Year 19, Week 02, Day One (week 992)

Year 19, Week 02, Day One (week 992)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-19-19 Saturday

61 degrees early morning 71 late afternoon. Herds of clouds marched across the sky in the morning, getting closer together mid day and merging into one big cloud in the late evening as a front approached. A light breeze felt good. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

DURING THE WEEK

I painted the ornaments I made on the weekend and finished them up. I took my dremmel and put on a grinding disk. I had a groove in the bottom of the flute of the bowl gouge and that bothered me. The gouge could not be sharpened properly like that. 
Like the metal cutting disk I used, I ran the grinding disk parallel with the flute, then tipped on an angle it so it ground on both sides, rounding the bottom. I removed the groove and the bowl was a bit bigger on the bottom which is good. I was by mom’s so I sharpened the gouge again and there was an improvement in the edge. I am not satisfied with it, but it is a whole lot better than what it was.

THURSDAY

The turning club was in a brand new location. I put the address into my tracker I ended up not where the destination was supposed to be. I had looked at the site on the tax site. In some counties, you put in the address for a property and it will show the tax information on the property and you can see a areal view of the site and you can also zoom out and see what roads are around it and where it is located. I did that for t he club site and also put the address into my tracker. I traveled around where I thought it was once I gave up on my tracker. I searched where I thought it might be, drove on some of the back roads not seeing it.  It was getting close to the meeting time and I found a pizza place and asked where it was. It was the next light west. I later figured out that I had transposed the address. I put in 89 instead of 98. Makes a bit of a difference. 
The demonstration was on sharpening. He showed a number of things about sharpening and about tools, with jigs and by hand. He passed around some tools showing how they were sharpened. 
You can buy just the machined rods (with the proper shape cut into them) of the turning tools, which is cheaper than with the handle attached. He said that when a hand drill dies, save the chuck out of it. His was quick release chucks that you don’t need keys for. Attach them to a handle that you make yourself and you can swap the tools real quick. Being just the rods, they are easier to handle on the grinders than with the really long handles we use.  He said that system of separate rods is really good if you take your turning stuff to other locations. Grab several rods of cutting tools and just a couple handles and you have all you need, with little space involved. Ten tools with handles takes a whole lot more room than ten rods and two handles. .
He showed different jigs and fixtures, some he purchased, some he made himself. I have forgotten a lot of what he said as it was quick and you cannot really see what he was doing with his hands as he worked. We did not have the camera at the club (shows a view we cannot see and shown on a TV set) this time so we could not see exactly what he was doing on the grinders. One thing I learned is I have NEVER made a tool sharp!!!. Compared to what he passed around, my tools are not sharp enough. I think I am going to have to make some jigs to sharpen my tools properly. 
I talked to several of the experts in our club about my bowl gouge and the main one said it was pretty good. I told him how I did it and he liked the idea. I decided I needed to make the base wider and rounder. 
This, by the way, is the anniversary day of my starting wood working.



SATURDAY

After breakfast, we stopped at a sale at a church. I picked up two joke books. these are big ones, both are near 500 pages each. There were a few other things I considered but talked myself out of. I had no use for them and no place to put them. 
When we got back, I then headed out on my own. A woman, last week, said she was going to have a sale all week and into the weekend, then donate the stuff to get rid of it. She said she had another of the cabinets with drawers on the door. She did not have her yard sale today. 
I did stop at one yard sale and picked up three very large flower pots, two at about two feet in diameter), and then another I picked up one super big pot which was about three feet in diameter [best used for small trees]. I had my hands on a few other things and talked myself out of them. I only did half the yard sale run.
I went out back of mom’s house with the urge to do something with wood. I took a plate I had started several years ago when I was practicing with the idea to demonstrate the making of them for the turning club and carefully did a clean up with my turning tools on mainly the center part of the plate, removing some of the thickness on the posts, and then rough sanded it. There are some little digs by the tool when making it that won't sand out without removing a whole lot of wood. It looks pretty good, though. 
The 2" thick Yellow Pine boards I was practicing with, would warp as I was removing wood. Stresses are released and the remaining lumber relaxes. Wood warping when working with wet wood is one thing. It is another thing when it is dry wood.
The gouge hit the warp on this plate hard and dug in. I could remove it with loads of sanding, or could add some filler there. The plates will likely receive a food safe varnish when done (or possibly an oil) I will likely not bother with the effort.
I then decided to make some more balloon ornaments. I cut the stick of white wood about six inches long and can make two balloons from each stick. When I was done, I had made four of balloons (I already had a stick of wood cut), and then sat and did some of the day-lighting between the basket and the balloon. I have more to do on the gaps but I have a good start. 
On these, I did not score the divisions between the colors like I did on the first ones I had made. I decided it actually made painting them tougher... 
My last project was to work on that tool I've been modifying. The flute (the groove in the rod) needs to be more rounded and wider on the bottom. I did some more grinding but will have to see how I feel about it tomorrow as to whether I need to add more or not. The grind stone disk I was using on the dremmel is just about used up. I have another if I decide to do more grinding on it. 
I sort of hoped to do a lot more than I did out back, but I did get something done and that was nice. 


Year 19, Week 02, Day One (week 992)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-20-19 Sunday

75 degrees early morning, showers rushed in and the temperature dropped to 66 degrees. The front had a serious shock wave over the Gulf, but that spread out to a green blob on the radar with only a couple small dots of yellow. We did not get any of the yellow. By 10, it was just a few dots on the windshield and was gone by noon. The sun came out with blue skies and it got back up to about 75 by three. The breeze was strong in the morning but faded out to a light breath after the front past. We are supposed to get down into the 40s tonight. I am thinking about skipping going to work tomorrow and drive over to the Bahamas on the great ice sheet that will form. I will have to go out onto it on the way to work because a glacier always forms on the highest natural point in the county (29 feet above sea level, surrounded by 17 feet above sea level land) and the glacier rushes to the ocean to give birth to icebergs. Being that cold tonight, it might actually make it. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

Before lunch, I got out back and set up the lathe. I decided to round the corners of  a blank I had made for platters. This was from a 2 by ten board cut square, then the corners were cut off. I was going to cut more of the corners off, but realized that turning the corners off would be faster as I still have the wrong blade in the bandsaw. 
I had gotten a meat cutting blade years ago. Most saws have a SET to the teeth. That is where the teeth are tipped out from center. Most blades are left, then right, then left then right, all the way around. What this does is it removes a little more wood to the sides of the cut so the blade will not bind. With really big teeth, they might have a third tooth straight, between each left and right to clear out sawdust. 
Anyway, in butcher departments of grocery stores, they use a bandsaw to create steaks and other cuts of meat from the big blocks of meat. To keep from losing too much meat, the blades have no set to the teeth. They have to replace the blades every day. A friend in the turning club gave me several of these blades. He had a jig to set the teeth, I never bothered. 
Anyway, the meat cutting blade I have in the bandsaw has no set and the sides are slightly corroded so it does not slide through the wood easily. It needs to be replaced, but I am too lazy. The only other blades I have are “scrolling” blades. The blade I have in there now is about half an inch wide. The ones I have for replacement are like an eighth or 16th of an inch wide. These go around corners really well but don’t go straight well, not that the big blade goes straight either.......
I decided it would be faster to turn off the eight corners to make the board round. I started with the bowl gouge I/ve been modifying. It did all right, but is not sharp. I then switched to my newest gouge and that ate the wood nice. I ended up with a round disk, though the edges are not clean. 
After lunch, I mostly sat around and talked. I showed my brother some things I got and that I did, and cleaned up the mess. 

Mom is unloading a bunch of travel picture-books that she had collected for copying for painting classes and such. She used to put her wet paintings in a pizza box to take it home. She was about to toss one of them out when she just decided to look inside. There was a painting she did on leather, of an Indian warrior. My niece said she wanted it so they developed a way to hang it and look really nice. When I first saw it a couple days ago, my thought was to frame in and I could make use of the excess leather for projects, but what they did was much better than putting it in a frame. A rod held by twine, the rod going through holes in the leather, and twine tassels on each end. Looks really good.

My brother and I mostly talked about lathes, machining, and engineering. He sees a lot of videos about people doing projects. So do I. It has given him ideas and knowledge on how to do things. He said one guy makes watch parts on his lathe by hand and makes a video every three months because he spends so much time sanding and polishing the tiny parts he makes. 
My brother is trying to solve some problems with his SMITHY when using it to machine stuff (moving the project back and forth against a vertical bit. He said he is working on his fifth design to solve the problems. In spite of that, he is doing a whole lot more with it than he used to be able to do. He said that increasing the tolerances of the parts you are making, creates who whole bunch of problems that you did not have before.

I traced the curves of the two halves of the broken plate on each other and cut them. I ended up cutting them a couple more times to get them to match fairly close.  I cut a whole lot more than I wanted to, to get them to fit together. It will have to do.
I glued them and let them set. I later gobbed glue on the inside, then worked sawdust into the gap from the outside, then worked glue in onto the sawdust to fill it in. The sawdust was not from the same wood so it would stand out, but I was out to get this done. The filled space had to sit and dry. It will need more work before I can consider adding any finish on it. 
This will be an “amphitheater” for some small figures I will have to carve. I could have tossed it but decided I might as well play with it, anyway. Small figures can be carved while relaxing. 
In remodeling, when they have ornate molding to cut for a corner to match, they set it up at a 45 degree angle backwards and upside down and slice through it. When they put them together, they match beautifully. Now if the corners arn’t an exact 90, they will undercut one edge so it fits with no gap. I should have set the bandsaw table at a 45 degree and cut it that way. Instead, I drew a line following the other piece, and then cut it by hand on the bandsaw. That was why I ended up cutting it more than once, and then did not get it exact. I also was not working carefully on my lines either. 

What I have always done on my weekends, is work on the project that excites me the most at the moment. One day I might want to turn wood, another day I would like to carve, another day I might build something. Then I might tear something apart. It is all according to what I happen to feel like doing that day.
If I am able to work a total of 8 hours on a weekend, I am doing fantastic. Usually not, though. I am thinking I need to make a couple jigs for sharpening, and then work on cleaning up another plate. Since I have them, it is worth getting them fixed up. A set of those could be a nice gift. 

I will see what I do next weekend.
 2676

The ornaments I brought to the turning club meeting, the bowl gouge and the "bits" I used to grind out the flute in the bowl gouge. I had the bowl gouge turned the wrong way for the picture..

The board before I started turning

The board rough rounded. The edges will get cleaned up as I work on shaping it into a platter.

note the knot in the center. this will be the bottom of the platter. 

the other side, the knot is quite  a distance off center. 

The broken platter glued together. Two "peg people" I found.

sawdust worked into the gap, glue gooped all over the place.

Glue still wet.

the inside glued up and filled. glue still wet.

Year 19, Week 01, Day One (week 991)

Year 19, Week 01, Day One (week 991)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-12-19 Saturday

We had a couple days of frost during the week, it got down to almost 50 degrees, which is well below the 56 degree frost temperatures down here. When it starts getting cold, you almost have to sleep under a blow torch to stay warm. Today it was 66 degrees early morning 77 in the afternoon. Mixing between some small clouds linked together wandering to the north west, to some almost pregnant clouds herding their babies.  Light breeze, some sun. This Weather report is Brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.


This week is the celebration of my starting wood working back in January 17, 2000. This year it is on Thursday, while in 2000, it was on Saturday.  I considered faking the start of the new year today (I had adjusted the days of the week earlier this year due to an error and starting it next week, but then decided to give in and do it today.

Before that year, I was writing stories and building scale houses for a model railroad layout. Dad kept asking me to take up carving, and I had no interest at the time. One day I decided to try it. I borrowed one of his knives and a piece of wood and carved a man with his arms down his side. The brim of the hat was supposed to go all the way around, but kept breaking. It ended up looking like Charles De Gaulle. The Famous French leader near that time but with the brim of his hat on an angle. The brim kept breaking on me
  Dad had gone through a period in learning to carve where you could see the shape of the block of wood he started with, as he was doing more like relief carving on all surfaces rather than shaping. I had made the decision that I would, instead, dig deep into the wood with my carvings. I still have my first five carvings.
  Dad did a carving style popular at the time where you have tall cowboys, their legs straight and arms at the side. The head was made separately and stuck on, turned to a different directions. I wanted movement from the beginning, legs bent, arms crossing the body, in almost any position except straight.
  Dad had a really good way to teach me carving. I would finish a carving and he would pat me on the head and tell me to do another, is the best way to describe it. Other than having his stuff as examples and showing me how to make my own knives, Dad really never taught me how to carve. “A self made man is a prime example of unskilled labor”.
It was not until the last couple years of his life that I saw how good a carver he really was. He had taken classes from some of the best carvers in the world at different symposiums around the country.
He made some clay platters with 3D faces of my nieces and nephews. He had planned on using them to go by for some carvings, though that never happened. The faces were instantly recognizable as to who they were. On the other hand, with my fairy carvings, I as lucky they looked female.
In 2003, I got a lathe and that took up a lot of my carving time. I would turn for many weeks, then carve for many weeks. Each time I swapped, it felt like I was returning to an old friend. In later years, I have done more turning that carving, though I did a series of vases with faces carved into them, usually using the dremmel for that carving. Most years I have done carved Christmas ornaments.

  In my carvings, I concentrated on the knife. I avoided chisels because you had to have so many of them to do anything and know when to use each one. I figured if I learned the knife, I could master it, and would fully understand when it just would not do the job. I did find that in some cases a chisel would solve a few of my carving problems.
Dad was in a carving club for retirees and one guy would come in with a different, brand new, chisel every time they met. I concluded that they had the belief that if they had the right chisel, it would allow the figure to come out of the wood, rather than the actual act of carving creating the figure. Many of the people there were there  more for the social atmosphere than to do the work or learning. That is also why I decided to concentrate on the knife.
I have also used the dremmel or other power for much of my carvings. I am not a purist, where “all work must be by hand” or “Only use specific tools.” I worked from the idea that whatever gets the job done is to be used, though my first thought is the knife.
Wood working has been a hobby that has been satisfying, even when something was not going right. I am glad I learned how to do it.

Saturday

We wore coats when we went for breakfast but did not need them when we left.
We had to go to a memorial for the husband of Mom’s friend. I was not able to do too much or get really dirty.
During the week, I went to Harbor Freight (they are having a sidewalk sale and for some reason, they did not want to sell the sidewalk, but instead the stuff they had setting out on it), Home Depot twice, and I found a Sears store that was open. That was a real shock. It was the oldest one in the county. Between them, I got a little spendy, getting things I thought I needed.

My first project was to distribute the tools and materials I got to where they needed. I got some belt sander belts at Sears. I was not sure the size I had so I got two different sizes. One size fit and I had four packs for that one. I put one on the sander, and took out the two belts that had unglued, and put it the rest of the sanding belts, squishing them into the box with the sander. The other sanding strips will be used in another way, Later.

I had picked up a metal cutoff saw blade for the angle grinder. I mounted it onto the grinder, then put the grinder into the vice. Turning it on, I ran the bowl gouge I was modifying last week, under it. I first cut straight down a short amount, then angled the bowl gouge on an angle so the blade rounded the bottom. I worked it up and down the flute, correcting little problems. I am not doing this carefully, but by hand and eye. I got it down to where it is close to what it is supposed to be. I then sharpened the end. I can see that making it exactly round on the bottom does make a big difference on the edge. A little ridge in the flute will cause it the metal to extend out at that point. I had caused a slight groove in the end, which I was trying to avoid touching and that caused the edge to go in at that point where the edge was sharpened.
I am working mostly with trying to replicate the factory flute at this point, but I know I will have to take time and likely use a round file in a drill to clean up the shape of the flute and smooth it out..
I am thinking that if I started out with the cut off saw from the beginning, it would not have taken near as long and likely be much better a job. By angling the work to the blade, you can get a rounded shape at the bottom, though it might be oval. I mounted the bowl gouge on the lathe and sanded the outside of the turning rod as it spun so it looks cleaner and hides any tiny mistakes like where the grinding wheels I was using slipped and touched the outside.. I also touched it to the grinder to sharpen the edge.

Periodically I see videos where guys will lay a board down on the table saw and push the board at an angle to the blade. This causes a rounded cove in the wood where the blade passed. One can change the angle the wood goes through the blade to make the cove wider or narrower. This was the thought I was using on rounding the bottom of the flute.

I then put everything back where they needed to be as I had to get ready to go to the meeting. When we got back, I decided it was best not to get all dirty all over again.

I have a turning club meeting Thursday. I intend to bring the bowl gouge and the two finished balloon ornaments (possibly a few other ornaments) to the turning club meeting. I will concentrate on the ornaments , getting them carved painted and ready to show.  I might, though, stick a piece of wood on the lathe and test out the bowl gouge to see how it does.

I will see what I do tomorrow.


Year 19, Week 01, Day One (week 991)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-12-19 Saturday

Mom’s plants were watered in the early morning. 66 degrees early morning, 77 late afternoon. Mostly blue skies with some clouds around the edges. This Weather report is Brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

Going to Mom’s I found three yard sales. One had mostly glassware of an ornate kind. I have no need for that. Another had mostly clothing but I did buy a Carafe for coffee. It was not the design I like but it will do the job of keeping coffee hot.
One yard sale had a lot of stuff, but most I could not take home. She had a knee high cabinet that had shelving on the doors. It is good for display. It also will lock. I decided I had a use for it and got it. Now I have to find a place for it.

After Lunch, I set up out back and day lighted the space between the basket and the balloon on the two balloons I made last week. I later painted them.
I also carved on one of the steam engines I made a few weeks back. I got it to where I can call it finished. I later painted it also.

I mounted the bowl I had started on the lathe a couple weeks ago. I turned the base better, making a tenon the chuck could hold. I then flipped it around and started hollowing it out. I was using the bowl gouge I was working on. It still needs some work. Grinding the inside with a round file would solve most of the problems. I swapped to a new bowl gouge and was hollowing the inside. There was a snap and the bowl came out of the chuck. When I looked, the tenon I had made on it broke.

Wood has strength in different directions. If you grab a piece of wood from the end, it is like holding a bunch of straws glued together. They will hold strong. If you grab that glued bundle of straws by the side, you can force a separation between them. I was holding onto side grain, where the grain of the wood was going across the face of the chuck. Something I did caused too much pressure on the wood and the tenon separated.

While I did not accomplish too much this weekend, I got the bowl gouge close to where it needs to be, and I have three ornaments partially done for the turning club.
I will finish the ornaments during the week, and show them off at the meeting. I will have to see what happens next weekend.
2056

My first four carvings in order left to right.

my very first carving

this was a cedar board

more movement

I knelt down to model for this, other than getting the arms wrong, it was really good. I also learned I don't like sanding from this one. 

The original flute of the bowl gouge.

notice how short it is.

partially done extended flute of the bowl gouge. needs lots of work

a carving at the church the memorial was held at.

the men are part of the base wood. the arc of the covenant is made up a of a lot of different pieces.

The flute is a little better.

this was the relocatable vice I was using. 

It has a thumb screw on the bottom side to clamp on the table.

the bowl gouge, gingerbread house and tea pot from last Christmas, the steam engine and balloons for next Christmas. there is also the metal cutting disk and grind stone I used.

Year 18, Week 52, Day One (week 990)

Year 18, Week 52, Day One (week 990)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-05-19 Saturday

A front came through. It did not water the plants as Mom hoped.  It was cool enough this morning to wear a jacket but when we came back from breakfast, but was just warm enough that a coat was too much. I should have worn a long sleeved shirt, I guess..  But I don’t have one....... It got up to a cool air conditioning temperature in the afternoon. Early morning the sky was mostly all clouds with just a few patches of blue. Later in the morning, the sun was shining through a high thin cloud with a few patches around the sky of heavier ones. It cleared up for the most part in the afternoon. This weather report was brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

We figured that the passing front would discourage yard sales, so we did not bother to go out. Instead I headed to Mom’s back yard. 

My first project was to sharpen a few tools. I chose the ones I would use during the morning and nothing else. I should have sharpened everything, but decided to hold off for this moment. 
I sharpened a round nose scraper, a parting tool, and the bowl gouge I was using. 
With bowl gouges, there are basically two kinds of grinds. One is the round grind where the tool is simply rotated all the way around on the grinder so the bevel is the same all the way around. The other grind is the Fingernail grind, where the sides are flat, and the nose is round. Each has their uses. Since I do my turning as one would imagine Godzilla would turn wood, I am not a great source on the differences. The fingernail grind is supposedly more aggressive in cutting away the wood from the work. 
I started grinding the bowl gouge (the one I bought recently), and found it was not a round grind, but a finger nail grind. I adjusted the way I was sharpening it to the way it was made, but did not fix all the damage I did. It was sharp, anyway.

I decided to try the ornament design of a hot air balloon. I cut some wood about six inches long and after marking the center of the ends, I put it on the lathe with the chuck holding it. The initial turning is simple, like a light bulb with a longer than normal screw end. I got them made and gave them a quick touch with sand paper. I should have sanded them a whole lot more, but did not quite think right when I was doing it. I had turned two of them, narrow end against big end. I took it off the lathe and used the bandsaw to separate them from the waste wood and from each other. 
While on the lathe, I had scored some lines around them at different points. Off the lathe, I used my knife to score some lines up and down. I used the disk sander to flatten the sides of the part that was the basket, trying to get it somewhat square. I likely could have done better with the knife but the sander was handy at the moment and I was in a hurry. 
I sat down with the dremmel and drilled some holes to daylight the space between the basket and the balloon, leaving the corners to be the ropes holding it up. Just like not sanding enough, I was not too careful on this day-lighting. When I was done, it was a little rough. Even with some knife work, it was not the best I could do. I was sending a package out to a friend so I was rushing to get these done. I grabbed my paint box (same paint I use for my Christmas cards) and painted every other square a different color. There were some knots in these pieces so I left them as raw wood. It was while painting that I saw how poorly sanded these were. I wanted to include these with a box I was shipping out to a friend so I had to keep going. I later added my name and the date to them with a pen, and then gave them a coat of varnish. 
One of my bowl gouges had about an inch, inch and a half of flute (a rounded groove in the rod to create the cutting edge) left. It was one of my first bowl gouges. I decided I would try to extend the flute. 
I had picked up some “diamond” grinding wheels. They were not exactly what I was hoping for. The small diameter one which had a shaft that could fit on a demmel  was really wide. There was two big ones were better, one had a diamond profile that came to a point around the edges. I used them to grind at the metal, creating a groove. I tried a grind stone on the dremmel but it was not doing much other than smoothing the metal a little. I ended up using the large flat-bottom one for the drill and held it on an angle to cut the side back. I made headway but was not getting really deep. I think I wore off the edge of the one with the pointed edge. The faces are still useable.
The way they usually make these turning tools is to shape a grind stone to the shape they want the flute and use that to cut away the excess metal to the shape they want. If I was really serious about this, I would sacrifice a grind stone to do it right. As it is, I am trying to do it on the cheat.

A bit later, I saw I had some extra time and made two more balloon blanks but did no carving on them.

SUNDAY

We did sit and talk about videos on black smithing and projects we had seen, but I did not accomplish anything.  I had to pack up the box to mail out so I did not do any wood working today. 

I will see what I do next week. 

1053

The stock as mounted in the lathe

The finished turning about to be cut apart. 

the roughed daylighting of the balloons. 

The second pair  about to be cut apart.

Two "finished" and two roughed balloons. 

the bowl gouge I decided to modify. 

See how much flute is left, about an inch or an inch and a half.

A closer shot of the flute

The bits I started working with.

the extended flute. Not deep enough. has a long ways to go yet.

If this tool is ruined, I an mot out too much, but if I  can extend the life longer, I will have a really big gain.

Year 18, Week 51, Day One (week 989)

Year 18, Week 51, Day One (week 989)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-29-18 Saturday

70 degrees early morning, 81 late afternoon, patches of clouds around the horizon, but mostly blue overhead. There was some humidity because of showers during the week. A light breeze made things really nice. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

We decided not to go out yard sailing. We figured people were getting ready for the new year. 
I dug out a project Mom has been itching to work on for a couple years. When they remodeled the house next door, they removed the bar, rolling it to be against the opposite wall (it was built on wheels). Above the bar was a light box that one could hang wine glasses. The light would cause the glasses to glow. When it came down, Mom said it would make a good shelving unit. Not for anything heavy, but great for display. We even had some peg board cut to fit. It has been in storage ever since. 
Today, I pulled it out and brought it out back. My intention was my doing it alone. Mom insisted on helping. At first I did not need any of her help, but as the project went on, her help became more and more important. 
I first had to add some blocks to hold the pegboard in place. Luckily, I found the right sized board for the blocks. I then had to trim the pegboard around the supports inside. We needed about two holes worth of space and we cut to the holes at each location. At first I was using my knife, then a pair of pliers to break the pieces off, then shaved them. 
We thought we  almost had it in, then found we had to push it in much farther, so we had to cut around some more supports on the other side. I grabbed the jig saw and removed the wood quickly. I still had to shave a little to make sure it fit.  We used my dremmel to drill the peg board for the screws. 
The back would have been much easier, but on about a third of the screws, Mom, using the dremmel with a drill bit in it, drilled straight through the peg board and the wood. The bit was a bit too big for the screws we were using. I had to find a different location for the screws to go in. 
I was using a battery powered drill that will run when plugged in. The battery is internal and cannot be removed. It was acting weaker and weaker. We switched to a more powerful drill that had no reverse. I learned that if you just squeezed the trigger, it would over spin on the head of the screw. But, if you sort of “pop” the trigger, squeeze and let go, It would start slow enough and then wind down, still driving the screw as it slowed down, never going too fast. I was able to drill the screws without stripping out the head. 
What was supposed to take an hour at most, ended up to be about three hours of work. We got it done, though. We put it in the neighbor’s house for now. It looks good as it matches the furniture he already has.

I have four days off this weekend. I am concentrating on projects that will take time. It may be months before I can tackle them again. My normal work period each week won’t amount to much for these projects and I tend to work on whatever excites me for the moment.

I will see what I do tomorrow.


Year 18, Week 51, Day Two (week 989)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-30-18 Sunday

70 degrees early morning, 81 late afternoon. The sky was embarrassing as it was streaking, with feather clouds and chem trails. Puffs surrounded us most of the day. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

There was no yard sales today on my normal drive.  I did not expect any, but I looked anyway. It was a nice drive through landscaped properties with a nice radio station on. I opened the windows half way through. Cool enough to notice, but warm enough not to consider a coat. It was refreshing. 

My lathe needed serious cleaning.  It had been a couple years since it was tended to and time has taken a toll on it. 

A few years ago, I made some mahogany drum sticks. Several months ago, the tip on one broke on me, so I used my knife to rough out the end again because the lathe was not set up for work yet, piled with stuff.  Mahogany is not a strong wood and the sticks started feathering at the narrowest point on the sticks, and the feathering went through inside until it broke off. It took several months before the second one broke the end and I also fixed it again with the knife. It was ugly and really did not bounce right. 
As my last project with the lathe before I disassembled it, I reshaped the drum sticks. These are shorter than normal drum sticks, but these are not for “professional” work, but instead to make noise on bongos. 
I have several points for my tale stock’s live center. I had a conical cup in the tail stock, and put one that has a hole in it, into the head stock, cinching it down tight. I put the small end of the drum stick into the head stock and tightened the tail stock enough that it would spin. I carefully shaved the wood down from about half way down the length, to the ball at the drumming end. I then sanded it with 32 grit sand paper, then a fine sand paper. It is all right if it is a tiny bit rough as it will prevent it to slip. 

I dug out my lathe and unloaded it of all the stuff stored on it, then we had lunch. When I went back out again, I flipped the lathe upside down and removed the levered wheels. I was having problems with them. A while back, we repaired the lever on one, but now the wheels  were dragging, rather than rolling. I think it might be the swing block holding it down, but I decided to replace them for now.
The neighbor had purchased some wheels for his coffee table and then found some ball style wheels that ride on bearings. I took his old wheels for my lathe. These might not last very long as they are plastic wheels, but I decided that I was not going to carry nearly as much weight on the lathe that I used have on it to so these might do well enough. There were six sets of wheels. There are wooden blocks that were for the lathe to set on when the wheels were tipped up. I screwed the wheels onto the block, thinking we had eight sets, and had screwed four in one end, but when I found out that I only had six, I had to remove those two and locate on in the middle and the other one on the other end. 
My battery powered drill that will run on the cord too, wasn’t strong enough to back out the screws The one we used yesterday to drive screws to hold the pegboard in place,  had no reverse. Mom dug out another and we found the reverse switch was broke. The fourth one solved the problem. 

When I started turning, guys in the turning club had stories of their lathes bouncing around because of out-of-center heavy pieces they would be turning. I designed my lathe stand so that if I was handling something that heavy, I could set it on the ground so it would not roll away from me. I then loaded the cart with weight lifting weights, heavy wood and bricks, to make sure it did not go anywhere. 
At first, when I originally had the lathe set up, I would drop it down onto the block whenever I used it, After a period of time I then dropped it down on the blocks only on large stuff, then finally I never dropped it down on the blocks for any reason. 
I now realize that I likely will never work on projects that would test the lathe stand so I won’t use the drop wheels, at least for now. I might go back to the drop wheels, but will wait and see if it is necessary. I am already not using the weights on it. I am not really working with out of center pieces that are weighty. 

The chuck needs to be lubricated, the bed needs to be sanded and polished and then oiled or waxed. The tail stock and tool rest should be cleaned and the tension nuts adjusted. The head stock, with the motor, needs work but I really cannot do much with it. It should be cleaned up though and when put back on, the nut needs to be re-calibrated for holding it. Each piece needs to be set so that you can crank them down without them moving, but able to be loosened for moving around. 
The head stock is designed that I can slide it forward or back, or can even turn it sideways or backwards, depending on what I am working on. If I had a tool rest that stood on its own, I could turn a piece that was four feet in diameter. It would be way too fast as my lathe only goes down to 500 rpm, which is fast, but I could still turn something that big. This lathe goes up to 2000 rpm which is fast, but not if you are working on pens or something similarly small in diameter. 
I added oil to the bed of the lathe for tonight. Tomorrow, I figure I will get to mom’s before dawn, I intend to go out side at dawn and start cleaning the bed. I will see how this goes. I just remembered I have another chuck somewhere. While I am cleaning the one I’ve been using, I could check out and service the other one. 
I do have all day, from dawn to dusk to work tomorrow, so I plan to make as much use of my time as I can.

When I got home, I made ice cream. I use bananas as the base, and then add fruit. I don’t add anything else as they are sweet enough, but not as sweet as real ice cream usually is made. I had picked up a bunch of bananas that were past due. I pealed them, broke them up and stuck them in the freezer. Today I took two the baggies of frozen bananas out and stuck them in warm water for them to thaw some, and when thawed enough, I put them in the food processor and added strawberries for the first batch, mixed berries for the second batch, and processed them until they were creamy. 
These are best served as a soft ice cream, but I put plastic wrap to line some small sheet pans and filled them with the mixture and put them in the freezer. The consistency from the freezer is what you might find in an ice cream popsicle. As I said, they are best as a soft ice cream. If you were serving a group, you would put them in the food processor until soft and then serve. 
After they were frozen, I took it out of the sheet pan and diced them up into mouth-sized chunks. They are good to have every once in a while, just a taste when you need it.. These banana based ice creams are really good if you are lactose intolerant or need to get more fruit in your diet. I hope, sometime to try making it with chocolate and see if that works.

I will see what I do tomorrow.



Year 18, Week 51, Day Three (week 989)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-31-18 Monday

71 degrees, early morning 83 in the afternoon, high feathers with some puffs crossing the sky. One little cloud had a full diaper and it leaked on us for a minute and then left. The rest of the day was warm, nice light breeze, perfect temps for working under cover of an awning. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I got to mom’s and went out back soon after dawn. My project was to clean the lathe, and then all the parts and pieces that went with it. I had oiled the Ways(the slot where the road head-tail stock-tool rest are locked into)/lathe bed last night. Today, I took some 60 grit sand paper and sanded down the whole bed. I could feel where the grit and grime was and concentrated there until it was smooth. Once the whole thing felt clean, I wiped it with paper towels, then added more oil and worked with 250 grit sandpaper and cleaned it some more. I wiped it clean, used a little soap and water and then oiled it again. 
Started cleaning the tool rest, the tail stock and then the head stock. I cleaned all the surfaces, brushed out any sawdust. I then mounted them in place. I usually have the motor in-line with the end of the bed. This time I decided to let it hang out past the end of the bed slightly. This allows me to work with a little bit longer pieces of work, not that I expect to do so.. 

This is a Delta lathe. It has a split pulley inside the head stock that, when you move the lever, the pulley will open a little or close a little. The inside of the pulley has a slight angle that causes the belt to move up or down in response to the width of the  pulley. When the pulley closes up, the belt goes higher and the head stock spins faster. When it goes wider, the belt drops down and the head stock slows down. The belt is a little loose but I am not digging inside the motor case. Years ago, my brother opened it up but there really was not much we could do. It really needs a new belt
This head stock has a lever to loosen the head so that can slide the head up and down the bed, or to rotate the head to either side or back to overhang the bed for larger pieces. . 
The motor in this model of lathe sticks out the back of the head stock. There are lathes where the motor sticks forward, like some available at Harbor Freight. I figure that the motor’s location limits the size of the work you can do. I have had some pieces that reached back away from the tail stock and I figured that would get in the way.

I removed the jaws from my chuck and oiled it, then stuck the end into the vice and rotated the part that causes the jaws to open and close. I worked it in and out until it started moving easily. I then put the jaws back on. I was reminded, when I accidentally saw a number, that the jaws are numbered for the slide (the mount that moves the jaws in and out from the center)  it goes on, and each slide has a number on it. 
When chuck jaws are made, they are made from one piece of metal, machined into shape, then cut apart. To make sure they fit right every single time, they are numbered. The repeatable position allows more accuracy when mounting your work on it. Any variation in the precision of the jaws guarantees they will always be the same error every time you put your work on the lathe, especially if you mark the work as to which is jaw #1.

I then started cleaning my tools. They all have to be sharpened, but I wanted to remove the rust from all the surfaces. They are now stained, but not rusty.
I have several tools that allow you to change the bits, or the rod part of the tool (as in an interchangeable handle) I removed the bits from the tools. Several had damaged screws, There is one I cannot remove the bit. It is not one I use a lot of.

The manufacturers offer tools with interchangeable bits, or you can make your own tool with reasonable ease. The bit holder can be just about any kind of metal, many times something cheap like a simple steel rod. The bits are usually a high quality super hard metal like high-carbon steel or some composite steel. Some have a D style shape so you can go for a curve or a point, depending on what kind of cut you are working on, others are round or square that allow you to rotate the tool to a fresh sharp edge, allowing you to go without sharpening, or replacing it a lot less. 
Machinist supply stores have replaceable metal bits that can be used for wood turning. 
Of course You can buy stock metal and make your own bits. Like have made my own bits using planer blades. You just cut a piece off, drill it for the tool holder, then shape to what you need. 
A couple of my tools have a replaceable bit holder too. You might have several bit holders and quickly swap between them for the specific type of cut you need at the moment. One of my handles has a really long spade bit in it right now.  
There are tool systems where you buy one handle and several rods with different ends on them. Again one can swap tools easily. The rods are cheaper than the complete turning tool and you can make your own handle to fit your hands perfectly.


A couple screws were damaged on a couple replaceable bits. I will have to get replacement screw. The damaged screws were allen-key screw but at some time I cut a slot in them when the allen hole was damaged. The slot is damaged so one of them would not come out. 
A couple of the tools were ones I forgot I had. They were in the tool holder on the side of the lathe, but if you don’t pull them out, you don’t really know what you have. 
I sharpened a few of the removable bits before I put them back on. One damaged screw disappeared and I could not put a bit in that I had made from a planer blade. 

After lunch, I brought my tool cart over to the workbench, right next to the garbage can. I had two plastic baskets on top filled with stuff. I sorted everything, tools in one place, metal supplies in another, and plumbing fittings in a separate box. A few items and some bits of wood went into the garbage. One never knows when you need something. The plumbing fittings can be the ferrule around the end of the handle used for strengthening it when holding the tool. I had rods and parts that could become tools. I found about six face plates, four of which were made from stanchions around the base of a rail. these screw onto the head-stock and you run screws into the wood through holes around the faceplate to hold it in place. This is in the place of a chuck. I found several dozen files and rasps. Some were to be knives, some were ways to work with wood in different projects. I found measuring tools. I found five turning tools, one brand new, still in the package. 
I have a small pile of lead weights. When working with an off balanced piece, one can attach the wood to a disk of plywood and place weights to counter balance the load. 
I found drill bits galore. Some were intended for become turning tools. 
I simply sorted stuff, I never got to do any cleaning. That will be tomorrow. 

On that tool cart, I have two more shelves to go through. One has wood the other has vices and tools. This will be for tomorrow.

I made good headway today on cleaning up the lathe equipment and doing some sorting. I will continue tomorrow, fully unload the tool cart and sort it. There are stacks of stuff that needs to be gathered together. I am planning to get home fairly early and do some stuff around the house while I am at it. 

I will see what I actually do tomorrow. 


Year 18, Week 51, Day four (week 989)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-01-19 Tuesday

71 early morning, 80 as the high, broken clouds (repair men are still on vacation), nice breeze. In the afternoon the broken clouds came apart and sunshine appeared now and then. The repair men may have to replace the cloud cover rather than repair it....This Weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I got out back of mom’s around 7 this morning. I pulled the tool cart to the workbench by the fence, next to the garbage can. I unloaded everything from the bottom shelves and then the stuff on the top. 
I cannot believe what I found!!! I have a four jaw chuck. That is where each jaw moves independently by their own screws. Only when I was checking it to make sure it worked, that I was reminded that one screw has a bigger head than the others. It had two allen wrenches to use it. I located both of them in my digging. This chuck can center something with exceeding accuracy, even to a thousandth of an inch, by adjusting the jaws till the work is centered. It is also great for off center turning where you can adjust the jaws to hold the piece well off center. This chuck is really for metal working. The jaws, which can be turned around (one way, only the high spot holds, turn them around and there are three stepped jaws), does not have anything to hold a wood piece securely as the surfaces are straight and smooth, so it must be used with a tale-stock to hold the other end.
I then found a second chuck, which I remembered I had. I did not see it as it had a COLE JAWS on it, the chuck itself was facing down. The Cole Jaws are really large plates with screw holes, and it has screws with rubber bumpers around them. It is mainly used for holding pieces like bowls and vases backwards so you can clean up the bottom. 
I found three sets of jaws that go to the regular chucks. One I remembered the instant I saw it. It has really narrow jaws that stuck out. It is for holding tiny pieces of wood, especially round stock. I purchased this and then found it did not do what I wanted it to do. The other two jaws, I am guessing came with the chuck that had the cole jaws on it. One was a regular jaw, smaller than the one on my lathe, then there was one with the tiny jaws for holding small things. They were not as long as the other one I described.
I found some accessories for the chucks and jaws. 
There was a WOODWORM screw with them, unused. These screws fit in the jaws of the chuck. The screw is very shallow in pitch, and the threads are really tall. You drill a hole to the diameter of the shaft, then thread the woodworm screw into the hole. The threads cut into the wood to give a good hold.
I have a lifetime of allen wrenches, and drill bits. Some of the drill bits are over a foot long. I think I got some of them with the idea of cutting them into tool bits. It is a hard metal.

In the wood basket, I found a bunch of disks with a threaded hole. These were made to screw onto the shaft of the head-stock of the lathe, These were made as wooden face plates. You can glue a piece of wood onto this, and use it a sacrificial plate, you turn it off when you are about done or could run screws into them to hold something, or can use double stick tape. 
I found the threader (tap) allows me to thread the holes to fit on the lathe. One tactic one could use is to just drill a hole the right size into the block of wood you want to work, and thread it with this tap and just attach it to the head-stock. 
There were wooden disks with the tenon for the chuck to grab. They work much like the threaded ones, but the chuck is in use rather than replaced. 
In my digging yesterday, I found several different tool rests. One is jointed so you can do stuff like sticking the end inside a long vase to support the tool deeper inside the work. These are interchangeable. One has a long screw sticking up that can be used for leverage of the tool in the work. That one might be useable when turning sheet metal.

Another tool I found was a pattern for the Morris taper. The morris taper slips into a pipe and develops friction that is difficult to break. Some drill presses use them to hold the chuck. Most lathes use them for center points and some use them in the tail stock. 
The pattern I found was for making them out of wood. The idea is if you are working on a big piece of wood, you turn the end down and shave the center piece until the pattern fits it exactly. Then one can slip the wood right into the lathe head stock without any other tools. I made a few items with it such as having a pin in the wood for working on really tiny pieces. 

I had separated everything and put them in trays and baskets. I finally got everything put away and the back area neat and tidy again. 
My last act was to go to the grinder with the tool I could not get the screw out. I ground down the head of the screw until it was flush, then used the vice to pry the bit off. I then grabbed the remains of the screw with the vice and turned the tool around until the screw came out. There is always a solution for something. I tried to use a screw extractor but the drill bits would not do more than put a dimple into the metal. This set has NEVER been used. I forgot I had it.
I took a break, then suggested to mom that I could get tacos. I told her I had a couple stops along the way. Well, I found that True Value and Ace hardware were closed. Orchard supply was also closed. I ended up going to Lowes. They had removed a bunch of their shelving, opening up the area in front of the entry, and loaded the clear area with grills. I had that turning tool and one of my replaceable points.
The screws were the first thing I found. I tried to find what screw would fit. I got the one for the tool bit which my brother had made. I poked the end of the screw out of the little baggy and verified that it fit. I had already decided to get it even if it did not fit. 
The other screw was metric. They were not in bags, but the clear plastic bubble box. I was not totally sure if I had the size right. I decided to get the one I guessed at, and one size smaller just in case. I looked for a couple other things but could not find what I was after. 
I ended up only going out with the screws. I thanked the girl cashier for being there for us. 

I picked up the tacos on the way home and took time for rest with mom.
I decided to go out back. I wanted to make some sawdust. I first tried the screws in the tools. It turned out that the smaller metric screws worked on that commercial tool. I put them away without bits. I had put the bits in the basket with the chucks and did not feel like digging them out.
A long time ago, I made a platter with a large center button that I was going to have to cut off. Mom had suggested that I put a bowl in the center and make it a chip plate. I mounted that onto the lathe. My first attempts could not get it centered. I was using pressure to hold it in place and that was not working as it would not get centered. 
I solved the problem by taking it off, measuring across it with a ruler. It did not matter what scale it was. I just found the number it was near, and adjusted it till the marks of the number and the end were about the same. This one was 17.5 so I set it so 18 had the same overhang on each side and marked it the center. I then turned the piece a quarter way around, lined with the mark and made a new mark. This was close to center. I did it three more times and where all three marks were together, was the center. 
I mounted the piece on the lathe with the tail-stock’s point right on the mark. When I turned the lathe on, there was just a little wobble, mostly from the wood having warped. 

Fresh wood warps as it dries as the liquid causes stresses in the wood, and when gone, the wood relaxes. Usually bowl makers will leave them about an inch thick all the way around then let them dry completely. Then they turn them to the final dimension. The thickness of the wood will make up for all the warping the wood will have. 
This yellow pine is bone dry when I got it and still bone dry. I learned that it will warp as you remove wood because wood itself has stresses built into it. When turning platters, more wood is removed from the bottom/outside than from the top/inside, so it is best to remove wood from the inside first, then turn the outside. The warping is less, and also the problems with grain and unevenness is not as bothersome than on the inside. 
I took 60 grit sand paper and sanded the platter part of the piece front and back. There are some tool marks, divots where the tool bounced against the warp that would not sand out. I can either ignore them or use like a drill with a sanding pad to wear those spots down. 
I used the dremmel and a sanding drum to clean a few spot on the cup and on the bottom of the platter where the point was. This piece is better than it was, but could use a lot more work. There was a crack in the cup and I worked glue and sawdust in there. I will have to sand the glue off the surface at some other time. 

I then took a piece of wood that has bounced around in the boxes and on the lathe for years. There were some worm holes in the surface (from before I got it). The piece was split in half. I decided I wanted to make some sawdust so I mounted it on the lathe after finding the approximate center on both sides. For the curved part, I held myself back a little and eyed where the ruler touched the corners visually and then drew a line. I then did the same on the other corners. Measured from a couple edges and that center point was about right. 
I mounted the lathe with a small drive spur (had not seen the big one) into the curve and the “flat” to the tail stock. I worried the bottom somewhat flatter. It needed more but I took the piece off the lathe and used the bandsaw to remove some corner to reduce how much wood I would have to turn off. The more time spent with the saw, the less time spent at the lathe. 
I remounted the piece and shaved down the bottom to near flat. I then cut in a thin tenon, not as big as I normally do. It won’t hold the piece on its own, at least not yet. I then turned the piece around and used the chuck to partially hold it and the tail stock to hold it in place. 
I rounded the piece, working from the bottom, which you usually do with it turned the other way, but I figured this would be more stable. When I had it close to being round, I started hollowing it out. I got about three quarter of an inch in when I decided I had my fix for the week. I cleaned up and put everything away. 

Next weekend, I should do a little more work in the awning area. I have a bunch of boxes and baskets of stuff and should sort through them, separate and consolidate them and put some stuff out of the way. 

I also have some stuff to do at home too.  I really feel good at getting so much work done. I could easily get used to having all this time to work. Tomorrow I have to earn a paycheck so I will see what I do next weekend.

5520

My lathe before I started working on it, see the upper surface is rusty.

I gathered together a bunch of platters I had made with some blanks and a few other pieces.

A broken platter. I might make that into something interesting.

wooden face plates threaded to fit the lathe.

Three spare vices, the one on the right clamps onto whatever desk you are working on .

SOME of the turning tools I have.

three jaws for the lathe and a wood worm screw.

The two with the ties were never used before.

the jaws that stuck up are for holding small pieces like dowling.

an interchangeable tool holding system designed to reach around corners of a vace.

a closeup of the wood worm screw. drill for the smaller shaft and the threads dig into wood.

chip platter I dug out. you can see marks from where the tool dug in while it spun.

It needs serious sanding before adding a finish.

the piece of wood I decided to play with.

the results when I stopped working on it for the weeknd.