What in the world is the cat doing?

This is Hiro, The kitten from September. He's not the shop cat, He's suppose to be Cheryl's cat. Anyway, he does strange things that the other cats do not. This is one. He just started doing this tonight and has been doing it for hours. I have neverseen it before so I'm not sure what is going on in his kitten brain. Anyway, I carved up the last two seats tonight and already have five orders for tomorrow! YEAH! Also tonight, I put a fan in my dust table and it works great! I now have the downdraft I need to capture those fine dust particles. And. the latest Origami Fish! My Orando did not turn out too well, But I have seen some very cool fish I still want to take a stab at. Also, A new frog.

Monday Madness!

After taking pretty much the entire weekend to work on my shop furniture, I had to carve up 10 seats tonight. Well, at least 8. Cheryl was stressing because she did not get her delivery confirmation for the boxes yet and she ordered them last Thursday! I have to call the place later in the morning to see where our order is. As is is now, we had to scavenge several boxes from the Meyers so we could ship out the seats we carved tonight. Ah! the fun of owning your own job! Anyway, I got this far on my dust table until I , once again, ran out of wood. I had to stop and assemble things as they were because I knew I had to have it ready so I could carve tonight. I still need enough to make three pull out bins that will tip out. ( Thanks Handi!) I had been toying with the idea because the dust bin is sloped at a strange angle. Handi noticed it as well and made the same suggestion. Nice to have your original plans confirmed. Well, It's late, and I still have several seats to carve up tomorrow!

Putting in Drawers is hard!

Ok, to be fair, I did get a late start on the project tonight. The goal was to spice up the sanding table with a little storage and practical additions while making it look better. Here's a "before" picture. I only got this far before I had to take a break in frustration. First it was really late. Second, I ran out of screws, Third, my lumber supply was getting low and I did not want to make any mistakes. After looking at it now, I guess I did accomplish a little more than I first thought. I will work on the drawers late when the glue dries and the slots are ready for measurements. They are going to be a challenge because as you can see....the dust collector takes up a odd amount of space. I think I have a plan though....

WooHoo Thursday!

Sold 7 seats tonight, but only carved up 6 since one of the customers changed her mind at the last second. I'm thankful I didn't jump right in and carve up her seat before she emailed us with the change. ( It has happened before!) But that means for the most part that I am caught up for the weekend! Bring them ON! Tomorrow I want to work on making my dust table a little more "pretty" by adding some drawers, bins and hopefully a downdraft fan. Arby's has a 4 for $5 roast beef sale and I was able to score some of their wrapping paper for origami. I like the metallic paper because it holds its shape better and is larger than the 6 inch squares I usually use. With larger paper I can take on bigger patterns and cooler animals. Here's an elephant and another Pegasus. I have a couple of pieces left so I might try something new. Will post it when I made up my mind. Have a great weekend!

Hurray for new tires!

Actually, one new tire. You see, Andy( Cheryl's brother, the mechanic) determined that we only needed one new tire and so now we have three spares! But then he changed the oil and Brake shoes while warning us our brake rotors are going to die soon as well. Then again! The car has over 280,000 miles on it! While in Grand Rapids, we were able to buy the three seats we needed and I managed to carve them up, despite the late start. We had a couple of new ones, namely, the Pelican and the Siamese cat. I thought they turned out well. So far I have only one seat to carve tomorrow. With a little luck, that number will increase.

Another Origami Pegasus

I could only get 4 seats tonight, so I had to push two seats off until tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day with deliveries and we have to go to Grand Rapids for a couple of new tires! Hopefully we Will pick up a couple of seats there and perhaps a new spare. Otherwise, I have finally found a Pegasus design that I like. One of the reasons is probably because I created it myself and I do not have to follow a complex folding pattern to get it. But second is that I think of all the previous patterns, this one looks the best. I can't believe it is Tuesday already! Have a great Night!

Shop furniture: Sanding Table!

So tonight I worked on my designer sanding table. It's not finished, but I got a sizable chunk of it done. As for now, It's late,my room is a disaster, and I'm all out of patients! I want to eventually add some drawers and extra storage space. The slope of the collection bin is nice and extreme, but it might need a little boose with downward suction. I'll be thinking about that later. Now, I just want to see how it works. Tomorrow is going to be a full carving day again. So I'm just happy I got it functionally put together.

Sunday Paint day.

Finished the painting the seats and got finished rather early tonight! Tomorrow, I may be able to start work on my dust table! I got a good deal on some lumber at Menhards. Unless we sell more seats tomorrow, I may start the work and take a few pictures along the way! have a great week!

New set up for my dust collector!

Friday Night was spent with me fussing with my new plane. It took a bit of tweaking, but I managed to get it to a nice level for me. The wedge kept slipping no matter how hard I drove it in. A little sandpaper on the iron and pin and now it stays put. I was having so much fun with it I made a mess of my shop with a pile of shavings! So tonight, I cleaned up my room and set about rethinking my dust collection system. I saw a nice set up in a wood magazine. ( can't remember which one at the moment) that had the bag hang down. It saves space and I seem to get more suction now. It is also easier to get at the bag to empty the dust. I still want to make a new table for sanding. I can't wait! I also got a jump on the weekend orders by carving up 5 seats. I'll probably paint them tomorrow, unless I feel really motivated tonight. As you might notice, many are repeat designs. It seems woodland stuff is back in after a couple of years of taking a break for a couple of years. Hope you are all having a great weekend!

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Thursday catch up!

Got all caught up tonight with the last five seats. It was much easier carving and painting them in smaller groups than attempting 9 seats in one day. We got boxes so everything looks good for tomorrow. The weekend already looks good with 4 seats sold tonight! Hope you have a great Friday! Oh! Here is the link with a little more help on making your own plane. I like the video better for the visuals. http://www.crfinefurniture.com/1pages/sitelinks/howplane.html