Post for the month of January:
Posts for February, 2016:
Posts for March, 2016:
Posts for the month of April 2016:
Get off your lazy ass and finish some projects! So this morning I decided to finish the projects that have been cast aside in my shop, waiting to be finished. Finishing a bowl is fairly tedious work, consisting mostly of sanding, applying the finish, then waiting, then buffing. It’s easy to putt off, because there’s really no surprise with what you’re going to get. The shape’s done, the colors and patterns in the wood have already been revealed, and I’ve usually already decided if it’s going to be added to the pile of completed projects or if it will be the fire starter for our next weenie roast. These bowls have made the cut to be added to the clutter and will not have to see a match.
Posts for May, 2016:
Vacation is a good thing! I took a whole week off from work and have been spending a considerable amount of time in the shop. My dust collector suddenly lost suction, so I spent the better part of the day trying to figure out what was going on. Turns out there was a huge clog in the one piece of the system that wasn’t easily removable, so I had to take the whole system apart to get to the clog, then had to and put it back together. Then, I couldn’t find a $2.00 tool that I bought a couple months ago from Harbor Freight, so I decided to spend the rest of the day straightening up and vacuuming. Still, even with the lost time in productivity, I’ve managed to complete 10 projects. All 10 are bowls.
Posts for June, 2016:
June 13th – I’m A Winner! At the wood turning club meeting tonight, I brought in the flowers I made (see last month’s blog) to be evaluated by the club. Surprisingly enough, the club liked them more than I had expected. All those who entered a piece into the “contest” were put into a drawing and I actually won the thing! $10 gift certificate to an online woodturning supply store and a garrote made from a guitar string for burning rings. Still can’t say I’m an “award winning artist”, but at least I can say I’ve gotten something out of my little hobby!
Posts for July, 2016:
I haven’t been able to spend much time in the shop lately, work and back issues have gotten in the way, so while I’m laid up, it’s a good time to update the blog with some projects…
Here are the posts from August, 2016:
Lazy Sundays are GREAT! So this past weekend, I spent quite a bit of time in the shop, working on some bowl blanks that I had laying around to make room for some new ones that I need to get cut up and drying.
Here are the posts from September, 2016:
Labor Day weekend – Maybe this is traditionally the weekend when everyone is supposed to do yard work, have huge cookouts, get pelted with candy thrown from parade floats, eat hot dogs and apple pie, and spend time with family. Doing all that takes WAAAY too much energy! After the stress from the last couple of weeks, I decided to scrap all that, except for the “spend time with family” part. I slept in every day, mowed the yard once, killed a few beers with a friend, and spent some time with the kids. I also spent a little bit of time in the shop, mostly just playing around.
My first attempt at making something was pretty ambitious. Ok, I’ll be honest, it was more like suicidal. There is something called a “Mobius strip” that looks like one piece of wood, that’s been twisted around to where it looks like a wavy, continuous loop. Pretty cool when they’re done, and the article I read didn’t make it look all that difficult, so I figured I’d give it a try. Since I told myself that I knew better than the guy who wrote the article, I decided to “enhance” his process. The final product is made by making smaller, identical, pieces, then cutting them up and gluing them together. The first piece that I made with my “improvements” worked like a charm, making me so very proud of myself. Yes, I mocked the author out loud! As I was working on the second piece, quietly thinking to myself how I could respond to the article’s author with some snarky comment that would let him know I had found a better way, reality struck. Repeatedly! The second piece absolutely exploded on the lathe and went everywhere at a couple thousand RPM. Good thing I had the face shield on, because I’m pretty sure without it I’d be in the hospital right now getting fitted for a glass eye. After some pondering, mixed with swearing, I have decided that my process will work, but the materials I was using would need to be changed. First, part of my improvements was to cut the pieces first, then glue them together for turning, with cardboard glued into the joints. later, the wood could be easily separated at the cardboard. I really should have used something more like card-stock, because the thicker cardboard I used was too thick and caused a single point of failure that was kind of magnified by the speed. Easy fix! Second, since this was a prototype to prove the process, I was using some really nasty scrap pine, which is horrible to work with in the first place. Next time, I’ll get a much harder wood, like ash, and reduce the likelihood of having another epic fail.
My only other productive thing for the weekend was to start dissolving and entire package of steel wool into a jug of vinegar, which will be used for ebonizing wood in the vacuum chamber. If Mr. Oyer (high school science teacher) was right, if I can get the vacuum to be strong enough for long enough, I should be able to get the mixture to completely saturate the rough turned blank, turning the wood extremely dark. SCIENCE! One daughter wants a “space bowl” and being able to get it very black before turning/carving is a must for the project. A word of warning, though, if you try this and also manage to get that much steel wool crammed inside a jug of vinegar, DO NOT put the cap back on! A gas is released during the dissolving process and the jug will quite literally explode, ebonizing everything within the splatter zone. Tools, lawnmowers, tire rims, gas cans, shoes, small dogs, passing children, everything… I did manage to complete a couple of projects, though.
Posts for October, 2016:
I have been having some “technical difficulties” with the camera that I was using to take the pictures and since an iPhone makes posting pictures a real gamble, I decided to hold off posting anything until I get the camera fixed. Once I get a part in the mail from our Chinese friends, I should be up and running with a whole host of projects that have been completed… I’ve also been looking at what it would take to build some kind of “light box” to improve the quality of the photos. Guess everything in life is an evolution…
Posts for November, 2016:
During November, it felt like I spent more time traveling for work than I actually did living at home. All the prep time to travel, and the “recover” time from coming home always seems to suck the life out of me. Because of that, not a whole lot of productivity this month!
Posts for December, 2016:
Trying to get into the spirit of Christmas, but this year it’s been a slooooooow process. There’s been a lot going on, so production has been limited. Here are the posts for stuff made in December, 2016: