One better and a pizza peel!
November 13, 2011
Seems that as soon as I have a project done, I start to think of ways to improve it. It's counter productive: what I should be concentrating on is new work, forging ahead with a new project, but instead find that I'm spending time redesigning projects that I've already finished. Apparently this is my nature, as I can't quite stop myself from doing it. Is it totally bad? Not entirely - I rather enjoy it and the process can be more fulfilling than a new build.
It's not that I don't have new ideas - I do, plenty.
Developing new ideas is fun as well, but I know it's just the first stage, the prototype before I'll want to pick it apart for the 'optimization' pass. A good example is my new box joint jig - just finished and already I've made changes to the design (details on this coming soon).
Of course, this doesn't only go for my own work, I do it to others also. It has been a source of friction on more than one occasion.
So, the latest reimagining (victim?) is my router table. It is (covered on this site) just two years old and works absolutely splendidly, no reason whatsoever to change anything. I spent many hours on the design and many, many more on the build, using good quality materials, but...
My desire to improve has been at bay up until recently, at least where the router table is involved. Having used it extensively lately, a few possibilities for 'refinement' occurred to me and the next thing I know, I'm drawing something in SketchUp - oh, no! No firm details to share yet, just to say that this new one will be leaner but just as capable.
In other news...
I love pizza and mostly make my own. I use a steel pizza pan but I've been wanting to try a stone, so to that end, I made a pizza peel:
It's made from clear spruce - regular framing lumber that was sitting around that was very well seasoned. It's fairly large - about 18" square and has a nice long handle for levering out those oversized pies. It involved a lot(!) of sanding but didn't take long - two hours over two days, I had to wait overnight for the glue to dry. It started out 1/2" thick but tapers toward the front to a sharp edge. Handling it, it seems flimsy but I know it is stronger than it appears, and lightweight - (trivia time) spruce has the highest weight to strength ratio of any wood species in the world. Anyway, if it ever cracks, I'll glue it back together.
I made a video of the fun:
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I'm undecided about finishing. The plan was to leave it raw, with no finish whatsoever but this could be a problem if the pizza is assembled on it - it may absorb moisture from the crust. It would be nice to know how much, as in is it a concern? Perhaps a single coat of wipe on polyurethane would be all the protection it needs.
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