Here's a tip - take a drive to Cactus Joes!

Here is a hidden gem that I just visited - and I can't believe it's taken me THIS long to check out this garden center. Shame on me!

When you pull up to Cactus Joe's, you're greeted by a couple of metal sculptures that set the tone for your visit.

This place is huge - I think I read that it is 7+ acres, more than enough to keep you occupied for a while.

 So make sure you have some time set aside in your day.

You'll enter through an area that one might call a showroom. It's also where you pay for whatever you have chosen to buy.

 But exiting that, off to the left, you will hit what I've affectionately called the new age area. 

Lots of sculptures of diety, Buddha, spirits, with a large area of glass rock. You can buy this rock by the pound. 

 But if you walk up a little further, you'll see a very cool

labyrinth, surrounded by these awesome street lights. I recognize these street lights – I used to have them all around my indoor pool. It's a weird mix of old and new.

A little further into the yard - you'll see this giant saguaro, with a giant Adirondack chair at its base. What a fun photo op for visitors, and truthfully – I got inspired to want to build one for my own yard. 

But I was here in search of a bench for my yard, and had some ridiculous choices. I loved this alligator bench,

but the southwest one also caught my eye, too.

 This Kokopelli design was very nice.

I trudged on… there is so much to see here.

If you're looking for cactus or succulents, this might be your happy place.

There are rows and rows and rows of cacti, it's almost overwhelming, there are so many choices. 

As I got closer to the agave, I noticed something strange in the background.

Yes, that's a dinosaur behind the agave, and as I got closer - I realized I was in the prehistoric section.

Of course I was curious what that dinosaur cost!

Wandering around, I felt like I was at Jurassic Park.

Have a kid who likes dinosaurs? That kid will be in heaven here.

I am not familiar with the names of these creatures, but there were so many of them, my head was spinning. 

OK – I think this is a pterodactyl. But what do I know?

Then things started to get weird. The bucking bronco next to the raptor starts to mingle old and new. More on that later.

And on this landscape, I started to explore some of the smaller shipping containers and tents that you could visit. 

This "day of the dead" room was pretty great, with a lot more traditional sculptures and pieces. 

Lots of Mexican art, 

pots, very cool stuff. You know I loved this peacock!

 I wandered out of the buildings, I started to notice things were a little more traditional – horses, chickens,

 but wait...  

is that a giraffe? 

Desert tortoise? 

Then I spotted my – off in the distance - my happy spot.  

Spaceships and aliens.

Here's a sidenote – I've seen a UFO. That's why I believe in them. 

About a year ago, I was listening to a podcast about UFOs, and the host of that podcast described the exact thing that I had seen in the late 1980s. That was kind of validating, because I've often wondered if I just imagined what I saw in the sky. But she described the exact same incident.  

So that makes me think – as Mulder says – we're not alone.

So I walked up to these alien ships, and promptly fell in love. I so want one of these in my yard, but they're a little pricey.  

They had three different sizes – only the small and medium size were left, but the woman who worked there told me they had just sold a giant one. I would love to see that backyard!

Even more fascinating where the aliens – both male and female, waving, smoking, blowing a noisemaker - whoever makes these pieces has a wonderful sense of humor. And yes, I ended up bringing two of them home.

That's got me motivated – I still wanna make a giant spaceship for my yard. I know my friends must think I'm crazy, but that's OK. Living so close to Area 51, you never know who might drop by to visit. 

Apes and aliens? Sign me up.

This store might be one of the coolest places I have found in Vegas, I highly recommend that you stop by. The women I spoke to who worked there said so many people in Las Vegas who don't know about them.

What a shame.

Here's a link to their store - you NEED to come by for a visit!

Combining technologies - making ceramic patterns using my laser engraver

There is a lot of focus on water conservation when you live in the desert. Just watering your yard on the wrong day of the week can earn you a hefty fine. And since I've been doing a ton of ceramic work lately, I've found my bill creeping up. 

Sure, I usually have a rinse bucket in the sink outside, where I can rinse clay off on my hands without wasting gallons. But I decided I needed a sign near the sink to remind myself to conserve. I did a clip art search and found a design that I liked. 

And added some text. 

Here's there best part - combining technologies. I cut out a simple pattern in MDF of the artwork, using my laser engraver.

I even saved the small pieces that came out of the individual letters. (I'm sure those have a name.)

There are basically two types of ceramic pieces - pots that are thrown on the wheel, and pieces that are hand-built. 

I decided to hand-build a sign, so I grabbed some clay and rolled out an even, compressed slab. 

My slab roller is powered by a small motor, which saves a great deal of wear and tear on my back. So I rolled out a slab, 

 and then gave the pattern a quick coat of release, so that it wouldn't stick to the slab.  

Everything that touches the clay needs some sort of release sprayed on it, or it will stick to the clay. The release could be something like WD-40, or Pam cooking spray - anything that is greasy and non-stick-y.

With the pattern on the clay, I traced the outline with a knife and cut the final shape. 

Using a roller - it was easy to add a bit of fish scale texture using this texture mat. Again - this has to be sprayed or it will stick.

Then I took the tiny letter bits and added the final details to the letters. 

Here's the final piece - with lettering, a little fish-scale texture, and a hole at the top for hanging.

Once this is bone dry, it'll be bisque fired to around 1900˚. If there's any moisture in the piece at all, the buildup of steam can cause the piece to explode in the kiln. Luckily - in the heat here, the clay drys out fairly evenly and quickly. 

I'll experiment a bit with some appropriate colors, in greens or blues... you know - the colors of water. Glaze looks amazing when it pools around the textures on the clay, so this piece is going to be special.

With a little luck, it'll be glazed it and fired next week. Stay tuned!

 

Spring has arrived - so have the winds!

There isn't any particular reason that I'm posting this video below - I'm just up to my eyeballs in gardening and not doing much woodworking right now. 

Enjoy!

The SawStop saga continues...

One of my favorite sayings is - ask ten woodworkers and you'll get 11 opinions! So I'm not 100% sure I agree with what this fellow has to say about the future of tablesaws.  I know this - I had 3 of these saws in the school and they definitely saved fingers. 

Beyond that - their customer service is absolutely spot on. 

This is rare in the tool industry -  I have literally dealt with 4 other tool manufacturers that were absolute a$$hats when it came to customer support.  Which ones? 

I could give specifics about each interaction, but I won't. But let's just say that I'll never buy tools from those companies ever again. And when past students or friends ask me for advice about purchasing a tool from these four companies - I highly discourage them from dropping dollars to those manufacturers.

You can say what you want about SawStop saws - they're overpriced, the inventor was money-hungry, etc... but no one complains (or whines) about Festool this much. 

Amirite?

Four foot saw blade on the loose....

Holy hell - this got my attention!

Click here - I promise it's worth it!

Clay times!

How is it possible that I haven't posted here in almost a month!?! 

Some of you know that clay and ceramic work take up some of my work-week. I've been getting the studio in shape for making some tile for an upcoming project, and I finally have samples of all of the glazes that I make. 

That alone was a big project! There are 25 different glazes that I make, all with different formulas/recipes. Can you tell I'm a fan of earth tones? There are mostly greens/blues/browns. 

Whenever I have some extra room in the kiln, I fire bits and pieces of tile, all for future use. These shapes are for an upcoming mosaic I've been working on - 

 inspired by my (peacock) neighbor. 

He comes around almost every evening for a bit of birdseed and a visit. I asked the neighbor who takes care of him what his name is... she (aptly) named him FancyPants!

Living in Vegas is never boring!

 

SawStop to release patented technology to public

Well -  this is interesting! 

SawStops saws...

You either love them (when you can afford them) or you hate them (when you can't afford them) - which side are you on?

 Larry Adams wrote this article for Woodworking Industry News:

TUALATIN, Ore. — SawStop, manufacturers of one of the wood industry’s most widely used safety technologies, announced that one of its key patents will, in the future, be made open to the public.

The action, announced on Feb. 28, was taken in response to a proposed rule by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that would require all table saws sold in the U.S. to have active injury mitigation (AIM) technology to make them significantly safer.

In a Feb. 29 press conference, Matt Howard, CEO of SawStop said that the company has committed to dedicate its U.S. Patent 9,724,840 to the public upon the rule’s effective date. The rule is meant to prevent the thousands of amputations and hospitalizations that can occur during the cutting process without industry-wide action.

“We work to protect and inspire all woodworkers, from novice hobbyists to professional craftspeople. Opponents of the proposed rulemaking have identified this patent as their key obstacle to offering safer saws,” said Howard. “We invest heavily in safety innovation, and our patents have real value. Even so, we will not allow this patent to be an obstacle to a safer future. To that end, SawStop is prepared to dedicate this ‘840 patent to the public upon the effective date of a rule requiring active injury mitigation technology on all table saws. Although such a rule is likely many years away from an effective date, we at SawStop are determined to seek a win-win balance between our mission and our business responsibilities.”

According to the company's website, the SawStop works in four broad steps: detect, stop, drop, and reset.

The SawStop detects a small electrical signal that the blade carries. When skin contacts the blade, the signal changes because the human body is conductive. The hange to the signal activates the safety system.

An aluminum brake springs into the path of the blade. The blade comes to a complete stop and power to the motor is shut off. After the blade comes to a stop, the blade’s angular momentum drives it beneath the table, removing the risk of subsequent contact. All of this happens in less than 5 milliseconds.

Resetting the saw is easy, according to the website. Simply inspect the blade (and change if damaged) and replace the brake cartridge, and the saw is operational. The entire process takes 90 seconds and the user is back to work, according to the company.

Safety standards

On Nov. 1, 2023, the CPSC published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking under the Consumer Product Safety Act proposing to issue a safety standard addressing blade-contact injuries on table saws. The proposed rule would require all table saws to “limit the depth of cut to no more than 3.5 mm” when a test probe, acting as a surrogate for a human finger or other body part, contact the spinning blade at a rate of 1 meter per second.

As the pioneer in safety technology for table saws, SawStop believes such a standard will radically improve the overall safety of all table saws sold in the United States. It will help prevent the tens of thousands of severe injuries annually that result in billions of dollars in corresponding healthcare, pain, and suffering costs for victims and society, the company said in a statement.

In the past, SawStop has vigorously defended its patents. Bosch was prevented from selling its REAXX saws in the United States after SawStop filed objections with the International Trade Commission. The Bosch saw used similar contact- sensing technology to SawStop, but used a gas cartridge system similar to an automotive airbag to move the blade out of the way.

More recently, major European manufacturers such as Altendorf and Felder have developed proximity sensing technology that does not rely on any blade contact to stop the blade before an injury can occur. Those systems also have the advantage of not damaging the saw blade when triggered or having to replace a cartridge or triggering mechanism, thus allowing for instant reset.

The SawStop company was purchased by TTS Tooltechnic Systems, which also owns Festool, in 2017.

William Sampson contributed to this report.

Here's another article that was just released in WoodShop News:

SawStop announced it will dedicate its patent to the public if a proposed rule regarding table saw safety becomes effective.

“Today, in response to proposed rulemaking regarding table saw safety by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, SawStop committed to dedicate U.S. Patent 9,724,840 to the public upon the rule’s effective date,” the saw manufacturer said in a Feb. 28 post. “The intent of the proposed rule is to prevent the thousands of amputations and hospitalizations that will continue to occur without industry-wide action.”

“We work to protect and inspire all woodworkers, from novice hobbyists to professional craftspeople. Opponents of the proposed rulemaking have identified this patent as their key obstacle to offering safer saws,” said Matt Howard, CEO of SawStop. “We invest heavily in safety innovation, and our patents have real value. Even so, we will not allow this patent to be an obstacle to a safer future. To that end, SawStop is prepared to dedicate this ‘840 patent to the public upon the effective date of a rule requiring active injury mitigation technology on all table saws. Although such a rule is likely many years away from an effective date, we at SawStop are determined to seek a win-win balance between our mission and our business responsibilities.”

   Which side are you on?  

There is a ton of arguing and animosity toward SawStop - but I'm a firm believer that their saws keep people very safe. I'm a fan - their tools are accurate and quality. Even if the saw didn't have this technology installed in it, I would still purchase one. 

Just.... 

 

Sending the beast on its way!

 It's been a minute, right? 

I finally finished this massive coffee table renewal - from attaching the legs, to retrofitting the skirting, to trimming out the top with metal. And more! 

This beast has been in my shop for a month. The owners (and I) couldn't decide on a proper patina for the metal trim on the corners and the top.  Matte black? Rusted rustic? 

We tried a variety of colors and chemical patinas, but in the end - they took it without a finish on the metal. They'll experiment on it until they come up with something that they can live with. 

This table took top a huge amount of real estate in my shop, so I'm happy to see it be on its way. If they send some pictures of the finished piece, I'll be sure to post them here.

Leveling up the table

If I had to guess, I'd say that there's not a single element of this window/gate that is square. 

It's been giving me fits, but nothing was more challenging than finally bolting the legs on, turning it upright (with the help of some strong friends!)  and learning that it wasn't level. 

Every leg was just slightly different in length, and when the table was finally upright, I could figure out just how much of a difference there was.  

I measured, did some calculations and put some shims under each leg, until it was level. Considering this table is a few hundred pounds, lifting and shimming was a challenge!

 After finding the longest leg, I figured out how much the shorter legs needed to be lengthened, planed some wood to those various thicknesses. And cut some filler blocks, mimicking the turned legs. 

It finally dawned on me that I had a car jack that would make this an easy operation, and proceeded to jack up each corner, making it easier to attach a filler at the bottom of each leg. 

(Brilliant, I must say!) And finally - a level table, ready for attaching the aprons and framing out the top.