Year 21, Week 16, Day One (week 1110) 05-08-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 16, Day One (week 1110) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

05-08-21 Saturday

73 was the coldest, 80 when I got outside, the day mostly fair with a few clouds. 82 as the high. A steady light breeze helped take the heat out of the air. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I cleaned up the five cannons I made last week. I used the sanding drum to remove excess glue and knobs formed by the pegs I added to hold everything in place. There were a few other touch-ups I had to do. 

Then I hit them with white paint. That will allow whatever colors I add to them to stand out, not fade out as they sometimes do against the brown wood. I then made the hollows in the carriages for five more cannons. I only have four cannon barrels made, though, and wheels for two. It dawned on me that I can speed my work by using the cutting disk on the dremel for slicing the end where it is low. I can cut into the end of the carrage since that wood has to be removed, I can cut the angle at the end of the supports for the cannon. Just a tiny bit of work and that wood is gone. After measuring what I wanted the thickness of the wood to be, I cut down with the disk down both sides, and on the front end (there is wood across that end of the carriage) that gives a stop cut for my knife to cut and pry out wood. Once I get it to where I want it to be, I run the dremmel grinding bit, and later, the sanding drum into that area to level and smooth it out. 

It makes a big difference on the speed. Most of the hollowing work was with the knife as it reaches a lot of the area at once and is good at splitting off wood. Grinders and sanders remove tiny bits of wood. The knife can cut deep and split off wood easily

I worked on the tea pot I made a few weeks ago. I cleaned up the glue that spilled out around the handle. I used glue to fill gaps and it spread out beyond what I was working on. I got rid of the visible glue, had to fix a few tiny holes. Once I had it like I wanted, I lightly sanded it, then gave it another coat of varnish. It will need a bit more work such more varnish and light sanding between coats. It is looking good.

I had several bags of yarn that I kept in the truck. I added more yarn at one time or another. I gathered ALL the bags of yarn and emptied them out onto my table. Wow, that was a lot of yarn. I separated them out as some ends had gotten wild and tangled up with each other. I then sorted the yarn as to type, first. Then I put together a bag that would stay in the truck in case I needed it. It has cotton and acrylic of many colors, plus a few projects that were in process. It is sometimes fun to grab a project and work on it, other times it is fun to start fresh. The other two were going back home. 

There is one thing you run into with yarn, and it tends to happen with every craft or hobby. You never have the color, or item, or type of item, you really want to work with. You end up with materials galore, and then you never have time to make use of any of it...There was no reason to have three full bags of yarn in the truck. I tell people I have a life-time worth of yarn. I am not joking. What makes it worse, is when I go past yarn in the store, I hesitate. One of the dollar stores in our area now have yarn. Their cotton yarn was not twisted as well as it should. It splits easily. That does not mean I don’t start reaching for it...

This morning, I decided to cook a dish for a family meal. I cooked some of my mixed grain (I accumulated some 20 different kinds of grain such as oats, wheat, Quinoa, barley, millet, four kinds of rice, etc) then some noodles, and some frozen veggies, and mixed them up. We were going to have some of it for lunch today, but decided to have it for lunch tomorrow with the whole family. I had some hamburger patties and we decided to have them tomorrow too. I told mom she could add tomatoes, celery, cheese, and such to the pasta grain salad. I have not been cooking much so it was sort of a treat. 

Year 21, Week 16, Day two (week 1110) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

05-09-21 Sunday

73 as the absolute coldest. 83 when I got onto the road. 84 as the high. Humidity bounced around 65%. light breezes felt good. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

We had the pasta-grain salad today for lunch with hamburger patties. Mom added tomatoes and celery. We each used our own salad dressing. They liked it. It won’t be soon, but I will do that again.

When I went out back of Mom’s house to work, I made some more barrels and also some cannon carriages. I later added the barrels to the carriages. I still have to add the wheels. My brother likes the cannons. These will be the last of these I will make at this time, as I will have a dozen cannons. I am surprised at how fast it took to get this part done. 

The blade has been coming off on the band saw. My brother had a look at it, and figured out how to adjust the angle of the upper wheel. There is a screw in the center. You turn that screw to tip the top of the blade in or out. We made a few adjustments and it looks like it is doing all right. Now that I know about it, I can make finer adjustments as they are needed. 

I had assumed I would have to take the wheel off to make adjustments, as I saw an apparatus that looked like it was able to change the angle. My brother had worked on this bandsaw before and he just had to remember what he did. The whole thing needs adjustments done. I will have to do it when I am bored and want a real project.

On making the cannons, I had to taper the barrel so the muzzle, other than a flair at the end, it was smaller than the back. The explosion itself starts at the back and that is where most of the mass is needed to keep it from flying apart. The muzzle does not need as much mass as the force is going out the end, not out the encasing barrel. 

A trick for making easy tapers is to start at the end that will be the smallest. Remove a little material. Then go back a little more and remove some more material. As you work back, you keep removing material all the way down to the end. What happens is that the material you are removing last has already been removed from, and it forms an angle as you work.  

To taper the cannons barrels, I spun them in the little lathe, and used the dremel with an aggressive grinding bit to remove the wood. I started near the end of the muzzle and held it there while the two motions were working against each other. The dremel bit cutting down the length of the barrel which was spinning under it. I found that going from the low to the high with the bit worked better because once into the wood, it was ripping out the ends of the fiber as you worked to the higher levels, making wood removal easier. I would sand them by holding sand paper against them as they spun.

A couple of cannon barrels had hard and soft spots and the bit started bouncing on the wood so the taper was not even all the way around. This happens some times when wood turning and it becomes a challenge to correct. One cannon looked a bit twisted when I was done. There are ways of correcting it but I decided it was not worth fixing it. I decided I could hide the worst of it by how rotated it when I mounted it. 

Once I worked as far as the jaws of the lathe would let me. I turned it around and machined the end. A few times I worked backwards and because I put a knob on the end of the barrel, it left less for the chuck to hang onto. The tail stock can only reach so far and It made it tougher to work with. If you applied too much force toward the chuck, the piece would slide as the chuck was holding to the end of the barrel by the edge of the end curve. 

Before I left, Mom asked me to help her move a plant. It is a nice flowering plant, but a palm tree was blocking her view of it. She wanted to place it where it would be seen. She will later put something low where it was since something just above the 30 inch diameter 18 inch high pot can be seen. 

There were some metal hooks (bent re-bar) holding it down and a couple posts next to the pot the plant is wired to, to keep it from falling over in the winds. I was able to pull the hooks out easily. She got the wood pole. The metal stake was tough. The ends are flat and there is a curve in the middle and it hooks sticking up, with holes where they came from. It would not pull up at all. I ended up pulling it in all four directions, then it nudged up a little. I had to do it about six or seven times to get it out. The metal hooks were too hard for her to pull out. She would never gotten that metal stake out as it was hard for me. 

We then pounded in the hooks and the posts in at the plant’s new location (mom’s shoulder won’t let her hammer that high, so I did it for her). I just forgot what she called it this plant, but it is in blossom and she could not see it where it was. 

Next weekend, I plan to do trucks and cars, and maybe another pitcher, if I find a better branched piece than I have right now (the spout is the big diameter part of it). I will see what other trouble I can get into....

1867

The different stages of the cannon. the stock piece of wood. 

a piece cut and squared

a piece where the corners are cut off and partially rounded.

the rounded rod

the finished cannon barrel.

the cannons to the stage I am at. 

The brown one was just a piece of wood the right size so I did not have to cut a new piece. 

all will be painted white and then decorated with different colors.

This sketch shows how removing a bit of wood at the end, then a little more, creates a nice taper as long as you need it. each angled like shows a new cut. 

this works with grinders or knives or planes, on flat wood or spinning wood. 

Year 21, Week 15, Day One (week 1109) 05-01-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 15, Day One (week 1109) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

05-01-21 Saturday

72 low, 80 high, mostly clear with clouds building up over the everglades. they did not block the sun until after five, so it was hot under the awning from about 3:30 till the clouds took over. The weather report suggested rain, but there was none. Blue skies in the morning and after lunch, then it clouded up some to the west of us and it stayed there for the most part. At three, the sun came in under the awning, and at four, clouds blocked the sun and kept it cool.  The afternoon is a good time to work outside. I was comfortable all day once I got the fan plugged in and aimed right. The sun or no sun then did not matter. It felt good. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I went to an appointment early in the morning. On the way home, I decided to explore where the road I was on. Heading east, it changed names a couple times and took me to Dixie highway which I crossed. I went three blocks and found a yard sale. They basically had nothing. There is one section, north of home on the east side of US1 that has been having yard sales. I found two there. One of them had some really interesting light shelving. They have the extruded plastic shelves that have ribs on the inside and light metal straps and frames. I considered getting them for the art room. I gave it a very long thought. I picked up a butcher-board cutting-board instead and left. The cutting board needs a little clean up and there is a crack on one side that needs to be glued. Even if it was for the wood alone, it might be interesting to have. Somewhere, I have a scraper I bought. I wish I could remember where it went. I could use it to fix this board properly.

At the third yard sale did not have much and was way too high a price. It was a very rich home. Some things that would have sold elsewhere for five bucks, had prices of $25. 

We have  basically have two big grocery store chains. Publix is the biggest one. Winn Dixie was big but they closed a bunch of their stores. Mom’s been telling me about a Winn Dixie store near us. I did not know it was there, so when I searched and found it. They have a system where if you get one of their cards (sort of an id card) you can get some special deals on stuff. Some of their things, they give the card price but not the regular price. It is a good store but not my favorite. There is a few things they have that Publix have, but not a whole lot. Mom gets their meat on sale. I go to several smaller stores also. I know what each store has and will go to the ones that have what I need. There are things I will not buy at some stores either because of the price or the quality.

I waited till after lunch to go outside to work. Mom had a project that needed my help on, and I had a project to work on. Mom wanted to have some shelving under her sink for foil, plastic wrap, wax paper rolls, batteries, and so on. Simple project turned out to be a big project. We had three re-designs in the process. At about five, as I was leaving, she was finishing the last bit of it. 

We took a wire rack she was using for her plants, and cut it up for shelving under her sink. Several times we had to re-cut it to make sure it fit. We started assembling it and it was going in all directions. We had to change what we were going to do several times. She was still working on it when I had to leave.

I basically made dowels for cannon barrels. I got nine of them. I used the small lathe. I intended to shape them, but as I was working I found it was going to be hard. I will have to use other methods to get them to shape. It was a good learning experience and great practice. A lot of times, I needed about half an inch more space to work on this lathe and do not have it. Of course, I could have saved a lot of time by digging out a dowel of about the right size and cutting it to length and in five minutes I would have what took me four hours to make (with lots of other things going on in between to add to the time). 

I had found a dowel the size of a broom handle and figured I would cut disks off and they would become the wheels. Once I make a body, I will see if they are too big. 

Year 21, Week 15, Day two (week 1109) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

05-02-21 Sunday

May 2, 2020

75 low, 86 high. Mostly clear, some clouds to the west over the everglades, some whisps over head. It was as high as 95 under the awning, but since there was a light breeze and almost no humidity to be felt (says 68%) it was quite tolerable. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

Last night I figured out how to shape the barrels of the cannon. It worked quite well. I used the dremmel to do the shaping while they were spinning on the lathe. I basically ground it to shape while it was rotating. Some barrels were not perfect but I did not let that bother me and used them anyway. 

While the dowel was spinning, I took my grinder and set I so I would “cut” across the spin of the rod. I found that moving the dremel he direction of the bit’s spin, it removed the wood best. It was easiest to create the lowest part of the shape first, then taper up as it was cutting the ends of the grain. 

When I got one end shaped, I turned the barrel around and finished the other end. I found it best to do the muzzle first, then do the back end, which is rounded and cut back, last. Of course, half the time I forgot.

I had 9 barrels made, and I had cut ten blocks (a two by two cut in half) for the carriages. I got five of the cannons completed. To give a size, they are two inches across. 

I cut the length by feel. I first drew a set of lines about as thick as I wanted the material to be, all around, then used the knife to start the cuts. I then used the cutting bit on the dremmel to slice down to the depth I needed. I then used the knife to hog out the extra material until it was close, then used a grinding bit to level it out. It dawned on me quickly that the “interior” would not have to be well done as few people would see it. I just needed the indent for the cannon to sit in.  That allowed me to produce more carriages than I would have made. 

I pegged each of the barrels in two places with lots of glue so they will stay putThe wheels are just disks from the broom-handle sized rod I found yesterday, and I pegged and glued them in place against the sides of the carriage. I will finish these up and see how they look as to whether I make more. The pegs are mainly to add additional hold to everything. 

On mom’s racks, she had to change it before really getting started about five times, and she assembled it wrong twice. It came out pretty good. She said she could not get the cap off the paint last night for touch-up painting, so she went out early in the morning when she was fresh and cut the cap off and did the touch up painting. 

Butcher block is where the ends of the grain are at the cutting surface. Most wood cutting boards have the grain running side to side. When you cut side to side grain, you are actually cutting the wood. Butcher block is where you are cutting on the end. Because the fibers separate rather than cut, it does not really make permanent cuts on the surface.

With this cutting board, had a couple cracks on one side where the glue gave. I worked glue into the cracks, and then clamped it as tight as possible to close the cracks as much as I could. Next time I am out, I will clean the surfaces properly and then put it to use. I looked at it as a nice piece of wood for projects, or as a cutting board. The option was open in my mind when I bought it.

I’ve been using a four footed cane for years. The one I am using was bent in an accident and I straightened it. It is taller than most canes which is why I like it. Yesterday, I tried tightening it as it was flopping and I cut my fingers a couple times. (Hand sanitizer lets you know where your scratches and cuts are). Today I looked at it carefully and saw some cracks. I took it out back and removed the handle, which required removing the screw and wing nut. 

It is a split plate, where they had cut slots down the shaft that the feet are attached and the screw goes through both sides (multiple holes for height) and through the handle. One side of the split came off and the other has bad cracks.  My brother did not come this week. I want to see if he will weld that piece back on, and weld the cracks so it will be strong again. 

I have a smaller one and will use that as my car cane for a while. 

Looking at the pictures I remembered I had a pitcher that needed to be finished up. I want to make more trucks and cars, and will finish up the cutting board. I have a couple in-process projects I need to finish up on also. Pictures do remind you of what you need to do.

1782

My mini lathe with the rods. In the middle I  have one cannon with a shaped end.

The cutting board. the surface is end grain, referred to a "butcher block."

I did not have long enough clamps on hand so I doubled the clamp to get the reach.

Showing the dremel shaping the end of the cannon.

cannons completed to this stage.

the finished rack mom made

each stage of the cannon. half  of a two by two. 

The rough square

The knife used to rough shape the wood.

The turned rod

The final cannon barrel

Year 21, Week 13, Day two (week 1107) 04-10-21 Saturday

 Year 21, Week 13, Day two (week 1107) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

04-10-21 Saturday

Partly cloudy some sun. A brisk breeze shaking trees nicely This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I drove most, but not quite all, my yard-sale route. I found two yard sales. One was a family that over the years often had plants for sale. A couple of their friends joined in the sales. I got a handcart/dolly for $10. It is designed to with caster style wheels at the top of the handcart so you can lay it down, change the handle, and use it like a dolly. I am going to offer that to my brother. If he wants it, it is his. If not, I have some clean up on it to do. It has inflatable tires and they need to be pumped up. 

At another yard sale was a charity group that periodically have yard sales. I got a few cheep items. A staple gun that you can adjust the tension, a desktop tape dispenser, and one of those pocketed things with Windsor-Newton is printed on it for rolling up and storing paint brushes, I thought about using it for my knives but they are too small. I will use it for other things.

I started cutting some wood for a quick project and the blade came off the bandsaw. I got it back on, and it came off again. I gave up. I will have to look at it again tomorrow. I did a little bit of cleaning work on a few pieces. But really did not accomplish much. 

One of the wooden feet, I made several years ago, on my four-footed cane broke this week. I took one of the blanks I had made as an extra when I was making the others and decided to install it in the place of the broken one. While fitting it to see if it would go on, I rapped it with the palm of my hand and it split. I could have glued it but decided it was not worth it.  I had a foot that I had made for a smaller cane, so I used the dremel to make the hole bigger and accidentally made it too big. I had to adjust the bottom so it would fit tight. I then worked paper around it, with glue to act as filler and then added a bunch of glue over the mouth of the foot to make sure it stays put. I will put the cane to use tomorrow, but it will have plenty of time to dry. 

I worked a bit after lunch, then took a short nap. I got an idea and went out back again. My neighbor’s mango tree is loaded. We are having brisk winds that are knocking some of the fruit off the tree. I have a dust pan for industrial work. It is a plastic bin about eight inches high, a foot wide and about a foot deep. I took a leaf rake and used it to flick the fruit into the dust pan. I ended up with three loads and there was some left on the ground as I ran out of energy. Mom will have to go through the fruit and see if any of it is useable. I doubt it. That was a great way to pick them up as there was little or no bending over to do it and I did not see any damage from the rack either. I did get some debris, but that was all right. It did not take very long either. 

I will see what I accomplish tomorrow.

Year 21, Week 13, Day two (week 1107) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

04-12-21 Sunday

We had a good day. It only showered lightly around four, and the heavy stuff started coming about five. We got a lot done. We had a nice drenching last night. Some puddles on a couple spots on the road. At about one and at four, we got a very short mists, then the main front hit at about five. When this blob of rain goes by, another one looks like it will pass over us. Mom’s plants will love this. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

After lunch, My brother and I went to Harbor Freight and we walked the store. We got new wheels for that hand truck/dolly I bought yesterday as there was no way to pump up the old tires. They were about $4 each. My brother supervised while I removed the old wheels. He had to help me with a bigger hammer to drive one wheel off and the bearing came apart with the inner ring still stuck on the axle. I had to cut the inner bearing race of the ball bearings with my dremmel and a cutting disk to get it off. One side had a pressure ring to hold the tire in place. The other side had a pin (small nail) stuck into a drilled hole. I decided the pin idea was a good idea as those pressure rings can be a pain. While drilling through the axle at the end, I broke two drill bits. I “Rogered” them. The third one did the job. 

 We then put the new wheels on. I did not pump them up as I was not in the mood to get the pump out and fill them up. Today, I was not in great condition walking. I was stiff and a tiny bit sore. We sat out there and enjoyed the weather. It was not really hot, we had lots of clouds in the afternoon as a front was coming soon. And a brisk wind made it nice and comfortable. We really did not want to get up. 

Before we did anything on the hand cart, I offered it to my brother and he said he has one just like it but does not use it much. Mom said we need it here more than there. I will clean it up and possibly repaint it later. We at least made it useable.

I worked on making some wooden spoons. When I was cutting three out of the wood last weekend, I broke two of them. I am gluing up those two to see if I can repair them. If I cannot fix them, no loss. Then I saw the wood I should have been using for these. The wood I should have used was some two inch mahogany boards. Finding the right stuff afterwards happens all the time. 

Yesterday, I raked up a bunch of mangoes that fell on the ground. Some of the little ones were yellow. I found out that they are edible. Not really sweet, but sweet enough and they do taste like mango. I am thinking they would be great for adding to dishes that already has sweetness. I also found that the seed comes out when they are small like that and the meat comes out of the skin fairly easy. These were mainly knocked down by the wind. The tree is still well loaded with fruit to ripen. 

I have a lot of projects to work on, but will have to wait until next weekend.

**

Year 21, Week 14, Day two (week 1108) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

04-17-21 Saturday and Sunday.

I was not feeling good for most of the week. I had little energy this weekend. I sat outside and enjoyed the weather. I also slept a lot, getting nothing done. 

I hope I can do stuff next weekend.

1298

the wooden silverware, the glued spoons in back.

Mangoes gathered from the neighbor's yard.

Most are baby mangoes

three filled with mangoes.

hand cart / dolly I got at a yard sale

GEORGRE R. R. MARTIN'S "A CLASH OF KINGS" Book Reviewed by Lee Houston, Junior

Between my own writing efforts and life in general, I don't often have as much time to read, let alone post book reviews as I'd like to.

But when I can...

The second novel (of five completed in what is supposed to be a seven book series) in the A Song of Ice and Fire saga picks up right where the first book, A Game of

Thrones, ended. Joffrey Bannister has been declared the “rightful” King of Westeros by his mother Cersei and her family, while adamantly denying the truth of who the child’s father really is. With no one outside of the family’s allies willingly supporting the new leader, the world soon reverts back to the original seven kingdoms as civil war breaks out, with each new king at least wanting to protect their newfound realm if not seize the main throne for themselves too.

As armies clash and both rightful claimants and pretenders alike are killed, along with those who follow them; Daenerys Targaryen still finds herself in foreign lands and longs to return to King’s Landing to reclaim her family’s long lost throne for herself, yet must contend with the fact she as yet has no army but three infant dragons, who are prized by everyone she encounters and will stop at nothing to obtain them.

Meanwhile, Jon Snow and the rest of the Night’s Watch discover an ancient menace starting to stir once more beyond The Wall. One that will stop at nothing to destroy Westeros, regardless of who its king(s) are.

While I have been warned by people who have either already read the entire saga (to date) and/or have watched the HBO series based on the books not to have a favorite character because neither Martin nor war pulls any punches when it comes to death and destruction, I cannot help rooting for Ayra Stark. She is lost in hostile lands trying to get home, yet is growing as a character.

Overall, another fascinating read by Martin, but when are you going to finish the series sir?