ShopTalk Sunday: Chair Repair & The R.A.S. Project

I spend a ton of time in my office chair.  Every day of the week, I’m out here in my “office” from, at latest, 5 AM until I knock-off, which is at earliest, 3 PM.  That’s when markets close here.  Now, to be sure, I try to get up and walk around for a few minutes, twice an hour.  (Pomodoro timer helps!).  And yes I take lunch breaks.

As far as my butt knows, though, there are only two planes of existence: Bed if it’s dark and Office Chair if it’s light.

This week, my office chair failed.  With me in it.  I sat down (plopped as Elaine would truth me) and just kept going.  A slow starboard 90-degree roll with the floor quickly approaching.

“Hmm…something ain’t right….”  says the Einsteinian little voice in my head.

Out to the welding table we went. With every intention of running a quick repair bead and getting the chair back in service.  Unfortunately, not owning a double-bead welder, you can see the problem if you look at the broken bottom bracket closely:

There was an inner (lightly rusted) bead that would need running.  Once that was done, a second bead of the soft black steel, would be needed.

While the mind was working the “Which welding type would be best?” problem, another Reality came into view.  See, in order to fixture this up to get a good workmanlike job out of it, the tear-out at the top of the gas tube would have to be broken down in order to weld two separate pieces.

Unfortunately, there must be a special Chineseum setting tool that I don’t have in my (extensive) collection of occult tools.  The simple attack was to lightly tap with a leather mallet.  No go.

When this failed, I moved up to a 16-ounce hammer.  With this intransigent piece-of-shit still not moving, an attack with Aerokroil  – our house brand of gourmet penistrating oil – and the 10-ton press followed.  All – remarkably – with no success.

At this point, I was a good half-hour into the project – and I was no closer to fixturing it up for repair than when I began.  Your time is worth something, you know?

“To hell with this!  Ain’t like you’re poor and can’t afford a replacement.  Go on, sport, go for it,” said the Amazon spendthrift voice.

A day later the box with the replacement chair arrived.  By Monday morning’s column, the non-wobbly replacement should be assembled.  Though I might preemptively run some “insurance beads” with the TIG rig, since in my butt’s recent experience, this joint is the weak place on almost all office chairs.

Shop Signage Matters

As you know, I’m a stickler for Truth in Advertising.  Since virtually all politicians lie, they should be subject to removal from office for not telling the Truth when running. Like this New York compulsive liar who’s about to join the rest of ’em in the House.

Which gets me to a useful little sign that showed up this week:

In our wry way of thinking, though, I’ll be installing it over a bench.  Not one person in a billion will question why it’s not adjacent to an actual, you know, corner.  Which is why we elect idiots.  No one asks the obvious, anymore.

R.A.S. Project Moving Ahead

Couple of years back (when I had more money than time) I picked up a $50 used Craftsman 10-inch radial arm saw that needed work.  Well, it still does.

Except – with a bunch of major projects done here (new roof on the shop, new roof on guest room, and about to button up the ceiling with fancy sheetrock repairs (more on this, one of these days), the need for a radial arm saw is getting real.

A lot of people think radial arm saws are more dangerous than their first cousins, the chop saws.

I have always held that chop saws are really nothing more than “dumbed-down” radial arm saws.  There’s a video on Youtube, if you have time to watch it, that’s really a very good as an intro to R.A.S. operations.  Give it a look:


The “deal points” for me were very simple:

  • With a RAS you can see the blade – and thus know exactly what you’re cutting.  This is different than the table saw, where the blade is hidden at the start of cuts.
  • You don’t need run-out room behind the saw – major drawback to table saws.  They eat huge amounts of floor space while an RAS lives on a wall.
  • The RAS is also dandy for making ultra-precision angle cuts.  But to do this, you will need a couple of additional tools for setting up angles.

I picked up two such accessories on eBay this week.  One was a Craftsman Miter vise 2 3279 for radial arms saws 3/8″ to 3″ wide which is the cat’s meow for building picture frame and cabinetry where 45-degree orders need to be precise.  $10-bucks plus shipping.  RAS’ are out of favor among the young which means you can accessorize on the cheap.

Not quite as cheap – in fact it was $50 bucks – was the other precision tool which was an “Exact Cuts Alignment Tool “A” Justable Square For Radial Arm & Table Saws.” Apparently, a small outfit “Exact Cuts Tool Company” up in Florence, Oregon invented this device.  Think of an adjustable speed square with edges tall enough that you can place it up against the back rail of an RAS and do perfect angles, time after time.

Two other things were ordered this week. One was an original manual (not PDF) of my particular R.A.S.  Because of the step-by-step instructions and parts list and more safety and set up dope.

The other was the excellent suggestion in the BigMikeTuna video to use a good thin-kerf ripping blade.  I ended up picking a Freud Diablo which isn’t the thinnest kerf out there, maybe.  But the Amazon reviews were top-notch and you can make a lot worse decisions than following reviews with more than a hundred or two posts.  (Less than that, though, you can get fake posts skewing things.)

One table saw note about “thin kerf” blades.  If you are ripping really gnarly wood that was sticked “green” and you then try to rip it, oftentimes there will be a lot of “internal stress.”  Not too big a deal in straight grained fir or cedar, but if you are dealing with hardwoods that had big limbs in the area, different story.

For these cuts, I like a much wider kerf because it just seems in my experience that the very thin kerf blades can be pinched (resulting in saw stopping, sometimes).  The wider kerf blades MAY pinch a bit less.

As with any saw (or aircraft) no alcohol 8-hours bottle to throttle applies.

Off to cobble together some new combinations of four-letter words to apply to my office chairs.

Write when you get Band-Aids,

George@Ure.net

author avatar
George Ure
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/George-Ure/e/B0098M3VY8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share UrbanSurvival Bio: https://urbansurvival.com/about-george-ure/

64 thoughts on “ShopTalk Sunday: Chair Repair & The R.A.S. Project”

  1. Hmm…

    If I may quote G.A. Stewart (Jan 06, 2023)

    Just like the chair, “It can all fall to pieces at anytime.”

    • Since I can’t at the moment figure how to start a comment I’ll just wonder here if George has considered a big exercise ball instead of a chair? I’ve been using one now for probably 12 years at the pc and the ham station. It is so comfortable, roly poly, and I believe healthy I literlly could not go back to any kind of chair.

    • Have one, haven;t put it up yet – next three weeks, or so.
      An article is coming on George’s Great Ham Radio dilemma which is in a spreadsheet right now.
      If you had 20 odd HF radios, which one(s) would you set up and which would you get rid of?
      What are the keepers in this list?
      Gear Name Review
      XCVRS
      TenTec Jupiter 4.6
      IC-761 4.9
      Triton 4.6
      Icom 725 4.2
      SR-150 4.5
      TS-430 4.4
      TS-590 4.6
      IC-M710 5.0
      uBitx 4
      HW-101 4.2
      PS for HW-101
      RCVRS
      Drake 2B/Q
      SX-25
      SX-101A
      SX-111
      SX-117
      SB-303
      RME-6900
      XMTRS
      Johnson Pacemaker
      GSB-100
      SB-401
      HT-37
      HT-44
      HT-32B
      Viking II
      HA_5/HT-40
      AMPS
      Johnson Tbolt
      HT-33B
      SB-220
      LoudenBoomer

      Knight R100 4
      Knight T-150 1.9
      Johnson Matchbox
      Heath Scope
      Heath console
      FT-920 needing work 4.7
      DX60-HG-10

      See how it’s like being a diabetic in a candy shop around here?

      • If it were me, I would donate ALL to a museum.
        I love my IC-7300. Does everything I need, and well.
        But that’s just me.

      • Could the local Volunteer Fire Dept. use any of them or is that a totally different band? Which, I guess it would be.

      • George, the “List” brings back memories. I had a Drake 2-B with the 2-CQ q-multiplier, sold it years ago, excellent rcvr. I regret getting rid of it, a keeper. When in high school, we used Viking, and HQ-110A rcvr, and also SB301-401 combo. I personally have Kenwood TS-440 and TS-590SG, today. Id trade the combo and HW-101for an SB-100 or 101, use with SB-220. I remember the magic of glowing vacuum tubes and the warmth generated by those boat anchors, kept me warm when young in upstate NY.
        The Hammarlund SR-400 is very good xcvr, maybe better than your SR-150? So many choices, such little time!?
        On another matter, S&P gap at 3966, near a 61.8 retrace level, top of linear regression channel at 4150, then down the tube,
        73

      • Suggest you think “mission appropriate,” and select to match.

        In the MIL a “survey receiver” is a general coverage, readily tunable — like with a knob — to quickly manually scan a range of frequencies looking for tall blades of grass, or for “get lucky” ferreting out oddballs.

        (Spectrum panadaptors make this pretty obsolete, but it’s still a lot of Raw Fun — like fishing in a new pond or ocean. Or, like “box of chok-lits…” Never know what you’ll get…))

        A “spot receiver” — frequency push-buttoned in like a calculator — or even a multi-channel version — can be set up to monitor specific “camp-on” targets, or calling channels.
        Or scan some number of interesting frequencies. “Spots” are lousy at “fishing” or “browsing around,” while “surveys” aren’t convenient for settled spot or scanning work.

        Setting up more than one rig array (station) may make sense to meet your mood. 75 meter AM super-classic boat anchors, for long winter night midnight marathon chats, 20 meter SSB to be a Contest Master Of The Airwaves for that frenetic activity. All 12-volt mini-rigs for survivalism… The Atlas 210/215 draws 35 milliamps — only — in receive… 200 watts PEP!

        CW — optimized — for those few monks so specialized.

        Whattya wanna DO? …and sell or store the rest.

        Lotta FINE radios in that pile of yours. Old age is no time to fiddle around with second-rate stuff. Go for The Best, and dump the rest.

        Go “mission appropriate.” (With some backups.)

        -73-

  2. Radial Arm saws (can) be dangerous.. ((is it more. no anything with a swirling blade is dangerous.) the difference is.. with a table saw.. you are pushing the material through the blade with a radial arm saw.. you are pulling the saw blade through the material.. if you take the saw part off.. and mount a router for an overhead router which is great..
    perfect panel cutting and template cutting..
    example.. at the cabinet shop a popular cabinet is called a Lazy susan base.. the top and bottom are round with one section.. that is variable for width.. mine is twelve inches.. (I don’t have the lazy susan in it.. corner cab) has a flat section for the face frame of fifteen inches.. the frame goes on and the skin goes around.. the susan goes in and the top goes on.. simple fast and a nice cabinet..
    the thirty six inch square of wood for top and bottom goes onto the template.. clamps are on you push the template to the back stop pin.. hit the down for the router then in one circular motion you spin the template letting the router cut it..
    NOW take that guard off.. ( which is what a lot of people do with a radial arm saw) and if you are NOT fully attentive to it.. or you are not gripping it heavy.. that blade will tatch the ply or particle board.. and drag it and your hands into the blade..
    SO.. it can be more dangerous if you are not giving it your full attention.. it is the same with any power tool.. safety first always.. no loose clothing.. NO rings on or jewelry..
    I could tell you about the little boy helping dad and his winter scarf on.. but I don’t want to think about it and have nightmares .. my kids get the face masks.. no winter scarfs around their necks..
    and don’t take the guard off.. at all.. I was even tempted to do it.. with my radial arm saw.. gave it to my son in law.. it has been sitting in the back of a shed rusting for years.. he would rather come over and use my tools LOL..

    • Ahem, _all_ saws (and many other tools too numerous to name) are dangerous. Engage full brain function before switching on anything that cuts, or might smash. I grew up behind two generations of screw machine operators so was told adnauseum about ending the day with digits. All of ’em.

      I have a (50) year old radial arm saw in the barn and it’s been a go-to shop tool since acquiring it from a friend. For $100. Can’t imagine how many times I nearly cut [fill in blank] something with a circular saw, or sabre saw, then aborted, took the material up the hill and cut a perfectly square edge with my RAS.

      Over the last year I finally installed it on what I have designated pole barn wood-working wall between two 8′ cabinets. There are movable spuds to keep large items level with the table and various preset jig spuds for cutting hundreds of planks to spec. (pier building).

      Sadly, soon I have to fire up a much hated saw (also requiring max. attention) … a chain saw. I will never run out of firewood due to abundant free falls. Cut to fireplace length.

      Hmm, maybe I’ll make a fire instead.
      blah, blah, blah
      Egor

      • all tools can be dangerous.. the safety features were added.. for safety.. do not remove them.. even if it will make things easier..
        a little common sense.. heck a gun is a tool..
        I actually did a common and a potentially deadly mistake the other day.. I was cutting carrots and dropped one.. instead of following the rule let it fall then pick it up.. I went to catch it.. with a knife in my hand.. good lord.. what a mistake totally reflex action and instantly realized my mistake…. cut my finger.. Not bad but it could have been in one reflex moment of carelessness….
        I stress safety with the kids.. and the boss keeps me in line.. when I want to help them or makes something fun for them.. the boss will say.. do you really want them to.. and i realize.. maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea after all.. Like melting rocks with the sun.. bad mistake.. the older grand kids all give me guff because I am not teaching the little ones what I taught them.. I say.. yes but.. I have a little more memories of what you kids did with some of that. LOL

        • Around here and especially in the shop Elaine is called “The OHSA Inspector”

          She’s often frustrated by the experience. “All this shit – electrical cords, air hoses, vac lines around the shop, that’s how accidents happen!”

          Thanks to her safety tips, I now have lots of outlets, no extension cords, overhead air and vac lines.

          The downside? I can see the floor and it needs sweeping…

      • “Around here and especially in the shop Elaine is called “The OHSA Inspector”

        She’s often frustrated by the experience. “All this shit – electrical cords, air hoses, vac lines around the shop”

        OMG …. G…. Elaine sounds just like the boss here LOL LOL LOL LOL…
        My fear is .. The boss here will want to organize the bench or shop.. heck if she does that.. I won’t ever find a dang thing LOL LOL…Kind of like.. I will put this in a SAFE place.. once you do that.. you won’t ever find it again LOL LOL LOL
        I don’t touch her sewing stuff.. she is not to touch the bench LOL LOL LOL.. she has a serious issue with all my kitchen gadgets and my books if you haven’t noticed I am a foodie LOL LOL.. love to know how something is made and how different tools work…. every once in a while she will say.. your doing it again.. time to decide which books you keep and which books you toss out or donate to the library LOL LOL the ones with RED tap on the binder she knows will never go.. they are the grab in case of a shtf scenario.. .. LOL.. the thing with kitchen gadgets is I get interested in is I see something I don’t have a clue about.. and I am interested to see if it is crap or if it is really worth the time to work with it.. the kids always are looking out to see what I get them next.. it is usually something I find extra useful or unique but isn’t something you would see often.. its a whole lot better than my last hobbie..
        the .. I WONDER WHAT THEY DO THERE.. hobby.. and I would stop in and ask.How many times do you drive in an area day after day and you see all these businesses and don’t have a clue what is there.. its staggering … there is one I would love to see.. I know kind of what is there.. but not really..
        a long time ago .. we would have lunch at the greasy spoon I still love eating there.. on the drive back to work I would look at this one business out in the middle of nowhere.. sitting there was a lumber yard.. dang I love wood and can make just about anything I want.. so.. I noticed that none of the pallets were moving.. it was the same day after day..
        I decided.. heck I wonder what they do there.. so I stopped one day just to see.. if they sold specialty woods or regular construction materials etc…. dam.. twelve foot fences with razor wire and more camera’s that had motion directional scanning.. all the workers cars were big ticket cars.. more security than the NSA.. a satellite dish when satellite digital internet was NOT a common place.. I go to the door.. video surveillance from six angles.. and double cypher locks.. I walked in.. no one there at the reception desk.. just six guys.. all wearing thousand dollar suits.. all of them shut their computers off at the same time.. all came to the door of their office and one came up to me.. what do you want.. Oh I see your a lumber yard and would like to buy some wood for a project I have .. it became pretty obvious I was not welcome and they didn’t sell wood.. so I left.. ( all the hairs stood up on my neck.. when I went in.. I knew I was not in a good place and to get the heck out of dodge) that was on a tuesday.. on that friday the whole place was packed up and gone.. the boss said.. You are not allowed to do that anymore whatsoever.. and I don’t.. it still crosses my mind for years I did that and met some dang nice people and places that do some pretty great stuff…. I am still curious.. but I don’t wander in to see what they do I should have turned around the minute I seen the security system they had there.. but.. I didn’t….

    • Long-hair here. Wisp of hair attached my 350hp Porter Cable Router @ 23,000 rpm. Temporary little bald patch and an UNFORGETTABLE memory.
      Que: Nat King Cole

      • See? There IS a benefit to male pattern baldness, after all!

        (Bonus points for the Nat King Cole ref. For the kiddies, no, he did not sing “Shit, that hurt!” But he did sing “Unforgettable” which real music was. Back in the day. Before wimpy routers and power tool safety add-ons.)

      • First rule of shop working with power tools: “NOTHING Dangling!” Boyhood friend’s father was killed when his dangling neck kerchief got wound up in a saw arbor as he was cutting logs. I never forgot that.

      • “See? There IS a benefit to male pattern baldness, after all!”

        and machinist caps.. LOL..

        https://www.zoro.com/lincoln-electric-welding-cap-beanie-black-xl-kh823xl/i/G4445799/?

        don’t show off with tools either.. I was showing off to a bunch of young women with how to square up a cabinet.. and accidentally stapled my nuts to my leg.. ( OUCH .. I am sure Andy is whincing LOL )
        I told the girls don’t do that.. pulled it out.. years later I was on the plant safety committee and one of the girls started to laugh real loud the manager said what is so funny.. and she looks at me and says.. Remember when you nailed your balls to your leg.. LOL LOL the manager said.. whey didn’t you report this incident.. OH YEAH RIGHT.. like I want a big pink sheet of paper on the bulletin board saying that I nailed my sack to the leg.. LOL LOL LOL I took it like Jimmy like a man like he did when congress threw him under the bus with the millionaire relief act of 78.. and didn’t bring it up or report it.. suffered in silence.. over my own stupidity..

        https://youtu.be/q98mE2Blozw

  3. RAS’s are in the “one size fits all” category, which means it does all jobs OK, but it does no job perfectly. Yes, I’ve owned and used one for 50 years, and it has served me well for the most part. There are things you shouldn’t try to do with it, one of which is cross cutting with a dado stack… unless you pull the saw out before inserting the wood to be cut, then push the blade into the cut. Pulling the dado stack into the wood will result in the dado climbing out of the cut and propelling the saw toward the operator at a very high rate of speed.

  4. Hahahaha . You could probably buy any tool you needed. ” But Honey, I need it for Shop Talk Sunday.”

    • Part of my consigliere’s role is taxicology. (As a tax attny)
      “No, George. In order for something to be a write-off you’d need to show how it is necessary in the business and is in the usual and accustomed way or close enough I could defend it.”
      Mind you, we never wrote off a dime of the airplane we owned for six (glorious) years, based on this conservative advice. And I always leave a few deductions off at tax time so any nit-picking later will still come out in my favor. That’s only a little more expensive than Ambien and I don’t sleepwalk with the approach…

      • The IRS bureaucrats have totally discouraged me from earning anywhere near my potential! That happened around 50 years ago when I had my first audit. After they disallowed what they did, I found out that fighting them in tax court would cost me at least what I could have recovered. Since then, I keep myself in a low tax bracket and enjoy my time doing everything for myself, with almost no exceptions. Some of us are not cut out for bureaucratic altercations and would rather just avoid them at any cost. I avoid all auditable things and will never again itemize anything. Same with permits and other crap. If it’s required, then just pass on the job.

        Tax accountants and attorneys win regardless of whether or not you do. Only the honest ones care.

        It’s better to live in a hut with a hot lover than a castle which requires such engagement, permissions and uncertainty.

    • ” But Honey, I need it for Shop Talk Sunday.”

      Unfortunately if Elaine is like the boss here.. that one wouldn’t work.. the american man way of getting a questionable tool that isn’t beyond normal expenses.. big stuff.. like the battery backup solar shtf kit.. that one has to be put on the table and discussed.. you can’t just sneak that one by.. but a wrench .. or a ladle etc..a smaller less expensive item .. is get it.. slip it in and put it away.. then let it grow dust bunnies before you use it…. LOL LOL LOL.
      the one that got me was my grand son.. I have a really nice set of bits.. I have had them for years.. I have a not as good set of bits..in a plastic organizer.. the grandson was wanting to build a cabinet.. when he was in shop class.. the daughter called and she told me the deminsions he was thinking of for this dresser.. and she asked.. is that ever possible.. sure honey.. he can do that.. BUT… you will need to knock out a wall and hire a crane to come put it in the house.. LOL.. so she asked me if I could talk to him.. it was decided to build a dresser.. we would whip one up.. and that would be that.. let him know the standard dimensions.. tables are at thirty.. side tables twenty seven etc.. chair seats are at fifteen to seventeen.. ( except bankers chairs.. they have the customers chair seats two inches below standard.. on purpose.. its a psychological thing) anyway.. I needed the bits.. he ran over and grabbed my good set.. brought it over.. and I said oh no honey.. grab that old set in the storage bin.. he looked at me and he said.. ” who are you saving them for” wow.. that was pretty powerful words there.. so the good set gets used any and all the time.. the good china.. ( not the butter dishes.. the stuff you shove in a drawer) is used all the time.. nothing is special anymore.. why save it for someone when your dead.. LOL.. I just told this story to one of my grandkids that got a good set of china to.. use it.. don’t store it.. make it the household norm to use what you have..
      one of the commenters on this site.. he use to make my favorite brand of drawer slides.. great product.. reasonable price..

  5. Take care if you decide to add a weld bead to your new chair if it has a gas filled height adjusting cylinder. Those can be easily ruined with just a bit of heat from a welder. Ask me how I know.

      • “…our house brand of gourmet penistrating oil…”

        ROFLOL! Freudian slip? …or intentional? I won’t pursue the ‘gourmet’ part. LOL LOL,

        I have a similar problem with my office chair, except it is the gas shock has gone flat, leaving my chair too low, and it is cramping my arthritic hip joint now.
        ““To hell with this!  Ain’t like you’re poor and can’t afford a replacement.  Go on, sport, go for it,” said the Amazon spendthrift voice.”
        I really don’t want to wait for ‘boonies delivery’ for a new chair that I have never tried out myself and likely will not like. Today is my last day of Covid quarantine, and with a negative test next week I intend to hit the office supply & furniture stores to shop for a new one that I can test-drive first. Now that I have some natural immunity, it promises to be a bit less stressful.

      • LOB LOL.
        G, LOL.

        no Band Aides for me. I shoot for the stars.

        interesting to note: all the adds on ure site tonight.

        for me….. are Hot Ukrainian women on Dating sites. probably my future. since I have a reoccurring Ukrainian women thing.

        saw a friend of ures. send ya a picture. knobby knees and stumbling down the road close to where I’m staying, Fer now.

        looking for her bull.

        :)

        time to put the internet in the back seat for a while and be in the real.

  6. I still have scars across my knuckles from a small chain saw event many years ago when I was young and foolish. Tried to clip off some small branches from a tree limb while holding it in the other hand. Wife sold it while I was in the hospital.

  7. I’ve used a radial arm saw on one job and a table saw on another to install engineered hardwood floors. Both jobs required multiple cuts. The table saw was so far ahead in terms of ease of use and speed. The table saw helped to reduce waste.

    Both jobs were roughly the same size. 800 square feet of flooring. I bought 960 square feet. The table saw job had 104 square feet left over. The radial arm saw job had 44 feet left over.

    I’m sorry to disagree with you but the radial arm saw was just not as good a tool for me. I used a circular saw for any angle cuts on the table saw job. There weren’t many angle cuts.

    • I have both a radial arm and a table saw. I got them from a friend who was moving. I’ve never set up either, though I would if I had extra space. For framing and moderately finer work, a good circular saw and a bit of care will get the job done, and it’s far more portable. That’s been my go-to. Compound miters for framing are good enough with the circular saw, and that’s about as complex as most framing gets.

  8. Current fractal groupings:

    From the March 2020 low: 33/72/72 weeks.
    The third 72 week fractal composed of a 15/34/35 weeks series:
    15 weeks: 3/8/6 weeks
    34 weeks: 5/12/12/8 weeks
    35 weeks: 18/18 weeks ending Oct 2023

    The 8 weeks of the 34 week 5/12/12/8 week fractal series started on 13 December 2022 and is composed of an 8/17/10 day fractal sequence ending on 31 January 2013

  9. One thing (almost) no one ever tells you about a radial arm saw is the saw goes both ways. I have made many more cuts, over the years, pushing the saw through the work than I have, pulling it — especially when making depth cuts where I’m essentially cutting a rabbet or dado instead of a through-cut. If’fn you watch any video on RAS use, the demonstrator will be pulling the saw, often delicately with his(her) fingers, into or through the wood. This has NEVER made any sense to me. The saw is much safer to use if it is pushed, and it makes much more precise cuts.

    In fact, pretty much the only time I pull the saw is when cutting a rabbet or tenon, and I will push/pull, push/pull, eating a partial width of the blade and dragging the board I’m cutting, down the fence with my fingers, so as to make a smooth, automatic operation, as quickly as possible. By only biting a partial width I minimize the possibility that the saw will go for a walk.

    Olfart ain’t wrong, except his dado rule applies to ANY cut with any kind of blade. If the saw walks up the work. It WILL shoot to the end of its track like a large cannonball, and if it hits you, (provided you live) you will never forget the impact.
    _______

    “For these cuts, I like a much wider kerf because it just seems in my experience that the very thin kerf blades can be pinched”

    It is not the kerf, but the chisel. The problem with a thin kerf is it’s usually attached to a thin blade. When cutting (especially seasoned) hardwood it is much more likely that a little unintentional lateral force will cause the blade to flex. For ripping hardwoods I suggest the blade DeWalt makes specifically for ripping hardwoods. For everything else (except junk cuts where you might hit nails), I favor the Freud Diablo, even though Bosch bought them out and will probably soon begin to cross-pollinate their product line…

  10. Looks like critical mass has finally been achieved in Brazil.

    Mass Arrests And ‘Federal Intervention’ In Brazil After Bolsonaro Supporters Storm Government Buildings
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bolsonaro-supporters-storm-brazil-national-congress-breach-presidential-palace-top-court

    BREAKING: ENORMOUS CROWD – TENS OF THOUSANDS of Brazilians Descend on Brasilia, Storm Congress – SHOTS FIRED (VIDEO)
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/breaking-millions-brazilians-descend-brasilia-storm-congress-shots-fired/

    I wonder how many Normies were walked on today?

    • I thought the military was behind Bolsonaro?

      The same folks who operated here, operated there.

      I REALLY want to see 300,000,000 Republican ballots in the 2024 Election. Our crooked elections are not going to get fixed, until someone demonstrates to John Q Idiot and his hundred million kissin’ cousins in such a manner that is really, really obvious, that our elections are broken. As long as only the Dems cheat, the mainstream media will never say a word against the proceedings and nothing will ever be made honest.

      Can y’all even imagine the howls and screams, if the Repubs used the Dems’ tactics against them?

      We have one, maybe two general Elections left, before the USofA becomes a uniparty fascist dictatorship. The fix is paper ballots in-person and voter ID (or “voted ID”), just like every other nation on the planet. Make Election Day a paid, national holiday, require a written request, in advance, for an absentee ballot, eliminate provisional or conditional ballots (If you can’t do it right, you shouldn’t do it.)

      We CAN go back to the days when the Klan went to the polls in South Carolina and the Black Panthers went to the polls in Philly, both armed with axe handles. At least at that point in time the cheating was honest…

      • Hang in there Ray. SCOTUS is due to render some decision on Brunson either today or tomorrow. With Martin Armstrong’s computer waving red flags about the last half of this month and SCOTUS having the cojones to deep-six RvW I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

  11. https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Sharpening-Machines-and-Attachments-C222.aspx
    https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Standard-Replacement-Carbide-Tips-C244.aspx
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/155207247058?hash=item242312a4d2:g:0l8AAOSwruljSD7H

    working at the cabinet shop.. the one thing I noticed was that.. saw blades get dull.. even the good carbide blades.. and they are always six months behind on getting them sharpened.. it is a big deal.. so I had gone to an auction and seen an industrial saw blade sharpener.. could do a forty inch blade.. and a carbide tip replacement system.. I bought it.. and it took up most of the garage.. the thought was.. when I retired.. I would go in and get ten cents a tooth.. for sharpening and more for replacement.. at that time each carbide tooth was twenty cents.. resetting etc.. anyway.. I got sick.. they wanted to put me in hospice and I realized that I might never be able to do it.. so.. the house needed some repairs that a fat old man cannot do that was sick and using a wheelchair.. I traded the equipment for the materials and labor to the lumber yard.. that is using it to this day.. people don’t realize that if things get tough.. knives and saw blades etc.. will always need to be sharpened.. I did keep the smaller circular saw blade sharpener though.. it will do up to a fifteen inch blade I believe.. 12 for sure.. and most of my blades are ten inches.. I really wish that I had kept the carbide tooth kit and equipment.. auto matic.. the circular saw blade sharpener isn’t automatic you have to stick with the blades.. I don’t regret making that trade.. it was needed and I couldn’t do it.. they needed the equipment and I had it.. fair trade overall..

  12. Wow.. did I get an earful tonight.. the older grand daughter was over looking for her dog.. it ran off.. thinking it came to visit.. and she asked me what I was doing.. I said .. I am explaining how to make cheese…
    OMG.. why haven’t I made cheese lately.. etc etc.. etc.. and I said hon.. haven’t you made any LOL..
    no she forgot how.. but remembered my onion and pepper cheese.. so I got the girls all a small cheese making kit.. told her fiancee how to make a cheese press.. ( he builds custom big ticket homes.. )LOL LOL LOL
    https://www.amazon.com/Rennet-Cheese-Making-Kit-Supplies/dp/B07WG8TWG5/ref=sxin_15_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?
    It isn’t much but it will get them going.. if they want to know how to make the special cheeses like blue cheese or swiss cheese.. etc.. I will show them how.. if they want to make a bigger ring.. well they can make or get a container.. My first press was a cookie tin and a disk of maple..

  13. you have mail George.

    friend of ures? lol. trotting down the road, at 17 below Zero, looking for a Big Bull.

    Shaman brother said, I will be back in the desert couple months. funny never notice how back in sounds alot like bacon phonetically. LOL.

    he is yewsually right About that sorta stuff. or is that yousually or usually. something like that.

    I talked to a friend down there where 1/4 of the nation’s wealth vacations. I like it there very much. he said well one things forsure. as you get here? evryone in town will know in a couple hours you are back. I said why is that. he laughed and said you know.

    Fer now, I’m up here in the wild. helping others get where they need to be. even me.

    sure good to spend time with my Momma. :)

  14. MIT News:

    Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?

    The ancient Romans were masters of engineering, constructing vast networks of roads, aqueducts, ports, and massive buildings, whose remains have survived for two millennia. Meanwhile, many modern concrete structures have crumbled after a few decades. Now, a team of investigators from MIT, Harvard University, and laboratories in Italy and Switzerland, has made progress

    https://news.mit.edu/2023/roman-concrete-durability-lime-casts-0106

    • Hmm.I have had this same discussion at the kitchen table with
      some of students from MIT and their prof when they were doing a summer project… wasn’t much of a riddle though those that have been telling people about this have been ridiculed and even made fun of for decades….. I realize they gave Dave a bunch of hooey over his discoveries and did a lot to try and discredit him from his discoveries.. but I personally believe that he was right on the money… the recipe was right on the egyptian walls telling everyone for thousands of years…and the in the box theory was that everyone wanted to believe that men could chisel and flop two hundred ton blocks every what two minutes for twenty years hauled what a fifty or five hundred miles away… something like that..anyway.. I heard the stories that one guy can flip a sheet of plywood up on a roof and nail it every two seconds to.. which would be the same equivalent..
      Rammed earth blocks are around today that have been around for a thousand years and so are many more examples of the enginuity of the ancients.. they used what they had.. sea shells, ashes,clay and limestone.
      Egyptologists were consistently confronted with confusing and unanswered questions: How was it possible that some of the blocks are so perfectly matched that not even a human hair can be inserted between them? Why, despite the existence of millions of tons of stone, carved presumably with copper chisels, has not one copper chisel ever been found on the Giza Plateau?
      Daves research has not answered all of the questions, but his work does provide some insight into some of the key questions.
      It is exactly one of the reasons why I have always (well at least since nineteen seveny eight..I actually had a chance to visit with Dave once upon a time and some of the prof’s working on this research..and after discovering that they actually was planning on teaching this technology to military men returning from WW2… I seen one of those buildings made by college kids and was impressed when I was delivering Newspapers..the results were fascinating to me.. it was stone building..and yet formed.. after that I wanted to build a home our of rammed earth.. earthen block over seventy eight percent of the buildings on the planet was made that way/ temples and statues the examples are amazing and all around us all over the world.. what changed was the acceptance of the modern business model.. rammed earth is cheaper.. mostly labor intensive.. and with the tools we have available.. we to could produce with the same results.. but we live in the box of our reality of the cave presented to us.. it is all starting to come back though.. with 3D printed homes.. a system that would fit the business models they are using..

      https://archive.org/details/pyramidsenigma00davi

      https://www.jstor.org/stable/40025693

      https://www.academia.edu/22454036/Abandonment_of_Minoan_palaces_on_Crete_in_relation_to_the_earthquake_induced_changes_in_groundwater_supply_BY_Y_Gorokhovich

      https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36687567.pdf

      https://www.amazon.com/Art-Earth-Architecture-Present-Future/dp/1616898895

      anyway I digress.. this is an old OLD OOOOLD rant of mine and quest to do some of it.. just to see.. I wanted to make an earthen statue or Jar.. at one point in time I wanted to make wine bottles LOL…and a home.. I did get a CEB press for earth blocks.. and I sent one to a mission to build clinic and church school and homes.. got one for myself to do the same thing.. even had the kids from colleges willing to come do a summer project for me.. what a year.. the rain was horrible that year and it never did get done.. the press sits idle..

    • https://www.123rf.com/photo_186533020_the-caves-of-beit-guvrin-in-israel-the-underground-city-of-ancient-people.html?vti=nvxbg3vxmyzv6b1kbm-1-9

      looks familiar.. they even have images of those in ancient egypt.. I have a wet stone for making peanut butter and chocolate.. great item.. these were even bigger.. I have the small hand turned wheat grinder to.. same principle.. and so awesome to watch it work.. the answers were right in front of everyone.. they just didn’t want to acknowledge the ideas..

    • which is why I try to teach all the kids how to make the simple things like pencil and paper.. with out them and an educational system.. ( look at the kids.. we spent what decades dumbing down our youth so that a few can prosper. most of whom that even have college degrees cannot read the local news paper and understand it.. sad..) that realization hit me when a group of edjumicated idiots.. were standing around.. one was the plant manager.. couldn’t read a tape measure if he tried.. and they were laughing at a story in the news.. I was hauling a heavy pallet and one of them stopped and asked me is this is a real word.. the word was bludgeoned.. I said yes.. what does it mean.. what that word means is if you didn’t give this pallet a little push and I got upset and decided to and whopped you with a stick.. LOL LOL and they paid that group big money.. who would have known.. idiots.. but then we all know and comment on the group of morons and idiots making life and earth changing decisions daily in our govt…..the world is run by corrupt morons and idiots that don’t have the sense to wipe their own azz.. instead you hear the chant roll out of the toilets.. I’M DONE….show me the money..

  15. The Russian Regime Change Trap

    Regime change in Russia is all the rage right now. It’s another episode of MI-6’s longest running show, “Russia – Putin’s Fragile Playground,” playing daily in our intelligence co-opted media. And, hey, thanks to Elon Musk that’s no longer a conspiracy theory, despite the protestations of the bad guys.

    https://tomluongo.me/2022/12/30/the-russian-regime-change-trap/

    This is from Gold Goats and Guns, whose charter is:

    “Speaking Truth, Destroying Narratives about Politics, Markets and Culture”

    so it might be worth a look…

    • if they only listened to what those that would be the change are saying.. replacing Putin would not be a good idea.. Putin is smart enough to know that the resultz would be earthly catastophic.. he is being careful..I believe from what I have read that those wanting to take over the regime would be more aggressive..

  16. John Bolton announces he WILL run for the White House in 2024

    The veteran foreign policy hawk, who was branded Mr Tough Guy by Trump, said his White House campaign will focus on being tougher on China and Russia.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11606025/John-Bolton-announces-run-White-House-2024-against-former-boss-Donald-Trump.html

    One of the worst things about neocons is they can talk, simultaneously, out of both sides of their mouth, without ever looking ashamed at anything either side is spewing.

    As a quick refresher for the attention-span challenged: Trump hired Bolton specifically to scare the Young Un out of doing something stupid, before Trump could talk to, and negotiate with him. For some reason, Bolton thought he was more important than he was, and when DJT fired him to keep him from starting a new war or three, Bolton developed an attitude.

    • I would like to see the senator from Texas run..he seems logical.. says the right crap.. but is he sincere.. he didn’t raise any ruffles over some of the crap that has been going on which I don’t understand….

  17. Here Are The Concessions McCarthy Had To Make For Speakership

    a list of some of what has been roughly negotiated to date. The devil, as always, is in the details.

    1) it will only take a single congressperson to move to remove the Speaker if he or she goes back on their word or policy agenda.

    2) A “Church” style committee will be convened to look into the weaponization of the FBI and other government organizations against the American people.

    3) Term limits will be put up for a vote.

    4) Bills presented to Congress will be single subject, not omnibus with all the attendant earmarks, and there will be a 72-hour minimum period to read them.

    5) The Texas Border Plan will be put before Congress.

    6) COVID mandates will be ended as will all funding for them, including so-called “emergency funding.”

    7) Budget bills would stop the endless increases in the debt ceiling and hold the Senate accountable for the same

    Rep. Lauren Boebert said in a statement that the anti-McCarthy Reps. “changed the way the government will be funded,” and “changed the way committees will be formed.”

    “We secured votes on term limits, the fair tax, the Texas Border Plan, and so much more.”

    Bobert goes on to slam President Biden for calling the speakership process ’embarrassing for Republicans.

    “How sad is it that us governing as the founders intended looks embarrassing to Democrats?” Bobert asked, adding “I’ll tell you what’s embarrassing. 40-year high inflation is embarrassing. 5 million illegals crossing our southern border is embarrassing. Surrendering to ISIS and fleeing Afghanistan is embarrassing. Having a president that can’t finish his sentences is embarrassing.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/here-are-concessions-mccarthy-had-make-speakership

    • 1) it will only take a single congressperson to move to remove the Speaker

      I expect the Democrats to take advantage of this to move to remove the Speaker — starting tomorrow, and repeating every day Congress is in session. Republicans and Rightists have become no more aware of the Law of Unintended Consequences than Democrats and Leftists.

      2) A “Church” style committee will be convened to look into the weaponization of the FBI

      This is the House of Representatives. It has subpoena power, but no legal power unto itself, other than to refer people or organizations to the Attorney General (Merrick Garland, remember?), who then decides whether to convene a Grand Jury or remand a subject into the legal system.

      3) Term limits will be put up for a vote.

      Bwa, ha, ha. Congresscritters don’t begin to acquire real power until they’ve been in office for about 8 years. Even if they vote to limit their terms, which ain’t likely, I believe such a concept must be codified into the Constitution before it becomes enforceable…

      4) Bills presented to Congress will be single subject, not omnibus, and there will be a 72-hour minimum period to read them.

      THIS is one hell of a good thing. I’d rather see a 30-day exam period and Internet publication of the proposed bill or legislation, but this is an excellent start!

      5) The Texas Border Plan will be put before Congress.

      Where it will fail miserably, because as we are about to see from Joe Biden’s trip to the border, there IS no “border crisis…”

      6) COVID mandates will be ended

      ‘Bout time… The House will have to terminate the purse strings to get this done. Not until Princeton and Pepsico have to fork out that [nearly] thousand dollars per shot, themselves, will “mandates” go away.

      7) Budget bills would stop the endless increases in the debt ceiling and hold the Senate accountable for the same

      Trump was the first President to successfully do this, probably since Grant. If’fn y’all remember, the House didn’t even know they could reduce, or dump allocated but unused funds back into the budget for reallocation. I don’t understand this level of ignorance. I also watched Walking Tall (the real one, not the remake.) I would read AND UNDERSTAND every word of every document which governs the procedures and proceedings, conduct, and legal parameters on and restraints of, the job of “Congressman,” if it took me a year, and I had to hire a Constitutional scholar or lawyer to explain the fine points to me.

      I hate to completely agree with any politician, especially Lauren Boebert, but about this particular statement of hers, I totally agree…

  18. hmmmmmm after thinking, i feel bad for picking on this little old lady in a game of crib. im 2 peg holes from winning then my elderly mother came from behind like a locomotive, beats me then said ohhh myyyyy would you look at that son? then did a little victory dance in her chair. she says, did you see that son? I said yes mam. I saw that. so i picked up my pride off the floor and went outside and talked to the Moose.

    you know George. Ure chair experience reminds me of the last time I was in Palm Desert.

    this is a true story the name will be removed to protect the person involved.

    I had picked up a freind to take to dinner. a former PGA master. we were driving down the road in my old Chrysler 300s. he was sitting in the passenger seat of my car. dropped his phone under the seat. stuck his arm under the seat to get it and accidentally rolled the power seat forward and caught his arm. he screamed and I pulled over. ran over to the other side, opened up the passenger door. took a step back. he said help me get my arm out!!!! I said one wrong move, your weight on that seat and it will snap your arm like a twig. just hold still and let me think about this for a moment. he was in alot of pain. he yelled again. and I said just breath. I don’t want to break your arm moving the seat the wrong way.

    then I remembered, I had a large tube of Anal Lube in my center console. I reached in there grabbed it and he looks at me and I said don’t ask and laughed. I squirted the whole tube of anal lube down his arm that was struck under the seat. rubbed it on good. then pushed the button backwards on the power switch and pulled his arm right out.

    he shook his hand and then said thank you! don’t ever tell anyone you got my arm unstuck with a big tube of anal lube. why the f do you have a large tube of that anal lube in your center console anyway??? I said well tonight I had it for helping rich PGA assholes unstuck. he laughed till he had tears running down his face. i opend up the back door, reached under the seat and got his phone handed it to him. I grabbed a beach towel out of the trunk and he wiped off the lube his arm. we were best friends after that. he paid for dinner.

    true story.

    hahahahahahahhaa.

      • yeah….. uhmmm.. yes sir. that is what she said.

        best leave that one the imagination.

        sure came in handy later.

        uhem. no further comment. have a wonderful day.

      • He said “Don’t ask…”

        Andy, when you’re playing someone very old or very young it’s good to throw a cribbage game every once in a while.

        I always preferred the green pegs, myself…

    • Andy got ‘skunked’ by Mom! LOL! My parents used to play a game of cribbage every night before bed. I’ve seen it all… and heard it all. Never get over confident. Losing with your peg in the last ‘stink hole’ is humbling. So how many perfect 29 hands have you had in a lifetime?

      • “So how many perfect 29 hands have you had in a lifetime?”

        Three, and I’ve been playing, off and on, for over 60 years…

  19. Don’t forget the neoprene or memory foam arm rest covers.

    I have tried a lot of different pad combinations in office chairs.
    I have found Tempurpedic cushion sets can have a lot of variability in hardness and comfort. One set I have is therapeutic and is as good as anything I have ever used; a second seat pad I bought from them is as hard as a rock.
    Turmerry seat pads are too big for office chairs and don’t come with a cover; I have one stuck in the seat of a recliner, covered by a towel.
    Purple seat pads are squirmy ultra-soft things, which have to be fussed with constantly; nonetheless, they aren’t bad. I’m sitting on one as I write, and it isn’t helping in the early morning hours.

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