Another Crazy Hobby?

Welder?   -Check!
Machinist?   -Check!
Woodworker?   -Check!
Artisan Bread Maker?   -Check!

Today, I made my first attempt at making bread.  Not just any bread, but super fancy artisan style bakery bread.

A friend from work is to blame for this.  He's a totally cool dude that simply likes to try out first-hand everything he learns.  When he mentioned he ventured into the realm of artisan bread baking, I'm thinking he really went off the deep end.

But the more he talked, the more I was interested.  I borrowed his book that inspired him (Ken Forkish, the author), and after a couple of days of reading, I tried it out today.

It's a pretty simple process, and the book walks you through all the many steps with good explanations behind it all.  I don't have all the best and proper equipment, but I made it work with what we do have. 

Here we are all puffed up after proofing, and ready to bake:

The bread is baked in the Dutch oven pot.  In this picture, I just took the lid off for the last 15 minutes of baking:

And finally it is done.  Oh man, it looked just like the pictures in the book!

I think there could have been a few more big puffy holes, but hey - for a first effort, I think it turned out super good.

It was alot of fun to make, and it was alot of fun to learn some of the science behind the bread making process.

I don't know if I'll be doing this every Saturday, but I can see doing this every now and then as the mood strikes.  

The Minion Boys + Planer

It's been a long February/March season for us.  On a whim, I took a picture of the 2 boys one evening in their Minion Pajamas.  I was struck by their similarities.

It should be noted that the hair of Kiddo #3 looks like that pretty much all the time now.  He has a curious habit of twisting his hair all day long.

I also made a big purchase.  All the stars seemed to align at once:

1.  My O-ring business is going well

2.  I installed a deal-watcher app with the right key words

3.  I had a need in the shop

With all this, I was able to snag this brand new planer for about $250 less than in the store.  I'm quite pleased.  It is a DeWalt DW735X, and has a 13 inch width capability.

 I have only taken it out of the box, and made one test cut.  It worked just awesome, but it is easy to see I need to rig up a little dust collection system because it makes a ton of chips!

More to come!!

Canoe Trailer - Cross Bar Brackets

I finished machining my cross-bar brackets for the canoe trailer.  They turned out pretty nice and I'm happy with how strong it all is.  

Here are my pieces all layed out nicely.

And how they will work together.

Fully welded.

And attached with cross-bar in place.  

I have this cross bar on the front of the canoe trailer, and 94 inches back at the rear.  This will provide a nice stable mount for 2 canoes.  

The next step is to take them back off, and prime/paint the bare metal to keep rust away.  I'll wait for warmer weather for that jobby.

Sunday Afternoon Skating

Sunday was an ice skating day for us.  We drove out to Tapawango Park in light freezing rain and fluttered around on the ice for a couple of hours.  Kids did really well, and started picking it up towards the end.

We were all pretty wet at the end of the session, but it was a ton of fun.

Pinewood Derby Results

Both boys are in Cub Scouts, and the Pinewood Derby is the best event of the year.  Today was the day.  They are both ready to go! 

Kiddo #2 (Boy #1) ended up with second place within his Den.  While he was pretty happy about it, I think he was slightly frustrated his car didn't do better.  This will be his last year at the Pinewood Derby for he graduates into the realm of Boy Scouts for next year

The big news was Kiddo #3 (Boy #2) ended up with second place overall.  He was as surprised as us, as evidenced in the picture below.  And of course, his tiger (Mr. Schnuggs) was right along with him every step. 

It was a good day for everybody.  

Yet Another Instrument

Kiddo #1 has undertaken Jazz Band in the last few months.  But because tubas are not allowed in the jazz band, she has taken on and is learning the trombone.  Evidently tubas just aren't jazzy enough.  

A few days ago, we stumbled upon a trombone on ebay for a decent price.  And as a bonus, it was local.  Somehow we won the bid, and picked it up a day ago.    

She says it plays real nice, and the slide works better than her instrument at school.

Pretty cool!

Trailers and Trebuchet

I managed to rip down some free crates from work and salvage the nicer portions of plywood.  With this, I skinned out my project canoe trailer. 

I have yet to do the front and the back doors.  That is the next part to do.  Thereafter I plan to finalize the cross bar connections

We have also been busy working on the trebuchet for Kiddo #1's Science Fair.  She's had 2 months to build it, but she managed to wait until the last minute to get it done.  Luckily, the weather has been fair. 

With 60 pounds of counterweight, she can launch a baseball 90 feet.  I think she did a real good job in the construction!