Before I started on the pantry project, I had estimated for my wife, the cost would be $100. My estimation was based on my belief that I would need finish, hardware like drawer slides and some incidentals.
I was cleaning up the other day and I ran across the pile of receipts from the project. So, I was curious myself how I did. I knew that it was more than $100 based on some repair to the bandsaw, but how bad was it?
Date
Location
Req. Cost
Opt. Cost
Description
Jan 17
True Value
$19.85
Dust collection, glue
Jan 20
Home Depot
$40.83
Hardware, plywood
$55.12
Polyurethane, dust collection
Jan 25
Bi-mart
$16.97
abrasives
Feb 4
Bi-Mart
$8.49
hardware
Feb 11
Lowes
$12.87
knob, bandsaw blade
$17.17
Extra blades
Feb 11
Amazon
$158.94
Bandsaw blade release
Feb 11
Do-It Best
$4.99
Electrical extension
Feb 14
Woodcraft
$45.97
saw maintenance upgrades
Feb 14
McGuire Bearing
$10.56
Thrust bearing
Feb 21
Bi-mart
$4.49
Epoxy
Feb 25
Bi-mart
$4.99
patching compound
Feb 26
Home Depot
$1.48
shims
Feb 26
Sherwin-Williams
$22.07
Paint
Mar 3
Lowes
$6.18
Brads
Totals
$275.89
$155.08
$430.97
So, the truth is that I didn’t make it under $100. Without the saw problems, I would have been much closer, more like $120. In addition to the required cost, some of the optional costs could have been avoided, like the polyurethane turned out to be an unnecessary purchase. I upgraded some parts in the bandsaw when I was dealing with the bearings.
I certainly never planned on dealing with a tool failure, but it happens. The other optional purchases were for productivity or replacing used stock items like abrasives. Productivity is hard to quantify but stock is not; I did not need to buy those items because I already had them. Technically, not part of the cost of the project, but realized as part of it.
I have added some new products to my shop/tool stable to work on my latest project. One of them is the Kreg Accu-cut fence system to turn your ordinary circular saw to a more precise track saw.
The reason that I considered this option is that I wanted to make some angled cuts on 10′ long lumber. I could do it on the table saw, but I would have to be really careful as my shop is only 24′ in length. I would usually open the door to make sure I had extra length (with counter space). Also, I have some sheet goods to cut.
If you have ever priced one of these units, you would see why the Kreg system is so appealing. I saw entry levels around $400 and the high end at $1000. You supply the saw, so you can use your everyday circular saw which means that you don’t have to own a specific use tool.
The theory is that the saw rides on a track to create a straight cut. I have heard of cases where table saws have been replaced for track saws. I often times use a circular saw to break down sheet goods when working on projects because they are so much easier to handle. So, I thought this might be a good solution.
The setup was a little tricky. I usually read the instructions, especially when there are lots of small parts and screws. There were some errors in the instructions like diagram labels not matching the written text which left me guessing at times.
Getting everything indexed and aligned was a little bit fiddly. The saw had to be moved on the carriage, so as not to cut the rubber bumpers (edge). I also tried to get the saw as close to the bumpers as possible so I could plop the track down on the line and know where to cut, but it is about a sawblade off. I suppose when you make something ‘universal’, you have to leave margin for every saw possibility.
The carriage seems a little flimsy made of plastic and the hold down of the saw a bit tenuous with two pointed screws holding the saw into place. When on the track there was a bit of side to side play. There is not a real good feeling of positive connection when the saw is on the track. What I can say is that none of those things caused a problem for my cuts.
The track has a sticky back and a rear stop, so it stays in place pretty well with friction and forward pressure. You do have to watch to make sure the front is not moving away from the line as you cut. This is remedied by watching the track ahead, not the saw. If you want to make a cut longer than 50″, you need to stop, remove the rear stop, slide the whole track back before cutting again.
By far and away, the biggest downside to this product is the screws that hold the track together back out with use. I saw a lot of complaints about this on the internet, After using it yesterday, I put some thread locker on the screws.
Score
Pros
Cons
Value
4/5
Compare to other track saws the cost of $80 vs $450-1000
A 50″ track is not long enough to rip a full sheet of plywood
Allows the use of one circular saw to be more precise
Adding tracks are expensive. If I used routinely, I would have an 4′ and a 8′ track ($160)
Quality
3/5
The sled glides nicely on the track
The set screws holding the track together, tend to back out with used
The friction pads hold the track on the wood without clamps
Saws with a thick base plate do not mount securely
The setup instructions had some errors that were not totally intuitive
Performance
4/5
I got nice results on cutting panels in half, tapers and ripping lumber
Everything was as advertised, I just didn’t do enough research on this before purchasing. I think full panel cutting capability would be better.
The bottom line, this is a worthy product for someone like me. I have three electrical circular saws already, I sometimes cut sheet goods and accuracy is important. If I were a professional using a track saw, I would most likely consider a more expensive option for durability reasons. I really wish that I could rip an entire sheet of plywood easily, extra track lengths are available for purchase at $80/4′.
I will continue to use this because I like the results that I got and I don’t regret the purchase.
Enough of the heaviness. Because this has been a hard week, lets end on a happier note.
On my shopping list this month was vanilla extract because we have been doing a lot of baking lately. I almost fell over when I saw the price. I swear it was more like $15 the last time I bought it. Last time I checked, I think it was around $8 for 2oz. at the grocery store. Thirty-one dollars for 16oz. seems reasonable given that comparison.
Interestingly enough ‘America’s Test Kitchen’ did a comparison several years ago comparing real vs. artificial and the various options for vanilla extract. You can watch the video here.
I figured that I could make it cheaper and get the real thing. Will it be as good? Time will tell.
I ordered some beans online. I dug out some old bottles, that I plan on making root beer in the next couple of days. I bought some cheap whiskey, and then I topped it off with cheap vodka. In a couple months, it will be ready.
Researching recipes, I found quite a bit of variation in the ratios. But it all came back to the same theme: Beans, alcohol and time. Some of them suggested refilling the containers when the alcohol is empty… I don’t know about that unless we cant wait to break into the first one.
Ingredient
Usage
Cost
Vanilla Beans
3 whole beans/cup of alcohol
$18
Alcohol
Bourbon or Vodka or Rum or Brandy, fill to the top
$13
Let sit for at least two months
It wasn’t totally sure, but I thought I had 16oz bottles. They turned out to be 24oz. I originally bought one 750ml bottle of Canadian whisky, but I was about 350ml short so I topped it up with vodka. So, I made 48oz of extract for $31.
Using my formula above, I probably should have put all of the beans into one bottle. The other wildcard is whether the bottle I am using will be adequate for dispensing. When I run across another bottle that will work better for dispensing, I may transfer out of the current container.
At the worst, you can drink the bottle if you don’t like the results. Enjoy.
Sorry guys, I am not feeling it today. I can tell by stats that this is not my most popular subject heading as I get low views on Thursdays. But, this is a special one in many ways.
One year ago today, I walked away from a six figure and very stable job. This was my last day of work. I did this to find myself and maybe to save my life from potential self-destructive behavior. I have enjoyed my time so much and I have personally accomplished so many things this year. One of the commitments we made before I left my job was to host an exchange student for the year.
August 25, 2019 we welcomed Sergio at the airport an embarked on an adventure that you cant put a price on. It was supposed to be an academic year of sharing and nurture ending as these programs do with graduation, pomp and circumstance. But, the ending was not our destined path. This morning at 4AM PDT we said our final goodbyes to Sergio with a heavy heart.
We have had other exchange students, kids and guests in our lives. This adventure started as many others do. We did the whirlwind State Fair, trip to the beach, family meet and greets, etc. He was probably glad when school started a short two weeks after arrival to get some reprieve from our crushing tour of hospitality.
I would be remiss to not mention a super emotional beginning when our beloved Snowflake (English Retriever, ~7YO), suddenly died of heat exhaustion on a short stroll in the local woodland trail. We were bonded by trips to the veterinarian ER and euthanizing end. There was a lot of emotion from all of us, including someone that had only been with us a week. I think it galvanized this new unit from the beginning.
I can only imagine what life for him was like; a new country, a new school, a different language, no friends and the like. Life soon settled down into a routine of football games, school activities and new experiences. As we headed toward mid-year, Sergio found his stride and was very involved in the local theater production of ‘Modern Millie’. It was that event that he really found his direction.
As the play was wrapping up in late February, we started getting inklings that the situation would be turning in an un-anticipated direction. Washington was reporting the first cases of COVID-19. My sister is heavily embedded in the situation as she is a doctor in the public health department in Washington. I inquired about the severity of this because I knew that if it was happening there it would be here shortly.
It didn’t take long and the domino’s started falling. My wife’s office closed for six weeks and school was put on a two week hiatus. One of those weeks included Spring Break so not a huge deal. Toward the middle of Spring Break, April was removed from the school calendar. We started to see all of the other exchange students leaving and our program ended as well. We were urged to send Sergio home. We had the option to ride it out as long as school resumption was a possibility and had several conversations with his parents to make the right decision.
About one week ago, it was decided that school was done for the year. All seniors in good standing were dismissed and would receive a diploma for time spent. That meant that his visa was technically over and it was time to officially leave.
Sergio, Aaron and Elijah at Disneyland
He was such a good influence on my kids. He was a playmate and responsible role model. He reinforced our rules and pitched in whenever asked, many times not even asking but understanding the expectations. I think that we all appreciated a different dynamic that this relationship brought.
In many ways, we had something we would have never had if this had been a normal year. We had a solid month of quality family time. We played games, planted flowers, taught lessons in cooking, watch movies and TV series, made videos and laughed. I suppose that the regrets of what we wanted to do to finish the year crept in and certainly the premature ending was abrupt. This was a journey bookended by emotional events with a lot of good stuff in between.
It is time for new beginnings for all of us. I have kept a lid on job searches so as to make sure that Sergio would finish his year with the family that made a commitment to him in January 2019. Now school is out until next fall, it is really time to make some different life choices for me and I can consider relocation if need be.
I am a very private person. I like to share ‘edutainment’ or an editorial political piece, but I have put very little out about myself personally. Today, I want to write about addiction. I want to put it into an abstract way so as to be approachable to others. I also cannot claim that I know everything, just my brand of problem.
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s. It was a well established fact that tobacco caused health problems. That being said, every man I knew was well into his addiction of nicotine. Some later beat it and some did not. My generation was at the crossroads of medically wrong but socially acceptable.
In high school, I had a friend that I used to joke around with. It started with a ‘ha ha, look at me chewing this tobacco’ to lets get together and do it some more. This progressed to not a huge deal physically but mentally I started looking forward to this and associating tobacco to fun and reward. My first physical symptom that I was heading toward a problem was I was in math, the first class after lunch. I literally could not keep my eyes open. This went on for about a week and somehow I associated nicotine after eating as the solution to nearly falling asleep in class.
My other problem was that this behavior wasn’t legal. It drove that activity underground so to speak. Pretty early on I learned that if I spit my first mouthful out, I could swallow the juice the rest of the day. I even learned that I can swallow the tobacco. So, now this became like a candy. In my twenty some years of tobacco, there have been very few people that I have ever visibly used around, even though it has been constant for that entire time.
I tried smoking for a little while, but I couldn’t deal with the smell. The buzz was more intense, but it was also shorter. That led to smoking more but it was harder to hide and required more effort. Eventually, I moved exclusively to smokeless tobacco.
You tell yourself that you can quit if you want to. To a degree that is the absolute truth. You will only quit if you want to, and some days you really have to want it. You of course try half-hearted efforts to quit. Ironically, I think that it is harder to quit when no one knows that you are doing it in the first place. But, every time you fail it is some excuse you tell yourself that is the reason that cant do it. I made it thirty days once and to celebrate I bought some tobacco. A lot of the time, it was something to focus your energy.
What is the psychology of addiction look like? A coping mechanism – What I realized is that this is how I have been functioning for the last twenty some years.
Don’t know what to do…
When I am done with this…
I am glad that is over…
This is going to be very hard/stressful…
I believe that this why quitting is so hard, you cant undue all those years of training overnight. I have felt mental fog, a shaking like being cold and a sudden urge to use the toilet. The consistency of the symptoms fade and I have observed acute triggers like stressors. There has been some cases where I have told myself, ‘I don’t have time to quit’ because I didn’t want to attempt with withdrawal symptoms for a particular day.
I have tried patches, gum and cold turkey. After trying to calculate how much nicotine I consumed, I tried the 1st step patch (21mg) and supplemented with 4mg gum. After the patches ran out, I went to straight gum and was using 32mg daily. That lasted three weeks, during Christmas and New Years.
Recently, I went straight gum for nine days (24-40mg) and went cold turkey. This morning is day six. I am definitely not out of the woods on this. I am having strong urges still at times but I know that giving in today means going through this again. So, I am inclined to make this one stick. I suppose that this is one thing about quarantine has been a positive.
Isaac (my nephew) and I finished re-framing the back corner yesterday. We are on our way to getting that section buttoned up. My goal this week is to have all of the rot framing done and sheathing on the south side. The pictures are the words.
This comparison is probably a stretch, but I feel like it will work so I am going for it. I suppose that there are a couple of inputs that make this opinion come alive. In the old days, say pre-Windows XP, hardware was upgraded more often. When hardware was changed, there was a driver that also needed to be installed. That driver may or may not have actually worked. Sometimes it required re-installing service packs and rolling back to move forward. There also wasn’t a video for everything or a forum or ideas to help you get started.
Today, unless you are upgrading your video card or something for a specific reason, you don’t need to add another hard drive or faster DVD drive or more RAM. If you are one of those people, you probably know more about this than I do. However when it didn’t work, which was frequent, what would you have paid to make it work? My point being that without software to run that device, it was worthless. But it wasn’t like you had a choice for vendors, nor could you really pay to have a better or different experience.
I can remember whole Christmas presents not working; never could figure out how to make that game load or that modem work, etc. For those that cant relate to this experience, this is precisely where I am going. Our value of the software is free, because that is our perspective and experience. Yet without it, it doesn’t work at all.
Ker-chunk, Shifting gears. I recently picked up a set of Bora 1100 mobile work bases. Until my recent pantry project, some of the nicety features or accessorizing like dust collection and mobile bases were not in the plan. It was true that my machines could be moved without that mobile base. I really didn’t like to do it and hassle has been some of the issue with previous projects.
Quickly, the pluses on the product are 1) relatively inexpensive at $45 per pair 2) flexible and customizable size accommodating 400 lbs of weight. The minuses were 1) the assembly was time consuming 2) supplying your own frame.
So, unlike the driver situation my tools will work without mobile base. What I will say about it is that I am hoping that I will have much less hesitation to get started when they are easier to move. My shop is small, so having the ability to utilize the space effectively is important. Completing the task is more important than owning the hardware.
We have wrapped up another Christian year with Easter tomorrow. This has been what is called holy week starting with Palm Sunday. The holy week timeline goes as follows.
Palm Sunday represents the day that Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. Thursday is supposed to be the last supper. Friday is the day of the crucifixion. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, which is Easter. That is a lot of things crammed into one week. I suspect that the actual timeline was a bit longer, particularly between arrest, conviction and death.
For those weaker on their doctrine, the resurrection of Jesus is God fulfilling his promise that the death of Jesus begins a new relationship between man and God. That is often referred to as the ‘New Covenant’. The old covenant was actually the Jewish religion. The difference between the two being that humans had relationship with God through a priest in the Jewish faith versus each person having relationship in the Christian faith. And with that, there is a shift between a fear, anger and punishment oriented God to a love and forgiveness God. At least this is my Protestant view of all that.
That makes tomorrow Easter, and traditionally a day of celebration. With the quarantine underway, we will be having a family oriented dinner, easter egg hunt, church on YouTube. It wont be the same, but it will be in line with tradition.
We are in the midst of our own new covenant. The state has decided not to reconvene school this year. With that, seniors are considered complete in their academic year. Our own exchange student who is a senior is now done with school. And with that, it is time to go home.
So the family dynamic which has grown so nicely over the year is about to change. We always knew that this day would come, it is a lot earlier than we expected and it certainly didn’t go the way that we expected. In a way we were lucky because we got a little more time with Sergio than a lot of host families did. Most programs recalled their students the week of spring break. He is the only exchange student that I am aware of that is still here.
Thursday morning, he will be on his way back home and we will be officially relieved of our duties take care of another child. We are all feeling a little sad about it. With that ending, another new beginning can occur. We will see what that is.
I am not feeling super ‘tacticool’ today. I am getting buried in my remodeling project, school will no longer be in session this year and our exchange student’s year is done. He is making plans to leave within the next couple of weeks. This leaves a huge hole in our family dynamics. We knew the day would come, but we had planned on things going very differently.
Spring is a great time to get out the shotgun in a lot of southern and mid-western states in this country. It is, or will be the spring turkey season for hunting. Here in Oregon, we do have a spring season but it is a lottery draw. I would be inclined to try but truthfully we have a very sparse population in this area. I very rarely ever see a turkey.
Optics and shotguns… in areas where turkey hunting is popular, it has become common to use a red dot type sight. Choke patterns are very tight with turkey loads and you are looking for a head shot (precision) to kill a turkey so as not to spoil the meat like breast. Other reasons to add an optic to your shotgun are shotgun only deer hunting zones and the home defense setup.
But, lest you permanently add a scope to your only shotgun because federal law does not allow any sort of optic for migratory bird hunting. Those would be ducks, geese or any upland bird like grouse. Turkeys are not federally managed and are treated more or less like big game. Additionally, optics are prohibited in most shotgun games like trap, skeet and sporting clays. If you only have one shotgun and specifically if it is a pump or semi-auto, consider the saddle mount.
The saddle mount attaches by removing two pins that hold the trigger group into the shotgun. The mount is slid over the receiver and two new bolts are put in place of the pin.
I take mine on and off for various reasons that I will discuss in the future. I have not noticed a point of impact change but that has also been tested for typical shotgun payloads like buckshot. It very well might be more subtle for slugs, that is one of the things I plan on testing at the range this year.
There you have it, an inexpensive and tool-less way to add a scope to a shotgun that is flexible so that you can use one tool in different applications.
My wife and I were talking about all of the ‘Improvements’ that were considering for the cottage. On one of the walk-throughs we were looking at some mildew along the wall.
That got to looking around at a potential source of the problem. I found a problem with the siding.
Katy bar the door… I have a huge problem.
That is the corner post and sill of the room in the first picture. So, guess what I am doing… that’s right, rebuilding this place.
For a discerning slum lord, there is always the question of where to stop. If I was intellectually honest with myself, the entire sill shows evidence of being punky (that is code for almost rotten). There are literally studs that are rotten and sistered to new wood. I had no idea the building was in this bad of shape.
As of this point, I am optimistic that all of that can be repaired. Time, money and effort are all that is required. Believe it or not, I like to consider the future and how to prevent this again. Certainly, there are some better building materials but there are some worse ones as well. Today’s lumber does not hold a candle to the durability of the old growth used in 1979 (when this house was redone).
The sources of water must be considered. There was a bush up against the house, that was removed last fall. There are cherry trees hanging over the house, those were trimmed last fall. The gutter was plugged, I scooped it out, but the cherry trees still exist so that will be a maintenance activity.
Once the water gets to the ground, it needs to get away from the house. I am considering digging a drainage ditch. We will see.
I dont even have the full scope of the problem yet. So, I wont be able to present it until I know. What I can say is that I will be busy until this project is done.
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