Thread: What are you working on?

I prefer "Grandma got ran over by a Reindeer". My grandmother lived with my family until I was 18, my father was not her biggest fan lol.

I wish I had some pictures, but I got a little gung-ho (again). My GF's grandfather's razor was found in a box at her mother's a little while back. Her mother requested that I get it back up and running. It is a Joseph Allen with a "Medium Hollow Ground" etching. It looks like it was never really used, but abused. About 6 or so small chips in the edge. My plan is to get it honed up, let my GF test the hone job on her legs and then get it ready for long term storage at her mother's place. I figure, it is a family piece and family should be involved for probably its first shave.

I have a W&B that has a stabilizer starting to interfere with honing and another (forget the maker) that has been waiting for scales for too long.

I want to do the messy stuff (acrylic everywhere) now, before the winter sets in.

Originally Posted by prodigy

Yea in theory I don't think it's supposed to work. However, I keep getting bubbles after letting it soak not in vaccum. My hand pump only allows me to go to 25 or 26", so I realise I'm not getting optimal results. I see pumps on amazon for around $50, so I might look into that if I keep the interest up. My current set up cost like $30, so I'm not really too involved financially.

A new thread might help. A lot of this has been discussed before, but most of the threads are several years old.

You are getting great vacuum from a hand pump brake bleeder @25". And clearly your pot is air tight if it can keep it under pressure for that long. Well done man.

Our hvac guy at work donated his old vac pump used for evacuating compressors and such for my use so I got lucky with mine. Turned him a kick azz pen for trade so he was happy.
Gets smoking hot as its working so in my case, no running it longer than necessary and until I actually use these first blanks, it's all theory up here anyway, lol. No idea if they are fully saturated or just on the surface.. Can't wait to find out though.
Going to try to turn that first pressure pot blank after dinner. It's definitely urethane, not acrylic and has a slight compressibility to it I wasn't expecting to notice with the finished work. Hope it chucks up properly.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

You are getting great vacuum from a hand pump brake bleeder @25". And clearly your pot is air tight if it can keep it under pressure for that long. Well done man.

Our hvac guy at work donated his old vac pump used for evacuating compressors and such for my use so I got lucky with mine. Turned him a kick azz pen for trade so he was happy.
Gets smoking hot as its working so in my case, no running it longer than necessary and until I actually use these first blanks, it's all theory up here anyway, lol. No idea if they are fully saturated or just on the surface.. Can't wait to find out though.
Going to try to turn that first pressure pot blank after dinner. It's definitely urethane, not acrylic and has a slight compressibility to it I wasn't expecting to notice with the finished work. Hope it chucks up properly.
Cheers.

Its the same stuff the shokwood guy uses, and I've seen plenty of brushes made out of that. So I bet it works great. Pressure pot and molds are my next endeavor, glad to see someone else doing it too.

Very cool stuff Mike, that Oak/acrylic piece is going to look great I'm betting. I've got some cool hunks here with all kinds of worm holes, and other cool voids you can have if you run out of stuff to vac and pot!

Just remember guys, when you release the vac pressure, and it reaches normal mercury again, leave the wood in the fluid for at least an hour. That piece needs just as much time to fill those voids you just sucked all the air out of.

My favorite is really old...The Bing Crosby Christmas Album...The 33 is packed somewhere. I have it on CD now....doesn't sound as mellow.

Originally Posted by outback

But of course.
When they start playing all that, redone, chopped up, and murdered Christmas crap on the radio, I switch on the ol turn table, and listen to those voices of velvet. Sitting with only the light from the tree on, listening to these, always takes me back to when I was just a wee one.

GREAT MEMORIES!!

Originally Posted by Haroldg48

My favorite is really old...The Bing Crosby Christmas Album...The 33 is packed somewhere. I have it on CD now....doesn't sound as mellow.

Have that one as well. Good stuff!!

I think it's my favorite because my dad was in N. Africa and Italy with the Army from mid 1943 until 1946 and my mom always cried when Bing did "I'll be home for Christmas". Made me realize what life was about.

Originally Posted by outback

Have that one as well. Good stuff!!

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Very cool stuff Mike, that Oak/acrylic piece is going to look great I'm betting. I've got some cool hunks here with all kinds of worm holes, and other cool voids you can have if you run out of stuff to vac and pot!

Just remember guys, when you release the vac pressure, and it reaches normal mercury again, leave the wood in the fluid for at least an hour. That piece needs just as much time to fill those voids you just sucked all the air out of.

Shoot, I'm letting mine soak for 48 hours.

Originally Posted by prodigy

Shoot, I'm letting mine soak for 48 hours.

Without any pressure? Nothing wrong with that!

S0 Mike! Are you using the old paint pot we talked about?