Year 15, Week 30, Day One (week 727)

Year 15, Week 30, Day One (week 727)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-16-14 Saturday

92 degrees, dropping down to the mid 80s in the afternoon after the sun went behind the clouds, partly cloudy all day with them thickening into towers as the day wore on. There was some wetness on the road in a small section in the morning and we got a little bit in the later afternoon. Most of what we saw were over the Everglades heading away from us. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.

We hit a couple yard sails early in the morning but we did not find anything of interest. We got home and all of us napped for a while. I then went out on my own for yard sailing. I hit half a dozen yard sales and did not find anything I could not live without. Mid way through my run down the back roads, I came to where there was wetness on the road so I skipped that entire section since I figured they would have packed up. A dozen blocks down it dried up again. I then worked my way back north on the back ways, shifted to one of the main roads to bypass the executive air port. There I found a yard sale. Good stuff but the only thing that caught my eye was a travel fishing pole. It was in a case. I got that and ended up giving that to my new dad.

A friend of mine pointed out in an E-mail a project where you make rug needles out of tooth brushes. I decided to give it a try. I did have some tooth brushes that would work for this project, but I also have a seemingly nearly inexhaustible supply of wood. I have some Sea-Grape wood that I had split and had a few thin split pieces laying around. 
I took a nice piece of wood and split it into usable pieces. I used my knife to finalize the size and shape of the first needle. I used a cutting disk first to make the eye, and it slipped and went longer than planned. I then decided that a wheel bur would work better so I used that to make the eye.
Knowing better what I needed to do, I quickly made three more. I used the disk sander (the sanding disk needs replacement) to finish the shape and getting the surface closer to what is needed. I am not in a position to test them out right now. I do know I need to sand them some more, which is typical for me. These are not pretty but I do think they will work. I am worried that the first needle might break, but the others seem strong enough.

My first rug needles, one piece I started working on and a piece of wood yet to be touched. Not the dark color of the surface. The wood will turn that color as it ages. 

The good side of the four rug needles.

The five toothbrush crochet hooks and the bad side of the  four  rug needles.

I used the crochet hooks that I made last week on a scarf I am working on. These were made from tooth brushes  A couple were made so the hook was on the side that the curved handle bent up. The other four had the handle on top were bent down. I found they felt similar in use. It was not spectacular in differences.  It might show with heavy use. While they could be sanded and polished, I decided that the yarn should do a good enough job of that and the roughness was not a serious problem.

At one point in the day, I had the cat on my lap. She melted. It is kind of fun to have a furry puddle of cat in your lap. I had to set her on the ground when I HAD to get up. She was a bit disappointed with me over that.

I did find that I damaged my camera. I took a nap with it in a pouch on my belt and apparently something got pressed hard on the screen in back. It will take pictures, but I cannot see what the settings are and cannot see to change it. I would simply have to take pictures and hope I get them. Luckily, I do have another camera. This one will become an emergency camera now. It will take pictures. 

I hope to do more wood working tomorrow. It would be nice to say I accomplished something this weekend.

Year 15, Week 30, Day Two (week 727)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-17-14 Sunday

92 degrees at noon, 86 at about three. Hazy sky high up, a few puffs showing up. Around two, a thunder tower built up over the Everglades and then faded off in the distance. The haze thickened to where you could just barely see the sun through the clouds overhead. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I hit one yard sale and got some games, some smokeless ash trays, a Vinyl repair kit, and a plastic cutting board. I was thinking of gifts rather than for myself. The nice thing is that if they are something I decide not to let go of, that is all right too.

Vinyl repair kit, has iron, color touch up, patches, and press rod, along with instructions.

Plastic cutting board.

Game set. seems all there except playing cards.

Smokeless ash trays with extra filters. They have a little fan in them that pulls the smoke through the filters.


I then got curious as to the design of the crochet hooks I made last week and tested yesterday. I wondered if holding the handle sideways would feel better. I had some extra tooth brushes to play with. I removed the brush from two of the handles, and held one with the curve to me and put the hook on top, and then held the second one with the hook away from me and put the hook on top. I was not too happy on how they felt in my hand in a quick check. I then decided to use the third brush I had to put the hook on the curve up side. The other two I did that were just slightly off straight, while this new one was a strong upward tip. 
In the quick tests I did with the three new crochet hooks, they were not quite as comfortable as the ones that pointed down. I will need to give them a better test to see if that feeling is true.  
One thing I learned with the first hooks I made, the shaft itself could do well to be longer. There is a long taper and the diameter increases as you go away from the end. The shaft might change two sizes as you get closer to the handle. I took the time to make the shaft approximately the same diameter for at least an inch. I used my knife and dremmel to get it about the same diameter the entire way, then used files and sandpaper to make it smooth.

Having time I found a piece of split Sea grape that was about as long as the tooth brushes. I had considered making handles the shape of the tooth brushes and then sticking the crochet rods into the handles. Since I had the piece of wood right on hand (I can make a whole lot more as I have a bunch more pieces of split sea grape in a bin) I split it in half, then took my knife and shaved the first piece of wood till the ridges was gone. I then shaved down one end so it would be a crochet shaft the size I wanted to work with (L size). I rounded it first with the knife, then with a file, then with the dremmel and sand paper. I shaped the handle so it would feel pretty good. 
I finally used the cutting bit on the dremmel to add the hook. It feels pretty good. 
I started making a second one and the shaft got smaller than I planned. I messed up on cutting the hook into it twice, and called it a day. 
I should note that on the tooth brushes, I got them right the first time, which was something I was worried about. I did not have a whole lot of room for mistakes. This last hook showed me that I was purely lucky on the other hooks.  
I will have to shave the handle back on that last wood one and re-cut in a new hook and hope it will be strong enough. 

Four rug needles on the left, Two wooden crochet hooks on the right (the one on the far right does not have a hook on it). the two toothbrush crochet hooks on the right have their hooks up as they lay, while the others on their sides have the hooks with the curves.


Again I did not accomplish much, but I did get something done.  I would love to work on some big projects but things are not working in that direction right now. 

I hope to do even more next weekend. We shall see what I actually do next weekend.