Illinois Railway Museum Blog

Mortises

Simon Harrison has moved into the big time now, doing WOOD WORK in the WOOD SHOP.  Just kidding, many different projects are done in all the shop spaces.  Here, he was cleaning out 36 mortises for the Illinois Central 3996 windows.

New Wood

Buzz Morisette arrived in the shop carrying an armload of new hardwood.  He immediately set to work measuring and laying out the cuts for the work to be done.

Quarter Round

Before long the sounds of machines operating filled the air and Buzz was making quarter round for the new ATSF 1400 windows.  I should note that special moldings like these, even 'common quarter round' in hardwood, are not to be found for sale.  So, with a table mounted router and correct profile bit, teamed up with the table saw, Buzz shuttled back and forth between them and produced an armload of the needed pieces.

Machine Work

We really are lucky to have such a well equipped wood working shop and it has made possible work like never before in IRM history.  But realize that the machines cannot do everything.  Victor Humphreys hand sands a profile to remove small defects, allowing us to use the router to plow out unneeded wood accurately

A Chiseler

Another example of hand tool skills is the use of a SHARP chisel.  First you have to sharpen and hone the chisel, then it becomes much easier to pare small shavings in tight corners.  The PHANTOM managed to catch me in action, a rare event.