In My "Spare" Time: Year 14, Week 36, Day One (week 683)

Year 14, Week 36, Day One (week 683)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-28-13 Saturday

82 degrees in the morning, 89 in the afternoon, loads of puffs and towers, some blocking the sun for a short time, stiff breeze kept it feeling cool. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I figured out this weekend that the real pleasure of yard sailing is not, finding things you need, or finding things you want. It is actually finding things that you did not know you needed or wanted. You see something and know it is what you are really missing.
In yard sailing this weekend, I did not spend too much money. At one yard sale, I picked up a bundle of 76 chop sticks, a see-through ruler and a triangular architectural scale, and a plastic compass that uses a standard pencil. All that for dollar fifty.
At another yard sale, I picked up two boxes, one had foam, rubber, and plastic stamps and ink pads. I also got an embossing kit with anvil, hammer, letter stamps, and disks. all for five bucks.
The embossing kit forced me to dig into the shed to get two letter sets I had. The new one is a size between the two I already had. Mom has a need for these to make metal tags (using some sheet metal flashing I got last month) for her plans so she can remember what they are.

Since I got all those chop sticks, after I photographed everything, I counted how many sticks I had and looked at the condition. I assume that the sticks were all used once for dinners.
I figure I can "destroy" them in any way I wish. They will be used as Crochet hooks, dowels, rods, and anything that meets my needs. I happen to have a couple boxes of chop sticks at home so making use of these don't bother me one bit.

I had eight round chop sticks (Japanese style) and I immediately shaped the handle end and cut in the slot to make them into crochet hooks. I got mostly "I" sized hooks, but a few "J" sized hooks. The chop sticks are not all bamboo. Bamboo is excellent for crochet hooks. It bends and breaks with difficulty.
I messed with a couple small ones, trying to knock off some corners. They were not Bamboo and they broke easily.
As mentioned before, many of my other chop sticks will also become crochet hooks. They can also be used as dowels to connect two pieces of wood together. They will all be used over time.

I have several sized cast iron pans I use regularly. They are usually stacked on one burner of my stove when I am not using them. I decided to make a cup-hook rack to hang them next to the stove but off the surface.
While getting the letter punches out of the shed, I ran across a package of hooks of various sizes. Later I picked up some larger hooks at ACE HARDWARE. Mom purchased it for me. She told me that she thinks they are a tiny bit big for my Christmas ornaments....
Looking around for some wood, I found a piece of Basswood board that had some cracks running down the center. I cut on the cracks, which was not exactly straight. The wood was rough sawn at the saw mill and had been laying around for a couple years. It was well covered with aged sawdust.
I used the disk sander on it. I did not get all the saw marks out, and I did not get it absolutely straight and square. I drilled fine holes into the wood for the screws and put in the cup hooks. I over-turned one cup hook and it broke. the end did not come out easily so I left that in.
I will claim that it has a "RUSTIC" LOOK..... rather than looking lazy and sloppy.

The dental molding I am using for pasta drying racks were missing a dental. I solved the problem with wood and glue.
One I had glued the damaged strip of dental molding top down on a stick and then sanded off the damaged pieces between the dentals. the count was off. I glued another dental onto it and clamped it tight to dry. Later I sanded off the wood backing so it was even with the others.
On the other one, a dental was missing, but it was the end of the stick. I had a couple chop sticks where they were made from one piece of wood and were designed to be split apart to be used. I cut the solid back off the chop stick, then made a half-lap joint between the dental molding and the chop stick so the top would be flush with the bottom of the gap that was sticking out. I then took my remaining piece of dental and glued that on upside down and then clamped it tight with a backer piece. I filled the spaces with glue, let it dry, changed the clamp so the backer piece was gone and the clamp applied the full force on the "sandwich" of wood and then let that dry. The result seems very strong. It does not look great, but should work fine since I don't see great forces on these.

We went to the Chinese buffet and that killed some of my working time. Any reduction of food I may have done all week, and will do this next week, was completely erased with that one meal.

My back complained about bending over on Thursday at the grocery store and it still bothered me this morning. My wrist was acting up and so was my leg. By mid day, though, my back stopped hurting and my other bothers were sometimes unnoticeable. When I started packing up to go home, that was when my back started bothering me again. I had some back damage in the accident and it has been doing well simply because I have been extra careful and have avoided really doing anything. I am not totally sure what it is but for some reason, packing up after a day of projects is hard on my back. I need to look at what I am doing to see what is causing it.

I have a number of projects to work on tomorrow. I will have to see what I actually accomplish.

Year 14, Week 36, Day Two (week 683)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-29-13 Sunday

89 degrees, puffs moving around quickly, strong breeze to make it feel cool. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

In the morning, I decided to put up the pan rack I made. I quickly realized I made a slight tactical error in the design. the holes the mounting screws are supposed to go into should actually be larger than the screw so all screwing force is into the wall rather than moving the screw through the wood of the board. I had used a fine bit just to give a tiny give in the wood as the screw went through and to guide the screw straight.
I searched for the materials I needed to do the work. My FORDUM motor tool has a chuck that would hold the drill bit I selected, but I could not find the chuck key anywhere. A little battery powered motor tool I have just did not have the guts to do the work. I located an electric drill and that did the job. I drilled out the holes so that while the hole was still too small, it make screwing through it much easier. The pans look natural hanging there now. they are right next to the stove while out of the way.

I stopped at a yard sale on the way to Mom's house. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I found a knee brace in the style of an unloader brace, where it forces the knee straight. It is exactly what I was attempting to design and build several months ago, but did not have the working technology to make it work. What is more, It only cost me $2.
It took a little bit to figure out how to put it on. I got it on and was walking around with it just before Mom got home. I had it on the outside of my clothing so I could get a feel for if it was going to work. It encases almost my whole leg.
We went to the Festival Flea Market, which is on Sample Road next to the turnpike in Pompano Beach. It is a large mall filled with tiny little flea market vendor shops. There are also some larger stores in there including an Antique mall Furniture stores, food court, a Farmer's market. My favorite store is DOLLAR AND UP. It is almost like yard sailing, as it has wonderful things, just like a yard sale has. There are two sites, one is a big store and the other is a medium sized booth. they are operated by the same people but have some different selections. If you cannot find it at one, you can find it at the other, sometimes.
With the new brace, I walked the mall from about half way to the end and back. My leg itself did not do to bad. The brace, though, pressed into my leg at a couple places. I have to work with it and figure out padding and settings to make it comfortable to wear all day long. There are problems with having it outside the clothing, but those problems will be cleared up after I work out the setup of the brace.

I finally got to get outside. It was already getting late. I cut the sticks for my pasta drying racks. One of the tools I dug out when I looked for my letter punches was a jig saw attachment for a drill. It just happened that the dental molding is longer than can fit in my band saw so I put the jig saw attachment on the drill and cut right through the wood. It would have been better to clamp the board down so I could hold the drill with one hand and the jig saw with the other, but instead I used the stick to keep the jig saw from spinning on the drill.
This time, I sanded all the pieces, squaring the ends on the disk sander. To do that, I eyeball it square to the sanding disk, touch it, then rotate a quarter turn and touch it again. Usually two or three full rotations will square up the ends nicely as each time it goes up against the spinning disk, it is flattened top to bottom. That evens out any angle errors.
Since in was late, I decided to not try to do the prep-work for assembling the drying racks. it will be a quick project next weekend.

Just before Mom asked to go out to the Festival Flea market. I was trying to tip the table of the table saw on a 45 degree angle. I had cut blanks for Christmas Ornaments but wanted to put it on a 45 degree angle to cut for the fish ornaments. I have to figure out how to tip the table as I need to lop off some wood with the stick at a 45 degree angle. The way I have been doing it is dangerous and was trying to find a safer way to do it. tipping the table of the bandsaw might be the way to do the project safely.
I just now wonder if there was a pin or something on the opposite side of the angle control that needs to be pulled to tip the table. I will work it out next weekend.

I have loads of projects to work on next weekend. I will just have to see what projects will get priority.

I will see what I do next weekend.