Well, we had been doing fine, but lately this third wave of COVID is really taking off, we spiked quickly at over 70 cases a day in Nova Scotia. I know, it does not sound like much, but these latest variants are much more aggressive.
So we have begun a Lock down for 14 days, Province wide. Should had started Monday the 26 Apr but it took them a few days to get their information on line an updating correctly the orders etc. So we did not started until Thursday the 29 at 0800, the finally corrected orders being dated for the 28.
Civilians, what is it they don't understand about orders? $#@@&* Ok, off my rant, back to normal woodworking.
Since I have lots of time gazing at my navel, may as well...
Putting away tools, de-rusting and cleaning some. Attending to minor repairs on saw handles, mostly broken or damaged horns. The horns on each end of the saw handle are important for better control, and better feedback. I cannot say enough about the importance of a well fitted handle that fit your hand like a glove. That and the correct hang angle for you.
Been experimenting with de-rusting a few saw plates with Evaporust. Normally I use a razor blade and WD40 to scraped them clean, followed by a light wet sanding, then a buffed wax coating.
I was always curious to see how a saw plate will come out. It comes out a dull grey and shows every little speck of pitting there was. All rust free, but that pitting is going to attract dust and rust quickly, so I just coated them with Autosol and a light buffing. Still have a haze from Autosol until I decided what I'm gonna do next.
For the record saw plates do not have to be shiny, just smooth. Scrapping, light sanding, buffing a coat of wax is all they need. And of course a sharpening over.
Came across a small claw hammer head with a broken handle. Drove the stub out and recovered the metal wedges. Will re handled in a size suitable for my youngest grand daughters.
While I was going over the handled tools, I removed two loose handles, recovered metal wedges if any, and dumped all these heads in Evaporust.
Taking the handles off was not too difficult except that the hatchet gave me a hard time. Getting the metal wedge out was easy, but the wooden wedge did not came out without a fight. Got it out without damaging the handle but cannot say the same for the tools used :-(
The chisel I used got a few nicks from hitting the metal wedge and the side of the eye. One of the screwdriver I was using to dug some pieces out, snapped. Oups. Screwdrivers are not pry bar, who knew? :-)
Ever see inside a Moores & Wright ratchet screwdriver? I just did.
Spent a lot of time moving things around. Put stuff where it is supposed to go.
Taking time to survey my domain and figured out what I need to build next to organized my shop better. A never ending process...
In my ongoing Spring Clean up (ongoing since last year :-), came across one of my first ever shop project: A tool caddy organizer thingy on wheel featuring my first ever real joinery using my brand new Craftsman Sears Best 1/4 inch router. That cabinet has been repurposed a few times since built in 1987 and has been around in 5 different shops since. It's a survivor.
I put wheels on it, but they are a bit on the small size and fully loaded tend to protest a bit by being cranky... Just like me :-)
So I guess I know what I'm doing during this lockdown... more cleaning, more decluttering, more fixing tools and hopefully a few more shop projects so needed.
Bob, sipping a cold one and taking it all in. Making plans and switching priorities. The usual :-)