Stunning work, and worth reading the background articles.  Genuine congratulations to both for such amazing repurposing of old furniture, and irrespective, a couple of great toy kitchens!

Giggleberry

(photo from giggleberrycreations.blogspot.com)

Sutton Grace

(photo from suttongrace.blogspot.com)

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Sure would be tempting!

$50,000 startup fee
Total startup investment around $500,000-$600,000
Currently 76 franchises and 4 owned stores

They take 5% Gross revenue, and you need to have at least a population of 350,000 within a 20 mile radius.

Some really interesting figures there!

Wonder if they have thought of coming down-under………

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It is 2pm in the afternoon. Sun is shining, sky is clear and blue, save a few of those small cotton-ball-like clouds that are a dazzling white, just to show you how blue the sky really is. The temperature is a balmy 28 degrees.

Just outside my shed door (open so the stereo music can be heard) is the swimming pool, with water so clear the bottom of the pool looks only a few inches below the surface. I’m floating on a thong decorated as the Aussie Flag (no- not in a thong – not thinking Borat

More like Kylie at the Olympics

Kylie ON a thong, not in….. Ok you get the point.)

The pool is warm, and a floating server holds beers around the rim. A copy of ManSpace floats just below the surface- where it fell when dozing overtook reading.

The beers are cold, the BBQ still hot after the steaks. The remnants of prawns sit piled on a plate. An occasional crack can be heard from the esky as the ice inside slowly succumbs.

This is Australia Day, the Aussie way.

Later, the family is heading into the city to watch a Disney concert- some all dancing all singing spectacular, then as the sun sinks and light fades across the Yarra, fireworks will again illuminate the sky, throwing the cityline into silhouette.

From there, home, and some Benedictine and Cointreau with cream over rocks (or perhaps with whiskey and some lime wedges).

Happy Australia Day!

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I have a couple of articles in the current issue: (there are obviously a lot more articles for you to read from other contributors!) A third article has been held over till next time – there was so much content for the current one there just wasn’t the space!

Circle Work: Professing my dislike of a popular power tool, and demonstrating 6 different ways I cut circles in the workshop (excluding handtools, and drilling holes!), whether that be cutting a round disc, or cutting a round hole.

True Grit: which looks at the whole question of abrasives and just how they fit together – sandpaper, waterstones, diamond paste etc – they are all abrasive, and we know to work through the grits but what happens if you don’t have ten different grades of diamond stone?  To complement the article, the following table is what I use to compare abrasive systems.  I have taken a few minor liberties with the numbers, but then no table I have seen seems to totally agree with another anyway.  The other thing you will notice is my table is the only one I have found that places diamond stones in their correct location, and I’ve included some common items to give an idea just how fine some abrasives are.

P – Coated abrasives
F – Bonded abrasives

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Not much to do – a few of my road signs from last year that need running repairs (turns out 4/5 year old boys are more into javelin or whacking things than I imagined, and the signs were not designed for such abuse.)

Couple of seats needing the seat rescrewed, and a few play trees that have become separated from their bases.

I made some new bases, rounded the edges, then glued the trees to the base. In the process, it occurred to me that pretty much every fix I do for the kinder of their wooden toys has involved the Festool Domino as my go-to tool. (And this is true of every kinder repair person I know )

Festool Domino

Sorry, but that is just the reality. When I’m looking to strengthen a joint – glued (hopefully), often doweled, (these are the joints that fail) I want to put in something more substantial, so the Domino gives all the advantages of the tenon joint- strength of the tenon, increased glue area, part alignment and accuracy of mortise position.

Three stages of repair.

First I needed to make new blocks. That was easy with some pine on the tablesaw, then through the drum sander to thin the blocks down a bit.

The edges were rounded using the 1/8″ Fastcap Plane from Professional Woodworkers Supplies. The actual plane is not currently listed on their site, but it is worth inquiring about – it is suprisingly useful. First seen on this site here. A very underrated tool. I use it a LOT!

Next, the Domino (Ideal Tools) to cut the mortises for the Domino floating tenons.

Finally, another Fastcap product from Professional Woodworkers Supplies comes to play – the glue dispenser.

Job done – next!@!!!!!!!!!!!

Dino hospital

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My daughter’s 5th birthday, celebrated with a large party of family and friends a couple of days ago, and on her actual birthday with grandparents, lots more presents, and time.

For a year or so before Jessica was born, I was heavily invested (timewise) in the Australian Woodwork Forums, moderating, writing and producing videos for a new area that we’d created which had particular appeal to me, as it combined my woodworking and a fascination with video editing.

To roll that back even further: other than always having a particular interest in photography, in 1986 I got to use an SLR for the first time while doing a short course at high school. The photographic interest at that point became the seed for a hobby that kicked off heavily in 1988 when I toured Europe for a year and bought a new SLR (Minolta 7000) while passing through the US on the way to London. That hobby (obsession) continued until 2000, when Kodak took some of my films I had just shot on the Great Ocean Road of Victoria, Australia, and destroyed them all by processing them in the wrong chemicals (they processed the Velvia slide film (E6) in print film chemicals (C41)). My interest in photography had a revival once I got my first digital SLR, but the intensity that I pursue it is only at a 1/10th what it used to be. Still, through a combination of a significant back-library of photos, and what I still take these days, my little photo blog has content to last. Stu’s Darkroom

But back to the video editing. Photography and videography do have a lot in common- video being a bunch of photos taken at 25 frames a second (or 29.79/30 FPS for NTSC). A year after my first SLR experience, I shot my first video- creating a music video for a band at school for a national battle of the bands music video competition called Shazam. The band’s music entry didn’t get anywhere particularly, but my video got through to the final 4. This was in the days long before you could whip up a broadcast quality video on your desktop computer (or your iPad).

In 1999, I was in Cairns diving on the Great Barrier Reef on a dive cruise, and met a couple from the US. Their next stop was Melbourne, so I took them for a trip down to Phillip Island for the day. Turned out, he was a programmer for Adobe, and he offered me their suite of products at cost. One of those products was Premiere: their non-linear digital editing product.

Photography, video, and the ease of desktop editing crashed into each other. All it needed was a few more years for the power of the average computer to catch up to make it a reality.

So there I was in 2006/7, producing small videos on woodworking and we (woodwork forums) become aware of a new blog/podcast starting the the US, called the Wood Whisperer. Not sure exactly when Marc started, but it was around then. What caught my attention was his videos were in iTunes, and I was really interested in getting some of my photo essays on there, in a similar theme to what Magnum was doing with their photo essays.

I needed something to test, and set up a web server at home to host the video. I didn’t want to start with a serious photo essay, so chose one of my woodworking ones. And to package it up for submission to iTunes, I created a simple blog. Stu’s Shed.

Oops.

This year (end of June) marks 5 years since that curious twist resulted in this website taking off, 5 months after my daughter’s birth. Boy has it been busy times! I read with interest on Marc’s personal blog about just how much of an impact having his first child recently has impacted hugely on him and his (now) business of The Wood Whisperer, and not only can I sympathise, but it makes clear just how time consuming it has been for me to hold down a full time job, with a new child, and run a demanding woodworking blog. I’ve grown the site as much as time has permitted (and continue to do so), but no wonder how much I’ve burned the candle at both ends to keep it running, and still not been able to derive an income from it- time to do the niceties of planning, regular articles, regular videos etc just doesn’t exist (as even Marc is discovering!)

You can read Marc (Wood Whisperer) Spagnuolo’s article here.

We have different models for our blogs, Marc and I. Between Marc, Matt (as in Matt’s Basement Workshop) and I, we had the first three woodwork podcasts (and the first three woodwork blogs (?)) out there. There are a few more these days! I still try to keep mine a bit different- not to be better, but why duplicate what someone else is doing?

This year, Stu’s Shed will, like my daughter, turn 5 years old. It will pass the 2000 article point, and hopefully the 150 video mark (yes, I want to get back to more regular video production). I doubt anyone will offer me $1000000 for my website though!

Still, my constant readers, we will continue on this weird journey together! Now the mad season is coming to an end (Xmas, birthdays etc), I can get back to my job of creating sawdust!

Oh- on World Economy? Have a read of this fascinating article on manufacturing and the western world. It uses the example of the iPhone, but really can be applied across the board to any industry trying (and failing) to keep manufacturing local. The world is a very different place these days. If Michael Crighton wrote Rising Sun today, I wonder how different the story would be?

Apple, America and a Sweezed Middle Class I wonder what future we are setting up for our future generations as western society follows our economy?

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We spent some time looking at the Torque, then did some other talking – about woodworking, websites and everything in between.

Nice meeting you, enjoy the new unit and all the added capabilities an overhead routing platform will give you.

This stunning 1/8th scale stagecoach is not a kitset. He has plans to follow, and is making all the parts, down to the bolts (1.4mm dia) and brackets.  About the only part he isn’t tackling yet are the nuts.

That is some beautiful work – incredible detail there Aussie!  Thanks for sharing

But how many make a full sized replica (fully functional) Portuguese pirate ship??? Insane? Definitely cool!

Taking 12 years of full time work, one has: a Portuguese Caravel, weighing 55 tonnes, and costing a measly $20,000. The builder, Graeme Wylie, sourced fallen trees and other reclaimed timbers keeping the costs right down.

A stunning piece of work, with some photos here provided by a regular reader and commenter: IS (thanks )

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/images/gallery/remote/2012/01/19/901375.jpg

Photo linked from Geelong Advertiser website.

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My folks came across from NZ for my daughter’s birthday, and amongst their baggage (duly declared to Customs/AQIS (Aust quarantine)) was this lump of New Zealand swamp kauri. It is a great piece, with a few bowls (or lots of pens!), or some boxes within (or both, depending on how I process it).

Even without any real processing, the piece reveals the nature of swamp kauri- as you move it around in the light, the effect is almost holographic / three dimensional- the chatoyancy of the piece.

Swamp kauri is thousands of years old, having been stuck in the anaerobic conditions below the mud so there is little cell deterioration, or rot. It is going to be interesting finding out what items are contained therein.

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Note – there is a lot of information from the manufacturer in the comments, that has both clarified the information, and shown some from Festool (Aust) was fundamentally wrong.

Multistop Jig

One of the big problems, and the reason I never bought one, was the negative press I was hearing, from multiple sources.  I haven’t had an opportunity to try one out for myself to substantiate the concerns, but the opinions of experts was enough for me. 

After discussions with RTS, I am going to fully reserve any opinions until such time as I have had an opportunity to give both versions a full review of my own.  You, my constant readers expect more from me than hearsay, so I will endeavour to fill this gap in my knowledge.

Roll around 2012, and the new Domino XL has arrived, complete with a significantly superior multi stop system built in.

Bit hard to see – haven’t gotten a larger photo to show, but the new system is brilliant, and I look forward to (and hope dearly) that it will be a system (or at least the concept) that can be  retrofitted to the standard Domino.

Multipins

In the meantime, DTS have come up with an innovation for their product that has the critics reaching for their wallets. It will fit both the original Domino, and the XL version.

Self Centering

It is getting good feedback, and looks tempting! The jaws are interconnected- move one, and the other moves the same amount in the opposite direction. I really need to give one of these a workout for myself!

It is designed for referencing from the edge of boards only- you cannot use it to reference from one mortice to the next.

From underneath, you can see the working mechanism.

Clever, simple, good engineering.  My sort of product!

Not sure of price (at a guess, you’d get some change from $200), but something worth keeping an eye out for.

Update: These are retailing at $199 (not a bad guess eh!!) Available here from Ideal Tools.

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There is some legislation in the US being proposed that would effectively destroy the internet as we know it, with many websites (including this one) potentially being shut down for good. If you are wondering why Stu’s Shed is at risk particularly, it is because it is hosted in the USA, and the service provider (WordPress) could have its hand forced to shut down a website, whether or not it is based in the US.  Irrespective, Google could be forced not to provide links to this site (if this site was accused of piracy, substantiated or not), which would still be a death’s sentence.

Wikipedia are taking it very seriously indeed, and in less than 18 hours will initiate a 24 hour shutdown of the whole of Wikipedia.

If these legislations go through, or similar ones are raised and actioned either in the US or Australia, and there is a question of copyright infringement (legitimate or otherwise), then this site could be shut down, and quite simply it would be permanent. I couldn’t afford the legal battle that would then ensue.  An accusation of piracy would be enough to be blacklisted, and it is then up to the accused site to prove that it hasn’t breached copyright.

You can read more here: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)

and here: PROTECT IP Act (PIPA)

Here is hoping sensibility will prevail.

Update: as part of a global movement, this site, and my photo blog Stu’s Darkroom will be displaying the Stop Censorship ribbon until 24 Jan 12 (when the US congress votes on the bills).

These bills are more threatening to the ongoing use of the internet than spammers, and that is saying something.

Update 2

Wikipedia is off the air!

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Originally out in the 50′s, the Shop Smith is a machine that looks fit for late night TV “but wait, there’s more”. It’s a tablesaw, disk sander, lathe, drill press, horizontal mortiser, bandsaw, shaper, router, and, well, I’m probably a bit confused about what is on the new current machine, vs the 50s version.

Think I even saw one of the originals when helping a local community shed out selling some old tools.

If you took a Teknatool XP lathe and mashed it with the original Shop Smith, you’d get an idea of the current offering.

+

=

In this day of cheap Chinese-built workshop machines, it is surprising to see such a combination machine still on the market, and in production.

Being sold through Lowes in the US, I wonder if their Australian branch (Masters) will sell it down under? Be interested to see it in action through an in-store demo!

If sold via late night TV, I wonder if it’d come with a set of steak knives?

However, rather than any further auctions or special arrangements as I am now out of pocket, it will be a fixed price only.

The sale is this:

One Torque Workcentre 2m, including the 900mm arm and standard fittings.  Check the photos below and ask questions before making an offer please.  Standard fittings include a router bit guard (metal), hex (allen) key, copy pin and a mount for a router.  In this case it is for a Triton.

There is a user-fitted MDF top (Torque do not sell tops with their machines).  This machine predates the ones including longitudinal tracks, which is not a bad thing – I retrofitted the tracks to my machine, and in my opinion they are a waste of space.

Additionally, there are the following attachments

Saw attachment (original version)

Drill attachment

Copy attachment

First in gets all this for $3000.

I received the machine on Sunday and gave it a quick clean and tuneup.  It was a sale-on-behalf, but now I own this machine so need this to be a quick sale if at all possible to recoup my money.  I had a too-late offer of $3000, so that has set the price.  (The TWC label on the arm was removed after being damaged in transit (it looked tatty).

To make this more tempting, I am throwing in a Makita 3612 (1/2) already mounted to a Torque attachment.  It has been attached to the mount for years, so seems to have become fused to the mount! Personally, I don’t see this as a big problem – I don’t remove my Triton from its mount either, but it is being thrown in for free, so gift horse and all that.

Please note: the gate, the ladder and anything else not specifically referred to in the text is NOT INCLUDED.  The original sale fell through because the stock photo showed a router being demonstrated on the Torque that wasn’t actually part of the deal.

The machine is pick up ONLY from just north of Frankston, Victoria (actual address will be provided for anyone wanting to see the machine, or once sale is concluded).  I would really like the machine sold and collected before this upcoming weekend as it is now in my way, but if not I’ll just have to have my daughter’s party around it.

stuart@stusshed.com

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