Week 630 Woodworking

Year 12, Week 4, Day One (week 630)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-12-12 Sunday

 

88 degrees at ten, 94 at noon, 96 at three. A good breeze moved sawdust around a little made the temps quite tolerable. Smears of clouds on the blue sky in the morning, spreading into a thicker shield. A few puffs in the morning but they went away, only to return in the afternoon. I was well inside for the day when weather actually arrived. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


DURING THE WEEK

For the past several weeks, my company was bringing me back and forth to work. Thursday afternoon, I got word that they were having problems and would not be able to get me to work on Friday. Once I got home, Mom and I went to check on a truck I looked at previously. We ended up getting it.
The truck is a black Ford Ranger with a six cylinder engine, overload springs and lifters in back, extra large tires. It runs so I hope it will keep me going for a month before I need to do repairs.  I now have a ride.
Mom had me get 30 bags of mulch (she was planning on having me get them the day of the accident so it is four months late). With the load on it, the truck "smiled" and was fun to drive.
I took Friday off to get tags and insurance. I went to the wrong place for the tag and walked farther than I had to day in one stretch, both ways. I did fairly well, though I was not happy about it. Few of my other stops  for the day were of consequence. 

SUNDAY


I was talking to a drummer. He  gave me oak and Cherry boards. I decided to try to make a pair of drum sticks. I had made magic wands and people wondered if they were drumsticks. I made some hand measurements, placing it against my arm and hand and seeing the scale they would have to be.

I took the oak board since it was thicker, and cut it into square sticks longer than a drumstick was. I came up with three of them the right size and one a bit too narrow when I ripped the board pieces to width. That one will have to become involved in crochet.

I first rounded them, setting each to the side. When I was working the third one, it came loose from the tail stock and I stopped the lathe. The wood cracked on the end, so my first two were going to be my first drumsticks.

I then re-mounted them and got the basic drumstick shape. I need to do that a third time to fine-tune the shape and get it well sanded.

I did these in steps because I was not sure how long I could last on my feet. I did fairly well, sitting in front of a fan while preparing the next piece.
This was the first time I used the big lathe since the accident since it required standing, so I held off, avoiding it until I had a project that would not require long standing. I am not quite ready for really serious working, but can do light work like these drum sticks.

I hope to have half a dozen sets of sticks by the end of the year.

Since I am going with what feels right, I cannot plan ahead.
I will see what I do next week

 

 A picture of me with my hat and cane after losing 30 pounds

 A picture of me without the hat

 A picture of the truck I got