2024 What did you do today

[kennym]

He looks big!! 

[Crooked Stic]

That's a bow Gary Daviss made and travels with Ace Archery to shoots. That was early Tradfest years.

[dbeaver]

An arrow that looks big on big jim has got to be a small sapling! 

[dbeaver]

Finished carving grip and sanding today.  Sealer is really making this walnut and bocote pop.   There's some mystery curly maple under the frog tape interested to see how much chatoyance the glass picks up

[Mad Max]

Nice dbeaver

[Jon Lipovac]

Wanting to try a new limb profile, so I started building the form last night.
I have a bunch of 3/4 plywood scraps from a trim carpenter friend of mine so I ripped them all down to 2” x13” strips and glued it up. I’ll be flattening and cleaning up, and getting it ready to press a limb. If it works good, I’ll seal it up good on all sides.
My thoughts are that it should be pretty stable. Could be a low cost solution for those that have scrap left over from other projects.

[kennym]

Pretty interesting Jon! I just built a 1.5" one for a fellow from 1/4" plywood . We will see if it stays straight. 74" long...

[Jon Lipovac]

Well, got my answer pretty quick tonight. The glue joints are fine The plywood, bites ______(enter you word of choice)

I, scrape one together tonight with the plywood running lengthwise as this small area subject to any shear pressure delaminates to easily. I’ll be able to use screws as well with a different orientation.

[Kirkll]

You might have a lot better luck with that approach if you edge band that plywood and tie it together. Besides strength you are going to need something to hold it straight too.
 
Even laminating hardwood like that wouldn't hold with that end grain not capped.

[Jon Lipovac]

Im done with that approach. Just glued and screwed one up with (2)3/4 sandwiched between (2) 1/4. It’s still not as good as the Baltic birch ones I have made. They are straight as an arrow and have remained that way in the garage for 18mo.

I pay almost $145/sheet for that 3/4 Baltic Birch now.

If I like this limb profile, I’ll remake it with an LVL

[Kirkll]

I think ya need some more screws in that form…

[Jon Lipovac]

I think ya need some more screws in that form…

Hahaha. Yep.
The amount of screws is a direct correlation to how much confidence I had in that crappy plywood that so miserably failed on the previous form. I may or may not have been mumbling under my breath what I thought of said plywood, which may have also contributed to the sheer volume of reinforcement
 

[Kirkll]

It’s really a crying shame the quality of plywood has gotten so poor, but it’s the quality of peeler logs they are using that has made a big difference. With the price of cabinet grade plywood these days, the LVL material isn’t too bad now, and makes a better form too.

I remember getting  beautiful birch solid core 3/4” for $12.00 per sheet.

[Kirkll]

Well today I finally came out of my rut, and hit my poundage perfectly on two different sets of limbs….. I was on a bad roll for a bit after going back to building some aftermarket TD Bear limbs using my last shipment of bamboo.  Got things back on track now, and tomorrow I start a 70# carbon backed set. I think I’ve got that dialed in too…..

[Pat B]

I've had a difficult couple of days. This past weekend I was cutting next years firewood when the 18" white oak crashed down on my chain saw driving the handle into the ground and bending the bar and chain is a 90 deg angle right at the saw. Yesterday morning when I went to get the saw out of the basement to take to the Stihl dealer for repairs there was water all over the basement floor. I shut off the water and it wasn't until afternoon that I got a crimp tool and plug to at least temporarily repair the leak. Fortunately the leak was on a line to the outside hose bib so after the repair I could turn the water back on. I just hope today is better. 

[Mad Max]

I've had a difficult couple of days. This past weekend I was cutting next years firewood when the 18" white oak crashed down on my chain saw driving the handle into the ground and bending the bar and chain is a 90 deg angle right at the saw. Yesterday morning when I went to get the saw out of the basement to take to the Stihl dealer for repairs there was water all over the basement floor. I shut off the water and it wasn't until afternoon that I got a crimp tool and plug to at least temporarily repair the leak. Fortunately the leak was on a line to the outside hose bib so after the repair I could turn the water back on. I just hope today is better. 

I've had days like that and go back in the house and watch TV, maybe the TV wont break.
1st time with the covid, last Thursday and I'm working threw it, sucks

[Kirkll]

I've had a difficult couple of days. This past weekend I was cutting next years firewood when the 18" white oak crashed down on my chain saw driving the handle into the ground and bending the bar and chain is a 90 deg angle right at the saw. Yesterday morning when I went to get the saw out of the basement to take to the Stihl dealer for repairs there was water all over the basement floor. I shut off the water and it wasn't until afternoon that I got a crimp tool and plug to at least temporarily repair the leak. Fortunately the leak was on a line to the outside hose bib so after the repair I could turn the water back on. I just hope today is better. 

I hear ya…. I hate those days when everything ya touch turns to chit…. 

I had my small stihl 021 crap out on me while pruning about a week ago… it was still running, but no power to it, and couldn’t hit high enough rpms to make it work. Last time I took my saw to the shop it cost me $200 and they put a new carb on it…..So I decided to try that myself and save some money…. Completed tune up kit for that 021 was only $22.00 on Amazon.   The R&R on the carb wasn’t bad. Took about 40 minutes tops….. Today I’m going  to see if that fixed the problem…. Lol… I haven’t tried to start it again yet…. I’m hoping these things come pre set on the adjustment screws like the auto carbs are…. If not I’ll be you-tubing carb adjustments.

Kirk

[Crooked Stic]

You are way better off to run the highest octane in those small engines. 87 is just not that clean anymore.

[Pat B]

All of my small 2 cycle engines get 91 octane with no alcohol. I ruined a Stihl 290 a few years ago with low octane gas.
The saw in the repair shop is a Stihl 028 I bought back in the mid 1980's and have cut a few hundred cords of fire with it since them. I sure hope they can fix it and for not too much. Hopefully it's only a clutch replacement. The motor runs fine and I got all the throttle trigger mechs working.
 A new saw is $500 or more.

[Kirkll]

All of my small 2 cycle engines get 91 octane with no alcohol. I ruined a Stihl 290 a few years ago with low octane gas.
The saw in the repair shop is a Stihl 028 I bought back in the mid 1980's and have cut a few hundred cords of fire with it since them. I sure hope they can fix it and for not too much. Hopefully it's only a clutch replacement. The motor runs fine and I got all the throttle trigger mechs working.
 A new saw is $500 or more.

Yup.... running clear gas,  or zero ethanol gas is the secret to success for small engines, chainsaws, and boat motors too.... the saw shop tells me that 90 % of the work they were doing was gas related and carb problems.  After i started running clear gas 10 years ago i have had zero issues until now on this saw.

I wish you luck on the repair bill.    Kirk