Bootstrap Some Bar Clamps

I'm really starting to get happy with how my garage is coming together.  It makes me want to start working on projects other than the garage itself.

To do many of those projects I assumed I would need to buy a bunch of bar clamps.  While I inherited a good starter stash of c-clamps from my grandfather, he didn't have any big-'ol-bar-clamps.  And you can never have too many clamps.

Enter some bar clamps made out of scrap wood, from the Izzy Swan channel.




Looks good to me. I don't like spending money, and I'm really in this hobby to have things to work on and develop the fundamentals.

Cutting Straight with a Handsaw

I needed to cut some boards I had salvaged for shelving, but my deep and abiding cheapness prevented me from buying a circular saw.  Instead, inspired by the limited tools series, I made a jig to make my hand saw more accurate.  This video shows such a jig:




In searching for a video with this type of low-tech jig, I discovered guides that use magnets -- and, wowie! Look at this one:

Mini Workbench

This is another good idea for a woodworking project.  It might be the best way to find a place for my grandpa's old vice -- which really was the feature of his old workshop that I remember most vividly as a kid.



Here is another take on the concept. It really shows how this kind of mini-workbench can save space in a small workshop and keep the table below in better shape.



It looks great for traditional woodworking.

Pantograph Router

Dude, this looks cool.



I think this would be a perfect project for gridbeam.  And in that way I could get into making traditional wood-working joints more quickly and at better quality.

The Gridbeam Chronicles #1

The Gridbeam Chronicles will now stand in the place of abortive The Woodworking Chronicles.   When I wrote the goal of wanting to be at an "intermediate level" in woodworking, I really meant be able to build shelves, hutches, really anything useful.  I really didn't mean anything about the aesthetic side.  Also, I had heard someone describe gridbeam and its power to make nearly any piece of furniture out of a series of boxes, but I had forgotten the name, so I was left casting around until I found it.

As it stands, here is what I have done toward my mission to become a gridbeam master:

• I bought the book How to Build With Gridbeam
• I reached out to a former student and showed him the book.  

That's really it so far. But the former student is great.  He is good with woodworking and also I knew he would appreciate it as an extension of the open source philosophy, and its ability to serve to build resiliency and move beyond consumerism.   To future that kind of mental revolution, I asked him to look up Ken Isaacs (in particular his public domain book).  I am willing to pay him to build gridbeam sticks and to get me started in my own manufacture (I, for one, have virtually no shop skills at this moment).

Next up, I am going to try to source some pre-made gridbeam sticks.  I don't mind paying the Jergenson brothers for a starter kit.  

After that, I think I am going to try to stock up on steel gridbeam.  It's something the Jergensons' admit they don't manufacture on their own, and it seems like the ultimate good for resiliency in a possible post-industrial world.  In that scenario, it either wont be available any more, or will be absolutely prohibitively expensive, so I'll be glad to have some.

2017 . . . The Year of Making?

I had made some half-hearted attempts to start toward "wood working" last year, but nothing came of it.  The main hang-up was some time before my half-start I had heard about this great system of modular design, and that was really all I was interesting in learning about when I set my goal to have "intermediate skill" in woodworking -- I wanted to be able to build bookshelves and work benches and the like.  However, I had lost the name of the system and could not find relocate where I had read about it in spite of several attempts.

Well, I finally stumbled upon the term, and I think I may never be looking back.

It is called Grid Beam.  I am going to make a winter Solstice gift for myself out of the book How to Build With Grid Beam.  With that I should be able to gumption-up to get my projects started, including, I think, a windmill.

There's an old video which gives some context for the process, and there are just so many thought-and-emotion provoking images of what is possible to made 3-D lived spaces.


Bonus

Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme on bootstrapping tools.  This is something I am very interested in as I keep moving to be a resilient Renaissance Man, but it is for more motivating to build some *big* stuff first.  And so that's where I will start.

Woodworking Journal: Fixing Common Mistakes

I am liking the "Wood Whisperers" channel quite a bit.  It has been good guidance through the first part of my journey.

Woodworking: a Sketching of some Projects

It turned out that with a little effort rewording I could make all of these start with the letter "b." These are all things I could make use of.

Birdhouses
Bookcases
Box (to be an outdoor haybox)
Bench -- new work bench
Backgammon board
Bad-ass tool holders so I can go "death to drawers."

The New Chapter

Yesterday was an emotional day.

It started with the burial of my uncle's ashes at the foot of my grandfather's grave.  After that brief ceremony, my wife and I went to the yearly debate and acting picnic, where I gave an introduction speech for each debate senior before they gave there good-bye speech.

After that, I went to my mothers and finally got around to looking through my grandfather's tools.  It will be an honor working on projects with those.

One chapter is closed, and another begins.

Woodworking. My First Step: Knowledge.

I am going to try to chronicle my process of learning how to make stuff with wood.

The first step to woodworking is some knowledge.  To the Google!

I just looked up what tools I need to get started.

First, Youtube.




Yes, Youtube.  It is a friend of mine.  Seeing faces makes me feel less alone, in the same way that people watch insipid shows like the Today Show.

But, reading is on balance more efficient for general goal nerdery.  They are easier to scan through, and much easier to make notes off.

Here is one article.  Here is another.  

The hierarchy of learning often goes like this:

• real experience 
• reading
• videos

But, and a huge but, motivation and inspiration are elastic.  Watching a lot of videos is infinitely better than doing no reading.  And that is what people often do with reading they should do.  So, yeah, Youtube can be a fantastic resource.

A  concern at this information gathering step is to avoid getting stuck in a paralysis of analysis, but that is what to-do lists and reverse Sabbaths are for.

Update -- September 2015

Spirit

More and more I make time to be on the Sutton Trails.  It has been a big part of my way of working through my father's death.

Going to Colorado and doing some very pleasant hiking did not ruin me for a place like Sutton. Instead, it showed me there are people willing to drive for a bit to go some place beautiful, and do that again and again as a way of life.  The experience gave me permission to go often, which I plan on doing until it gets too cold.

Also, I found the podcast On Being.  It's great to listen to while doing the routine parts of work.  I recommend it over the news of (or even the tips of) the rich and power-addicted.

A really great one is the discussion with the yogi Seane Corn.  But there are so many great ones to choose from, and I have never listened to an out-and-out bad one.

Body

After my father's death I got out of the good habits I had been building up.  The first one I wanted to get back going was working out every day.  I had a colleague who goes to the Y every day right after school and rewards herself with a cola.

Though I do have a long-term wish to quit caffeine, I really seem to like soda, so I am using it as my positive reinforcement.

In spite of my earlier thoughts I don't do yoga instead of running: I do tai chi.  In fairness, though, I did not know just how much time I would end up working yoga poses (and other stretches) into my life by making it a daily routine.

I'm working on my downward dog.  And I got to take care of my lower back.  Really just check out the beginners page at Yoga Journal.

On my resistance training days I continue to experiment with working out at parks, leaning more towards using parks with benches so I can do a horizontal row with it.

I corrected my push up form, but that has me seemingly laughably far away from my 100 push-up in a set goal.  I have a plan for that when I switch out workout protocols:  I think the next thing I will do is work on modified push ups and follow a similar pattern to what I did with greasing the groove for squats.  

Mind

I've done work on turning 3-digit numbers into words in the major memory system.  With these words down, I will be able to encode any number, hacking my short-term memory so I can hold the number and do arithmetic on it.  Yeah, I'm a nerd.  (Didn't you notice the title of the blog?)


Financial

I made another $5,000 payment on the house.   One step closer to paying off the house.

After that money is freed up,  I'll give myself a budget to buy tools.  I believe that in the long run I will can turn a net profit off my tool investments, but I know they will add more joy to my life than any other "entertainment" expense.  I will start with gathering the tools and books for . . .

Intermediate Woodworking

When I start this goal, I imagine that first I'll want to do some warm up projects -- like building birdhouses (I actually want to put them out and use them to attract birds).

Then I have this vision of using wood working skills to make an ideal workshop.  Kinda meta, yeah?  I love the Adam Savage death to drawers idea.

After that, I just want to be a reliable maker.  Someone who can make custom bookshelves or other standing projects.  When I can do that from scratch (my own designs) I will call this item finished.