Year 13, Week 28, Day 0ne (week 674)

Year 13, Week 28, Day 0ne (week 674)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-04-13 Saturday
   
    85 degrees, fully cloudy. A storm was off the coast making faces at us but unwilling to take us on seriously. The breezes were light but with nice gusts once in a while. Some storm weather was working its way from the west and it reached the main highway as I was heading home. It was more like a shock wave and a short distance from the highway it was over other than a persistent Seattle rain that was light enough to ALMOST be ignored.
    This weather report is brought to you by the cities of Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Light House Point Departments of Tourism.
   
    We were kind of surprised that there were yard sales out. I saw a lot of things that were rather interesting, but I had no reason to get them. that is rather sad.
    I did end up getting three books on bread making. I gave one to my niece. She is interested in making bread. Earlier in the week I had given her a bread recipe I used to make bread and also the Pasta recipe.
    




 Two of three baking books I got at a yard sale.

    We decided to take the kittens to a shelter. Mom cannot afford to feed five kitties. We tried three shelters . One was not taking any feral cats so that was out. We went to our normal place and that site was closing. We went to their main location and they took in the kitties.
    Mom still has old Scarface, who has been in more fights the past few weeks, and we still have Mamma kitty.
We stopped at a few other places and then went home.
   
I did finish another scarf. I was just short a few pairs of tassels when I was done with that ball of yarn. That is really close. Those missing pairs are not likely noticed. It looks good.
I had to do laundry and started a carry case for the wooden crochet hooks I've been making. The yarn is on a cardboard center. I was going to make it into a ball that will pull out from the center. I got the ball partly done and realized that there was more yarn in the original ball than I thought. I stopped and started working on the chain for the project. I got partly done and decided to stop. A bit later I restarted and found I had a tangle that involved three lines. The line from the big ball, the line from the center of the small ball, and a line from the outside of the small ball. I found that when the yarn is wound into a ball that pulls out the center, it twists tighter and tighter. That twist added to the tangle until I had to give up. It was just too much as the center kept pulling out too easily. this is a tight yarn, almost a string, rather than the fluffy stuff I normally use. In other words it was slick. I will restart with another ball.
    


 Latest finished scarf. Six foot long.


The weather tomorrow is supposed to be better so I hope to get some wood working done.
   
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
   
   
   
   
Year 13, Week 28, Day 0ne (week 674)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-04-13 Saturday
   
    88 degrees, Some sun, high pebbles and feathers, low puffs, nice breeze. The puffs got a little thicker and the sun could not dodge them during most of the day.
   
    A project I've been looking at for a couple months is to replace a wheel on one of Mom's wagons. The plastic broke out in the center and it fell off.
    Mom suggested I make it out of wood. My brother had left a piece of two by ten yellow pine a while back and that was perfect for this project. It was more material than needed for these wheels.
   
the kind of wheel I was replacing.



    The first thing I did was to disassemble the original wheel. I was surprised to find out that the tire is thin about a sixteenth of an inch thick. It is on there to look good and give the wheels some stick so they roll rather than slide. I figured out later that they must have heated the tire and stretched it to put it onto the rim.
   
    Next I had to mark the two by ten board for several wheels. The first one had a knot in the center and that was not going to be good for a wheel, but would make an excellent plate. Knots add character.
    I cut the second board, located the center, drew a circle about the same diameter as the wheel, drilled a hole in the center which I later found out was not straight. So much for taking a short cut rather than walking to the garage and using the drill press.
    I was going to hold it on the lathe with a screw so I put a screw into the center. I cut away the corners leaving wood outside. I was adjusting for errors in centering by providing padding.
 

 
board cut on band saw.

    I mounted it on the lathe by opening the chuck as wide as possible and then using the tail stock ram to hold the wood against the chuck. I had the lathe on low speed while I knocked off the high points on the edges, then increased the speed as I got it rounder and rounder.
    I took the wheel off a couple times to measure and check it. This was when I found out that I did not drill straight. It was not centered on the back side. That forced me to work on one side only. I re-rounded the outside, then squared the faces, and then coved in on the face of the wheel. it does not need all that wood in the "spoke" area. I left the center column in place when I was done and can use that to adjust the fit on the wagon. It might end up going on the inside to give clearance.    
    I tried to put the tire on the wooden wheel. It was hard to get it off the plastic. It is even harder to get it onto the wood. Like I said earlier, I think they heated the rubber to put it on as it was not going on cold.
 
 
finished wheel, with original rim and tire.

   
    In the old days, I could have done two or three wheels and not be tired, but this one wheel was all I could do today. There is a lot of walking and standing to do in order to get set up, and to clean up. I was wore out after one wheel. It was fun to make something large instead of the crochet hooks I've been making to date.
   
    I had some running to do with my mom so I ended up cleaning up after that to get going.
   
    I don't know what will happen next weekend. Things have been too strange to plan ahead. Whatever it is, I will see what I will do then.