Microwave Table

I finally finished this project that I have been working on for the past eleven months. It was not so much the work involved, but simply the lack of time I had to spend on it. Throw in a move to a new house, and before you know it, eleven months had passed. Full details of this project are now up on my homepage

Spice Spoon Rack

Today I completed this simple little project to keep my spice spoons all neat and tidy: It is simply a piece of 3/4 inch oak, stained and varnished with finishing nails to hang the spoons on. The most challenging part was routing some blind channels in the back side to install flush mount hangers.

Table Saw

Well, it finally arrived. After a few weeks of wondering when it would show up, Mark of Mark's Machinery showed up with a 200 kg crate in the back of his pickup truck and dumped it in my driveway. My brothers Dan and Nick, and friend Matt helped me load it down the basement stairs, without too much difficulty. The specifics: It is a General International 50-260 left tilt. It has a 2.8 kVA motor... yikes does this thing ever accellerate fast! Push the start button and the the blade is spinning 4000 RPM before you can blink. I am quite impressed by the quality of this machine. Everything seemed to be well alligned during the assembly and very little adjustments were required. I still have to install the fence which is considerably more complicated as it involves drilling holes in the side of the table. Merry Christmas everyone!

Beer

On Friday my company had its Christmas party. After an excellent supper at Chez Nam Vietnamese restaurant, we all piled back to my house and drank some of my favorite beverage. One of the party goers took this photo of his own beer. See more pics here.

Maple Bowl

Here is a cool bowl I made on my lathe. It is also a test of the new camera. Some lucky person will be getting this one for Christmas.

Digital Camera

Emily and I decided to buy a digital camera for ourselves for Xmas. We found one last night. I should be able to update this blog with pics soon that I haven't just scammed from somewhere else off the net. On the saw front, I have settled on a General 260. Now I just await delivery. Hopefully it will arrive next week as it would be nice to use it over the holidays. I am a little concerned about getting this 200 kg beast down the basement stairs... help anyone?

I want a saw.

I need a saw for my woodworking hobby. I would like a radial arm saw but after searching far and wide I think I am beginning to conclude that the day of the radial arm is over... There just doesn't seem to be any out there that are affordable and good quality. Omga has a nice one but it does not permit the blade to be in the horizontal position. General has one but it does not do rip cuts. Delta has a 10" model but after a bad grinder experience, I will not buy anything with Shopmaster on the label again. Delta also has a four 12" models which look decent, although I am having absolutely no luck finding any additional information on these. I have emailed Delta twice with no reply, and spoken to a couple clueless sales people at the Ottawa Woodworking Show last weekend. I am also having problems finding someone who is willing to sell me one of these as well at a price that is not triple what our American friends pay for them (which is way over my budget). Looks like I am going to have to get a table saw. That may mean I need a mitre saw as well...