64 degrees early morning, 80 degrees in the afternoon, blue skies with broken sheets of haze really high up, sunny, light breeze. This was a really nice day. This weather report was brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
THURSDAY
We had the wood turning club meeting. The demonstration was on using a chain saw to prepare some wood for a natural edge bowl. They touched on chain saw safety, a lot of time on how to decide what part of the wood would be best for your edges and the effects of that choice. We went outside and they cut a piece of wood and rounded it into a bowl shape to place on the lathe.
One thing they had was a set of disks that one sets on the surface to get a measurement of the maximum diameter for the bowl and as a guide for cutting. One could use a big band saw for rounding the blank, but since they did not have one, they used the chain saw, just making light cuts along side the line of the circle.
They explained tips such as using a Forsner bit or a chisel to remove some bark where the center of the drive spur will go. the pocket created makes sure the spur is digging into wood, and it also gives it a nest so it won't wander.
The wood they were working with was a three trunk fork. One side had deep indentations while the other was fairly flat. For this project, they chose to use the fairly flat side for their natural edge. the other side would have deep waves in the rim, which might look good too.
I was given a set of wood pieces. I was told there was Manzanita, there was sycamore, Poinsettia, and other woods. A couple pieces that resembled Cypress Knee wood, was highly varnished and appears to have been legs for a table or something that were cut off. There was also a couple gourds.
I really need to just make a whole bunch of stuff. I have the wood for it.
SATURDAY YARD SALES.
We hit several yard sales. at one, I got some yarn and some knitting needles. just as if I needed them. I already had 96 knitting needles and got another 19 of them. I filled in a gap in my needle sequence and added one set that is even bigger than I had.
I was walking through the church yard sale empty handed, not seeing anything I wanted. I as I walked to the door, I found the yarn and needles in the crook of my arm and they wanted some money for it. I told them it was not mine, but they insisted that I pay for them....
My collection from a couple yard sales. To the left is the jar of buttons and a measuring cup in front of it. Next to them are children's plates. IN the very back are bags of yarn, and to the right and on the very front are knitting needles, stitch holders and a few other items.
There was also a slide and negative scanner. I got that cheap and am letting my mom test it out. Hopefully it will be faster than what she had before.
Mom could not get it working. I worked with it and found that not all the USB ports on her laptop are USB-2 ports which this needs. I swapped ports and it worked perfectly.
At another yard sale, I got a nearly full quart jar of buttons. I can see uses for many of them. I am going to have to dig out all my buttons, then sort them according to style and quality.
Later in the day, I stopped at a yard sale and picked up some metal cookie sheets. I really only wanted one but knew I could find uses for the others.
cookie sheets.
I found a yard sale on the way home and picked up a garbage back full of Tupperware and such. I had looked into the top of two bags and the one I purchased had two things I thought I might be able to use. I did find a bunch of useful stuff. The rest may well be gifted or yard sailed later.
Two views of my collection of Tupperware. I don't have a real need for a lot of this stuff, but got some items of good use.
SATURDAY
Mom had a project for me. She needed her palm tree trimmed. I dug out a ladder, a long extension cord, and my SAWS-ALL. I found that I love the saws-all for trimming.
With the chain saw, the blade moves on top and on the bottom of the blade. One can easily get cut on top and on the bottom of the saw blade. It also, by necessity, kind of wide so it cannot get into tight places.
The Saws-all has a narrow cutting blade only on the bottom. I was able to slip it in between things to make the cut I was after. I feel I have better control.
One thing that happened when I started, was that I selected my largest blade. I quickly found it was not cutting very well. I then fell the teeth and they were dull. I got another blade and that one ate wood. That is another thing. Chain saws are harder to sharpen or swap blades when dull.
Before and after trimming the back of the palm tree.
The trimmings from the palm tree
I dug out the piece of Tababulia I had cut and prepared last week and mounted it on the lathe. I first made a tenon on the back to help hold it. I then swapped ends and started hollowing it, leaving a post in the center with the tail stock holding it in place.
I am essentially leaving the bark in place and removing the wood inside it -- a bark bowl. I made one before and people liked it.
Partially hollowed bark bowl. I have to go deeper.
I have made some cutting bits using planer blades. I have a cutting system where there is a bar handle that has a hole in it with set screws to hold bits. I then made some bit holders to fit into the hole, and then made some bits from pieces of planer blades for hollowing the wood.
One of my favorite is a square bit, essentially a rectangle. I cut straight in with it and it scrapes the bottom of the bowls nicely.
I was hollowing with that bit and the end of it snapped off near the screw that holds the bit in place. My guess was that it hung over the holder too far, not supported enough.
I had two other bits made. One was a D shaped bit. I tried working with that but found it would not stay put, it rotated. I realized that the bit has to held straight by butting up against the holder to keep it from turning.
I had one other bit. It hung out way past the end of the holder and came to a V point. I sat down with my dremmel and a cutting disk and cut the blade shorter. I then sharpened it using a grinding bit on the dremmel, then a grinding stone. I did not quite get it sharp enough.
I used the bit a little but found that I could not get the holder held in place well enough because the allen wrench I was using was stripped. I will grind the end tomorrow until I get to sharp edges again.
As I was cutting with the bit, it fell off and dropped to the ground. I ended up having to put my lathe and stuff away before I could find it, hiding in plain sight...
broken bit and newly made bit in bit holder.
Done with the lathe for a while, I dug out the scroll saw. It had been a while since I used it. the scroll saw is easy to use for simple shapes.
I took my ring for my dream catcher and used the scroll saw to remove the inside ring. That ring could have been used to hold a picture such as a picture frame. I decided I wanted something a whole lot thinner for this project.
The scroll saw is designed so you can unhook the blade on top, slip it into a fine hole or, as in this case, inside a frame, and then cut without passing through the outside. To use a bandsaw for this cut, I would have had to cut the ring to get the bandsaw blade inside.
I cut the ring is three steps. I would cut a distance and turn out to free the wood because it was trying to pinch the blade. I then cut more and removed the section, then finished it.
I took out my band sander that is connected to my angle grinder and removed the little bit of wood I missed, and evened out the inside of the ring. I then touched up the outside and the edges to smooth them out. I did some hand sanding but it will need a whole lot more care. If my bark bowl was not still on the lathe, I would have put the disk sander on the lathe and worked it there as the wide radius would even out the ripples inside a bit better.
My dream catcher ring with carved leaves in the middle. I had removed a inset that was inside the ring to make this look lighter and more proportional.
About that time, at about noon, I decided it was time to clean up. I had done something to show for my day, even though it was not really enough.
'
During the week, I realized that I needed more than four weekends to finish the dragon, or the face vase. I decided I would not even try to get them done. there is a lot of finishing to do after they are carved. Four weeks is not going to be enough.
I plan on going to the Renaissance festival next weekend. That is one whole day of no wood working. I plan to go to the antique shop the following weekend to get all my woodworking and hope to do a test of my display to figure out what would be the best way to arrange everything and see what is even worthy of showing off.
The following weekend is the art show. I will test my display again and then pack everything carefully for the art show so Sunday Morning, I can load up the truck and go.
All this means is that very little substantial wood working will be done over the next few weekends. I will have plenty of time after the show to work.
Tomorrow, I should fix the allen wrench so I can tighten the bit holder. I want to finish the turning process on the bark bowl. I want to clean up that ring and then drill it for the webbing.
I want to do some turning on the tea pot and do some more work on the spot and handle. It would be nice to be able to start assembling it. I would have to get some epoxy for attaching the pieces.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 12, Week 6, Day Two (week 632) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 02-19-12 Sunday
60s in the morning, 86 in the afternoon. blue sky with high spilled milk in the morning, puffs appeared in the afternoon, enough to block the sun the rest of the afternoon. A strong wind with powerful gusts moved sawdust and other things around, knocking empty cups over. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
After petting the beast of the backyard, I trimmed a tree palm tree in mom's front yard. My Saws-all did wonders after I got a sharp blade on it.
I tried to finish the bark bowl. I turned it around with the c chuck inside the mouth to finish the bottom. An after thought was that I should have used the Cole style chucks instead.
I was getting the bottom the way I liked it when it came apart. The bark broke in three pieces I tried to fit them around the remains of the wood and it just would not fit.
I then decided to glue the bark together and make a bottom for it. I got everything just about right, using a wire as a clamp. I am not sure what happened, but there was a movement and the bark came out of alignment and a couple small pieces fell off the edge. I decided there was no way I could make it work so I tossed them.
Broken bark bowl. Piece in front is what is left of the actual wood.
I mounted the sanding disk on the lathe and worked on the ring for my dream catcher. I thing I have it rough sanded enough. I then took a square 12x12 blank I made for a bowl or platter. I ran lines from corner to corner, then drew lines to the centers of the board, I placed my dream catcher ring on it and got it about centered. I transferred the lines of the blank onto the inside of the ring. After measuring, I rotated the ring a quarter of a line, and marked it again. I now have the ring divided into sixteen spaces. I have to do some research but those will be holes for the dream catcher lines to be tied to.
I used the sanding disk to make corrections and round the handle for the tea pot. It is hard when you cannot quite get it in the right position to sand the spot you are after. I will have to use the band sander to clean it up, then loads of hand sanding.
I decided to make a new lid for my tea pot. I dug out a piece of Mahogany and cut a square. I then started turning it round. I had seen there was a crack it in near the face and pried that off with a chisel. There was another crack deeper into the wood but I figured it would not be a problem. I started the top of the lid and made a groove for the chuck to hang onto it. I then put the top into the chuck and started shaping the underside of the lid. I first made an extension, removing wood around it, to fit into the tea pot. I got that right and started working on the rim and the top as much as the chuck would allow me. I ran into a little problem.
You remember that crack I mentioned? It just happened to land on the edge of the lid and a piece broke off. It ended up unsalvageable that went into the garbage.
I will try again next weekend.
I was about done for the day. I slowly packed things up while talking to my brother.
I stopped at ACE HARDWARE to get some small toggle bolts and when I got home, I put up the pot holders I got last week. One bolt ran into the concrete around the window so I had to drill a new hole in the wooden pot rack so it would be held up. The metal pot rack is only held by one toggle bolt. I will have to add something else to help hold it up.
In the process, I broke one toggle, lost one screw, and broke one drill bit. The broken drill bit still drilled well enough.
I got them up and some pots hung. I have changes to make to my arrangement, but it does make for some more room.
Next week, I need to make a lid for the tea pot I want to do a little more turning on the tea pot, making the center of the pot inside a little thinner to remove some weight. I also will have to finish the bottom of the pot which still has a tenon on it. I will also have to do the holes for the tea to go into the spout, and then attach the handle and spout. There is a lot of sanding to be done to everything to make it worthy of looking at and holding. It will get loads of finish to make sure it can take a little water, though it is not really intended for use.
I am also going to the renaissance festival on Saturday so there will be no wood working on Saturday. There will just be enough time after yard sailing to get my act together and head to the fair. I have no idea if I will be going alone or not. If I go alone, I may spend a lot more time there. If my mom goes with me, when she wants to end will make a difference. My main interest at the festival is to see what the vendors have. I also like to spend time watching the artists who work. A blacksmith is always there, a glass blower usually is set up, and a guy who makes little glass figurines using glass rods. They have others at some time or another, depending on the year. I sometimes buy something besides Carmel popcorn when I do the fair.
I will have to see what actual woodworking I get to do next weekend.
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