Wood Working, Week 516

year 9, Week 46, Day One (week 516) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 11-28-09 Saturday

72 degrees, 49 freezing degrees in the morning, light breeze, real high feathers and streak clouds. Blue sky to the south where the sun was.

South Florida Frost....

Thursday, I planned on carving on my ornaments. I had my carving basket in the truck all week, but forgot to load my bags of blanks in the truck when I went for my Thanksgiving day. I did carve a pencil head with a beard, and had another one well on its way.

My brother and I dug out a rod and mounted it in his Smithy Metal Lathe. We are making pieces that will fit into one of my boring bars. These will either be drilled and tapped to hold bits, or just drilled to have the screw that will mate with a threaded piece. One thing I will be able to get into strange angles. I can make shaped scraper in any shape at all, depending on my needs.

I worked Friday so no woodworking then.

Saturday.
Mom had some work for me to do. We had to pick up some furniture and deliver it to my nephew's house. My truck was needed for this. WE stopped on the way back at a new location for an antique mall, where one can rent a booth and sell your antique pieces. I saw some rather good stuff, but did not have the money for any of those items anyway. I did see some carvings and turnings. Some better than I can do, some not as good.

I finally got home and sat down to work wood at about noon. I figured it was really too late to get anything done, but I did far more than planned.
I carved four swans, petting the cat twice in between, all in two hours. I still have some Dremmel work to do, but that was a good pace. I could have done more but wanted to do something else. I nicked my carving thumb while doing it and it bled enough just to get some blood on the carving which I shaved off. I put a piece of paper towel over it and kept carving. The way I cut it was I was doing something non-carving and put my thumb against the blade. dumb. It always happens. As long as I don't get blood on the work, I won't complain.

My next project was to make some cuts on a wood car for a friend. She had shown me the marks to cut to. I now have to round it to make it aerodynamic.

I decided that the wooden horse head for the hobby horse, needed a mane. I dug out the strip sander and ground down one edge quite a bit, and then undercut on the other side so it will look like the neck meets in the center. I then cut with the sander, some waves of the hair. I have some sanding to do, and then will paint it.

horse head without a mane
(Will have finished pictures possibly next week.)

I picked up some white and brown paint, along with some clear spray. I will use the brown paint to paint all the horse. The white paint will be for the ornaments, and the everything will get a few coats of clear.
Down the center of the muzzle of the horse, and the main of the horse, will be white. I will paint the whole horse brown and then brush on the white, highlighting the tops of the hair white while it is brown deep down.

I had not finished the inside of my face vase. I was thinking of a special finish on it. I started varnishing it, but pouring some of the varnish inside and rolling it a round. The wood was sucking the varnish up into it. I decided to get lazy and I took some white glue and dribbled it inside the vase, then painted the surfaces with a brush. I wiped it with a wet paper towel to get the excess, while leaving some glue in the ridges inside. When that dries, the varnish will seal it and it will be glossy inside. I want it to be ready Friday when I check in on my stuff at the antique shop. I have some sanding on the outside to do before I work it to the final finish. The clear spray varnish is partly for this piece.

Tomorrow, I will likely sit down with the Dremmel and finish the swans I already have carved. I will then paint them.
I will hand sand the horse and then paint that. I will also use the band sander to shape the race car. I also need to sit with the forsner bit and drill some spaces into the top of the car so weights can be added if needed.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.



year 9, Week 46, Day One (week 516)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-28-09 Saturday

72 degrees, Mostly blue skies with plenty of sun, light breeze, high feathers and patches in the morning, some lower puffs as the day wore on. This Weather report is Brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I got a little earlier start than I normally do on Sundays. Not much earlier. I petted the cat and he started out pretty good, but he became bratty as the morning wore on. A while later, he calmed down again and began acting like a cat again.

My first project was to sand on the horse a little bit. I then gave it several coats of brown paint. It is a primer. I will give it a clear coat when I am done painting it. It looks pretty good as it is, but will look even better when decorated. While the baby is not quite old enough to understand how to use it yet, he will be able to play with it as something other than a club, in a short time.

I then sat down with my swans. I had to do some knife corrections on some pieces, and then dremmelled grooves into the wings to represent feathers. I actually have the grooves angled wrong. To be right, the grooves are supposed to angle up, when running from front to back. I got them angled down. No one will complain about it. They look good anyway. I did some other corrections and then spray painted them white. there is some clean-up the could use but I don't have time right now. Always time to do it over, but never time to do it right. I ave to add eye hooks and a bit of decorating and they will be done.
The owls mainly need a eye hook and a bit more decoration and they will be done.

I shaped the race car for my friend. It might not be right, but I was running out of time. I need to spend a whole weekend on the project. I have made a number of small errors and they have shown up nicely. Now that I have made one, I can correct all the mistakes next time. I will show it to her and see what we can do to fix my errors.

My brother was scroll sawing ornaments today. He did more than expected so far. they are looking good. The scroll saw is something I should do, but I have so many other projects I should be working on that have more priority.

A shop where every tool is already set up, so I could just sit down at a machine and work, no pulling out, no uncovering, no dragging out of the garage, would be nice. Just sit down at a machine and work, then go to another one, would be the way to work. Few, if anybody has that much room.

Next week, I am not sure what I will be doing. I do know I need to go to the antique shop to see how my stuff will be doing. Between now and then, I am getting the face vase ready to take with me. Some varnish and sanding will be necessary for the rest of the week so I can bring it in with me.

I will see what I actually do next week.