Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

Wunnerful!

Completed the first cut, which was to trim off the end of my log to avoid the cracks evident therein. This would leave me with enough wood to get two 20" sections and drop the other ugly end of the log. (A 20" section is small enough for me to get it on the bandsaw to make two 10" sections for the lathe.)

I started on the second cut and after about 5 minutes, the blade bound up in the wood. I don't know why. While trying to get it out:

I know this blade was no good for the job I was trying to do, but it was still useful in other areas. Now it's little more than $100 in junk. 

And I still don't have any manageable pieces of wood to cut down for the lathe!

In other news, I'm trying to develop a very simple website so that people can go and see some of my previous "creations" but I don't know what to say. Do I am dreaming up some stuff that might sound good. When I am done, I will post a link and ask for critique.

One good thing is that with a pair of needle-nosed pliers I was able to extract the piece of broken blade from up inside the recip-saw without having to take the thing apart. When you take things apart you inevitably find more stuff wrong with it than you thought. Which then requires more disassembly to fix. Which inevitably causes more issues to surface... Just ask me about fixing the radiator on my last Austin Mini!

[Netfoot]

Ok, I've built myself a very simple web page, which will need some expansion down the line, but right now, I'd like some feedback on the introductory paragraph. To this end I have written three intros, and expressed each in the first and third person. 

If you would like to help, please take a few minutes to visit the site and read the various options. Tell me which you like best, and whether you think pieces from other options should be incorporated into your favourite to improve it, or if you have a suggestion for an improved wording or an inclusion.

Not sure about the background colour - I want something cheerful but not whacky.

Also not sure whether the mentions of "Splintered Dreams" in the text should be in the same font as in the logo.

I will pick some of the better pieces from my woodworking album and add these to the page as a "gallery" but that will come later. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

First thought: it is so bright yellow my eyes hurt a little. 

Second thought: font is pretty but not easy to read. 

[Netfoot]

56 minutes ago, Superclam said:

First thought: it is so bright yellow my eyes hurt a little. 

Second thought: font is pretty but not easy to read. 

Thanks for the feedback.

You're right about the yellow. I've toned it down a mite.

As to the fonts, I'm using the fonts I used months ago when I first printed a sign, and up to yesterday when I printed my cards. I'm not averse to a change but I don't want to use common fonts, preferring something a little on the 'pretty' side, as you say. And I want to use Google fonts since I can use those fonts on web pages as well as adding them to my computer for use in any hard-copy documents I may need to print.

I'm open to any Google font(s) anyone may suggest. (There are a lot of them.)

[Browncoat]

I like Option 1, first person. 

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I like Option 1, first person. 

Me too. Although I also like the phrase "From functional bowls and vases..." from option 3 because I generally try to make my pieces actually useful when possible.

[Spunkygal]

5 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I like Option 1, first person. 

I agree but the font is just “meh” for me. 

[andidante]

8 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Ok, I've built myself a very simple web page, which will need some expansion down the line, but right now, I'd like some feedback on the introductory paragraph. To this end I have written three intros, and expressed each in the first and third person. 

If you would like to help, please take a few minutes to visit the site and read the various options. Tell me which you like best, and whether you think pieces from other options should be incorporated into your favourite to improve it, or if you have a suggestion for an improved wording or an inclusion.

Not sure about the background colour - I want something cheerful but not whacky.

Also not sure whether the mentions of "Splintered Dreams" in the text should be in the same font as in the logo.

I will pick some of the better pieces from my woodworking album and add these to the page as a "gallery" but that will come later. 

I like the option 1 first person paragraph. I don't mind the yellow background. I am not sure what other color you would use instead. 

[Netfoot]

Just now, Spunkygal said:

I agree but the font is just “meh” for me. 

Yes, I think an improved font is in order, but I want to get the text right and then tune the font to suit.

I've toned down the original yellow but the consensus on the text seems to be #1 first person. I will wait until tomorrow afternoon before making a decision and deleting the other options, but I may tweak #1 a little, as well.

[Netfoot]

Ok, I've eliminated the 3rd person options because I think I like 1st person better in this case. And I've added some markings to #1, which I am mostly in favour of. 

In green: "I'm a retired woodworking enthusiast..." If I said I was a retired bus driver, wouldn't that mean I used to be a bus driver but I no longer am? Because this looks like I'm saying I am retired from being a woodworking enthusiast. How can I keep it simple that I'm retired from work and I'm enthusiastic about woodwork? What about something like "A retiree, I have become an enthusiastic woodworker with a passion for creating unique pieces blah, blah blah!"

Also in green, I've inserted the word "functional".

Underlined: three instances of the word "woodworking" and one of "wood turning". A bit repetitive maybe? I'm thinking: leave the first "woodworking" and the "woodturning" as is. Replace the second "woodworking" with "related" as in "and various other related techniques". Remove the final "woodworking" completely as in "Thank you for visiting and sharing in my journey!"

Do you agree? Disagree?

Spent most of the afternoon lying 8n bed reading because I wanted to stay close to the carsey due to a case of the trots. Not sure why - lunch was perfectly wholesome. Potatoes, carrots, cucumber cabbage, onion & corned beef.

Mo was here a little while ago but has gone out again. He was in the house when I locked up last night but woke me up and insisted I let him out. But at 4:30 he was making such a racket outside he woke me again and I opened the house hoping he would come in and be quiet. But it wasn't long before he woke me for the third time, barking furiously at the guy vending just outside our wall. I had to rouse from my bed and go outside several times to get him to shut up. Even so, he went out periodically throughout the day, barked at the guy and came back inside. "I have not forgotten; I'm keeping an eye on you!" (He just walked in again.) I love having him with me. Not just because he is cuddly and playful, but to put my mind at rest that he is safe and sound, inside the house with me. But sometimes, I just need the sleep. Gone again!)

Going to try cutting the log tomorrow, using a hand saw of some sort. A new, electric chain saw from Kooyman is $259.99 which I can't afford. Maybe a new recip-saw blade with the right tooth pitch & gullets but even that is going to be a hard stretch at $109.99 especially when I note that two of them plus forty bucks and I would have the chainsaw!

Mo is back, chewing at his left rear foot. I will try to see if there is something wrong with it but he hates you to examine his feet. I am also nodding off as I type so maybe it's time to lock up and sleep.

[b4pjoe]

I'm not a big fan of background colored websites. Reminds me of Geocities websites from the 90's. Since this about your wood working skills have you considered a light wood grain background of some type that won't obscure the text. Maybe something like one of these.

[Netfoot]

51 minutes ago, b4pjoe said:

have you considered a light wood grain background of some type that won't obscure the text.

Now, that is a good idea! I will try it out and see what I like. Thanks for the link!

[Netfoot]

Ok, I have modified the page so that a wood background replaces the yellow. There are actually a selection of 10 backgrounds and the one you get will be "random." Refresh the page if you want to see some of the various possibilities.

A brief flash of yellow may precede the woodgrain background. I am trying to figure out how to prevent that.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Going to it right now, I just get a butter-yellow screen. 

[Netfoot]

31 minutes ago, Superclam said:

Going to it right now, I just get a butter-yellow screen. 

I've been working on it and when I do, I usually introduce errors which make the page look funny (or fail entirely to load) until I get the bugs out.

It should be working now. 

I've solved the problem with the initial yellow flash of colour when loading, which came from the background colour being set to that yellow before the image is loaded..

I have ten woodgrain images I use for backgrounds, and I select one randomly when the page is loaded/refreshed. I have taken each image and averaged the pixel colours to get an average colour for each background. Now, the image is set randomly along with the matching background colour. So the initial flash of colour is roughly the colour of the image, which loads next. It ain't perfect but it works OK.

Next I want to work on a gallery. I want to display a small number of random thumbnails. Click on any one and it will zoom out that image. Or click the link to the gallery itself and get all the thumbnails displayed for you to pick from. At least, that's what I'm thinking.

ETA: The list of woodgrain background mages will be tweaked if any background makes the text difficult to read.

Edited May 24, 2023 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

I like the current wood grain background. My eyes aren’t fighting any harsh colors. Regarding the three different paragraphs, I like bits and pieces of all three. May I take the liberty of combining/editing them for you to review? 

[Netfoot]

Just now, Spunkygal said:

Regarding the three different paragraphs, I like bits and pieces of all three. May I take the liberty of combining/editing them for you to review? 

Please do!

[b4pjoe]

I like this wood grain the best.

As far as the body text I think the font in use is more of a decorative font instead of a body text font. The point of body text is to inform so something that is simple to read would be best. This is Montserrat at 14 px. It is a clean looking font that is easy to read.

Edited May 24, 2023 by b4pjoe

[Netfoot]

I hear that a tropical wave is expected tomorrow. And today, one of the guys was reporting that the apparent temperature today went as high as 41°C. Not the actual tempetature, but a "feels like" temperature that they calculate somehow. I don't know if they got it right, but it sure was hot!

I finally got that piece of mahogany cut using a 30" bow-saw. It took all the energy out of me that the heat of the day had left.

Had fry-bread for lunch and dumplings for dinner. The dough was corn meal and flour with a bunch of cayenne pepper and dried chives in the dough. For dinner I put the dumplings to boil while I cooked up bully beef, onion and black beans. Forgetting about the cayenne, I added red pepper flakes to the beans. It was pretty hot I enjoyed the meal.

The web page has now got a mock mini-gallery on it. It isn't functional but it sort of gives an inkling of what I'm looking for. I can't work on it full time, but I try to advance it a little when I figure out what I want and how to achieve it.

Fallen to sleep twice composing this short post, so I think it might be wise for me to say goodnight and start hibernating.

[Netfoot]

Tried to cut a mahogany log and three quarters of the way through the cut, an oily, sticky, tarry substance began to spurt out of the cut. Nasty!

I had to finish the cut to get the blade out of the log! But when the cut wad was finished, the two halves of the log were stuck together so firmly I had to use a small crowbar to separate them.

The bandsaw blade is gummed up, the bearings in the guide blocks are filled with it and I have not dared to look at the wheels & tired as yet!

The lesson here is simple: Stop trying to cut a log with a ½", fine tooth blade. Get a 1" blade with a tooth count somewhere between 2 & 3 teeth per inch. Or at very least, a ¾" blade!

Leaving that mess for another day, I got a previously cut block and started turning a bowl. Beetle-holed Beetle-holes surfaced so the resulting bowl is not going to be as big as I'd hoped. Maybe 5½" across and 2½" high?

But my back is hurting and I'm having a cuppa tea. And contemplating the absolute necessity of buying a new mouse. The middle button/scroll wheel on mine has given up the ghost. It still scrolls fine, but it doesn't click. And that middle-click function is important on my Slackware Linux machine.

Mo is asleep at (actually on) my feet. As I wait for the tea to draw I attached the chuck to the nascent bowl and when I finish this cuppa I will go hollow it out. Then the tenon - which has a beetle hole right through it - will be removed and the bowl finished.

Been doing a little work behind the scenes on the Splintered Dreams web site but not a lot in terms of immediately visible changes.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The van was parked face-in because my asshole neighbor was blocking the road when I came in last. As I wanted access to the back hatch and he was absent, I took the vehicle out. I also needed a mouse and some gas and some sweets\bait for Saturday. And Mo was eager for a drive!

ATM first to get some money for Saturday because I'm hoping not to have to leave home between now and then. Next a mouse. Hundreds of multi-coloured wireless mice with flashing lights. But none of them came with a lifetime of free batteries so I bought a simple USB mouse - the only one they had. But it has a left and right button as well as a clickable scroll wheel, which I am so please to report is now installed and works fine. It is a joy to be able to use that middle-click again!

Next, the supermarket for some raisins for my oatmeal. As we set off, the title track The Masterplan by Oasis began to play, from their album of the same name. Mo barked non-stop all the way to the supermarket, ruining my enjoyment of the track, so when we got there, I rewound the track to the beginning and switched off.  The store didn't have pak choy. I bought a tin of tuna, some salt breads, and the cheapest bottle of pepper sauce I could find. "Amanda's Bajan Pepper Sauce". Never heard of it before, and that always leaves you wondering whether it will be completely heat-free or an exhaust-cleaner. I prefer it somewhere in between, and as lunch proved, it was just that. And I got the raisins too, so dinner is sorted. At first, all I could find were currents for eleven bucks! But I finally tracked down the raisins for five and a quarter. An indulgence, I admit.

And finally, Cyril! Off to the gas station for a gill of fuel. Mo was blissfully silent for the entire drive and only barked again as we entered the gas station (he usually does) just after The Masterplan ended. Then back home. 

So now I have the final touch to make to this morning's mahogany bowl, and I will then take a pair of Panadol and contemplate a cuppa tea and a nap.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Bowl finished, inside and out, except for this large tenon I was using to hollow it by. 

As you can see, a beetle hole! Not the only one. This piece was at least two inches thicker and most of that was turned away to eliminate the beetle holes.

The tenon gas has been removed and only a low foot remains. Holding it in the Cole jaws with padding to prevent marring the surface of the interior is exciting. It came off twice, but suffered no damage either time. And thanks to my 3M polycarbonate face shield, neither did I!

Finished with beeswax and ready to go. And the underside:

Apart from the beetle holes and the attacks on my physiog, this was a pleasure to make. 

🤞🏻And hopefully, it will be a pleasure to sell!

Edited May 25, 2023 by Netfoot

[andidante]

7 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Tried to cut a mahogany log and three quarters of the way through the cut, an oily, sticky, tarry substance began to spurt out of the cut. Nasty!

I had to finish the cut to get the blade out of the log! But when the cut wad was finished, the two halves of the log were stuck together so firmly I had to use a small crowbar to separate them.

The bandsaw blade is gummed up, the bearings in the guide blocks are filled with it and I have not dared to look at the wheels & tired as yet!

 

Oh no! I hope you are able to clean it off everything.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, andidante said:

Oh no! I hope you are able to clean it off everything.

I hope so too. I just don't know what happened. There didn't appear to be any pockets of sap or anything. Maybe the blade really needs throwing out and a new, sharper blade bought and installed.

Meanwhile, I've been working on the web site. Mostly doing things behind the scenes, developing CSS and a small PHP function library. For the uninitiated, these will make it easier to maintain and expand the site down the road.

I have added a fourth option for an opening paragraph that I am now considering as my main contender. Feel free to comment. Also included a mini-gallery on the main page and a link to the full gallery. Unfortunately, only thumbnails are available at this time. Later, the idea is that if you click (hover?) over any image in the gallery you will get a blown up image and a short blurb. Gallery images all come from this Google Photos album but not everything in the album is included. So if there is something in there that isn't in the gallery and you think it should be, let me know.

Also considering a page that lists and describes the various types of wood that I've been using (but not yet ready for public consumption) and thinking about a Glossary page that will allow linking from any term that is potentially confusing, but not sure how best to implement. 

You know, when I sit at my table at Brighton, I am always looking out for people to visit and examine my wares. I enjoy chatting to people, whether they buy something or not! But there is one local man who I pray every day, will never visit me. I've never seen him so I don't know what he looks like, but I know his name: Cy Hutchinson. And I know what he is capable of. Please, please, keep this man away from my table!

[Mr. Sparkle]

I like #4 and that font is a great improvement in regards to readability. 

[Netfoot]

5 minutes ago, Superclam said:

I like #4 and that font is a great improvement in regards to readability. 

Yes, it's a good choice of font. To improve readability I am thinking about fading some of the backgrounds that have too much texture which sometimes obscures the message.

Oh, and yes, I am thinking #4 is probably the way I will go.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Mo is teasing me. In and out. In and out. 

I've been reading. There are only 2-3 pages left. I will lock up and go to bed. I'm thinking I need to deliberately lock him out. Every night, he comes in and snuggled until I drift off to sleep. But within the hour, he is waking me to let him out. I think I should just lock his butt out from the get-go.as soon as dawn breaks, I can open the door and leave it open so he can come and go. We'll see. 

Got a few small pieces of mahogany I can try to make little bowls with tomorrow. Otherwise, no other blanks ready and the bandsaw on the sick list, there will be nothing. I could make something else, I suppose. Phone stands, I suppose.

I want to make one for myself. With a Qi charger built right in. I have the guts of a charger here and it will work through 6mm of birch ply so I don't think I will have any problems with that. I also want to make one for me to use at Brighton. I want one with a place for the phone both front and back. In the middle, a pocket for me to keep business cards in, a hole drilled to hold a ballpoint pen, and maybe another for a tiny test tube to make a bud-vase. Anyway, I want to be productive in some form 

Now, I've got plans for the mini-Adirondack chair I recently built. I want to scale those plans up and try building a fullh-sized version so I can butt test it. But I also want to make an even smaller version for use as i) a seat for a doll. ii) a holder for a plant pot. iii) purely decorative. Since it wouldn't be a real chair and nobody would be sitting in it,   I could build it out of reclaimed lumber, put it together quickly and sell it cheap.

Anyway Mo just jumped into bed and seems to be settling in. He is using my left arm as a pillow. So I will finish my book, lock the house, and go off to Dreamland.

By the way, it's been hot and still all day, but no other signs of the tropical wave we were warned about. Just hope it doesn't come tomorrow night / Saturday morning and was out the market!

[Netfoot]

Up and at 'em!

Blood sugar 5.1 mmol/L which is lower than the previous 5.7 but still not to my liking -- I like to see it in the fours.

Made this little bowl which I think is kinda cute:

I put two burn-lines on the rim (for a change) and they came out nice. The bowl is a sorta end-grain bowl, but it has two "eyes", which is somewhat unusual:

This results in some tortured grain which really is attractive.

[Netfoot]

You know, the mahogany is good to work. It cuts easily and cleanly, leaves a good finish right off the chisel and doesn't fight very hard. But it leaves you stinking dirty!

I don't mean the usual shower of sawdust, chips and ribbons that leave you covered from head to foot, but the fine black dust that comes from I know not where and lodges itself in every pore.

It scrubs off in the shower but you do have to scrub!

Don't know where it comes from but it happens essentially every time. And only with the mahogany!

[Netfoot]

Tiny little tamarind bowl. 

I call this one "Buck & a Quarter".

[Browncoat]

Could the miniature Adirondack chairs be used as phone stands?  

[Netfoot]

6 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Could the miniature Adirondack chairs be used as phone stands?  

Hmmmm!

Now that is a very interesting idea! I wasn't actually thinking that small, but I should have been! OK, Tuesday (this is a bank holiday weekend ― Whitsun or some such) I will draw out my plans for the child's chair and go see if I can get the print shop to scale it for me. If so, I might get several sizes. Phone stand, Flower pot, child and adult!

Edited May 26, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Well, tomorrow is forecast to be rainy and in fact the rain has already started. Which pretty much guarantees a low turnout and minimal sales. But I am going along anyway, because you never know.

I had my dinner which was pasta bow-ties with a sauce made from minced beef and black beans with onion, plus basil, balsamic vinegar and a little fish sauce just because I found half a bottle on top the fridge alongside a red stripe beer and a box of plastic bags. It was very good, and even though I don't particularly like bow-ties (or twists/spirals, for that matter), they tasted great.

The car is all ready to go, and my asshole neighbour is parked up in my gate again. I can get out, but he is still an asshole.

I transferred my EDC to my jeans. It took 40 minutes, because I had "help". I could have rejected the help, but I had nothing else important to do so I embraced the help and the helper and we shared some quality time. And the EDC did get transferred in the end. Although I had to take action to prevent my Paisley handkerchief from disappearing. I did remember to fill my new pill-carrier with tomorrow's breakfast.

I have $50 in my pocket to make change, plus another $10 for Alison. Also, a club member asked if I had any 13x6 propellers and as it happens I had three. He asked if he could buy them and I agreed. They now sell for U$5.90 each direct from manufacturer and I sold him the three for $35 local. So he got a good price and I got rid of some unnecessary props out of my prop box. He will come and we will settle up.nextvweek some time. Unfortunately nobody wants the 20x10 I have here so I will have to hang on to it.

Things still get stolen around here and have to be searched for and recovered. yesterday was a yellow Timberland tee shirt that turned up on the ground by the gate. This morning only one croc was to be seen and in the process of recovering that I also found my yellow nail-set out in the wet grass. I wag my finger, he puts his head on his paws and we both know the pilfering will continue. But one thing that worries me is that I have not seen my big, conical live-center nor my sandpaper-cleaning block of crepe rubber for several days  and I don't see him stealing those items...

He is out by the gate barking. I just hope the rain is not falling or I will get wet when he comes running in. I've already bathed twice today. The first time was with soap and a laundry brush to get the mahogany 'smudge' off my skin. The second time with kitchen detergent and a metal scouring pad because I realized I'd missed a couple spots or that the laundry brush simply wasn't sufficient to task.

I took a little nap this afternoon. So I can afford to stay awake a while before shutting down. So I will read my book. It's called "Dominion." It's set in 1952 in England. An England in which Churchill did not take over from Chamberlain and the appeasers surrendered to the Nazis. An England that is now a vassal state to"Greater Germany." I've only reached page 22 so far. 

Mo is back, he is dry, he is now bathing my feet. I will get stuck into that book now, and I'll let you know how things go tomorrow. 

[Netfoot]

You get one good idea and before you know it...

And of mahogany, it looks like, as well!

😕

[Netfoot]

Dead thirsty. Went and bought a cold drink. Ginger beer. I like ginger beer!

Never noticed the "No Sugar" until it eD was too late. Ginger beer without sugar to counter the burn is awful!

I'm taking it home and add my own sugar, that's what!

Toni is plying me with pastries. I am resisting, but I'm weakening....

Edited May 27, 2023 by Netfoot

[Mr. Sparkle]

How is that ginger beer and not just ginger water? Up here, ginger beer is basically a version of ginger ale. 

[Netfoot]

8 minutes ago, Superclam said:

How is that ginger beer and not just ginger water? Up here, ginger beer is basically a version of ginger ale. 

Exactly! And it will ferment a little and get effervescent as well, but not if it has no sugar.

This is basically ginger juice!

[Netfoot]

I once made a bowl out of laminated boards and it had a flaw in it. So, I determined not to sell it, but I used it as a place to keep my desk-clutter at the market. Today I didn't even put it out. I left it in the carrying case. 

A woman came along and said "Where is that bowl I saw a few weeks ago?" It turns out she meant the one with the flaw. I told her about the flaw, and explained that I wasn't selling it because of that. She insisted I sell it to her so I gave in and accepted $25 for it. Now, when I spotted the flaw, I stopped sanding and finishing the bowl, so it was unfinished and flawed. All of which I explained to her, but she said she didn't care. So I was glad to get $25 for it, and even more glad when it turned out to be my only sale for the day! deduct six bucks for a bottle of battery acid ginger juice, plus $4 I had to pay for a regular soda water, plus $10 for Alison next week, my takings this week: A fiver.

Now, when I first got there, Toni forced me to eat a mini quiche for breakfast. And when we were packing up she twisted my arm up behind my back until I accepted a cinnamon roll. Then, as we carted the stuff out to our cars, she held up two containers of brownies and said "Gluten free?Or regular?" Afraid to find myself in another half-nelson , I accepted the brownies (four) with gluten. And as I was about to drive away she came to the window of the van and said "Do you like coconut bread? With raisins?" 

So, I didn't exactly come away empty-handed.

So another day of poor attendance and someone was explaining how next weekend is King Of The Hill (a motorsport Hill Climb) and the following week is Rally Barbados with an international field. Both of these events are likely to pull large crowds and so Brighton can expect to be slow again for the next two weeks. I had actually decided to skip for a while, bu then, realizing I brought home everything I took there today to sell, I suppose I may as well try again next weekend. 

[Netfoot]

Oh, I forgot to mention!

My niece Heidi was at Brighton this morning. I had a brief word with her. And later, her daughter (my grand niece) wandered past and I also spoke briefly with her. 

But her daughters (my great grand nieces) were also there, and I got to lay eyes on them for the very first time! There were no introductions, not even a "This olde farte is who made your new chair!" But I did actually get to see them with my own two eyes!

So I suppose I can die happy, now... But instead, I will brew up a cup of tea and have it with a cinnamon roll. 

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Oh, I forgot to mention!

My niece Heidi was at Brighton this morning. I had a brief word with her. And later, her daughter (my grand niece) wandered past and I also spoke briefly with her. 

But her daughters (my great grand nieces) were also there, and I got to lay eyes on them for the very first time! There were no introductions, not even a "This olde farte is who made your new chair!" But I did actually get to see them with my own two eyes!

So I suppose I can die happy, now... But instead, I will brew up a cup of tea and have it with a cinnamon roll. 

They’re so rude. But hey, hope they enjoy the darling chair!!

[Netfoot]

6 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

But hey, hope they enjoy the darling chair!!

I hope so.

I was sat next to a guy who makes wooden spoons by hand. I was sharing with Toni and he was sharing with Marva/Betty so he and I were right beside each other. It turns out he is brother to the little girls' father. So a relation of some sort. (What is the brother of your grand nephew-in-law called?) It's a good thing I didn't say anything untoward.

In other news: Mo likes cinnamon rolls. (You're shocked, I know!)

And the web page mini-gallery now consists of a random selection of 5 thumbnails, and the link to the full gallery works, where thumbnails of all the images can be found, in random order.

And all thumbnails come with a "tooltip" that briefly describes the item when you hover over them. Tooltip to be expanded in time. At present, thumbnails are all you get, but the plan is to have each thumbnail clickable, which will display a full-sized image with additional info. 

[Netfoot]

Remember an evening project I did at night, a short while ago? A storage box for my Beall tap and matching Forstner bit? This is how it turned out:

Not perfection, but it is only a box to store a tool, after all. Stained black and given a light coat of clear lacquer.

And now, something that is perfection and also black: Mo, napping under the rear bumper of the van.

No sooner did I take this photo than he relocated to the bedroom. (He woke me at 4:09 this morning and demanded to be fed!)

Don't you wish you had a little Mozie-Pozie of your own? Off down the shelter, then!

Edited May 28, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

It's been a hot, still day. When we went out for our Garden Patrol, the banana plants with their big leaves were stirring a little, but the pomegranate across from me was still, and I could detect no motion in the fronds of the coconut tree across from my house. 

I am still damp from the shower and the fan is blowing on me sominfeel.cool, but she I dry off, it's going to.bfvacwarm night.

Right after lunch (rice with bully beef, channa, sliced carrot and - weirdly - tiny mini-dumplings) I decided it was time to look at the bandsaw. I think I previously posted a photo of the crud in a piece of mahogany and probably all over the innards of the saw? Well, it isn't probably. The guides are all gummed up with the sticky crap, the bearings in the guides are also covered in it, but as I feared, the worst is the tyres on the wheels. One is bad but one is utterly destroyed. So they will have to be changed before that saw can ever work again.  And while I was investigating, I noticed a broken locking lever on the trunnions. While not critical, it makes sense if I'm already ordering parts from Grizzly, to replace it. Tyres will cost about U$22 for a pair. The locking lever is U$11. Guides are about U$2.50 each and the bandsaw uses four of them. The bearings that support the back of the blade are around U$7 each, and the machine uses two of them. I'm hoping the guide supports are OK (they should be) but the 5mm steel balls that the guides run on cost a ridiculous U$1.50 each, and four needed. I can buy 25 chrome steel balls for less than  U$5, too. And they are G10 (good quality) as well. But it will cost me U$9.10 to ship them down here. It will sting to buy four for six bucks, but they will ship with the rest of parts and will weigh next to nothing so will.not affect the shipping total.

Anyway, I will strip the upper & lower guide assemblies tomorrow and see if any of the guides can be saved, ditto bearings. Will check on the balls and the guide supports too. I suspect the supports will.be fine, however it would be stupid not to check before ordering any parts.

But the big problem is the blade. It is toast. I could get a ¾" replacement locally for just over BB$100 but they don't have blades at a full 1". A 1" Timberwolf with 2/3 variable tooth spacing would be best. It has two ½" teeth followed by three ⅓" teeth, and repeat. But it's U$42 (which, with shipping, works out around the same as buying the local blade).

So even if all the guides, guide supports and balls are fine, I'm looking at U$55 in parts to get the bandy back up and running.

I should explain about the steel balls. Each guide slips into a hole in the guide support. The support holds the in place but let's it spin if it needs to. Rather than the end of the guide sitting directly on the bottom of the hole in the support, a little 5mm steel ball is fitted between them.

Now, think of a pingpong ball sitting on a table with a book balanced perfectly on top. The ball actually touches the table in only one tiny spot. And it only touches the book in one tiny spot. Now, picture the 5mm steel ball in the bottom of the hole in the support with the guide resting on top. The ball touches the bottom of the hole in only one tiny spot. And it only touched the bottom of the guide in one tiny spot. Because the point of contact is so very small there is virtually no friction between them. This makes for a guide that will rotate very freely and easily if it needs to. 

Since the the guides need to be extremely free to rotate, it is important that the steel balls not be gummed up with... sap or what ever else that crud might be. So I must dismantle the entire unit and check that the parts are not damaged or coated with crap. 

Now Mo is barking away outside so I will go and see if I can shut him up and get him to come inside. Either way I will lock up and kill the lights. 

No chainsaw and no bandsaw and no recip-saw. Dunno how to cut bowl blanks, now.

ETA: Mo was barking at the asshole next door who managed to get home (and park his truck so as to partially block me in as usual) but seems to be too drunk to get out of his truck and into his house. So Mo was scolding him. Of course, when I went to go out I discovered that a croc was missing...

Edited May 29, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Got started on the bandsaw this morning. Top guide assembly, removed. 

Without disassembly, I can clearly see gunge sticking the two guides together. Also visible if you look closely, is some gungy material is visible on the outside of the bearing as well. What you can't see is that while the bearing still turns, it doesn't spin freely. You should be able to spin it and it keeps spinning by itself for a few seconds and it don' do dat.

The bottom guides are in two separate parts. First, the bearing:

It spins better than the top bearing, but it is obviously covered with gunge, ball around the rim.

And the guides themselves?

I can't believe that there could be this much crap all over the guides! There is even some stuck to one of the guards (removed) and they don't even go near the blade! Ugh!

Now I have to disassemble and see how bad each part is, and whether any can be reused or must be replaced. 

[Netfoot]

Mind you, the work is not made any easier, when your tools are prepared for you by an apprentice who taste-tests them and (apparently) eats a couple.

And the locking lever which (incidentally) also needs to be replaced:

The broken-out piece can't be found, but where it came from is obvious. Hard to believe they thought that a big bandsaw like this would be fine with a plastic lever.

[Netfoot]

Bottom guides assemblies, stripped and examined. First, the bearing assembly:

Crud cleaned off well, and bearing spins pretty smoothly and freely. I could replace this bearing, but I think it might still work OK.

Now, the guide assembly:

Holy moly! The crud was on there in huge quantities, mostly on the guides (round bits). And it was tough. It had to be cut away a with  knife. Some of it wouldn't come off without the application of a heat gun! And while one guide came pretty clean, the other still has a few bits of gunk clinging tenaciously to it.

The guide supports (brassy bits up front) and the 5mm steel balls look fine. You can see a tiny dot on the bottom of the guide shafts. That's where they rest against the steel ball, and rotate smoothly in the supports.

The raised rims of the guides are pretty chewed up.

This one is otherwise clean, but the other one is still covered in crap. I may be able to dress the rim with sandpaper on a flat surface. If so, the good one of these may be reusable. The cruddy one, probably not.

Edited May 29, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Upper guide assembly. Bearing is OK. Had to remove a very little amount of crud (over on the right), but the bearing runs free. The guides are actually glued together with the crud.

To get those guides apart, I had to heat them up until the grot softened and then slip a pre-heated blade into the crack. Once apart, I could proceed with cleanup. 

But you may notice a complete absence of 5mm steel balls? Because I stupidly picked up one of the guides while it was still scorching hot, and while I was doing some sort of dance with my fingers in my mouth, I knocked everything flying... And the steel balls disappeared into a vast area of sawdust.

As I work towards getting the bandsaw running again, I am thinking I know the origin of the gunk. I'm pretty sure but until I locate an 8mm Allen key so I can do some additional dismantling, I won't be 100% certain, so I will hold my suspicions in abeyance for now.

Blood sugar this morning: 4.3 mmol/L.

[Netfoot]

Plans for Adirondack chair phone stand.  Only, how am I going to cut out the pieces without a bandsaw? Jig saw, I suppose...

Go away, puppy! Stop harassing me! I was in the kitchen 30 minutes ago and I prepared your lunch then! Don't tell me your bowl is empty again so soon? No, in fact, your bowl full, and still sitting on the kitchen counter...

I'm surprised how often sawdust and shavings end up in my bed. I just can't imagine how!

Edited May 30, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

In bed with a nervous Mo. We just completed our Garden Patrol and I found two items that he had stolen to use as playthings. A red spinner (nose cone) for a model aeroplane, and a small clamp usually used to hold parts together while glue dries, but for other stuff as well. 

I showed him the items, and I said "Bad boy!" In a stern voice. But ever since then he has been behaving as if he expects hot irons or the Cat o' Nine Tails or some other horrific punishment. It's extremely rare for him to get spanx; he has to do something really horrible, or put his own life at risk. He is certainly in no danger of a smack for stealing. If he was, he would get licks every day!

He is now bathing my left arm, and the phone is a-wobble, so typing is tricky.

While on Patrol, I spotted a crapaud!

I didn't bother to throw him over the wall because there are probably at least a thousand more like him hiding in the grass roots. They aren't whistling, though. Wonder why?

We went for a very brief drive today. To the shops to get some essentials, and then to the copy shop to get a reduced print of the Adirondack chair. The shops are right on the same parking lot as Dr.  Kristi's clinic but we got there after twelve and she leaves at twelve and Dr. Gabby takes over. To my surprise, she was there but she was in the process of leaving and seeing as she was obviously late, Mo and I just barked & waved. 

Bought cooking oil because I had none left, red butter and milk because I was almost out, milk because that was also low, and two big heads of pal pak choy because I have not seen any for a while. I completely forgot to get stock cubes (none left at home) and they had no cheddar, neither English or NZ (none at home). And no sugar (running low). Actually they did have sugar, but I wasn't buying brown sugar from Guatemala nor white sugar from Europe which was prolly made from beets! Put some of that pak choy in rice for lunch, along with pigeon peas, bully beef & carrots. Dinner was oatmeal with raisins. 

Finalized an order at Grizzly for parts to fix the bandsaw. It comes to about $55 and change. But I need to sell a few bucks worth of stuff before I can check out. I discovered I could source the 5mm steel balls, the 6000ZZ and the 6202ZZ bearings on Amazon for less that at Grizzly (who wanted to sell me a 6mm flat washer for U$1.50 when I could buy one at the local hardware store for about 9¢) but Amazon insisted it wanted to send me the items in two separate shipments which would have meant U$27.30 shipping from Florida to me, whereas if I let Grizzly overcharge me for the parts I only pay for a single shipment at U$9.10 which saves more than they overcharged me. 

I have to hang on to what little cash I have because I am hoping the phone technician will fix my phone soon, and get it out of Safe mode. Then I will be able to run 3rd party apps again, like WhatsApp and some sort of music player! So I need to be able to pay for that fix as soon as the parts arrive.

Mo has disappeared again, but I will read a while and then go lock up. Last night he woke me three times, before I slung him out for good. It seems that he doesn't like me to sleep more than 90 minutes - two hours max. I really would prefer him to sleep indoors but I need to get some sleep! And first thing every morning as I approach the front door to open it, I see the shadow of his little feet under the door, waiting, for how many hours I do not know, and I feel bad to have locked him out. But he just won't let me sleep! I don't want to punish him for waking me up, because I don't want him to think that he should not do so even if he has a good reason!

Anyway, I'm hoping to borrow an 8mm Allen key tomorrow and get that bandsaw bottom wheel off and have a good look at it. My own 8mm Allen key is missing from the heavily chewed set. 

Now, let me see if I can finish a chapter without falling asleep and dropping the book & lose my page.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

When is your next doctor appointment?