Year 19, Week 23, Day One (week 1023)

Year 19, Week 23, Day One (week 1023)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-15-19 Saturday

Some light showers early morning, and some more in the afternoon. Mostly sunny and nice wind. 76 degrees with 82% humidity. That  humidity feels thick. I almost felt like I needed scuba gear to move around. It makes air conditioning nice. . This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I had to run to a few stores, so I decided to head out and yard sail while I was out there. 
I stopped at Walmart and walked some of the isles, mainly around the outside and through the food section. I ended up finding cream brulee coffee and buying three bags of it. I like to have a wide variety of coffee flavors at work so you never get tired of one of them.  I had not seen cream brulee for two years, running out right after a new worker said he loved the flavor. 
I then followed my northern route and found three yard sales. At one yard sale, I only after I was talking to the woman, who sort of remembered me that there was a two inch step up and last time they had signs saying “watch your step.” When I saw that tiny step and knew I had been here before and told her when we met before. It is surprising how, when you don’t have the signs leading you, you may not know exactly where a place was. You know the area, the side of the road you turned, but totally forget which of roads and which house. Many of these housing projects were where there was just a few design houses that are repeated. They have different landscaping and paint, but the roads blend easily. You need some other landmark to know where they were and when following or looking fo signs, one is not looking for landmarks. Also you usually don’t expect to go back there for any reason other than another yard sale and are lead there with signs.
I got a set of things for weaving ropes for a sailing ship. There are several sizes of hollow aluminum hooks that you stick the rope into. There is a pick to spread the cords or pull up a cord, and there are instructions. I was not sure what I would do with it, but got it anyway. I am sure I will find a use for it, even if it was not for ropes.
I found another yard sale with boxes of crafts stuff with pencils and pens, crayons glue. She gave me a very good price for all of them. I then grabbed a recorder (flute) and then a bowl of wooden fruit that I think she said was made in Kenya. They were better than anything I ever made. They might be examples to follow for making my own next time.
I went to two yard sales that had nothing I “needed”. One of them had a really nice Norwegian sewing box that opens up towards the ends with three sections on each side. I considered it strongly, but they wanted $50. If I had that much money, I would have planned on using the money for something else anyway. There was a wooden cradle that her children and grand children were raised in. She also had a brand new paper-white tablet still in the unopened box they wanted $50 for. Nice things but I did not need them. I have a couple paper-white readers that I got for a song. I have not had a chance to really use them yet.
I went to Lowes and walked many of the isles. I have some ideas for projects. I almost could not find what I was after which caused me to walk more isles than intended.
And then went to Harbor Freight (woops)  and walked all the isles. I just got a few things and nearly used up my gift card. It was nice, though. Each time I go, I learn that there is more things I need. I noticed a guy following me with a mop, cleaning up the drool everybody was leaving between the rows.
I went to Save A Lot, which is a small grocery chain where you have to buy the grocery bags or grab an empty box they have on the shelves (they put the boxes on the shelf with the top cut off) to put your purchases in. I walked all the isles. 
I also walked the dollar store I did find what I was after, and got an idea of what they have in stock when I am ready to go again. I also stopped at the Arbies which is next door to the dollar store to get lunch. 
I list this to show that I walked my tail off today. I actually did quite well. It looks like I am in better condition than last year, which is not saying much....

Mom and I swapped flats of bottled water. She gave me her old ones so we can use them up quickly while she got some new ones to hang on to for hurricanes or special needs. I used a hand cart from the truck and her house and was surprised that five waters was all it (I) could handle. They are taller than I expected.

I brought out most of my gatherings and mom and I sorted the drawers of the art filled drawer units I picked up and stuff is easier to find now. We think the woman might have been a teacher or something as there was a lifetime supply of pencils, pens, brushes, and colored pencils

All that walking reduced any interest in making a mess. 
I will see what I do tomorrow.



Year 19, Week 23, Day two (week 1023)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-16-19 Sunday


I had to make a quick run south, where the sky was watering the plants then came north. Storms swept across on an angle as they slid east, with the cells in the front were moving north. While it was dry up north when I started, It got well ahead of me by the time I got to mom’s house. Her plants won’t need watering today. This weather report was brought to you by the city Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I arrived a bit earlier than I normally do. I went out back and started unloading the lathe. I then had to remove the bolts holding the fence-post blocks in place, that the wheels were attached to. The first ones came off all right. That end was always under cover. The second end had problems where the bolt heads were pulled deep into the wood so I could not get a grip on the head of the bolt to remove them. My brother arrived as I was getting ready to cut the bolts off. I used the saws-all to slice right through the bolts holding one side of the block in place. We then went in for lunch and when we came out, I did the other side.
After a quick stop at Ace hardware where I did not get near enough bolts, I bolted some furniture-mover wheels (picked up at Harbor Fright last week) beneath the lathe. It was mom’s suggestion as they were on sale. These were 12" by 18" mover dollies and it turned out that the base of the lathe cart was 18" wide. I drilled and the bolted them through the cloth (added by the maker to prevent scratching) covered 12" long boards. I chose not to remove the cloth because I was lazy and figured it would only make a small difference.
The lathe rolls a little easier when it was empty but not quite as easy loaded down, but it is much better than it was.  What has happened with these dollies, is that the weight of the lathe is now held in four places along the length. The wheels on these carts are now spaced out. With the weight of the lathe spaced out on four, instead of two, places, If I hit a bump, the other wheels carry some of the weight so the force is not so strong (I think, anyway). It rolls easier in getting it in place, but does not seem to roll while I work, at least on the projects so far.
The humidity was thick and I was soaked as I worked out there. My brother helped me a little, mainly adding another hand a couple times, but mostly sat back for the entertainment of my making The Three Stooges look competent. Actually I did pretty good.
I showed my brother my finds from yesterday at harbor frieght. He approved.

I already found a place for the drawers, on top of some rolling drawers mom gave me a year or two ago.  I need to go through all the drawers of everything and sort them also. 

While visiting, there was woman with a new baby, about a month old. I asked if I could test the size of my crochet  booties on it. She put each one on one foot and they fit. I gave them to her, then remembered I never wove in the ends. Oh well. I know the technique works anyway. I hope she does not think badly about me.

I have my turning club meeting this week on Thursday. Try as I might, I don’t have anything to show off. That will be all right. It is fun to  to brag about something you did. It is also fun just to see what everybody else was working on and what just being around every friends. 

I will have to see what I do next week.

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the bins of craft stuff I picked up. top bin is separate and is now full of colored felt pens.

the pink bin drawers is separate from the red bins drawers

the new wheels under the lathe. those flat boards is the only thing I don't like. sawdust collects on them and is hard to sweep off because of the wire rack

the wheels more from the side, showing the cloth protected upper boards. I chose not to cut the cross boards off because I figured it will be stabilizing the wheels. 

Year 19, Week 22, Day One (week 1022)

Year 19, Week 22, Day One (week 1022)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-08-19 Saturday

High feathers, some lower puffs. A shockwave came through at about two to give mom’s plants the watering they needed. The Fort Lauderdale Department of Tourism contacted me and warned me about using four letter words in my notes. The last time in a long time I will use this word. RAIN is not to be mentioned. It is LIQUID SUNSHINE. I must try to remember that. I will say that mom does not have to water her plants this week as nature provided the hosing they needed.... This weather report is brought to you by The Pompano Beach department Of Tourism.

We found two yard sales today on the way home from breakfast. Mom got me a stick style vacuum cleaner. I have not used it yet. She said it is perfect for my floors. I figure it will be good to vacuum my sticks before I carve on them... Oh, sorry not that kind. It is where the motor and everything is in a slim straight unit. My apologies ...

I went out back and did several small projects. I painted the crank wheel on the lathe’s tail stock to protect the metal. I gave the wheel two coats and my hand one coat of paint. I was holding it by the knob and twisting and turning it in the spray. I guess I moved my hand wrong and got paint sprayed over the back of my hand. It took all day with multiple scrubbings with a brush to get the last sign of paint off.. 

My kitchen chairs have three stretchers holding the legs in place. One across the back and one on each side front to back. One of the front to back stretchers had come off one of my chairs. I found they had used dowels to attach them, they drilled both the end of the stretcher and the side of the leg and glued a dowel into the holes to secure the leg in place. The dowels on both ends of the stretcher broke in half. 
I took my knife and shaved off the bits of the dowel wood sticking out from the surfaces. I made sure I could place the stretcher right.
I then drilled for screws through the legs, dribbled glue all over the ends of the stretcher and on the legs. I found I could not hold the stretcher in place to work. I drove one screw in and the stretcher spun around once the screw got a bite. It needed to be clamped to hold everything where they needed to be. I did not have a clamp big enough so I took two of my long clamps and hooked them on each leg. I had the end of one hooked on the leg and the sliding part with the screw of the other clamp hooked on the leg. That allowed me to catch the screw part on the head of the other and use the screw to pull them tight. It worked. 
With everything tight, I tightened the first screw till there was about half an inch left, then I put in the other screw part way in, then worked them both in as far as the drill would drive them. I put the screws in on the other end. 
I was using very long screws, I could have used screws half as long but did not want to search for them. When the screw got near the head, it would stop and the phillips head bit would spin wildly on the head of the screw. One of them I backed out, added a little oil and screwed it back in and that helped some. But it was not quite enough. I should have run a smaller drill into the hole to ease up entry of the screw. There are times that, even when you are doing something right, one should take some extra time and add a few steps to the project. I really should have done the screws, making sure everything fit before adding the glue, and I even didn’t need the glue. Just the screws would have held.
When done, the whole head and a very tiny bit of shank still stuck out from the surface of the legs on both ends, but decided that was going to have to be good enough. I doubt many people will look at the chairs closely anyway. I do know that the stretcher will not pull off or break without something catastrophic happening. 

Last week I added a handle to my tea pot. I gave the handle a good coat of super glue and then sanded the surface, along with the rest of the vase. The super glue was to fix the handle so it will be less likely to break. The sanding was to clean it up some more. 
One problem with sanding is that as you work, little flaws show up. Those flaws require even  more sanding, and then more sanding follows that. You are supposed to get finer and finer sanding as you go until you have a fine finish t hat feels good to the touch. Depending on the wood, some people stop at 320 or 400 grit for porous wood and will go to six thousand grit (yes it is available, sometimes at auto shops or on line) for super hard wood that can take a finish. I have seen hardwood pieces that was simply sanded to a super fine grit and a little wax that looks better than a dozen coats of varnish. 
There are times when I feel good to get past 80 grit sandpaper on my work. Since I really don’t like sanding, I tend to not finish pieces at all, or not finish them well. Many guys in the turning club polish their work till it looks like glass. 

Mom’s neighbor had a fence put in and the fence people cleaned up the back yard and put the garbage out back for bulk pick up. The bulk garbage pickup did not come last night and it also did not come this morning as we had expected. I forced myself to leave the pile alone except for a couple pieces. I fight my nature constantly to keep from accumulating a warehouse worth of wood. I barely can use a car’s trunk worth of wood in a year, let alone all the wonderful pieces one could get at times. Like yard sailing, there are times I kick myself for not getting wood when it is available.

Harbor Freight is a dangerous place. They have stuff you never see anywhere else outside a specialty store.  Santa said I could have the entire contents of the catalogue if I am a good boy. I sure hope he does not learn about all those incidents....
A few weeks back I picked up a set of brushes for engine cleaning. There are a combination of twenty wire and nylon brushes for cleaning bolt holes and other small holes. The largest is about two inches in diameter when the bristles are fully extended. The back end is designed to fit into a screwdriver type handle. It comes with an extension and a handle. 
The spout of my tea pot had something like an attached ball of thread that did not want to go away. After trying to use the brushes with an in and out motion, I mounted a brush in the drill and spun the brush forward first, and it was not coming off, so I spun it in reverse with in the spout to clean it out nicely. They are good for getting into tight places. They are really intended to be used up and down the length, but spinning them works well too. I have steel brush wheels of various configurations that do well on cleaning up some types of work. This type is just for a different situation. 

I did not accomplish too much, but got something done. 
Will see what I do tomorrow.

Year 19, Week 22, Day Two (week 1022)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-09-19 Saturday


Nature gave Mom’s plants a good hosing during night and then it was cloudy all day. It got up to 83, but mostly was in the high 70s in the morning and evening.  While it was hot, it was also humid around noon. A school of steamed fish swam around our heads at one point before the light wind lead them away from us. A good day to have air conditioning.  Weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. I               

My brother and I went to Harbor Freight. With all the stuff I have on hand, I still never have the exact one I really need. The worse thing is that with the other store location, I had to plan to go there so I was safe. Here, it can be a spur of the moment thing. That is dangerous.
Mom suggested I get these furniture rollers, that movers use, to put under my lathe since I am having problems with the wheels. I picked two up, that will give four spaced pairs of wheels for beneath my lathe. I will have to take the big blocks with wheels off my lathe  before I can put these on. I can use the big blocks for other  projects. Some of the wheels might be useable for other things. The pavers I have the lathe is not smooth or even and the side impacts on the wheels are doing damage. They are not turning right and end up dragging. I picked up a few other things. Now I have to get myself in a situation to use all my finds. 

I decided that drawing the leaves on the bowl I made with pencil  was not working. It is hard to see. I decided to paint the leaves on my bowl. Well, I did it all wrong. I am going to have to put it on the lathe and sand it clean and start again. I painted them in two colors. My intention was to have the leaves on an angle and then other leaves on the opposite angle, overlapping. I would carve some leaves lower than others so it looks like two intersecting patterns of leaves. I made the first batch upright and accidentally double spaced around. I then put the second color between them. Not what I was after at all. They are lined up like soldiers around it, not a “swirl” of leaves. I have to sand them off and start again.

Mom had handed me a ham she was given and asked me to slice it up. I have three slicer bodies and two motors. As an experiment this week I put my older motor onto the new body and it worked fine. Same gear size. The new motor has a tiny switch set into the body on the back. The old motor has a big switch right on the end. When you have to turn it on and off while working, it is nice not to have to feel behind the motor for a switch, getting meat juice all over it. I like the big switch.

Because of the fish swimming around our heads, We finished our day watching videos of trains. One of them was of the largest steam engine made, a BIG BOY, which had a wheel arrangement of 4884, where there were four lead wheels (small) two sets of four axle drivers, and 4 trailing wheels (small). It happened they had one of the modern diesel engines attached in line just in case there was a problem with the steam engines. What surprised us was that the diesel was as big as the big boy. The big boy did not look as big as it used to be.
It had been a very long time since I even looked at my model railroad. I figure the corrosion and dust build up on the tracks is such that it will take a hammer and chisel to clean the tracks so the trains could run. That is after I unload the stuff piled on top. Every flat surface becomes a shelf. It cannot be helped.

We will see what we do next week. 

2079

the braised repaired whe4el.

the other side of  the wheel.

tea pot with handle

bracing of the chair to repair it

the brush collection that came with the package.

bottom of the painted bowl. nothing like a swirl

painted vase from the side, upside down.

Year 19, Week 21, Day One (week 1021)

Year 19, Week 21, Day One (week 1021)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-01-19 Saturday

77 early morning, 91 late afternoon some clouds passed over early, blue sky for part of the day, then clouds built up in the afternoon, towers built up over the Everglades but only a few dribbles hit my windshield in the late afternoon. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I found about 5 yard sales today. Most had nothing I really wanted to put money out for. It is fun to see what they have, though.
I ended up getting 4 cast iron pans for $5. A 6", a 8" a 10" and one of those Fajita pans. They need just a little clean up as there is a tiny bit of surface rust near the handles. I do not need cast iron pans. It was just that the price asked for them caught my attention. It was the price of what just one pan usually goes for.

At another yard sale, there was a box of power cords. On the box was marked $5 each, then the man said, $2 each, then he said, “take it all for $5". I already put two of them to use today. 

At one yard sale mom and I went to right after Breakfast, was a church fund yard sale.  They had a meat slicer. It was the same kind of motor that my expensive slicer had, which has tiny switch on the side. I forced myself to walk away. I thought about it all day long, but did not go back for it. I have three bodies and two motors. I don’t need another slicer. I hope someone who really wanted one, got that one. I have no idea if stuff is carried over from one time they have the yard sales to another. 

Earlier in the week I did a test and took my other motor and put it on my new slicer. It fits perfectly. The difference was that the old motor has a great big toggle switch on the end, while the other one has a small inset switch that is hard to find and flip when you cannot see it. It is common to turn the slicer off and on many times while working. You turn it off when you need to stack the meat, you turn it off when you grab another chunk of meat to slice, etc. you always have meat juices on your hands so that tiny switch is not the most sanitary. The big switch can be flipped with the side of your finger. Even if you are slicing something else like bread or cooked meat or some veggies, it just is a mess to reach that little switch.

A couple years ago, I had picked up  a Craftsman brand drill press where you put your hand drill into it for power. Plans to use it got set aside and then it got buried. I located it this week and brought it with me to Moms. I looked on-line and found that this one had a modification the original did not have. The original had a “bail” a shaped rod to hold a drill in place and a little table that slides up and down on the post that can tip side to side for angle drilling. Those were gone. What this one had was a “can” attachment where the bail would go. 
I decided the can might hold a dremel. I sat down at the work bench and stuck one of my dremels into the can see if it would fit. It was close but not quite right. The dremmel was not going all the way in. Then I noticed that screws holding the can in placewere sticking into where the dremel slid in. I backed them out, got the dremel set where I can push the locking pin that keeps the shaft from turning while changing bits, and I then knew it would work. 
The unit I was first testing was a variable speed dremel. I took that out and put in a spare single-speed unit I have.  There was no way I could adjust the speed anyway, unless I cut the can about where the switch was. One of the extension cords I picked up today had a big button on the wire. I learned this was an on-off button. I got that, plugged the dremel into the cord and after testing it, I coiled the cords together to reduce the length. I have not done th is before but saw videos about it. I then spent the effort to set the dremel straight up and down, from side to side, and front to back and cinched in tight. 
There is a metal piece at the top designed to hold the drill in place with down force. The screw would not go in far enough to hold the dremel place. I figured it really was not needed, but I decided it would be one more thing to keep it from moving.  I grabbed a cut off piece of wood and after drilling a hole, I sanded it until I had a wooden spacer so the bolt holding the metal in place would apply pressure to the dremel. I now have a dremel-based drill press. We can use that for the fine holes in scroll saw work among other things. There are times where we want to move a piece against the dremel bits rather than the dremel against the piece, and this will allow us to work that way. 
We have a similar drill press (a slightly different model stand) with a regular electric drill in it.  We can handle most projects. We do have a big drill press in the garage but have to move stuff around to get to use it.  I squared up that drill the best I could. The bail is made for a slightly different model drill so it is not doing the job perfectly.

I intended to work on drawing patterns on some things to carve them, but that never happened. Instead I decided not to take that time. Basically my yard sale route took me to ten, then dill press took me to past twelve. I then went and got tacos for lunch and that took me to time for a nap. 

One of the yard sales I stopped off at, is one who has had craft stuff before. They had a bead loom kit. I gave it a long thought but knew I would never do beading in the near future. I see I can make a loom like what they had in a short time. It was just some dowels stuck between some sticks of wood. The line would be wrapped multiple times between the two dowels, and then the beads would be added to the line that would woven through the lines on the loom. It has given me ideas of making a loom for regular weaving. Another hobby I will not be doing for a while.

My brother and I got HARBOR FREIGHT gift cards for our birthdays so we are planning to go there tomorrow. I will see what all I actually do tomorrow.

Year 19, Week 21, Day One (week 1021)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-01-19 Saturday

77 early morning, 92 degrees after noon. 99 under the metal awning in spite of a light breeze flowing beneath it. Blue sky for most of the day, then towers built up over the Everglades. The sky got covered with clouds and some storms crossing the state arrived very late to water mom’s plants. It was gone as quick as it arrived. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

It was hot. One uses the air conditioning to recover from the heat, then go back out again. I intended to do some carving on some pieces I have. I even found an interesting leaf form a low growing weed and drew a few of them on the bowl. I did not like the spacing or the effect, so I set that to the side. 
My brother had to work today so I was on my own. My niece came but I said it was best not to sit out in the heat. 
I had the cut chunk of the end of the wood the bowl came from ,and decided the tea pot needed a handle. I think it is the same wood so I drilled a hole into the piece of wood. One of the tools that comes with any chuck you buy is a WORMWOOD SCREW. This is a screw with a head designed to be held by the chuck. The screw has a wide and flat thread with sharp edges. You drill a hole the diameter of the shaft and then drive the wormwood screw into the hole. The threads cut into the wood and hold with a lot of force. I was driving it into end grain, which cuts the grain as it goes in. It is not as strong as side grain where the threads fit between the grain of the wood with minimal cutting. 
The hard part was to drill the hole straight in from the face I wanted to use. This piece was more like a wedge. I tipped it up with something beneath it until it was ROUGHLY level. I did not try to get it exact. I figured close was good enough. 
About this time, my niece handed me the crank for the tail stock. It was braised. I need to paint it to protect the metal. But it was useable.
I cut off the worst of the corners on the chunk of wood from my drawn circle, worked the wormwood screw into the hole, and then mounted it to the lathe. After it was spinning nicely, I moved the tail stock on and set it to the wood to hold it in place. I then worked with the angled face of the wood looking at me, flattening it, and I also rounded the piece. After it was flat enough and round enough it was smaller than I was after, but decided to go with it. I started hollowing the inside. 
I smoothed the corner on the front and the back and then cut into the center. I was intending to leave a ring that I could cut to size for the handle of my tea pot. I had it almost through when the piece came off the lathe. It broke into two pieces with the ragged center still on the lathe. I found the large piece first and when I moved the tool cart that was beside me, I found the small piece. 
I cleaned up, put away the lathe and sat down with the tea pot. The size was about perfect. I had to adjust the ends to match the curve of the pot, but It was the right size. Mom suggested that I cut into the pot surface so the ends of the handle are below the surface to give more glue surface. It does not matter how accurately I try to fit something, it always ends up too big. I first put sandpaper against the surface of the vase and slid the handle ends on it back and forth to level the ends out. I did some grinding with a dremmel and then sanded like that some more. 
I just about had it right, when I started cutting holes into the surface to hold the handles. I kept fitting it, grinding some more and fitting it again. When I had it about right, there was a lot of space around the handle ends. 
I put glue on the ends of the handle and into the holes and stuck the handle in. I globbed more glue around the handles and then pressed fine sawdust in around the handle ends. It was not quite the right color sawdust but it would do the job. 
Once I had the handle in place, I carried it to a place inside where it could sit with the handle up and it won’t be touched. 
I cleaned up and called that my day. I accomplished much but not as much as I had hoped. 
I will see what happens next weekend.

2088

Pans I picked up. that little bit of rust comes off with little effort and the pans season easily.

my cord collection. the upper left cord has an on-off button

the drill press using the dremel. the on-off switch is seen.

Tea pot with handle attached. 

Year 19, Week 20, Day One (week 1020)

Year 19, Week 20, Day One (week 1020)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-25-19 Saturday

77 early morning 85 afternoon, nice steady breeze cooling things, well spaced gusts to move dried leaves around, puffs meandering from the ocean into the everglades, Once in a while shade, but mostly sun. Humidity is tolerable. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

We went to a church yard sale after breakfast. I picked up a large glass lid. I have picked up several large lids at previous yard sales this year but have yet to see if they fit any of my stock pots. I never think about them while I have the chance. I had picked up some very large pots that had no lids. That is why I bought the large lids. 

I brought my lathe out. One wheel was dragging, I decided I would do some turning first, then check on the wheel. 
Feeling the bowl on the lathe from last week, I could see that there was one area in the curve just above the bottom that was thicker than the rest of it. When you run the bowl between your fingers, you can usually feel a change in distance between them. You are actually feeling the thickness changing. I worked the bowl thinner in the curve. I scraped along the rest of it. Then sanded it a bit. The actual amount of wood I removed might not even be noticed. I then took the bowl off the lathe. It needs more  sanding, but I figure when I carve it, it will have to be completely re-sanded anyway.

I unloaded all the tools and materials off the lathe. I thought the tail stock was locked down. I removed the motor and then tipped the base up. The double thunk of the tail stock and tool rest told me they were not locked down. I then saw the wheel on the tail stock rolling to a stop. Darn...  The cast iron wheel had broken off. Looking at it, I saw there must have been cracks that had developed where it broke because you could see some surface rust on a couple of the spokes. 
Well, I looked at the wheels the cart rolls on. There were ball bearings inside the swivel of the wheels. There is a patio stone that is very slightly higher than the others and the wheels bang against it when I push the lathe back into the awning. One wheel was totally missing the ball bearings, the other had the bearings coming out. The third wheel was still good. I poked out the loose ball bearings with a knife and now they swivel all right. The ball bearings were getting jammed at the edges. These wheels are designed to hold a lot of weight but that is down force. They are not well designed for side forces when they bump up against cracks in pavement. 

After loading the lathe back up again, I then moved everything into the L of the house so we can set up for the BBQ tomorrow. 
When preparing the wood for the bowl, I had split a piece of wood off. It followed the twist of the grain instead of coming off flat. I kept the piece but really did not know what I would do with it.  I took that piece and started splitting it into sticks, then I started rounding the pieces with my carving knife into what should eventually become crochet hooks. My knife knocked off the corners, then the high points before straightening them. Sticking them into a drill and spinning them against sandpaper rounded them more.. They need more sanding for actual use as crochet hooks but it is a good start. 
One of the rods I created is too big for most crochet I do. I am not sure what to do with it. It is sort of a sad thing to remove all that wood (about half the diameter) to make a crochet hook a size I normally use. It is a nice piece of wood. I just don’t know how I will use is.  Because these sticks are all short, they will likely have a handle added that will make them long enough and will aid in comfort. 

I gathered some of the supplies for tomorrow together in flat boxes. But there is a limit to what I can do until the event.. 


Year 19, Week 20, Day Two (week 1020)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-26-19 Sunday


72 degrees to 85 degrees light breeze, moving clouds. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I stopped at a yard sale on the way to Mom’s house. I found a yard sale by a friend. I bought three stone eggs that were made in Kenya. It is a reminder that I want to later turn some eggs out of wood and then carve hatching dragons from them. Years ago, I carved eggs with ducks hatching from them. 

After cleaning the case some, I brought our BBQ grill from the neighbor’s house, then set up large folding tables. I somehow created more room than we had at our previous Bar-B-Q  when moving things into place so we were able to set up the tables in a more useful way. I set out coolers with meat and drinks, got out folding coffee table for the cook to set things on. 
I brought out the stuff I had for the gathering - plates, cups, condiments, utensils, table cloths, etc. After about 12 trips, I had everything out that I was responsible for. I was wore out. It took a while for everybody to arrive and then we started cooking. I sat and rested, working on my scarf, finishing the last stitches. It was finally done. 

I made five attempts at making a baby booties in crochet. I never got past about four rows. I think I misunderstood something of the instructions in a video of  design, and I had not quite worked out a problem with a design I was trying to do from my own mind. I will have to play with them some more.
A couple people we invited did not show up so it ended up just immediate family. One little one was bored, the other was occupied with internet games on the computer. My brother sat inside watching a race while holding the baby. The baby’s mother was inside most of the time too. 
I keep forgetting that most people don’t make any effort to be comfortable outside during the summer. A lot of people come down south because it is too cold up north, then run their air conditioners at a temp similar to what they had left. 
There was a light breeze that came over the tables under the awning and that kept it comfortable for me. 

I showed my brother the wheel of the tail stock. I helped him remove the hub of the wheel and then he fitted the two pieces back together and had it put in his car. He said he will braise it back together. If he is able to get it, I will have it back Sunday. I can do turning without it, but it just makes things a tiny bit tougher. Either that or I can plan for a different type of turning where the tail stock is not needed near as much.

At the end of the day, I had to help pack stuff away. This only took six trips. I left a few things out back to deal with tomorrow. Packing things in boxes made carrying things a lot easier. I will remember that for next time.


Year 19, Week 20, Day Three (week 1020)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-27-19 Monday

72 degrees to 86 degrees blue sky. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Mom and I got together and we cleaned the kitchen, the BBQ grill and did some rearranging. When we finally stopped, we still had more to do but we are planning to do that during the week. We have some friends coming for a visit at the end of the week.

While playing around with one of my carving knives, I noticed that I could easily forget which edge is which. I have them designed where you can apply force on the back of the blade when working with the end of the blade. The problem I noticed was that both edges look the same from the side. Once or twice I already have put the back to the wood.  I started the grinder and wore down the end of the blade on the back, curving it towards the edge. Now it is a tiny bit easier to spot the difference between the back of the blade and the edge. I should do that to the other blades.

I went through mom’s garden looking for interesting leaves. The maple leaf would be perfect but those are not common down here. There is a VINE MAPLE native down here but they are exceedingly rare. We are south of the line maples usually grow. The heat kills them. Fort Lauderdale is at a line that is the southern edge of the northern trees and the northern edge of the tropical trees. Heat waves and freezes dictate where the line is at any period of time.  A heat wave will kill the southern-most of the northern trees, a strong cool period or even a freeze will knock back the northern-most of the southern trees. Their ranges overlap a bit during mild periods. Basically, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach is the area of the overlap. 

I tried to draw leaves on the bowl I made and could not get the look I was after. I ended up sanding the bowl clean. First I removed my pencil lines. 
To remove pencil lines, tip the surface upside down or at a strong angle if possible so the lead from the pencil does not land back on the wood. If that happens, it takes a lot more sanding before the pencil lines disappear. when you draw your lines, the pencil marks are just on the very surface. If the carbon lands back on the wood, it will fall between the grain and more wood has to be removed and then more until all the dust stuck to the wood is removed. Tipping it upside down or on the side will remove the pencil marks quickly.
After the pencil lines, I sanded some rough areas. The surface still need more work.  I removed the post in the base of the bowl by shaving it first with the knife, then used different grinding bits on the dremel until I had it flat. I sanded the inside some  and outside of the bowl several times. It all needs more sanding.

I have a steam engine that I have been working on. I shaved on it a little, bringing it a tiny bit closer to what it needs to be. I started this back in January. It appears it will take me all year to make this one and I want to make a bunch of them. They were a design I wanted to do for Christmas and never got a chance to do them. I want a bunch ready for next Christmas.

I will see what happens next weekend. 

1890

the broken wheel on the tail stock

the stone eggs

the rods made from the split wood

the bowl as turned

the scarf now done.

My dragon friend is trying to hatch the eggs.

The eggs are in the bowl I made.