In My "Spare" Time: Year 16, Week 38, Day One (week 870)

Year 16, Week 38, Day One (week 870)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
10-01-16 Saturday

The weather report on Friday said good weather until after two. Morning radar showed a blob over Miami stretching up deep into my county. It looked like Mom’s house would be dry. It wasn’t. We had Seattle weather in the morning, a light dribble of water that was not heavy enough for an umbrella but enough to wet everything down. The only difference between what we were getting was that in Seattle, it would have been 42 degrees, instead of 84 degrees. After 10, the moisture left and we had high feathers and spilled cream skys. This weather report was brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I knew there would be very few, if any yard sales. Mom did find that the church, we went to last weekend, was still having their sale. I walked and searched for anything of interest but could not find any items that needed to come home with me. They have a deal which is a dollar a bag on their books. I did find a book that was interesting, but to “get my money’s worth” I would have taken all the craft books (quilting, knitting, cross stitch,) and the rest of their cook books. I decided not to get any. There were some mini muffin pans, but I have not used the ones I already have.

We then went to Walmart and I went through the food isles. In areas I might have gotten something, they did not have the exact thing I was going to get. I left empty.

A while after we got back, I went to the neighborhood Ace Hardware / True Value store and picked up a few things I really did not need. I walked all the isles and then had to go back for something I thought of. Since my wire brushes are buried somewhere that would require an archeological dig to find them, I picked up a pair. Now to place them where I can remember they are at, and can get to them easily. I also picked up some eyelets for my Christmas ornaments.

When I arrived at home, Mom had a little project. She had a solar powered L.E.D. lighted decoration. The problem was that the angel did not fit on it, so she wanted me to cut it to make it work. It took a little bit. I used a cutting disk to cut a slot down the middle for the fiberoptic-rod support. Following her lines, it was too wide. I then used a grinding tool to “drill” a hole. I found out that this plastic material melts when the bit is going fast. I spent as much time trying to remove plastic build-up as working on the hole. In the end, I found a drill bit the right size and drilled in until the rod would fit inside. That hole needed to be polished but that was not done. Mom was happy that it would stay on without glue.

I napped for an hour or so, until it was lunch time.

I went outside FINALLY to do some work. With the lathe out where I could work, I mounted one of my platter blanks into the lathe and made a platter. I shaped the inside/top. This time I mounted a sanding disk (I picked up early last month) and sanded the surface with the 40 grit and 60 grit disks. That eliminated some tear-out and tool marks. I am thinking that I should take some time and properly sharpen my turning tools for once.

I flipped the platter around and shaped the bottom/back. I used the sanding disks on that surface. The disks are too big to get into where the center is holding the platter.

Removing the platter from the lathe, I sat down and removed most of the center post on the inside, then used the dremmel to grind it down to level. Then I used the sanding disks in the drill to hide the dremmel work and go over the surfaces better. There is one problem with using a drill for this. Your hands are in the wrong place to keep it flat and straight and to keep it from wandering. I also removed and sanded the knob on the back side.
The platter looks fairly good, but has all sorts of flaws in it. One big flaw is that the bottom is so thin that if you hold it up to the light, you can see light through the wood. The plate needs serious sanding and some corrections. Because the sanding disk wandered into places that was not supposed to go into. It ruined some edges. I would say it is not bad for a first attempt at finishing.
I really need to take the platters I have already made and do some finishing on them to get them closer to presentable. I am spinning the work at 2000 rpm which is as fast as the lathe will go. I should slow the platters down when sanding. I can go as low as 500 rpm. I have found that most lathes will either go too fast or too slow for what you want to do.

When I was done cleaning up, my legs were telling me that they were not happy with me. I had walked and stood at the church yard sale (about for times the size of a nice living room) and then walked around the food section in Walmart, then went to Ace Hardware/Tru Value, and then stood while making the platter. That was a lot of work for my legs to do. I relaxed the rest of the day.

Sunday

I found two yard sales on the way to Mom’s house. One had a lot of baby items. They had a big bag of teddy bears and I had to plug my ears as they were begging to have me take them home. Yard sale teddy bears have a desperate tone when they beg to come home with you. Store teddy bears are a whole lot more calm as they know they will go home with someone eventually. The other yard sale was an elder man and his prices were higher than what I wanted to go with. He had a bunch of electrical wire I could have picked up for my brother, but his prices were higher than I had, even if I wanted to go that high which I would not have..
This is a case where the old man had put out signs, and the other house took advantage of people going that way. I almost chose not continued on, but did not feel like turning around in a driveway. Most of the time, I love having several close yard sales. This was kind of nice, but if it were not that I had looked carefully at the address, I might not have gotten to the other sale.

At mom’s house, we had lunch. I decided to lay down just for a moment. An hour and a half later, I woke up. I decided nothing was gong to happen and I was still tired. I decided I had better get going home.

This week, Matthew will be passing by. The computer models show the storm missing us. It could still wander, or the waves could crash over the state, drowning it. All I know is that when there is a storm out there and we are all going to die.

Will see how the weather is next weekend.

1280

face side of the platter blank I was after the knot.