The Shop that OSB Built - at least on the inside.

Last weekend I finished covering everything in the shop in OSB.

My pile of 100 sheets is now history. It does have a woodsee feel to it and the stereo (I should call it the sound system, but everything is from the 70's so its a stereo) sounds great, even to those of us who are hard of hearing.

The ten panels in the middle of the ceiling are lift out to allow access for storage.

The centrally located throne chair is for sitting and bouncing the ball off of the door for the dog or dogs as need be.

Sometime in the future it will be properly christened, but for now it is off to the next project, which will use the glue-ups on the bench and sawhorses.

Sometimes project demands that you have some skin in the game.

Sometimes projects seem to demand that an item very personal be donated to facilitate its completion.

This donation seems to lessen the wiser you are in undertaking the task.

During the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to learn a great deal about the thickness planner during the RV spice rack, and now the office work surface undertakings.

Although most of the learning was via hard knocks U, I still reverted to the owners manual when the "donations" started to get colorful (red).

Its amazing what you can find in the owners manual. It leads you to believe that the builders actually know something about which they sell.

I have been using the planner since the summer of 2006. Since that time a lot of wood has gone through it for the house, and now the various putterings, as Marlys would say. Having need to use it right away there never seemed to be time to really get acquainted with it (read the owners manual).

A while ago I sent a prototype sled carrier for thin pieces through that didn't work, but did manage to put a nick it the knives. That didn't stop me from using it though, I just needed to sand the ridge on the right side of every piece a little more.

Also the wood didn't feed consistently, causing moi to push and pull the boards most of the time.

So lets go through what I found out:

• First, if you clean and wax the planner surface the material feeds real nice. I already do this with the table saw and jointer, but brain farted on the planner.
• Second, read about the gadgets on the planner, if you want to use them effortlessly, in this case the thickness stop gauge for repetitive planning of boards to a set thickness. Never really used this since the number on the gauge never matched the actual thickness. Low and behold, when I looked at the instruction picture in the manual it showed that my had been put on upside down. I should of known, since to read it I had to be on the outfeed side of the planner. Took it off, turned it around and WOW, not only could I read it, but it also worked.
• Lastly, and the most costly, read about how to change the knives before attempting it. In this case I didn't. This planner is equipped with reversible knives, so I thought I could just open it up and turn them around. Heck, the Allen wrench needed to do it was in a holder on the planner.

So off I go removing the top and the knife guards, and yes I did unplug it first. Out came the Allen screws for the first of three knives. My first indication that maybe I was not getting the most out of the engineering put into the machine was the amount of time it took me to lift the knife and backer plate out of the holder. For a machine that seemed to be so well thought out it was less then elegant in how I needed to execute the maneuver.

Now things started to get ugly. After reversing and re-installing the knife, the holder needed to be rotated to get at the next one. Of course, I tried to do it by hand. It wouldn't turn. Next I got a piece of scrap and tried to push it, resulting in the donation of skin from three knuckles when it slipped.
My knuckles bleed like a head wound with blood dripping everywhere. Even the bandaids I put on were soon overwhelmed. So I went to the masking tape secured by mechanic gloves (apply pressure to the wound) solution, along with holding my hand over my head.

Since I couldn't continue until the dripping stopped, I though "what the hell" and took out the owners manual to see what it said about changing the blades.

Damn, I should have read it first, it only to validate the places I could screw it up.

First, the Allen wrench has two magnets in the handle to grab and lift the knife and plate from the holder.

Second the knife holder has a brake that engages when the cover is pulled so that the holder doesn't rotate while changing the knife. To go to the next knife the brake tab is depressed and it turns real easy, locking in place fore the next knife.

Damn I am ignorant sometimes.

After "doing it by the book" and reading the instruction "completely"(not just the part on how to turn it on), this machine is more of a pleasure to use then before.

Which is good because next into it went 95' of 5" wide Cedar boards to be reduced from 1 5/8" to 1 1/4" thick to build the home office work surfaces.

For those of you that helped with the sawing of these boards on the mill last summer, you would probably not believe they are from the same 6x6 posts that had been sitting outside beside the shop for three years, but it is amazing how they look now. I had to fill a few knots, but that was not a big deal.

I worked up a bit of a glow doing this last week which was OK, since it has been a little cool and windy of late in the high country. In fact having gotten sick of the breeze coming in around the sliding barn doors (ala New Yankee Workshop), I finally sat down late one afternoon and over an elixir of enlightenment (beer) figured out how to seal them up.

Luckily, there was still OSB available and I had the gasket material. It took me a whole day, but now the doors are insulated, have an OSB inner liner with a soft rubber seal at the edges that closes any gaps when the doors are drawn in by the wall latches.

This is good because the HVAC system (on the right) was being taxed, to its limit. I was even thinking of adding a second window fan. That is the refrig (portable Coleman electric cooler) on the left.

BTW, I got a sharpener for Christmas so now I can get the chisels and planes blades wickedly sharp...does anyone know of a good Kevlar glove?