Moving to a New Shed

I have moved this blog to a more flexible platform and all further posts will be made at http://www.tickingwood.com

Hope to see you there :-)

I Got the Drill Press Blues

My attempt to keep my initial costs down and spread them out over a longer period are being tested. A drill press that I had lined up to borrow is no longer available so it's off to the shops we go!

I have done a fair bit of research with emphasis on value for money. My woody senses tell me to buy this lovely piece of Chinese made kit with bits - Hare & Forbes SBD-25A (D144) bench top drill press. I love how I can sound all fancy and smart and stuff when I rattle off product ID numbers. I wouldn't blame you for thinking I knew what was going on. Sadly, not the case. I do however know how to research to find the popular choice for my budget and at least I'm good at that if nothing else.

This drill press seemed to be in the sweet spot. It's feature packed and solidly built while retaining the lower end machinery price. I can spend double the $350 retail price for a slightly better drill with tighter tolerances and a more robust build but let's be honest, I'm not going to need the super precise accuracy when really precise accuracy will serve me just as well and leave me with some bills in my wallet for pop-rocks and for placating SWMBO with the crossed arms, pursed mouth, and laser stares.

On an unrelated but topical note, I just heard from the guy who sold me the belt/disc sander I mentioned in my previous post. It has been picked up by the freight company and should arrive on Monday. These two machines should be all I need to put together my incoming clock kit. More on the clock kit another day.

Belt and Disc Sander

I've been searching around the net for a 25mm (1") belt and any-size-disc combo sander. Until this morning I was convinced they were rarer than unicorns and pots of gold at the end of rainbows. Celebrate good times because I have found and purchased one this morning! On the rarity scale I would now place them around the tooth fairy region and if you doubt them I have the $3.25 to prove you wrong. Kind of. I spent $1.50 on soft serves one day because it was really hot and I had to wait for my uncle to put the finishing touches to his Wham tattoo... but I digress.

It's a used but good condition Carba-Tec 1" Belt & 5" Disc Sander model AS-130M. I've not been able to find any information on this model and neither the Sydney nor the Brisbane stores could help. Leads me to assume that it's an older discontinued model which didn't sell well. I'm hoping it's not because it was a dud machine...

The belts are 25mm x 762mm (1" x 30") which are readily available at local hardware stores. The discs are on the small side at 127mm (5") but I'll try to make do for now and upgrade to a 12" if I really need to. My main use for the disc will be to sand cogs to perfect circles and roughly 50mm of usable area on the disc should allow me to achieve this.

My First Set of Tools

The wise and experienced person, when they know very little about a hobby, would show restraint and do some research before purchasing any tools slash equipment. Lucky for us I am neither so this morning I rolled out of bed and went to my local hardware store and bought some beginner tools and materials to hack at.

Since I know very little I trusted the sales rep, Doug, to pick out some of the more common tools I would need. Doug was a very helpful chap but the poor dear had some issues. He kept giggling and it turned into uncontrollable laughter as I left the store. I've seen his condition before and oddly it seems to afflict many sales reps I've met.

Included in the set he picked out for me is the all important saw and sawing board. I'm sure they go hand in hand and also something about using the vise which I was meant to remember. I'll work it out. A nice solid hammer and a wrench were the other items I picked up. I'm almost certain the wrench will be my most useful woodworking tool I own. Oh, and a screwdriver was included for free. Score! He said something about screwing things or he was screwing so here's a free screw. I wish there was a manual I could refer to.

One of the features that sold me on this set was that all the tools have a red end which indicates where I need to hold it. Things can get embarrassing pretty quickly if it wasn't for this feature. The other selling point was the included bench. It's purpose build for wooding.

Here's a photo of all the stuff I bought. So exciting!

Well, I have projects to take on. Wish me luck!

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Earlier today I visited Carba-Tec and Hare & Forbes.

"Boy oh boy oh boy." That was me while my dear partner was checking the time with her arms crossed. It was a strange experience with the roles reversed. I usually find myself with crossed arms looking for a chair in some clothing store with a hip name where they misspell a word like Topz or Temt. I can never find one so like a good little boy I follow her around and agree that she looks great in that colour and oh that cut of jeans just does wonders for your... umm, posterior.

I can see myself spending hours at Carba-Tec - less the partner-with-crossed-arms. I'm sure I saw some factory stores around Auburn that can keep her well occupied. I'm just scared of the pounding our credit cards will receive if we split up.

They have a massive range of tools and if you are just starting out like myself... I'll take one of each please sir. I'm sure I won't need that lathe just yet but if I can take it home I'll find a use for it. I bet it would look pretty if I attach a colourful little fan on one end and let it spin. It might just keep me cool as well in the summer.

My main reason for the visit was to eye out their 18" Scroll Saw. I ogled it and then the 21" Excalibur (you have to say that with a booming majestic voice) grabbed my attention and screamed out begging me to take it home. I let them battle for my favour but in the end left them both to live and fight another day.

Fast forward 15 minutes and here we are at Hare & Forbes. She still had her arms crossed but she stopped looking at her watch. She was checking the time on her phone instead while no doubt posting nasty things about me on Facebook. I can't prove that though as she de-friended me before we left Carba-Tec. I'm just lucky I had the car keys in my pocket...

Machinery House is just that. A house, in this case a large warehouse, full of machines. Lots of fun stuff to crush and rip your fingers off if you don't know how to operate it and let me tell you I can successfully maim myself on 87% of their equipment given the opportunity.

I specifically went to see their Woodfast 12" Disc Sander of which they had none in stock and their H&F SBD-25A (D144) Drill Press which turns out is huge in real life. I suspected it was large but seeing it in person was impressive. At 60kg I would need both arms to lift it. Well, one arm if I had my Weetbix in the morning.

Those three items are in my shopping trolley at the moment. A decent quality scroll saw, a no nonsense disc sander and a practical solid drill press. I'm having second thoughts on the drill press and I might end up going with something a little smaller. I was also checking out some band saws but that's for a future purchase - maybe when my partner stops hyperventilating.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I have developed an interest in horology recently. It started with watches. I purchased some cheap vintage Russian mechanical watches, some modest tools, and began tinkering. With the wealth of information available online, and a bit of patience and persistence, I managed to completely disassemble a few watches and assemble them back to working order. I even managed to repair one watch. Let's not get into how it broke down. Apparently having the correct tools for the job is important. It's a lesson you keep learning when money is not a luxury.

From watches my interest expanded to clocks and more recently to clocks made completely out of wood. Hence the blog title. See what I did there. ;-)

A couple of weeks ago my partner (fiancé as of two days ago :-) ) and I were holidaying up at the beautiful Great Barrier Reef coast and I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. Now, we're too old for that question but it was asked with a playful 'what if' and we spent about half an hour discussing it. Wouldn't it be great to posses all of this knowledge that comes with experience and hindsight and apply it to your choice of career at the beginning rather than mid way or at the end of your working life? We both learned a little about each other and we both reflected.

She decided to work with kids via musical therapy when she grows up while I decided to make beautiful things with wood when I grow up.

Perhaps it is too late for me to learn a trade and make a living out of it. Perhaps this is a silly dream that should remain as one. I don't have the answer either way but at the risk of sounding crass and corny, f#ck it, life is too short to keep dreaming - I'm building a wooden clock.