We received our building permit and things finally seem to be moving on the building front. Concrete contractor is getting the utilities marked out and I'll bet they break ground next week.
Our existing building was broken into again today and a few small items not nailed down were taken. One of the benefits of the new location will be that we can finally secure the entire property in a way that makes theft very very difficult. The truckers we now share a lot with never even close the gate much less lock it. Fortunately thieves do not care about wood and cannot move the bandsaw.
You've seen our bandsaw haven't you? This early picture shows it before the upper wheel was installed. It is a heavily modified 38" Clement saw probably from ~1890s:
The band we use is a 2" carbide tooth that cost more than the saw. When finally tuned (we have had issues with the upper wheel) we will use it to trim boards and make more turning blanks and crotch pieces.
The upper wheel was originally made of laminated oak on cast spokes. I am not sure why and the helpful folks on owwm.org were unable to reach a consensus as to why some wheels were made this way. I cleverly made a new wheel using honey locust segments - not laminations - that ended up too big in diameter by about 3/8". This kept the band from fitting the guide you see hanging in the picture above and using the saw seemed more dangerous as a result. So we have torn off the new tire and I reduced the diameter with a belt sander. That honey locust is one tough wood!
Joe dislikes extra projects like this so when we decided to get a radial arm saw for crosscutting, he made sure it was ready to go right away. I see his point.
