Year 17, Week 02, Day One (week 888)

Year 17, Week 02, Day One (week 888)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-21-17 Saturday

68 early morning, 81 late after noon. Blue skies most of the day. A herd of puffs lined up over the edge of the Everglades and then disappeared later in the day. The brisk wind blew things all over the place. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

THURSDAY

I went to the Turning club meeting ( http://www.goldcoastwoodturners.org/ ). They had someone with the Woodworking club 
( http://sfwg.org/South_Florida_Woodworking_Guild/SFWG.html ) to show how to make segmented containers, where you cut up pieces of wood and put them into stacked rings for various effects into a vase or bowl. With this process, you don’t need big chunks of wood for an even large vessel. One can interchange different kinds of woods and, with planning, create intricate designs in the process. Most of the work is in the glue-up, leaving just a little more wood beyond the final surfaces to allow for removing corners and irregularities. The turning is mainly just evening out the surfaces and coming to the final finish. 
Part of his demonstration was showing the sled he uses to cut the pieces in six, eight, or twelve sided rings for circles. Many wood workers have to glue the rings in two parts, then adjust the final mating surfaces to meet flat. He said that if you get the sled set exactly, one can glue up the whole ring at one time. He added a pointer to his sled to show the exact point that he needs to set it for each sided piece. This type of project leaves me out as I cannot cut straight even if you set it up so I just push the wood through the blade. 

I brought two boxes of carving and scroll saw magazines and a rack (I am told it was from an auto parts store when they went to computer rather than catalogues) filled with carving and scroll saw patterns my dad collected. I had hoped the woodworker guy would be interested, but he said they all now go on line instead. I did find one guy in the club that was interested and I used my hand cart to take it out to his truck. If no one wanted them, I would have kept them. Just finding a place for them would have been a challenge. I would have definitely kept the patterns, but it is better to pass them on to someone who might actually use them. 


SATURDAY

I visited a three yard sales early morning. There were a few interesting things, but nothing I had to have. The most interesting things is stuff I better not buy such as cook books....  I saw three signs, one I could not find, and the other two I was in too big a hurry to stop at. I only did a portion of the northern loop of my circuit.

A friend of mine had a sectional couch he needed to get rid of as he had new furniture coming in. He either was to give it away or set it out for the bulk pickup garbage truck to get it. I found someone who would make use of it. I had a truck so I went to get it.
My friend is in worse condition than I am, but he had a good healthy son who was an electrician. My friend did a lot of remodeling of his house and showed me what he did. 
His doors were narrow so each piece of the couch had to be maneuvered by two people. I held one end and his son held the other. None of them were really heavy, but they were bulky. We considered having to take them in trips, but figured out how to stack them so it could be handled by one trip. I tied the load in place, figuring on front to back movement since the tail gate had to be down.  After I left, but before I hit the turnpike to go home, the thought crossed my mind to check the load, but the thought left me in a second. 

As I had to take the turnpike, I was pulling into the toll booth plaza when a woman said I lost a section “back there.” There was almost no traffic, so I drove back to the section, which was destroyed, and put it back in the truck. It was then that I realized I should have also considered up and down movements of the load. Apparently, the section rose up on the ropes and fell out. I had no further problems getting home. 
Unloading the couch sections was easy. I literally dropped them onto the handcart, and pulled the handcart to the door of the house, which was wider than my friend’s door. The handcart wheels did not want to rise up the step-down of the house when I tried to pull it up, so I just slid the pieces down the handle of the  handcart and dragged them on the carpet. I got them in with little effort. I did get someone to handle the middle curved section which was just too bulky for one person. 

A bit later, I removed parts and pieces from the broken section. The back padding was made up of two attached pillows. Those were cut off. One has to be sewn but the other is usable as it is. Some of the fabric was recoverable and they might become arm covers to improve the look. I took off some good wood. I think the woods were oak for the base that the legs were stuck into, plywood for the sides to hold the shape, maple for the cross members. There might have been one or two other woods in it. I am not a wood expert.  
There were lots of staples and tack strips. After getting the main pieces, the remains of the hulk, which was about half the piece, sat to be taken out for the garbage. All the wood will have to be cleaned of staples but they can be used for some project, (like I need more wood....)
The rest of the couch looks great. The damaged section is not missed as there really was not enough room for it. 

Having done enough work, I took things easy 

I will see what I do tomorrow.







Year 17, Week 02, Day Two (week 888)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-22-17 Saturday

69 degrees early morning, 85 in the afternoon. Really brisk wind with stronger gusts. Loads of puffs overhead that stopped at the beach and went no farther. A front is coming this afternoon seeding the weather we are getting. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I helped rearrange the furniture in the house. There was a bar and buffet that were not where they were needed to be for the couch. The buffet, which is smaller, was easy to move. It was only after I moved it into position that I realized that a carpeted board that filled in the space beneath the buffet was removable. I simply lifted on the handcart on the end and it slipped out from beneath the buffet so it could be placed properly. It would have been nice to know that first off. I thought it was nailed to the bottom of the piece. 
I had help for the bar. It took some effort to remove the filler but once it was out, the maker of the bar had put small wheels under it so it was easy to move. It did take some lugging and cutting some wires that were connected to the wall. It appears to have an outlet and a switch to something, possibly a light they had elsewhere. I did not have time to figure out what that was.
We then tried a few more arrangements of the couch sectionals. What we came up with was better, but might be done better later. Will have to see how it looks and feels. 

A bit later, we finished disassembling the damaged section. The fabric back had came off with what looked like a long line of brads. Examining it, I found there was a metal plate with tongs punched and bent down beneath the seam. They came out easily. Along another edge was cardboard with staples stuck into it beneath the seam. They also came out easily. I have ideas for the metal strips. I got a couple more pieces of wood, but one nice looking piece was so well attached that I decided it was not worth getting out. All that was left went into the garbage. I would say we did well on our salvage. 

I decided I over-did it the past two days and took the rest of the day off.  A good weekend is one where you go to work to recover (that is what I tell the guys who do construction work anyway).

The weather looks like it might be fairly good next weekend. I need to finish emptying the shed and see the condition of the shelving and get the thing completely clean, then start re-packing it in an “intelligent” arrangement. 
I would also like to make some sawdust. I need to finish the platters I started last year, and make some more. I have lots of wonderful wood that demands to be made into sawdust. 

I will see what I accomplish next weekend. 

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One view of the construction of the destroyed section

Another view of the destroyed section

the remaining good sections

Year 17, Week 01, Day One (week 887)

Year 17, Week 01, Day One (week 887)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-14-17 Saturday

67 degrees early morning, 78 degrees afternoon, Mostly cloudy with a few hints of sun, mostly with a string of morse code clouds that need potty training, coming in with dots and dashes of misting, enough to mess up outside activities in this part of the county, and ignoring the southern part. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

Back in the late 90s, My dad had learned carving and was traveling the country, usually going to the WAR EAGLE fair grounds where they had a yearly carving and wood working symposium. My dad would take classes from the masters and developed his skills. 
In the late 90s, Dad kept asking me to start carving with him, and I had no interest in carving, I had other activities going at the time. I was writing stories, building stuff for model railroads and otherwise wasting time.
Dad would come inside, spend about fifteen minutes to half an hour sitting near me to rest and cool down, then go back outside. That was about all I saw of him during my visits to mom’s house.
The week leading to January 17, It dawned on me that my Dad was in his 80s, and I realized I did not want that “I wish I had said, I wish I had done” feeling when he finally passed. On January 17, I borrowed one of his knives, picked up a piece of wood, and started carving. 
Up to this time, I never looked at his carvings. When Dad started carving, he had difficulty removing the corners of the block of wood he started carving on. It was almost a surface carving on all sides of the blocks. I was going more of what mom said about his early carvings than what I actually saw. 
I made a conscious effort to dig into the wood deep with my first carvings.  On my first carving, I tried to have a hat that had a brim going all the way around, but it kept breaking on me. When I finally finished, I had a ball cap on an angle. I gave the guy a really big nose and then more surface carved the body as I did not have rook to do more. I sort of call him Charles De Gaul, the French leader near that time. My next two carvings were from flat boards so there was a limit of “movement” in the shape that I could do. 
My dad did a popular style of carving where the figures were basically standing straight up and down. I also wanted to get away from that. I wanted my carvings to look like it was doing something, in motion. 
In making my fourth carving, I knelt down and put myself in the position I wanted the character to be in and looked how my limbs would fit together.  Other than not getting forearms correct, it ended up being a good carving. In that one I also learned I disliked sanding. 
I kid people by saying that my dad taught me to carve by patting me on the head and saying “do another one.” Much of what I learned by carving was on my own, trying to avoid the “mistakes” he made. He taught me how to make my own knives, and got me into an art show to get tool money to improve my capability of wood working. He also gave me a place to work. 
In July 2003, I started “messing” with wood turning. Mom got me a lathe made of sheet metal in October and have continued wood turning since, getting a better lathe along the way, I swapped between carving and wood turning projects, working on whatever caught my interest at the moment. 
I continued my wood working after my Dad’s passing. It was near the end of his life that I actually saw my dad’s skills. He worked in clay along with in wood. He made some plaques of my brother’s kid’s faces when they were just past toddler stage, that are instantly recognizable. His carvings turned out to be of an extremely high quality, that I never noticed before. I was always looking at the style and trying to do something different. With my wood carving, I am lucky that a female figure looks female. His characters had detailed expressions. 
Continuing with my carving and turning, I used it an excuse to also be with my mom on weekends. When my mom remarried it became an excuse to be with both of them. It has been a fulfilling hobby and continues to be so.

Saturday

I needed to drive my new dad to a meeting during the mid morning to early afternoon. The weather was not spectacular for doing anything serious. The shed still has some stuff in it that needs to come out and I didn’t want to get that stuff weathered on so not much happened.
Mom needed a little shelving for small containers in her kitchen. We went to Lowes and found some material that would work. I helped her cut the boards and get them even (can’t cut straight to save the universe) using the disk sander. I took a nap and heard drilling and pounding. Later in the afternoon, I looked and mom had done a very nice job of putting together the shelving. It was made to just fit in the space available. It was also full of light containers. It cleared some of her counter space which was nice. The biggest problem was that her description of what she was doing, was not what she made. Based on her description, I was thinking of ways to improve the design. The results she did was excellent.

There are bins that go across the back of trucks to hold tools. I have one that is filled with mostly Mahogany chunks. I cleared the stuff on top of the lid, good flat area to hold stuff out of the dirt, and opened it. I only pulled out a few pieces of wood, but was able to see that the bugs were not having fun inside the bin. The smell of Camphor poured out of the box. I have several pieces in there and apparently, the Camphor drove the wood eating bugs away. There were, though a lot of broken and whole shells of lizards in the bottom of the box. I left  them alone. 

I took it easy the rest of the day until it was time to leave. 

I have no idea what the weather will be like tomorrow. I do not know if I will accomplish anything more than I did today.




Year 17, Week 01, Day Two (week 887)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-15-17 Sunday

66 degrees early morning 77 in the afternoon. That string of clouds that need potty training moved south a bit. Once or twice one wandered north, but most were nice. The sun was behind clouds most of the day but there was some sunshine in the afternoon. 

I want to empty the rest of the shed and check the condition of the shelves, clean the floor really good and then start putting things back in. I walked into the shed and looked around. That looked like a lot of work so I said “NO”. And closed the doors again. 

I did decide to get some wood that was out in the weather in where it was safer and not in our way. I am always surprised at how much wood I have. I have two mounded garbage cans full, a heaping storage bin full of wood pieces. The lock bin I mentioned yesterday is likely a good sized storage bin full of wood also. I then have loads of sticks and big chunks, along with boards. 
As I have said before, if one chooses a project, then looks for the materials to make it, one does not have any wood to work with. If one, on the other hand, look at the materials on hand and choose the project to make, one has a life-time supply. If I worked 8 hours a day, five days a week, using just the material I have on hand, it would take a few years to use it up. 
Some pieces of wood are so good I don’t have a project worthy of the wood.  Others are kept simply because I might need them for something, even if it is waste wood used to hold something better on the lathe. 

Several weeks back, I rebuilt the base for the lathe and cleaned the surfaces of the lathe bed where the parts slide on. I could not find the cover at the time, so spray from the liquid sunshine, and humidity, has caused the end of the lathe bed to develop a light rust coat. In emptying the shed, I found the cover. I still have to clean the surface again, but now I don’t think it will get much worse.

The past winters have been wetter than normal. Usually at this time, they are talking about conserving water already.  This winter, like the past few, have been very wet. It is great for the plants. It is great to keep the water rationing people quiet. It is not great for outside work. A lot of my woodworking has to be planned around the chances of weather. Dry weather tends to breed production as one can get out and work without having to check the sky every few minutes. 

I am hoping to actually make some sawdust next week. I also would like to finish cleaning the shed and then start loading it up again. I also have a wood turning club meeting Thursday. I have nothing to show for the past couple months.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.

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A bunch of my collected sticks with other stuff

a big load of pieces and chunks to work with

some larger chunks on my lathe bed

My first four carvings I ever did. On the Right is number one. On the left is number 4. The sailor is made from a cedar board. 

Another view of the first four carving, especially showing the full shape of number 4 carving

Year 16, Week 52, Day One (week 886)

Year 16, Week 52, Day One (week 886)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-06-17 Saturday

Morning sky full of feathers. Some thunder flashes over the ocean from an escaping front. Nice breeze, sunny until about two, when another front shot by with a solid shock wave. The plants then received a gentle watering after the initial guzzle. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

My main project was to empty the shed. It has accumulated a lot of stuff since it was last cleaned out,  and then was filled to the rim when Hurricane Matthew came nearby. It was time to find out what was in there. This was a project that needed to be done in two weekends, and I really needed to get it done in one. 
What I needed to do this job right, was a little wheelbarrow we have. It was a children’s wheel barrow and the plastic of the box started breaking apart, so I rebuilt it using plywood. It looked horrible while I was building it but when done, it turned out to be nice. Better, let us say useful would be more accurate. It does not look professional at all... That wheel barrow was hidden, as I found out later, with stuff piled in front of it from when we hid everything for the storm. I had also already piled other things from the shed in front of it. I chose a hand cart instead and laid it down with a board a board placed down the middle so small stuff would not fall through. 
It was interesting to find stuff that I did not know we had, and that I only remembered that I had it, when I actually saw it. Periodically I would check the radar and measure how far the storm would move in the hour (the amount of time they showed for the animation, and then measure how long it would take to get here. At about one, I put the stuff that would get damaged by water, under cover.

I headed to Home Depot to pick up a part for the kitchen. I was at the store when the roof started roaring. A shock wave passed over us, heading east. I was west of mom’s. 
They did not have the part I was after. The girl I talked to never even heard of it. By the time I got to the door with a purchase, it was a light shower, getting lighter. 
Later in the evening, I stopped at Sears and then Lowes for the part. One can only get it on-line from Lowes. 


Year 16, Week 52, Day One (week 886)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-07-17 Sunday

The evening predicted 58 degrees. The morning temp was 48 degrees, well below the 56 degree frost temperatures here in South Florida. Strong breezes all day long, blue sky except some clouds to the east. It warmed into the mid 70s in the afternoon. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

It was cold this morning. I took a short cut using the frozen canals I did have to detour around the end of the great glacier starting from the highest natural point in this county, 29 feet above sea level. It has a ways to go to get to the ocean. It never reached the ocean in my life time. Normally, the “Parrot Heads” the people frequenting the bars on the beach, chip so much ice off the end for their drinks that it is stopped. It was not that close to the beach this time, though, just far enough to mess up traffic.

I returned to emptying the shed today. My main concentration was to remove everything that was wood. The bugs loved some types of wood, while ignored others entirely. A lot of wood went into the garbage. Some of it was once something I had a plan for, but now have decided that they are not worth keeping. I found some choice pieces of wood that I wished I had known they where there at different times. Storing raw materials is nice, but if you cannot get to them without a lot of work, they do not exist for you. If you don’t know they are there, you don’t have any either.
There was wood in place since before my dad died many years ago. There are some non wood things in the shed that needs to come out, be examined, and possibly be packed differently, but not today. As I suspected, I have more wood that I can possibly use. 
Much of what I have are small pieces that you can hold in your hand. Some pieces are really nice and big. I really need to do some sorting and classifying the material, getting them into a way where I can find and grab the wood I need if I need it. Getting the wood out of the shed is the easy part. Getting everything back in where I have access to everything is something else.

I will see what I do next weekend.


875

This is what the shed looked like when I started the cleaning project

this is what the shed looked like before I put some stuff in to keep them out of the weather during the week.