African hardwood bench that Garrett Wade sold in their catalog during the 80s/90s. Just moved into our first house and I was planning a bench build but stumbled on this on FB for $200. Couldn't go pick it up fast enough.
Had a friend run it through his wide belt sander to flatten it (was cupped pretty bad) and gave it a fresh coat of oil. Last pic is how it was looking when I picked it up. Absolutely love this bench!
Having my worst hitting season in a long time so started doing some tee work. Trying to focus on keeping the head down and catching the ball out in front, feels like I've been letting the ball get too deep lately and I'm at my best driving it to right center. Any advice welcome!
This falls way more in the realm of psychology than hitting mechanics but, since I imagine I'm not the only one, I'd love to hear how some of y'all have dealt with struggling with the mental aspect of hitting.
Background/context - Lefty pull hitter with warning track power, lots of line drives. .660 career average and typically one of the better hitters on our team.
So I had my worst hitting season in like 1.5 years last season, .606 with less XBHs than normal and honestly it really got to me. By the end of the season (we play 8 games) I just wasn't comfortable in the box - late on pitches, felt like I was getting jammed a lot and just a lot of weak contact to the opposite field. In the 3 years I've been playing I've really never thought much about hitting, just went up and smacked liners. Now I find myself stressing about my ABs, thinking about hitting too much off the field and generally worrying along the lines of "man I used to be a lot better."
I started doing tee work last week for the first time and have made a couple adjustments that I think will help - backing off the plate a bit to make sure I get fully extended and adding a more conscious leg kick to try and get my timing more consistent since it's felt off. Need to catch the ball out in front more.
Basically, how have y'all dealt with slumps/feeling like you're underperforming? I'm still having fun playing and our team has gone 15-3 so far this year but it's tiring being stressed out about this stuff all of a sudden.
Thanks in advance and hope yall's seasons are going well!
TLDR - lost confidence and feeling stressed after had a bad hitting season
Have a (possibly dumb) chisel sharpening question I’d love some help with. Long story short I’m finding that it takes way longer than it should to hone my chisel bevels. I get consistently good edges quickly with my western stuff but that system is pretty idiot proof (hollow grind plus micro bevel.) I gave up for a bit and just put micro bevels on my chisels because I was wasting a ton of time and I'd rather work than sharpen fruitlessly. I’m circling back to work on sharpening them properly now though and looking for advice to get on the right track.
I finally noticed that my 1000 stone (cheap diamond plate) was very out of flat so I figured that was the root of the issue - creating a non flat bevel would certainly make sharpening take a lot longer. Switched to a 1000 Shapton and honed the whole bevel to the edge (took a long time) thinking that’d get me close to flat anyway.
Starting in on the 4k stone and it seems quicker but still feels like it’s taking way too long. Attaching a photo for reference, can see the progress on the 4k stone vs 1k scratches. That’s after a good 2-3 minutes with the 4k. Took 10+ minutes to hone to the edge with the 1k. Bevel is flat to a straight edge but sharpie on the bevel obviously shows the bevel being abraded unevenly.
Would love to get some insight on why this might be happening and what I can do to try and correct things.
Thanks much in advance
Biggest hand tool project thus far and definitely pushed my skills (4 or so months into doing mostly handwork). First mortise and tenons, rabbets, and grooves. Definitely a few things I wish I did better but that's just part of it
Hoping someone who has one on their bench can help me out. First time with a tail/end vise, went with the inset because it's low profile and small enough for my quite small bench.
Installed it last weekend and just started using it - I'm noticing that when I use it to clamp a board against my planing stop it's lifting the board way up off the bench. Initially I thought it was because the front of the vise (i.e. the part closest to the planing stop) was sitting a little lower than the bench top but after shimming it up flush I still can't get a board to sit remotely flat. Attaching a couple photos.
Thanks!
Got a Moxon vise as a gift a while back (Rob Cosman version so it has the Wood River hardware) It's been awesome but ran into an issue the last couple days - the handles have started to just spin freely and not engage the threads so they won't open the vise.
I figured there would be a set screw or something that holds the wheels onto the screw that had come loose but there isn't one so I'm not really sure whats going on, I'm sure I'm missing something obvious just can't quite figure it. Anyone else run into this?
I'm having a mildly embarrassing issue with a Veritas custom 5 that I’d love to get some help with. Basically I’ve been struggling to get the iron to project enough to take a cut. This happened when I first set the plane up but after fussing with it for a while (I.e. taking the iron set on and off about 15 times) I got it set and used it to joint two boards for a project. Plane performed beautifully.
I had to touch the iron up to and after loading it back into the plane I’m running into the same issue. I know I’m missing something painfully obvious here but I’ve had no issues setting up my other two planes (vintage 4 and LV small smoother) and I’m driving myself a bit crazy.
Been on my list for a bit now but I didn't want to spend much on a vintage router and I hadn't talked myself into the medium Veritas quite yet. $40 lot from a nice local guy, some junky stuff too but the 271 and 60 1/2 will get some good use
Need to clear out some space so for sale are a couple of planes that I’m not currently using. Selling each for a bit less than I paid
Type 7 5 1/2 - This is a nice user plane, selling because the 5 1/2 size just isn’t for me. Includes a new Hock O1 iron (straight) and the original Stanley iron that has been cambered for rougher work. $140 + shipping via USPS
70mm Kanna - Purchased from Buyee Japan, listed by original seller as a Chiyozuru Sadahide iron. Tested it out for an afternoon when it first arrived and it cut quite well, then removed the iron from the dai to let it acclimate. Since acclimating to the drier US climate the dai has shrunk somewhat so will require more fitting. $125 + shipping via USPS
Feel free to ask if you have any questions!