what holiday presents did you buy for yourself!!!

from the gift card from work.. (I did buy my wife some presents from it also)

King sized quilting frame and an extended arm professional Straight Stitch sewing machine. The machine did not come with an extension table so for the vast sum of 99p (+ P&P  ) I won a second hand table on Fleabay and had the joys of learning all about cutting out Acrylic in my Workshop  I also picked up a guitar foot switch and repurposed it as a cut off (cutting the stitching cotton off) switch for the sewing machine, saving another £95 

It was rather fun in the workshop 

Jo

Well I was not really thinking of them as Holiday gifts but these landed on the doormat yesterday. A pile of barstock to let them loose on came a couple of weeks ago.

My birthday and Christmas present which i made myself.

No picture since they are all tucked away in the drawer, but a batch of end mills and some drill bits!

Thinking of a set of dividing plates for my rotary table. I guess I better hurry up and decide.

A laser cutter/engraver. There is a learning curve, but I'm busy cranking out tree ornaments to gift to others.  Of course you can download things to cut and engrave, but I enjoy designing my own. I am really fond of the little sled.  --Tim

Yesterday I ordered a new, "experimental" ignition module kit from Allan Howell's (son of the late Jerry Howell) model-engine-ignition.com. The picture is from their website.

Wow!  Some really nice stuff you guys are getting!  You are all so thoughtful 

I have purchased myself a selection of new Grobet files with different cuts and sizes.  I got a few 0, 2, 4, and 6 swiss cut files in various sizes and shapes.

The wooden handles on them are cheap, generic ones, but they seem plenty good enough. It's the other end that I'm more worried about! 

Kim

I got a couple of cup grinding wheels for a tool grinder I'm dreaming up. I think I'll call it the Frank N. Stein grinder since it will have parts from just about everything. 

Unlike some people, I really like it when Santa leaves coal in my stocking. Nice for the forge. 

Kim fantastic Stack of Files!

I have to renew a few of my Dick files, i love them all !

Well I'll get in on the action.

I got an unexpected bonus from my new job - I jumped ship six months ago because the new management in my last company turned out to be as...... well we won't go into that. Anyway, new place seems well happy.

So I treated myself. First off, a Christmas Display Magnifique on the entrance to Shedland:




It's like the Aurora Borealis in its magnificence. Words cannot describe it.

That got me feeling so Christmassy that I decided to gift myself even more stuff - you know, keeping in with the season.

On my trip to Indiana I was very taken by the Galloway Hit and Miss Engines especially. I recently had notification from Mini Steam that castings were available again so I decided to avail myself of some. I negotiated some discounts via their ebay store so that worked well.

Galloway 1/3 scale:



I picked up two other sets as well. A Quincy and an Olds. These are mini steam pics:









I think I'll make that little yellow one first - I think I'm going to try building it in parallel with another engine - if I can ever get time in the shed. I recently took on a freelance project and it's absorbing all my time. My own damn fault. Maybe for Christmas I should ask for more hours in the day.

I also won a dust collector in an auction for the little bit of woodworking (i.e. bases) that I do. Side benefit is I'm building a bench seat for the domestic authority for Christmas so the dust collector will help with that.

Looking forward to having a try at an IC engine. Maybe.

Mostly I snagged those sets so they don't become unobtanium.

Propforward, great lighting on the shed! Also lots of future fun in those castings!

Well at least you didn't get another tape measure this year

I've assembled a bundle of materials - some for free, others purchased.  I'm going to make a "Hoglet" - it will be my first IC engine (unless you count a vacuum engine as internal - but the flame is outside on that, so I don't).

Wilf