Popular Woodworking and Shepherd Tool Company
Last Wednesday (25 Feb 2004) the editors and woodworkers of Popular Woodworking held an open house, shop tour, and infill plane building demonstration.
The evening opened with a nice dinner supplied by PW in their company lunchroom. I was pleasantly suprised by the turnout there were lots of woodworkers in attendence and we completely filled room. I'm bad at estimating crowds, but I'd guess there were 75+ people there. All of the woodworker/editors of PW were there to meet their readers and woodworking guests.
After dinner it was time for a quick tour of their new shop. Previously the PW shop was in the basement of an interesting old Art Deco building near the Xavier University campus. While the old shop was bigger it suffered from a lack natural lighting (the only windows were covered by grates and foliage). The new shop is smaller but had four giant windows where the editors have their handwork benches setup. They also gained a nice set of loading dock doors to make moving lumber and projects easier.
While we were touring the shop, the lunchroom was switched over for the presentation on building an infill plane by Doug Evans and Ben Knebel of the Shepherd Tool Company. After some computer problems (love that Windows 98) Doug started talking about infill planes while Ben got busy being funny and building their small chariot block plane.
It was truly amazing at how fast Ben can put a plane together. In less than two hours he had dovetailed the brass sides and steel sole together, added the infills and riveted them into place, draw filed the peened over dovetails, and beltsanded the sole and one side to a nearly finished state. When Ben and Doug say anyone can make their own chariot plane in just a few hours I can believe it now, since Ben spent a lot of his time joking and talking rather than strictly working on the plane.
While getting links for this article, I just found that Shepherd Tool now has a thumb plane kit that is only $69.95. Looks like a great way to try out making one of their planes and getting a great looking tool as part of the process.
I'm looking forward to going back and visiting in the PW shop if the plans work out for a couple of demonstrations work out like the PW editors would like.
Saturday February 28, 2004 · Permalink
Where do you want to go today?
From the Risks Digest, volume 23, issue 20
Bug in Windows-operated toilet system
Wendy M. Grossman
Sat, 21 Feb 2004 11:01:12 +0000
I was at a press conference on Thursday with PalmSource at One Aldwych, which is one of those hyper-modern London hotels. One of its features is a airplane-style vacuum-operated toilet system. One of the Palm execs told me that while they were staying at the hotel this system failed, and any time they wanted to use the bathroom or take a shower they had to call the reception desk and get escorted to the corporate headquarters in the building next door to use the facilities there. For a couple of days.
It transpires that the entire plumbing system is run by a Windows-based computer system and whatever went wrong with it was so obscure that they had to get a technician from the company that supplied it on a plane down from Scotland to fix it and reboot.
The Blue Screen of Sewage?
[There’s a “Sucker” Borne Every Evacuation! PGN]
Thursday February 26, 2004 · Permalink
Cool Tools is one Cool Tool
I'm constantly amazed by the types of cool tools that show up on Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools website. Just this week alone I learned about a free conference call service, mukluks, and making 3D books.
Cool Tools is definitely one cool tool that I like showing up in my daily news feed.
Friday February 20, 2004 · Permalink
Behind the Scenes Tour of Cincinnati Union Terminal
Last weekend the wife and I attended a Cincinnati Heritage Program tour behind the scenes at Cincinnati Union Terminal. It was a very interesting tour and included stops in behind the screen and in the projection booth for the Omnimax theatre, down to the trainyard (where Amtrak still stops once a day), underground to the old baggage handling basements/tunnels, through the physical plant (where they freeze water during summer nights to provide air conditioning during the day). We then got to visit in the preservation area of the Cincinnati Historical Society Library to see how they help preserve the maps, books, newspapers and other ephemera in their collection.
The highlight of the tour came after a short break when we then moved to the front of the building and ascended four flights of stairs that led to an entrance in between the outer and inner windows. We then walked out on an opaque glass floor between the windows (where our shadows could be seen moving in mid-air from inside the terminal) and up into the clock face on the front of the terminal. Just looking at the picture doesn’t do the size justice; the clock face is around 20 feet in diameter. You end up climbing a small set of stairs and move out in behind the clock face to see the inner clock works.
After visiting the clock, we then moved into the “high steel” above the rotunda. A series of ladders, stairways and walkways lead us 115 feet above the rotunda floor over top the inner shell and beneath the massive ceiling. Winches attached to the steelwork currently hold up the largest indoor flag in Ohio (I think the size was about 30×80). A massive old winch in the same area was used in the 30’s and 40’s for advertising automobiles by hanging them from cables through the ceiling. The tour then ended after descending from the steel and back down six flights of stairs to the rotunda floor and back into the public spaces.
I believe this has been just the second behind the scenes tour of Union Terminal that Cincinnati Heritage Programs has offered. Our guide said they’ll only do the tour in the wintertime since the area over the rotunda shell gets so hot. On a cold and snowy day in February it was probably 80+ degrees when we got to the top of the steel. It supposedly gets up to 130 degrees in the heat of the summer. If you’re interested in the tour, you’ll have to keep an eye on the Cincinnati Heritage Programs Tour webpage to see when the next one is scheduled.
The Cincinnati Heritage Programs Tour was a well organized and presented tour. We’re looking forward to going back to Cincinnati in the fall and joining the Cincinnati Subway Talk and Walk to explore some of the abandoned subway tunnels and learn about the system that has been abandoned since 1928.
Friday February 13, 2004 · Permalink
Favicons from Pictures
Favicons from Pics at Chami.com is an online service for generating a favicon.ico file from a jpg, png or gif file.
The FavIcon from Pics makes it easier to create icons for your web pages. Simply select a picture, logo or other graphic (of any size/resolution) that you already have for the "Source Image" and click "Generate FavIcon.ico"
Thanks xBlog
Tuesday February 3, 2004 · Permalink
Earning the Snow Ski Belt Loop and Pin
Last weekend we made our annual trip to Seven Springs to enjoy some skiing. This year, in addition to the normal ski lessions, son #1 was going to work on the requirments for his skiing belt loop and pin. We mentioned this to Randy who runs the Jr Ski School at Seven Springs when asking what we could do to have #1 talk to a Ski Patrol. Since #1 was going to be in lessons the next day, Randy called the Ski Patrol and arranged for someone to meet #1 before lessons started on Friday.
#1 got a great suprise when Friday came. As part of talking to a Ski Patrol member, he got to take a snowmobile ride to the top of the resort to hang out at the Ski Patrol building at the top of the 6-pack lift. He had a great time talking to Chris and another Ski Patrol member and seeing what they do when not out helping skiers or skiing.
If you find yourself at Seven Springs during the week with your Cub Scout, the Jr Ski School can help your scout to get his belt loop and pin. Be sure to let them know your son is working on his requirements and they will help make sure everything is covered.
Sunday February 1, 2004 · Permalink
The Jackalope
If I’d been a couple of years younger when I first encountered the jackalope I probably would have believed it. Travelling in Wyoming in 1977 with my parents, I saw a taxidermist version of the jackalope in a store. It certainly did look real.
The jackalope is a species of antlered rabbit. It is known to be highly aggressive, willing to use its antlers to fight. Thus, it is also sometimes called the “warrior rabbit.”
The Museum of Hoaxes has a lot more on photographic and other hoaxes.
Saturday January 31, 2004 · Permalink
Soap Carving Wrapup
Last week, I finally led the den meeting where our Bears would learn about knife safety and do a little soap carving on their way to earning their “Whittling Chip”. The section on knife safety wasn’t all that interesting to them, but it was important overall. I’d made a larger foamboard knife to use as a demonstration tool for proper handling and care of a knife. You can see that to the left in the picture.
After we finished the “boring” part of the meeting, we moved into the kitchen table and then I showed the boys a few different kinds of real knives. Starting with a large lockback hunting knife really drew their attention in. I also showed them a different lockback and two pocket knives, one of which was the “official” Bear Cub Scout knife. I think they all really wanted that one, but it already belongs to my Bear cub.
I’d also made up sharpening “stones” for the boys by gluing a piece of 320 grit wet or dry sandpaper to a plywood block (see it on the right side in the picture). We then practiced a little sharpening using the wooden knives and the sharpening block. By using wet or dry sandpaper, it will also work well for sharpening real metal knives.
Then came time for the big event of the evening: soap carving. Knowing how much we would have to cover, I’d prepared two bars of Ivory soap for each boy, one with just the heart and sides outlined (middle left of the picture), and one where I had already relieved the background (middle right of the picture). This proved to be a great way of teaching them. The first block allowed them some time to get used to using the knives and then roughing out the shape. The second bar was good for them to learn shaping and finishing using more controlled cuts.
After snack time we also had a quiz to reinforce what they had learned and to prove they actually had been listening to me (at least a little). All the boys did well and will be presented their Whittling Chips at a Pack meeting before the annual camping trip.
All in all, I think all the boys had a great time. I’m very fortunate that we also had one adult for two boys so that they were all well supervised during the meeting. And by working in Ivory soap, the boys left the meeting smelling better than when they arrived :-)
Tuesday January 20, 2004 · Permalink
Using a router fence with bearing bits?
Watching the Router Workshop yesterday, I found myself questioning why the hosts kept setting up a fence so that the bearing portion of the router was flush with the fence. A few minutes later I got my answer. Seems I probably wasn't the first person to ask them that question.
By setting the fence up flush with the router bit bearing you reduce the chance of slight variations in the edge getting telegraphed through the bearing and into the workpiece.
Monday January 19, 2004 · Permalink
HTML Dog - HTML and CSS guides and resources
I've ran across HTML Dog a few days ago (probably from a link at A List Apart).
I have spent quite a bit of time reading and refering back to the HTML and CSS guides that the proprietor, Patrick Griffiths, has put together. He also has put together an easily accessible reference to all valid strict XHTML tags.
Monday January 19, 2004 · Permalink