(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-25-10 Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving!
80s, lots of well separated clouds sliding across the sky light breeze, Shade of a spreading oak. Nice, easy comfortable day to do little. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Fort Lauderdale Department Of Tourism.
I thought I had a bunch more ornaments than what I was looking at. I just was not sure where they were. I dug through my stuff and looked with more care, and ran across a whole lot of my ornaments. I laid them out in my display case and they don't all fit. For displaying them, I will have to use a different tactic than normal. I will look for a flat box to show the rest of them in.
My display case is a red velvet lidded case that was for perfume or large ornaments. I had removed the insert when I first got it but it has been nice to show off my stuff and to carry it around.
I did not sell much last year so I have them and then some. My newer and more numerous stuff will be in the display case and the other odds and ends will be in the other box. I have some time before I really have to worry about that.
My host up in Connecticut mailed me some stuff I purchased and a few other things. One is a piece of black walnut that has the bark on it. It is well dried and was given it last year but could not fit it into my luggage I got the package this week so I will be looking at making some items from that this weekend.
Thursday, Thanksgiving day.
I went to my brother's house where we were having our Thanksgiving dinner. After greeting everybody, I got my stuff out back under the oak tree.
My main project was to carve on some ornament blanks I made last week. From about ten when I got there, to about three when we had dinner, I carved four light bulbs, two thread spools, and two Christmas Trees. That is a good start.
They have to have some touch-ups, painting and decorating. The stuff I did last week will need some touch up.
My brother looked at a set of tools we were making. Our next step was mainly drilling a bunch of holes, then threading them. We decided not to do that this time. He did some aluminum welding and then let me try to break the welds. the metal collapsed but the welds held nicely. The only break was of the metal next to the weld, not the weld itself.
Only a few of his welds were pretty, but they were strong and most could have held water.
Tomorrow we will be going to visit Dad's grave. It has been four years since he died. He died Thanksgiving weekend. Anyway, we will go there and I will see how much time I will have afterwards for wood working.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 46, Day Two (week 568)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-26-10 Friday
84 degrees, high puffy shield clouds with blue breaks in them. Light breeze, a light threatening late but nothing came of it other than a few misty dots. This Weather Report is brought to you by The City Of Lake Worth and the City Of Pompano Beach Departments Of Tourism.
IN MEMORY OF ROY STEGMAN September 16 1917 To November 26 2006.
Me at my dad's grave
After Breakfast and feeding the backyard beast, We went up to the Lake Worth National cemetery to visit Dad's grave. Mom and I took pictures of each other by his grave, and we put yellow roses there, one for mom and one for my sister.
He was a good man. I am almost embarrassed to admit he was my father because people would expect more of me.
When we got back home, I dug out my equipment out of the truck which I had with me when I went to My brother's house yesterday. I "bothered" the back yard beast some more, then sat and carved all day.
I am carving faces on my light bulb and spools. these are bearded men that are supposed to represent Santa Claus. They are consistent on how they look. For me that is good enough this time.
After I carved four light bulbs, two spools and two trees, I got out the paint. I painted dark green in the crevasses of the trees, then a lighter green on top, and finally white for snow. These are ready for decoration which will be colored wooden blocks for presents underneath, beads to represent balls or lights. After that a couple coats of varnish and they will be done.
I painted at the bulbs and spools. I painted the beard white, the white of the eyes, and the fluff of the hat. on the spools it is one of the rims. On the lights, I carved the fluffy edge of the hat. Tomorrow, I will paint the red on them, and use a marker to do the eyes and a few other details to finish them up.
I started making another bamboo crochet needle, but decided the day was about done so I have not added the hook.
Mom use to have an ornament display in her house. It hid a bunch of her paintings. She gave my brother the commercial ornaments she had, and put away the ornaments we gave her. She was going to toss out the rack, and I asked for it. I will have to set it up, but not until after Christmas. I will then hang up my ornaments so I can look at them.
For tomorrow, I will carve some more ornaments, and I have a few light turning projects to work on.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 46, Day Three (week 568)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-27-10 Saturday
88 degrees, 76 degrees last night, high light puffs with sparing breaks between, got thicker as the day went on. Light breeze, a bit of sun here and there.
Went to several yard sales and picked up a couple wire racks that I can use for drying varnished pieces.
I had brought a piece of Black Walnut I was given by a friend, and played around with it. I made a natural edged bowl where the bark remained on the edge.
I used what is referred to as a worm screw. This is a special screw for holding wood. The sharp threads stick out quite a ways from the shaft. You drill a hole first, about the size of the shaft, and then drive the screw in. the head is designed to be held by your chuck (it came with the chuck) and you can remove the piece quickly from the chuck if needed.
I drilled a hole into the bark side and fitted the screw in the hole, then mounted it in the chuck. I rough rounded the piece and flattened the bottom, adding a tenon for the chuck. I removed the screw, flipped the piece around, fine finished the outside, then hollowed it out.
I turned the piece around after I was done, and worked the bottom, removing the tenon. I had a small post that the tail stock was stuck into to hold the piece in place. It came off so I was finishing the bottom. I wanted to make one little correction and the piece came off the lathe. Luckily, no damage.
I painted the ornaments I did over the past couple days. They require a little touch up and signatures, but otherwise, are done.
I have a representative number of them. I will finish up the rest of the blanks later, but have enough to show off.
I cut a thin slab off the black walnut piece I have (was a piece of fire wood) and then cut them into roughly square sticks. I put each one in the lathe and turned them into dowels. They are not exactly even as there was a lot of bounce in them as I worked.
I eventually took my knife and cut off some corners, then used a rasp to wear down the wood until it was round. I then took 24 grit sanding disk in my drill to grind it even more round, then 50 grit and two more grits, before they were ready to hand sand.
I used a pencil sharpener to point the ends. These will be double ended knitting needles. I have two, possibly three more I can make, and hopefully will have a nice set of two out of all of them.
Someone said she uses a pencil sharpener to make her wood hooks, so I pointed the ends the same way. I have loads of sanding to do.
Black walnut bowl and knitting needles.
I made a second bowl just like this one too.
I heard that Black Walnut is a poisonous wood. One is not to use them for food. After I did my heavy turning, I cleaned up and put the sawdust in an area of mom's garden where she is trying to keep weeds down. The spot I chose had lost most of the mulch.
Tomorrow I have more ornaments to carve, and may turn something else in the black walnut. I will likely try to make another dowel for another knitting needle.
I will see what I do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 46, Day Four (week 568)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
11-28-10 Sunday
84 degrees, lots of high puffs with very small breaks. After one, some light liquid sunshine came down. I had finished wood turning just before the weather showed up. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I got less done than I expected. I made another black walnut bowl, and a knitting needle but because of a knot in the wood, ended up shorter than it was supposed to be.
I also carved another bulb ornament and spool ornament, and a tree.
I had started another bulb ornament but chipped a piece out, so I glued it back on and will finish carving it next weekend.
Spool ornaments
Bulb Ornaments
During the week, one of my projects is to finish up these ornaments, I have some touch up painting, painting the last ornaments, and giving them a coat of varnish. The trees have to have some colored wood blocks I have added as presents, and beads added to be decorations on them.
I have more ornaments than I have space for so I dug out an old brief case. I have to empty it and clean it up before it can be used. My best ornaments will be in my normal case, and the lesser ones will be in the brief case.
Friday, I will go down to Dania Beach and get my stuff from the Dania Beach Water gardens, and will take them to the antique shop. I will re-arrange my antique shop display and maybe pick out a few things as presents. I will make my final decisions when I am down there.
Next week, I want to carve more of my ornaments, and I have a bunch of stuff that could use finishing up. I have a number of blanks that need to be used also. I am almost done with Christmas stuff and now need to aim for the art show in March.
I will see what I actually do next week.
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