Here is the latest version of the spiral cutting router jig. I originally made it without the pulley and belt system but grooves were cut at too sharp of an angle. By adding the belt I was able to speed up the rotation rate of the spindle compared to the back and forth travel of the router. It was an interesting mechanical experiment.
I used to love the comics when I was a kid. The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes were far and away the best ones in my local paper. Later entries into my world included Fox Trot and Non Sequitur (and much later Don Hertzfeldt), but I never forgot my first loves.
It’s been snowing in Portland the last few days, which reminded me of the Calvin strips that were among my favorites - when Calvin would make snowmen … Not the happy, cute kind, with a button nose and a corncob pipe, but the kind of snowman every 10 year old dreams of making - the kind sure to piss off your parents.
So this year, rather than carve yet another Santa for my grandmother, I decided to do something a little different. Grandma was known for her yearly calendar gift, and mine was always Calvin & Hobbes (which she is a fan of, too). So this year’s Christmas carving is a dual salute: to Bill Watterson, the strip’s creator, and Grandma Selden, its avid promoter.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
I can’t help it. Cutting boards are just fun to make. Most everyone on my gift list has already received a cutting board from me in recent memory, but I enjoy making them. It’s also a really good way to reduce the pile of “too nice to throw away” offcuts, and I’ve got the process pretty well dialed in now (see also my post on how to do end-grain cutting boards):
The woods I used this year are Birch, Maple, Doug Fir, Walnut, Zebrawood, Oak, Padauk (the red wood) Cherry and some variety of faux Mahogany.
I first saw the SawStop table saw a few years ago. Their early demo videos showcased its amazing safety techology that allows the SawStop saw to stop the blade’s spinning and drop down through the table when it encounters anything meat-like (i.e. your finger!). You keep your finger for the price of a saw blade, which seems like a pretty good trade to me.
Their first demo videos showed a hot dog stopping the blade, which was pretty cool, if a little cartoony. Now, the inventor has a new video showing up on YouTube in which he uses his finger to demo the tech. That’s faith.
Things are starting to slow down a little for me, so I thought maybe I would post something. I had not realized it but my last post on DA was March 27th! Where did there year go?
Anyway, I have been working on remodeling the sun room in our house. The room previously had a drop ceiling and a very narrow doorway. With the help of my brother in-law Bill, we gutted the room and cut through a 9″ cinder block wall in order to make the the doorway bigger. After the fun work of demo was over, Bill went back to California and left me to figure out how to finish the framing. I decided to do an arched opening for the door. There are a couple of other smaller arched openings in our house, so I thought it would be good to continue the theme.
In the background you can see part of the vaulted ceiling. The former drop ceiling was only 8″ above the windows. It feels much more open now!
Well, it may not work for you, but it worked for us. Current Portland Building Code requires that stairs must be a minimum of 9 inches deep (run) and a maximum of 8 inches high (rise). Remodels like ours must also conform to this standard, unless they include an “Existing stairway that leads to existing finished living space that was created with a building permit (Verify prior permits at the Development Services Center).”
That last part is key. Because while our attic space was definitely liveable before we pulled down the vintage paneling, its stairs are more definitely non-conforming. Our run is anywhere from 8.25 to 8.5 inches, with an 8 inch rise, and a barely-noticeable nosing. This may not seem like much of a difference, but our estimates to bring the stairs into conformance started at a cool 10K, with structural changes that might have required re-designing the kitchen, attic stairs … you’ll pardon the pun if I call it a slippery slope.
But, we lucked out big time when we went down to the building office for the first time. You see, there was an existing building permit on file. A plumbing permit, anyway. (From 1927, even though we’d been told our house was built in 1928!). And if I may draw your attention to the line reading “Stories and Class of building,” you’ll see the magic words:
“new, fr. 1 1/2 sty dwg.”
Apparently, that’s old school builder-speak for “new one and a half story dwelling.” The second floor was intended as-built for living space, and its stairs for daily use. Hence, we are grandfathered in, by a probably now great-grandfather of a plumber working for Standard Plumbing and Heating Company in 1927. They’re still in business today, and now, so are we.