Daniel's Toolbox Project

Daniel went down the shop to work on a toolbox with Grampy.  Good thing he received a new "construction set" complete with suspenders for Christmas.

Ready to work.

 Daniel drove about two dozen nails, never hitting

his fingers or Grampy's.  He also painted his toolbox.

The completed project!  A better tool box for

his new tools than the plastic bag

previously in use.

Merry Christmas 2012!

Merry Christmas from the North Pole!

Christmas Wheel Truing

Here's a project in the works, a wheel truing stand for Chris.  I found and purchased Roger Musson's wheelbuilding ebook (http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/) a while back for the build it yourself wheel truing stand plans as well as wheel building info.  It's a worthwhile book and the plans for the stand are good, but I had to add my own tweaks to the stand.

The lateral truing gage is shown in this picture.

I added a solid wood edge band to the base plate, curly maple on this one, and used a single knob in a slot for width adjustment.  A pin on the underside of each upright engages the slot to keep the uprights in alignment as they are slid side to side.  I also routed a pocket for the "jaws" to better attach and locate them.

The radial truing gage is shown in this picture.

Hopefully Chris gets some use out of this stand.  I will building a couple more in the near future.

Santa Claus is coming...

Went out for a short, around the block ride.  39 when I left the house but the sun was going down and so was the temperature as I rode.  First ride of the year on crusty, salt covered roads so the cross bike came out to play.

 Santa is coming on a cross bike?

Or a reindeer powered sleigh?

I've been working on a couple small Christmas projects.  No pictures to be posted until after they are given away.  Not as much time anymore to make gifts, but I found time to make a couple items.

Sun going down.

First Frozen Mohican Ride this Year

Went down to Mohican for a little ride.  It was 37 in the car as I was driving, out in the woods the temperature varied depending on which side of the hills you were on.  There was still a dusting of snow on the north side of the hills.

 One of two stops today for a self-timer picture.

It was wetter than I thought it would be.  My back tire filled with mud quickly and left me with reduced traction.  I'm really think a different back tire could make the upcoming winter rides more fun.

A dirty bike and dirty car.

I did the short loop twice, seeing several guys on each lap.  The parking lot had more cars in it than I expected.  It was a nice, sunny day that brought out the mountain bikers.

 

Second picture stop.

After a stop at mom and dad's for dinner and some work in the shop I pulled up the driveway.  I thought it was kind of neat seeing a bike on the rack behind the car lit up by the brake light.  After a picture, I unloaded my muddy bike to be washed tomorrow.

Grainy but I like it.

Slight Miscalculation

Finally made it out for a ride.  It was 53 and sunny when I left the house, not bad for December.  I didn't pay too much attention to the wind direction and just started riding.  SR539 is a seldom traveled state route with nice pavement and, as I road north, I kept thinking my effort and speed were not matching up.  Yeah, a tail wind was pushing me along.

 Someone planned ahead with silage for the winter.

After riding west and then turning back south my effort and speed were not matching up again.  This time the wind was hurting and not helping.  Somewhere about this time the sun started to get low in the sky and was obscured by clouds.  It felt like the temperature dropped ten degrees.

My intention of 1.5 to 2 hour ride turned into 2.5 hours and I was pretty chilled when I made it home.  Still, as always, it was good to be out.