80 degrees early morning with little breeze, a damp feeling, and blue skies, 90 degrees with a good breeze in the afternoon. Clouds shifted and changed through the day, mostly blue sky directly above us. Clouds built up as the day went on to become mostly cloud cover with blue skies in well to the east over the ocean, and rain gray skies in a long distance over the Everglades (about 4:00). This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
WEDNESDAY
The school we meet at had some event on Thursday so we had to have our Meeting on Wednesday.
We had the club challenge, which was to turn a goblet. There were very imaginative varieties of goblets. Some beginners told about their mistakes and those were as good as some of the best goblets. I got a lot of comments on my branch goblet.
The other work on display was quite impressive. I showed off my face vase and got comments on that. I had my usual problem when I bring my best stuff. I look at their work and is quite disappointed that my finish is lacking. The best I can say is that compared to theirs, My work has a rustic quality.
The demonstration was on making rolling pins. The process was simple and the design was simple. I would say the hardest part of the project is the rolling handles. He used all wood design, dowels that the handles fit over and a cap to hold the handles in place. I may make one eventually.
Next time, I have to run the video camera during the demonstration. The camera shows what the audience cannot see.
SATURDAY
yard sailing was pitiful. Not much out there.
After feeding the beast of the back yard and Scar Face, I dragged my lathe out. I had some projects to work on but did not feel like getting out the tools from the truck. I decided to make some dowels for crochet hooks. I took a piece of wood, I think it might be mahogany but not sure on that, and cut the piece into four sticks. I then mounted one in the lathe. I saw that my normal methods of holding the wood was going to be a problem.
One way to hold work on a lathe is with a collet. A collet is simply a bit of metal with four slots, and a screw sleeve that goes over it. When you tighten the screw sleeve, the blade of the metal clamps down tighter on the material. Most motor tools like dremmel come with a collet. I have a set for metal and wood working that has eight different sized inserts. Each insert has a different size hole in it.
It was an expensive set that I got from a woodworking yard sale, gave to my brother and he eventually gave it back to me. I had it in "storage" for years. I think this is the second time I have used it in over a year.
My brother tried to use it for metal working and it was not doing what he expected it to do on holding and aligning the work.
I chose one with a hole slightly smaller than the wood, then used the disk sander to knock off the corners on one end and stuck that into the collet and clamped it down. I then put the other end into the point of the tail stock.
I knocked off the corners and roughly rounded the wood with the bowl gouge. The center of the wood was bouncing all around as the wood was too flexible. I tried methods of holding my hand behind it, and even using a piece of wood to back it up when I applied pressure with the tool.
I ended up using a file and sand paper to round it. The stick broke at a flaw. I cut the broken end off and worked with the shorter piece until it was small enough and smooth enough. The second piece broke at a flaw, then broke again. I got the third piece right from the start, again using files and sand paper to get it right.
I think I will cut the long piece in half and then turn larger handles that they will fit into. I will need to cut slots for the crochet yarn to catch on. That will take some time to get the hook right.
I sat and crocheted and made a phone call while the cat slept at my feet. He likes sleeping at my feet as I do not move my legs when he is there. My brother moves his legs all around and the cat reacts as if he expects to be stepped on.
Looking at the dragon wood, I saw that the top of the head is cut at an angle. I held the wood in the bandsaw and cut the top square to the rest of the head. My drawing of the spikes on top the head was based on the high side and now it is flat, it will change the head spike design. I think I have a better view of the design of the dragon. I am almost ready to start carving away the wood. This will be almost exclusively a power carving figure. Very little knife carving. I don't use chisels.
For tomorrow, I will have to see what mood I am in. Carving on the dragon might be high on the list. I would like to finish the crochet hooks. I have several pieces that need a little bit of work. I have lots of wood that is begging to be made into stuff. I have a dress vase that I barely started and need to work on.
I WILL SEE WHAT I ACTUALLY WORK ON TOMORROW.
Year 11, Week 32, Day Two (week 606) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 08-21-11 Sunday
90 degrees at nine in the morning, 96 degrees around four. Lots of puffs moving through but they did not effect the sun. A nice breeze blew around fine sawdust.
A storm is aiming at us. The weather fairies are breathing heavily, warming up for their mating calls of "the storm is coming." Over the next few days, they will be standing on the sunny beach in their yellow slickers, panting, and telling us that the sea is calm and the storm has not arrived yet. I might start watching and listening to local news just to hear them call to each other for their mating season.
This weather report was brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Yesterday, we came home from yard sailing and the bulk pickup had already arrived. Mom did not want the cuttings from the palm trees laying in the swale all week long.
As I was leaving home, I saw a chair sitting there without a seat. I grabbed it for the wood. It looked like it was oak of something like that. when I got to Mom's I removed the fasteners, which were a screw-cam system where a threaded pieces was inserted a distance away from the joint, and the screw went through the wood and screwed into the fitting. I lost one of those fittings in the grass
the sides themselves were attached with dowels and glue and was done quite well I pounded on them to try to separate them and broke the wood. One would not separate at all, so I used the band saw to cut it, and then realized I should have used the band saw everywhere.
I took one of the broken pieces and tried to split it. It split on a slight angle. I used a hatchet to follow the angle and knock off the corners. I then cut it into quarter sticks. I mounted one on the lathe and worked it into a dowel.
I took a couple bamboo skewers and some pieces of wooden dowel, and made four crochet hooks. I tested them to see if the design was right. With one, I cut my hook off and created a new one as the first was not good enough. I also had a couple I broke easily as I went thinner than I should have. I need to do more sanding and then give them a coat of varnish. I intend to use them a little to make sure I have them right. I need to use more exotic woods, such as walnut, but these were already straight and clean dowels to work with.
different sized crochet hooks with larger handles. I will have to sand these and then give them a coat of varnish with more sanding and varnish. The dimple on the bottom of one is where I drilled wrong. I will sand that away later.
Yesterday, I had dismantled a mixer and put it back together. Today, dismantled it again and showed my brother the problem. Then getting it back together was a bit tougher this time. I kept finding something not set right.
My brother and I discussed how to fix the switch. The original plastic switch decayed and broke. My plan is to make one of wood. My brother suggested adding a rheostat on top of it to do the same thing.
My big problem with this project is that I don't need to repair it. I got two good mixers at yard sales for three bucks each. I don't need a third. I was thinking more about using the motor for something. I have no idea what, though.
This is the mixer I was playing with.
This is the disassembled machine.
Yesterday I had dropped off the CD of pictures I took at the turning club meeting. He gave me a slide switch to control motors. On his suggestion, I plugged my dremmel into it and it controlled the power nicely. My dremmel is single speed. I got a bunch of twist and ties and wrapped the switch cord with the dremmel cord so the switch is right up by the motor, and they are plugged in together.
To operate it, I set the speed for the bit I need and don't have to change it until I change the bit or the operation. Having the switch dangling from the motor is not a problem at all.
This is the single speed dremmel with the slide switch attached.
I was getting ready to grind on the dragon for the first time when my brother arrived. It was almost lunch time anyway. A bit later, my nephew showed up and I showed him the wood. He saw the dragon in it. The lines drawn on and telling him what I was doing helped.
I worked on the handle for the crochet bag. I got to where I decided it was done and then tested out the fit with the bag. I quickly saw that it was far too long for what I was after. It was like a shoulder bag. For how I am using it, that would cause all sorts of problems.
I then ripped out several colors of yarn I had done and checked it again. I decided that would be long enough. It will stretch. I started my long ways stitching. I will double the width, fold it over and sew the edges together, then stitch it to the bag. I have a ways to go but the bag is looking good.
This is the long strap laid out
This shows the strap being too long
The strap is shortened up
The way I worked on the strap was to curl it up using a carved rose with a broken skewer stem to pin it in place. I would then crochet on just the end without it dangling down all over the place.
This is the bag itself as I displayed it at the turning club meeting.
On the way home, I stopped and picked up a piece of Norfolk with 10 knots around it. I plan to carve five faces into it. That will be an interesting challenge. I would love to do female faces but have not had luck with them so far.
This piece of Norfolk Island Pine has 10 knots running around it. The guy who gave this to me said he had seen one with 14 knots but both of these are really rare. This will be a face vase with five faces around it.
I have a tea pot I started making and it is sitting there in my TO-DO list. It is thicker and heavier than it should be but the wood won't let me get much thinner on the inside. It just dawned on me that I have plenty of wood to add some sort of carving on the outside. That would be easy, just takes time. Another carving project...
Next week, I plan to do something more substantial than crochet hooks and dowels. I want to actually start on the dragon. I have several vases that need to be finished up. I have lots of wood to make use of. I have that palm tree to trim.
during the week, if the storm looks bad, I told mom she can call me and I will come and help pick things up for the storm. that cold kill an evening.
I will see what I actually do next week.
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