(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-02-13 Saturday
54 low degrees early morning, 74 high. partly cloudy, mostly sunny. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism
After breakfast, we went yard sailing. We went to one individual yard sale and I picked up a set of those pans that go beneath the burner of electric stoves.
We killed some time and then went to a church rummage sale. This is always a good sale and the lines outside the place was long all day long. As soon as some people would leave, they would let more in.
I picked up a set of six aluminum tart pans for a dollar. They are the perfect size for my toaster oven. I now have to figure out what to fix in them.
Tart pans and burner pans
I also picked up a food processor with a number of different blades. It has a problem where the blades slide on but are tough to take back off again. I will play with it some other time. It might need a shot of oil to allow the blades to slip off and on easily.
Food processor with blades and instructions, and two drafting brushes
I gave a lot of thought to two different bags of thread, but talked myself out of them. I really have no use for thread, but it looked like an interesting idea anyway.
We finally settled back home so I decided to correct a design flaw in the wooden replacement on my stick shift knob. the bottom edge stuck out past the rest of the ball and was bothersome.
One of the things I had to solve for this was how to mount the ball in the lathe and have it at least nearly centered. I remembered that my tail stock takes interchangeable point. I knew I had some points that were flat or hollow.
I dug out my spare points and checked the fit. Some time ago, I took a bolt and machined it so that I can screw into a work and it fits into the tail stock. I found that it fit into the depression in the center of the knob. It was not perfectly centered, but it was very close.
I spun the knob and whittled down the bottom edge of the wood until it was about flush with the metal part of the knob. I also adjusted the shape of the rest of the wood ball.
I sanded lightly and should have sanded more but was feeling lazy. I reinstalled the knob and it feels a whole lot better. I will take some emery boards with me in the truck and when I am in the mood and have the opportunity, I will sand a few rough spots. Otherwise, it is much better than it was, and a lot stronger than the plastic ever was.
The church yard sale had me on my legs at about my limit so a half hour after I finished the knob, I cleaned up the back yard and settled inside. I finished a scarf I was making in Aqua. It was shorter than I liked but it was a whole Skien of yarn. This is my second scarf this year.
Year 13, Week 3, Day two (week 680)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-03-13 Sunday
53 degrees early morning, 70 in afternoon, mostly sunny with patchy clouds. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.
In the morning, I searched my yarn stash to find a yarn that would make a good tassel for the scarf I finished yesterday. I finally found one that looked good against the scarf.
I made the tassels twice as long as I normally do since the scarf was short, about five feet long. It used up the tassel yarn.
I went to Mom's house and she straightened up the ends, trimming the long pieces until they were even. She liked the color of the tassels I chose.
I picked out some interesting yarn for my next scarf. I have some black-and-red striped yarn and that will likely be what I start with. I also have some navy and some slightly lighter blue I picked out also. the striped yarn will be first. I have two balls of that picked out but I will do a different color with the next scarf.
Finished scarf, 5'-0" long plus tassels
I went out back and set up to work. I put up a folding table as my work surface and pulled out my dremmel boxes. I have a single speed dremmel with a axillary speed control on it, then I have a multi speed dremmel which I got at a yard sale a while back in a separate box. My main dremmel box with all my bits and accessories is a metal tool box, and the lid stuck while trying to open it. I jerked hard on the handle and then had to re-pack the stuff that was on the top tray. I never thought to look to see what ended up in the lower section. I don’t need to know right now.
Dragon I started with.
I took the dragon carving I started two years ago, and did a lot of grinding on the tail. If you don't know what to look for, you might not see anything done. I have a lot of grinding to do all over it, but at least it was something.
Right side of dragon after some carving on tail
Left side of dragon after some carving on the tail
I decided how the tail would lean as it curls around and ground away wood where it was no longer needed. I also cleaned up some surfaces.
I remembered that I really don't like getting covered entirely with fine dust. I did a good job of getting covered. It was only after I got home that I remembered that I should have been wearing an apron to protect my clothing. It would make clean-up easier.
It felt good to be working on the dragon for a little bit anyway. I do see that I have a very long way to go before it will look even close to being finished.
Next weekend, I hope to work on the dragon some more, and might do a little bit of wood turning also.
The renaissance fair starts next weekend and Mom has a meeting she would not mind me going to.
I will have to see what I actually do next weekend.
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