Gettin' Lucky and The Golden Bucket of Crap

[t]

Yeah, it can mean different things but today it means that I got away with a couple of things that I had no right to get away with.

I'm fixing a bed for a guy and the original pins that were used to hold the catch plate for the corner hardware were either made too short, or the receiving holes were drilled too deep (my bet).

Well, The Golden Bucket of Crap ( you know, everyone has one. mine is a five gallon bucket that odds and ends of hardware get tossed into.) came up large with a bolt that matched the pins diameter plus the machine thread depth of the bolt. That allowed me to A: not have to go to Home Depot on a Sunday and B: run some epoxy into the threads and screw the bolt full depth into the hole before sawing to length, leaving me with a connection to the wood that I can trust.

Then I found some birch veneer tape that allowed me to patch in a missing piece of veneer on the rail.

Then I was looking for some premixed stain that would match existing and found that I didn't have anything even close.

I thought my luck had run out.

BUT - I had an old bottle of TransTint Medium Brown and when I wiped that on - it matched perfectly.

You just don't get a run of luck that often.

Damn!

The Eagles are on an FM station and the Phillies are on an AM station so that I can bounce back and forth real easy...This is a four star kinda day. Screw the economy and the political scientologists - it's going just fine out in the shop today.

t.

[t]

OK, so the Eagles screwed up but the Phils are in the NLCS.

Still apretty good day.

tom watson

[Swingman]

Know the feeling. SWMBO bought me the Rockler mobile clamp rack for a belated b'day present today.

I spent the afternoon putting it together and moving clamps from the old shop to the new temp shop ... where the hell did all those clamps come from (and there's still another load)???

My 401 (Bessey)K is looking pretty well funded, by damn!

[charlieb]

You know that there are guys printing up your post and leaving it on their wife's pillow.

And guys with Separation Anxiety are feeling better about themselves knowing They Are Not The Only Ones.

The Anal Retentive people don't need any justification at all for keeping everything and anything that comes within arm's reach.

I had a landlord who's 3 car garage had aisles and aisles of floor to ceiling drawers - full of bent nails and rusty nuts and bolts and old lag bolts, carriage bolts, plugs cut off of long gone extension cords, light fixture sockets, paint brushes that, if soaked in paint thinner - for a year or two - were still usable. He'd saved things for so long he'd forgotten what the hell they were, or were for.

How come you keep all this stuff? I asked.

Well we use to be 7 miles out of town - and when I needed something, rather than drive in to town I could usually find something that'd work in one of these drawers. Now that probably made a lot of sence - 50 years ago. But the town became a city - and spread out - to his place and beyond. There'd been an Orchard Supply Hardware store a mile and a half from his front door - for at least 25 years.

I guess old habits die hard - or never die.

[Lee Michaels]

"Swingman" wrote

The missus bought you a clamp rack from Rockler??

Let me see if I understand correctly.....

She actually went down there and got you something USEFUL and PRACTICAL that you could actually USE in your shop??

Are you sure this even actually happened?? Or did you just dream it?

I don't know how to process this information. I have no catagory to put it into.

[Swingman]

LOL ... Yep, it really happened. However, I have since found out that Leon, her Canasta buddy's lesser half, may have been instrumental in advising her of the proper protocol in which to proceed.

Whatever .... the net effect was desirable. It's one of those things that you would have never bought for yourself, but once you have it ...

[Robatoy]

..shenanigans...pics or it didn't happen....grumble...

[Leon]

Uh, it was all her idea, I knew about it a day or two after you went up to Arkansas in August. I think the only help that I provided was e-mailing her a 20% off coupon.

My same thoughts, I'll have to give it a look when we get back together as I am needing a better solution myself these days.

[Swingman]

"Leon" wrote

Good man, and thank you! ... as you did, we should all encourage such sterling feminine behavior at every opportunity!

For future reference: I looked closely at WoodCraft's version of the rolling clamp rack ... don't bother.

Rockler's is much heavier duty ... and with 3 dozen Bessey K bodies, and a couple dozen more clamps of various sizes, that sucker is _heavy_ and needs all the robust construction that can be designed in!

The assembly instructions are fairly well written, with only one blatant error that even a third grader should snap to before going to far and having to backup and push; but the big thing is the precise sequence in which you must install the 32 leg and horizontal brace bolts.

... the correct sequence could be on a Mensa IQ test, but I don't want to ruin the end of the movie! :)

[Lee Michaels]

"Swingman" wrote

Which clamp rack did you get?

The smaller one or the big one?

[Swingman]

"Lee Michaels" wrote

Don't know, since it was a present and I've never even looked at any of them previously.

It was $149.9x - 20%, if that helps.

[Lee Michaels]

"Swingman" wrote

Yep, that is the big one. You can buy extra parts for it if you want to customize it or expand its capabilities.