Year 17, Week 05, Day One (week 891)

Year 17, Week 05, Day One (week 891)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-11-17 Saturday
   
    Mostly cloudy, lows in the high 60s, highs in the high 70s. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department Of Tourism.
    The neighboring house had the Mango tree trimmed. I would have trimmed it differently, but I was not the one making the decision. As a favor and by request, they left several pieces of wood for me to work with.
   
    I started out with Mom, after breakfast, visiting four yard sales and walked away empty handed. One was an estate sale where they were unloading the stuff they had in there. Much of the stuff could pass as antiques.
    In the four yard sales, I saw stuff that had me drooling, except I don’t need a crank powered meat slicer when I have two powered meat slicers. I don’t need another cast iron pan, though I likely could have gotten it for little, I don’t need travel or regular irons (for ironing clothes), or another coffee grinder since I already have four. I also avoided several craft books which I really never have time to check through anyway. I also avoided a folding work bench which I already have one and have access to one or two more... 

    Later, I headed down to a  friend’s house. I passed through a couple yard sale areas and there were none. I had the address for the house and rough directions, but my instructions missed one key bit of information (taking a similar named road for a block then turning left on the road I was really after) and I wandered quite a bit before I even got close to his neighborhood. The third person I asked directions gave me a clue where to look and I finally found it.  I got to see some really choice homes. They were big, beautiful, and nowhere near the ocean too. My company built the pools in that area and I did the drawings. First time I ever saw one.
    My friend had offered me a “lathe stand” a severak months ago, back when I was rebuilding the base for my lathe. It took a while before we could get together for me to get it. It turned out not to be simply a lathe stand. It was a cast iron lathe bed with a metal stand that attaches to it. It was unopened by the looks of it. Cast iron is heavy, to say the least. This was for a large lathe. The head stayed in one place (compared to where the head on my lathe can be slid everywhere), but there was stops gaps on the motor mount where you could rotate the head to fixed angles, along with whatever specialty angles needed. There was a space for large platters or bowls to spin, and then the ways where the tool rest and tail stock slide.
    I have it stowed away safely for now, but I am thinking about what I can make to make use of it. I keep thinking of a treadle powered lathe but this is almost too heavy for that. I see on line where they make lathes out of wood so IN THEORY it would be easy. I wonder if I could power the lathe I build with a 454 Hemmi engine.....

    I stopped a couple places on the way home, then rested until it was time to get going for the evening.

    While little actually got done, I did have a good time doing it.

    I will have to see if I am more productive tomorrow.
   
   
   
Year 17, Week 05, Day One (week 891)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-11-17 Saturday
   
    Lots of clouds, but a whole lot of sun. light breeze. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.    
   

    I got as early a start as I could and took the straightest looking piece of Mango branch I saw, and after trimming the ends straight, I mounted it in the lathe and tried to center it. It was not as straight as I had hoped it would be. wood is naturally bent and is under stress. It will warp at times because the weight was taking off of it and it no longer has to fight gravity. Because of the slight bend, more wood had to come off the diameter to get it round so I could use it.
    I removed the knotted end which I have some ideas for later, and then cut it in half after I had a tenon on it and then mounted one piece in the chuck. I really wanted make something today since I had not done so in a long time, so I started on a goblet. I started by shaping the outside of the bowl, leaving a lot of waste wood on the stem. I then worked some of the inside with my tool next to the tail stock. When satisfied with a start, I removed the tail stock and started serious hollowing.
    This was green wood, just a couple days old and looked white. Removing the inside wood, I followed the curve of the outside and worked the bottom to where I was comfortable with it. I touched it with course sand paper. This could well be 32 grit. The wood was feathery at the edges of the layers so my sanding was more cutting away the feathery ends and removing tool marks than anything.
    I then worked the outside, running my fingers inside and out, to feel the thickness until I had the walls even all the way. You can tell when your fingers move away from each other.  I shaved down the stem more and more as I went, making sure I was even in thickness on the bowl.
    I was excited about just making something and did not want to go too thin on the stem in case it broke. The pith of the branch was near the center so I was worried that would cause the stem to be too weak so I left the stem two to three times as thick as I usually go, just to make sure I had something to show for my efforts for the first time in months that I could really do some turning.
    I sanded the bowl and then continued to work down the stem, sanding it when I had plenty of the proper diameter exposed so I would not have to touch it again in the project.
    I created the base and worked that into shape, sanded it, and finally parted it off the waste wood, which was a little tricky as a slight twist and you can chip the base and have to even it out, it becoming smaller in diameter. (Ask how I know and how many times it has happened in my life). That was done enough, and I was in a really good mood, so I started on the second goblet the same way. I was having fun.
   
    With goblets, the taller they are and the thinner the stems, the more popular they are. A turner can make the stem ink cartridge thin and really tall, is a sign of true skill as those are the types that break easily.  Of course, those are in really hard wood. Not in green wood like this, though mango is a hard wood when dry. It is never with the pith near the stem either.
    It takes even grater skill to make several of them exactly the same. Only once did I do that, and I had to make five of them to accomplish a set of four that resembled each other.
    The bowl of this second goblet was a little bit shorter than the first. The stem and base ended up about the same
   
    I decided I was going to turn the knotted part into a little cup, but as I did a little cleanup from the goblets, I saw that I would never been in condition to clean up if I did make the third piece. It turned out to be a lot of work to clean up. This is the first time I used my lathe for anything other than sanding since I put it on the new stand. Sawdust piled up on all the wood I had on the shelves so clean up took longer than I expected. I previously had an angled board to direct the wood chips to the ground rather than into the lathe. It was not perfect, but it helped a lot. I guess I should put that back in place again.
   
    We have a wood turning club meeting on Thursday and I will actually be able to show something off at the meeting. That will be a rare sight.
   
    I will see what happens next weekend.

    1500

 The branches of the mango tree right next to the trunk Two pieces are missing

 

 The two goblets next to the knotted top.

Year 17, Week 04, Day One (week 890)

Year 17, Week 04, Day One (week 890)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-04-17 Saturday

high 60s early morning, high 70s late afternoon. Hazy blue sky early morning some puffs in the afternoon. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I did do some yard sailing and did well. I picked up a big cast iron pot. I don’t need it as I already have two. This one is slightly better than my original big one, which is about the same size. I then have a smaller one we used when we had our Christmas Bar B Q.. 
I also found a musical instrument that you blow into and push keys. It takes a good set of lungs to play a whole song. I can’t play worth beans. This was not a toy. I showed it to Mom and she scarfed it up. She found it difficult to blow into it for long. I reminded her of those devices in the hospital that you breathe into to strengthen your lungs. I said this would be a good replacement. 

Over at the house again. There was a glass holder above where the bar was. We removed the glass holding panel and found there was a flourescent light in it. That explains everything. When we moved the bar, there was a wire going from the bar and into the wall. We cut it and wire-nutted it. Now we now realize that a switch in the bart powered the light above the glasses. From what I figure, the light passed through a diffusing panel and into the glasses themselves, causing the glasses to glow. It would have been nice to see it but never had a clue. 
We took down some bottle racks on the wall but left the upper shelf up for now. That will come down later. They had used 4 inch screws and it was fun to just twist and twist and twist with a flat-head screwdriver until they finally came out. 
There was thought that the base of the kitchen table could be used for storage. We then noticed that the table top was two pieces, and we then saw it would slide. I decided to open it up and see inside. The guy who built this was a genius of design. The base spits apart and a gear on one of the rails caused the halves to separate evenly. We put a center panel, that we found hidden behind the curtains, in place and it makes for a nice family table. The base, of course, cannot be used for storage, but it was a nice thought. We put the center panel away and closed it up. 

Between the yard sailing and working with the furniture, I was too wore out to consider working wood later in the day. 

I will see what happens tomorrow.




Year 17, Week 04, Day One (week 890)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-04-17 Saturday

High 60s early morning, very low 80s, lots of clouds but lots of sun. this weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.


We went back to the house and my brother and I took down the rest of the glass holder unit. Again, really long screws. Some of them could be taken out with an impact driver, but some had to be done by hand. Together we got it down. After looking at it a moment, Mom decided the case would make a good display shelf. We just need to get some hardware, shelving, and a back panel. It fits the design of the rest of the furniture. It might need to be screwed to the wall or something else as it is tall and narrow, but it should be nice addition to the living room.

That was about all I had time for before I had to head home and recover from the weekend. 

I will see what I do next week.

678

The wind instrument

the pot on the left is new, the other two I already had

The glass holder in place

The glass holder sitting up like a shelf unit.

Year 17, Week 03, Day One (week 889)

Year 17, Week 03, Day One (week 889)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-28-17 Saturday

54 degrees early morning, 75 late afternoon. Blue skies all morning long. High clouds appeared later in the morning, puffs started showing up in the afternoon. Light breeze took away any heat one built up. Was able to take jacket off for a couple hours before dusk started settling in. A front is coming through tomorrow and that will kill anything planned for tomorrow outside. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

During the week, Mom and I tackled my yarn. We poured them out of the hampers and onto the floor, and then sorted them according to color, sticking them in boxes. Mom’s idea was to label the boxes for the color. My idea was to set them on their sides so one can see the yarn colors. It works great for the skeins but the balls don’t stay in place. We had to jam them into the cracks between the skeins. Of course, while putting the boxes up, some balls would fall down and have to be picked up and stuck in there again. 
I knew I had a “life time” of yarn, but now I actually see it. I have a lifetime of yarn!!!
I think my wool might have gotten stuck up there with the regular yarn, but I kept my cotton separate. I have a couple small boxes of yarn that need to go up there, but at this moment, they are keeping stacks of stuff that came out of the closet, from falling over. I do see I have a lot of really pretty colors there. I did not realize that before this. It is hard to remember when they are all hidden. My plan was to sort them and put them back into the hampers.

Saturday.

There was a church yard/rummage sale today. Since it started a little late, we decided to hit other yard sales first. The first few I got nothing. A condo that has a periodic sale, and had one again so we stopped. I saw a recliner much like mine, but in much better condition, and a floor lamp with a shelf mid way up. I was going to get them, but since I was riding with mom, I decided that I would come back later in the day and get them if they were there. When I finally did get back, the recliner was gone, and a woman was coming back for the lamp with transportation to bring it home. Darn. Oh well. That happens with that tactic. Some things go fast, while other things are still there. 
I am not sure, but I think we hit ten or twelve yard sales before we got to the church. I had found a new cane, a coffee grinder with different settings. You can set the number of cups and the coarseness of the grind and it will stop automatically. I have several coffee grinders. They can be used for grinding seasonings, like pepper, making flour, and also in crafts where you want to work with a powder when something is granular.
I also picked up a multi plug cord, a long drill bit, a cook book on bread (like I need another cook book with over 70 in my library), a “snake” for cleaning out sink drains, and a keyboard. 

By the time we got home from the yard sales, I was wore out. I had done a lot of physical work the past two weekends. You hope you can recover during the work week so the weekend will be great. I was still feeling some of last weekend and some things I did during the week, so I was not in the mood to do much. 
When we got back, I headed back out to see about the recliner, which was gone, then went to locate a new grocery store I had heard about. I found it.  Their sign is still a cloth banner, they are so new (took over a small grocery store building that went of business). I walked all the isles to see what they had. 
Back at home, I ended up napping then lounging around the rest of the day as I was running on fumes. I never did get out to make some sawdust, which was one project I really wanted to do this weekend.

We have a front coming through tonight and tomorrow so I am not expecting much going on tomorrow, especially outside. 

I will see what I do tomorrow. 


 Year 17, Week 03, Day Two (week 889)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-29-17 Sunday

52 degrees early morning, a short time the gauge in truck showed 50 degrees but went back up to 52. Low 70s in the afternoon, but there was no heat in the air. A constant shower of liquid sunshine  came down, If it had been rain, it would have been sleet since it was well below the 56 degree frost temperature of South Florida. Being liquid sunshine, it contained just enough heat that when it turned into water on contact with the ground, and refused to freeze as it flowed away. Some of the canals did get an edging of ice but that did not get thick. It will be cold tonight and there will be thick ice for going to work. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

The weather killed most activities. During the week, I was at Walmart and found one of those spiral cutters. I had seen advertisements for them for a while and sort of wanted one. The advertised ones were either powered or manual. The one at Walmart was selling for $4. On line, something quite similar was about $40. I had hoped to find one of these at a yard sale and they were nowhere to be seen, and the price was about what I was going to expect to pay for one second hand.
As I opened the box, it was logically made and easily understood. It came with three blades. A flat cutting spiral blade, a wide noodle and a narrow noodle. It has a center hole that has a sharp edge and the veggie goes against that. The crank has a plastic spiky holder that digs into the veggie to allow you to turn it. The pressure on the crank is generally enough to hold it in place. 
I started with the flat slicer and sliced up a potato. It creates long curls that can be kept together or cut up for chips. My technique was not great so it was not one continuous piece. I used the narrow noodle. It has teeth sticking out to give the noodle width, and then the slicer blade gives the noodle depth. Again my technique was not great. If you crank it with continuous pressure and speed, and if you get the veggie centered, it will string out in long noodles. If you are jerky and uneven, they will be short and that is what I got. I can see uses for this.
I have a philosophy that if a labor saving device requires more effort to clean it than the savings it gives you, it might not be a good idea. I have found that if you are fixing something for a dozen people, the labor saving devices do save labor. For one person, it might be better to use something else, like a knife. This spiralizer is borderline for labor saving and clean up. 

Because of the weather, there was no way I was going to get any wood working done. It was also too cold to be outside. Other than watching my brother solve a problem of a water feed to the ice machine that broke, I accomplished nothing for the day.

It is going to get even colder tonight and possibly tomorrow. I am officially taking up a collection to send me to a warmer climate. I don’t like it this cold. 

I will have to see how things go next week.






 

Other items I got at yard sale.

MR COFFEE coffee grinder

This is a spiral cutter, showing one of the blades sticking out of the storage drawer. 

The orange ball on right will show in the next picture as a marker for where the two pictures overlap

The second picture. the box on the right is full of ribbon.