Show us something that you MADE

Zines are back from the printer!

interesting.. though for our 20th wedding anniversary, I created a photo book for the wife called "just for you" which has about 40 black and white photos I've taken over the years.. Believe I got shutterfly to do this photo book for me.

I made this crossmember for installing a T56 in my 64 Comet as well as the stand behind it to hold the transmission upright while installing it.

Knife #4. Since we chop a lot of vegetables, this was an attractive next project. It's basically a Japanese Nakiri ("vegetable cutter") but strays from convention with a C-profile for better food release*. The "freckles" near the handle hole are from impacts by a carbide ball peen hammer, necessary to straighten the blank after heat treat. Handle material will be desert ironwood.

*The concave surface is only on the right-hand side of the blade and is intended for a right-handed person.

I've got a Nakiri, it very quickly became my favorite knife. Nice!

I had to have a tree taken down, it was very sad as it was one of the defining trees of the front tree line. But it was dangeous and had been butchered by the power company over the years. I had the tree service leave a few feet of the stump and finally got around to executing my plans for it. In the daytime:

And at night:

It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it. The realities of mounting something you want to appear flat onto a round and very lumpy tapered cylinder became apparent once I started working on it. Some of the numbers are not quite on the same plane but it looks decent enough. The lighting is good but I would like the last 0 to be a little better lit. I'm trying to stick with "good enough," though.

Finished the Nakiri knife. The handle turned out really nice; I couldn't resist adding angled facets to the sides. I really like the shape of the blade, as it does indeed excel at chopping/slicing vegetables. Food release of the C-grind was testing with green onions but they were a poor choice because they stick easily to virtually any blade regardless of shape. It was incrementally better, so I'm keeping it, but there is no magic blade shape that has perfect food release.

I made a cake topper for a pair of birthday parties that were happening one after the other -- spa theme and winter/polar bear theme. 

FJ40Jim said:

4cylndrfury said:

Not sure if this counts as something I made vs something I destroyed lol...

Needed a spark plug wrench that would catch the hex portion and clear the porcelain end, but was short enough to slip over the plug inside a tight header clearance. Not shown is the interior of the socket drilled out to 1/2” to allow the porcelain to pass thru.

It no longer has the 3/8" socket for usew with a ratchet, but a 3/4” wrench will still work to turn the tool

About an hour ago I was trying to get a spark plug socket on #7 plug in GT40P heads with headers. Ended up (intentionally) breaking off porcelain to use a mid-deep 16mm socket for removal. Extra stubby plug socket is exactly what's needed. Will be fabricating this SST when it's time to reinstall. Thanks!

Time to reinstall. Cut down a $1.99 Vatozone plug socket.

Fits in headers, plenty of socket sticking out to turn with a 3/4" wrench. Thanks 4cylndrfury for sharing.

Someone else made it 200 years ago.  I put it back together so it can be used again.

About 3 months in so far....

Got a new 75" Samsung TV to replace the 70" with a bunch of dead LED back lighting. I can now try to replace the LEDs from some vendor on Ebay and will use it in our bedroom but first I had to build a ceiling mount to hold it up and over our mirrored dresser. I like the industrial look like you see people installing sliding barn doors inside their houses. First I had to move the mirror on the dresser for room for the TV and leave space for the cold air return duct.

I even drew it up in AutoCAD to make sure the TV was angled correctly for perfect distortion free viewing from the bed.

I was really worried that Mrs Heretic and I couldn't lift it into place but it went pretty easily. I also realize that I can move it back 6" towards the mirror and we will do that tomorrow. 

I now have no reason to ever get out of bed except to feed the animals just like Daisy and Onslow from that British TV show Keeping Up Appearances.

Edit: After almost 2 weeks of that awful cough that has been going around, I finally repositioned TV 8" towards the back wall. The 3/8" lag eye hooks only engaged the roof joist about 5/8" which I didn't feel comfortable even though the TV only weighs about 47 lbs. I built some 6" long x 1.5" double 3/4" blocks and used 1" conduit C-brackets. This winds up with 4 construction screws with 1" penetration and 2 with 1.5" penetration.

Just need to plug 2 holes and some touch up painting.

In reply to FJ40Jim :

I'm glad to see my tomfoolery and random train-of-thought has been helpful to someone!

Leftover pan fried taquitos with fried eggs and cheddar, topped with green tobasco...heaven

Utensil rack. This went from struggling the big ladle out of a shallow drawer to a bracket that holds the right most pair over the sink if they drip in 3 hours. It is 3003 H34 x.063 aluminum from the shop scrap bin and weld wire hooks.

Drill sharpening rest and jig; a design from Harold Hall's books:

My dad passed recently. He was a finish carpenter and had a nice woodshop in his garage. 
To honor him, I am building an urn for his ashes, using leftover chunks of wood from various projects we did together over the years. 

I am sorry for your loss.

This might seem crass, but that is awesome.  I like how it was from older projects.

Well done.

kb58 said:

Finished the Nakiri knife. The handle turned out really nice; I couldn't resist adding angled facets to the sides. I really like the shape of the blade, as it does indeed excel at chopping/slicing vegetables. Food release of the C-grind was testing with green onions but they were a poor choice because they stick easily to virtually any blade regardless of shape. It was incrementally better, so I'm keeping it, but there is no magic blade shape that has perfect food release.

gorgeous. Do you sell any?

Finished the paver driveway today. As L7 noted, bricks are heavy.

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

Sweet herringbone, awesome job!

My grandparents had a brick driveway and it left a lasting and positive impression on me. Love it!

Jer Schmidt recently posted a YT video for another of his belt grinder accessories. This one's an XY table (slides side-to-side and is adjustable in-and-out. Another accessory is a magnetic chuck, which when used with the table, form a surface grinder. I just finished building it and while I have no association with him, I'm impressed with his clever and elegant plans, https://youtu.be/_qHnYVbHgmo?si=GqzQ7diBt2fuxuB4