Changes to Workspace

I've made a few changes to my workspace, I'll post a few photos.

Main bench from over the secondary bench:

Wall behind main bench:

Workspace towards sharpening bench:

Sharpening wall:

Click 'em to big 'em.

What I didn't show are the machines over by the door and the horse/mule that sits next to the secondary bench between it and the machines. That way when working on the horse/mule I can use the backside of the bench as a horse/mule work table and the horse/mule is out of the way but useable.

ken

Happy 420

 It has been a good 420 but what can I say every day is a good day and yes we did do a Brownie munch and a few bong hits during the day.

The big deal of the day is I fixed the sound of the motorhome TV. The TV speakers are "blown" if you increase volume pass the halfway mark the distortion is so bad you can not understand the dialog. My first thought was I'd dive into the spaghetti bowl of wires and figure out how to get the motorhome speakers to work with the TV, wrong sparky breath. There are not enough hours left in this old carcass to chase down that mess, but I figured out a work around. Change TVs.

I'd already tried that route and failed. The new TVs are very light but, there is that killer "but", their wall mounting screws are at best #8 screws. I often describe going down the road in a motorhome as being in your home during a level 6 earthquake as a hurricane eye wall passes. There ain't no way I'd trust #8 screws to hold the TV to the wall mount.

BTW, I'm slow but every once in awhile I can get it figured out. We have/had a TV in the exercise room that is a heavy sucker (ten or so years old) the same size as the motorhome TV and guess what, the wall mounting screws were the same size. Can you say "the exercise room no longer has a TV". At the same time I connected a pair of "Edifier" bluetooth speakers via RCA jacks to the TV. Pandora music and TV sound, it doesn't get better.  

Happy 420,

ken

  

BC Screw With 14" Crisscross Install Finished

 It's done, I can't say it was fun but there is a satisfaction stepping back and looking at the vise, then giving it a spin to hold a workpiece is the cherry on top. 

I've used a lot of different types of vices over the years but none are in the same class as the BenchCrafted metal screw with the 14" crisscross. 

The install is finished, just needs the top of the chop trimmed. Trimming the chop is a non issue, I could go until I croke and it wouldn't be a problem, just looks a little funky.

It will be good to use this bench as the main bench, it is bigger both in length and width. I can set the other bench up for MsBubba and you know the story, Happy wife happy life. No truer words ever.

ken  

Short Video Repost

 A video repost to show why I'm going to the trouble to change vise on the bench. I love wood screws, they hold well, tell you with a squawk when they are tight enough, and are pretty but they will not do this:

 ken

What I Know About Growing Cannabis

 One simple fact. You do not need much equipment to grow all you need. One or two cheap ( Less than $100 USD) LED grow lights, one or two 2'X4' flood trays, some 3 gal or 5 gal fabric bags, soil, and some autoflower seeds. That's it folks.

I've all the bells and whistles so I can grow photoperiod Cannabis and I expect I will continue growing some photoperiod plants but the truth is photoperiod plants are a PITA for a little more product and maybe slightly higher THC content.

The higher THC content makes no never mind, most modern Autoflower Cannabis will come in with mid 20% THC and at least 4 oz of bud/plant. As an example this year's Super Lemon Haze Auto (Sativa dominant) or the LSD Auto (Indica dominant) both tested THC levels of 25% plus or minus a point or two. My photoperiod plants didn't test any higher and because I was on a short grow schedule weight of flower/plant was was about the same between photos and autos. If I had more time for the Photoperiod plants to stay in Veg their production would have been higher but not much need.  Legal here in AZ is 6 plants per adult or in other words for a two adult household with autoflower plants you can expect about 1.5 kilos of bud or more. Ain't no way I can smoke 1.5 kilos in a year even with friends helping.

ken  

Brain Fart City

See the face mark, that should tell me the piece faces out and should have a mortise to house the crisscross.  The backer board is where it should be but there ain't no mortise. 

In fact that mortise should be ⅞" wide, 14 ¼" long and 1 9/16" deep. Maybe we can find it on the other side because I know I chopped a big mortise in a hunk of White Oak. BTW, what a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

There it is:

I found the mortise, shame I'm not left handed because that backer board would work a treat at the other end of the bench.

I discovered the problem when I went to make the matching mortise in the chop. 

I lucked out and found a 8/4 Poplar board wide enough and long enough to face glue another backer board and I can tell myself at least I'll be chopping that 14 ¼" long, ⅞" wide, 1 9/16" deep mortise in Poplar instead of White Oak. 

The bad part, other than wasting a nice hunk of wood, I would be finished with the vise install today instead of needing at least another day or maybe two.

ken

More Changing Vise

 I had forgotten how big and heavy this bench was. Over 90% of the bench is European Beech and it was built as a Roubo killer, in other words, heavy thick slab and base timbers. It is a really good, stable work bench with one saving grace. It does come apart with just a mallet like smaller, portable Moravian benches but this 80 year old needs help with moving the slab from place to place. The base units and stretchers ain't no walk in the park either.

The hard part or at least the butt scratching part is done. The vise backer board is fitted:

Next up is cutting the mortises for the crisscross in both the backer board and the chop. Which brings up the chop question. I really like the current chop but to fit it to the new vise will require filling in the old vise screw hole and cutting off the guide. It could be less work just making a new chop, time to inspect the wood pile. 

Finished for the day, time for whisky and a hit or two from the bong.

ken

Changing Vise on Workbench

 I had always been a fan of wood screw vises and most of my later benches had Lake Erie wood screw vises with pinned guides until my last build. On it I used a BenchCrafted metal screw with the 14" crisscross. While the wood screw vises work well the the BenchCrafted screw with crisscross takes the vise to another level. So much so the benches with wood screws get little love or use in the shop. 

I've had a BenchCrafted screw and 14" crisscross stored for a couple of years, the planned bench build hasn't happened and isn't likely to happen anytime soon. The "off" bench has a wood screw vise that works well but once you experience the BC with Crisscross it is hard to go back so two things happen. One, the bench and vise get little use and two, I keep looking at retrofitting a BC vise to the bench. The 14" crisscross needs 17" between the top of the bottom stretcher and bottom of the slab. The bench has 16". I've spent the last couple of years scratching my butt trying to find another inch with no joy.

I may have figured out the answer other than building a new base for the bench:

While it may compromise the stretcher I believe once everything is together it will be strong enough to make no never mind. If I'm wrong there is always the option of building a new base for the bench. BTW, that is the old backer board for the wood screw and guide on top of the stretcher to the right.

My bench building days are likely over, wrangling bench sized hunks of timber by myself is getting to be a problem. I know work smart and all that rot but you can only be so smart, sooner or later you have to pick the parts up. It's a shame, I really enjoy the bench building process but the old body is crying no mass, no mass. This may be my last rodeo. 

Final Report On 2022-2023 Crop/Harvest

 This season's grow was successful. Total production was a little less than my goal but there were reasons. The main one was the Sativa/Indica cultivar mix, it was heavy with Sativa dominant genetics including Landrace Sativas. Indica dominant plants tend to have heavier and tighter colas than those from Sativas. The other reason was I thought I was going to be short on time so I rushed the Photoperiod plants to "flower", no accounting for brain farts. If I had stayed in the vegetative 18hr/6hr light cycle for a couple or three more weeks I expect the harvest would have blown past my 2 kilo goal instead of the 1.3 kilo final harvest weight of pretty good top shelf bud.

My goal was to harvest enough to skip a year and use that year to travel with MsBubba. Because I ain't no holy roller, I just use a bong, use of bud for smoking is less than an oz/month so going two years isn't a problem if the bud is stored well. Where I can get in trouble and use/throw away lots of weed at a time is when I start playing in the kitchen and/or making oils and tinctures.  FECO is a big culprit, way too many opportunities to screw up and waste an oz or two but I've wasted it with making gummies as well.

One other thing about the harvest. Each plant's production was tested for THC content with most testing in the mid to upper 20%. Only a couple of plants tested below 20% and they were above 15%. As an aside, I kinda like the smoke from lower THC bud. My goal is a nice buzz but not wasted, I want to be able to see things slightly off kilter but at the same time function. Couchlock is OK some of the time but not often.

Bottom line, as always, next season could be better and I expect it will be but this year's was pretty damn good.

ken