Brown & Sharp No 6 Screw Machine

A conversation on hobby-machinist resulted in this image of the turret lathe.

From vintagemachinery.org this was added 02/03/2020.  Which explains why I did not see it when I obtained the lathe.

Also includes specs but nothing else.

Ergo Scrap Wood Push Stick

While working on another project I got feed up with my old push sticks and make this one.  Except for time required for the glue to dry it was only a few minutes.

The wood already had a large dado in it.   I alternated which side it was on and it worked out to be a great grip with just a bit of work on the belt sander.

When the bottom is used up I can just glue on a new one.  Should last as long as I need it.

Started with this stock.  Some sort of sticker or such tossed out by the lumber yard.

Ubuntu VirtualBox Windows7 "Make The Cut" Cricut

Because I purchased "Make The Cut" prior to the author getting sued by provocraft I can use MTC with my cricut expression.

Installed VirtualBox, VirtualBox-ext-pack, and VirtualBox-guest-additions from the ubuntu package manager Synaptic.     Do not use the installation from within virtual box.

Enabled the USB and COM3 (in my case).  This has to be done with the windows 7 virtual machine stopped.

Downloaded the driver from within MTC.   Help>Advanced>Download and Install FTDI XXXX drivers.

Select cut project

"Do not use serial port" should be unchecked.

"COM3(FTDI Serial Port)" should be selected.

That is all I remember.   Need to create a new virtual machine and document the steps better some time.

Apparently MTC has not been updated in 6 years and the author was last on the forum 3 years ago.

Burn out oven repair

In the mean time I tested my sodium silicate.  Measured out .01lb of SS and added it to .24lb of play sand for a 4% mix.  Mixed sand with a plastic spoon on a paper plate.  Nuked for 60s, 30s,  cooled, then another 120s.   Total 3m 30s.

Results were very good.  Wonder why it did not work well last time I tried it.

Antique Dresser With Knapp Joints

See a YouTube vid on Knapp joints a few days later I found them on an old dresser I was about to toss.  Turns out they were only used from 1870 to 1900.

Maybe its a keeper

First step in dust collection.

I have had this jet 1.5HP dust collector for 15 or so years.   When I moved from the big shop to the 2 car garage there was not enough floor space.   I have gotten to the point where I really miss it.

I have started mounting it in the rafters next to the gable end away from the house.  Initially I will be blowing the dust and chips to the open air.   If that don't work and I don't think it will I can add the bags or a cyclone on the outside wall.

At this point the blower has been hoisted to the rafters using a come-a-long and a snatch block bolted into the roof sheeting.   Had just enough clearance to make it work.  Had I bolted it to the rafters I would have come up short.


The blower is resting on 2 2x6's.  Need to screw them down then bolt the blower to them.   Cut a hole in the outside wall and hook up the 2 4" flex hoses on the inside.   Thinking both will go to the table saw.  One to clear the chips from the saw's body and the other suspended above the blade.  That will be nice especially when resawing the old redwood fence boards to remove the paint and top layer of weathered wood.

Start of a hole to the outside. A few false starts on where to put it but the extra drill holes ended up in the disk I cut out.

The fly cutter had stripped positioning bolts.  Touched up the M5 bolts and used M5 bolts with external nuts to jam aka jam nuts.

Next Day

Exhaust hose recycled from the portable setup.

The switch is not a magnetic contractor.  It stays on even if power to it is lost.























Screwed down the 2x6 supports and bolted the blower unit to them.

The six inch to twin 4 inch connector never fit well.   I have strapped it in place with a bungy cord.

Connection to bottom of the table saw.  Yes the hose is connected to a up cycled tin can.

A mess but it illustrates that one leg of the connector will pull dust from the blade and the one on the back right of the table connect to the dust collection port under the table.

Kitchen Cabinets Restoration

The south house needs a lot of works.   Without a lot of money to toss at it there are still some things I can do.   First on this list is the kitchen cabinets.  They have enough paint on them that they do not operate correctly.

Prior to starting.

Current state.  Storing stripped doors on countertops to keep them flat.


I have removed the paint from the front and back of 13, about half of the doors.  The uppers came clean to the wood.   The lowers are retaining some paint in the grain. The 2nd door from the rear is a lower.

The doors are the easy part.   The drawers then the rest of the cabinets will be harder.

I am setting up the living room to use for painting.  Current plan is to spray with Alkyd Enamel.  Maybe with a hardener.

Mostly missing a heater atm.   When I get to spraying paint with a gun I need to bring the compressor over and setup a fresh air supply hood or resperiator.

Update:
pulled the rest of the doors and all the drawers on the kitchen units.  Still need to pull the dozen or so doors on the pantry.