(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-18-10 Saturday
75 degrees, a few passing drips in the morning, then rapidly moving clouds. After noon, the drips started ganging up until we were getting really good showers of Liquid Sunshine. The front almost passed after I got home. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
The battery of Mom's van died last night and she got a jump to get home, but it did not start this morning. We went and got a new one. The hardest part was to find a wrench or socket of the right size. I had stuck the wrench where I would easily find it, and never looked there till a bit later. I dropped two wrenches down the front of her engine and only one came out the bottom. Never did find the second one.
My first woodworking project was to do one final act on the dress vase I've been making. Last week I got a bunch of beads at a yard sale. I found one that was sort of like a flower and glued that in front of the blemish of the wood so it looked like a buckle. I got some straight pins and drilled through the hole of the bead, I cut the pin short, and after adding a little glue, I put the pin into the hole to make sure the bead did not come out. Looks good.
I showed it to a friend and he said not to let it go for less than a couple hundred bucks!!!
finished dress vase
I took a fork of a sea grape branch and mounted it on the lathe. At first I thought I could make it into another dress vase but it was too short. I turned the inside first, leaving the bark on.
I was given a replacement chuck for a drill and had previously fitted into the chuck as a test. Well, I tried it again and the chucks would not close down enough. I removed the Cole Jaws off my newest chuck and used that to hold the drill chuck.
I fitted a Forsner bit into it and figured out that I needed to hand hold the piece in my hand and guide the bit through the wood. I got a good start, then decided that this was not the easiest way to work. Instead, I sat down with an aggressive bit in my dremmel and ground away the wood.
I had to clean the bit twice while removing wood as the still green wood clogged up the bit. this bit is like a wheel and has hundreds of spikes, burrs, sticking out. this bit has long burs, but still it clogged up.
I used some acetone to try to soften the gunk. I tried a brush, a knife point, and ended up sticking a brass wire brush on the dremmel and used that to clean the burs.
What I ended up with was a creamer with bark on the outside. It looks interesting.
Creamer server in Sea Grape
One of the bosses at work was working with a pine board. I commented that I make plates out of that wood. He left a small piece in my office. I mounted it on the lathe with one of my wood face plates, and made a little platter out of it. I made the bottom first, with the center up against it as I do not trust double sided tape. I had a post where the tail stock fit to the piece.
I then turned it around, removing the face plate and using a drive spur. It had a slight wobble, but I continued anyway. I was keeping a knot in the rim and the grain of the wood gave me a few minor catches. Because white pine is soft, the spur ate up the post on the bottom as the spur spun in place. Each time it did that, it changed the wobble slightly.
I used the dremmel to remove the remains of the posts and the dig of the spur. It came out pretty good for a quick project. Needs some sanding but whether it actually gets it is something else.
white wood platter
I finished up a couple Tunisian Crochet hooks I made last week. I will be testing one of them this week to see how well it works. they all need to be tested just a little.
I sanded on the two natural edged Walnut bowls I made, I had not used care when sanding and did not put a lot of sanding time into them as I should. When I added some varnish, all sorts of blemishes and scratches showed up. I sanded at some of the messes to clean them up. I will see how they look tomorrow.
I stopped at a friend's shop and showed him my work. He said I was improving. He gave me a whole bunch of stuff in the process as he is trying to make room in his shop. I also got a piece of wood where the heart wood bleeds red when it gets wet. Part of it has the right shape for a dress vase so I will give it a try.
I was basically finishing up when the weather started sneaking in. I got a whole lot done which was a surprise. I picked up a few tricks in the process.
I will try that new wood tomorrow, starting by drilling the hole for the vase first thing, then worrying about shaping it. I have some projects to finish up also. The weather should be good so that won't limit the work I do.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 49, Day two (week 571)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-19-10 Sunday
64 degrees when I arrived, 66 as a high, then dropped down to 63. It was a high solid shield of cloud cover all day long, only to break up and the sun came out as I was packing up. A brisk breeze took some of the heat out of you. It was cool enough to wear a light coat, but not cool enough to make it worth wearing a coat. The ground was wet when I got to Mom's house but dried out as the day went on. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of pompano Beach department of Tourism.
I spent my morning sorting stuff that will be gifted. I have a long ways to go, but made great headway. The worst part was I was thinking I had one more weekend to get things done. Nope....
I got to Mom's house and after feeding the backyard beast and Scarface, I considered my next project.
I picked up the piece of oak I first considered for a dress vase, and saw that it really could become a dress vase. My first project was to make tenons on it so I can hold it in the chuck. I mounted the wood so the flair was by the head stock and I made a tenon for the chuck to hold the opposite end. I then flipped it around and made a tenon on the base. Flipping it around again, I readied to drill the vase hole in it.
Yesterday, I was given what is called a Jacobs Chuck. this is a drill chuck that is fitted onto a taper. Drills, lathes, and many other machines use a taper that simply wedges into the shaft. It seldom turns due to the friction, but a rap will knock it out.
I removed my tail stock point, which is a taper, and then put the Jacobs chuck in place. I put a fornser bit in and slowly drilled into the end of the turning wood, cranking the drill in and out with the tail stock. I had to move the tail stock in a couple times.
I used a smaller bore because I had to carve the outside of the wood, but used a larger bit so I could get the end of the chuck into the wood a bit deeper. Even so, the hole is not deep enough. I need to look into getting an extension for these forsner bits.
I then took a hand drill and drilled holes into the side for the arm holes.
Finally, I started shaping the piece, a ring bulged out for the breasts, a square bulge where the belt goes. Once I had it the way I wanted, I turned it back around and removed the tenon on the bottom and put a ridge to lift it slightly off the shelf. Because of the shape of the base, which is narrow and long, the ridge appears only at two spots.
The rest was carving it with the dremmel. I intended to have it as a Marilyn Monro type dress where it goes around the neck so the back is open, and the straps are only in front, but getting too thin next to the arm hole forced me to change to the two strap design. the straps was too thin to support the design I intended. I got thin because I had the grinding bit that I cut away the excess wood at the wrong angle.
There were some worm holes in it, and I found some live worms in a couple of them. I filled the holes with the wrong colored filler. I will hide them with some creative painting.
I got it home and did find where I broke through on one strap. I will splice a piece of wood on that part of the strap to make it stronger.
Front and back of the dancing dress vase
I will see about finishing it up next week since I will have some days to play.
When I visited the club member's shop yesterday, he gave me a piece of LOG WOOD. It is rare down here. It is a wood where the sap wood is white, and the heart wood is red. The heart wood will bleed a red stain if it gets wet, which can be removed with lemon juice or possibly vinegar.
He gave me a piece that has a nice flair that will make another good dress vase. I chose not to use it because the ground was wet. I will use it on a dry day so I don't make a big mess.
I finished this two color Tunisian Crochet this morning. I show the front and the back (the striped side). It really shows how the stitch works.
I am nearly finished with my first batch of nine painted Christmas cards. I then have to do another, possibly bigger batch, ten, possibly more. Will see.
Next weekend is Christmas. I have Monday off. I have to get all my work done on things to be gifted by Friday. We open our presents The night before, so the children can have all Christmas day to play with their toys. We get together Christmas day for a big family dinner. I will have Sunday and Monday to do woodworking.
I usually arrive early Christmas Day and carve, but since I totally forgot about bringing my carving kit, I will either work metal, read, or crochet. I do have carving stuff I can gather from here, but won't bother.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
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