patches

This is standard operating procedure in NZ. NEVER buy anything unless it's on a sale, and even then, know what it's worth. Often last weeks "normal sale" had a better price than this weeks "MEGA MEGA ULTRA SALE!!" Websites like PriceSpy help somewhat with their price history graphs, but they're more geared towards consumer electronics than tools.

Speaking of toolboxes, I see that even a long long time ago, in a galaxy far away, Tanos/Festool Systainers were the Empire's toolbox of choice... The Mandalorian, Season 3 Episode 3.

It's been a while since I posted some "Good" from the beautiful scenery that makes up New Zealand, so here's a photo dump from a South Island road trip I took my Mom on, a couple of weeks back. We did Christchurch to Queenstown, with various stops along the way. Rakaia Gorge Lake Pukaki (looking towards Mt Cook) Mt Cook Station (A Cattle Farm we stayed at for a night) Clay Cliffs (near Omarama) Shotover Gorge (view from our Queenstown accommodation front porch) Lake Hayes (Arrowtown) The infamous Wanaka Tree Wanaka Lavender Farm View from the Arrowtown end of the Crown Range After this trip, I think I'm 70% of the way to convincing my wife into moving South.

Jealous! Done the Swiss & French Alps thing a couple of times was some of the best riding I've ever experienced. As I was flying with a downhill bike (ie. heavy) there were a few things I had to consider: Luggage policy of particular airlines - 1st trip was with Emirates and they allowed 30kg total. 2nd trip was with Qatar and they had a bike allowance on-top of luggage allowance, so I could take more than 2 pairs of undies 😅) 32kg luggage handling limit - Even if your total luggage allowance is 100kg, no one single item is supposed to exceed 32kg. It's some heath & safety thing for handlers or something) Bike bag vs Bike Box - With the above mentioned limits, a heavy bike (approx. 18kg), and tools etc, adding 8-9kg for a bike bag isn't really viable (even though I'd love me an Evoc one). So cardboard boxes and bubble wrap it was. Cheap (or free in some cases), light, and disposable. As others have mentioned, no particular rules around customs declarations, duties or bio-security (which is an issue here in NZ. Your bike has to be thoroughly cleaned otherwise it raises red flags). Also, worth considering what tools you may need as these are heavy and will have to be checked baggage. Finally, don't make the mistake I did and travel with a roll of packaging tape in your hand-luggage (I did this so I could make ad-hoc repairs to my bike box while in transit). It raised some suspicions with Dubai airport security and I nearly got escorted off for a more private , and gloved "interview" 😅 Oh! and +1 for Morgins

Many of you have probably seen this, but for those who haven't, it could be a revelation... CutList Optomizer (a free online tool that allows one to get the best layout of parts on sheet goods). Simply input sheet size, kerf/blade thickness, and the dimensions and quantity of parts required. It can even take things like edge banding and grain direction into account.

This weekend on Patches' Noise and Sawdust Creations... I made a plank of wood out of another plank of wood. Look at that oaky goodness 😍 You may see this and think "who the hell has money to make stuff out of solid oak?"... ...well not his guy! So this weekend I tried my hand at hardwood edge-banding some oak veneered ply. After getting a crisp rip cut on the 25mm thick ply and prepping the 30x10mm oak strips, It was time for the glue up. This can be done with the aid of brad/pin nails, clamps, or tape. ... I opted for all 3 😅 After the glue dried and any squeeze-out was scraped off, I flushed up the oak strips to the ply (as they protruded a couple of mm at top and bottom). With 3 boards to apply the edge banding to, I figured I'd flush these up with 3 different methods. Method 1 (the cautious approach) - put down a strip of painters tape on the ply and use a flush trim bit in the router. The painters tape means the oak strip will still sit ever-so-slightly proud of the ply after routing. This can then be sanded flush. Method 2 (the "aah, eff it!" approach) - just flush trim with the ply as reference, leaving no room for error. Method 3 (the "I'm a real woodworker" approach) - flush it up using a block plane. This was the most time consuming, but also the most satisfying and therapeutic. There's something cathartic about making spirally plane shavings. The added benefits of this are that you can do it at night without annoying the neighbours, and cleaning up shavings is easier than trying to contain router dust. After flushing up, I filled any brad nail holes, sanded, added a very slight round-over (2mm), and prepped for the next phase... joinery (still to come)! Overall though, it came out pretty decent and was not that difficult. Would have been easier if I had more clamps though (the woodworkers unquenchable thirst)

So I tried out the Festool vac last night and it's significantly more powerful than the Makita. Tried it out on the mitre saw and there was a notable difference in the amount of dust left behind after some 2x4 cuts. I'll likely keep the Makita for a while as it's cordless, has AWS (bluetooth tool activated start), although only 2 of my tools have this capability. Also the vac bags are a fraction of the price of the Festool ones. But this Festool can suck the chrome off a tow-hitch, so if I find I don't neeeed the cordless capability, and if I spring for the Makita AWS receiver (which will enable the Festool vac to be activated by Makita AWS tools), then I may flog it.

Not the most exciting tool addition to the collection, but decided the little Makita battery powered vac needed some support from a Festool corded vac, to tackle the more dust intensive tools. Let's see if these live up to all the rage (much like how my wife insisted we needed a Dyson Stick Vac 😅 )

On the list at the moment... The Last of Us (Season 1) for my action/thriller/sci-fi Unforgotten (Season 5) for my British Crime Drama Carnival Row (Season 2) for my fantasy/adventure South Park (Season 26) for keeping me up to date with current events... that episode about Harry & Meghan 🤣 Gary and His Demons (Season 2) for my dark comedy (similar humour to Archer and the like) Border Security (whatever season is showing on TV at the moment). for my filler. It's always entertaining watching Aussie Border Force officers reprimanding and fining people for trying to sneak in weird food stuff in. Quite the list, but we just work away at 1 - 2 episodes an evening of whatever show we feel like, and the short animateds (South Park and Gary and Hi Demons) are for my bus commutes to work. Also, we decided to cull most our streaming services (had Plex, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, and Apple TV). Now only left with Amazon and Plex.

A pretty rare Makita air tool that can be used to increase productivity in the workplace... Apparently it does 130dB (about as loud as a jet taking off)

Recent weather events have dominated the news and highlighted how many Kiwis are doing it tough out there. Just the other day I was on TradeMe, and was again reminded of how much some people have lost... (Flood damaged write-offs on $1 auction... ouch 😐)

This weekend it was high time I checked something off my to-do list. When we renovated the kitchen and laundry, I removed a wall which left some unsightly gaps in the 70yr old, native hardwood flooring. Various excises like "I can't find the right lumber" or "the timber yards are only open on weekdays while I'm at work" had me procrastinating this for nearly 3 years. So after taking a day off work to visit some timber yards (and hardware stores), watching a Scott Brown video or 2, I procured about 5m of Rimu tongue & groove floorboard and got stuck in. First was removing the damaged boards as carefully as possible so as not to damage the adjacent boards Being able to plunge (with either the track saw or oscillating multi-tool was instrumental to this. Next was to re-mill the new boards so that the groove aligned with the existing tongues. Thank you slot cutting router bit which scared the crap outta me! I was checking the arbour nut every pass to ensure I wasn't creating a spinning ninja-star of death. Turned out ok though! Then, as the filler/last piece of floorboard had to be custom sized and needed the tongue removed (to allow installation), I added some 2x4" supporting pieces to reduce flex. Once I ripped the filler piece down to width, I added the grove with the table saw (felt safer than the router), and chamfered the tongue side bottom edge to allow the strip to be taped into place. Pre-dripped the nails holes to prevent splitting, hand nailed the boards down, wood filled, sanded to 240 grit and a few coats of poly urethane... done! Not a perfect match for the existing boards, but same species and better than the gaping holes.

Interesting, but I guess not overly surprising if I think about it. I imagine that the 401's 372cc engine is loosely based on the FE350 enduro bike's one, but with a few extra cc's, 1 less cam, and not-so highly strung. Whilst my 350 was great, there was a massive noticeable difference i grunt (especially off the line) between that and my 450. Maybe you need the 701 bigger brother 😉

Don't Toyota Hiace and Quantum taxis Auto Emergency Braking as standard? Or was that Random Emergency Braking 🤔😅 Jokes aside, I have a love-hate relationship with all the safe driving smarts. My wife's Volvo XC40 has the Intellisafe system and when driving on narrow suburban roads with plenty of cars parked either side and at low speeds (40kph or less), sometimes the car thinks you're heading for a parked vehicle and deploys its safety smarts by suddenly braking, beeping, and vibrating the steering wheel all at once. Gave me a proper fright first time it happened. For the most part I've learned to predict when the car may think it needs to intervene (when it really doesn't) and a quick dab of the brakes is enough to calm it down before it freaks out at you. And I've thought about turning it off, but I figured it may save my life that one time I need it, so I leave it.

Why don't you like Melbourne? Is it the excess of man-buns or the fact that people in the CBD dress like they're going to a GQ or Vogue cover shoot? hahaha 😉 Just kidding, but I never felt "cool enough" to walk around the street in Melbourne 😅 As for the load shedding, unlucky on that one, but like you say, puts load shedding in perspective. My Mom arrived from JHB last Friday, and I thin the fact that there's no load-shedding has been the biggest 1st world experience for her so far (granted with this weather we haven't done more than the Matakana Markets and a walk down to Milford beach). She keeps stressing when I leave lights on and I have to remind her that they're LED's and there's no load shedding, so no need to live by candle light 😅

uhummm, excuse me... on some highways it's now as high as 110kph 😅 The flashy car upswing in NZ (particularly Auckland) is a fairly recent thing. I'd say over the last 6 years, with a significant boost over the Covid period. This massive increase in high-end luxury and sports vehicles on Auckland roads (not to mention Tesla Model 3's... damn things are everywhere) is a combination of not being able to spend on travel, and the runaway house prices we saw last year (where many made small fortunes), so it left the wealthy with even more money to burn. Plenty more G63 AMG's, Range Rovers, Audi RS ETrons and even a handfull of McLarens on the roads these days. Just the other day I saw a young mother (she couldn't have been much over 30), in a blacked out Porsche Taycan Cross Tourismo (similar to the one below). But yeah, like Jewbacca said, Kiwis for the most part stick to the speed limit, whether they're in a skadonk or a supercar. Rules is rules and most don't buy these hot wheels to go fast or for the "driving experience", (yes, I'm slightly judging all the soccer-mom's in their RS6's), but more as a weird sort of status symbol, mostly to themselves, to say, "you make good money, why shouldn't you have nice things". They'll buy an RS6 because it's the top model on offer, not because it has 2 glue factories worth of horses under the hood, or handles like a racecar, but simply because it's the best in the catalogue. Funny thing is though, they seem to do it more to prove to themselves and maybe some close peers. And you can bet they won't be driving a car worth more than their house (something Saffers are often guilty of). If a Kiwis is driving a fancy car, you can almost bet their house is worth 10-20x that, which is also why there's way less judgement when one drives a beater. Plenty of those in suburbs where the median house price is around R35M equiv. I've only had 1 speeding ticket in my 7 years here, and it was in the first year. Since then it's been the damn tricky bus lanes that have been the bane of my existence 🤬

When we were at the Volvo dealership for my wife to spec and order her XC40, I did try pretty hard to convince her to go for one of the 2 V70 Cross Countries they had on the showroom floor (sadly we don't get the V90 here). I'm a big fan of the Scandinavian station wagons. (Realistically I'd be over the moon with a V70 or V90 and don't need an RS6 for my soccer-dad-dream-car 😉). I also read an article a few weeks back that stated that the V90 was the ultimate luxury station wagon. It took the design, performance, space, features, and luxury of the car all into account and said that overall it far outclassed the German rivals in its price range (many even above).

An RS6 wagon is my soccer-dad dream car. Sadly I think it'll never be as those suckers are about R2.5m equivalent here. Was chatting to a friend-of-a-friend a little while back. He works for Audi NZ, and said that NZ sold more S and RS models per capita than anywhere else in the world, and that 25% of all new Audi's sold are S or RS models. the German HQ couldn't understand it. Kiwis are a strange bunch. They're either driving around in a rusty old '92 Toyota Camry without a care or they're dropping the big bucks in RS wagons with the same nonchalant demeanor.

Also... SA seems to have an obsession with sedans and SUV's. When I first moved to NZ I was surprised that sedans were in a minority and many kiwis opted for a station wagon version of most cars (especially Audi RS4 and RS6's... Auckland is teaming with those) So I jumped on the wagon (pun intended) and found myself a cheap, 2nd hand (Japanese import) 2007 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro. I chucked a roof rack on top and it was great! Space-wise, he bike could fit in the back with seats folded down and without having to remove wheels. I don't know if I'd recommend this exact car for students as it was pretty thirsty, and could cost a fortune to fix if anything goes wrong. But yeah.. STATION WAGONS! Worth keeping an eye out!

For about 3 years I had a 2006 Opel Corsa Sedan, which I often had 2 of my bikes in at a time. Big towel on the back seat, with 2 bikes (wheels off), facing in opposite directions. One down near the footwell and the other on the seat. Wheels and riding gear in the boot, also with various layers of towels to protect everything. Kinda ghetto but for 2 bikes and no bike rack, I found it easier than folding seats down. That little Corsa served me well for that time, so yeah +1for small cars.

What other guys? Those bikes were all for me! but yeah, it's not a people mover, a Caddy Maxi is better for that (but was out of my budget back then). The little Berlingo did work well for JHB - KZN downhill & enduro weekend events. A buddy and myself would each pack our 2 bikes and head on down after work on a Friday. My current setup has space for more friends but fewer bikes.

Back in SA I had a little Citroen Berlingo panel van as my bike car... ok, who am I kidding, it was my only car at the time. It was pretty basic, but fuel efficient, comfy enough, and loads of space for bikes. I could fit 3 bikes comfortably 4 bikes with a bit of jigging. I used the Saris tracks with through axle adaptors. I think I paid R160k for it, brand new with maintenance plan. That was back in 2013, but if you can get a low mileage Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner or Renault Kangoo you may find something within budget, and way cheaper than the German equivalent (thanks to French car stigma and all that) It was a great little car back then, when I had half-a-dozen bikes (yes, mostly Morewoods 😅) and was out on the trails 3+ times a week. Now I have just 2 bikes, no car, and ride maybe 3 times a year 😅

A while ago I had an idea to make some custom cupboard doors for an entertainment cabinet. The concept was to CNC the topography of a section of the NZ Southern Alps into plywood. It was a little bit of a work around to export topographic data, translate it onto AutoCAD, then decimate and factor down the almost infinite number of varying elevations into a few dozen at heights that fit within a 25mm thick piece of ply (and also making it quicker and easier for the CNC router). This is what the overall design looked like after I was done This being a section of that (1 of the 3 doors) in a style and format that the CNC operators could easily use. However, after all my efforts, when I sent it for pricing, I got a shock. I recall it was about R12,000 equiv. for all 3 doors (totalling 2200mm x 780mm, excluding the supply of the plywood. That's a lot of money for some cupboard doors. Anyway, just an idea of some cool things you can do/offer with the CNC, especially when yo don't have to pay the crazy hire-prices.

And hey, if they don't do well academically, they can always go into the trades... where the real money is 😅

Fully acknowledging (especially to my wife) that not all my ideas are good ideas... I decided it was time to get rid of my wood cart as it's rather space-hungry. So with the price and availability of construction lumber, I decided to transform it from this: Into these: BTW, reversing a parallel clamp makes for a great way to support and level out a floating structure while building With the shelf items stashed overhead, I can put the woodpile on the racking.