The Saw Lives!

I spent the last few weeks working on and restoring the old table saw.  It started out as this:

With a little paint, it turned out to look real nice:

I took off the extension on the right because it was flimsy.

I think it may have been homemade, and not very well done.

I like the 2 tone motor.  That belt is new technology - it's called Power Twist or something like that.  It has individual links.  I like it because I didn't know how long of a v-belt to buy, and this took all the guesswork out of it.  Evidently, these belts are good to reduce vibration.

The aluminum front panel shined up real nice.  It shined up 90% with soap and water, and the final shine came with a little polishing.

I especially like the little measuring stick on the front for the fence.  The rack below ratchets onto a pinion on the fence.  

What you don't see are the new bearings.  I installed 2 new bearings in the motor, and 2 on the arbor.

I fired it up for the first time over the weekend and cut some hard native lumber.  It looks to be red oak, but I'll take a sample to my wood expert at work.  I can say that it sure cuts smooth.  I've heard of guys that can balance a penny on edge on their saw tabletops in order to show minimal vibration.  I think I could do the same.  I'm pleased with this stout old saw.

A Fast Paced Week

A weekend ago, we took a trip north to see a few fun things.  Sunday, we focused on trains.  Our first stop was lunch at the Whistle Stop restaurant in Monon.  It had quite a few good exhibits around the yard, and it took a good long while to get through. 

 

Then up to the Hesston Steam Museum for their "Family Fun Day".  We were able to ride on 3 different sizes of steam engines for the day.  It was a blast.

Real steam

The smallest steam engine was really small - it was a 7 inch track and we were asked not to lean from side to side.

Then we finished the day with a quick trip to the light house at St. Joseph.

The next day was a beach day at Warren Dunes.  We brought 3 big buckets of sand toys, and that is all the boys cared to do all day.

By the end of the day, they worked out a pretty good hole!

Thereafter during the normal course of the week, I got this big monster for a super bargain.  I just finished installing the electrical, and need to work a bit on the air plumbing.

This most recent weekend, we went to the Indy zoo.
I need to teach those boys how to smile.

 Yesterday, I dug up my yellow jacket nest in the ground.  This is the top layer skimmed off, and there were 3 more layers below.  Thus, it was a rather small nest.

 

I used a new method of killing the hive - water plus soap - an earth friendly means bee death.

And just tonight, I discovered another underground hive near the driveway.  With these cooler temperatures, they are pretty sluggish, so that nest should be less intense to deal with.

Things I've Killed

Just in the past week:
1.  Yellow jacket nest in the siding of the house
2.  Ground hog
3.  Mole
4.  Underground yellow jacket nest in the flower bed

I think once the underground nest is fully dead, I'll dig it up and check it out.  Eccch!