(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-20-13 Saturday
88 degrees, high feathers and plates, lower plateaus, and low puffs with some blue showing in the morning, lower clouds thickened up as the day wore on. Good breeze but no liquid sunshine at all. We are many inches above normal this week and this month for liquid sunshine falling. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
We hit a few yard sales. One had some cast aluminum pipe benders. I considered them strongly, but my brother already has his pipe benders and his is steel. I don't see where I will need one in the very near future so I decided not to get them. Who knows, in a couple years, I will be kicking myself for not getting them, but this time I said no.
There was another yard sale across the street and he had some interesting items. I found a dremmel and picked it up for five bucks. I tested it there and it ran, and did different speeds.
After we left, I found that the button that locks the chuck (so you can remove the collet or loosen it to remove a bit,) was frozen. Well I have a little secret. I know how to loosen that up!!!!
Several years ago, I picked up the cheapest electric dremmel. It had one-speed and was $49. The one I got is multi speed which would be about $80 or so.
This dremmel had a tiny bit of rust around the shaft and on the button. It was where moisture could get to it. When I got home, I sat with sand paper and WD-40. I squirted the oil around the button, and then sat and sanded, and sanded, all around. I got the button to mash down but did not want to come up on its own. I pulled it up with a pair of pliers and sanded some more, soon it was popping out on its own through spring pressure.
It has a collet, where one has jaws of different sizes based on the diameter of the shaft. The way it works is that you find the closest jaw to the shaft of the bit, slip the jaw in and put the collet around it, and slip the bit into the jaws, and as the collet is tightened it causes the jaws to clamp down on the bit. The problem is that you have to change jaws each time you change the diameter of the shaft. My other two units has a chuck on it that will allow the largest of the dremmel style bits in, and will clamp down on the smallest bits and even fine wires, all just by twisting the ring on the collet. I will have to get one of those for this later.
After petting the kitties, which are becoming quite rambunctious but easier to pet, I set up the mini lathe. I wanted to machine the oak rods I made down to the proper size for crochet handles. I have a crochet hook with a handle to compare with and decided to go a bit bigger. What I ended up doing is making the rods each slightly smaller than the other, still big. the smallest crochet hooks would get the smallest handles.
Once I had each rod the right size, I measured carefully and marked the mid point. My method is to take a ruler and measure, then shift the ruler a few marks so that the center is on an easy to find line. An example, The rod measures 4 and 3/8 inches. I would shift the scale 3/16 inches (1 1/2" lines) and when I go to 2". it is exactly center. I put my mark and then check by measuring the second half just to satisfy that did it right. One can use millimeter or actually any kind measurement as one is not after an actual number, but an easy mark.
I have a parting tool for the lathe. It removes about an eight inch of material. I will have to make a different design bit later. I touched the ends of the rod to make them square, and then used it to cut the two halves apart. The tail stock had put a nice dimple on each end during the process of making them so that centering the hole for the rods would be easy.
As a last step, I dug out my drill bits and checked to see which would work for each diameter rod. I hoped to have a drill bit for each rod but ended up with only four drill bits for ten rods. I was just putting things away when Mom suggested we go visit a sick relative in the hospital. I cleaned up for the day.
I saw a picture of something I can crochet for the hook set I am making. it was one of those pocketed rolls. You have pockets to put pencils, crochet hooks, files into it and then roll it up into a small package so they are all protected. I did not want to fill out the form to access the pattern, but I know the concept and it won't be hard to do (famous last words).
I've had a busy week with little getting done so I decided I needed to get home. I left a lot earlier than normal.
I stopped at Cracker Barrel, a chain restaurant and souvenir shop. they have all sorts of interesting things with a home and southern theme. They are carrying cast iron pans now. I stopped and had a look just at the cast iron, to see what they had and what they cost. I have a little three inch cast iron pan. I found it to be great for individual eggs that will go into a bun or something. they had them for six bucks. I sort of want two more, since three could fit on my burner easily. but forced myself to walk away since I had no intention of spending money today. I also saw other pans they had, like a grill, lids, muffin pans, just to name a few. I now have a wish list.....
Last night, I handed off one of my small cast iron pans to a friend. She hugged the pan a little. Another friend said she loved cast iron and I told her I will bring her one next week. This will leave me with three of the medium sized pans. I THINK I can live with that. It all depends on Yard sales.......
I stopped at a yard sale on the way home. There was eight things I would have picked up just three years ago, but don't have a need for them now.
A crochet caddy as shown by Lion Brand Yarn on Face book. I have to make this for my set
Last week, I had made some bread for the first time. It is something that should be done at least once, if nothing more than bragging rights. I have one of my mini loaves left.
I get newsletters from some cooking sites in one of my many E-mail accounts. One sometimes have restaurant copycat recipes. This morning, I opened one and it had Olive Garden Bread sticks. I opened that and they started with frozen yeast dough. A short time later, I wondered if I could freeze yeast dough I make so I can have fresh bread or other things using yeast dough, any time I wanted.
During the day, I talked to three friends who know cooking and they said yes, I can freeze yeast dough. Let it rise once. One of the friends had some of my bread and he said that if it were available in stores, he would buy it. I guess mine came out good.
Next time my freezer starts showing lots of room, I will make some bread dough, portion it out and freeze it. Then, when I decide I want something, I can skip the big mess steps to have something really good.
Tomorrow, I likely will work on the crochet hooks, but will have to see what I really do.
Year 13, Week 26, Day two (week 672)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-21-13 Sunday
89 degrees, good wind, solid clouds, lots of humidity. The ground is saturated and the heat is sucking it back into the air to make the air thick. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
My brother got his engine for his truck and was not coming up to Mom's house because he was replacing the engine of his truck. I operate differently when he is coming up and when he is not.
I dug out my crochet hooks, handles and drill bits. I took my size gauge into the garage and checked to see what was at the drill press. I found one the right size. That helped.
I brought everything into the garage and, after checking often, I drilled the holes for the two biggest rods. One was a loose fit and the other had way too much room. I can deal with that. I then drilled the next four handles with one size, and the last four with the a smaller size.
back outside, I took the second largest rod and spread glue on it and rolled it in sander dust. When I glue it in, that solidified glue and sander's dust should be enough to hold it tight.
I have three rods that I need to sand or cut them thinner where they go into the handle. The rest will glue in nicely.
I might make a new E-sized rod. That one, the hook broke on one end, I flipped it around and broke that hook, then flipped it back around and got it right. It is a whole lot shorter than the others. My original idea was to cut the others shorter. I changed my mind, for the moment. I will consider it as a fun "quick" project next time.
Crochet hooks with handles. The three on the left are too big for the holes I drilled. None are glued in. I've had a busy week with little getting done so I decided I needed to get home. I left a lot earlier than normal.
I stopped at Cracker Barrel, a chain restaurant and souvenir shop. they have all sorts of interesting things with a home and southern theme. They are carrying cast iron pans now. I stopped and had a look just at the cast iron, to see what they had and what they cost. I have a little three inch cast iron pan. I found it to be great for individual eggs that will go into a bun or something. they had them for six bucks. I sort of want two more, since three could fit on my burner easily. but forced myself to walk away since I had no intention of spending money today. I also saw other pans they had, like a grill, lids, muffin pans, just to name a few. I now have a wish list.....
Last night, I handed off one of my small cast iron pans to a friend. She hugged the pan a little. Another friend said she loved cast iron and I told her I will bring her one next week. This will leave me with three of the medium sized pans. I THINK I can live with that. It all depends on Yard sales.......
I stopped at a yard sale on the way home. There was eight things I would have picked up just three years ago, but don't have a need for them now.
Next week, what I do really depends on the weather. A really good day might have me making wheels for a wagon on the big lathe. A slightly miserable day might have me working the mini lathe. A bad day might have me doing something else.
I will see what I do next week.
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