October 30, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 30, 2023, I hit on Vicky Pratt.
Five years ago today: October 30, 2019, great car videos.
Nine years ago today: October 30, 2015, discovering the on-line “store”.
Random years ago today: October 30, 2016, an almost-bought.

           It’s a day off, so I went shopping. I hope you like cheese sauce. Usually, I buy bulk 2 oz packs. Handy and easy. When I opened the pack, instead of 50x 2oz, I have 2x 50oz. It’s cheddar and it will keep a few days in the fridge. But that’s a lot of cheese for me. Next we listen all morning to the mess started by Hillary long ago attacking the other parties voters. The basket of deplorables. This tactic was off limits until then. So I’m listening because it is fun. The Democrats have over used the label “nazi” so much that it how appears the population is more insulted by being called garbage. The star of today’s blog is a box. Not a fancy box, so we’ll talk about what the box is and how it came to be.

           Get an extra tea or coffee and I’ll seek to make this interesting. Other than a $65 shopping trip and mailing some letters, this was a very mild day. Which is why I got to this box. Let’s take a look. This box is cut from a single piece of wood, arranged so the grain pattern matches all around. But the material itself is weathered and I may leave that look. It is designed to hold small tools that would otherwise tend to get thrown in a drawer. A lot of what went into this box, you can’t see.

           For example, not one of the dimensions was measured. Every angle and was marked. Miter joints, shown here, are the weakest type so these corners are strengthened with screws. And Liquid Nails. This is the go-to product if you never want to go back and have to repair loose joints again. The wood is weaker than this product. Just don’t mess up, as it cannot be dismantled and it will dull your saw blades in a fast hurry.

           The end view of the box shows the miters match up exactly even from the rough cut of the big chop saw. If fact, you can see the ragged tear-out if you squint. Even though this box is not meant for show, the edges are exact and the box is absolutely perfectly square. Man, did I have challenges learning this technique. They don’t teach you this good stuff, or they try to sell you some expensive clamp. These pieces are fitted by hand right on the bench as they came off the saw.

           You may be able to see there are two screws holding the joint tight. If not, there will be another picture in a moment. Many sources say not to use drywall screws because it show you are an amateur. BS, use the most economical hardware that will do the job. I’ll explain in a bit why this is actually two boxes. The screws are in proper pilot holes, one of my specialties, but not countersunk. The box is vast overkill for the intended instrument, my Korg current sniffer. One of its most common uses is testing for leaky guitar cables. There is an art to placing these screws where they won’t get in the way later. With this crude box, it won’t really matter.
           Truth in advertising. I found a product that claimed to be American nutmeg. My understanding is nutmeg is the ground up seeds of a tropical tree. I knew the tree has been transplanted to the West Indies. After some Internet sleuthing, I discover that there is a company called “Made In U.S.A.” that is distributing the spice. Trivia, the ground up seed nutmeg, the ground up seed casing is called mace.

Picture of the day.
Barren north Curacao coast.
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           This series shows the state of my box building abilities. I mentioned no measurements and the tightness of the joints, but the real hooray is this box was built in minutes, not hours. The leftmost photo shows the reinforcing screw heads a little better. The top and bottom will be just thin shop material as the sides are much stronger than need be. Also on the left photo, imagine this box cut in half to form two shallower boxes. This is because with this weight of wood, the pieces shown here are the smallest you’d want to handle with my shop equipment.
           The middle view shows the box as it is now, unfinished. I don’t intend to apply fancy coatings but I’ve got a lot of acrylics which I learned are great for protecting raw lumber like this. It’s fairly dry lumber so it is lighter than it probably looks. Once sliced, I likely won’t bother with lids, as these size of box fits easily into most shelf nooks in a shop like mine. The rightmost photo shows the accuracy which is a result I’m proud to say I can produce quite consistently. I may router a recess around the inside lip to make it a bit more cosmetic.

           This box represents a crossroads for me. I know that I’ll not ever become a master boxmaker and I have not really done as much as I want building older, less complicated boxes. With my latest cherry box I spent more time on planning and planing, sanding and staining, and drilling and clamping than I did on the actual box parts. It would be different if these boxes were for sale. Should a focus on my older styles? For example, I still don’t have much experience building matching boxes to size. I just measure the object and add a couple inches plus the lumber thickness. I can do better.
           An afternoons rainshower confirms the new shingles make the lean to snug enough become a dandy work area. Inside the she, the work table is limited by the walls at the long ends, or around twelve feet—if I clear the counter. That indoor counter is too tempting to set up tools where it is cool and dry. My effective work length is eight feet on a good day. The lean to has no sides.

           In other news, the neighbor is back but I don’t check in unless he has just the screen door shut. I did not check the deer camera since I now know it won’t fill up even an 8gig memory card for even a week of activity in these parts. Nope, I still have not found any software that deals with the jpeg incompatibility. People who screw with that format should be held liable. How about the outcry of the Democrats over the comedian slurs? No such rage when the Hawaiians got nuked or the Appalachan’s were flooded. The cheating and fraud has begun wholesale, the same old, but few people are buying the “close race” newscasts.
           Something else I never understood was this business of endorsing a candidate. I hear of panic on the left as unions, newspapers, and celebrities decline to endorse Harris. It must mean something to those who follow these things, but what would I care who somebody else endorses? A group on on-line witches report they are unable to cast evil spells on Trump because he has “some kind of protection around him”, some form of “impenetrable aura’.

ADDENDUM
           Harking back to my warnings about Denny’s changing their directions are now reality. Raise your prices, I said, but don’t change the “diner” aspect and quit trying to become another trendy restaurant. But they took out the stools and counters and changed the booths to dining tables. They changed the waitresses duties to ignore the customer cycles. They unbundled every item on the menu. And now they are closing 10% of their stores.
           Some of it is explained away changes over time. A few of the locations are in declining areas. But the whole chain failed to meet earnings projections. One reason I quit Denny’s is Florida was one of the first to change the way they gave free refills. We’ve been over that. The gal used to bring it when you gave her a sign. Now she comes by when she has time. Denny’s was, in my opinion, doing fine in their market niche, it had a definite “working class” overtone. I would stop at Denny’s for a bite in my work boots, but not at Red Lobster.
           Yet, I feel Denny's began to compare themselves to the rise of these clone franchises and tried to compete. There was nothing wrong with the old Denny's menu. But we've already talked how America is different that England, in that you cannot open a small shop here and provide yourself a long-term living. You must constantly strive to keep expanding or the next big thing will wipe you out. Denny's was an exception and they unwisely upset that equation. I don’t know the answer, but copycatting Olive Garden would not be my choice.

Last Laugh

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