New Tool Snafu

Well, my new DadoMax jig did show up on Monday, but I'm nearly through a 2 week long preparation for my next cancer treatment and my energy is low.  I did look at the stuff on Monday and thought: "Hey, there really ought to be some instructions in here..."

It was too late to call Woodline, so I had to wait till Tuesday morning.  On Tuesday, I called and talked to Wayne Suttor (Now I think I'm spelling it right) and he immediately knew I was calling looking for instructions (that he told me how to download off of their web page).

After looking the instructions over I went out to try to use my nice new tool and discovered I was missing a piece to my router base plate!  I've had to order another one (from woodcraft) and it will be in proably early next week.

Another New Tool

Recently I saw a video shot by Woodworker's Journal at the 2009 AWFS Fair showing Wayne Suitor (I'm probably spelling his name wrong) from Woodline USA giving a sneak peak at their new DadoMax Router Jig.

Here it is:




Well, the DadoMax was not yet available, but I called woodline and actually spoke to Wayne and he put my name a list of people who inquired about it (I was #3 of what turned out to be about 200).  Well he called me TODAY and the DadoMax is now here.  Maybe mine will show up in the mail by the weekend!!!

Good bye, good luck, and thanks for all the fish...

I would bet that nearly all high school students, who are sucessful (in both school and life), can look back and pick out at least one teacher who "made a difference" for them.  For me that teacher was Mr. Horne.  I had Mr. Horne EVERY YEAR from 7th Grade through 12th Grade.

7th Grade Math
8th Grade Math
Algebra I
Algebra II
Geometry
Advance Math (or Pre-Calc)

I'm good at math, but I wonder if I was good at math and was in his class, or because I was in his class I'm good at math.  Truthfully other students who took his class weren't so good at math....

Mr. Horne was a lot like me (or am I a lot like him, because of my 6 years sitting in the 2nd row?).  He had a dry sense of humor, he was quirky, he liked computers....

I do understand that what I am today it NOT totally due to his infullence, but I understand I would not be what I am today if I had Mr. Frazier for math (he taught the "normal" math classes).

I did go back to my highschool once, probably about 5 or 6 years after I graduated to do some computer work for the school (Apple II computers at that time) and went and found his classroom.  I was crushed when he didn't remember me right off....  oh well, human is human.

In retrospect, I would bet Mr. Horne was gay, but at the time he came across more as just being asexual.

Mr. Horne passed away on Tuesday, September 8, 2009.  He was 72 years old (which means he was 42 when I had him for my first class - gods I'm older than that now!  How did that happen?)

Now all I can say is thank you, job well done, and good luck on whereever you next journey takes you.

Warmest Regards Mr. Horne
Kerry (rember me ... one of the kids you used to take the UNH and we would steal computer time from their main frame....)

Drawer Fronts and Flat Wood

Last Thursday I cut my drawer fronts all to Length (25 3/8") and drilled pocket holes in 8 of the pieces in preparation for putting 16 of the pieces togehter in pairs to make 8 panels I could cut to size for the bottom 8 drawers (my stock is wide enough for the top drawers).

Last night (Tuesday) I went in to glue up the panels and found that over the long weekend the pieces I had cut had all cupped, so none of them were flat.  Luckly, I now have a 10" Jointer / Planer and I spend the evening flattening one face and one edge of all the pieces.  Tonight I hope to run them all through the planer and get them truely flat, then I can finally glue them up.

I only hope jointing and planeing them will not make them so thin the pocket holes I drilled for 3/4" stock will still work.

I love a new tool!

About the only thing missing from my shop was a thickness planer and decent jointer.  I saw a video review of the RIKON 12" Combo Jointer / Planer and thought it would be a great idea for my shop (and its rapidly vanishing floor space) to get a combo set-up.  That way I would get rid of the old (nearly broken) 4" jointer I have and replace it with a combo.

Now the RIKON is supposed to be about $1600.00 and that was a lot of money for me drop on any tool (combination or not).  I did some web surfing and found another video review of the JET 10" combo Jointer / Planer -- and the good news is that it was on $399.00 at Woodcraft.

Well - long story short - it turned out to be cheaper by about $30.00 for me to buy it at Amazon.com and pay $419.00 for it - free shipping.

Yesterday was the big day, and the box was dropped of by ABF.  I moved back into the shop and put the beasty together.


And here it is: