Year 21, Week 08, Day One (week 1102)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-08-21 Saturday
Mixed sky, mid 70s. Showers predicted did not come. A steady breeze with strong gusts. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Mom’s birthday was fairly recent and I did not get anything for Valentine’s day. While at the grocery store, I saw some daffodils in a pot. I think these are actually narcissus which tend to be smaller than normal daffodils. These are really small blossoms.
Daffodil are my favorite flower. I had to buy these. After I had them in my cart, I realized I needed to give it to Mom and let her take care of it. I am good at killing plants. They have to really want to live for them to survive my care. I gave them to Mom and I got a hug out of it.
Mom’s rocker bench broke. I made the decision to repair it. Remember, I am a proud student of Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges. I think I am one of their best students.
I used the furniture roller I made to help move it from the front yard to the back yard by my self. It worked. I put the broken end on the roller and dragged it back. I then set up the smaller of my folding tables with the fly leafs down. I set the bench upside down on the table and examined the damage. It was far smaller than I expected.
A thin piece of wood broke off the face of the board, and the tenons slipped out. I could put the board back in place. I needed to work out the best way to repair it properly. I sat and examined it, and decided that arms that allow the seat to rock, had to come off. With some careful work using big screw drivers and a pair of plyers, I got the screws off and the arms off.
I now had the board to work with. I thought about it a while and decided to glue and screw the thing piece of wood back on, and I saw a crack on the other end where it was splitting in half.
I glued the thin board in place and clamped it in place using a board over it to give even pressure over the length, and forced glue into the crack on the other end and clamped that tight. A bit later, after the glue was set enough, I drove brads into the wood to lock the crack and the broken face in place.
Now I had to decide how to put it back together. I decided I should run a screw into the end of the tenon. I first drew on the board where the tenon was exactly, both on the sides and on the end. I then got the idea that to have a hole in the center of the tenon, I could drill through the inside of the mortice (the hole) and get it nicely centered. I used my little drill press, which is a hand drill in a craftsman drill press assembly. That worked nice. I also did a hole where a screw would go into the shoulders of the tenon.
I showed Mom what I was doing and she said to use gorilla glue. She got it out of the house and I had to drill through the top of the set-up glue in the bottle to get to stuff I could use. I then used a dowel to get the working glue out. I covered the inside of the mortice, the surfaces of the tenon. Mom then said, You have to coat it with water. I took the board with the mortice, plugged the holes with my fingers and mom poured water into them. I then dumped it over the tenons and put the board in place. I needed to clamp it, so I ran in screws into the four holes I drilled and figured that was a good enough clamp. I left it over night to set completely.
The swing arms, which are shaped sheet metal with a bearing in it, was bent. I needed to straighten it. I considered pounding it, using plyers, then I decided to first try the vice. I put the whole thing into the vise and cranked it tight. That got rid of the worst of the bend. I then set just the sheet metal edge in the vise jaw and cranked it close. I turned it over and did it again and now the angle of the bearing matched the other end. I did it to the other one too. They matched the pair on the opposite side of the bench, just a slight angle of the bearing.
Each step of the way, I thought about what I was going to do and how to best do it. So far it was working well.
While waiting, I took the camphor bowl I was cleaning last. I had the idea of carving a dragon on it, but then decided that unless I had several dragons, or a Chinese dragon which is something like a snake with legs, It was going to be a bit too much work for what up to doing. I chose thin long leaves. I first divided it in 18 spaces around the outside, and then drew angled lines starting on the bottom and going to the top two lines over. I went all the way around with that, then did the same thing on the opposite angle. Looking at it, I decided I should do a vine running around the bowl near the top, looping around in the spaces between the pair of leaves.
I was satisfied with what I had, I took out some green paint and rough painted the areas that would be carved out. I set that to the side and let it dry.
I decided to leave everything till tomorrow, which was good as it was already three in the afternoon. A good time to stop.
I will see what I do tomorrow.
Year 21, Week 08, Day One (week 1102)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-08-21 Saturday
Mixed cloudy sky with lots of sun, Clouds built up almost solid as the afternoon aged. mid 70s. Brisk wind, blowing paper around. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I addressed the bench, starting to assemble it. I had to cut away where the Gorilla glue foamed out, and hit it lightly with sandpaper. It looked like it is not going anywhere. I ran some screws into the side of the tenon so there is no way it is coming out.
I worked oil into the bearings. Then I made sure the bolts and screws were clean. I found that one bolt had stripped threads on the end so I went to the grinder and removed a few threads so the nut would go on properly.
I got everything adjusted, and then sprayed the damaged areas with white paint. I then painted some other areas. I set the bench out into the sun and let it dry. Drips of paint was still a little damp several hours later. I then brought the bench back out front and told Mom to not sit on it until tomorrow so the paint will be fully dry. The whole thing should be painted, and I had bought the paint but I just did the underside and then concentrated on places that looked like it could use extra protection.
I decided I would start grinding on the bowl I painted on yesterday. I should note that years ago, I had used filler to patch a break on the rim, I had partially mixed two colors of wood filler and then made it flush with the rest of the wood. Moving something, I knocked the bowl on the ground and most of that filler broke out. I now had to decide how to deal with that.
I made the decision to scallop the upper edge. I needed to find the right sized curve. I settled on using a paper towel tube as my radius. I still had the lines on the bowl showing where I divided it, so starting where the chip had come out, I evenly spaced the curves all the way around. I then needed to do the opposite curve. I had to squeeze the tube a few places between my curves to make them fit as they were not exactly right.
Now I decided to commit myself. I took my dremmel with my really aggressive burr bit. That bit is sort like a tear drop with the shaft stuck to the wide end. It has comparatively long spikes sticking out. It is more aggressive than most if my other bits, which is why I like it. It also likes hands.
I ground and drilled my way through the wood, rocking it back and forth until I made it through. I first did the space between the leaves near the base and went all the way around. I then bored out the space near where the leaves crossed which was like a heart, then drilled a round hole where the loop of the vine was located.
I then bore out the scallops around the edge, and then slightly rounded the corners at the top of the lip. Even old camphor wood smells good when you grind it. Not really strong, but still could smell it.
When I was done, I liked what I had. The pattern of holes looked nice. I will have a lot more wood to remove to get to the leaves, but I had a start of the holes. I decided I would remove all my other markings, including the paint, and redraw the leaves all over again based on the holes I have.
I was reminded that paint does not come off as easy as you think. You have to remember that, when sanding paint and pencil markings. Tip the work so the dust falls off the work, rather than back on. The powder of paint and pencil into the grain of the wood and force you to sand even more to remove it. I happened to remember that and sanded mostly with the bowl on the side.
When I decided to stop, I still had some green stain on the wood, but have the worst of it gone. I do like the way the bowl looks.
It is best to have the bowl as thin as possible. This bowl is the proper thickness by the rim, but gets really thick near the foot. I will use that to my advantage by achieving more depth between the layers of the leaves. I am after a three dimensional carving on this.
My brother had to work so I stayed to my own projects. I finished packing up and everything put away and was really happy at my results. In every case, I just sat and thought out what I was going to do before I did it, and had good results. That is a big surprise as I had not done much repair work.
I will see what I do next week.
1906
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