80s, small, fast moving cells of liquid sunshine hit in quick succession. There was some sun, but the day was mostly cloudy with blue sky nowhere near the sun. Later in the day, it cleared up. This Weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Over the week, I have stuck the coconut palm bowl in the microwave, heat it for thirty seconds, then let it cool and air. If I had a more powerful microwave, I would have heated for only fifteen seconds. The main thing is to try to dry out the bowl. I thought I had it quite dry but by WEDNESDAY, I found there was some mold building up so I had to start drying it more.
WE went yard sailing first today. I got a few things for at home. because of the liquid sunshine showers, many of the yard sales did not put their stuff out or had them stacked up or under cover. It messed up the day. I did do pretty good, though.
After petting the cat, who was not in a good mood today, I dug out my dremmel and my face vase. I very slightly under cut the faces, to make them stand out, and detailed the eyes more. I still have more to work on. I also reshaped a few faces, fixing errors I have. Lastly, I started cleaning up the surface, sanding it, in the process to get the faces ready for finishing. I don't like any of the faces, but this will be all right. I know I can do better if I plan the faces more. Experience helps. "Success comes from experience, Experience comes from failure.
one of my grinding bits is very aggressive. It is a wheel style grinding bit and has points that stick out visibly. While I was grinding with it, It slipped. It ran across two finger tips and chewed up the skin a bit. It also marked my finger nails. Luckily, the damage did not bleed. It did not get much past the surface. It is a royal bother, though. I keep forgetting that this tool does that when it touches skin. it removes wood with such wonderful ease.
I have some similar bits with the bumps, not points. I have used these for years and they do a great job. they are less aggressive and do not like skin quite as much. They tend to give "road rashes".
I did some hand sanding on the vase and that helped, but have a lot more work to do.AS I was leaving to go home, I saw that a neighbor cut down a slash pine tree. I grabbed two pieces of trunk and a branch. It was cut down as it was dead and the bark is coming off. I will remove the bark from my pieces and might pick up one or two more. The biggest pieces are likely to be cut up to fit the lathe, but I did want that wood. I have not heard what Mom thinks of it.
Tomorrow, I have to deal with the wood, and might do some turning. I really need to carve my Christmas ornaments, but it seams other projects are more exciting.
Will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 41, Day Two (week 511) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 10-25-09 Sunday
85 degrees, mostly blue sky with some disappearing high feathers, and some low puffs. Just enough breeze to keep things comfortable without moving the dust around. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
My first job was to tackle the wood I picked up yesterday as I was about to go home. Mom said it was filled with worms. I went out back and realized it had ants. A very active colony.
I pealed the bark off, which was planned when I had seen the bark was loose, and then brushed the wood down to remove the powder, and the ants. I set the wood to the side, the big sheets of bark in the garbage with some ant bait and swept up the powder and the ants and buried them in the potting dirt. I have a feeling they did not like the way they were handled.
I should note that I drove by the place on the way to Mom's house and saw that a lot of the logs were gone. I did not bother getting any more, though the desire was there. Some people use the logs around their property to keep cars from parking there. There are a couple wood turners in the area and they may have taken some. I will kick myself for not taking more, but It may be months before I get to work the wood. It is now back in my wood pile.
I cut pieces of the long branch and mounted one in the lathe. Just looking at it, I knew it wanted to be something long and thin. My first thought was a Christmas ornament with long finials. As I rounded the not-round branch, I realized it needed to be a goblet.
I made a tenon so the chuck could hold onto it. mounted it into the chuck, and rough turned the outside of the bowl of the goblet. I then pulled the tail stock away and hollowed out the goblet bowl. Once I was satisfied with the inside, I worked on the outside, finishing the surface. I then followed the shape of the inside bowl, feeling the thickness of the wood periodically to make sure I was following the curve properly. I went down to the thin stem of the goblet, which was just a little bit bigger than the pith in the middle of the branch.
I went down to where the base needed to be and got it fairly well shaped. The wood is green and clogs up sandpaper really fast. I had sanded the first goblet bowl and decided that it was not a good idea at this time. They both have things that need to be cleaned up but will leave them as they are.
I made a second one the same way, about the same size, but I did not go quite as thin on the bowl. The wood has strong rings and it really adds something to the design of the goblets.
The cat was being a Grinch, mainly because I seam to have forgotten how to pet him in a way he likes to be petted. he did calm down, but by then I was ready to get back up and make some more sawdust.
I intend to cut slabs off the big log, using the as full circle platters. I also want to split some of the log and do some side turning for the wonderful ring effects. I will have to see how my first platter comes out to decide how much of the wood will be used as what. That is chain saw work anyway.
Next week, Mom will be visiting that big rat in Central Florida. I will be on my own all weekend. I do have some projects that just have to be done. I will have to see if I actually get something done. I am not doing well this year.
I should be visiting the antique shop and thrift shop next weekend.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
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