Dad's Benchtop Bench: Part II

Once I had finished the legs and had milled the top, I made the twin screw vise out of a big hunk of oak Kari Hultman gave me. It was about 10/4 to begin with, and after all of it’s milling, the vise was still a heavy 8/4. This was a bit thicker than Miller’s plans from Fine Woodworking, but I figured giving up 1/2 of vise capacity wasn’t worth the extra work of planing off 1/4” from each jaw.

The milled vise jaws.

Dad's Benchtop Bench: Part I

A few weeks ago, I wrote of how cool some Benchtop Benches are. After contemplating buying the Sjoberg Smart Vise for him, I instead opted to build a Jeff Miller style Benchtop Bench for my Dad for Father's day.

Jeff Miller's Benchtop Bench from FineWoodworking.com

As might be expected of me, I began by milling the legs out of Timerstrand. One of the nice things about Timberstrand is that they come almost perfectly flat. They’re also easy to mill. A few passes over the jointer and through the planer left them ready for joinery.

Benchtop Bench Photo Essay

I've spent the last few nights working on this bench into the wee hours in the morning. I'll write a proper post about it once I'm done.

A House In The Trees: Part XIV

A few weeks ago the Tree House suffered a major setback when one of the main support bolts broke. After some immediate triage consisting of temporary supports to hold up the unsupported corner and supplement the two (2) bolts which hadn't broken yet, I've finally managed to restore the sagging tree house deck to its original position.

Finally, a jack setup that works. The deck is going up.

Dylan's Clock Stand

Last Saturday my son displayed his art in a show with his art class at the Central Park Zoo. It was a well received show and outside of heat, it was a wonderful day. My frame was actually well received, sloppy corners an all. Luckily though, I was able to make a second piece to help display his art and this one came out much nicer.

Dylan's art show display

One of his three (3) dimensional projects was a clock. It’s a collage of clocks glued onto a box, with a round porthole cut out to reveal a clock face inside also.

MWA Podcast #30 - Mike Pekovich

This orginally posted at modernwoodworkersassociation.com over the weekend. If you missed it, please be sure to check it out. Mike was one of my favorite interviews.

MWA Podcast Episode #30 - Michael Pekovich

MWA Podcast Episode 30 - Michael Pekovich (60:03)

Download the MP3

Date: May 30, 2013

By: Chris Adkins, Dyami Plotke, Tom Iovino

Description: Join us for this episode as we speak with guest Michael Pekovich of Fine Woodworking magazine. For show note and more on the MWA visit: http://modernwoodworkersassociation.com

2013 June Shop Tour

June rolled in this weekend and with it, my June Shop Tour for 2013.

I braved the summer heat to document what a mess the shop is currently in and how very little I've managed to accomplish it in.