64 degrees early morning, A frigid 70 degrees when I got out back of Mom’s house and a tropical 71 degrees when I left. We had constant and gusting strong winds. What wet weather we were supposed to have, left the coast as I was heading to Mom's house. It was drying out the rest of the day. We had broken clouds periodically, but they kept fixing them. I actually saw sunshine twice but they quickly repaired the clouds to solve that. Some clouds looked pregnant at times, but they did not come to term. In the evening, as the sun went down the clouds disappeared and we had clear and starry sky. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach and Sunrise departments of Tourism.
We went yard sailing. One "Trailer park" community had a yard sale. there was three or four homes involved. I picked up some costume jewelry. Some will be used for decorating some art work, while others will be gifts.
Costume jewelry Mom has the glass sea shell container
My nephew handed my mom a laptop computer to give me. It had a little problem. While I thought it was an operating problem, I later found out later that it might be a hard drive. I played with it a little to figure out what exactly the problem was, at least enough to describe to the computer guys I took it to later in the day. I decided to hold off on the repair.
ASUS laptop computer
The beast of the back yard wanted company and some attention. I spent some time reading a new wood turning magazine I received this week while spending time with him. He had been flighty as of late so having good time with him was nice.
I got started on my work quite late. I took a piece of Tababulia (golden shower tree) I received last year and decided it would make an interesting container. It has really thick bark that has partially separated from the wood when it dried. The inner layer of bark thinned out when it dried so there are gaps between the wood and bark. I plan to turn away the wood inside to the bark. I cut the log where the trunk bent. I thought I would fill the gaps with glue and sawdust, but one thing lead to another and that never happened.
I decided to make the spout for the tea pot I started last year. I decided how long it was going to be and how it was going to aim. My first project was to drill the spout out. Since I did not have the technology to have two drills meet in the center of the wood, I had to drill straight from the center of the lip to the bottom of the base.
spout blank already drilled, ready to turn the end centered on the hole.
Once that was drilled, I did some rounding on it at the lip end. I did not go deep, at least not yet. I then changed the centers and turned the base of the spout. Again I did not get deep as I was not sure how much I needed to go. Somehow I did not have the spout exactly centered for either operation. they were equally off centered. One side is flat while the other was starting to round.
I plan to do mostly hand grinding from now on. I will be able to get the shape I am after and even things out. The turning told me where the centers are. I may bandsaw a bit near the lip to reduce the cutting also. This will save some time.
partially shaped spout. The side it is laying on is flat and that has to be corrected
I decided I had enough for the day and packed up my equipment. I felt sad I did not accomplish anything, but it was just not that kind of day.
My truck was having some starting problems for several weeks. I figured out tonight that I would have been able to diagnose the problem sooner if I did not have the radio blaring.
I drove to a computer store to see what it would cost to get the computer fixed. I was not ready to put out that kind of money at his time. I will check some local stores and see what they have to say.
When I went to start my truck, the starter motor started spinning and continued to spin when I turned the key off. I had to disconnect the battery to get it to stop. I did that a couple more times with the same effect. I called my brother and he decided to come over and have a look. Confirming what the problem was, we went and got a starter, began the process of removing it. We found we could not get to the wires to take it out. The truck was too low to get beneath the starter and there was no way to maneuver it at arm’s reach. We went to his house to get some jack stands. The sun was going down when we pulled up upon returning. A couple hours later, after we broke two broke wire connectors, we got the truck running. He did the worst of the work and he really struggled. While we were working, I started feeling chilled and grabbed a jacket I had in the truck. Near the time when he finished, he was feeling the chill. When I got home it was already 57 degrees, on the way to the 40s.
Tomorrow, I really need to show some production in some way. I don't have many weekends before my art show and I want to have something to show for it. If the dragon, face vase, dream catcher, and tea pot were not finished, it would not be a real problem, but it would be really nice to have them on display.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 12, Week 5, Day Two (week 631) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 02-12-12 Sunday.
46 degrees when I got up, 55 degrees when I got out back and 64 degrees when I left at two. Puffs, feathers and sheets filled the sky and got thick enough to block the sun for most of the morning. It was only in the afternoon that the sun finally came out and made things warm. this weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Noon sky facing west toward the ocean.
Tree on left is a Mango tree in blossom.
I had a later than normal start this morning because I got to bed two hours later than normal last night. Right after I arrived, Mom and I went to check out what was supposed to be a big yard sale.
Following the address in the paper, we went to what was a farmer's market. All sorts of foods and such. Samples were offered all over, but I chose not to sample most of the time. I purchased some apple bananas, which are small bananas. the price was pretty good. I picked up some green ones and let them ripen in the next week or so.
We were leaving and then saw the sign for the yard sale. It was on the other side of the road, they had the address wrong.
This was inside. there were a number of things that were interesting, but I walked out with a pair of wall mounted pot racks. One was made of metal and the other was made of bent wood. We thought it was of plastic but when examining it after I got to Mom's house, I saw the grain of the wood showing through the paint on the surface that was against the wall. My brother suggested that I strip the paint off and let the wood show.
I saw there were some surface rust on the metal one so I gave it a coat of black paint. It looked a whole lot better.
When I got home, I tried to mount the metal one on the kitchen wall where my pots hang already. I found out that the wall is wallboard with concrete block about an inch behind. Even with anchors stuck in, the screw would not hold the metal pot rack. Some of the problem is that the pot rack is held in place by only one screw in the center. It needs wood. The wooden one had two screw holes, and there were others, and since it was wood, I could add even more, but I decided to wait on that. I might get a sheet of plywood and stick it up on that wall for the screws to go into. I will see some other time.
Pot racks, white one is made of wood. I painted the metal one on the bottom to cover some surface rust in a few places.
I finally got outside and the beast of the back yard wanted company again. I gave him some. I even got up several times and he stayed put, even when my brother came, which is kind of unusual. It was only when my brother started moving around a lot that he took off to his hiding place.
I dug out the lathe and put my sanding disk on it. I bandsawed the spout of the tea pot to remove wood that I did not want to grind away, and then used the disk sander to shape it. After I had the shape about right, I used the dremmel to shape the lip and the base of the spout. I have a lot more sanding before I can mount it on the tea pot.
I also worked on the handle. I showed it to my brother and he made a suggestion on the shape. I did some re-shaping, but did not do any rounding. that would be next. I need to make a new lid for this tea pot as I did not like the old one. It had shrinkage cracks. The body of the tea pot is Florida Mahogany. The handle and spout is made of Honduras Mahogany. They look different especially when finished.
I still have some wood turning to do on the tea pot itself. I think I can reduce some wood on the inside, and I still have to work the base. I will attach the spout and handle with epoxy and have to have a hole drilled for the tea to come out the spout.
Except for not having the lid on this is about the arrangement of my tea pot.
I took sawdust from the disk sander that has accumulated over time. I added a little water, and then some glue. I made that to a paste consistency and worked it into the space between the bark and wood of the Tababulia I want to make as a bowl. Afterwards, I figured out that I should have poured the mixture in before I added more sawdust, so that it would get deep into all the folds of the bark. I might do that next week since I have plenty of sawdust left. What I added to the log was still damp when I left so that will be dry next weekend.
I accomplished little today because of an extremely late start and a lack of gumption. I will suffer for this as the art show approaches.
I have a turning club meeting this Thursday. I won't have anything to show for it.
I will have to do some heavy carving next weekend. I don't have time to waste. I only have four weekends to be ready for the art show. It really does not look like any of my projects will be ready. I expect to lose at least one day for the renaissance fair that is in town right now. I need to spend one or two weekends practicing my display, setting up a table the right size and seeing how things are going to look, then packing them in opposite order that they would go into the display. I want at practice it at least twice to make sure I can do it quickly. I have done it without practice, and with practice and it helps with practice. There is a time limit to get things set up. the less deciding I do at the show, the better.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
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