Today was the first day I was able to get out in the shop and actually do much of anything and as it started to draw to an end for me and I ran out of steam I wanted to work on one last project for the day.
A while back when I was at one of the stores, might have been Home Depot I picked up this inexpensive little slide ruler with the intent of making this gauge, it just took me a few weeks to get a day off and the motivation to actually get out and do it.
Well long story short, thanks to a fellow named Rex Krueger who I’ve been following for a while now on YouTube and decided to take the plunge and sponsor on Patreon… I got the fire rekindled and got out in the shop and did stuff today !!!
So the ending project for today was a fancier version of the slide ruler with made from some scraps of walnut and poplar I had in the shop set off with a brass knob.
I had laminated the walnut and poplar together a while back when I made the mittenfinder and this was an off cut from that so I didn’t have to wait too long to get started.
Getting some pictures in my head I drew my lines out on the chunk of wood, cut them out on the bandsaw, sliced it in half on the bandsaw, routed out a tiny channel for the ruler, and then inset a brass nut on the inside of the top half of one of the halves.
I then glued both halves back together making sure to keep the channel clear of dust and glue then carefully drilled out the hole for the brass knob to go into so I could tighten it down onto the ruler to hold it in place on the ruler.
All said and done it turned out nicely and I will do a build video on this in the future to show in more detail how it was made but if you look at it I’m sure you can really figure it out on your own.
Once it was finished I gave it quick rub down with some wax and it turned out really nice and I’m honestly surprised it works and there’s no slop.
I have to say, if you ever doubt that you can make things like this, go over to YouTube and watch some videos on subjects that you like, for me right now I follow people like Rex. His videos put things into terms you can understand and follow, and if you’re anything like me, take a laptop or tablet to your workplace so you can follow along and pause the video and just go step by step. He’s got a build for a Low Roman work bench I want to make for outside on my slab that I will be doing in the near future so keep an eye out for that.
He says he did it for $30… I think I can do it a little bit cheaper and might even make a couple of “improvements?” to better suit my style of working. The reason this appeals to me is because for decades I used to love to just sit on the floor and work on whatever, sewing, leather, wood, etc.. Now that I’m almost 50, it honestly kills me to do that for more than a few minutes so the Low Roman work bench seems like a nice solution. We shall see 🙂
I would love to incorporate a Stitching Pony on one end, possibly even make it modular similar in style to a hardy hole on an anvil. From watching his video the Low Roman work bench already lends itself nicely to this style of adaptation.