Noah B Woodworks

A woodworking page for the free time foot soldier

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about

Hello there! My name is Noah Budd and I am a woodworker from southeast Michigan. I hail from a small set of towns in the Upper Peninsula called Houghton/Hancock. I lived there for 24 of my 31 years, and graduated from Michigan Tech in 2019 in audio production.

In my free time I am a dad first and hobbyist second. I make music, read books, smoke pipes, and kayak fish. I am a broadcast engineer in my professional life, working an early morning 3:30 – 11:30 am shift. The early bird has most definitely gotten a worm or two.

Thanks for stopping by my site and feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @noahbwoodworks or via the email found on the contact page

-Noah

    • Ice Rod Case is Almost Done

      We had a pretty awesome weekend. On Friday the family came out ice fishing and my wife caught a decent sized bluegill which was very exciting. My daughter almost had a fish but she didn’t know what to do when it came to reeling so we lost it. It’s okay though she had a ton of fun being in the shanty and watching her mom pull a fish in.

      I ended up pouring a ton of epoxy into the ice rod case. This morning I was looking at it and it needs another insert in the middle to support the rods from dangling down. I’ll be trying to figure out what to do there during this week. It’s pretty much ready for use as is though ,so I may hold off. The only purpose for the case is so that the rods don’t get crushed when being transported in the car. If it can do that, then it is doing it’s job. When I get to the ice, my sled has rod holders that I’ll transfer the rods into, so it’s not a huge deal if this rod case isn’t perfect. I’d still like it to be nice though incase I go north with the boys at some point.

      The epoxy is just to sort of waterproof the joints. I’ll add either an oil finish or a spray shellac to add more water resistance, but it should be really sturdy now from the epoxy so if there’s any movement it will be met with some resistance. The next steps are to epoxy the inside of the lid, figure out the middle insert, add leather straps to the outside and inside, and add a water resistant finish to the sides.

    • Yay for the Weekend

      I came into work this morning and immediately started tying flies. I completely spaced writing this blog post until I was around 2 hours in. I’m having a great time tying nymphs and random little flies to try out on the ice this weekend. It’s been a ton of good fun. I’m a little hungover, work this week has gotten the best of me and I had 2 big slugs of whiskey last night before bed. Hoping to stay away from the sauce tonight so I can feel great when I take the family out on the ice Friday.

      After work yesterday I put in a couple hours on the ice rod case. I cut the box apart and installed the hardware. I gave it a really rough sanding and then used a min wax oil stain I believe it is called spiced walnut. It’s the darkest stain I have. After work today I’ll clean up the box by wiping off any excess stain and then begin the epoxying process. I’m guessing I’ll be able to pour epoxy into the basins of the box to get a really thin layer into every crevasse. The outer sides might take a little longer to do. My guess is I’ll do the inside first, because it will pool up nicely and then tackle the outer top and bottom. I’ll do the sides last as it’ll most likely take the most amount of time.

    • Ice Rod Case is Coming Together

      Yesterday, while my toddler was at daycare I was able to get some woodworking done. I dimensioned the cherry lumber for the ice rod case, completed the joinery and glued it up. It was fairly straightforward, and I’m definitely getting faster with these boxes. I opted for mitered corners, which made getting the dimensions of the lumber a little easier. I’m debating whether I’d like to do splines, but I have a feeling it’ll be sturdy enough without them. I’m planning to cover the whole thing in a layer of epoxy that will weather and waterproof the case while adding reinforcement to the joinery.

      My mitering jig is a little wonky. For some reason it wont cut straight, so I’ve got to figure out whether it’s the poor trueing of my dimensioned lumber, or the table saw jig itself. As I push the lumber through the jig, you can see that it isn’t cutting the miter evenly. It’s a couple of degrees off as the saw works its way through and when I hold a square to it, you can see the angle that the saw leaves. It was good enough for this project, but unacceptable for higher end boxes I’d hope to sell.

      I’m getting better with the router table. I used a quarter inch spiral bit to cut the dados and rabbets for the internal joinery on the top and bottom. I have confidence that this box will be very sturdy thanks to this joinery. Having the fence to run these pieces again made it very fast and easy once the quarter inch router bit was installed. The wall thickness of the box is half inch, so I raised the quarter inch bit a quarter inch and zipped all of the edges for the top and bottom to make rabbets. Then I zipped the top and bottom of the sides slightly further down on the edge to create the dados. For the rabbets, I raised the bit up about a sixteenth of an inch and this really helped with the final fit up, as the rabbeted tongue was ever so slightly smaller in thickness than the dado.

      I was able to glue everything inside, which I’m sure is driving my wife insane having these projects in the house. It’s starting to warm up but we’re still pretty far away from glue-able temperatures out in the barn. Here’s a picture of the glue up.

      Next steps are to sand a little, cut the lid off, apply stain, then apply epoxy, then install the hardware, and finally 3D print the pieces that will hold the rods in place inside of the case. I’m hoping to have all of this done by the end of the weekend, but we will see. It is my 2 year wedding anniversary this weekend so I’ve taken Sunday off work which will be absolutely fantastic.

    • Ice Jig Fly Tying

      Yesterday I got a wild hair and investigated the tying of flies for fishing. This is a lure crafting method that uses a vise, a hook, some thread and other materials to tie lures that look like flies and other small insects that hopefully will attract a fish. I never thought I’d be interested in doing something like this, because I’m not a fly fisherman, but I noticed when looking at some of my ice jigs that they looked hand-tied. Some of the more grub like jigs had a hand tied sort of look to them, and that got me thinking that when I don’t feel like making music or woodworking, I can tie some jigs on the couch.

      I’m attempting to do this while spending zero money. I’m looking to use some of my wife’s thread, and I 3D printed a bobbin holder. I can whip finish with my hands instead of getting a whip finishing tool, and I plan to use my needle nose vice grips to hold the hook instead of a dedicated fly tying vise. I cut up some old toddler clothes that were destined for Goodwill for my tying fabric. At this early stage, I’m just trying to see what I can make with what I have at my house. Anything that looks like a bug is welcome. I’ll probably end up making a trip to Michaels for some crafting supplies sometime soon but I just wanted to see how far I could make it without doing that.

      I’ve attached some photos of the jigs I’ll be trying to recreate and the 3D printed bobbin holder.

    • New Ice Rod Holder Design

      Yesterday was Sunday, and sometimes on Sundays after I am done working I will go out into the shop to do a little more woodwork. It’s usually a time I can finalize the projects that I’ve been working on over the weekend that isn’t usually too intrusive to family life. I decided to take it relatively easy and did a little 3D printing and fixed my Genz pack Garmin Striker 4 fish finder.

      The ice fishing shanty is missing a few quality of life items: Flooring, and rod holders being the two big ones at the moment. I decided to model a first draft of an ice rod holder and print it yesterday. I went with a hexagonal base design and used my rods to get the dimensions for the holder. The first revision I modeled and printed did not have enough height for the reel to hang freely. It would have worked but I heightened the holder by 30 mm and printed a second time. Now the reel will hang freely, and it’s not too tall so the center of gravity is still in a good, non tippable position. Here’s a picture of v2:

      I used my signature icy teal-blue for this, but I can print in any color. I sent this picture to my brother and if he wants one I’ll print it in a different color. I’d like to figure out how to change filament better on my 3D printer. Right now I have to feed a piece of dummy filament in the opposite direction the filament is supposed to go. I then feed the actual printer filament into the machine, then I have to push against the dummy filament to get through the little filament sensor, who’s gates are always shut. Feeding the dummy filament through the other end opens the gates for the actual filament to pass through. Quite annoying and tedious to load new filament now, but I love the upgrade that I did. A small trade off for a better machine.

    • Still Sick

      This morning I got a very slow start. I took some Nyquil last night, so it was difficult to wake up. My mind feels foggy and I’ve been groggy for the first hour or two getting back into work for the week. That being said, I had a fantastic weekend. I took it easy on Friday and did a little woodworking in the morning. I went ice fishing on Saturday with my brother and a friend. This cold doesn’t take you out completely but it lingers and overstays its welcome. It’s a slow burn type of cold, where I’ve been sniffly and my throat is sore. Thankfully, I haven’t missed work or any weekend activities.

      I’m currently working on a case for my ice fishing gear. I’m looking to make it fairly large. The internal dimensions are 33 inches long by 7 inches high by 8.25 inches wide. I still need to work out the joinery, because all I did last weekend in the shop was create the blank cherry panels that this large box will be made from. The 8.25 inch wide dimension is intentional, because that’s roughly the maximum bed size of my 3D printer. I should be able to print some neat rod holders for the inside of the case.

      The four planks that I created came from two 5-quarter chunks of cherry that I had picked up a while ago. I ran them through the table saw on their side, then ended up ripping the 9 inch wide chunks of cherry down the middle, so that I could make the separating cut on the band saw easier. I then re glued the roughly half inch thick by 4.5 inch wide planks back together along the seam I had cut earlier to create the pieces for the case. I need to work out the rabbeted joinery to achieve the internal dimensions mentioned above, but it should be fairly smooth sailing once that has been figured out.

    • Ice Rod Case Planning

      My beautiful, sweet, adorable toddler has given me her head cold so todays post might be a little shorter than normal. It might be a good weekend to try and knock out the ice fishing rod case. I haven’t come across any videos of anyone trying this so I’m interested to see what I come across when researching ideas. I most likely wont be going ice fishing this weekend because I don’t want to make my cough worse than it already is. It all depends how I’m feeling on Saturday but this cold seems like its going to be a slow burn. Not particularly intense, just annoying and not showing any signs of going anywhere.

      I’m able to be just productive enough to maybe work out in the shop or at least get a plan put together for how I’m going to build this ice rod case. I need to determine how much wood will be necessary, it would be great if I could make these from solid chunks of wood, instead of having to glue the panels together from smaller pieces. Although it might make the resawing of the timber easier if I cut them int o smaller width strips. I’m assuming I’ll be needing to resaw my 5-quarter pieces of cherry into 1/2 inch thick strips in order to not waste an absolute ton of wood.

      I could just spend like $80 and have this problem be solved by purchasing a rod case, but something about building a custom one sounds intriguing. We’ll see how far I get this weekend, and luckily the ice isn’t going anywhere for a while. I’m planning to cover whatever case that I conjure up in epoxy so it’ll be relatively water proof.

    • Scheming on Camping

      The next step in the ice fishing journey is to ice camp for the walleye night bite. Ice camping sounds like such a good time, but I’m unsure it’ll happen this season. We can always shoot for next year. I need a couple semi-expensive pieces of gear. I need a cot, and I’m debating getting a bunk bed style cot which is slightly more expensive. I need a small table for cooking, and then we’ll be set. While we’re at it I might as well upgrade the sonar too but that’s just wishful thinking. A cot is really the big obstacle. I’m wondering if I could make one out of canvas and dowels?

      I’ve got a shanty, rods, chair, and stove. Some extra good things to get would be a nicer sleeping bag, camp pillow, and maybe another sled to transport some of the gear. This has me thinking about camping and fishing somewhere up north this summer. Head up a couple hours with all of the camping stuff and my family. Sounds like a fantastic way to spend a weekend. I just looked at Michigan’s DNR website and it looks like some of these camp sites are on a first come first serve basis which is unfortunate. I’d prefer being able to reserve a site if I’m going to drive a couple hours north, but they’re cheap and fairly close together so it should work out. Might be a harder sell for my wife but that’s okay.

      We’ve been trying to get out camping for the last few years, and now our toddler is old enough to participate. The last time we went camping our little one was still baking inside my wife. I have fond memories of camping with my wife so this summer it’ll be a big priority for us to get out. We’re just not sure where to go as we’ve got to drive fairly far north to get to decent, unoccupied camp sites.

    • Ice Rod Case

      It’s one of those midweek days where I’m not really sure what to write about. I’ve been absolutely obsessed with ice fishing this season, and it’s my first season on the ice. I’ve purchased a ton of gear, which has been really fun to investigate, and I’ve been using it well. To be honest, it’s been a really fantastic way to enjoy the cold weather, which tends to be difficult to handle when it’s your 31st wintry season in a row.

      I was toying with the idea of maybe building a small wooden case for my ice rods. Its the only piece of gear that is missing from my setup, and since my rods are somewhat high quality I’d like for them to be protected while being transported in the car. I’m toying with the idea of making the rod case fairly high quality too, giving special attention to waterproofing and embellishments. I can 3D print the internal rod holders to have either sliding latches or places for elastic like rubber bands or Velcro fastening straps. I’d like for it to hold 3-5 rods, incase I’d like to expand in the future. At the moment I have 3 of them: two jigging and one for the jaw jacker.

      I’m brainstorming right now, so you’ll have to forgive the unorganized stream of new ideas for this small project, but it would also be really great if it also had storage for a tackle box. I’ll need to make sure that the joinery is really sound, and that the latches and handle also feel fairly high quality. I’ll most likely paint the inside and outside with an epoxy resin to really weatherproof it. I’d like to build it out of either cherry or maple wood as I’ve already got some to spare, but I’m unsure how much of each that I’ve got. I may need to resaw the cherry wood that I’ve got to get enough material for this build.

      First thing’s first, I need to make some measurements. I’ll most likely be trying to keep the case as small as possible for now because it’ll fit into my rig better that way. I’ve got a smallish commuter car that I’ve been packing all of my stuff into and I’m very close to being at capacity. It would also be cool if the handle holder in the rod case articulated upwards so you could slot the handle in, and lower the rod into place. On top of everything else, it would be nice to have a fishing line spool holder inside. Many of these little mechanisms I can 3D print, which will make the build a little easier, as the material is sturdy enough to do what I’m asking of it.

    • Musical Tidings

      No new changes to report on since yesterday. Our daughter is sick so I put her down for a nap after work yesterday. Full disclosure, I was looking to make some music and/or sounds yesterday afternoon but ended up playing Terraria instead. Some new filament came in the mail yesterday for the 3D printer so I’ll finish the gridfinity drawer that I’ve been working on. I’ve got one more bin to make after work that’ll finish the most recent drawer. That’ll be 3 drawers down once this one is completed. As many as 5 more drawers to go in the home office.

      I’m gonna talk about music for a bit, because it’s much easier to do in the winter than woodworking in my unheated shop. I was looking yesterday to run my guitar through the Moog Sub 37 synthesizer to see what sort of weird tones I could conjure. That got me thinking that maybe I should be trying to run it through the eurorack too. Something to think about there, because I’m not sure if that would sound very good. Maybe run it through the Moog and then rout the moog through the eurorack.

      I’ve been making lots of electronic, mostly house, music lately, because it’s easy to do on my laptop, but I’ve been playing guitar/bass since I was but a wee lad. I’ve always been inspired by the blues greats like Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and Jimi Hendrix. In my teenage and college years I was very captivated by electronic and bass music of all types. I’ve been searching for a long time for a way to combine electronic bass music and my blues/funk guitar/bass playing. The music feels more organic and home made, according to my wife, who happens to be one of the largest music critics I’ve ever met. Her taste is specific, and she won’t venture beyond what she’s familiar with. She’s extremely picky about voice as well.

      I’ve got a major challenge when it comes to recording guitar though, and that is noise. I’ve got a really great guitar, its a 1970s era sunburst Fender stratocaster with original pickups. This is a guitar that was built for making noise through an amp. I’m sure if I had a nicer amp this guitar would sound amazing, but I’m hoping to model the amp/pedals in my software. What I’m looking to get is a clean DI signal from it and it’s pickups were built to pick up interference. There are a couple of ways to fix this problem. One is to apply copper tape to the inside to isolate the electronics from external noise. I’m thinking I’ll be trying this fix first. The other is a little more intense and expensive, and that is to replace the single coil pickups with humbucking ones. I’m completely open to other suggestions, these are the two fixes that seem the most obvious to me.

      Once I can get a clean recording from this guitar, I’ll be looking to broaden my musical horizons. Maybe do some funky house stuff. I’ve got a nice fender P bass as well, and I can track that instrument significantly better. I forgot to mention that as well as electronic and blues music, I’ve also been extremely inspired by music similar to Tame Impala. Kevin Parker achieves this nostalgic, synthwave, classic rock vibe that is just immaculate. I think a lot of musicians attempt to achieve similar because it’s so compelling.