!!!!!!!!!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

BEL #601

It's been a day full of variety and progress. The DogStar Dog Pen/Bark Park is really taking shape now.



Here's Ben trimming a stump down to the ground. We'll be putting the dog house at this spot, likely tomorrow.



Carissa and Brian finished these tenons and then transported them along with the dog house platform up to the build site.



Another thing we'll be starting tomorrow will likely be the gate. Then it's a matter of filling in the junk pole vertical posts. Before you know it, they'll let me run around in there and let me off my leash...!

In the afternoon, the team worked on clearing tent pads for the upcoming events, I was putting the finishing touches on the Bobra Line supports, and after a bit of coaching Brian facilitated sign-making with the router. Fortunately, everyone had a chance to practice with the tool today.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Right on with a dog park!! 🐕 😁

BEL #602

I had one major project today and it consumed nearly all my time. So a major THANKS to Ben, Brian, Carissa, SEPPer Jessie, Rio, and SEPPer Roger for carrying my load today. Sorry I couldn't be on-site with you all today.

It also marks the end of the SEPPer DogStar Dog Pen theme week...! Plenty has been finished, and I think we'll be able to have nearly everything done up there during - if not prior to - the summer events.

Between sessions of setting up and/or rearranging sprinklers along the various hugels and berms at Basecamp, I was building a book holder for Roy, our new hybrid pickup truck. The entirety of the cost of the truck was fronted by someone else, who requested only a couple things in return. First: the truck must be named Roy (we name all our rigs here, so this isn't an unusual practice). Second: a book written by a guy whose first name happens to be Roy must be conspicuously displayed and available for perusal within the truck itself.

Unusual, but not impossible. And hey, just this for a free truck?!?! I will take this on. My main concern was that the book would interfere with safety features like the airbags or whatever, so areas like the dashboard were ruled out. A simple solution presented itself while Paul and I sat in the truck and chatted about it: the front of the glove box. After confirming there were no electronics or safety equipment in the front of it, we agreed that was the place to go. Paul raised the issue of room for the knees of people larger than average (?), but we did a few measurements and came up with a tolerance criteria.

I thought I had a handle on it, so in the first half of the day, I eventually came up with this. What you're looking at is the glove box, removed from the truck, with the book holder and book attached to the front. This is what we now call version 0.7:



I sent a photo of the results to Paul, and he then provided me with a more interesting challenge: use only two pieces of wood, and no visible fasteners. So after a break where I moved a few sprinklers around, I went back to the woodshop. The process essentially required some table saw work, and finishing with a chisel.



Oh, it also required pilot holes. Something I was reminded of perhaps a bit too late...



After dinner, I returned to the project. Take your time, be diligent, chisel out the space, make pilot holes, and then it works out.



To help you understand what it really looks like, here's a GIF of the glove box back in the truck, with the book and its holder installed.



This second project seemed so much more gratifying, in retrospect, regardless of my many missteps. And the end result reminds me that not everything need be made of scrap paneling.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #603

Event prep is pretty much the only thing on my mind right about now. Well... That, and maybe when I will eat my next donut.

Some raw linseed oil arrived for the Yurt project. I'm excited to see how the floor turns out after all this time in the works.



Also for the event: I'm developing badges for the participants and decorating them with the use of my laser cutter. Here's a draft design. I think this will work as a guideline for tomorrow's "burn session."



Found another sign today that could use some touch-up prior to the events. I pass by this sign several times each day, and somehow always end up telling myself, "You know, we ought to re-do that sign before the events happen."



Finally: here's Black Spark, on the move. Must have left her new kids up at the house.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #604

So, I've had a Glowforge laser cutter in storage since I moved here, over two years ago. On my last trip back east, I picked it up from my old boss' house and brought it back home with me. It had been sitting on the back seat of my car for several months, and right now I'm excited I finally had a worthwhile excuse to bring it out and try things with it again. Though some could critique it and say it has many limitations, I find it to be a powerful, useful tool. It's certainly come in handy for this project: name tags for all the participants of the PTJ and the SKIP summer events...!

I attempted to dial in my design and the settings for the laser cutter today. The end result was satisfactory all around, and I'm pleased I'll be able to make a bunch of these as take-home souvenirs that actually had a purpose beyond looking nice. Here's my first draft. It's a little janky, but since it's for me I'm okay with it. At the very least, it was useful to fine-tune the laser settings and finalize the artwork (in particular, the bee).



I always take notes when I do a laser-cutting project. I've had this little book packed in with my other laser-cutting tools and materials, and reviewing past projects served me with plentiful hints and tips to reduce my tinkering time.



When a piece is prepped and put in the laser cutter, I add a layer of drafting tape to the side being cut. This prevents scorches and soot from staining the finished surface. Here's what it looks like when it's done its job.



I use a few other tools to finish the work or prep the materials. Of note here is an old tooth brush, which comes in useful in all sorts of situations where small bits of sticky drafting tape are stuck to the wood bits, and I have no fingernails. On the left is a blank name tag with the drafting tape sealed across its surface.



Before I had to call it quits for the day, I ended up with 12 name tags finished. This is a long way from complete, but if I stay on task then they'll all be done prior to the event start this coming Sunday. I'm pleased with how these look, and I hope our guests consider them a notch above what we've done in recent years.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!