56 degrees early morning, and a front passed with a thin line of weather. 64 when I arrived, 62 when I left in the afternoon. a cold front passed and it will be in the 30s tonight. Brooding clouds early morning, becoming widely spaced puffs with sunshine. Strong winds sapped any heat one developed as it was too warm for a coat and too cold to be without one. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of tourism.
During the week,
I finished my first batch of cards and gave them out. I then painted a second batch of the same design, but done differently, for a much better effect. I got a lot of comments from the first batch of cards. the family got the second batch and loved it.
I ended up with three spare cards, and will be giving a friend one of them. One I was keeping for my own collection of painted cards.
I gave the bosses some of my woodworking. My supervisor had given me some wood several months ago. I made a coin cup, a platter, and the bowls for two goblets from the wood. I finished the goblets using different woods, and gave my supervisor the two goblets. One of the other bosses had given me a piece of wood and I turned it into a saucer and gave him that. I gave another boss the Sea grape pencil cup I made last week, and another boss who has been my benefactor by buying a lot of my woodworking, got a set of mahogany saucers. some of what he got from me is played with by the children. this boss, and many of the other people in the office got my cards. One of the people there had commented when I showed a plate I made, that I should make a bunch of them, they should sell. I gave him a set of four plates out of yellow pine. His Wife E-mailed me, thanking me for them and saying I had a lot of talent.
Christmas Eve, Friday
when we open our presents, I gave my brother some machine stuff another friend gave me, a caldron for melting metal, and a trim router. I gave my mom three pencil cups, and two wash cloths I made. My sister in law got a wash cloth and some kitchen utensils. My niece in law got pans. My nephew and nieces got money and some cheap stuff.
Everybody appeared to appreciate what they got. I got some gift cards and will use them.
I saw it last year, but truly understand it this year. We are always told that it is better to give than receive. I spent a lot of time making or finding things to gift and found that a real joy. By the time Christmas came around I did not care if I got anything. I was happy with the effort I gave and watching their faces as they opened their presents.
We had a wonderful Christmas and I well over ate as we had snacks and munchies to have as things became available.
Christmas Day. Saturday
I had forgotten to load up my carving kit last week so I had to work on something else. My brother and I decided to finish up some tools we were making. He had already cut the bar in half as it was in his way and he needed a piece of it anyway.
In our previous session, which may well have been last Christmas, we had turned some narrow sections on the shaft, and then machined the top flat.
today, we drilled and tapped the holes for screws, and then cut the pieces in half. The narrow shafts were cut in half, and then the wide areas were also cut in half so I ended up with five pieces, which came apart "face to face, shaft to shaft."
We putzed around on other things but that was really all the work we did. Of course we over ate again, but this time was a Thanks Giving style meal.
Boring bar, bit holders and one bit.
Sunday
I got to Mom's house early. I went out side, fed and petted the cats. I got my equipment out and had ideas for some projects. I had a little problem. the stuff I needed was buried deep in the shed.
One of the plastic shelving was buckling. I decided I needed to fix it. That meant emptying half the shed.
I first had to clear out most of the floor. there was a lot of junk in there. I then started emptying the shelves, and realized that the sheet stock spanning between the two side shelves needed to be emptied out. There were loads of bug droppings on the floor. When I put the sheet stock back, I looked carefully at each sheet to make sure no bug eaten wood went back up. I really found only one sheet, though there was another where the bugs would "come up for air" and then dive back down, leaving a very shallow trace. The sheet with the most damage got tossed.
I then finished emptying the shelves than must be emptied.
I ran across a lot of stuff I forgot about, or did not know we had. I had not realized how deep one of my projects was buried.
I dismantled the damaged shelving, and then swept the floor. I reassembled the shelving with the buckled part on top, and the best shelves on the bottom. We should get a few more years of use out of these shelves before we have to do this again.
I started placing stuff back in place, changing the layout as I went. A lot of my stuff is still hidden, but I have a good idea where they are, for now.
It is mainly the sheet stock spanning the two shelves that caused the problem. that is a heavy load and while it is supported in two other places, most of the weight is there as we want access to the small sheet stock.
I picked up some screws to fit the pieces I helped my brother make. When I was about to work on them, my brother showed up. I out the screws into place into the pieces, a few had to be forced in to work in the threads.
I then mounted one of the pieces in my boring bar and turned on the grinder. I moved side to side, turning the piece, getting rid of the sharp shaped edges everywhere except for the top where we machined it flat. This was so it would not catch on the wood. I ended up shaping two of these, which does not take long.
I then cut a piece off a planer blade. It had a whole at the right spot and I mounted that onto the fitting. I have not had a chance to try it yet. I left the end square and this is going to be for cutting straight into the wood from the end for things such as pencil cups.
Tomorrow I will cut off a couple more and shape them so they will be for scraping inside or out in other shapes. I have five of these fittings so I can have five different bits to swap between. Of course, I can change the bits themselves.
By making my own bits, I can make exactly what I need for the project I am doing.
I was searching for two fairies I had in process. One was made years ago. My dad was making two of everything, and keeping the best while trying to sell the other. I decided I would make two of everything too, then realized I was only working like eight hours a weekend, while my dad was working ten hours a day. I finished one and let the other one go into my incompleted junk pile. I got an idea for finishing this one. It is the same shape as the completed one, but I can do a different setting.
the other project was a fairy I was carving where I ended up with the wrong wood. It was not as strong as the Basswood I thought it was. I decided I would try to finish it. I found that one arm broke off so I glued that back on. I can see where I need to work, and I can see I need to do modifications in a few places. I happen to have another block of that wood so I can cut pieces for what I need. I stopped this one as the wood was wrong, but I think I can fix the problems. It will be good with the scene I was planning for it.
Checking the rain and sitting pretty
blanks for fairies
The strap on the dress vase I made last week broke. I cut a piece of wood from the same branch that came from and glued it on the space after I ground back the break area a bit more to give me more surface to glue to. Tomorrow I will grind the repair until it matches the existing, then finish shaping the piece.
In my digging, I think I found two more pieces that might make good dress vases. I will have to see when I examine them more.
I am off tomorrow, so I will be gong to do woodworking again. I will finish the dress vase, finish the pieces and cut more scraping bits for the lathe, and then choose a project to give them a good try.
it will be cold but like I need to work when it is hot, I will work when it is cold.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 50, Day One (week 572) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 12-26-10 Sunday
45 degrees early morning, a lot warmer than predicted, 55 degrees as the day high while I was working. Blue sky, deliciously warm sun, brisk wind that sapped some heat from you. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I started the morning by feeding the backyard beast and Scarface. They were hungry this morning. The backyard beast has a really thick coat. Of course, it is cold and it is winter.
I took out the remains of the planer blade I am making bits out of and made several two more bits. One comes to a point, and the other is rounded, sort of D shaped. I gave them a test by taking a four by four yellow pine and starting on another pencil cup.
One bit is pointed like and arrow. That would be for boring or for scraping with one edge.
Another bit is D shaped and that is for shaping rounded forms like the inside of a rounded vase.
The third piece is square and I made that for cutting straight in with a clean straight side.
These bits are not the best shaped bits, but work for the most part. The pointed one is a bit long and a good catch could snap it off.
boring bar bits
Yesterday, I cut a piece of oak and glued it onto the dress vase to be a strap. Today, I dragged the extension cord out to where I could sit in the sun and plugged in the dremmel. I shaped the strap, thinning it, creating the right curves, and blending it. It came out pretty good. there is a slight color difference, but I think that if I soak it in wipe-on varnish as I had done with the rest of the dress vase, it might blend even better. Even so, one has to look to see it.
I used the wrong colored filler for some worm holes and will hide it with paint to blend them in. I have done that before quite successfully.
I had found two wooden flowers that I had started a long time ago and never did anything with. yesterday, I added skewers to be the stem. Today, I took the Dremmel and modified them so they look a bit more like they have petals. Not spectacular, but it is a few more flowers in my collection.
Miniature daffodil
Conical flower
I left kind of early. I stopped at Home Depot to get a sanding disk for my disk sander. I never saw any. I will go to sears at the next opportunity. I then stopped at a friend's shop and forgot that it was Monday, not Sunday when he is usually there. Oh well.
Now I will work on the dress vase during the week and see if I can finish it up. I have some carvings I want to dig into and finish up. I have ornaments to finish up for next year and to get rid of some blanks that are accumulating.
I would like to get with a friend next Monday, which I have off, and see if I can teach him to carve. I need to make up some blanks for the demonstration.
I want to make more turning bits for my boring bar and give them a real test to see if they work as well as I think.
I will see what I actually do next week.
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