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Welcome Back
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Welcome Back:
Boo! OK so we're a day late but we hope you had a fun Halloween. Here in Washington State the trick-or-treater's may have gotten a little damp but hey, it's Washington!
October blew by like the fall winds of Western Washington, we just don't know where the month went.
While we had many pretty fall days with lots of leaves changing color November is starting out with the weather we're known for, rain!
Well it's about time to "fall back", remember to turn your clocks back this Saturday night. We have several clocks with the automatic update feature that worked a week ago, who'd ever thunk that they'd mess with daylight savings time? Of course these clocks have no way of telling them that daylight time has changed.
Next month we'll be coming to you with a new President! What a long drawn out bloody battle this has been. It will really be good to have this election over with so they can get back to work running the country again. Of course it won't be long and they'll start the campaigning all over again.
Have a nice Thanksgiving, I know we will!
Ken and Marilyn
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| Wood'n Wares |
Wood'n Wares Cool Kitchen Tools
When you are cooking and serving up that Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't it be nice to have some new beautiful wooden kitchen and serving utensils? Treat yourself by ordering some of these hand crafted hard maple wooden utensils. Bob and Jean's wonderful wooden kitchen utensils are hand made in their little wood shop in Montana. Give one of these beautiful hard maple utensils a try and you'll never go back. Also Wood'n Wares Spoon Oil will keep those wooden utensils looking great for years to come. It also works wonderfully on butcher blocks or other wooden kitchen products.
Get your order in for Spoon Oil by going to, www.runnerduck.com/woodnwares.htm. |
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| Wood Plans |
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| Woodworking Tools |
Rockler Specials
Rockler always has great specials, here's the latest!
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| What's New? |
More woodshop toys! Santa's elf Ken is busy working away in the woodshop making Christmas presents (can you believe it this early?). He's been working with small bench top machines for a long time. He needed to resaw some wood and the little bench top bandsaw just wouldn't handle it. That made the prefect excuse to get a new floor mount bandsaw.
He ended up getting a Rikon 14" deluxe bandsaw from Woodcraft. They had them on sale and the timing was right. It's not together yet but he'll be writing a report on it once it's all together, up and running.
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| Site Of The Month |
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In just three days we'll be voting for the President of the United States. This is a very important election as there are some very significant differences between the candidates and you really need to make your vote count.
If you have any questions about the voting process you can go to http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting.shtml. That is the official government site for elections. There is a lot of information available and there are links to local elections.
While we won't try to tell you how to vote we will tell you it's important to get out the vote! |
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Marilyn's Corner |
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Cloth Shopping Bag
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We've been talking about reusable shopping bags in our new "Our Environment" column. While you can buy cloth or canvas shopping bags at most stores I thought I'd show you how to make your own shopping bag.
I found some old scrap material that was previously bedroon curtains that would work perfect. I cut apart a paper shopping bag as a pattern and cut out my pieces.
Cut the pieces 1/2" wider to allow for the seams and top edge.
I made the front, bottom and back as one piece and the two sides as separate pieces. If you don't have big enough pieces of material you could make each piece individually.
Sew all the pieces together. Fold the top edge over 1/2" and double stitch with bias tape. Reinforce all seams by double stitching.
Cut 2 pieces for the handles 4" wide and 20" long. Fold in half, turn in all edges and top stitch.
Sew the ends of both handles to the wide sides of the bag.
Iron it flat with the seams on the inside.
I had Ken cut a piece of 1/8" masonite to put in the bottom of the bag. It adds a little weight but it helps the bag stand up while being filled and support the weight of over zealot baggers.
Remember we have all of our past projects archived on our web site at www.runnerduck.com. Just click on the Craft Egg.
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| Our Environment |
It seems that the reduction of plastic shopping bags by using reusable cloth bags has become quite popular, at least with the shoppers. For some reason it's taking the baggers a little bit longer to figure out what to do with them.
If you remember last month we had a couple of funny stories about baggers and that prompted Jim to write "After reading the article on the cloth bags our biggest problem is that the bagger will fill the bags to the top, which with some items like can goods and juices make the bags far too heavy to carry any distance for the wife." I guess it will just take some time to get it right.
In the meantime if you have any suggestions on how to reduce the amount of plastic that gets tossed away we'd love to hear from you. Also any funny stories about attempts to implement conservation ideas are always fun to share with our readers. Just email me at kennyb@runnerduck.com.
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| The Tempos Big Swing Band |
If you are in the Seattle area and interested in hiring a great band The Tempos are ready to perform for you. Just drop a line to kennyb@runnerduck.com
The Tempos
News and CD of the Week
"Big Swing" features fourteen great swing songs from the 40's and 50's. If you love the old big band swing music we think you'll enjoy this CD. It's the kind of music that makes you just want to get up and dance, you do remember how to swing don't you?
The only place you can get this CD is from our web site. Go to www.thetempos.com and click on the "Click Here" at the top of the web page or click the album cover.
CLICK HERE.
If you'd like to get a taste of this CD just go to The Tempos web site. When you are at the Tempos web site click on the horn valve button that says "Hear our CD". Then click on the song titles to hear a little bit of each song.
The Tempos big swing band is available for hire. If you have a special event that could use the wonderful music of a classic sixteen piece big band be sure to contact kennyb@runnerduck.com. We perform all over the Seattle area for all sorts of events. |
| Joke of the Month |
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This months joke entitled "THIS SAYS IT THE WAY IT IS AND WILL BE", came from Wayne The Tempos piano player.
Wayne writes: "This is a nonpartisan joke that can be enjoyed by both parties. Not only that, it is POLITICALLY CORRECT!!.......and so timely, as well as so true in most cases!!!!!!"
While walking down the street one day a US Senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.
"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."
"No problem, just let me in," says the Senator.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."
"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Senator.
"I'm sorry, but we have our rules." And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.
Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.
They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.
Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises .
The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.
"Now it's time to visit heaven."
So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.
"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."
The senator reflects for a minute, then answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."
So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.
Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.
He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.
The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the Senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"
The devil looks at him, smiles and says.......
"Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted."
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| This Month's Free Recipe |
 Stuffed Mushrooms
Thanksgiving is coming and you'll probably be cooking some really yummy dishes. You might want to add these stuffed mushrooms to the menu. They are good as hors d'oeuvres but can also be served as a side dish.
We have two different recipes for these, one with meat and one without for the vegetarians.
Ingredients (meat):
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12 Large Mushrooms
- 1/2 Cup Ham or Bacon, chopped
- 1/2 Cup Onion, chopped
- 3 ounce package, Cream Cheese
- 1/4 Cup fine Bread Crumbs
Mix all ingredients and stuff the mushrooms.
Ingredients (vegetarian):
- 12 Large Mushrooms
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 1/4 Cup Onions, chopped
- 1/4 Cup Green Peppers, chopped
- 1/4 Cup Celery, chopped
- 1 3 ounce package, Cream Cheese
- 1 Cup fine Bread Crumbs
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
Saute Onions, Peppers and Celery in butter.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Stuff the Peppers.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.
Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!
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| Cookbook of the Month |
| "Hors D'oeuvres"
By Jan Weimer
Click!
Our cookbook this month has a wonderful selection of hors d'oeuvres. This cookbook is rated at four stars and is a must have for people who love to entertain. Savory Bacon and Onion Tartlets, flaky Filo Triangles with Spinach and Feta, crunchy Bruschetta with Olives and Roasted Peppers -- these are among the tantalizing hors d'oeuvre recipes you will soon master with this book. Williams-Sonoma Mastering Hors d'Oeuvres is a complete cooking course in a single volume. The opening describes various types of finger food and appetizers, including dips and spreads and cold and hot hors d'oeuvres, and the ingredients you need to make them. |
| Woodworking Project |
WOOD PROJECT PLANSDOWNLOADABLE & MAIL-DIRECT
WOODWORKING PLANSDownload WOOD StoreŽ woodworking plans directly to your computer and start building in just minutes! OR, we'll mail them to you, your choice!
CLICK!
This Months Woodworking Project
Bathroom Cabinet, Step 1
We have a small master bathroom and needed some more storage space. The logical place ended up being above the toilet. Rather than just bolting a cabinet to the wall I wanted a little more style and this standing cabinet seemed to fit the bill just perfectly.
This project has been a long time coming. I started it earlier this year but other things kept getting in the way. Now that it's done I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. From my original design this cabinet has had numerous changes and not all of them well documented. The difficult part now is remembering how I built it so I can share it with you.
Like most of my projects I started with a 3D CAD drawing that I generate in Rhinoceros, this helps me get dimensions and see how things are going to fit together.
While it looks like a difficult project it's really pretty easy. It's made up of four parts the stand, the cabinet and two doors. I'll give you some options as we go through this that may change the way you build your cabinet so lets get started.
We'll start with the legs for the stand. They are made from 5/4" straight grain fir. I glued two 6" X 96" X 5/4" pieces together, first rolling the glue on both pieces of wood.
I like Titebond glue but you have to work quickly if you use Type II.
TitebondŽ II Premium Wood Glue
Next I clamped the dickens out of it and let it dry overnight.
NOTE: You could cut the boards in half before you glue, it works either way.
Next I cut the boards in half and then cut them down to 2" X 2".
I used my Freud Glue Line Rip blade because it produces nice clean edges that require little sanding. I also use it because I don't have a jointer.
FreudŽ LM74R Glue Line Rip Blade
Now cut the legs to length. Mine are 38" long because we are going to put in a "comfort height" toilet. If you are making this for a standard toilet you'll probably want to make them a little shorter.
To cut them to the exact length I clamped a board to my tablesaw 38" away from the blade and it stops just before the wood enters the blade, this prevents any possible binding and kick-back.
Using the taper jig I made in my April 9, 2004 newsletter, www.runnerduck.com/04-09-04.htm, I tapered the last 8 3/4" of each leg down to 1 1/2" square.
Round the edges of the legs using a 3/8" roundover bit in your router.
Next I cut the cross pieces and end pieces out of clear 3/4" pine. The top front, top back and leg spreader are all 22 1/4" X 2 1/2". The four end pieces are 6 1/2" X 2 1/2".
Now we'll cut the mortise and tenon's. I start with the cross pieces and then the legs, this allows me to precisely align the location of the mortise.
It's important to make good clean tenon's so measure them carefully. I set my tablesaw blade to 3/16" verifying it with a piece of scrap wood.
Set the fence 3/4" from the blade and cut all four sides of all seven pieces.
I used the same technique for cutting these as I did for the length of the legs. Set a stop just short of the saw blade and use your miter for the wood.
To cut the cheeks I used my handy dandy heavy-duty Tenoning Jig.
Heavy-Duty Tenoning Jig
Carefully lay out the marks for the mortise. I offset the cross pieces to within 1/8" of the leg faces, this makes for a nice reveal at the joint. I aligned the top cross pieces flush to the top. The lower side pieces are 7" up from the bottom and the back piece is 10 3/4" up from the bottom.
Using a 1/2" Forrestner bit, drill 3/4" deep holes following the guidelines.
16-Pc. Forstner Bit Set
I used the drill press table I made, www.runnerduck.com/drill_press_table.htm, to make each mortise exactly the same.
Set the stop block to register the top end.
Using a sharp chisel clean out the mortise and square the ends.
Cut a curved detail in the front cross support. I used a French curve to lay out the lines.
Cut out the detail using a scroll saw or band saw.
Round over the edges of the detail, the bottoms of the top cross pieces and the top and bottom of the lower cross pieces using a 1/4" roundover bit.
Now it's time to glue it all together. Apply glue to the tenon's and inside of the mortise's. Clamp the stand using cauls under each clamp.
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If any of you have wood projects to share I would be happy to put it into a format for our newsletter. Just send me an email at kennyb@runnerduck.com and lets see what we can come up with. Thank you! |
| Free Rockler Catalog |
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Get a Free Rockler Woodworking Catalog by clicking on the link below
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If you want to talk about something just drop us a line to kennyb@runnerduck.com any time, we like to talk about most anything. We are always looking for content for our newsletter so if you have something to add we'd love to publish it, assuming it meets our strict family oriented requirements!
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We can be contacted at kennyb@runnerduck.com.
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