Sunday, November 14, 2010

Week 566 Wood Working

year 10, Week 44, Day One (week 566) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-13-10 Saturday

78 degrees, light breeze, scattered clouds that came together in the afternoon. We drove through some drips but nothing really. This weather report is brought to you by The Cities of Dania Beach Department of Tourism.

I guess I over did it in toughing out the chill temps Saturday and Sunday. I got home Sunday and a cold appeared. I Knocked it down over the week with Cold-Eeze and Aspirin. Today I could go into public with limited signs of the cold.

I finished up the ornaments I had made. I ran across a snow people that had fallen to the floor unnoticed. I finished up all the carved blanks I had of them, my carved blanks of the cats, and my carved blanks of the swans. I have eleven cats, ten snow people and five swans. I have others, but have to look for them.

Saturday:

I planned to work on ornaments. I need a tiny bit of clean up on a couple of the finished ornaments, then sign them. I gathered most of my ornaments from previous years (have to find a few more) and took them with me.
I received a notice from the Dania Beach Water Gardens that said they were selling some of their stuff at 40% off. I had sent that to Mom to look at, hoping she might be willing to go there.

We went yard sailing after breakfast and I ended up with four swords. Nice looking but not sharp. One is a fantasy blade that is obviously not useful as a battle sword. I had wanted to get a sword or sword set and now I have some.



The swords I got, four blades with scabbards




Two broad swords, the upper blade is a fantasy sword and the gold end was what was broke, and what I repaired.


Upper blade is a dragon sword, the lower one is a wolf sword

After I petted and fed the cats, I photographed my ornaments, and my swords, and then put things away.

We went to the DANIA BEACH WATER GARDENS and mom drooled around the place. She loves plants and fountains and they had a lot of each. I drooled through the gift shop. She liked the display of my stuff there.

We then went to the Antique shop and had a look around. She said that years ago, there would have been some stuff she would have gotten.

One thing Mom wanted to do was to get pictures of the largest cruise ship in the world that was at the dock. We got a glimpse of it, but was not able to get close because of security.

We got home and the day was gone. I petted the cat, gave him some food, set my stuff away and left.


I should note that one of the swords is broken. It has a screw cap that holds the hilt together. It is essentially pot metal. Part of the thread broke off inside the end. The hand part of the hilt is some hard wood. I have several ways of fixing the sword, which is within my technology. I will talk to my brother as to which method would be the best.

Tomorrow, I will work on ornaments. I want to make some Christmas trees. I want to clean up and finish up the ornaments I finished this week. I am still trying to come up with a new ornament.
I might also work on the sword, depending on what my brother suggests.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.



Wolf sword details




Dragon sword Details


year 10, Week 44, Day Two (week 566) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-14-10 Sunday

80 degrees, nice breeze, sunny with some clouds flowing through. I don't remember the sun being blocked at all during the day so the clouds that got in the way may have been too thin. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I arrived early. After petting the cat, I dug out all the ornaments I have found and laid them out. Two Angels have broken wings. I have to replace them. It does not look like I have very many ornaments, but I have some 68 of them, including my snow people and cats.
I have five more swan blanks to carve before the end of the month. that will give me ten of them.

I sanded the bottoms of my cats and snow people and then signed them.


finished cats, snow people and swans

I took a sea snail shell and made a finial for it. I then drilled it. for one spot, I was using one of those fine "diamond" tipped grinders you get with rotary tools. The end stuck into the shell and broke. I then drilled with something else and that broke. I then used a little nail and it turned blue, then It slipped and I got a hole for my eye hook
My finial was not planned right and does not look good. It needs to be specially designed where it met the shell. I trimmed it, but went the wrong way. I forgot that at Mom's house and will glob filler into the ugly part to rescue the project. For now, it is drying on a hook.

Last week, I made an ornament with a ball on the bottom and a head on it. It did not work at all. Today, I band sawed the ball off the head, and made that into a pencil head. I then had a pencil head that I started back in march, during my art show and did not have time to finish it. I did a quick carving of it to finish it up. I might make a change on it but no rush on that.

I have a bag that has all examples of every Christmas ornament I have made so far. I picked out snow people I really liked, two cats of different designs, a mouse which I made early in the year, and a lady bug. I put them into the bag so they are now part of my record of ornaments I have made over the years. I always pick the very best of each. I should check to see if I have a swan in there.

I decided to fix the sword. I had hoped to discuss it with my brother but he could not come up. I took the metal end cap and shortened it. I see I need a tiny bit more work as the ring I removed was thinner than the rest of the end cap I have left. The wood handle had a tenon that fit into the end cap so it was flush. Now that sticks up a little. I will likely adjust the tenon, cutting it just a little bit smaller to fit into the space needed. Will decide some other time.


I have a turning club meeting this Thursday. I will have a bowl and my snow peoples to show off. I might bring all my ornaments to show the carving club that meets the same day.
I have some finishing work to do for the club meeting.
I had received a note that this club meeting is about sharpening. That reminds me of a joke where a kid shows a stub of a pencil. He says he had it in the pencil sharpener a very long time to make sure he got it sharp....... With the high speed metal tools we commonly use for wood turning, you really cannot damage the tools. All you can do is make them shorter.

I will see what I actually do next week.

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