Happy Thanksgiving

It’s been a busy year. We’ve been blessed with reasonably good health aside from Pennie’s broken arm and my torn rotator cuff. At our age, that’s reasonably good health. Stephen’s family has lived with us this year while they build a new house on the farm. Sarah got engaged to Matt, their wedding is next fall. Nathan and his family are doing well. Dianna and her family bought a new house big enough for their family with plenty of yard for the kids to play in.

I finally got the forklift I’ve been searching for. I haven’t had time to use it yet but it’s ready when the holiday rush is over. I sawed a ton of lumber this year and I’m patiently waiting for it to dry. It takes a year per inch of thickness. Most of it I sawed either 4/4 or 5/4 so all of that will be ready this spring. Poplar, oak, cherry, hickory and gum. I will use the gum for shelving. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the gum stayed flat. The rest I will joint and plane flat to 1/2” stock to use for drawers for the sandpaper cabinets I want to make.

Major projects on the horizon are piping compressed air to all four shops. I have most of the piping (copper) but just haven’t had the time to dedicate to the project. The other major project is piping the whole shop for dust collection. I’ve been dragging flex hose from one tool to the other. I am more than ready to put in hard piping. Maybe next year.

I finally broke down and ordered a 16” jointer. It will come next week. Powermatic was nice enough to put them on sale. It has a helical cutterhead. It will be nice to be able to joint wide boards before they go to the planer. I have quite a few wide planks that are nearly dry.

So Happy Thanksgiving. You can see that I have much to be thankful for. Especially my family and the time I have to spend with them now that I am retired.