Weekends are for Personal Projects [projects, woodworking]

[rebeccmeister]

First, let's talk about things that do not suck. Specifically, vacuum cleaners. The Shop Vac brand shop vac seemed to initially be working all right when I used it to suck up sawdust while sanding, but at one point the suction seemed to plummet rather abruptly. A day or two thereafter, scrottie opened it up to have a look, and cleaned some of the sawdust out of the filter. When I tried using it again to finish vacuuming up sawdust in preparation for finishing the worm bin, it still wasn't working particularly well. So then I figured maybe the reusable filter needed a better wash, so I washed it and left it to dry. The next day, the vacuum still wasn't generating much suction, and worse, the accessory pieces I'd been hoping to use had gone missing somehow.

By that point I was getting pretty frustrated, and was starting to think that ranunculus was right and Shop Vacs are a complete lost cause. But then it occurred to S to wonder whether the hose might have gotten clogged with something, as he'd observed with my sister's shop vac at some point (full of wood chips). And lo, it contained a few too many of my wood chips of just the wrong size and shape. Suction restored. (still not amazing, but not so terrible as to make me rethink my life choices) Shortly thereafter, I spotted one of the errant accessory pieces, which may very well have just gotten shoved around the basement floor by the robot vacuum, which S had decided to run down there for some reason (I mostly treat it as a hobby object, myself).

So at long last, yesterday I was finally able to finish vacuuming the sawdust out of the worm bin and start in on finish work.

My plan had been to use up a half-empty can of wood stain on the bin, since the worm bin is not exactly a Fine Woodworking project, and we have accumulated a collection of half-empty cans of wood stain.

As it turned out, the plywood for the bin was *quite* thirsty, so I quickly burned through the remnants of that first can, plus a second can of a different stain, plus a third can, plus part of a fourth can.

It's not like the worms are going to care if part of the bin is Red Oak, while other parts are Dark Walnut and Red Mahogany, right?







Now I need to figure out whether all three stains are compatible with varnish, or not. (quick, to the web browser! Preliminarily, yes, it should all be fine).

-

We also worked on a second Crude Woodworking project yesterday, cutting lumber and assembling yet another set of wooden slings for Petrichor. The boat has been living in the yard, guts-up, covered with the two tarp pieces I made in California, but because of their shape and the gap between the tarps, the boat keeps filling with water when it rains or snows/melts. S was worried about ice causing damage, so he helped me saw the wood and put the slings together.

After seeing how much ice had accumulated, I had to agree with him that it will be better for the boat to live upside-down, although I don't particularly like the number of large objects that are accumulating on the grass in the back yard right now.





It was really hard to flip Petrichor over because of how heavy the ice was.



But now as the temperatures fluctuate, the ice should gradually melt out and fall on the ground. Right now it's stuck on the bulkheads.

Comments

[twoeleven]

It's not like the worms are going to care if part of the bin is Red Oak, while other parts are Dark Walnut and Red Mahogany, right?

Well, they *are* cultured worms. :)

[ranunculus]

Petrichor really is a lovely vessel. Glad you got her upside down, that ice does look bad.
I remember the Shop Vac hose clogging up in my shop. Nothing like a couple of long thin things plus sawdust, plus dog hair.

[rebeccmeister]

I think I got used to working with shop vacs that had larger hoses, and thus fewer clogs (maybe also fewer woodchips, heh!). Lesson learned! Hopefully it sticks. :^D