week 279 Woodworking

Year 13, Week 13, Day One (week 679)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-27-13 Saturday


    On the 17th, I had passed the start of my 13th year of woodworking. Back on January 17th 2000, I decided that because my dad was in his 80s, I did not want one of those "I wish I had done, I wish I had said, kind of situation when his demise finally came. Over the next years, he and I had some good times together. He taught me how to carve, make my own knives, and set the foundation for my other woodworking. He died about five years ago and I have continued to work wood, creating some pieces he would be really proud of.
   

    I have not done much woodworking over the past few months since my accident. I've only done some quick projects like drum sticks, crochet hooks, and some crosses.

    Lately, I have had some health problems that kept me away from my woodworking. Sometimes I was simply unwilling to get covered in saw dust as it would aggravate some of my problems, even if it was only perceived.

    I also work outside, so inclement weather prevents woodworking. Electrical equipment and rain don't get along.

    The urge to do wood working has increased over time. In the past couple weekends, opportunity and conditions came together.


    A month or so ago, I repaired the stick shift of my truck. It has an aftermarket ball on top and had come loose. It took me a bit to figure out how it came off and went back on. I put it back together and over-tightened the screw, cracking the plastic hemisphere. Over time, that started breaking apart.

    Saturday, I took the ball off and went out back with it. I took it apart and took measurements as to what size piece of wood I needed, and to figure out the best way to remake the project out of wood.
    the week before, I was thinking about making the part out of metal, plastic, and other materials, then it dawned on me that I work wood and could make it on my lathe.
    A block of Zebra wood would have been nice for this project, but the only wood that was really the right size was some POPULAR I had. I cut a piece off that would be more than big enough. The piece was two and a half by three, and I made it a three by three by two and a half cube.
    I located the center after I sanded the wood at the disk sander, and then dug out the forsner bits my mom has. the plastic sphere has a small hole through it for centering and shortening the screw. It then has a larger diameter hole for a decorative metal plug that the screw goes into. I drilled the larger hole first, then drilled the smaller hole all the way through the piece so I could find the center easily on the other side since I did not get the drill exactly centered on my lines.
The broken plastic sphere on stick shift knb



    To work the wood on the lathe, I put the tail stock point right inside the hole which it fit just right, and used a friction fit on the face of the chuck, rather than closing down on it. I figured this would automatically center the piece.
    Using the friction fit, I gently started shaping the top of the piece. I stopped after I got a good start and band sawed the corners off to make rounding it better.
    Using calipers, I measured the size I needed several times. I also took the piece off to check the fit and depth since I had more room than I needed.
    When I was satisfied with the size of the piece, I parted it most of the way and then used a handsaw to finish the cut all the way around.
    I then found that the smaller inner hole was not as big as needed and carefully mounted the piece in the chuck and gingerly enlarged the center hole.
    Once I got the piece finished, I put it together and stuck it on the shift column. I need to make an adjustment on it, as I mis-measured on the size at the bottom edge, and could adjust the shape slightly. I plan to do that this next weekend. It is not bad otherwise. 



The parts including wood sphere

Assembled stick shift ball


    Sunday

    A couple weeks ago, I  had picked up some cutting boards at a yard sale. On the way to Mom's house Saturday, I grabbed a swivel stool that someone was throwing away. cutting boards before cleaning

    I dug out the palm sander and sanded each of the cutting boards to clean up cuts and some oil that got spilled on them. The smaller cutting board had a burned spot where they put a pan on it. there is some of that blackening still on there but I got it cleaned. Later in the week, I gave them a coat of vegetable oil so they can be used.

    I also sanded the seat of the stool as it was dirty. I should dig out a detail sander or dremmel to clean up around the backrest but cleaning up the main seat was really what was needed. I might later give it a coat of varnish for protection. I will see.swivel stool after sanding bottom

    I have hopes of some wood working this weekend, but will see how the weekend goes first.