Woodworking ⁽⁹¹⁾

Brian Bilbrey September 23, 2025

23 September 2025

New Phone I'm not one who needs the newest phone every year. I tend to go four to five years between refreshes. The improvements in hardware, and the software that takes advantage of that newer hardware have a much bigger impact over that time scale than the incremental speed/capability bumps that annual phone replacements bring. So this year I traded in my iPhone 13 for a 17. Not a pro, not a pro max, and certainly not an Air. But more storage and much more capable CPU as well as improved battery life make it a worthwhile update for me…

Brian Bilbrey March 5, 2025

5 March 2025

Yeah, it's still winter here, but I don't think that's going to last much longer. Starting about now, we're headed up into the 40's (F), and rain for the next 24 hours. I don't expect that snow to be around by the end of tomorrow. If there is any, it'll be the consistency of a iced slush drink that's been left in the sun for almost too long. And yes, that's a miserable state of affairs, slush over mud with a little ice, to walk the dog in. Last month I built and installed in the basement a bolt and…

Brian Bilbrey April 10, 2022

10 April 2022

I managed a few hours in the sub-garage yesterday, doing some more cleanup and getting the tablesaw re-assembled and leveled. That's no mean feat, working solo. Next up is to either fabricate from materials on-hand (or purchase what I need) a decent 3' or 4' wide workbench that'll hang out at the back of the tablesaw. It'll be an outfeed table for the tablesaw, a miter saw stand, and a clamping and assembly resource. I'll probably mock it up with materials on hand just to get a sense of positioning and whatnot ... then decide how to actually build it.

Brian Bilbrey May 23, 2021

23 May 2021

Well, it's been nearly two months since we last chatted, sorry for the inconvenience (as the Creator said to his Creation (in the fifth (I think) book of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy)). A fair bit has happened in the interim. I have four ladders. This is a story about the fourth ladder. A couple of weeks ago, I was putting some items up in the garage attic. Two or three trips up and down the ladder. All done, I came down the ladder and it failed on me as I reached the third step. The wood broke…

Brian Bilbrey March 28, 2021

28 March 2021

In our first week of spring, we had lows in the 30's and highs in the 80's. Fortunately, I'm using Fahrenheit rather than Celsius. I've managed a bit of yard work over a couple of weekends, and the first mowing of the (front) lawn was yesterday. Today? More rain... a nice follow-up to the 2.15" of the moistness that visited us four days ago. (Sorry, California.) This little cute chipuggle joined our household eleven years ago yesterday, having made a trip up to Maryland from a kill shelter in North Carolina the very day we brought her home. She's now…