Constructions

This is a small mill I built using GRBL on an Arduino, my old Foredom Flexible Shaft tool for the head

What to do with the material left over from the house project?

This is a Sukkoth I built recently for my Synagogue. My own design.

Here is a simple method I have used to space deck balusters quickly and evenly for decks with regular post spacing. It is based on an old hand drafting trick I learned in high school many years ago.

Draw a centerline down the length of a 1x2 about 6” longer than the space between 2 posts.. Starting from the left, stick a finish nail about 2” from one end. The next one 4 1/2” from the first, the 2nd and all the rest 6” along the line. Draw an X on the right side of each nail. You're done.

To use it fit the stick between 2 posts so that the first and last nail jam. The jig should fit at an angle. Clamp the low end. Place (cover the x's), plumb and fasten the balusters.. For turned balusters you can carry the nail mark up to the top rail with a level or square.

Folks are somtimes surprised when they see me with a toolbelt. Another cultural preudice. Where else have I seen a Jewish Carpenter? I've spent most of my adult life building things, or teaching other folks how to build things. At 59, I still spend a good deal of my time building things and fixing things.

I got my start as an estranged teen at Bronx High School of Science, which I was admitted to after failing the entrance exam because of the fact that I was living in a poor Bronx neighboorhood. My 2 favorite classes there were gym and shop, strangly called "Science Techniques Laboratory".

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge some of the folks I learned my trade from.

This was the first time I wired a whole house. And I do mean whole, from the electric pole to the outlets, phone, computer and cable.