Woodworking - 48 year 11 1/2!

This like an on-line diary. I write my activities in my hobby of wood working, bragging about my accomplishments, crying about my failures, and mentioning what else is going on in my life.
In spite of the fact of my regular postings, anybody can post here, on any subject, at any time. Join in the fun and let us know what you are doing.



Year 11, Week 26, Day One (week 600)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-09-11 Saturday

81 degrees in the morning, 91 degrees in the afternoon. Liquid sunshine hit the ground and became water, and in one bout, the water was like a river across the front of the awning, disappearing into the sandy soil beyond the pavers. By mid morning, the liquid sunshine was gone and we got some blue sky and sun. You know the humidity is high, when you step out of the car after a couple minute's drive with the A/C on and your glasses fog up. It looks like we are having summer. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.

DURING THE WEEK.

Sunday, Late, I pulled a muscle. Monday It was all I could do to roll out of bed and was walking like an old man. It got better as the day went on but I was not in great condition. Each day, it got better as the day wore on, and each morning it was better than the day before.


I checked prices on a radiator for my truck. I picked out where I was going to get the radiator later in the week.

I had something in linseed oil and it leaked, getting some on the sea grape goblet. I picked up the sea grape goblet and the stem broke. The grain runs across the stem, rather than up and down it. Not strong. I never got to add inlay during the week.

I picked up my radiator on Friday and found out that one of my bald tires was coming apart. I went and picked up two good used tires. Had this happened three weeks ago, I would not have known what to do as I did not have the money at the time.


Saturday

We stopped at two yard sales. I did not see anything I could not live without. I did see a number of things I would have loved to have had five years ago or even two years ago, but I don't need or cannot use now.

We had a daisy chain of storms coming up from the south. I decided I would not set up the lathe early, and dug out the table I use for the mini lathe. I worked on that for adding Aqua sand as inlay into the shrinkage cracks of the sea grape goblet. I also drilled and doweled a skewer through the base of the goblet into the stem to hold it together once I glued it back together.
One thing I see with this decorative sand, is that it turns white when I sand it flush. I have no idea what it is made of or how it is made. It might not be the solution I was hoping for - Easy cheap inlay materials. The super glue I was using was too thick. You want it runny so it soaks in quickly to set the stones.
I tried to apply tape to the inside but it would not stick, so I held the tape over the holes until the first layer of sand had set. I built up the grains until the holes were mounded. I added the sand to the inside too.

I ground a little bit on the Norfolk goblet I made and added a skewer through the stem. One problem is that the skewer shows up now. I will give some thought and figure out how to solve that. I have many.

I mounted the sea grape goblet on the lathe after the weather calmed down, not taking the lathe out from under the cover as I was still not sure if any more storms were coming. I sanded the outside flush, then the inside. I took it off, filled some holes and sanded it again. I then sanded it with finer grits. Finally, I parted off the goblet from the waste wood holding it on the lathe. I did a little hand grinding and have to do some more as I made a small mistake while grinding and have to remove the mistake now.

I sat and crocheted during the storms a few times. this yarn bag I am making is getting bigger. I am about a third as tall as it needs to be.

Tomorrow, I plan to dig out a piece of special wood and make an art piece out of it. It was a thin wedge that was chainsawed out, really rough and textured. I want to turn just a bowl in the center, and leave the rest of the piece in the raw unfinished wood. I would add three small turned legs to level it out. It dawned on me that I could use hot glue to hold it in place, so have dug out my not glue gun. I think this is a project that has to be turned "on the outboard," or with it spinning past the end of the lathe. My tool rest is the toughest part but have a solution that should work this time. I am hoping it works.
I also have carving and other turning projects to work on. I have a big pile of wood just begging to become sawdust.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 26, Day two (week 600)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-10-11 Sunday

91 degrees when I got outside and 94 degrees as a high. light breeze. A touch of liquid sunshine, just a quick dribble then blue sky to the east over the ocean, and high feathers and wisps above, with some puffs on the western horizon over the Everglades.

My back is doing well. I barely notice I had a sore back. I would only feel a tweak during certain movements, and even that was totally ignorable. I did not avoid any movements at all. "I bet it will feel good when it stops hurting...."

I dug out the slab of wood, it is sea grape, for my special artistic bowl. I used my dollar store hot glue gun to try to glue the board to the metal face plate. I turned the head of the lathe sideways so the piece could spin over the empty space to the side. I could have had it over the end of the bed but decided it was not big enough to cause a problem to the side.
Now I needed a tool rest. I had a cheap roller, the type you set at the end of your saw to carry the wood once it goes past the edge of the table. It was ultra low quality, but was about the right height. I looked in the shed and could not see it. I cannot remember if I relocated it or buried it, but I did not see it. I then took a piece of old two by two, cut it to about the right height, and set my bowl gouge on that and used it like a mono-pod to cut the wood.
I did do a little work, but the wood was moving a little creating a problem. I tried re-glueing it but I did not have enough of the hot glue to hold it in place. I later learned that there are different kinds of hot glue and some are stronger than others. I was using household cheap glue. I only had two sticks and these require at least half a stick to remain inside the gun. If I had a torch, I could have re-heated the glue and try to re-stick it.
The best way to describe it, I marred the surface more than it was. I did try to use white glue to hold it and all that did was mess the surface a little.
Next time I try it, I will get some construction hot glue, use a wood face plate rather than the metal one I tried, and hope that holds better than this attempt. The wood has something more for the hot glue to hang on to.

After that, I sort of took it easy, petting the beast of the back yard who was pretending to be a cat, and a little crochet. I took some bits of yarn I had that had untwisted themselves, and put one end in the vice and the other in the drill and twisted them together fairly tight before I wrapped them back into a ball. I have had several that when I made the stitch, would be parallel strands rather than twisted strands. It makes it easier to pick up a stray strand and get all caught up in the work. I am not totally sure how well my twisting them worked. I had some of them to the point where when I removed the tension, they created coils. When I wrapped the yarn into a ball, I worked the worst of the coils out. I will see how well this worked when I eventually get to those balls of yarn. I think the longest one was about twenty feet long.


I did unload the half cab of my truck and moved a few things around because a folding chair was in the wrong place. I figured out that I can have it strand upright in the corner and make more room for everything else.
The handle on The box for my Fordum was pulling out if I carried it on an angle. I decided to drill into the plastic ends of the part that goes into the lid, and stick a long bamboo skewer into the holes. The skewer will prevent it from slipping out. It does not have a whole lot of weight in it so the skewer should be just strong enough. I will see later with use.

My brother arrived and we went out and replaced my radiator. it was a bigger job than I thought it would be but not as big as I was afraid it would be. My brother was good at figuring out what had to be done. We lost one of his little rachet extensions in the engine compartment. It dropped down and was gone, not in the grass but somewhere that could never be found.
This project was mostly knowing how to handle the hoses and clips. WE got it all hooked together and running again. I will check it over the next few days. I also need to get a new radiator cap.

I actually got very little done today on wood working, but It was a nice day to just enjoy being outside.

I am adding linseed oil to the sea grape goblet with turquoise inlay. It really does not need it, but thought it would be nice to try and also might bring out the inlay. I will wipe on a couple coats, then let it dry a couple days, before I start adding varnish.
The Norfolk goblet needs to be sanded and will get the oil finish also. Being green, it is not bringing out the colors yet.
I need to start varnishing my torch carving. I figure it has all the color that the oil will bring out.

Next week, I have more projects than I can count on one hand. It all depends on what the weather is like and what my mood is. I would love to finish some projects that are already started. I would feel like I really accomplished something.
Some will depend on what Mom decides for me to do. If she has me do some real bull-work, it could take the wood working out of me like it did in previous weeks.

I will see what I actually do next week.

Year 11, Week 27, Day One (week 601)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-16-11 Saturday

90 degrees at nine, 96 degrees in the afternoon, air thick in the morning, drying out as the wind picked up in the afternoon. Blue skies with thin feathers up high, puffs on the horizon over the everglades, getting taller as the day wore on. sunny all day long.
This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

FRIDAY.

I had started working on a Stuffy, a stuffed animal. I was simply working in the round. After I had made a tube a given length, I decided to make this a head of something, the tube the muzzle. I was working it closed and stuffed it with fiber-fill, when I realized that some little errors showed big. I set some button eyes on it and took some pictures, then pulled it completely out. I will start over again with a smaller hook later.
I worked on my ODD BALL bag more. I got to a point where I decided will either be half way or a third of the way. I have a broad green band at that point. I will double the height and decide if it needs to be taller for the kind of bag and closure I am thinking of.

SATURDAY

Our city has a program where they start different kinds of trees and have residents, proven with their driver's licences, come and pick up two free trees. the idea is to fill the city with trees over the next years. They will have it also next weekend.
When going to the restaurant, Mom was saying she saw a red blossomed Crape Myrtle somewhere and was talking about buying a couple should they become available at any of the plant departments of the stores.
We went to the plant program this morning and Mom got all excited. they had the red Crape Myrtle, so she got two of them.
The city sort of expects people to plant the trees in the ground so they become big. Mom keeps hers in pots so they stay small and works hard to make sure they do not go into the ground. When they do, she hacks up the wayward roots and puts something between them and the ground. She has trees many years old that are not too much bigger than they were when she got them.

After I fed and petted the beast of the back yard and Scar face, I cut a piece of Sea Grape and started making a goblet. I had the bowl done. I had the stem of the goblet well made, thicker than I normally do but quite acceptable. I took some sandpaper to clean up the stem one more time and the bowl fell off. I picked up the bowl and saw that a natural crack in the wood gave.
All right.
I finished the base of the goblet and was parting it off when another chunk came off the base. I took it out of the chuck and tossed the base. I then mounted the bowl of the goblet into the chuck and shaved off the remains of the stem with the idea of this now becoming a flower. I just have to carve the petals in it. I told mom about that and she said to give it a different colored stem and base. I have ideas. I will let them stew until I get around to working on it again. I might carve it like a flower and add a base to it too. Will see.

Later, I took a piece of Norfolk Island Pine. It was a section with the branches sticking out yet. I decided I would leave them and the bark for something strange. I cut the end flat, then hollowed it out for the bowl of the goblet. I then started working on the stem. While I was parting it off below the base, the base broke, sliding up the stem. It later broke into several pieces.
I then found that there was a crack just below the bowl. I have glued it but it was not glued well. There are some gaps. I will figure out the best way to deal with that tomorrow. I might add inlay. I will have to see.

I went to Home depot and got a bunch of cans of varnish. I needed some at Mom's house and at home. It did a good dent in the gift card I am carrying.

I stopped at Jo Ann's cloth world and after walking half the isles, I picked up two tiny metal crochet hooks and a sewing thread cutter. I am thinking of coming up with something that can be carried on planes and not be taken away. I am going to test the thread cutter and I might make something on that idea using wood instead of plastic to contain the blade. It is something to explore anyway. Wear it on a necklace or just have it in your bag and it should pass through security.

Tomorrow I have plenty of projects to work on and lots of wood to humiliate. It will really all depend on what project I happen to get excited about. Some projects really need to be done and have been looking at me for months.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 27, Day Two (week 601)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-17-11 Sunday

96 degrees, blue sky with feathers and cream real high, and puffs over the everglades that sometimes got kind of close during the day. Some towers developed late in the day. It was mostly sunny until towards noon when the feathers and cream got thick enough to block the sun. More towers developed over the Everglades and to the south. this weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


Yesterday, I got some tiny metal hooks for a crochet project and a thread cutter/ needle threader for sewing. This is a thumbnail sized piece of plastic with a tiny blade in it. I am thinking that I can make these out of wood. I can take some razor blades and break or cut off little bits of it, and then take two slices of wood that I shaped and glue them together over the blade so the blade shows. I can sand them thin and have a thread cutter that could be used on the plane. I can make the wood in all sorts of great designs that people would love to get. One thing I like about this concept is that it would use small trimmings of wood for the whole project.

I got to Mom's house at my normal early time. After I fed and petted the beast of the back yard, I dragged out my lathe. I re-mounted a natural branch goblet I made yesterday where the stem broke. I got it spinning and sanded it. I then found that the break in the stem had not healed so I re-glued it and used the lathe to clamp it in line. I let it set for an hour or so. I later sanded it again.

I tried to fix the sea grape goblet that I broke the stem and base on. I made a new stem out of Bougainvillea, which appears fairly dry, and then was touching up the bottom of the goblet when there was a very slight catch which sent it flying. There were two pieces on the ground when it stopped. I glued the two parts together. I can see where my tool had ran up the goblet bowl with a pretty score. It is going to take some effort to hide that.

I took the goblets I made last week and sanded them while on the lathe. I got rid of some bothersome fibers on the sea grape inlay goblet. the Norfolk goblet is still a little green and does not want to sand properly.

I put some wipe-on varnish in a baggy and soaked the torch, and the three goblets a couple times. After the goblets set for a day or so, I will sand them some more since the varnish will lock the fibers in place.
The torch needs to be sanded and varnished as I need that for the turning club meeting this week.

I took a piece of Norfolk branch and started carving a pixy. I decided to leave bark as the brim of the hat. I have it too thick, but will deal with that when I get it mostly carved. I can always make it thinner, but cannot make it thicker. I got a good start on the face but that was all the farther I wanted to go today.

I was just about cleaned up when my brother arrived. We ate and then sat and talked for a while. He was worn out from several jobs he did so he was not in the mood to do anything besides talk either.

I realized that the reason I have not worked on my face vase is that I had not wanted to get as gritty as the grinding would get me. I have to try to get over that if I am to finish that project. I have a couple other projects that will also get me messy like this.

I have a turning club meeting Thursday. All I have to bring is my torch. My goblets are for next month. That will be good as it will take me that long to get them ready.
I have more than enough projects to work on. Not enough time to work on them.


I will see what all I do next week.

Year 11, Week 28, Day One (week 602)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-23-11 Saturday

89 degrees early morning and 95 degrees in the afternoon. A bit of liquid sunshine when I was about to go outside first thing, but that was gone after five minutes. Sunny, blue sky above, puffs closer to the Everglades. This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of tourism.



THURSDAY

I took my torch to work so I could have it for when I went to the Turning Club Meeting. At work someone said it looked like a cartoon paint brush. I saw what they were talking about. It looked like the bristles of a brush, rather than a flame. Of course it also looked like a torch too.
I took it to the turning club meeting. I got several good reviews about it. One person asked what I brought and I said the torch. they said that was impressive. Big head happy...

They were showing examples of goblets. he had several that were extremely tiny, thimble sized, one that had was about a foot tall and had a stem thinner than a skewer.

The demonstration was on making goblets. He showed how HE DOES IT, which is not the only way. One thing I found out is that my tools are not sharp enough. I use a different grind on my bowl gouges. I have one with that ground but don't use it much.
He showed a finishing method that was interesting. He is extremely good with his tool work which gives him a better finish from the start.

One trick I saw was that he jammed paper towels into the bowl of the goblet and then stuck the tail stock into the paper before he started on his stem. This eliminated wobble when he got thin.

someone else had a goblet with a natural stick as the stem. It was made out of one piece of wood, a burl the goblet itself was made from and a second one that became the base. He said that he made a box for it to fit into with the bowl sticking out. He only had to do some filing to make the match to the stick it was attached to.

The work on display was impressive. Every time I go there, I bring my best work and am disappointed at how much better other people's work is. I have to work on the finish.

Someone brought in some thin sheets of South American Ash. I guess he was using it as siding or something. They are nice thin sheets. We were waiting for someone with the key to arrive. I looked at the sheets and said, "Scroll saw material." He handed them to me and said, "I am not even taking them in." We can do a lot with that stuff. It will just depend on who gets to it first.


I got tired of the yellow of my teddy bear dress and decided to re-do it in tan. I am in my fifth attempt of getting the stitch right. I think this will be the last attempt as it looks like everything will line up to blend fairly well. It is a learning experience. Luckily, I had found the end of the yellow yarn I had used and I don't have too much bother in undoing things if it will make a big difference.
I am making headway on my Odd Ball bag. when I ran across a long ball of yarn, I have cut it after a couple times around. I am half way in the second half of the bag. Once this is done the bag will be as big as it needs to be. Then I can work on the closure system and a handle. I could make my own buttons to fit on it. I will have to see what I come up with when I get to that point.

SATURDAY

The City Of Pompano Beach had the second weekend of the tree give-aways.
Last year, Mom got a Red Maple and it has gone into the ground. she was going to get a second one in case she killed the first one when she uprooted it, but she changed her mind once she got into the place.
Mom got a third Red Crape Myrtle (she thinks) and a Tropical tree I cannot remember. The name started with a B and the leaves are filled with a whole bunch of little leaflets and when the leaves are messed with, they close up. There was a large one in the parking lot and we liked the look of it. It is so tropical.
Mom found out that they purchase seedlings and raise and care for them until they are big enough to give away.


We stopped at a couple yard sales today. At one, I picked up a hand mixer. The plastic switch on mine came apart, otherwise it works. I have some crank beaters but I found at least one operation they were not good at. This one was cheap so I thought it was a good thing to get. I have a dead battery powered mixer with five different specialty beaters. I found out that they fit this machine, that is great. It allows me more options.
The second thing I got was ANCIENT INVENTIONS By Peter James and Nick Thorpe. Including the index, it is 672 pages. It is not as detailed as I hoped, but is interesting. I only looked at pictures and captions so far but will go into more detail on going through it.


I finally got outside to work. I got the grinding tools out and set up. I decided I was going to finish the face vase I started months and months ago. This is a Norfolk Island Pine vase with three faces on it, the knots around it are the eyes. When I turned it, I roughed out the shape of the faces, creating a ridge where the nose was, going in with a few ripples for the mouth, coming out slightly for the chin. I had the forehead part out as wide as I could.
I then decided which pairs of knots would make the best faces. Between those knots, I left the nose, and ground back everything between the noses.
Once the main part of the face was ground back, I shaped the facial features. One face is bare faced, one has a mustache, and one has a beard and mustache. I tried to make them look different ages. the bare faced is young, with the narrowest chin, the bearded one is the oldest with the widest chin. I did not carve in wrinkles, though. I decided it was not worth the effort this time.
Today, I finished the last faces, and then sanded everything. I re-hollowed the inside now that I knew how thin I could go and cut down on the forehead. I also trimmed the bottom so it is clean. I have a couple holes to fill, but will do that a bit later. I need to find out the final color of the vase before I get to that.
I showed it to mom and she looked it over carefully. She said it was better than anything I had done so far. I do admit it is good. I know what I was after and it missed.
I will try something new when it comes to finishing. I am going to paint it with Linseed Oil. Linseed oil darkens the wood and brings out colors that do not show when simply varnished. I am going to try to make some areas lighter than others. I know from tests that the linseed oil will bleed into other areas. I am going to see how this works, see if it comes out anything like I hope. If it fails, not giving me the contrast I am after, I will just soak the whole thing. It is worth the experiment.

I spent a lot of time petting the purr of the back yard who was beasting, I mean petting the beast of the back yard who was purring. I remember when I first started taming him. He would let me pet him six times before he would swat at me with full claws. Now he lets me pet him everywhere. One problem with teaching a beast to be petted, is that they start insisting that you do it.

Tomorrow, I have no idea what I will work on. I know my brother will not be coming up. he is on the other side of the state as his son has a concert. He has a heavy metal band and they are better than anything they have battle of the band matches with. My brother is seeing the concert tonight, stay over the night, and then come home tomorrow afternoon.

I have lots of wood, lots of partly worked projects, and lots of projects I really need to get onto. I just have to see what is exciting to me when I get there. Getting the face vase done was a big thing. I did not expect it to be that easy. I figured I had a lot more grinding to get it to look good. It took less than expected. I have a vase I want to carve that will have flowers all over it. I have not decided exactly how I want to do that. I have a tea pot I need to finish. I have a box of stuff that either needs work or needs finishing or is partly started.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 28, Day Two (week 602)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-24-11 Sunday

93 degrees, a few thin sprinkles very early morning to the south, blue skies, thin puffs moving through, heavier puffs to the west over the Everglades, lots of sun with only minor blockages by the puffs. A nice breeze that was light early morning but late morning was quite strong. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I started the morning, after petting the beast, digging out a block of Sea grape. It had a bowl inside it, I just had to get to it. This piece was at all angles. I measured, and re-measured, and measured again. I then decided to save myself some effort by eliminating some of the angles. By removing unnecessary wood, I ended up with a piece of wood that was half the size of the big block, with loads of chunks that might not be useable. I tried. I worked it in three sessions, taking breaks in between.
I had already selected the surface everything would be square and parallel to. I drew the square and then trimmed off some wood that stuck out. I then trimmed the other surface which was on a sharp angle. Finally, I nipped off the corners so I had less wood to remove on the lathe.
It did not feel that hot, but my shirt got wet and the sawdust stuck to it like glue. It was only after I sat in the shade and cooled down a little that I could remove the dust from my shirt. I made myself heat tolerant just because of this kind of weather. If I was not, I would never be able to do wood working during the summer.

The bowl took all my time today, especially since I left early. I will have to use my knife to clean up some shrinkage cracks and then add inlay into them. The bowl is heavier than it really should be, but it looks pretty good. As it was spinning, it moved because of the shrinkage cracks and I was not really interested in it coming apart so I left it thicker than it needed to be.

I started painting linseed oil on the face vase. I am not quite sure if this is going to work. I will continue to add controlled coats and see how the wood reacts. I may just soak it and get it over with. but will do this painting for a short while anyway to see the effect.
The dry wood looks white and when varnished remains light. Linseed oil brings out all the colors within the wood of Norfolk Island Pine and makes it translucent. When made thin, it is common to make lamp shades with Norfolk where the light will come through the oiled wood. It is dark, but passes through.

I have no idea what I will be working on next weekend. I want to go to the Antique Shop but because of work, I might have to wait until the following week. I have loads of wood and loads of projects. I just have to see what will excite me when I get to Mom's house.

I will see what I actually will work on next week.

Year 11, Week 29, Day One (week 603)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-30-11 Saturday


90 degrees when I finally got outside, 96 degrees when I left. A good breeze that got better as the day wore on, moving sawdust around nicely. Blue skies with puffs and low towers, sunny all day long. Because of the wind, the humidity was passably low.

I painted linseed oil on the face vase and the wood soaked the oil up farther than I had hoped. I just started to soak the face vase in linseed oil and leave it at that. I am not bothering to have light areas and dark areas. I will go with the pretty wood.


We went yard sailing today...
I picked up a SUNBEAM stand mixer, with standard beaters and bread hooks for three bucks. Two commercially made quilts for five bucks, and a laptop with no charger for five bucks.
I stopped to check on getting a universal charger and found that it uses one more powerful than common now. Most laptops now use 90 watt chargers, the most powerful he had was 120. On line it said that these use 150 watt chargers. I have one computer shop to check on. If I don't find a charger there, I will consider my options. One is to yard sale it, and the other is to pull the hard drive and put it into a laptop that I have that is not working. It will likely go into a yard sale as is.
I had picked up a hand mixer last week, but at this price, a mixer on a stand is something to grab. I just checked something. It comes off the base, and it has a thing on top to power accessories. I am going to have to do some on-line research as to what this machine can all use.
In late evening research on the mixer, I found that the shaft sticking up on the machine is a power take-off for a grinding attachment. I stuck a beater in there and turned the machine on and it spun.
I found out that the motor comes off the base so it can be used as a hand mixer also.
In my research for manuals for the machine, I found they are fairly expensive and free manuals set my anti-virus off as a phishing web site.

The beast of the back yard is acting like a cat. I spent about two hours combined, petting him or with him sleeping at my feet. I can basically pet him everywhere and he complains little.
Scarface was there this morning and he had been fighting again. I assume he wins most of his fights, but he has lots of pin scabs all over his neck, top of head and shoulders.

I finished the body of my crochet "oddball" bag. I decided I would use a button-loop closure system. I can make my own buttons.
Later in the day, I stitched up the corners of the crochet bag and also the center of the sides. I am not sure how I did it, but I found they curved and it did not stand up and stay square the way I intended. I have to remove all the stitching I did and do them over. I may let it flop, I will see.
I am thinking I need to find a box about the size of the bag and use that as a guide to get everything straight and square. I have made boxes out of sheet cardboard, which I have so if I got desperate, I could make a box to fit. better to find one, though.

I selected a pine branch that looked good. One end had lots of bug trails in it, but the end I chose seemed good and it had a knot in it so that would add to the beauty of the first couple buttons.
I had the basic button made and took sandpaper to the back of the button and it broke apart. That wood went into the garbage. The tree had died a long time before it was cut down and bugs did a number on it. It had lots of checks in the wood. I ended up tossing the pieces of log I had. I did not realize this branch was also from that tree but it had the same nature as the logs.
I dug up a two by two piece of wood. It is a common lumber I keep forgetting the name of. I mounted it in the chuck which was able to clamp down directly on the square wood, not having to make a tenon. I then rounded part of the end, and then shaped my button, cutting behind the disk of the button until there was a shaft. I then shaped the disk and cut a series of rings into the face. I sanded and then drilled a hole into the side of the shaft for the thread. I then parted the button off. I made five buttons from the piece of wood I had cut. I figured five buttons will allow for a set to be left over if I gift these or sell them.

I talked to an out-of-town friend on the cell phone and she suggested that I make some barrel style buttons for loop and barrel buttons. I had a short piece of six inch log that was split in half. It had some checks in it and I had split it at the checks.
I took a hatchet and hammer and split it at a big check, then knocked off the corners of the pieces. I took one piece and mounted it in the lathe. I had a devil of a time trying to smooth out the piece. I kept getting bounces. I then made the wood even smaller in diameter. I ended up about twice the diameter of a pencil.
I used a pointed parting tool to cut in grooves, then tapered the first and third groove, of each set of three. After sanding, I drilled through the piece so thread could be run through it. the drill broke out the back in several pieces.
I finally parted them off at the bandsaw and touched the ends with the disk sander and the broken out part of the drill holes so there is a flat spot. I made five of these barrels.

While talking to my friend, I was looking at my lathe and one piece of Osage Orange caught my eye. It splits into two trunks and then is cut off. I decided I am making a dress vase out of it. It is going to be more like a flowing pantsuit.
It had a tenon on the "top" but I needed one on the bottom. the two halves make it rather interesting, but I made a tenon for the bottom. I mounted it into the chuck and then decided I had better pack it up.
I think I need to figure out how far I have to cut into the wood to round it at the waste. I really should drill it out first and work using that as my guide. A couple measurements should take care of getting the hole right.
I am not exactly sure what design top I will do. I have done two strap, one strap, no strap. around the neck with open back. I should examine the wood tomorrow and see if I can be imaginative by having sleeves or something like that. I am going to use the wood to tell me the design I need to have.

I have loads of projects I can work on tomorrow. I can make buttons, the dress vase, I have tea pot to make a spout and handle, I have a vase I am supposed to carve flowers on, I will be bringing the goblets I made a couple weeks ago with me and need to clean them up for finishing. I have a number of Christmas ornaments to carve and a few figurines to carve. I would love to carve another dragon. I have all that Norfolk Island Pine and a piece of slab would make for a great adult dragon. So many projects!!!

I will see what I do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 28, Day Two (week 602)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-24-11 Sunday

93 degrees, a few thin sprinkles very early morning to the south, blue skies, thin puffs moving through, heavier puffs to the west over the Everglades, lots of sun with only minor blockages by the puffs. A nice breeze that was light early morning but late morning was quite strong. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I started the morning, after petting the beast, digging out a block of Sea grape. It had a bowl inside it, I just had to get to it. This piece was at all angles. I measured, and re-measured, and measured again. I then decided to save myself some effort by eliminating some of the angles. By removing unnecessary wood, I ended up with a piece of wood that was half the size of the big block, with loads of chunks that might not be useable. I tried. I worked it in three sessions, taking breaks in between.
I had already selected the surface everything would be square and parallel to. I drew the square and then trimmed off some wood that stuck out. I then trimmed the other surface which was on a sharp angle. Finally, I nipped off the corners so I had less wood to remove on the lathe.
It did not feel that hot, but my shirt got wet and the sawdust stuck to it like glue. It was only after I sat in the shade and cooled down a little that I could remove the dust from my shirt. I made myself heat tolerant just because of this kind of weather. If I was not, I would never be able to do wood working during the summer.

The bowl took all my time today, especially since I left early. I will have to use my knife to clean up some shrinkage cracks and then add inlay into them. The bowl is heavier than it really should be, but it looks pretty good. As it was spinning, it moved because of the shrinkage cracks and I was not really interested in it coming apart so I left it thicker than it needed to be.

I started painting linseed oil on the face vase. I am not quite sure if this is going to work. I will continue to add controlled coats and see how the wood reacts. I may just soak it and get it over with. but will do this painting for a short while anyway to see the effect.
The dry wood looks white and when varnished remains light. Linseed oil brings out all the colors within the wood of Norfolk Island Pine and makes it translucent. When made thin, it is common to make lamp shades with Norfolk where the light will come through the oiled wood. It is dark, but passes through.

I have no idea what I will be working on next weekend. I want to go to the Antique Shop but because of work, I might have to wait until the following week. I have loads of wood and loads of projects. I just have to see what will excite me when I get to Mom's house.

I will see what I actually will work on next week.

Year 11, Week 30, Day One (week 604)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-06-11 Saturday

95 degrees, a fifteen minute patch of liquid sunshine, just enough breeze to move the leaf tips, thick air after the liquid sunshine (really needed a breeze to make it comfortable), lots of blue sky, with rapid westward moving puffs and a high feather shield to the East. The sun dried the ground almost completely within an hour or so.
The tropical storm became a tropical wave, and kept curving farther and farther west so at most, we will get bits and pieces of the outlying weather. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.



DURING THE WEEK


I took a whole bunch of my wood working from the past few weeks and soaked them in linseed oil. I notice that Norfolk branches don't take on the color that the trunk wood does. That is good to know. that wood I cannot remember the name of, turned black. rather interesting.



THURSDAY

I went to check on my stuff at the antique shop. I got there early and he did not show up while I was there. I likely should have waited an hour, but headed on.
Since I was arriving early, I stopped at a shell shop and drooled all over their floors at the wonderful shells and the ideas of what I could do with them. they have carved coconuts, some look like monkeys, or pirates, and one that looked like a mother and baby. I do wood carving and yet I am in awe at their work. I think it has something to do with seeing the shape in the material. I think in a different shape than they do.

In the same parking lot, I went to a thrift store. Looking around, I saw a basket with yarn in it. I had picked up a five pound bag of yarn a couple months ago so I have more yarn than I need. I walked away. I mentioned it to the proprietor and he said he could use my money. I walked around a little bit more. The yarn tripped me and tangled me up. the knitting hooks poked me until I agreed to take it home.
I don't knit and I have enough yarn. I usually don't have much use for baskets. The basket is a high quality one. I got my money's worth.

When I got home, I sat down and finished the teddy bear dress I was working on. I have some loose ends to take care of. I mainly wanted to show my repairs to a bad design. when I had finished this version of the front panel, it would have been good on a pregnant teddy bear. I folded the sides together and stitched it down until I could put in pleats at the bottom. It is not how I pictured it, but it is better than other versions I had done. I really should remove the front panel one more time and try it again, but that won't happen.
I broke one of my wooden crochet hooks. It was one of the very first I made. I had stitched some yarn through some folds and was removing it. I used the hook end to shove the yarn through as the point was able to open the space between the grid easier. the hook caught on some yarn on the other side and broke under nearly no pressure.


SATURDAY

We stopped at a couple yard sales but saw nothing of interest.

Mom had a few quick projects for me. One was to remove a patch of grass, about six inches by two feet. We dug that up and lowered the level and the put two patio stones and some gravel in its place.

I got out my drill and tried clear out two weep holes next to her decorative wall in front. She had not realized they were weep holes. she had been pulling grass out. My drill bit was not long enough, so I got a metal rod that is for axels for wood toys. I stuck that into the drill and bore deep into the hole, breaking up the built up muck down below. One hole had a lower cap and I had to break that up to get deep into the dirt.
About an hour later, the water than normally would stand there, was gone. I guess I did a good job.


I need to trim the palm tree, but we decided to hold off on that for now. Maybe next week.

I had one main project for the day. I tackled the shed. I dragged everything out of the shed floor and swept it.
I have a lot of branches and board wood in there of different sizes. A few pieces of wood was questionable. I did not bother the shelves, though I really should have. I did one side of the shed last year and that was a big project in and of itself.
I had one real problem in getting things back in. Some wood had to go to the back of the shed. Deciding what wood would be inaccessible and what to keep on hand was tough.
I took out some plastic shelving that was decaying. that made a lot of room. Mom says she is going to get rid of it.
Also I had a roller extender. You stand this a distance away from your table saw and it will catch the board as you pull it along, making your effective table longer. This one was cheaply made. My idea was to use it as a tool rest when working on the end of the lathe. I figured out that it just would not work for that. Since the tripod legs took a lot of room, getting it out of the shed made a big difference. I can now get a whole lot more stuff in there.
Maybe next week, I will clear off the work bench and sort through all that stuff too. some of that could go back into the shed now that there is space.

I had a cardboard box of pieces that I at one time classified as unusable. They need heavy work. I found out there is less in there than I thought. I found two ribbed cups that have a big shrinkage crack on one side and some worm holes in them. It dawned on me that I can add inlay in them and finish them up. They will be good when done. I kept them out to work with. Some of the work in the box are beyond help, thin spots that would break through, bad design, chips and breaks. too good to just toss.


The stem of my branch goblet broke again. tomorrow, I will drill out the pith and run a skewer into the stem to reinforce it when I glue it back together.

I never did do any woodworking today, other than pick out some pieces of wood for some projects. getting the shed sorted out was desperately needed. we can now get to some tools.


I have loads of projects for tomorrow. I want to make some more crochet hooks.
I need to sand a bunch of the projects I did over the past few weeks. I have to fix a few of them too.
I have lots of wood to make use of. I should cut a piece of wood from the Norfolk slab I got last month and cut the blank for a dragon. I am not sure what piece of the wood has the dragon in it, but it needs to be started.
I have several vases that need to be carved. I have loads of wood that demands to be carved or turned.
I have a metal working lathe that is begging to eat some metal. I have a cross slide I started making and have not had a chance to do anything with it. There are a number of tools I need to make for my wood working.
I have a few tools that need to be made without the metal working lathe.
I need to clear off the work benches, sort the stuff, and put some of that stuff away or at least some place else.


I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 30, Day two (week 604)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-07-11 Sunday

85 and unbroken clouds in the morning, no breeze and high humidity, not enough to make the air feel thick. In the afternoon, the sun started showing through a thin haze and the temps went up. Puffs and heavier clouds hovered over the Everglades and later started edging closer east. The air had just enough movement to cause the lighter parts of the leaves to waver. The only strong breeze felt was when I was a couple miles south as some liquid sunshine. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.\

I started the morning by tending the cats. Scarface was fighting again. He has a new scar on top his head and I thought I saw it yesterday and saw it for sure today that he was limping. His front leg seems to be the problem.
The beast of the back yard wanted company after receiving a lot of attention. My big problem was that I was involved in a project and was not staying put enough to tend him. He did not want to get stepped on so he went someplace else. After my brother showed up, he became a little skittish and stayed in hiding.

My main project today was to clean and sort the workbench. I started at one end and removed everything from a quarter of it. I then sorted the stuff, re-stacked it consolidated it. I then moved to the next quarter. The last half was done at one time since there was some space in there. For the moment, a whole lot of stuff can now be found.
I really need to sort all the stuff hanging on the pegboard. Screwdrivers and wrenches are a royal mess. That took the whole morning.

Last night, the stem of my branch goblet broke. Early in the morning, I drilled the pith out of the branch goblet. I then ran a skewer up into it, glueing the break at the same time. The skewer locked it in line.
After cleaning the bench, I settled down and touched up several of my pieces. I sanded the break of the branch cup and worked on the interior. I sanded on the sea grape bowl of the goblet that has a Norfolk stem. I worked on the base to clean that up.

I drilled the holes bigger on the buttons I made last week. I ran into the problem where the drill would go all the way through, then catch on the button and spin it. One button disappeared. It made no sound as it disappeared.
Oh, I found out the kind of wood the buttons are made of and that I can never remember. It is POPULAR. It is sort of a greenish wood.

I have a stick of purple heart. I tried splitting it with a hatchet. I then found out that the grain goes on an angle. I had hoped it went straight through the pieces so it could be a really good crochet hook. The hooks are best if the grain runs straight through them. the best way to get that is to split them so the grain will follow the planes of the split. that makes for a really strong tool.

My brother brought out his Drill Doctor, a drill bit sharpening system. I remembered I saw a drill bit thing when cleaning the shed, so I located it and brought it out. My brother sharpened one of my bits with it and it was perfect. I sharpened another bit and really messed it up. My brother took it and suddenly it was gone. I then sharpened a broken bit I had, a really small one, and it sharpened it perfectly.
When we sharpen the bits, we test it by drilling a steel angle iron. If it cuts into it, it is sharp. This does not matter if it is a wood bit or a metal bit. These bits won't drill stainless steel. that is too hard. Regular metal is not a problem.
He sharpened all my main bits. I guess I need to empty out my drill box and see what bits I have hidden in there.
He then sharpened all his bits in his kit, finding a missing bit in a bag of other bits. The sheet metal case he keeps this set in was in bad shape. It keeps bending and jamming. He did some tweaks and twists and was able to get it to work again, at least for now.

As to what I will be doing next week, that will depend on my mood. I think I will have to trim the palm trees in back. that will take some time. I really need to take out my slabs of Norfolk and pick out the one that will give me the best carved dragon and rough cut the wood for that. I have branches and trunks that need to be made into things. I want to make a bunch of crochet hooks. I
I have not touched my metal working lathe in over a month. part of the problem is all the wood I got needs to have some sign they are being used.

I will see what I actually do next week.

Year 11, Week 31, Day One (week 605)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-13-11 Saturday

90 degrees at ten, 98 degrees by one. light breeze all day, enough to move some light sawdust. Clouds moved nicely and changed often, high wisps, puffs and towers at various times in the West and East, and then disappear. Some clouds passed over head, giving temporary shade only for the sun to come out again and deep blue skies.
During the week, we had unseasonably frigid temperatures. It was in the high 70s at night several days. It was almost cold enough to light the fireplaces.... This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


DURING THE WEEK


I started the process of varnishing the face vase and various goblets. I have soaked them a couple times in wipe on varnish. I do that to get the varnish into every nook and cranny and fiber. I will then use spray varnish for remaining coats.
Here is a tip: If you get varnish on your hands, rub some oil all over your hands, and then wash with soap and water. The oil picks up the varnish, and the soap and water picks up the oil. At Mom's house, I generally use motor oil as that is what is available. At home, I have some vegetable oil that was past its date years ago and work some of that into my hands. If you are worried about chemicals, any cooking oil will work. Use the cheap stuff. Anyway, when done, the varnish is gone.

I started on the handle for the yarn bag in the truck. I got an idea on the bag and will test it out Saturday.
At home, while waiting for pages to load and other things, I took some small granny squares and am expanding them. I came up with the idea that since I have some I made and that others made, I might as well make them all the same size and make new ones and make some form of blanket to get rid of a lot of my yarn stock.


SATURDAY


During breakfast, we saw in a city paper that red mulch was on sale. we went home and got my truck. We got fifteen bags of mulch. This was the main reason I got my truck in the first place. It is easier for mom to go with me to get stuff, than to make arrangements with my brother, or try to fit them in her van.


Before we got the mulch, we went yard sailing. I ended up with two stock pots without lids for three bucks. I know I will have a use for them, but don't know what yet. I might even use them for cooking.



After a few quick relocation of potted plants for Mom, I got my equipment out of the truck and unloaded the mulch. I dug out my two pieces of Norfolk slabs and examined them. I put the larger of the two back.
The slab I left out has a dragon hiding inside there. I have to figure out exactly where it is, and then figure out how to get it out of the wood. I don't know whether the dragon is curled around or straight. The wood is too thick to really tell. I think I know where the head is but have to look at the wood more to be sure. This will be chain saw work to get close to the dragon.


I dragged the lathe out and mounted a small stick of wood in it. This was either pine or basswood. I noticed a crack in one end but ignored it. I was making balls-beads- for a project. I made six beads and cut them apart at the band saw. Two fell in half at the band saw. another came apart as I was about to sand the end.
I sanded the ends of the last three. Three was not going to work for this project so I took a piece of mahogany or black walnut. I did not look carefully as to which. I am pretty sure it is black walnut. I cut a length of it and then knocked off the corners like I did the first stick, and then measured off for the balls to be roughly even in length. I added a tiny bit for the space between.
I then cut in the beads with a pointed parting tool. when u sed right, it acts like a skew to peel off the wood forming the balls.
I am not very accurate and they were not exactly round. they were close enough for this project though. I think I made ten or twelve of the balls when done.
I cut them apart on the band saw and sanded the rough ends to round them slightly. I took out a drill press- a hand drill mounted in a drill press type arrangement. I drilled each of the beads, though some were not exactly centered.

I took the yarn bag I had made and wove a skewer through the top edge. I measured several times and then adjusted the position of the weave a little. After cutting off the points of the skewers, I glued a ball on each end. I then did the second side getting it roughly in line. Again I glued beads to the ends.
When I made the bag, I had set the walls in a stitch or two on the base. I ran a skewer through the exposed edge on each side, having the balls glued on. I then turned it inside out.
This setup works nicely. One can grab the edge and it holds it closed, and the skewer=ball design helps the bag keep its shape. Now all I have to do is to finish making the handle, which I am now a quarter of the way on, and then make the loop to fit on one of the buttons I made and I can call it done.


While the beast of the back yard slept at my feet, I worked on the handle of the bag, making it longer. I am using bits and pieces of yarn and it is, right now, made up of blocks of colors. It is coming along nicely.


I have several pieces that need inlay added. I never got to them.
A little tip that will save you a lot of money. Store your ACC glue in the fridge. The cold keeps it good for years, while if you leave it out at room temperature, especially in hot weather, they will go bad, dry up, become unusable.



For tomorrow, I need to work with that dragon wood. when soaked in linseed oil, Norfolk Island pine gets some great colors running through it. that was one reason I chose this slab for the dragon. One problem is that the grain of the wood will run top to bottom, not running through the body length ways. It will be comparatively fragile.

I have a number of projects that need to be finished. I have loads of wood that needs to be worked. I have cats to pet and lizards to feed.
The turning club meeting is this week and will be on Wednesday rather than Thursday. That changes my plans a little for the week. I may bring some of my goblets with me tomorrow to give the a light sanding before I varnish them some more.

I will see what I do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 31, Day two (week 605)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-14-11 Sunday

80 degrees early morning over 90 in the afternoon. The ground wet, the air felt wet. Blue skies with some bits of white on the east and west horizon. That disappeared quickly and had a deep blue sky. Later, puffs started showing up and a haze developed between them. it was still mostly sunny all day long. The breeze was very light all day long but the air dried out so it did not feel as hot as it could have. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

My first project was to feed and pet the cats. Scarface did not look like he was limping today. He had been fighting as of late. Last week he was in pretty bad condition. I do not know if he fought this past week. It is hard to tell new from old wounds.
The beast was acting so much like a cat that I had to check several times to see if an imposter had slipped in his place.

It dawned on me that I can show off my yarn bag at the turning club meeting since I do have wood working on it. I sat and made a button loop to hold the bag closed. I have sewn the loop and button on. I had added a barrel button with an eye screw but that kept slipping out, so I screwed the eye hook into the back of the Popular wood button I made and that works better.
On the handle, I have it where it goes down the side, across the bottom and back up the side and a little bit more. I need to do twice that length, and then the loop for the handle,
Mom said the skewers I was using were not strong enough. I found out that she was right. I have bigger skewers and will replace them. I may have to turn new balls for the ends. will see next week.

I picked up the piece of wood I thought a dragon was in, and examined it carefully. I did find a dragon. I decided exactly where it was. the tail went along side a split-inclusion. I tried splitting it with a hatchet and hammer but did not do too much to it. I then took out some hand saws from my truck and tried cutting with that. I then remembered why power was created.
I dug out my electric chain saw and started cutting. Part way in, I saw smoke coming from the wood and stopped. the dull blades were scorching the wood. I guess I had either find a saw sharpener or buy one.
I dug out Mom's chain saw and it ate the wood like nothing, cutting it most of the way down. I decided to save some wood and stopped. I turned the wood on end and cut down from outside, missing part of the cut. I turned it back and finished the cut.
I then decided to remove the bark, using a screw driver and hammer to pry the bark away. I saw a few worms already in the wood. they got in there fast. I really need to remove the bark from the other piece too.
Once I had the bark removed, I worried that there was not enough wood for the dragon. I turned it all around, studying it from every angle. Yes the dragon is fully in there and the shape of the wood will help in the carving. I drew some lines on it as to where certain parts were, but will wait a week or two before I start freeing the dragon from the wood.
I will attach the wings to the body after I have the body mostly carved.

I took a bunch of pieces that I plan to take to the turning club meeting and gave them a light sanding and then applied several coats of spray varnish. I will have to sand and varnish them several times more, but they are getting close to presentable.

I have a turning club meeting on Wednesday. The school where we meet has an event for Thursday, so we were bumped to the day before. It happens that I am the only one in my company not working on Fridays. Not enough work. When the club meeting is on Thursday, I get to sleep in on Friday to recover. With it on Wednesday, I will suffer through Thursday.
The turning club meeting will be interesting. We will have a turning club challenge where they get people to make things that they normally don't do. This month it is goblets. I will have mine on display.
The club demonstration is in making rolling pins. That should be really good. I have threatened, in my mind anyway, to make some rolling pins. I hope to learn something.

For next weekend, I will look at the dragon a little more. I will likely weave in larger dowels and make new balls for the yarn bag. I have several items that need to be finished, including two vases that need to be carved and a tea pot. I have loads of wood waiting for me to make into sawdust. I have a metal working lathe that has not been taken out of the box in a couple months. Mom is going to want me to trim the palm trees. They really need it.

I will see what I actually do next week.

Year 11, Week 32, Day One (week 606)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-20-11 Saturday

80 degrees early morning with little breeze, a damp feeling, and blue skies, 90 degrees with a good breeze in the afternoon. Clouds shifted and changed through the day, mostly blue sky directly above us. Clouds built up as the day went on to become mostly cloud cover with blue skies in well to the east over the ocean, and rain grey skies in a long distance over the Everglades (about 4:00). This weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Department Of Tourism.


WEDNESDAY

The school we meet at had some event on Thursday so we had to have our Meeting on Wednesday.
We had the club challenge, which was to turn a goblet. There were very imaginative varieties of goblets. Some beginners told about their mistakes and those were as good as some of the best goblets. I got a lot of comments on my branch goblet.
The other work on display was quite impressive. I showed off my face vase and got comments on that. I had my usual problem when I bring my best stuff. I look at their work and is quite disappointed that my finish is lacking. The best I can say is that comparted to theirs, My work has a rustic quality.
The demonstration was on making rolling pins. The process was simple and the design was simple. I would say the hardest part of the project is the rolling handles. He used all wood design, dowels that the handles fit over and a cap to hold the handles in place. I may make one eventually.
Next time, I have to run the video camera during the demonstration. The camera shows what the audience cannot see.


SATURDAY

yard sailing was pitiful. Not much out there.

After feeding the beast of the back yard and Scar Face, I dragged my lathe out. I had some projects to work on but did not feel like getting out the tools from the truck. I decided to make some dowels for crochet hooks. I took a piece of wood, I think it might be mahogany but not sure on that, and cut the piece into four sticks. I then mounted one in the lathe. I saw that my normal methods of holding the wood was going to be a problem.
One way to hold work on a lathe is with a collet. A collet is simply a bit of metal with four slots, and a screw sleeve that goes over it. When you tighten the screw sleeve, the blade of the metal clamps down tighter on the material. Most motor tools like dremmel come with a collet. I have a set for metal and wood working that has eight different sized inserts. Each insert has a different size hole in it.
It was an expensive set that I got from a woodworking yard sale, gave to my brother and he eventually gave it back to me. I had it in "storage" for years. I think this is the second time I have used it in over a year.
My brother tried to use it for metal working and it was not doing what he expected it to do on holding and aligning the work.
I chose one with a hole slightly smaller than the wood, then used the disk sander to knock off the corners on one end and stuck that into the collet and clamped it down. I then put the other end into the point of the tail stock.
I knocked off the corners and roughly rounded the wood with the bowl gouge. The center of the wood was bouncing all around as the wood was too flexible. I tried methods of holding my hand behind it, and even using a piece of wood to back it up when I applied pressure with the tool.
I ended up using a file and sand paper to round it. The stick broke at a flaw. I cut the broken end off and worked with the shorter piece until it was small enough and smooth enough. The second piece broke at a flaw, then broke again. I got the third piece right from the start, again using files and sand paper to get it right.
I think I will cut the long piece in half and then turn larger handles that they will fit into. I will need to cut slots for the crochet yarn to catch on. That will take some time to get the hook right.

I sat and crocheted and made a phone call while the cat slept at my feet. He likes sleeping at my feet as I do not move my legs when he is there. My brother moves his legs all around and the cat reacts as if he expects to be stepped on.

Looking at the dragon wood, I saw that the top of the head is cut at an angle. I held the wood in the bandsaw and cut the top square to the rest of the head. My drawing of the spikes on top the head was based on the high side and now it is flat, it will change the head spike design. I think I have a better view of the design of the dragon. I am almost ready to start carving away the wood. This will be almost exclusively a power carving figure. Very little knife carving. I don't use chisels.

For tomorrow, I will have to see what mood I am in. Carving on the dragon might be high on the list. I would like to finish the crochet hooks. I have several pieces that need a little bit of work. I have lots of wood that is begging to be made into stuff. I have a dress vase that I barely started and need to work on.

I WILL SEE WHAT I ACTUALLY WORK ON TOMORROW.

Year 11, Week 33, Day One (week 607)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-27-11 Saturday

90 degrees and blue skies in the morning with a nice breeze. 95 degrees in the afternoon with little puffs shooting by. Hurricane Irene passed this week, giving us some weather we are well used to, squall lines and the winds involved. Other than the fact that these lines of thunderstorms were passing over us at three times the normal pace, it was weather we are well used to. This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


We went yard sailing after breakfast. At one yard sale, I got a battery powered drill, DRILL MASTER, that Harbor freight sells. It fits all my batteries. I have to make sure the charger works. the LED was broken off and was inside. I now have 5 batteries and three drills. I should take one set home.

We stopped at a church sale. bit mistake. They had a bin and two bags of yarn. the yarn bug hit and I got all of it for $14. I had a year's worth of yarn. Now I may have a life time worth of yarn. This is known as going crazy with yarn. I told Mom that if I ever reach for yarn again, to tackle me and call the men in white coats.
It took me some time to sort out the yarn, take pictures, and put it all back in place. I now have to come up with projects that are worthy of using up this yarn.

I finally took grinder to the dragon wood. It already is not the dragon I thought I saw. as one removes wood, the real for starts to show. I mainly did work on the muzzle, and marked out where the legs are on one side. This project will take me till Christmas most likely. It is a big project compared to most of my carving projects.

I decided to make some quick crochet hooks. I made the handles and was going to make the hooks themselves from dowels I made. I then remembered I had a really small metal crochet hook.
I decided to make a handle for it. My closest sized drill bit was just slightly too small. I then found that all my drill bits were too short.
I ended up taking a wire and using a grinder to make a form of a cutting end, and drilled through the whole handle. It mostly burned its way through but that is beside the point.
Since the hole was bigger than the hook, I filled the hole with filler, and then stuck the hook in. Hopefully, the hook will be nicely locked into place.

During the week, I tested the Crochet hooks I made last weekend. One of them had too long an overhang on the hook. Nail clippers shortened and shaped it, then emery boards for finger nails cleaned up the hooks of all of my creations. I sanded them all over, varnished them a few times and sanded them again. I think they are now ready for use.

I took it fairly easy the remainder of the day, making a phone call to a friend in the path of Hurricane Irene.

Tomorrow, I should work a bit more on the dragon, might finish the hooks I started, and might do a little wood turning. I have that piece of Norfolk Island Pine with 10 knots around it. I should make it round. I do not know if it is too big for my lathe so I may have to fit it on a face plate, turn the lathe head sideways and make it smaller. I want it bigger than I normally make my vases, which means as close to 12 inches in diameter as possible. that will give me the maximum space between the faces.
I still have a lot of unfinished projects laying around. I have to make some Christmas ornaments that I made last year and ran out of. I never did make as many as I normally do. I need to come up with a new set of Christmas ornaments for the coming Christmas and I don't want to wait until November to make them. I have loads of wood to work with. Like my yarn, I have several years worth of wood laying around if I choose the project based on what I have in stock.

I will have to see what I will do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 33, Day Two (week 607)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
08-28-11 Saturday

94 degrees, blue skies with smears of white here and there. The puffs started showing later in the morning and built up to where they covered half the sky by noon. A little liquid sunshine came down right after I put the lathe away and it died down fifteen minutes later. It was just enough to wet the ground. Driving away, I saw it was not a tower- thunder boomer, as usually hits. it was a pillow with a grey bottom. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


After feeding and petting the beast of the back yard, I drug out all my equipment.
I started on the head of the dragon. I now knew his mouth was open. I had not seen that last week or even yesterday. I worked the top of the muzzle more to get it into the right angle, and then tackled the inside of the mouth. the shape of the wood forced me to modify the shape of the muzzle when seen from above. I used the band saw to cut some wood off the bottom under the chin.
I used a belt sander to flatten the bottom of the piece, to make it sit nicely. I ground more all around the head and touched the piece on the sides a little as I was learning how the limbs would be positioned for the way he is laying.

Many people are purists. In Austria, their carving associations have to certify that the carving was made without the use of power. As for me, I am more interested in removing the wood than to be pure. I will use band saws, grinders, wood lathe, sanders, along with the knife to get the job done.
I learned long ago that removing bulk wood is not really carving. The actual carving is really in the last quarter inch of surface. That is where the actual surface and details happen. It is normal in the American carving field to use band saws to create a blank, a piece of wood that has something of a shape of the figure, with the worst of the excess wood removed. To make one, you draw the profile, side view, of the figure on one surface and cut following the outside lines of the figure.
One then draws the front view of the figure on the wood and cut along the lines. Now that the worst of the wood is gone, one can get into the actual shaping of the figure. For the face, the cuts followed the nose hair and mouth. The cheeks and eyes are set in. One has to cut deeper into the wood to get to them. The front view followed the hair ears and such. One has to cut in for the side of the head, the nose and such.
The blank allows one to concentrate on where the actual skill is, making a figure that looks like a person, or animal, if that is what you are doing.
While I will do some carvings completely with the knife, I will use other tools for carving. This dragon and my face vases, are almost exclusively power grinding, mostly with the dremmel and grinding bits.
I decided long ago that learning to use chisels and gouges to carve was too difficult to learn. One has to know when to use which gouge and when. A knife gives you two options, point and flat of the blade, and you have to figure out how to get the results you need with those tools. I will use a chisel once in a while, but nearly always a V tool.


I decided to do a little turning, and took the log with the ten branches on it and realized I had to remove the branch stubs. I was going to bring out the chain saw, then remembered I had a CRAFTSMAN SAWS-ALL. I stuck a new blade on and it sliced the nubs off with ease so the wood was near round.
I worked to balance the log between centers. I have two drive spurs, one has a long point and close set spurs. the other one is wider in diameter, has a disk that the point and spurs are made out of. I decided to use the small one.
Once I got the piece centered so it did not touch the lathe bed anywhere, I started it spinning and knocking off the high spots on the wood. I got the very worst part of the high spots off, especially at the knots when I decided I had done enough.
One problem of the drive spur I used, is that it slowly digs in deeper and deeper. the close set spurs don't have a lot of leverage to keep from spinning in the wood. The spur ended up going nearly all the way in. I had stuck the spur into my chuck, which when almost closed, will hold the spur nicely. It was near the chuck when I stopped wood turning.

The branches of the Norfolk Island Pine goes into the trunk on an angle. For my face vase, I really need to figure out which way the knots angle into the wood. When I carve the face, If I have it one way, as I work my way to the eyes, the knots will drift up to the forehead. If I do it the other way the knots will drift down into the cheek. It important to know where the knots go and adjust the design accordingly.

For the little time I applied myself today, I did pretty good. Anyone can now see the dragon as a dragon. The face vase has been started. It will be another done near Christmas project.

For next week, I will be visiting the Antique shop on Friday, bringing a few of my latest pieces with me. I may swap a couple pieces out and I might change the design around. I will have to see.
I have the dragon to work on, the ten knot face vase, a tea pot to finish, a vase that needs to be carved or otherwise decorated, lots of wood that needs to be turned into sawdust.

I will see what I actually do next week.

Year 11, Week 34, Day One (week 608)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-03-11 Saturday

85 degrees. Blue sky half filled with a wide variety of puffs. Liquid sunshine started dripping onto the ground. Light the first couple times. After a half hour pause, it really came down and stayed. The weather radar, earlier, showed a tiny line of Liquid Sunshine cells appearing over our area and fading out before they got far. later, the sky opened up and the radar showed a cell with red and yellow just sitting over us. I decided the downpour was enough to not bother working outside. I got wet just getting into the truck to head home. Two off ramps on the highway and I was on dry pavement and when I got home, there was a cell just west of me that was nice and black, but I only saw one or two drops on the windshield. This was one of those days where it would say 100% rain, but many areas of the county would get nothing for most of the day.
This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of tourism.


FRIDAY

I started the morning by testing all the yarns I have. I wanted to know what was acrylic and what was cotton or wool. I cut pieces of yarn I knew the origin, and held them over a flame. Cotton's flame went out almost immediately when taken out of the fire. Wool did burn a little. Acrylic shriveled when held above the fire or when it caught fire, the ash end would stick to the candle jar for a long moment and would stretch. It acted just like plastic.
I spent a couple hours clipping pieces of yarn and holding them over the fire, then tossing the ball into the proper container or pile.
I have them mostly sorted, but a few acrylic may have ended up in my cotton pile later.
In the afternoon, I finished my second granny square where I started with a smaller square someone made. I then took a granny square that was one row too small, located the yarn used and brought it to the size I needed. I then started my fourth square to enlarge.
I am using wooden hooks I made and have made adjustments as I worked. A bit of emery board, such as one would use on finger nails to touch up a surface, dull a sharp edge, shape it slightly. As I use them, the hooks are getting better. Also, by being used, they are getting polished by the yarn making them work better too.


I left my place early and needed to kill some time. I went to the local HARBOR FREIGHT store. This was a drool stop. I was looking at each item, picturing how I can make use of it. I ended up walking out without spending a dime, but I do have a wish list now. I learned long ago that if you want to avoid impulse buying, go to the TOY store first and just look around. Look at all the neat stuff you had not seen before or not known they were available. Don't take notes. Then go back a few days or a week later. You will have forgotten most of what was exciting and when you see the stuff again, you won't have the excitement of newness. You will get only the things you can actually use because the impulse was reduced. It does not matter if this is a tool store, a clothing shop, a grocery store or kitchen store. whatever really excites you.

I went to a Walmart store and drooled all over the crafts section. I saw several things I could use. they had some yarn colors that would be nice to have. I did get some off brand coffee at half the price of name brand coffee. Unless the coffee is horrible, I won't tell the difference.

I still had to kill some time so I went to a shell shop and picked up a lobster made of cut and carved coconut shell glued together for my mom. It had a good design to it and was well done. I handed it to Mom and she was excited about it. It was exactly what she wanted. It is for a joke for a friend. I would not complain if one ended up in my collection.

I finally got to the antique shop and dropped off a few more of my pieces. I could have sworn I had made four face vases but I only made three. My latest face vase was so much better than the other two. My first one, I had turned the entire vase first, then surface carved the faces on it. Not great. My second one I planned it from the start to be a face vase. It is good, but I could see some distortion in one face. My newest face vase is really good. I priced it accordingly.



SATURDAY

We went yard sailing. At one yard sale, I picked up a little cast iron pan which is 4 inches across at the rim, 3 inches on the bottom. Raised on the inside bottom is the name GREEN'S MiddlesBoro, Ky. This is decorative but I could have used it in cooking earlier this week where I wanted to heat some butter extract in oil. I had to use a pan that was really too big. I will have to fully clean this pan and then season it before It can be used. Even if it were not to be used, it is cute.
At a different yard sale, I picked up a zipper bag that looks like it is insulated. It is about the size for a six pack. I had a good use for that.
We almost missed a yard sale where I picked up two MAKIDA battery powered drills. they had several batteries and they all worked. I have a battery powered circular saw where one battery does not work. Tomorrow, I will test how the batteries and chargers work together.
At the final yard sale, I picked up a woven basket with metal closures. It was decorated and had MEXICO on the top. I grabbed that as I knew I could put some of my yarn in it. This will keep my yarns separated. Some acrylic yarn may have gotten into my cotton yarn while messing with the baskets.

I finally got out back and went over my purchases, taking pictures, and plugging in the chargers and then plugging in the batteries.
I settled down to pet the cat and read a magazine I had for a month and had not even looked at. the liquid sunshine started coming down off and on. I sort of decided not to dig my lathe out to work or dig out the dremmel to grind on the dragon. It was already sort of late in the day. The drizzles kept coming down just enough to prevent me from being energetic to get to work. When the serious downpour finally started, I was mentally done for the day. The heaviness of the downpour told me not to bother getting the stuff into the truck. When I finally left, I got very wet getting the things going home with me into the truck and then getting into the driver's seat.
I did not get any work done today but did read a wood working magazine and also worked a bit more on my strap for my yarn bag. I did figure out that the bag I purchased was the size I intended this yarn bag to be. It grew and stretched that much while being made. I know how to solve that but I am not starting over.

Tomorrow, I plan to work on the dragon, may finish rounding the face vase, and may put together a couple more crochet hooks. I have some playing around with batteries and tools, and have a few other projects looking at me. I have a metal working lathe that I have not touched in a couple months. I have no idea if my brother will be coming up. Him being there or me being alone effects what I work on.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 34, Day Two (week 608)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-04-11 Sunday

84 degrees in the morning, sunny, a wispy haze over the entire sky with a anvil tower south of Miami. The haze consolidated into puffs which got heavier as the day went on. Grey showery skies showed up over the Everglades. about the time I cleaned up to go home. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

I started the morning with petting Scar Face and the Beast of the Back yard. Scar face has been fighting again. He has a lot of pin scabs all over the sides of his head. He seemed extra loving today. the beast was his normal self, except he was pretending to be a kitty cat. He is getting good at pretending. It is almost real.

I brought my Makita circular saw with me and tested all my batteries in it and to each other. I have five of the nine volt batteries, and two 18 volt batteries. the 18 volt drill can use every single one of my batteries, and that charger will charge all the batteries. I have a charger that will only take some of the batteries. A couple of my batteries won't fit into the small drill. Their batteries have a raised guide that fits into a slot. What they did was to increase the width of the slot on the later models so they won't fit in early equipment. The interesting thing was that a battery that had always given me a signal that it was dead, charged up on a different charger. I need to number the batteries like I did with the harbor Freight drill set.

I ground a little on the dragon Other than grinding two lines down the back to show where the edge of the back runs, I mainly worked on the head around the chin. I am getting a better picture of this dragon's position. It is tipped on its side, I figured the low side leg will be either aiming backwards or under it on some way. it has sort of a playful look. the thought crossed my mind to turn a ball to fit into the mouth. I won't do that until near the last thing.

I finished rounding the ten knot Norfolk Island Pine log I have. I marked which pair of eyes are together by drawing a line where the nose will be. I now have to figure out which is the top and bottom. I have to put a tenon on the bottom so the chuck can hold it. I will cut in where the eye are, cut un beneath where the nose is, and slope the bridge of the nose and then do some shapes for the mouth and forehead. Finally, I will at least rough hollow the piece, leaving the sides thick. Then it will be mainly grinding, removing wood on each side of the noses and forming the faces. The carving is the hard part. I would love to do female faces, but doubt I am good enough to do that.

I mounted the tea pot onto the lathe. I decided to make it as thin enough so the natural edges disappear. I will choose a piece of wood far bigger than I need and drill the center, and make a spout by mounting it in the lathe on different angles to get the sweep expected of a tea pot spout.

I did some crochet while petting the cats. I have about three more rows and I can start the finishing process on the yarn bag strap I have been making. I will fold it in half and stitch this strap together, then I will attach it to the bag.

After my brother arrived, he got out the scroll saw. He is making parts for a clock. I read a story I am writing to him while he worked. the story and action sound good, but I need to change a couple names, and my sentences are all the same. can you say rewrite?

Because of Labor day, I will be off work tomorrow. I decided to go to Mom's house tomorrow at least for a little while. I have loads of different projects to work on. I will have to see which excites me the most. I may well work on several.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 34, Day Three (week 608)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-05-11 Monday

84 degrees early morning with a breeze that could only move leaves. The clouds were streaks, ripples and haze. Later, the streaks and ripples became puffs that strongly tended to remain on the western half of the sky. Some clouds wandered over into the eastern sky, but the eastern sky remained blue most of the day. The breezes picked up to make things a bit more comfortable.
One can tell fall is approaching. Driving to Mom's house, the sun was not yet directly in front of me, but It sure made heading into it very miserable. I never deal with it in my normal life as I am to work before dawn. There were some tiny showers after I left but they were apparently spotty.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


I started the morning petting the cats. they needed it. I then got my tools out to do some work. Mom mentioned about the palm tree needing a hair cut. I decided I was in the mood and wanted it out of my hair so I dug out the long extension cord, the ladder, and the SAWS-ALL. I removed the leaves within easy reach of the front of the tree, concentrating on the leaves laying on top the shed. Mom was happy with that, but mentioned I needed to work more on the other side and to remove the seed stalks.
In another session, I worked around the tree and really removed the stalks. It was a real number on the tree.
The SAWS-ALL works great for this project. I did get the blade caught twice as I keep cutting from the side that the stalk is leaning towards. I get past half way and it just leans that much more and pinches the blade. Other than that, I was able to get the thin, narrow blade in between obstructions and make nice clean cuts. this is going to be my palm tree trimming tool from now on.
Mom has another tree that needs trimming. We skipped trimming it when we trimmed this first tree the last time. I don't think I will be tackling it for a while, but the mood might have me do some work over the next couple weekends.


I decided to do a little bit of turning. Since I had mounted the body of my tea pot yesterday, I decided to work on that, making the walls thinner but cutting down the outside. I have some natural edge showing on it, since I mounted the piece of wood sideways with the center spinning around. the natural edge is the surface inside the bark.
I decided that the natural edge is not interesting enough to keep a lot of, so I cut down a lot of the outside, and then sanded it. I have more to do on the outside, but it is better.
I had made a lid out of pine before, but don't like it. this tea pot is made of Florida Mahogany. I am going to make the lid, the handle and the spout out of Honduras Mahogany - commercial Mahogany. it will be a contrast in wood.

I discussed with mom about the dragon. I had a question about one leg position. What I found out was that we have a different image of what the dragon is going to look like. She was thinking a Chinese dragon. They are snaky with small legs widely spread out down the body. I am thinking more European dragon where the body is more robust.

Mom's projects tend to take the energy out of me for my work. Today was that way. I spent quite a bit of time finishing the strap of my yarn bag. I folded it over and stitched the edge. My next step is to stitch it to the bag itself, a project I don't look forward to. It is not the fun part of the project. Until I get some time to work on that, I will work on a granny square as it is easy to do between traffic lights. Someone is going to have a new baby so I decided that the squares I have been making will be part of a gift I will be giving for the baby.

For Next week, I have a number of projects to work on. I am not sure what they will be. I have the tea pot, the dragon, a flower vase, lots of fresh wood that needs to be used up, lots of old wood that needs to be used up. I have Christmas ornaments from last year that I need more made, and new ones to come up with. I also have to look at gifts for this next year. Of course, the cat will need a lot of love.

I will see what happens next week.

Year 11, Week 35, Day One (week 609)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-10-11 Saturday

94 degrees, blue sky with feather and streaks, with some thick puffs zipping by mid morning. The puffs then congregated over the everglades and stayed there, leaving sparse feather and streaks in the sky. The breeze was light, really only moving leaves all day long.

FRIDAY

I have a bunch of plants on my porch and I also do sanding and varnishing there. It had been a while since I last cleaned the porch up so it had gotten bad.
I took everything out of the porch except two chairs and a folding table, swept and bagged the debris, then put the plants back. What a difference it made. I re-arranged the plants so if the rare angled rain comes in from the east, rather than the west it normally does, the rain can go in through the screen and water the plants.
In the process, I emptied a couple pots that the plants had died in, and pulled dead stuff from other pots. Saturday I brought fresh dirt from Mom's house with compost added and will top off the pots with the dirt


SATURDAY

Mom was out of town so I went directly to the restaurant we eat at. Then I went to Mom's house and fed and petted the cats, several times.

I have a turning club meeting this week and had nothing to show for it. I decided I had a couple projects with shrinkage cracks or worm holes in them that could be filled in. I brought some super glue and colored sand with me.
One coin cup is made of oak and I had turned beads all the way up the piece. I had started filling it and got interrupted on it. Somewhere, I cannot remember where, I have another one just like it. Anyway, I finished filling it with purple sand, super glued into place.
I turned it some to clean up the grooves between the beads before I applied finish.

A Sea grape vase had some big shrinkage cracks. I decided to use yellow sand as inlay for the cracks. Again I use super glue to glue the sand in place.
Once I filled all the cracks, I mounted the bowl on the lathe, using the chuck to open up inside the mouth to hold it in place. first used the tail stock without a point to ram the piece in place while I trimmed the sides so they were clean and smooth. I remove the tail stock and finished the bottom and then sanded the whole piece on the outside.
I turned the place around, again using the tail stock to ram the piece in place, but this time with it inside the bowl. Since I had a rim on the bottom, I was able to open the chuck on the inside of that and that held the bowl in place. I have a hook tool with a round bit in it to scrape the inside of vases. I used that to work the inside of the vase walls. Once I had them cleaned up. I took a chance and removed the tail stock and was able to work the bottom of the vase inside and blend that with the walls.
I had to fill in some gaps in the inlay and hand sand those clean. I then gave the vase a couple coats of varnish.
I now see that yellow is not the best color for inlay. It really does not do much for me. Oh well. I could route it out with my dremmel and re-do it, but I will let it stay. this sand is not the best inlay material.
I have more sanding and varnishing to do but that was enough for the day.

Between petting the cat and making phone calls, I tried to attach the strap to my crochet bag. I quickly figured out it was not going straight and was not looking right anyway, so I removed the stitches I used. I will have to start that over again later.

I need to sand and varnish both pieces I worked on, and want to get to the lid, handle and spout of the tea pot I had started. I need to work on the dragon, the five faced face vase. Of course I have loads of wood to use up.

I have the turning club meeting this Thursday and will work hard to have something ready to display then.

I will see what I do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 35, Day Two (week 609)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-11-11 Sunday

84 degrees early morning, 94 in afternoon, light breeze, mostly blue sky with a few puffs along with high feathers and streaks. It was nearly all sunny all day long. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.

ALERT ALERT!! Someone stole the beast of the back yard and left a CAT in his place. This cat wanted to be petted for long periods of time. If his personality wasn't so different, I would have thought it was the beast of the back hard. He was being sweet today, setting me up for some other time. He even came out while my brother was here and accepted some attention.

I decided to work on my tea pot. I finalized the design of my handle, and cut it out on the band saw. I have a lot of shaping to do, but the basic design will work. I also started the design of the spout. I cut the mating surface for the tea pot, and drew on it how the hole will be run. and how the spout was to go. I never went farther on that.
The hardest part of mating something to a bowl is to get it to fit the curves up and down and side to side. From experience, I had wanted to mount the work in place and let the spinning form shape the mating surfaces.
I could not figure out how to do that. I got the idea of taking some emery cloth and attach it to the work. I decided I needed to glue it on. I stuck a few pieces on and realized it was not going to work at all. since I had glue on the pot already, I slathered glue on it, then scraped up some of the sand in mom's yard (she is in an area where it is a white sand. the sand I got has some nutrients worked into it from years of gardening so it is not exactly white) and globed that into the glue. I put it on really thick. I then let it dry without touching it. After the glue set a while, I brushed off the loose sand and set it to the side to dry thoroughly, until next week.
I will hollow out the mating surface of the handle so mainly the edges will be rubbing on the glued-on sand. I have no idea how long it will last. If it lasts long enough, I will do the same to the mating surface of the spout.

I sanded on the bead cup and vase and added more varnish to them. I have more to do before the turning club on Thursday. They are looking pretty good.

when my brother came, we talked and he scroll sawed a piece for a clock he is making. We went out for lunch and then when we came back, he looked at some catalogs before we cleaned up and left.

I won't have any pressure to finish anything next week. I have the tea pot to work on. I have the dragon, a face vase, a vase that will have flowers carved into it, Christmas ornaments to carve, wood to make something out of, Christmas presents to make. I have a little metal lathe that is hungering to taste metal again. I can also use it on wood projects.

On Thursday, I have to run the video camera as the guy who normally runs it is out of town. It will be interesting to see if I remember the instructions I had totally forgotten about it until this weekend.

I will see what I actually do next week.

Year 11, Week 36, Day One (week 610)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-17-11 Saturday

84 degrees early morning, 90 degrees in the afternoon. Blue skies with tall puffs passing by from the ocean, a few were a little pregnant, dropping a little bit of LIQUID SUNSHINE on me as they passed by. It was never enough to get the ground wet, but if I were not sitting and petting the beast of the back yard, it would have had me rushing to get my equipment under cover.

THURSDAY

We had our turning club meeting. Our video guy was out of town so it was my job to run the camera. Other than one time where I got in front of the TV, no one complained.
The demonstration was on making natural edged mushrooms that had tops that rotated and tipped. When one is very skilled, it is a very easy turning project to do. One needs sharp tools to do it right. That, I think, Is my biggest problem.

I showed off my ribbed cup and sea grape vase both with inlay. Most of the work on display makes my stuff look primitive. Considering that I had forgotten all about the meeting until Saturday, I did not do horribly.
Someone showed how use a grinding disk on the lathe. He made some jigs to hold the disk in place when the tail stock is used to hold part of the system in place. One of the great things about this is that if you use it to sharpen your tools, you will have it at the right height and angles for turning, also. Most of us have face plates laying around unused. He mounted one part on the face plate and he drew lines on the wooden mounts and on the grinding disk to line it up true each and ever time.


FRIDAY

I moved some stuff around the house. I found the second ribbed oak cup the match to the one I showed at the turning club meeting. I could not find this one no matter where I looked. it had been sitting on the floor right next to me filled with some wooden beads I made. BLIND!!!
I finished a granny square, took pictures of all my granny squares on the bed to see how many more I will have to make, and found a paper shredder and battery powered sewing machine in my digging. They were not where I thought I put them. How did they get buried?
I broke one of my bamboo skewer crochet hooks. I was shocked that it broke at my handle rather than the hook itself.

SATURDAY

Mom was still out of town. I went directly for breakfast before I went to Mom's house. I saw one yard sale and picked up a wheeled basket which I really did not need. The price was good, though and it was in good condition. There were some plastic chairs that looked interesting, but I did not want to go close to the price they were asking for, as cheap as they were.

The beast of the back yard and Scar Face both met me outside when I got to Mom's house. I had to spend a lot of attention giving them time as they both needed love. The beast made me sit for quite a long time after Scar face left. He needed extra love.

I had the sand that I glued to the tea pot body last week, so I mounted the vase on the lathe. I used the dremmel to hollow out the inside of the mating surface on the handle, and then got the lath spinning the vase fast. It sanded the surface quite well. I could have held it there a bit longer to get it absolutely perfect, but I got it pretty good. I now have to shape the handle so it is comfortable to hold.
Since the sand still was good, I took the piece of wood I drew the spout onto and with some hollowing on the mating surface, I spun the tea pot and ground the spout wood until it mated perfectly.
I found that if I tipped the piece of wood too far on the leading side of the sandpaper, the wood would slip off and I would brush the vase with my hand. I have a few little scrapes on my finger.
The main purpose of hollowing the inside of the mating surface is so less wood has to be removed when creating the mating surface. It is essentially the outside part that has to match the tea pot, not the inside. If I had left it there, a lot of sanding would be to get rid of the wood in the middle which is the high point of the wood. When I was done on both pieces, very little of the hollowed surface remained.

I then had to remove the glued on sand from the tea pot. I have a scraper that has a circular bit in it. I put that to the wood and was scraping the sand away. I stopped and realized that I had sanded away some of my metal. Luckily, because it is round, I just turned the flat spot to the back of the support so it is nowhere near any wood when in use.
I took a stainless steel rod and used the sand to round the end of that. I am going to make that into a crochet hook later.
I used a roughing gouge I seldom use to remove the worst of the sand, and then used a couple other tools to finish the process. I guess I should have a "sharpening party" tomorrow to get my tools back into condition.
I did find that gluing sand onto wood does work. I might take a wooden disk I have that is supposed to be a platter, and make it into a sanding disk. The grit will not be known since I won't be sifting them to size.

I brought my metal hooks for crochet, so I made handles for them. This makes them easier to handle as they give me something more to hold onto and to twist. I drilled the holes out with whatever drill bit I had available, and then put wood filler into the holes before I stuck the hook into it. When the filler dries, it will hold the hook tightly.
I re-drilled the hole in the handle of the broken hook and glued the hook back in.
I took two of my rods I made on the lathe and glued them into handles too. I then cut the hook into them. Other than sanding, a quick test showed them to work. I will want to make more hooks later.

I looked at several projects and realized I have several projects to do. Because the cat wanted attention and I did a phone call, I never got to the dragon. Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will dig out the little metal working lathe. I want to test out making dowels with it now that I understand the machine a bit more. I had not taken it out of the shed in months. When My brother comes, I will likely change over to a metal working project. There are many I can do including working on my cross slide project that I have not touched in many months. Likely it will be a simpler project. I would like to take some pieces of planer blades I have and make round scraping disks for my turning tools.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 36, Day Two (week 610)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-18-11 Sunday

86 degrees early morning, 92 in the afternoon with lots of sun with mixtures of high feathers and streaks, low puffs and very short towers with grey bottoms A nice breeze had gusts that moved fine saw dust all around.

After giving the cats food and some attention, I dug out the metal working lathe. I decided I would machine some wood for crochet hooks. I normally get a lot of bounce in the middle when using the big lathe. I figured that the small lathe would spin a whole lot faster and the machine tool would avoid the bounce by just hitting the high spots until it was round. I took a two by two piece of Black Walnut and after cutting it to length, I split it into quarters. I took one quarter and mounted it into the lathe and started the process of rounding it. I kept rounding it until it was half the diameter of the original square.

I then took another square from the two by that I cut, and cut it into quarters and machined it into a rod. I did two of them. While I was machining, the cat was nowhere to be seen. He does not like the noise. I took a break and called him over. he laid down, got some periodic attention, but mostly left him alone. He dozed off for a while. I got a phone call and while on the phone the beast of the back yard, got up and looked to the sidewalk, alert. My brother appeared and the cat disappeared.

A short time later, my nephew arrived. I was machining a black walnut rod to be cut up into handles and set that project to the side and started cleaning up some.

My nephew wants a beer tap handle made. I started turning it, then let him do some work, then I did the final design. We have to get a cheap beer tap so we can find out exactly how it is attached and I can then finish the piece to fit exactly.

My nephew scroll sawed for a while. We went for lunch, then came back and I started taking some rods I made and turning them into crochet hooks.
I cut the slots in, with some hand sanding. I also glued some handles on a few pieces to finish them off. Over the weekend, I ended up with 10 hooks made. I will have to give them a serious test and make adjustments to make them work perfectly. I can do that with emery boards used for fingernails for most corrections.

I showed off the many projects I have in process, explaining what I have to do with them. Those are projects I should work on next week. I never touched the dragon, never addressed the ten knot log, I have a couple vases that need work. I have tools I need to sharpen, some really need it bad. I have some detachable bits to make for some of my tools.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 37, Day One (week 611)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-24-11 Saturday

80 degrees in the morning with almost no breeze, blue sky with high smears and feathers, low wispy puffs. 94 degrees in the afternoon, the wisps became pillows, and then became towers. Late afternoon, a anvil wall appeared over the everglades and worked its way east. I drove though torrential liquid sunshine on the way home. According to weather radar, Mom finally got some of it for her plants. Here in Florida, Liquid Sunshine becomes water when it hits the ground.
One can really see the time changes that are going on. The sky used to be daylight bright when I arrived at mom's house. Today, the sky was only slightly lighter than the cloud towers over the ocean to the east. Until Daylight savings time ends, our mornings will get darker and darker.
This weather report was brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


FRIDAY


while doing laundry, I did two rows of the crochet granny square I was doing in my truck. I took it home to check and only had one more row, so I finished that one. I then finished the granny square I was working on at home. Mom says that I likely have enough for a baby blanket. I was thinking more of an adult blanket so it would be worthy of keeping for generations. I will see how things go. I started squaring up a heart. If this works, I will do it to others, then make them into granny squares.
On Saturday, I took a granny square I made last year using triple crochet rather than the normal double crochet, and am doing a standard granny square stitch around it to add it to the blanket I am making.


SATURDAY


After Breakfast, we visited one yard sale. I saw a toy dragon and decide to ask about it. It is part of a game which I got for a wallet shrinking fifty cents. The game is sort of like Legos and little soldiers have to defeat a dragon and take a jewel that is used to unlock the safe to get to magical weapons. I like the dragon.

After petting and feeding the cats. I petted and fed the cats some more. Then the beast of the back yard wanted even more attention, sleeping at my feet during several periods of the day. I had a phone conversation and

I touched up the crochet hooks I made last week. the throats of the hook was not big enough. A little grinding with the dremmel and sanding with an emery board solved that. They seem to test pretty good. I have a couple dozen hooks now.
I took out the machine lathe and finished machining a piece of black walnut that will be handles for crochet hooks. I then took a small rod I had broken when I was making it into a round rod and finished rounding it and made it into a crochet hook.

One thing I learned last week and was able to practice this week, was on knocking down the corners of the stock. the three jawed chuck this lathe has, does not hold square pieces well. The corners and flats don't match the jaws.
My method of solving this problem is to just grab the piece the best I can in the chuck, and centering the other end as close as possible. I then knock the corners off the other end and round it a short distance up the shaft. I then turn the piece around so the jaws of the chuck is now holding the round end, and I center the square end to the best of my ability. I then work the piece round as far as the tool rest will reach.
I flip the piece around again and finish it to match the main part f the piece. If one was working to a tolerance, one might flip it a few times to get everything completely centered. My wooden crochet hooks are not critical so I don't worry about that.


Months ago, I had machined the end of a grinding bit. This was a bit designed for the drill, and I machined it so my dremmel can hold it. I was not sure if I wanted to change it so I would not use the drill with it, so I only did the end. The jaws of the Fordum and Dremmel chucks damaged the end I had machined.
Today, I mounted the grinding bit back into the metal lathe and machined the shaft about half way up so now the dremmel can get a strong hold on the bit. It only took a couple minutes.
I am not totally sure why I had problems when I did it the first time. With some tasks, other activities give experience that shows when one goes back to the difficult project. I am thinking that I was trying to do the machining without the tail stock in place and the jaws were only holding the points of the grinding spikes and that did not give much purchase. this time I was using the tail stock to hold it in place.

I had a large number of projects to work on and never got to any of them other than the crochet hooks. I was sort of lazy and the phone call was longer than planned.
Tomorrow, I will have to see what my mood is, but I am half thinking about trimming the second palm tree. It might not do all of it, but if I do some, that will be a lot. I know Mom will be happy. I also want to work on the dragon. Even if I just mar the surface even a little, I want to make a little bit of headway. I will take home a couple pieces I want to carve so I can draw or even paint on them the design I want to carve onto them. It is not having the design is the biggest problem.
I should make the spout for my tea pot. The main thing is to drill the hole for the tea to come out. Then I need to turn or carve the spout so it will look right. I also need to shape the handle so it will be comfortable to hold. Once they are done, I can attach them after drilling the hole through the wall of the pot for the spout.
I have lots of wood that is begging to be worked with. I can hear their feet tapping impatiently from here.

I will see what I actually do tomorrow.

Year 11, Week 37, Day Two (week 611)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
09-25-11 Sunday

86 degrees, blue sky with a few high smears over head and some puffs on the horizon all around. The puffs moved in and grew. they were low with grey bottoms. Around noon, a really large and grey cloud appeared to the south. I decided to put the machinery away. I was almost completely packed up when some drips come down.
I left Mom's house and was out of the drips within three blocks. I then hit the highway, going around the storm at Mom's house. A couple miles down the road, I ran into a torrential liquid sunshine shower which was part of the storm at Mom's house. Several miles more and I was out of the storms entirely.
There is a tropical wave off the coast. I do not know if this weather is related to that but it could be.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of tourism.


two things I forgot to mention yesterday. I was closing up for the day and the outer door refused to close. The more I tried, the worse it got. I told mom and she came over to have a look. After trying the door a little bit, she opened it wide and a lizard fell to the ground. I had smashed a large curly tail lizard in the door which was why it was not closing.
The other thing I forgot to mention about yesterday was that I picked up my dremmel case and had forgotten to latch the lid. I had small bits all over the place. I picked some up by hand, then grabbed a couple magnets I had gotten from speakers that are wrapped with a wire to act as a handle, and I swept the area with the magnets. I got a whole bunch of the bits that way.
Today, I took the broom and swept the area up into a pile and ran the magnet through the sweepings. I got five drill or cutting bits and a few screws. The magnet really made rescuing the bits of metal easy.

When I arrived today near nine, Mom had worked out in her garden since dawn. She had pulled a whole bunch of her plants onto the patio, and repotted several of them. She was just laying down cardboard when I arrived. I helped her break down some boxes to lay them on the ground, then we took some rosemary and scattered them all over the cardboard. Finally, we took some red mulch and covered the area.
the cardboard is to keep the weeds from coming up beneath the mulch, and the rosemary is to keep the cats from digging. We are not sure if it really works, but in the cats stopped digging in the last area we added rosemary we mulched this way. I helped her put some plants back. Mom has to get more cardboard and cut some more rosemary before she can finish the job.


I carved a little bit on the dragon. Mainly marking up the surface with the grinding bit to show where I will have to cut in more. Only a few places are really deep enough to where it would take some grinding to remove signs of a mistake. Because of the way the dragon is laying, I still have to work out how the rear leg is positioned.
The dragon is leaning to one side, and the rear is up a little, like it is down on the elbows in front. it is also tipped to the side. The rear leg on the low side is the problem, working out exactly how it is positioned.

I had used a yellow sand as inlay on a Sea Grape bowl to fill some gaps. Yellow was horrible, looking like it was a mistake. I used one of the grinding bits I found on the ground today when I swept up the area and then ran the magnet through the sweepings, and routed out the yellow sand filler. I added some magenta sand into the cleaned gaps and super-glued them in place.
I had an oak cup that I had cut beads into the side. this was the mate of the one I did last week. I filled it with super glue and purple sand and then mounted it on the lathe to clean up the surfaces so the inlaid sand was flush. I mounted the sea grape bowl on the lathe and cleaned that up too.
Here is something to think about. I am using some super glue that is over a decade old.
They used to have computer shows where you could get new and used computer equipment cheep. We frequented them for years. The shows faded out as fewer and fewer people were attending them. We finally stopped going.
At one of the shows, a company was offering their super glue kits with two tubes of glue, an accelerator, a filler, and a spray nozzle. I got one and then realized I rally did not have a use for that so I stuck it into my fridge. It has been there ever since, for over a decade.
Today I used that glue and it is as good as the day it could have been purchased.

I spent some time petting the cat and I let it sleep at my feet for a while. He loves the company. I did a little crochet during that time.
A couple months ago, I got a basket of knitting stuff at a thrift shop. Last night, I counted out that I had 18 wooden crochet hooks at my desk. I remembered that within the knitting kit was a card that had holes in it to tell me what diameter my hooks were. I located the card and went through all my hooks, marking on them the hook size listed on the card. I see I have some gaps in my hook offerings. Part of that is dependant on the stock rods I am using such as three different sizes of skewers I have used as hooks.

Next week, I still have my list of projects to work on. I have the dragon, a tea pot, a couple vases. I MUST start my Christmas ornaments for this year. I have some old ones I need to make and have to make a set of four new ornaments too. I need to get them all done by the end of November and that won't be enough time. I still have to think about Christmas presents I want to make.
I have Mom's tree to trim and any other projects she might come up with. I have loads of wood that demands to be made into sawdust and something to show from what is left.

I will see what I actually do next week.

Year 11, Week 38, Day One (week 612)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
`10-01-11 Saturday

92 degrees, early morning blue sky with milk smears. afternoon solid puffs slipping across the sky. Light breeze and sunshine nearly all day long. This Weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


DURING THE WEEK,


My writing partner and dear friend sent me a birthday package. She was waiting for her book to hit the market so she could include it. She was told it would be out in June and it ended up being out mid August. I am already half way through reading her book and I am stealing minutes here and there to read it.
Another friend that lives in her area sent me a book on Dragons. I have to go through that as it might give me some ideas on the dragon I am carving.
I also got flavored tea, flavor coffees, a candle (jar broke) and a few other little things. I was all grins after I got the package. She also included something she needed copied in wood.



FRIDAY


This was the day to visit the antique shop for the month. I worked half a day on Friday for the first time in years. I left work and headed directly to the antique shop.
I re-arranged the display. I had brought some napkins to put into my ducks, chicken, and turkey to show better how they might be used. In the bag of napkins and plastic silverware, I found I had earlier included some table cloths. I wrapped the box with a small sheet of table cloth and laid a bit one down on the floor for my pieces to sit on. I then carefully placed everything in a different arrangement. It looked nice.
I went to a thrift shop in the area and ended up getting nearly 110 quilting magazines. I will ship them out to my sister in Seattle. She is learning quilting and shows talent. I figure she might learn a lot from the magazines.


SATURDAY


After breakfast we hit several yard sales. At one, I picked up a watch. At another, I got a keyboard and a power switch platform for a computer, and a pair of gargoyle figurines. At a third, I picked up an insulated pitcher and a pair of re-write-able CDs. I did not spend much money for all of that.


After feeding and petting the cats, I got my equipment out. Because we spent a lot of time yard sailing, It was about time to make a phone call. That took a while. The beast of the back yard did not mind as I was there to pet him and he could sleep at my feet.
During the phone call, I looked at my wood stock for the right kind of wood for a project.

After the call, I set the lathe up and put a piece of mahogany onto the lathe. I measured a few times and then mounted the wood in place between centers. I rounded the four by for wood, and then took more measurements of the piece I was copying and then started turning. I would stop to check what I was doing and then continued.
I was near the end when I realized Mahogany was not the best wood for this projects. It is not hard enough and strong enough wood.
After that, it was time to clean up and get going.

Tomorrow, I might try the muddles again in possibly oak. I will have the little lathe out and might even do some metal working when I want to sit. I have loads of other projects to work on such as the tea pot.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.