been an extremely stressful time for all of us. 

Owning a business during this time is downright challenging. For those of us who have followed safe guidelines and believed in science, I salute you. 

I'll toast you when I have a shot of this. 

My 2020 garden - one for the record books!

If you've wondered where I've been, rest assured all is well. I went a little overboard with the garden this year, and most of my spare time has been spent dealing with the joys of caring for it. 

I started many of the plants from seeds, and as they grew, 

it felt a little like Jack and the Beanstalk!

 Of course - I can't find the photos of the first day that plants went in the ground, but this photo shows the garden starting to sprout.  

Here it is - today. My cup runneth over! 

Whoever said plants don't grow in the desert doesn't know what they're talking about! 

These perennial artichoke plants are the first to start producing, and it seemed like every week, I was taking artichokes to friends and neighbors. I have two plants in the yard.

I lost count after harvesting 3 dozen 'chokes... what a bounty!

Then... the zucchini mania started. Oh, it started off slowly, with blooms and mini zucs - but wow, 

once the plant matured, it was a little out of hand. 

The leaves grew so large, they hid much of what was growing underneath. It's possible that the leaves provided some relief from the sun, and that's why things were growing like weeds.

 Next thing I knew, there were mutant beasts popping up everywhere!

 When they grew too big, they were perfect for stuffing. 

 It was a little out of control, but slicing these and throwing them on the grill makes for a wonderful meal! 

Then... the onions started asserting their dominance. Whenever I buy scallions at the store, I save the root end and stick it back in soil. I shudder to think of all the times I didn't do this, because I didn't know that they would grow. 

 I don't have to buy scallions from around March - November, and the new growth seems like its on steroids. I mean - who has ever seen a three foot long scallion? 

Then the tomato plants started producing...... 

and producing

and producing

and producing

and producing

and producing. 

I was harvesting about 2-3 pounds a day, and giving them to everyone who would take them! 

On top of that, there are 30 pounds in the freezer, for winter marinara.

There were a few visitors in the garden who didn't fare too well - this tree rat's skull was lurking in the soil,

 and this poor gecko ended up in some mud. 

While trimming some palms...  I found this leaf ready to sprout. Mother Nature has a marvelous sense of design! 

I'll get back to posting about woodworking soon - we're making some great tables in the Tablemaking class, and new classes are right around the corner. 

Stay tuned!

We lost a giant in the Las Vegas woodworking community

It's with a great deal of sadness that I write this post - I just learned about Ed Garcia's passing. 

Ed ran probably the most well known lumberyard here in town - if you ever saw a sharply dressed fellow walking through the stacks of wood, with his safety vest on, then you know who I am talking about. 

Over the years, Ed and I had many a conversation about the state of woodworking in this town. 

Ed's office was next to my saleswoman's desk, and I can't tell you how many times I peeked inside and saw him at his desk. Sometimes we chatted for a bit, and he'd share family stories or some crazy woodworking gossip. 

In fact, when I started Sin City Woodworkers in 2009, I needed a location to hold our second meeting, and Ed generously offered Peterman's warehouse to our group. 

I'm going to miss his charming smile and his leadership there. 

RIP, Ed. 

The Vegas woodworking community is a little dimmer without you in it. 

A beam compass - my lifesaver today!

A project I'm working on needed a piece of melamine cut into a circle. Instead of cutting it with a router and compass jig, I decided it was just easier to draw it and cut it with a bandsaw.

 It didn't have to a be perfect circle, so it was fine to simply draw it on the panel, and cut it by eye. 

I pulled out my well used compass, 

but unfortunately, it wouldn't open up wide enough to draw a 17" circle. 

This radius would only draw a circle about 15.5 inches. No bueno.  

Then I remembered the beam compass that I purchased years ago. I don't use it that often, but when I need it, it's the perfect way to draw larger circles. 

The kit comes with these two heads;

 you supply the "beam." 

Any strip of 3/4" wood works for the beam. Of course, I had just gone on a cleaning binge at the shop, and threw out all of my scrap, so I found a couple of strips of plywood in the trash and made a beam. 

It didn't have to be pretty. 

And it wasn't. 

I set the points 8.5" apart, which would give me the 17" circle that I needed.

 Find the center and drawing the circle is a breeze.

 Bam!

 It was perfect, and the beam compass made it simple. 

You know what's NOT so simple? 

Keeping the shop cool when this is happening!

By the way, if I had it to do over, I might buy this compass.

Here's a good one, too:  FATMAX Chisel Compass

Stay cool, everyone - Summer is past the halfway point!