In My "Spare" Time: Year 16, Week 04, Day One (week 838)

Year 16, Week 04, Day One (week 838)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-06-16 Saturday

63 degrees early morning 74 afternoon, large platelet clouds early morning, a few leaked. High feathers and spilled milk late afternoon. Light wind all day. Some sprinkles at about dark. Supposed to be cold tonight. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department of Tourism.

We drove by a pair of yard sales when we left Breakfast. We had to take care of something before any yard sailing could be done. Later, one of the sales had packed up. I saw and stopped at one other yard sale and it was one I have been to before and they were out of anything I was interested in. I had traversed four areas we normally see yard sales in and there was nothing. I was going to go through a fifth area but was redirected because of a parade that Light House Point was going to have.

Right after Breakfast, Mom and I went to Home Depot. She got something she needed. I picked up another stick of 2"x2" white wood. When we got back, I helped her set up for a yard project she was thinking about.

At the end of the yard sales, I stopped at Sears. They did not carry what I was after, and a new Whole Foods (opened in the last two years) and made my wish list.

I went out back and set up the lathe. I mounted a 12 inch long 2x2 stick in the lathe and used the bowl gouge to remove the corners. I then used my bull nose scraper to make a set of angel bodies. I had decided that they could be a little shorter so I measured out 5 in the stick, rather than 4. The 12 inch stick was about 30cm long so I made each 6 cm tall. The last one had part of the stick in the jaws of the chuck.
I have several different ways to measure things. When dividing something into equal parts, the scale you use is not important, as long as you can get even spacing of the numbers. I hate using 1/16 or 1/32 in trying to work out the measurements. If none of your scales work, one can tip the scale onto an angle so that you have a good starting and ending number that is divisible evenly. You make the marks, then use a square to run them across the work.

Like I did previously, I started and finished each angel completely before going to the next. Also I made the bases facing the tail stock.
I did the last body with the head the opposite direction. I was not sure how tall It was going to be. I had the body just about done and was cutting closer into the chuck when I heard a crack. I stopped the lathe and removed the stick. The corners and popped mostly off leaving the roughly rounded base. The angle of that last body was not continuous, but was good enough after I used the sander to clean it up. I did some clean up with the disk sander.

When I went to cut the angels apart, I turned on the bandsaw and the blade was jumping and weaving. I tried tightening it and that did not stop the bouncing. I cut the first angel off. That it cut exactly where I wanted it to cut was a miracle considering how badly it was moving. A few moments later, I heard a pop and the blade disappeared into the housing with the motor running free but the drive wheel rubbing on the blade. The blade broke so I have to replace the blade, likely next weekend.
I separated rest of the angels off using a hand saw. It took me a bit to figure out there was no place to plug it the saw in, and that my arm power was what made it work. Only while writing this did I remember I could have used my Saws-All to cut these if I had a lot to do. That will be an option for next weekend.

I put everything away and napped for about an hour then came out again.
I set up another stick and started turning. I got the first angel done and was working on the second when the stick broke at the first angel’s halo. The angel was usable.
I moved the tail stock and started turning again and finished the second angel, and then started on the third when the second angel broke off. Both angels were mostly undamaged when they broke off. One did leave a piece of the halo on the stick. I removed that from the rest of the stick and was going to glue it back in place. I dropped the tiny bit of wood and could not tell it from the few wood chips that were on the ground there. I applied a blob of glue to fill in that spot. Once I get the glue big enough, I will carve it to match what it is attached to and paint will hide all errors.
I later figured out I had two major errors in what I was doing. First, the heads were tiny compared to the others I did. That did not give enough material to keep the pieces together. Second, I saw that my bullnose scraper needs to be re-ground as it has become rounded and I could not keep it sharp. Because it was dull, I was adding too much pressure to the wood, which caused it to break.

Sharp tools will slice the wood away with little or no pressure. You use the grinder to create the shape of the edge, and then use a strop or a grind stone (I am using a diamond plate) to sharpen the edge. After a period of sharpening, the profile of the took gets rounded.

The two angels were already removed from the stick. A quick moment on the disk sander cleaned up the halos and the bases. I packed up and called it a day. A good day.

I will have to see what I do tomorrow.

Year 16, Week 04, Day Two (week 838)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-07-16 Sunday

51 degrees early morning. 64 degrees as the high. A few puddles from last night had a rim of ice from being below our 56 degree frost temperature here in Florida. Low platelet puffs zipped by on a brisk breeze, a couple leaked a tiny bit earlier in the morning. The clouds left, leaving blue skies all over. The breeze was strong enough to tug on hats and mess up hair. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department of Tourism.

It is going to get into the low 40s tonight. The highest natural point in South Florida is a 29 foot (above sea level) tall ancient sand dune. It is surrounded by land that is 17 feet above sea level. It is in a county park. The county naturalists have kept a glacier alive during the hot summer with portable refrigerator units. The news reported that the glacier is growing. The news predicts cold weather, with lows well below the frost tempts, most of the week, so the glacier is expected to cause it to grow. It usually rushes really fast in order to reach the ocean, so it can leave icebergs to harass the shipping lanes. Most years, the “parrot heads” the people in the bars on the beach, usually stop it before it gets to the ocean by chipping off ice for their drinks. Tomorrow, I might have to drive to the beach to get around it to get to work. I will have to see.

I went outside. It was cool at first so I set up the table out in the sun. I had somehow misplaced my camera so one project was to go through all my stuff to see if I could find it. I also checked where I napped and could not find it there either. I did find it a few hours later where I sat in the late afternoon yesterday, which I had checked twice. I was going to sit down and was moving the chair and there it was.

It dawned on me that the wings I did on the first four angels were butterfly wings, not angel wings which are bird wings. Because the bandsaw was down, I could not cut the new wings.
After I settled down, I took out the dremmel and the grinding bit and did more shaping on the frog carving. It is coming along and have a lot more to do on it. I am beginning to doubt it will be a Christmas ornament line. Too much work.
I added eye hooks to the four angels I made last time. I did not realize it but I already have 11 angel bodies made. I only needed 12.

After I found my camera, I decided to call it a day. I had some stuff to do at home.

I hope to work on the wings of the angels, and also possibly on another design of ornament.

I will have to see what I do next weekend.
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