When the Good Roads Aren't So Good

What do I do then?  Woodworking!  That's my winter pastime, and pass time it certainly does.  This is how the backyard looked out the window today.......no riding for sure.

So during the winter I have woodworking projects that keep me busy.  This winter I have been making a jewelry cabinet for Carolyn and after working on it for a couple of months I finally got it done.  This pic was of all the parts laid out for spraying finish.  I used 20 board feet of cherry plus a 4ft X 8ft sheet of half inch cherry plywood and had no scrap of any size left over.  The thing weighs a ton.

And here is the finished product:

I started with a plan I bought online, but added a lot of my own methods of joinery and detailing.  For example, instead of making simple false-front drawers like modern kitchen cabinets use, I like to use a locking side to front dado combination that makes a lighter-looking and stronger drawer:

The drawer front is a single piece of 3/4 cherry.  It takes a lot of machining to get the lock joint made and the rabbit for the drawer overlap with the face of the cabinet.  Then there is another dado cut for the drawer bottom to fit in. 

For the door frames I used a splined miter joint for looks and strength:

The trays in the bottom two drawer are also an idea of Carolyn's that I added, as well as the ring holders.  The maple inlay in the top was my idea. 

There are no nails or screws holding anything together except for the bottom stand which is bolted to the top part. 

There will be hooks for necklaces added to the velvet inside the doors as soon as Carolyn decides how many she needs and were to put them.  Then it's up to her to fill it up, which I think she will be able to do. 

Oh, and by the way, this was a Christmas present........just a little late.  

First Ride of 2012

New Year's day turned out to be dry and sunny and not very cold.  There were a lot of years where New Year's day was spent as a track worker at my old clubs Hangover Scrambles; a traditional race for motorcycles and quads that the club has been putting on for over a decade.  Usually it is a cold, rainy, muddy mess, and occasionally a snowy disaster.  I quit working on this event several years ago and don't miss it a bit, but today I thought I would take the KLX out for a ride over the mountains to the Washugal Motocross track where the event was being held this year.  It is slightly over 50 miles each way to the track and the way I went was about 30 miles of forest road. 

The club uses part of the motocross track, which is the venue for a National Championship race at the end of July each year.  But they add miles to the course by making single track trails in the surrounding property.  This year, due to some dry east winds, the track conditions were about perfect.

Here is a picture of the whoop section of the track.  The national pros skip across the tops of these whoops at wide open throttle. 



The surprise of the day was seeing my old dirt bike that I sold after I bought the KLX.  The guy who bought it was getting it for his 16 year old son, who had raced earlier in the day.  They are happy as clams with the bike, which made me feel good.  Here are some pics of it;  I don't think I ever got it this dirty while I owned it. 

On the way back home I passed Dugan Falls, which in the summer is a big party/swim hangout for Washugal citizens, but today the falls were roaring from winter rain/snow runoff. 

So it was a bonus day and a good start for the new year.