Further Improvement

I must thank blog reader Dave for his comment on yesterday’s post.  He has made me revisit the fishing knot jig and improve it.

The above is the jig folded for transit.  You might note the bracket that used to hold the poles has disappeared.  I’ve now modified the jig to enable the poles to be stored inside the jig when folded.

This is a much better solution.  And YES; the hinges are different sizes.  I’m making this at zero cost.

Jan hasn’t been feeling well since her AstraZeneca injection a week ago.  Actually she sounds awful.  It’s like living in SeaWorld with a seal constantly barking and coughing.  Jan thinks it bronchitis combined with something else. 

Yesterday I wrote the Perth region had gone back to masks and travel/activity restrictions after a COVID case was detected.  Last night that was upgraded to an initial four days of lockdown.  It just happened to coincide with our food stocks getting low and with Jan not feeling the best it was up to me to do some essential purchasing.  I went to “Little Somalia” where the prices in the various shops tend to be lower.  Have you noticed that in some instances the prices are dictated by the income of the clientele?  It’s not really called Little Somalia,  however you will gather from the name the ethnicity of the majority of shoppers.

The thing I found interesting was the change in attitude of the shop assistants.  When I reached the check-out in the Fruit & Veg shop two separate customers immediately ahead of me were attempting to claim refunds for produce.  Unsurprisingly they weren’t communicating in English.  This wasn’t an issue as the shop assistants are either the same ethnicity or bilingual.  I worked out what was happening by observing the body language and tone of voice. The shop assistant wanted to see their receipts; which they couldn’t provide.  Later, at the supermarket check-out the assistant wanted to see my receipt for the fruit & veg purchased earlier.  That was a first!  I wonder if theft is increasing?  Perhaps I have a dishonest face!     

Mexican Comment

Reader you will know the Mexicans live south of the border.  And so it is with my friend Ken, who also lives south of the border.  He made a comment about my recent FG Fishing Knot jig.  This one…..

His point was the jig was too big to take fishing.  Of course I denied this… but sadly (for me) he is probably correct.  His homemade two pole jig is far more portable than my three pole.

Today I did something about that cutting the base of my jig longitudinally and then connecting to two halves using hinges.  I also made a small storage rack for the poles.

 

My jig is now smaller than his

Meanwhile the postman delivered another package this morning.  It’s a 240V AC to DC converter.

This is going to be my next project.  The video front doorbell is very good.

It plays tunes; has a motion detector and pushes calls to the phone enabling us to answer the door even when we are not at home.  It records video and has facial recognition capability.  The major weakness is it is battery powered and very energy hungry.  I’ve decided to modify it and supply power from the house 240V using the converter.

Here in the west we are back to wearing facemasks and watching our social distancing.  Movement is for essential purposes only.  Only three days at this time; however that could change.  At least two COVID infected residents have returned from interstate and they have the more contagious Delta variant.   The situation is worse in NSW, which has resulted in a rush to get vaccinated.  A number of these people are going to be disappointed as Australia has limited supplies of Pfizer and the AstraZeneca is only being given to those over 60.  I think it is finally starting to dawn on people that COVID is going to be here forever.

Door

The door is finished and Jan seems quite pleased with her choice of colour.  It’s very heavy… Or perhaps I’m getting old?

The door frame has also been made. I’m waiting on better weather before removing the existing aluminium sliding door and installing Jan’s new solid door.

 

No Wall Space and I’m Annoyed!

Reader after a week of work on my workshop French Cleat storage system I’ve run out of space on the walls.  Fortunately there is only one tool; the reciprocating saw; which hasn’t been fixed to the wall.  That’s partially because I’ve used all the thick plywood!

The system has definitely free some shelf space and it’s now much easier to find tools. 

The next workshop tasks will be the manufacture of the integrated table.  However that is going to need to wait until the laundry door project is completed.

Four weeks ago we went to the local hardware store and purchased an exterior door for the laundry.  They didn’t have one in stock and informed us it would arrive either at the end of the week or early the following week.  Four weeks and three visits later they still didn’t have the door.  I was rather annoyed and cancelled the order demanding a refund.   I then told Jan “I’ll make the #$%^& door!”  I’ve never actually made a door; although I’ve hung a few!  Thinking about all the involved mortise and tenon joints I started to wonder if I’d been rash.  Then I remembered the doors on Waiouru.  They had been made from sheets of ¾” plywood.  I could do the same adding fake rails and styles. 

Two sheets of veneered 18mm ply were purchased from the timber merchants and this afternoon I cut all the required pieces using the plunge saw.

The door will be 720mm wide.  I can’t make it any wider because the washing machine will foul the opening.  The first rail has been glued and clamped.

My plan to glue two rails or styles daily.  Whilst the glue sets I’ll make some beading from pine to conceal the edges of the plywood using the router and table saw.

Until next time…….

Winter is Here

Winter is officially here and Jan’s recently planted Daffodils are obviously quite confused.

I assume I’m correct in believing daffodils aren’t supposed to awaken on the first day of winter?

Jan is the gardener and I’ll leave her to resolve the matter.  I’ve retired to the ‘man cave’ and started on my French Cleat storage system.  I’m glad my brother casually mentioned the French cleat system during a recent conversation.  I like the concept and have been cutting up sheets of 18mm plywood with the Makita rail track and plunge saw.

 

This was followed by a day of sanding the cut lengths followed by the application of varnish to the bevelled edge on each length.  Varnishing the edges may not have been necessary, but I decided I wanted to minimise the possibly of the edges absorbing moisture and swelling.

The first set of rails went on the rear wall.

 

One more horizontal rail to install

You can see how the system locks together in the following photo.

 

With the rails up it was time to make individual holder for the various tools.

I’m making this up as I proceed

Rear wall completed

With the tools now moved from the side wall to the rear I could start installing rails on the side wall

I like the modular concept.  It provides flexibility on the location of the tools and other stored items.