Let's see how you burn the midnight oil.......

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
7,680
The knife shop is usually full of all sorts of banging, clanging, pounding, and grinding noises......but sometimes even after the house is settled in for the night and the little ones are in bed and the wife has fallen asleep I'm still not quite done trying to be productive and so I sneak out to the shop to squeeze in a bit more work.

The problem is that I can't do all of that crazy loud stuff when everyone is asleep, so I try to busy myself getting caught up on the more quiet tasks. Tonight I made some good progress without bringing down the house:D How do you guys burn the midnight oil when you can't run your shop in all of it's noisy glory!?

Drilling out some handle tangs.....my Delta is practically silent compared to my old floor model dinosaur!

12-19-2001Burningmidnightoil002.jpg


Gluing up some handle materials and such......stirring epoxy is very quiet, and even a bit soothing:p

12-19-2001Burningmidnightoil004.jpg


Traced out a bunch of designs onto some blanks I had already cut to length a while back

12-19-2001Burningmidnightoil006.jpg


And I even got one packaged up for shipping first thing tomorrow morn.....should make it the whole forty miles by Christmas:thumbup:

12-19-2001Burningmidnightoil005.jpg
 
Last edited:
For me late night isn't the issue... early morning is. I wake up 3 - 4 hours before my wife, and I'm definitely a morning person. If I can actually spend this time working on a knife, it's hand sanding I'll be doing. If I'm not to the point of hand-sanding, I could conceivably do some filing too, especially if it's the small detail filing.
 
Late nights are usually the only time I get to work on my knives, so I usually get up to similar stuff than what you do. I can make a little bit more noise though (run the grinder, drill press and maybe the band saw). Last night I got the new motor for my GIB (finally, can't wait to get off of the 2 x 42!!!!), so that took me most of the night to get set up. Then I made a Wheeler-esque file guide (which involved some welding) for blade shoulders, and drilled out some holes in the tang for a new order.
 
I made a run to the post office about 9pm to mail 2 knives. I was trying to beat the Christmas rush...there were still people in line. :rolleyes:
 
Detached shop man! I close the doors to keep the bugs out though:) make all the noise I want. I usually only run the mill and do busy work at night. I don't have much light at the doors where I grind. Gotta keep the dust off of the mill!!!
 
Nice response guys! Glad to see I'm not the only one still running around playing with steel in wee hours:D

Jake, you silly guys and your detached shops:p Someday.......:thumbup:

kungfumo said:
Detached shop man! I close the doors to keep the bugs out though:) make all the noise I want. I usually only run the mill and do busy work at night. I don't have much light at the doors where I grind. Gotta keep the dust off of the mill!!!
Click to expand...
 
jonnymac44 said:
And I even got one packaged up for shipping first thing tomorrow morn.....should make it the whole forty miles by Christmas:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Actually it is 46 miles, but you shouldn't have. :D

I do hand sanding and such. Sharpening on water stones is quiet, but at that time of night too cold, anywhere I'd use them at.
 
I'll do some sanding or gluing but anything noisy at all is out, my shop is in the garage which is right under her bedroom window. It sucks, cause I am a night person by nature. I have to force myself to get up early enough to interact normally with the rest of the population when I'm not on a set schedule.
 
I live in suburbia:barf:, so the work I can do in my shop after hours is very limited. We can hear conversations from the next house because they are so close together. But I can trace designs on steel, work on leather sheaths, rivet my kydex sheaths(albiet have to be very quiet still), or I do final sharp/hone/polish on finished blades. My favorite sometimes, is to pour 3 fingers of the best scotch I have on hand at the time, sit down in the office, turn of all lights except my desk lamp, and sketch out new designs or upgrade old ones in my sketch book. In total silence, save the pencil on paper.
 
Don't feel too bad brother, I gotta share the shop with my father inlaw, and all of our house crap that can't be outside while
I build our house:)

I try to keep clean, but rebuilding 3" hydro cylinders off the backhoe eats up space in a 20x20 shop:)

I'm blessed so you won't here me complain one bit!

jonnymac44 said:
Nice response guys! Glad to see I'm not the only one still running around playing with steel in wee hours:D

Jake, you silly guys and your detached shops:p Someday.......:thumbup:
Click to expand...
 
IMAG0321.jpg[table="width: 500"]
[tr]
[td][/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Been building a new beltsander at night when I don't have any honey do things:) solid alum!!! Gonna murder it out with flat black and stainless bolts:) 5 hp baby
 
Lucky for me I have a detached shop about 150' from the house. I don't have anything in there I can't run that will bother anyone at night. I think the loudest thing I run is my stereo. I'm sure this maychange once I get the forge up and running.
 
This thread seems to intimate that it's actually possible to work on things when it's NOT burning the midnight oil. :eek: :confused: :confused: :eek:

:D
 
When the time comes for me to work quietly I usually sand, but for the last week I have been making a small walnut box for a razor. I just need to pick up the hinges and latch to finish it up. I enjoyed making it so I might start making bigger display boxes for my knives, but instead of starting with a solid block and cutting it into strips I think I might buy wood in the proper thickness:o
 
I refuse to post any pictures as no one want to see me asleep in the recliner drooling on myself:D
But when I do work late my shop is detached so I can make all the noise I want.

Stan
 
My turkey hunting neighbors tell me they can "feel" the air hammer, when they are out hunting their favorite game, so I don't forge during turkey season; to keep from upsetting their turkeys.
Thats the only noise restriction out this way. :)
 
Not a late night person here, but I will get up at 3 in the morning to get a little extra time in the workshop before work. Not all the time but when I am trying to get things done like less than a week before Christmas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top