Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pedal to the Metal . . . .Soon!

The Slow Woodworker got side tracked in September and sadly not very much happened in the shop.

The motor on my 12" General jointer packed it in, which necessitated a re and re on the motor switch. And good for me for finding a replacement for a 35 year old motor switch! OK, the second hand one I found needed quite a bit of modification but I got it to work finally. This is the switch inside the motor that controls the starter windings, not the magnetic starter that you push 'start' and 'start' on. A big pain in the butt that I didn't really need, this little nuisance sucked up way too many cycles. 


Then I fell into the 'while it's apart' trap, and wound up spending the better part of the day fiddling with the jointer's motor mount that I have never been happy with. Now I am happy with the mount but annoyed I wasted another day!

Also, my son and I went on a little father/son holiday for two weeks. Bus tour of northern Italy. Great fun!

Then when I got back I discovered that my neighbour has put his house back on the market. Since I am using his garage as my secondary shop / wood storage area, this will be a problem if he sells. And he seems serious about it this time. So I have started clearing the place out. I just dump it in the lane behind my garage, some of the neighbours take it for firewood.
Perhaps I should have a 'wood yard sale' rather than just throwing it out! I am keeping as much of the better stuff as I can, but I have to be realistic about it. I have several thousand board feet in piles in the back yard too.

Once the jointer was working again I was able to finish the stock prep for the magnolia desk. Hopefully oodles of progress will follow shortly!

2 comments:

  1. Desk eh? What do you have up your sleeve?
    Sorry to hear about the machine problems but I'm sure it's in better condition now than ever knowing your work :)
    Have fun!

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  2. The desk unfortunately is nothing special. Magnolia, which sounds exciting, but is much like poplar. As for the jointer, it is running well now, I just need to force myself to change the knives . . . !

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