year 10, Week 16, Day Two (week 538)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-02-10 Sunday


90 degrees, mostly clear, a very slight haze, small teased cotton puffs around the horizon all day long. Good breeze to make the temps perfect. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I cut some ears and tails for the mice I had made. I did one first, drilling straight in, then tipping the drill to spread the hole slightly. After the first mouse was finished, I showed it off. Mom liked it.
I then got some mahogany and started making brown mice, rather than the yellow pine mice I made before. I got the idea to mark them while they were still on the lathe, and using an awl to mark where the holes will be drilled. Even with measuring, I got the face tipped to one side.
Now these mice are made where I center a rectangular piece of wood on the long side, but move the center toward one of the edges. This gives the mice a flat bottom, and as much width as possible.
For the mice that had the face out of center, I simply turned them till they were close to being right, and re-flattened the bottom on the disk sander. Not as good as if they were set there originally, but they are not bad.
with some care, I can make these mice a lot better, but these are not bad. The key is to make the mouse shape exactly right. A lot of variation is quite acceptable based on what I am looking at. The eye and ear placement does make a difference in how it looks, too.
I have to add eye hooks and these will be Christmas ornaments. I am doing one experiment right now. I sprayed one with varnish and I want to see how the foam for the ears and tails react to the varnish.

I fed and petted the cats. both are acting so sweet and nice. One would never realize that one is really a beast. He is getting good at pretending to be a cat.

While we were at my brother's house for a family get together, he was at Mom's house adding a tow bar to his old truck. We did not know that though.
Today, he returned and did some welding and fitting, and got the tow bar mounted. he had gotten some magnetic trailer lights. he found out that they were wired wrong. the brake lights were on all the time. Rather than taking them back, he rewired them.
My truck towed his truck out of mom's driveway, positioning it so he could hitch up to it.
Later, I followed him home as he towed the truck. We found out that the front wheels turned as the truck was towed around corners. My plan was to see him pull into his neighborhood and I head on. part way there, he told me to follow him home. I had to steer the truck when he backed it up into the parking place.

I did not work on what I intended to work on, but had a lot of fun with the mice. Some care and planning, I can make them quickly and have them look great.
Friday, I need to go down to the Water gardens and see what has been going on, and show off my platters to them.
The weekend itself, I seam to remember something going on, but I don't remember what. I have no idea what I will be working on. it was suggested to make some frogs using this same system as the mice, but I have to plan them out, design them, to see how to go about it.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.

year 10, Week 17, Day One (week 539)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-08-10 Saturday

95 degrees in late morning, then clouds closed up some and temps dropped to 90 degrees. A nice breeze kept the temps from feeling hot. There was a point where a thin dark cloud leaked, but I was doing some measuring at the time and just pulled the equipment under cover until I was ready to go back to work. I knew at the time it was ignorable. After I had gotten home, in another city, there was a very good cloudburst, but I was inside at the time. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Scar-face and the Beast was waiting for me when I went out into the back yard. they both got food and plenty of attention. The beast got a lot more attention and food over the day, but not as much as he wanted. he really wanted company, and I was more interested in my projects.

I had a good look at the mice I made, and decided they needed to be designed better. I picked out some wood and made a little bit of sawdust. None of them are perfect, but they will be better than most of the ones I made last week. Even so, they will need corrections. One thing I must do is sand them before I do anything else to them other than drilling holes. I have to give thought to whiskers on them.
I need to try making frogs and lady bugs using the same method. That should be easy. I did make four mouse bodies today, which is not too bad. I had to prepare a few pieces of wood, which including measuring, cutting and re-measuring. Small bits can be used with this, these pieces were yellow pine cut from corners of platter blanks. I like the look on the mice.

I spent a lot of time trying to solve a problem with Mom's E-mail program in Windows 7, I hate Windows 7. Nothing is where it is supposed to be. files are hidden, buried, tricked around. You think you find the file you need to change and then it turns out not to be the right one. ARGH!


I am not totally sure what I will do tomorrow. I should do a couple platters, but could also work on something brand new. I also have a bowl I want to start carving. laying it out would help.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 17, Day Two (week 539)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-09-10 Sunday

90 degrees, good breeze to take the heat away. Clear to the east all day long, thin, broken clouds over the Everglades to the West. After noon, there were several periods where clouds blocked the sun, but mostly sunny all day long.

My first project was to feed and pet the cat. Scar face was nowhere to be seen. Beggar was in a cat mood and I petted him quite a bit before I was ready to dig my equipment out.
I stopped and petted him several more times during the day. Later, after my brother had done some scroll sawing and had settled to read, Beggar sat ON TOP my foot for about half an hour. I was sanding at the time and I would reach down and rub his head every now and then. he finally got up and headed to bed, in hiding somewhere.

I decided to start with making some lady bug bodies. My results are pretty good. I have a lot of decisions to do after I finish sanding. I have to decide whether to and how much, I should paint these. I figure I won't add legs. I could add cartoon eyes or leave them a slightly bit more realistic. Will see.
I also made a frog body. I don't like what I came up with. It might be all right, but has problems. I am thinking that I should use the lathe to get the angles even and centered, then use the sander for the real design. I will think it over.

I dug out a platter I had started a couple weeks ago and remounted it on the lathe. I finished it up, sanding it quite a bit. It needs more. A lot of the sanding was while the beast lounged on top my foot.

I mounted another platter I had just barely gotten started with, on the lathe, but it wobbled when I turned the lathe on. I should have removed it, trued up the face plate, then got started again, but chose instead to pack up and do something else. I will deal with it next weekend.

I corrected one of the mice bodies I made yesterday. It is still not quite right, but better than it was. I really should have re-mounted it on the lathe, but decided to use the disk sander instead. More sanding and it will be ok.

The day was pretty good, more of a lazy day, but I did get a whole lot done, but got enough to feel like I did something.

I will have to see what I accomplish next week.

year 10, Week 18, Day One (week 540)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-15-10 Saturday

84 degrees when I got out back at nine, 94 around noon. Low humidity and a light breeze which made it comfortable. The cloud was fifty percent blue sky, the rest light fluff clouds. It was sunny most of the day. I did not look but I think the sun was shining right through some of the clouds.
It should be noted that when it gets warm now, It is actually quite nice. The lack of humidity keeps it feeling cool. In the summer, though, there will be daily thunder cells passing over us, the ground will be saturated and the humidity will be high enough to make it feel like you have hot water sprinklers misting you. Right now, though, we have a dry heat and I don't mind the temps.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I started the morning petting and feeding the cats. Scar face trotted off after he had enough food. The beast settled down between my feet several times during the day, and would have been really happy if I stayed put all day long. Of course, I had a lot of projects to work on.

My first project was to create new threaded face plates. I did it right this time. First I cut the wood into squares, I marked the center, drew a circle at the edges on both boards so I had an idea of how big they would be.
I then took my threader, and located the forsner bits, and went to the drill press. I located the right diameter bit. I mounted it in the drill press and after measuring carefully, I drilled most of the way through the face plate.
I found out that my drill press can hold the threader in the jaws. With the drill press off, I lowered the drill press, centering the threader on the hole, and clamped the wood to the platform. I then turned the drill press chuck by hand, pressing down on the bit with the lever, going to the bottom, then backing it out. What this did was to make sure the hole, and the threads, were perpendicular to the wood. This improves the chances that the there will be limited correction to the face plate when I made it.

Drilled and Threaded, I trimmed the corners off at the band saw, staying just outside the circle I drew before I drilled it.
I mounted the first face plate onto the lathe. there was a little wobble. I am thinking that there will always be a little of that. I first cut the edges until it was round, then flattened the face. I also cut the back. Usually, one has the piece mounted when cutting a tenon so that the face you are working with, is facing the tail stock where you have plenty of room to work. Because I am working with the wood already threaded on the lathe, I worked between the head stock (that has the motor) and the wood, to create a tenon so the chuck can also hold the piece.
I got both face plates made. when I put them back on, there is a little wobble. It might be how the thread fit on the mount, I think it is two or three threads wrapping around the mount (have to check that) and when the face plate threads meet with the mount's thread, there is a slight difference in how it fits.

I decided to use the face plates immediately. I used a marker to mark the old face plates to remind me not to use them for this kind of project.
I had a platter blank I started a couple weeks ago, but the tape had given up. I re-mounted it and started working on the bottom again. I made a lot of headway, had gotten the angle of the sides, created the inset of the base. In this process, I use the second face plate to set the diameter of the inset, and when I get the underside done, I remove the face plate and work on the inset with the tail stock holding the work in place. I then pull the tail stock back to remove the bit of wood, the post, that the tail stock was pushing against. As I was cutting it down, the tape gave way and the piece spun off to the other side of the lathe, dropped to the floor, and spun back to the lathe.
I decided that I will do better on the work on some other day and set it to the side. There is nothing wrong with the piece so finishing it up will be easy.

I took a small piece of Mahogany and made another lady bug blank. I sanded all my pieces, and then gave them a couple coats of varnish, sanding them in between.
I need to drill for the eyes, ears, and tails on the mice I made last week. I might add whiskers to them while I am at it. Will see.
One thing I thought about, is to drill the holes for the ears a bit bigger, and stick a skewer into the hole with the ears wrapped around it. it would make the fit tighter, not depending so much on the glue, and it might add a little curl to the ear, making it more interesting. I will look at that in this project. I had already carefully measured and marked the eyes and ear locations based on what I saw of the mice I already made.
I have to give the lady bugs more thought, but I am planning to just paint the back, red, and leave the head wood colored. I have not decided whether to paint the dots on the back. I have not figured out how to do it, but It would be nice to have the wood show in the dots on the back. I cannot paint that as good as I would like. I could use stick on dots, but not sure where to find them. Will think about it.

I stopped at the HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS store today, drooled on every isle, examining just about everything. I had about six items in my hand, considering buying them, but held off. Not one thing is needed immediately. They were either because I would like to have it, or I will need it later.

The chances of weather is higher for tomorrow, but I doubt that will be that big of a thing. I have a number of projects to work on that does not include standing out in the weather.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 18, Day Two (week 540)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-16-10 Sunday

90 degrees, good breeze, clouds varying from broken clouds, fixed clouds, open patch of blue sky, to full cover. There was a moment of a mist, but it was gone almost as fast as it was noticed. Temps did drop down to 88 degrees. Much of the day was sunny, in spite all the clouds. I am developing a good tan on the tops of my arms, about the only part exposed to the sun. After I left the area, I did drive through some rain, but that was not while working wood. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.

The beast was so cat like. I did bother him where he had to turn his head at my hand and bite the air to tell me "stop" but he was still being a good kitty. He was in a head rubbing mood today. he really would have been happy if I just sat and petted him. I had work to do.

The last work I did was to place a forked trunk of Orange tree into the lathe. The idea is to use the fork to make an interesting pitcher. Orange is a hard wood, hard to hollow out, hard to work with. I got a different idea.
I dug out a piece of Norfolk Island Pine. I had a thirty inch long piece of the log with three sets of branches. I cut one section off.
I located the center (the pith is off center) and mounted into the lathe between the tail stock and drive center (mounted between centers). I flattened the top and bottom, and then turned a tenon on one end. I knew what I was making today, from the moment I decided on that type of wood.
Early in the year, I made a face vase, where the knots of the branches were the eyes of the faces. With that vase, I had made the vase first, then decided to carve the faces on it. This time, I knew what it would be. I turned it so there will be a nose sticking way out from the face, eye brow and mouth, all planned out.
I had sanded the outside well, but have to do some correction to the outside, shortening the nose to give more room for the mouth and chin.
I also started hollowing it but have a long way to go with that too.
My brother helped me make a boring bar a while back. I can fit different bits inside the bar for different cutting effects.
I had gotten some metal machining bits that have a triangle cutter on the end. One can rotate the cutter to have a fresh sharp edge. While turning today, using that bit in the boring bar, the cutter broke off. I noticed it a while after it happened. I took out the hone and flattened the top and the sides so I had some good cutting edges. Not as good as the cutter, but it worked fairly well. I have a long ways to go on the hollowing, but made good headway.

I had picked some leaves off a plant out front for use with making another 'swirl of leaves', carved bowl. I have a bowl I made back in 2004 that was way too thick. a month or so back, I re-mounted it on the lathe and thinned it down, correcting some other errors. I want to carve on it, make it interesting. I traced several of the leaves on the surface. I am not satisfied with the effect, and may "erase" (sand) my lines off and start over.

After I had cleaned up, I sat with my dremmel and drilled holes for the mice I made last week. I will have to make the holes bigger, but they locate where everything is. I will add eyes and ears to them later. I just realized I forgot to drill the tail holes. will have to do that this week.

I have a turning club meeting this Thursday. I want the mice to be ready for that. The face vase and leaf vase will each be a longer range project. At least a month away to finish.

I will see what I end up doing next weekend.

year 10, Week 19, Day One (week 541)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-22-10 Saturday

94 degrees under the awning, 88 officially, cool (comparatively) dry breeze, mix of half clouds and half blue sky, limited fading of the sun at any time. This Weather report is Brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I spent the early week sanding and varnishing my mice, painting my lady bugs. Eyes added as beads, this time with the holes acting like the pupal of the eyes. I had drilled larger holes for the ears and tails, and added a bit of skewer to help hold the ears in and folded the tail a couple times before inserting them to give more glue surface to hold the tail in. I had difficulty finding the right color for the lady bugs so they ended up with three colors of red before I settled on a dark orange. the end result was pretty good. The mice are good enough, the lady bugs need a little work on the design. They are pretty good anyway.

Thursday.

We had a turning club meeting. I took pictures for the club. I was on my feet for most of the meeting. I took one of their magazines that had the mice I based my mice on, and had that next to the finished pieces. I heard few comments from the members, but a few people thought they were really cute.
The presentation was making a decorative natural edged vase. He first turned the piece end to end like it grew, making it round. He then decorated the surface, burning it with a wire, cutting on coves between the wire burns. Finally, he turned the piece sideways and made a conical vase where the decorated surface was the "natural" edge. the results are pretty good, unusual.

a couple classes did some projects using Purple Heart lumber. There were a whole lot of small cut-offs in the garbage can. A bunch of us raided the garbage can, by their suggestion, of some of the small pieces. I ended up coming home with more wood.

We have something called the BRING BACK PRIZE. this is where the winner this month, has to bring back something for next month's winner to get. I ended up winning it this month. they maker said that it is designed so you can take an actual "pinch" of salt. The lid rotates out of the way. It is nice. I think I have won four or five of these bring back prizes over the years. Some of my best art work was acquired this way.

Friday

This is not wood turning, but I had to renew my driver's license. They are verifying that everybody who gets a driver's license is the person they say they are. One has to bring a birth certificate, a social security card, and two bills mailed recently to your address.
I got there at ten, at the back of the walk up line. the line is likely 30 feet long. I got to the other end and inside at quarter to two! One guy in front of me ended up laying all his stuff out on the ground and I did not see him come in, so I think he was missing something. all that time and he did not have all his information.
I then sat inside. I figure they were calling people one a minute. they would call several, then there were a long period without anybody. I did not time it exactly. It was an impression of time that would be on the short side.
The actual driver's license work that I went through was about fifteen, maximum twenty minutes, which included the road sign test. I left there at Four o'clock!!! I have been learning crochet on my own. I was fighting with the third line of this piece. In the DL office, I lost track of how many lines after six and ended up with nearly three inches of crochet. I am still not good, but I am actually making headway. I will continue until I get to about nine inches, or until I run out of string. I will keep this since it is my very first piece.
I was on my feet the entire time when I was outside. My feet did well. I went to several stores after the DL office and only at the last one did my feet let me know I was on them a bit much.

Saturday

Did some yard sailing in the morning. spent a whole five bucks. I almost purchased a sander, but am short on my funds as I paid the drivers license by cash rather than my check card. I had the money but when you are shorter than normal, you tend to be a little tight with your money.

At home, after petting and feeding the "cat", I dug my tools out and repaired a butler's tray (has legs like a small end table). the tray sides came off. I glued them back in place and drove the nails back in.

I then drug out my lathe and finished hollowing it. I had a devil of a time with the piece. My bowl gouges were too short to reach all the way in properly. the sides tapered in to the bottom, the walls becoming thicker the deeper you go. I could not get the right tool to work inside the vase, so I took my skew and pushed it straight in along the edge, cutting away the sides so they were straight. I need to make a bit just like that. Not hard. I have the materials to work from to make the bits out of.
I used a sanding disk at the end of the drill to do the bottom. This is Norfolk Island Pine and is nearly a year old so it is well dried. Dried Norfolk gets a lot of end grain tear out. I don't have the perfect tools for eliminating it so I have to use what works. the sanding disk made the bottom flat, also, and I had to cut away some under cut caused by the disk. That made the bottom more square.

I decided I wanted a hat for this vase, giving it a lid. I took some yellow pine and started making a hat. I did not like the results. I stopped and set that to the side. I might make it something else, but a hat is not it. I will have to look at the woods I have available to see what will work best for a hat, or whether I even will add one.

I took a piece of the purple heart I got and started turning it with the idea of making an ant's body. I failed to realize one little fact. the purple heart pieces were cut off the ends of the boards. The grain is running across the piece, not down the piece. That makes the piece weak.
I later realized I should be making a butterfly body, not an ant body. An ant is antenna and legs, while a butterfly would be good with just wings.

I want to work on the flower vase tomorrow. At minimum, I want to plan out how to do the faces on there. One thought is to make each eye be shared between two faces. Another is to have a space between the two faces like I did on the first one I did.
I will also give the leaf bowl another look. I think I know how to do the design. Start with small leaves in the center, and make them successively bigger coming out to the edge. The center leaves are the highest, and all the leaves going out will be beneath them, so you will only see the tops of tips of the leaves. I would leave the outside plain as it is now. Will see what I decide as I work with it. I first have to "erase" the lines I already have now.
I should note that I saw a piece of work at the club. the top was an ordinary plate. I turned it upside down to see who did it, and it was exquisitely carved underneath. I looked at that and felt that the bowl I was about to start, was not good enough, and I had done nothing on it yet.

I might make one or two butterfly bodies tomorrow too. I think they would be kind of nice. I can finish them at home.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 19, Day Two (week 541)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-23-10 Sunday

90 degrees partly cloudy while mostly sunny. good breeze in the afternoon. There was some wet roads to the south when I was heading to mom's house.
I petted the kitty then dragged my equipment out. I decided my first project was to take a piece of Purple heart and make some butterfly bodies with them.
I quickly realized there was one little problem with this wood. These were cut off the ends of the boards. The grain runs across the wood, rather down the length. This means there is no strength in the wood.
Think of the grain of the wood like a bundle of straws. If you grab them at the end, they will be hard to separate. they are strong. If you grab them from the side, they are weak, and give way easily.
Purple heart is very hard but can be brittle. I was getting a lot of tear out from where the ends of the wood on the corners hit to the tool. It was bouncing really bad since it was not as stiff as a proper piece of wood could be.
I gave up on the bowl gouge and turned to the skew chisel to peal the wood off. I had the lathe at full speed, but it seamed like it was spinning slowly. each time a corner passed, the wood would bounce slightly.
I got the piece round after a lot of work, then started shaping the piece, The head was a ball, the Thorax of the butterfly was a oval and the tail part of the body was long. I had the body almost completed when the piece broke. I bandsawed the rest of the wood off and glued the body back together.
I then made a second one. the wood was shorter now and there was less bounce. This body went easy and I finished it up and removed it from the lathe. I took it to the bandsaw and was to bandsaw off the little bit of wood at the end of the head (I made them with the head next to the tail stock). the blade caught the wood and the head went flying. I have not seen it.
I had a little stub left of the wood, so I put that back into the lathe and turned a new head which I glued on.
Later in the day, I tried to cut slots for the wings. This is hard wood. I got a slot started with some cutting bits stacked together, but could not get it deep enough that way without the slot being too long. I tried many methods and found that a drill was best. I put in three holes, then put the drill on an angle and drilled until it broke through into the adjacent hole.
I then needed to add eyes. That wood is hard. I could barely mark it with a sharp point. I got the eyes located properly with the wings. I then decided these needed antenna. I will use fishing line for the antenna.
I am now sanding and varnishing them.

I messed with a platter I had started earlier. I ended up taking a wooden face plate I made to screw onto the lathe, and remove the hole to make room for a knob on the back of the platter. The front, where the face plate is supposed to attach, was all messed up. I needed to straighten and clean it. I had a bit of a problem all the way through the process and the platter did not stay on the face plate. I needed to correct the face plate slightly. I then dropped it and sawdust got on the tape. I decided to leave that for a later date.

I messed around with other projects during the day.
I talked to mom about the face vase. She said to do three faces, with separate eyes, rather than six faces sharing eyes with other faces. I committed myself by taking the band sander and removing the nose part of the shape between the faces.

I will finish the butterflies this week. I also need to paint a card before the weekend.
next weekend is going to be a whole lot of activity.
Friday, I plan on stopping at the antique shop and water gardens to see if I can drop anything off.
Saturday night, we are having a birthday party for my brother. that is what the card is for.
Mom and I are planning to visit Dad's grave on Monday.
I am not sure how much real work I will actually get done this weekend.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.

year 10, Week 20, Day Two (week 542)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-30-10 Saturday

95 degrees, good breeze, blue sky followed the sun all day. Humidity made it a little less comfortable compared to last week. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

Friday

I had planned on dropping off some wood working at the Dania Beach Water Gardens but the person I needed to talk to was out of town. I went and visited, took some pictures, and left. I checked at the Antique shop. By the beginning of the next month, he is moving across the street. They will be tearing down the buildings he is in now.

Using a felt pen and some high-lighters, I created a birthday card for my brother. I really did not have a good design but what I did was not too bad. I would rather have painted it, but did not have time. Paint is a lot more work.

Saturday

I knew this was not a day to get woodworking done. After breakfast, we went yard sailing. I spent a whole lot of money. I got some cooking trays for a toaster oven for a whole, wallet busting quarter!!!

The beast of the back yard lived a little closer to his reputation. I could not seem to find how he wanted to be petted. Even compared to this time last year, he was a very nice kitty.

The local Woodcrafts was having a set of demonstrations. I went there late. Had some free hotdogs, talked to some friends. My brother showed up and handed me my birthday present while I was there. He handed me the cash rather than a gift card.
I picked up a bowl gouge. I also had a certificate from my club membership so I used that also. I cannot seam to find my last AAW magazine so I picked one up.
Bowl gouges are essentially a rod with a gully cut out of them called the flute. What was pointed out is that the bowl gouge I got has a V shaped flute. A round bottom flute tends to be better. My problem was that I did not have the money to get a better bowl gouge.
Now the end of the gouge can be ground in many ways. A standard grind is where the gouge is simply rotated against the grinder with a single angle all the way around.
This bowl gouge came with what is a called a fingernail profile. The sides are at a flat angle aiming toward the handle, and the very end is rounded. This is an aggressive grind. I seam to remember my old gouges came with this grind and I simply ground them into standard grinds at the first opportunity.
The standard grind is not good when reaching deep into a vase. the angle of the tip is better more straight in, rather than working the sides. The fingernail grind is very good for working the sides of the work

After I left here, I went to my brother's house for a family get-together. My brother's birthday was last week, mine is next week. We combine them as a one day celebration. I had already decided I was not going to do any woodworking, so I fought with my crochet. It requires a whole lot more focus than carving does, and it is a little easier on the hands.
I got money and gift certificates as presents.


Sunday

Once I arrived at Mom's house, I had to feed and pet the cats. both were on good terms, though scarface let me know he does not like his tummy rubbed when he is laying down. I gave both of them good petting the first session. Scarface left and the beast of the back yard got more. He was busy pretending to be a cat. Later in the day, there seamed to be little I could do, based on how I am normally allowed to handle him, to bother him. He would have been happy if I just sat there all day, petting him once in a while.

I found that I left the face vase at home. I was sure I had left it at Mom's house last week. I did not see it around the house. I got there and could not find it anywhere. when I got home later in the day, I found it, right where I put it, right in plain sight..

Without the face vase to work on, I decided I would try out the new bowl gouge. I took a platter I had started and had problems with. I still had problems.
I got it mounted and spinning, and after some touch-ups on the side I had already finished, I worked on the inside.
The fingernail gouge has to be brought to the wood in a way that is different from the standard grind. using tape to hold wood in place, is not good for when you get catches. this fingernail grind is great for catches, until I get used to it. There is a learning curve to them.

I went in around noon and sat before the TV and cooled down, napped for a few minutes. WE then had lunch. My brother was sidetracked by other family so they were going to show up later.

After lunch, I took a piece of sea grape and started turning it between centers. I had the ends spinning around. I made a tenon, then mounted it in the chuck. I had it shaped fairly well, then started on the inside. I got a catch and broke a piece of wood on the edge (not used to the new gouge). I started to cut the broken part off and got a catch on the outside and the thing flew off the lathe. I later saw that the tenon broke. I tossed it. It was just playing around.

After some playing around and petting the beast, I decided I had done enough for the day.

I don't know if I will be doing any woodworking tomorrow. I am going to Mom's house in the morning and we will be going to one of the national cemeteries here in Florida, where my dad is buried, for the memorial day services they are holding. I do not know if I will have the time or mood to work wood when I get back. Will see.

year 10, Week 21, Day One (week 543)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-05-10 Saturday


90 degrees, high humidity, mostly sunny all day long, though clouds started building up in the afternoon. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

After petting and feeding both kitty cats, mom asked me to help her. We transplanted several plants, un-potted one plant that got waterlogged when the holes in the pot clogged up, and worked hard to get the dirt out of the mass of roots. Dirt is valuable.
We later put a different plant in that pot and put it in the same location. It was good hard work. We were both soaked.

I settled down after petting and feeding the beast one more time. I dug out some projects.
I had the platter I made last week. It needed work I had the center stubs, there were ripples in the surface and it was just really bad. I started grinding with my strip sander and the strip broke and went flying. I did not look for it, but I think I know where it is, beneath the work bench among stuff I have to move out to get to it.
I replaced the sanding strip, 60 grit. It ate through the wood nicely. I got rid of the nubs, then got rid of the worst of the ripples. Of course the strip sander leaves its own marks that have to be worked out. It is better than it was.

I then started working on the face vase. I made big headway. You can now see exactly what it is supposed to look like. I have loads of details I have to do, but it really looks like something. I had ground a while before it dawned on me that I was getting sawdust all through my beard. After I dusted myself off, I got out my face mask that I use for my turning, and closed it so it stuck in my chest while I worked. Surprising how much dust that keeps out of my face. I can even take my glasses off safely to work close to my face if needed.

In yard sailing, I got a GAME BOY POCKET with six games, and a duffle bag with plastic trays. the guy said it was a tackle box. I am thinking of placing my decorations (beads, hooks, ribbons, etc.) for my wood projects in there. it will separate them out so I can see what I have at a glance.

Tomorrow, I will work more on the face vase. Getting the eyes right will be tough. The eyes are the knots of the Norfolk Island Pine. They are not perfectly located so I am working with what I have.
I might work more on the platter and do have the option to turn a few items while I am at it.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 21, Day Two (week 543)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-06-10 Sunday

Officially 93 degrees, 42 percent humidity. 99 under the awning. blue sky with a light haze in the morning, high filaments and ripples a bit later. Puffs built quickly as noon approached. It appears as if the clouds have stayed over the everglades long after I left. this weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Yesterday was my birthday. We had celebrated it last week. Other than the goodies, I would not bother remembering how old I am. Everybody knows I am only sixteen years old, where is the importance of reminding me about it???

After petting and feeding the beast, I was in the mood to do some light, easy turning.
I had a piece of wood, four three-quarter inch pine boards glued together. I cut two pieces the same length as the width. I mounted the first one on the lathe so the boards were shown around the parameter. that one went pretty good other than breaking a tenon before I had hollowed it out. I made a new tenon and finished it up. to do the bottom, I fit it over the chuck and expanded it inside the mouth of the piece. I then finished up the tail end.
One thing I had to do was to fix the screws on the jaws. I had gotten replacement screws for the jaws and the heads were larger than what I was replacing. they did not fit into the hole properly. There are four jaws, and there are screws inside the jaw, and outside the jaw to hold them in place. The screws outside the jaw was where the larger screws were, and they were side by side.
When I put the piece on backwards, it had a bad wobble. what I did was to swap one of the screws with one of the real screws. the big ones were now opposite the chuck of each other. I was able to center the piece the lip balanced on the screws, and was able to finish up the bottom of the piece.
I then made a second cup with the boards running up and down in the piece. The bottom of both pieces are set in with a rim around the outside. their sides, inside and out, are straight. I used my skew chisel as a scraper, running the point to lead the cut down the side of the piece, using the edges of the whole tool to guide it straight in. Because these were shallow, I was able to use the skew to flatten the inside bottom.
Both pieces need heavy sanding and varnishing, but they won't get them soon. I am right now using them as pencil cups.

After I was finished turning these pieces, I decided I had enough turning for the day, cleaned up and put that stuff away. My plan was to carve on the face vase. I went in as I ran out of drink and when I got in, at eleven thirty, I decided I would cool down a while. then it was lunch time.
After lunch, I planned on at least sitting down and drawing on the faces of the face vase to mark out where I needed to carve next. I took pictures and saw one face has a nose that is well off center. Oh well...
The urge to get covered in dust had left me. I then ended up cleaning up, getting everything away, calling it a day. I did get something done, just not what I really should have worked on.
I had hoped to have the face vase done for the seventeenth, which is the turning club meeting, but now realize I could never accomplish the carving in that amount of time. The faces need a lot of work and even if I worked the best I could, I could not finish it in just two weekends.

Next week, I plan to carve on the faces. I have some projects at Mom's house that need rebuilding, placing them back on the lathe to correct beginner mistakes.
I have other stuff at home that needs heavy sanding, removing the varnish and applying new, better, finishes after the surface underneath is made perfect.
I have a bowl I would love to carve up. I am now questioning whether it will be leaves It might be something else. I might leave the inside like a normal bowl and carve the outside.
I might make something new, also.

I will see what I actually do next week.

year 10, Week 22, Day One (week 544)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-12-10 Saturday

96 degrees under the awning, 93 degrees officially. It was 90 degrees at around nine thirty when I got out back and there was little wind, leaves barely moved. I plugged in a fan to get some air moving. The humidity was not bad so the day was quite tolerable. the sky was blue but there were clouds on the horizon, but over head, was blue and sunny. Long after I got home, rains showed up on the radar, but they were over the everglades, heading south instead of east. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I petted and fed the cats first thing. Tom got some petting, ate, and then left. Beggar stayed longer and then left. He came back later for more attention and did so three more times.
The last mother cat that had kittens in our area, had two kittens. A female Calico, which my brother ended up with, and a black male with. The boy and the mother were taken to a no-kill shelter
I was looking at some old pictures and ran across that family. the boy had a white spot on his chest, very much like the old tom we have coming around now. They looked so much alike that we discussed whether it might be the same cat. Mom says he is likely from an older litter, possibly by the same mother. It was interesting to see how close they looked.

I was in the mood to do some wood turning. I decided to try a new project. I have seen square bowls, where the rim is a square, raised high above the table.
I started making it without taking the necessary time to do it right. Short cuts tend to create a lot of work in the end. This time, it has not created a whole lot of problems, but I still have some work to do because of it.
I had the chuck closed and the tail stock stuck into the wood. I worked around the tail stock, creating a post of wood that my tools could not get to. I had hollowed it first, then flipped it around. I put the chuck inside the bowl, opening it up to create pressure to hold it, and then turned the back side.
I have to remount the piece on the lathe. I have to reshape the bowl slightly, making it cleaner and a better shaped bowl.
When I turn it around, I have to trim the back side of the rim. I don't have the thickness even. the rim gets thicker as one goes closer to the bowl, and this causes an arc in the thickness of the rim from corner to center.
I need to make the bottom cleaner and better. I started with a good thickness rim around the base, but lost all but a thin edge. I have to make sure I have enough thickness, and do it right.
I also have to remove the posts It would be better to do this on the lathe, but I may have to do it using grinders. Will see how things work out when I make my corrections.

For tomorrow, I will finish this bowl, and then apply myself to some carving. I would like to make a whole lot of progress on the faces. I will work on the eyes. I saw that on one face, I made the nose off center. I got the idea where I May be able to save that face. I will see if I can have him looking to one side. I will see what kind of damage I already done when I started carving the eyes, how thick the wood is there. I am positive I can correct it. I just have to work things out.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 22, Day Two (week 544)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-13-10 Sunday

As high as 96 degrees, blue sky most of the day, light breeze, just enough to make it tolerable. The winds were heading North West so that was where the storms off the ocean was coming. One storm looked like it was going to come by, and it blocked the morning sun, dropping the temps to 86, but it faded out before it reached us. After that, there was no threat of weather. this Weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I got to Mom's house early. I petted and fed the cats. When that was done, I got to work by dragging out the lathe, which requires moving other pieces. I took the square bowl and mounted it between centers. It was not absolutely center so I did not correct the rim. I flattened the bottom and built the new rim on the base. I then turned it around and cleaned up the inside. I have a little groove on the bottom that I need to grind out. I did some touch up, sanding the surface on the disk sander. It now needs finishing.
The storm looked like it was brewing, so I had pulled the equipment under the awning while I was working on the finishing of the bowl, removing the posts and cleaning up my work.


I took a nap, and when I got back outside, I really was not in the mood to work. I picked up the face vase and decided to get a pencil and work on designing the eyes of the faces. After I got the eyes drawn, I took out the dremmel and mounted an hour glass shaped bit, and cut in the eyes. I mainly undercut the eyelids, setting the eyes under the lids. I also did some work on the face itself. I have a long ways to go.

I got an idea for a project. I am learning crochet. I decided I would see how hard it would be to make a crochet hook. I decided that it needed to be strong, so I took out some orange wood I had. It was shorter than I really wanted, but since it had a nice shrinkage crack in it, I chose to use that piece.
I first cut it down the shrinkage crack. I then cut some roughly square sticks. It was too small for my chuck. I got an idea on how to hold the wood in the lathe.
My tail stock has a live center with interchangeable tips. I took one tip that is hollow so you can run a drill bit through it, and stuck that in the chuck. I then took one that has a pin point center and a ring that also goes into the wood. I put the pin into the center of the piece of wood and it did not touch the ring.
I mostly used the skew chisel to peal away the wood but had to change to other tools. I got them down to the same diameter as my metal hook I have been using. The ends were raw. After I finished the second one, I took both to the disk sander and fixed up both ends.
I then sat down with my knife and cut the angle to the base of the hook. I took the Dremmel with a cutting disk and undercut to create the hook itself. The first one is not as clean as the second one. learning errors.
I tested them and they do work. The wood grabs at the threads so it is rough. I will need to sand it to a polish. I likely will make some new ones using what I learned with this.

For a lazy day where I did not really want to do too much, I got a lot done, and have something to show for my work.

I have the turning club meeting Thursday. I will try to get the crochet hooks presentable. I will try to get the square bowl sanded and presentable too.
Next weekend, I do not know what new projects I might work on. I need to work more on the face vase.

I will see what actually happens next week.

year 10, Week 23, Day One (week 545)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-19-10 Saturday

96 degrees, light wind that barely moved leaves, Early morning humidity faded by late morning. Towers of clouds early morning all over, but big mass over the everglades moving north. We did get a sprinkle, not hard enough or long enough to react to, rain shadow from one of the towers. Otherwise, sunny with blue sky where it mattered most. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

Thursday
I had a turning club meeting on Thursday. I had sanded my square bowl and my crochet hooks to where they did not drag on the yarn. they were not as slick as the metal, but quite usable. I later learned that originally, all crochet hooks were wood.
I forgot that I had won the Bring Back prize last month, so I ended up giving my square bowl as the prize. I then only had to show off my hooks. I had my crochet, and the original metal hook that I copied along with it.
I also picked up a couple ball so yarn to make wash cloths and to play around with. They were not what I was after but I see they actually are helping me learn the craft.
My first project is getting closer to the end of the string. The ball looks a whole lot smaller, I can actually imagine me getting to the very end of the project in the near future. I used my ball of string and crochet as a backdrop for the wooden hooks.

After breakfast and yard sailing (spent two bucks), I went out and petted and fed both cats. I actually spent most of the day petting the beast of the back yard. He was so much like a cat that I forgot myself several times. He mainly opens his mouth, as if to bite, to show his displeasure but there is no energy in it. We are slowly learning a language which we can communicate. I am glad he has gotten out of swatting with his claws bared.

I started the morning cutting some orange for some crochet needles. I got a bunch of blanks cut, but decided that was not what I wanted to work on today.

I am planning to get with one of the people in the club to help me on making platters, and later do a demonstration. I will show him what I am doing. He will then show me how to improve my methods, then I will demonstrate what we come up with.
I took the remains of my two by twelve yellow pine board and cut it into square pieces, marked the center by running lines between corners and where they crossed was center. I did this on both sides of the board.
I then used a children's compass to draw a circle as big as will fit on the board. I finally took them to the band saw and cut the corners off outside the circle lines.
I usually keep the corners for carved faces, usually bearded or long haired, but chose to toss them today.
I took my wooden face plates and the blanks I made and wiped them with mineral spirits to clean them. double sided tape does not stick to dust.

I mounted a blank in the lathe with the double sided tape and started rounding it. I had it close, but the tool caught on the wood and it came off the face plate. When I looked at it, there was some tape residue on the wood, which tells me that the mineral spirits had not evaporated fully and reacted with the tape's glue. I will clean that off tomorrow, possibly, and get back to work later.

Whenever I went in side to refill my cup with something cold, I tended to dwell inside for quite a while, even if I had no intention of doing it. Mom had the AC cranked up and it felt good to sit and watch some TV a little bit.
I ended up getting less done than I even considered.

Tomorrow, I need to carve on the face vase, which I never got to, today. I really got to do more work on it. I saw some carved pieces by a master and see I have a lot of work to do on the eyes.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 23, Day Two (week 545)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-20-10 Sunday

96 degrees, very light breeze, high swipes of clouds, lower puffs, small towers building in the afternoon. Lots of sun with short periods of cloudy. I had the fan running under the awning and would turn wood for a while, get into the fan for a short time, then go back out to turn wood in the sun. Humidity is still low so the day was not the thick air one gets in the height of summer. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of tourism.

I started by petting and feeding the cats. Scar-face/Tom ate his fill and wandered off. Beggar/the beast of the back yard, hung around. Every so often, he would come out and give me that look of "What, I have to wait for my attention?" He got quite a few sessions, most of them he had enough and went to sleep under the work bench next to the fence.

Mom gave me a little project. She had a cigar box that she wanted to be used for collections. I first cut a slot in the top where she had it marked. I then used the disk sander to hit several of the sides, then used a sanding disk on my drill to do where the latches and stuff were in the way. I did not realize that the varnish already on it had built up as little nobs on my little sanding disks until I had already added a coat of varnish to it. That was when I saw it was so rough. As I was about to leave then, I had no time to fix it.

I sat and carved on my face vase, concentrating on the eyes. I am at one of those stages where you sit and do a whole lot of work and it does not look like I have done much. Every project gets a period like this, carving is worse on this than many other projects. I am mainly defining the design of the faces, working in small details as I go.

I found a piece of wood that I cut off a different project. This was Florida Mahogany. I decided to make a hat for he face vase. the first thing I did after mounting it, was to flatten the surface, then measure where the diameter of the face vase landed on the hat piece. I marked that and then started hollowing. I created the brim, and started shaping the top of the hat.
I got everything near where I wanted it. I then took it off the lathe, put the face vase back on, and then put the hat on the top of the face vase head and, running the lathe slowly, made some adjustments to the top of the hat, without damaging the tenon that the chuck hangs onto.
When I stopped, I took the hat and face vase off and looked at them together. Yuck!!! I doubt I will use the hat, though I might figure out how to make it look good. Will have to see.

Next week I need to work more on the face vase. I still have a long ways to go on it. It is not following my imagination, which usually happens. My skills are not up to where they really need to be.
I need to make arrangements, either this next weekend, or the following weekend, to get with one of the club members to work with me on making platters.

I will see what I actually do next week.

year 10, Week 24, Day One (week 546)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-26-10 Saturday

94 degrees, some sun, fast moving tower puff clouds, heading from the southeast to the north west, a few dots of sprinkles sneaking along among them. nice breeze that refused to blow under the awning. We got a little dribble while I was working under the awning, and when I packed up and walked into the house for the day, the drops were loud on the roof for a few seconds. It was almost gone by the time I walked out the front door, about ten minutes later. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

After a couple yard sales and breakfast, I went out and petted and fed the cats. The beast went back and forth several times from wanting attention and not wanting to be touched.

My main project was to work on the face vase. I got my tools out and worked more on the eyes. I think the eyes are pretty good. they are nothing like my imagination said they should be. they are not bad. I worked on more shaping of the faces.
I wear my wood turning face shield, I take off my glasses so I can hold the work real close, and I had a fan blowing on me, which also carried some of the dust beyond me.
I decided the brow ridge, created when first I turned the piece, was too dramatic. I mounted the vase on the lathe and cut that down. When I took it off, I did some grinding to remove places where the tools touched the bridge of the nose. I then took sandpaper to the entire piece, getting rid of tool marks, softening ridge and bumps. I have a lot more to do, but I feel I made a big difference on it.

While I was working, I hitched up my pant leg and the fabric tore on the thigh. I had that happen to a couple other pairs of pants. I dug out an clothes iron we have used in our woodworking. Our main use of the iron was to get a photocopy of something, lay it down on a piece of wood, then use the heat of the iron to melt the ink onto the wood.
Photocopies use an ink that is a combination of plastic, ink and a magnetic material. They use heated rollers to draw the ink onto the paper. If it is fresh, you can re-melt the ink from the paper onto something else. That was what that iron was for. I don't have an iron at home so I located and borrowed it.
I picked up some patching material and patched my pants with the iron on patch, on the inside. I have a few others than will get the treatment.

I also went to Woodcrafts, and after wandering the place for a while, picked up some proper colored filler. I had used white filler to fill some worm holes on the face vase and they stand out. I am going to remove the white filler and use the closer to proper color filler in the holes. I also picked up a couple bits of wood that were about two bucks each. they are pen blanks, but I have some ideas for them.
One thing I am thinking about is to add a tint to the face vase. I would add it over the entire surface, then sand away the highlights so that when I add my final finishes, it will stand out better. I have some tint, but have to stir it up and I am not sure it will mix. It had been settled out for several years. Mounting a piece of coat hanger on the drill should do the job.

Tomorrow, I will do more sanding and carving on the face vase. I have some small projects I can turn, but could also turn some larger projects. I could always turn a platter. Of course I have to pet and feed the cats.
Mom dug into a closet and found all sorts of craft stuff. she got rid of a bunch of it already, but will have some for me to pick through and dig out the stuff I think I can use.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

year 10, Week 24, Day One (week 546)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-26-10 Saturday

95 degrees under the awning, nice breeze, sunny all day long, clouds on the horizon. The low humidity made it quite comfortable when I had the fan on. When wood turning, the sun itself was hot, but a minute in the shade got me ready for another session at the lathe. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I got to Mom's house early. She had dug into her craft closet and was going through a whole bunch of stuff. She got rid of a carload of items already.
Mom and dad used to go to carving seminars during the summers, driving there. Dad would take the classes, and Mom would set up craft classes for the non-carvers, supplying some of the materials they needed for their projects. When Dad stopped going to the seminars, all of Mom's craft stuff went into the closet.
Mom was looking for something that was buried deep in the closet, so she pulled all the stuff out of the closet, got to what she was after, then decided to sort through the stuff, see what she had. She did crochet, quilting, bead work, painting, among other crafts she was involved in. She also had her own carving stuff.
Mom had sorted out some stuff to dispose of, but then showed me some stuff she knew I might be interested in. Her intention was to let me know the stuff was available.
Mom had two small motors for grinding, different brands than Dremmel. One thing I took was her dental grinding bits. these are really tiny cutting bits. They are great for fine shaping, getting into tiny places. Most of these are the size of a SHARPIE Ultra Fine Point pen point. Since they are designed to work on teeth, they are able to really get into places.
Mom had several knives that Dad made. I started making knives of his style, but found a design change made my knives a better design. His knives have a long point. they are great for sticking in between the fibers of your carving gloves. I got poked many times with my knives in the beginning.
While making some new knives, I had s short bit of file left and decided to make a knife out of it. I made it with a square, straight end and found I loved it. For one thing, you don't have a long point to go through your gloves. The wedge end acts like a chisel when it goes into the wood.
I decided instantly that I did not want to mess with her knives so she still has them.
A number of items she had was decorations for wood carvings and other things, like googly eyes, ribbons, bits and pieces.

I went outside and fed the creatures of the back yard. Beggar was acting just like a cat. I have no idea what got into him. Scar face was sweet and I petted him some, but he left after he ate.
I threw a couple bits of cat food to the curly tail lizards that are inhabiting mom's back yard. they were accidentally introduced in Palm beach county and have slowly been spreading. They appeared in the past few years in Mom's back yard. We found out that they eat some cat food bits that are left, so we have been giving them bits of food and have gotten within a few feet of them at times.

I started the day by digging into the shed. I had to pull a whole bunch of stuff out of the shed to get to a box of big bottles of wood dye. The solids had settled out. when I got them out, I took a piece of coat hanger and bent one end, and stuck the other into a drill. I tried to use the wire to stir the solids of the dye, to make it mix up. I spun it quite a bit, but when I pulled the coat hanger out, it had sludge coating it. I decided that reconstituting the die was not worth the effort so I tossed the box of big bottles.
A bit later, I put everything back in and found I had a whole lot more room in there, since I put some stuff that was on the floor, onto the shelf where the box was.

I sat and worked on the face vase most of the day. I used one of Mom's bits to remove the white filler I had used to fill some worm holes when I started, and used some more natural colored filler. I am thinking, as I am writing, that what I really should have done, though it was really not within my effort level, was to make a dowel out of the wood and worked that into the worm holes. When I finish the wood, It will finish similar to the wood itself. I could do that, but will see if I really want to. I have a week to think about it.
One of the bits I got from mom was coiled sand paper. it goes onto a special bit I am guessing that the sand paper grinds down to nothing on the outside, or when the sand paper runs out of grit, I cut the warn sandpaper off to expose the next layer of the spiral
My dremmel decided it did not want to go slow enough for that bit, but worked pretty good. I went over the inside of the piece to clean up some tool marks, and worked all over the outside. It smoothed the surface out pretty well.
I did a lot of sanding and grinding, making corrections here and there. I want to get the surface just right, then I will take my V tools and cut in hair on the faces that need it.
I have some tool marks left by the aggressive grinding tools to get rid of. The lighting was just not right to see them when I was working. I need to get rid of them, and some divots in the surface.

I sorted through all my dremmel bits, mixing the ones I got from mom in with the ones I had in my kit. I was surprised that it all fit together in the dremmel case.

Next week, I plan to finish the grinding on the face vase. I have some little flaws to correct, like where bits I used, burned the wood. I need to sand the faces so the surfaces are even smooth, just right. I have some details to carve in to bring it to the level I can do. After that, I will be able to start my finishing process which includes soaking it in linseed oil for several days.
I am going down to Dania Beach Florida to check in on the antique shop and the Dania Water Gardens. The antique shop is supposed to be moved to the other side of the street. His building is going to be demolished and he did not want to buy the entire block.
I will see how my stuff is doing, re-arranging it if needed. I have some stuff to bring to the Dania Water Gardens and see how my stuff is doing there.

I will see what I actually do Next Week.