Year 19, Week 14, Day One (week 1004)

Year 19, Week 14, Day One (week 1004)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-13-19 Saturday

78 degrees early morning, 83 in the afternoon. Mixed clouds through the day but mostly sunny. This weather report is brought to you by The Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

Mom wanted to talk to the people at the library book sale to find out why they were not accepting books at this time. We ran part of our yard sale route to get there. It appears they were swamped with books and were taking a break until May to sell off the stock they have.
Over the decades Mom had collected hundreds of travel books for use by her painting classes to go by. She only has a couple students and they are not doing that kind of painting. She has not touched theses books in years so she is looking to pass them on. She was given leads to a couple places and will have to check that out later. I would love to get the books but I don’t have a place for them and I am not in a position to look at them. They would be nice after I retire but that might be a couple years from now to forever, before I get there.

We hit several yard sales, only a couple of them hand some good stuff. I got a set of Forstner bits that were lightly used, a small ratchet set, a “Swiss army” pocket knife with like 10 blades, and a few other things I really did not need. My idea of the ratchet set was to have that out back. I needed it a couple weeks ago. And could not figure out where the several dozen sets we have collected were.

On a lark this week, I searched my place and found some pocket knives I had once sharpened for carving and a couple straight razors. I examined them once I got out back. One razor has a couple some chips on the blade near the handle. It had the box it came in but the handle is broken. A little glue would fix it nicely, or make wooden handle covers, depending on the mood. The other razor is almost sharp enough to shave with. Not quite but almost. It could be used for carving but I decided the edge is really too delicate for wood. Most of the knives need some honing and stopping to get them sharp enough to carve with.  Every one of them is sharp enough to cut fingers, though. 
The key to using these pocket knives for carving is that it takes some pressure to move the blade closed once they are out. There are cuts where you end up with a little pressure on the back of the blade and you don’t want it to close on your fingers. 

I dug into the shed and found some platter blanks. One had been attacked by bugs. I tossed that. I took one that was mostly rounded, did a little clean up on the bandsaw to finish the rounding job as a couple spots were too big to spin on the lathe. I mounted it on the lathe and decided to make it into a bowl. It is two inches thick and near eleven inches in diameter and wanted to see what I could come up with. I started turning it and quickly saw some signs of bug holes. Since this was an experiment, I decided continue with it. I kept shaving wood until I got it down to the depth I wanted. 
I was rounding the outside edge and was standing behind the motor of the lathe, shaving the backside of the bowl trying to clean up the curve I was after. I saw something zip away from me, and an instant later saw light through the platter, that is referred to as a ghost as you think you can see through the piece.  I instantly  turned the lathe off. About a third of the bowl was gone. I was reminded that this is one reason you don’t stand directly in line with the piece you are working on. I hunted for the other piece. I knew which way it went but could not spot where it ended up. I looked high, low, in the plants, behind plants. 
Then I happened to glance through the fence and saw it on the other side of the fence in the dirt. I figured it had to have bounced off the neighbor’s wall. The five foot tall fence was about 30 feet away and the piece cleared that. I am glad no one was in the way, especially me, and that nothing was damaged. If it hit, it would have hurt. I was lucky that time. 

Recently I made a vase that had knots that resembled eyes. I decided I would erase my pencil lines and try to do the face right. 
I learned long ago that when you sand away pencil lines, you must tip the piece so the dust falls OFF the wood. The pencil dust the sandpaper lifts up and lands back on the wood and settles in. It takes a whole lot more sanding to remove it as it keeps landing again in the same places. Only dust that attached to the wood is scraped off . By tipping the piece so the dust falls off, the pencil work disappears quickly. Of course, since I was sanding the piece, I had to give it more sanding.  Which improved it. I really need to improve my tool handling and tool sharpening to reduce the tear out that I have had to deal with on this piece.

I will see what I do tomorrow.




Year 19, Week 14, Day two (week 1004)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-14-19 Sunday

76 degrees early morning, 83 in the afternoon. Mixed clouds through the day but mostly sunny. This weather report is brought to you by The Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I decided to try to make another bowl. There was a splintered piece of wood on one side and I really should have cut that off. A quick cut and it would have solved the design problem it caused. 
Instead, after hollowing out the inside of the bowl, I kept modifying the edge to remove the splinter until I ended up with an outside shape I was not wanting. It was not horrible enough to toss. I cleaned it up, sanded it and decided that was good enough.
My brother and I talked about videos we saw. I had sent him some interesting ones this week.  When on Facebook, some wood working or fabricating videos show up and I will save their links and later view them before I send them to my brother. It is cool how they create something out of very little, and they work.
One was a dowel maker just made up of drill holes in a piece of wood. The guy drilled a main hole, then inset some shallower holes overlapping it.  The edge of the overlapping holes becomes the cutter for the dowel maker. He chucks the piece of wood in his drill and spins it into the dowel cutter and ends up with a nice dowel. He sands it while on the drill and ends up with a good dowel in whatever wood you happen to want to work with. Not just pine. If you are working with an exotic wood and need dowels, this dowel maker will do it.
I have seen many other dowel makers and this one seems to be the nicest. You simply have to drill a hole into the metal plate (backed with a block of wood) the diameter you want the dowel to be. 
We also discussed a wooden drill-press a guy build. What I loved was the technique of getting it straight and true. It used a regular drill for the power but he had screws that pushed the drill in one direction or another and using a square, he was able to lock it in place exactly square. 

When I made knives last month, one knife was just not right. The tang was not long enough and my method of locking it in place was not working. The bade was from end of a blade that I broke.
I ground the tenon just a little longer and a little narrower, losing a bit more blade length. That is not a problem, though.  I then sanded the end of the handle on the disk sander till I was past the worst of the damage from previous attempts to install it. I then drilled a tiny hole which was smaller than the tang  and then drilled a slightly bigger hole just shallow enough to get the blade started.  I took a small hammer, set the tip of the blade (squared off tip) and rapping on the end of the handle, I drove the blade in. I used the vice to turn it slightly so it was square to the handle and finished driving it in.  I now think it will hold now. As long as the blade holds, it will be a good knife.

I cleaned up and left early. I had to go home and make out forms for my Texas. I would rather pay Idaho or Arizona, but they insist I pay my Texas.  

I have a turning club this week. I will see what goes on.

1596

the broken bowl. the part the flew was quite big. I had the lathe going fast.

the select ion of knives and razors I have. 

bottom of the second bowl I made

top of the bowl.

this shows how the razors are made and how they are designed to be sharpened and stropped. Just a tiny bit of the edge is actually on the leather. this is how they get such fine cutting edges

the edge is delicate but ultra sharp and it takes limited skill to sharpen them..

Year 19, Week 13, Day One (week 1003)

Year 19, Week 13, Day One (week 1003)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-06-19 Saturday

73, early morning 83 late afternoon. High feathers early morning, becoming lower and more solid late in the day, mostly sunny during the day. Light breeze was almost unnoticeable. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Mom was doing something else not involving me, so after breakfast, I decided to do some yard sales. I usually head North on the west side of US-1 before heading south on the other side. Today I decided to head South first, running my route backwards. I am glad I did. There was a bicycle event and they were heading south as I was heading North. If I had followed my normal route, I would have been traveling at about 18 mph rather than 25 mph and not being able to pass any bikes. Makes a big difference. I heard it was a 100 mile bike race. 
Other than one sale I found very early that only had furniture, which was high quality furniture better than anything I or mom had,  I only found yard sales as I was heading south on the way back home. 
One had clothing. Not my size nor my style. One had some tools and I picked up a large glass lid for a pot, a set of six used router bits and a fillet knife. I can’t sing but I still got all of them for a song. The last yard sale had craft supplies. I should have bought more than I did. I picked up a leather punch set. I thought I would have a use for them.  There were beads, buttons, a whole set of crafting scissors for creating decorative edges (wish I had gotten them), and paper for scrap booking. I hated to walk out with just one thing but I did it. 

I got out back of mom’s house and decided to take the piece of pine I rounded last week and my plan was to make it into a tea pot I saw in a magazine. I tried drilling the hole for the spout, using a really long drill bit. It would not go in, and I finally gave up. I looked at the shape I had already where I had removed some wood for the throat and rounding the bottom and creating a neck and liked the knots so I decided to make it a vase. 
I mounted the block on the chuck after I made a tenon and hollowed it out. When I got far enough, I decided it being thick would not be a problem. I sanded “it pretty good.” I removed the tenon and only had a little stub when I took it off the lathe. I used my knife to carve off the stub, then used a small sanding disk on a drill to shave away any sign of the stub. 
I looked at the “finished” piece. It has some tear out showing where my tool techniques are not good (it is even harder to have good tool techniques on soft wood). It is a lot thicker than I intended. I then realized it was demanding to be carved.  Later I was looking at it again and saw that two small knots would be good eyes for a face. I will give it even more thought.

I looked at my knives with their new sheaths. The sheathes are just square blocks of wood and decided to make them smaller. I and used each knife to shave some of their own block down. They were not doing great on the wood. I then did one of my old blades and it ate at the wood in comparison. I checked that knife on other types of wood the sheathes were made of and learned it was the only really sharp knife I have. 
I took the blocks to the bandsaw and removed most of the wood. The blade side was straight and somewhat level. The back side I did at an angle and rounded it at the end. After the bandsaw work, I went to the disk sander and sanded the sheaths to the final shape. They are smaller and it is easier to see which side the blade goes in. 
Several of the new knife handles need correction to feel right and even more sanding but that will be for another time. 
I sharpened some of the knives better. They are not perfect yet.

That was a pretty good day of small projects. It is fun to have some results. 

I will see what I do tomorrow.



Year 19, Week 13, Day two (week 1003)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-07-19 Sunday

77 early morning 84 as the high, few clouds early morning, building up as the day wore on. Mostly sunny and light breeze. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


Mom is still involved in something and was not around. 

My brother and niece showed up. We sat out back. I showed them the vase and we talked about videos I sent my brother, and videos he’s seen other places. While we were doing that, I was sharpening my knives even more.  One knife had a slightly loose blade. I sanded the blade so it would be sharp. I blued a spot on the blade (don’t do that!!!). I saw the blade was loose and I touched the blade with my finger. I have a nice blister on my finger as it was hot. After it cooled, I sanded the knife end of the handle back so much of the slot and other things on the edge were now gone, and I drove the blade in again. Now it is tight and I doubt it will move for a while. 
Some of these knifes have multiple angles on the sides rather than a single angle over the entire piece. I still did not get them all with a single slope from back to the edge , but they are all much better than they were.
I sharpened each knife until they can shave a little bit of hair on my arm. They are not true razor sharp, but they can remove some hair. When dull, they scrape the skin but do not touch the hair. They are sharp enough to work with. Now if I do things right, I should give it a few touches on the stone, then on the leather strop when I sit down and carve with them.  They will become a nice blade. 
I sharpened a chisel and I looked at some SCORPS I have. Scorps are chisels where the cutting edge is turned at a 90 degree so you pull them with your fingers through the wood like a knife. They do need work but are not too bad. I never got them to work really well for me. I usually only use them for a few minor fixes where the knife cannot remove the wood right (more likely caused by carver’s bad technique)
The Scorps are kept in a roll pouch where there are pockets for the scorps and you roll it up to protect them and tie it. I found another pocket knife that I sharpened to be a carving knife. I seem to remember having like four or five of knives like this, but have no idea where they might be. 

Chisels and knives operate differently. Knives are pulled sideways while chizels are pushed from the end. They have different effects on how the wood cuts. With the knife, when you want to create a valley in the wood, you basically V cut the wood with the bottom of the angles meeting at one spot and same depth. If you over cut, you end up with what can be called FEATHERING, where the wood ends up as attached strips, like feathers. 
Chisels, on the other hand, cut and lift the wood up as it cuts, leaving clean smooth wood behind it. Most carvers use chisels. The problem is you need a good number of chisels to get all the effects you need. You have to have several chisels of different radii, several width straight, several angles of V chisels. It does not take long to end up with a very large number of chisels one has to know when to use. 
A knife, on the other hand, basically has a cutting edge and some form of point. You can shave, slice, V-cut, bore, with just one tool. You just have to know how to get it to do the job you are after. You can have specialty carving knives or one can use a stiff pocket knife to carve. I’ve made my own carving knives (recently too) that will do everything I want to do and made them quite cheaply. Making a chisel takes more skill and better material than the needed for knife. 

A note on sharpening knives. I get the best results by applying a twist on the knife when working it on the stone, with the pressure toward the edge, if the side has any rounding at all. It will make the edge the concentration of the grinding pressure.

We talked more than doing anything while my brother was there. 

Mom’s neighbor has a table that he wanted to put on wheels. I have some ball-bearing wheels I picked up from Harbor Freight, so we tipped it upside down. The people working in the house during remodeling had said that it was broken. We did not know how, though. When we turned it upside down one of the two sections beneath it, came off. I cleaned glue on the edge of the support section, and then globbed glue on both surfaces and set the section back in place, tapping the nails back in again.  
I then found screws at about the right length (long enough to go into the table top but not long enough to go all the way through)  and drove them into the connection in some more places between nails. I should have added screws to the support on the other side but decided to leave it as is. This table now moves easier than it should, but he is willing to will live with that. About that time I was wore out. It was about time to head home.

I will see what I do next week.

1765

the shaped sheaths on the knives

the table repaired. 

when the center section comes out. those two supports close to become one piece.

the leather tools with a block I tested the shapes on

a close up of the leather marking tools

a closeup of the marks they made in the wood. not in order.

one side of the vase showing large knot.

showing the crack in the piece

showing the crack on the bottom

the knotts that look like eyes.

this piece is demanding to be carved.

Year 19, Week 13, Day One (week 1003)

Year 19, Week 13, Day One (week 1003)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-06-19 Saturday

73, early morning 83 late afternoon. High feathers early morning, becoming lower and more solid late in the day, mostly sunny during the day. Light breeze was almost unnoticeable. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Mom was doing something else not involving me, so after breakfast, I decided to do some yard sales. I usually head North on the west side of US-1 before heading south on the other side. Today I decided to head South first, running my route backwards. I am glad I did. There was a bicycle event and they were heading south as I was heading North. If I had followed my normal route, I would have been traveling at about 18 mph rather than 25 mph and not being able to pass any bikes. Makes a big difference. I heard it was a 100 mile bike race. 
Other than one sale I found very early that only had furniture, which was high quality furniture better than anything I or mom had,  I only found yard sales as I was heading south on the way back home. 
One had clothing. Not my size nor my style. One had some tools and I picked up a large glass lid for a pot, a set of six used router bits and a fillet knife. I can’t sing but I still got all of them for a song. The last yard sale had craft supplies. I should have bought more than I did. I picked up a leather punch set. I thought I would have a use for them.  There were beads, buttons, a whole set of crafting scissors for creating decorative edges (wish I had gotten them), and paper for scrap booking. I hated to walk out with just one thing but I did it. 

I got out back of mom’s house and decided to take the piece of pine I rounded last week and my plan was to make it into a tea pot I saw in a magazine. I tried drilling the hole for the spout, using a really long drill bit. It would not go in, and I finally gave up. I looked at the shape I had already where I had removed some wood for the throat and rounding the bottom and creating a neck and liked the knots so I decided to make it a vase. 
I mounted the block on the chuck after I made a tenon and hollowed it out. When I got far enough, I decided it being thick would not be a problem. I sanded “it pretty good.” I removed the tenon and only had a little stub when I took it off the lathe. I used my knife to carve off the stub, then used a small sanding disk on a drill to shave away any sign of the stub. 
I looked at the “finished” piece. It has some tear out showing where my tool techniques are not good (it is even harder to have good tool techniques on soft wood). It is a lot thicker than I intended. I then realized it was demanding to be carved.  Later I was looking at it again and saw that two small knots would be good eyes for a face. I will give it even more thought.

I looked at my knives with their new sheaths. The sheathes are just square blocks of wood and decided to make them smaller. I and used each knife to shave some of their own block down. They were not doing great on the wood. I then did one of my old blades and it ate at the wood in comparison. I checked that knife on other types of wood the sheathes were made of and learned it was the only really sharp knife I have. 
I took the blocks to the bandsaw and removed most of the wood. The blade side was straight and somewhat level. The back side I did at an angle and rounded it at the end. After the bandsaw work, I went to the disk sander and sanded the sheaths to the final shape. They are smaller and it is easier to see which side the blade goes in. 
Several of the new knife handles need correction to feel right and even more sanding but that will be for another time. 
I sharpened some of the knives better. They are not perfect yet.

That was a pretty good day of small projects. It is fun to have some results. 

I will see what I do tomorrow.



Year 19, Week 13, Day two (week 1003)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-07-19 Sunday

77 early morning 84 as the high, few clouds early morning, building up as the day wore on. Mostly sunny and light breeze. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


Mom is still involved in something and was not around. 

My brother and niece showed up. We sat out back. I showed them the vase and we talked about videos I sent my brother, and videos he’s seen other places. While we were doing that, I was sharpening my knives even more.  One knife had a slightly loose blade. I sanded the blade so it would be sharp. I blued a spot on the blade (don’t do that!!!). I saw the blade was loose and I touched the blade with my finger. I have a nice blister on my finger as it was hot. After it cooled, I sanded the knife end of the handle back so much of the slot and other things on the edge were now gone, and I drove the blade in again. Now it is tight and I doubt it will move for a while. 
Some of these knifes have multiple angles on the sides rather than q single angle over the entire piece. I still did not get them all with a single slope from back to the edge , but they are all much better than they were.
I sharpened each knife until they can shave a little bit of hair on my arm. They are not true razor sharp, but they can remove some hair. When dull, they scrape the skin but do not touch the hair. They are sharp enough to work. Now if I do things right, I should give it a few touches on the stone, then on the leather strop when I sit down and carve with them.  They will become a nice blade. 
I sharpened a chisel and I looked at some SCORPS I have. Scorps are chisels where the cutting edge is turned at a 90 degree so you pull them with your fingers through the wood like a knife. They do need work but are not too bad. I never got them to work really well for me. I usually only use them for a few minor fixes where the knife cannot remove the wood right (more likely carver’s bad technique)
The Scorps are kept in a roll pouch where there are pockets for the scorps and you roll it up to protect them and tie it. I found another pocket knife that I sharpened to be a carving knife. I seem to remember having like four or five of knives like this, but have no idea where they might be. 

Chisels and knives operate differently. Knives are pulled sideways while chizels are pushed from the end. They have different effects on how the wood cuts. With the knife, when you want to create a valley in the wood, you basically V cut the wood with the bottom of the angles meeting at one spot and same depth. If you over cut, you end up with what can be called FEATHERING, where the wood ends up as attached strips, like feathers. 
Chisels, on the other hand, cut and lift the wood up as it cuts, leaving clean smooth wood behind it. Most carvers use chisels. The problem is you need a good number of chisels to get all the effects you need. You have to have several chisels of different radii, several width straight, several angles of V chisels. It does not take long to end up with a very large number of chisels one has to know when to use. 
A knife, on the other hand, basically has a cutting edge and some form of point. You can shave, slice, V-cut, bore, with just one tool. You just have to know how to get it to do the job you are after. You can have specialty carving knives or one can use a stiff pocket knife to carve. I’ve made my own carving knives (recently too) that will do everything I want to do and made them quite cheaply. Making a chisel takes more skill and better material than the needed for knife. 

A note on sharpening knives. I get the best results by applying a twist on the knife when working it on the stone, with the pressure toward the edge. If the side has any rounding at all. It will make the edge the concentration of the grinding pressure.

We talked more than doing anything while my brother was there. 

Mom’s neighbor has a table that he wanted to put on wheels. I have some ball bearing wheels I picked up from Harbor Freight, so we tipped it upside down. The people working in the house during remodeling had said that it was broken. We did not know how, though. When we turned it upside down one of the two sections beneath it, came off. I cleaned glue on the edge of the support section, and then globbed glue on both surfaces and set the section back in place, tapping the nails back in again.  
I then found screws at about the right length (long enough to go into the table top but not long enough to go all the way through)  and drove them into the connection in some more places between nails. I should have added screws to the support on the other side but decided to leave it as is. This table now moves easier than it should, but he is willing to will live with that. About that time I was wore out. It was about time to head home.

I will see what I do next week.

1763

vase with big knott

crack in wood

knives with new sheaths

two knots that look like they could be eyes of a face.

transplanted tree starting to grow

repaired table. the right section was what broke.

he has an insert between the end pieces of the table.

when closed the base looks like a solid piece.