Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

I've been needing one of these for quite a while. At night, I use a low-light "night clock" as my screen saver. I get up several times during the night and have done since the night of the fire, over 30 years ago. And now, with Lasix as part of my diet, it's no better.

So I like my phone to stand up on the bedside table so that I can see the clock and tell the time without having to move from my repose.

Only a few cuts on the saw and I had this, made from a scrap block of purpleheart. Didn't make any real effort, do so it isn't very good but at least it works!

I'd like to show you the phone in situ but the phone is the camera, so... It stands upright with a slight backward lean that prevents the entire thing from tumbling forward. The phone is equally comfortable in either landscape or portrait. The lip at the front securely catches the edge of the phone at the bottom without obscuring any of the display.

Took only a few minutes to make, even with a couple of idiosyncracies showing up on the saw. (The fence-lock needs to be adjusted and the E-stop is located right where my hip bumps against it and will have to be shifted a bit.) In fact, it took longer to locate the little scrap of purpleheart than it did to make the stand.

I should figure out some clever arrangement of mirrors that lets the phone photograph itself...

Edited August 30, 2022 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

That purpleheart wood is killer.

[Netfoot]

7 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

That purpleheart wood is killer.

I love it. UV light makes the purple pop. You can get a bulb or put it out in the sun.

It's also rock hard. My door frame is made of purpleheart. When the telephone guys tried to drill a hole through it for a phone wire, they burnt out two drill bits!

Edited August 30, 2022 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

1 minute ago, Netfoot said:

I love it. UV light makes the purple pop. You can get a bulb or put it out in the sun.

It's also rock hard. My door frame is made of purpleheart. When the telephone guys tried to drill a hole through it for a phone wire, they burnt out two drill bits!

I’m a huge fan of Antiques Roadshow UK and over the years they’ve showcased pieces of purplewood. I had never heard of it before. That show is an incredible history and cultural lesson. Very underrated and under appreciated. I’ve watched it since I was cute, young, skinny chick. In other words, decades ago! 🤣

[Netfoot]

After two days of miserable soup, did I pig-out today as promised? No! Well... yes. But not as bad as my original plan.

I made up a stew of corned beef, red beans and diced tomatoes. Added a little onion sliced on the mandolin, some dried chives and some red pepper flakes. My friends call this "gloop" for some reason. Into this I diced two potatoes.

Meanwhile, I segmented a portion of the breadfruit, cut out the core and peeled each segment. These I boiled in a pot of salted water. 

I also cut a plantain into segments and set them to fry in a film of oil. Plantain cooks quick, so you gotta keep an eye on it. No brown sugar/cinnamon coating or anything like that (sorry, mum!) Just plain plantain. 

The breadfruit went into the plate and I spooned half the stew over the segments. Fried plantain on the side. I was careful not to put any of the potato on the plate. I left all the spuds in the pot with the other half of the gloop. 

It tasted great! It's true I like breadfruit and I like plantain and I even like corned beef! But it's true, it tasted yummy! By way of proof, Mo came along to see what was in the menu. And when I fed him a bit of breadfruit on a skewer, with some gloop on it, he just came back demanding more and more!

Some time in the afternoon I went out and ran that piece of purpleheart through the saw a few times to make the phone stand. It's here on the bedside table right now. Mo (who came in for a minute or two but who has now departed) inspected it and turned up his nose. I hope this means he won't steal it, the little clepto that he is! The stand is far from perfect. I would do a much better job next time, but this one works perfectly, so why would I bother to make another?

This evening I brought the stew up to heat and thus this time I ate it without additions, but it did have those spuds in there that I deliberately left in the pot at lunchtime.

Oh, BTW, the blood sugar test this morning came back at 4.7 mmol/L so it seems I was faffing about nothing.

When you get a new table saw, there are a number of accessories that you can make for it. Some are more or less essential, and the first thing you usually make is a "cross-cut sled". But I think as soon as I can dig up the right materials, one of the first things I'm going to make is a circle-cutting jig for the band saw. It will help me cut out bowl-blanks for the lathe. I have a number of sections of a tamarind tree that I got from Heidi and would like to try on the lathe but they need to be cut down to 10" diameter (or a hair under) blanks first. 

The band saw tires are now "In Transit to Destination Country" but it could be days before they actually get here.  Meanwhile the chuck key and jaws sets continue to languish at customs. Exactly as expected.

Years ago, I made myself a folding table. It was a heavy-duty item because I followed plans made by a guy who wanted the table to rebuild V8 engines on. When my grand niece Chloe was getting married, the ceremony was held at the beach. At the very last minute, I heard Heidi lamenting that they didn't have a good folding table to hold the guest register. So, I went and fetched my folding table and lent it to her.

Five or six years later, when I asked her if she was finished with it yet, she told me I would have to hold on because she had lent it to Chloe. Apparently the two of them had been arguing for years as to who should keep the table!

It occurs to me that if I can find enough suitable wood in my pile, I might make two identical folding tables for them to have one each. I'd make them much lighter than the original, because they hardly ever rebuild V8 engines. I will look into the possibility of that plan, by rooting through the wood pile to see if I can find enough wood of suitable size. I know I've got some lengths of 2-square I can use for the legs. But do I have enough wood suitable for the table tops?

And what became of my stains during the bad years? I thought I'd stain one black and the other red and let them fight it out between them who got which. I know where some green stain is, and I could use the rusty nails and vinegar trick if I just wanted to darken the wood... I'm talking pine, of course. Wouldn't it be nice if I could go and get something exotic so as to make really nice pieces? A nice light maple would take stain well. But alas, at $250 per board, I will not do much shopping at Exotic Woods Inc. 

Hmm. Some of the tamarind I got is in fairly big pieces. How nice to make her table out of the tree that once grew in her yard! But I don't think the pieces I have are large enough to make a table top. Legs maybe, but a top? Don't think so. Will have to measure it tomorrow.

Mo has two light coloured patches on his upper lip. He gets those marks when he pushes his nosie where it doesn't belong! He's scuffed his skin on something. The natural inky colour returns after a few days. I will try to get a picture of his face before posting.

But now I will take a shower, and return to Todd's vision of what Pern should be. With misogyny and teleporting watch-whers. They'll be banning "assault weapons" next...

Edited August 30, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

For lunch we had fried breadfruit and fried plantain with red beans, onion and cucumber. I considered adding tuna fish but decided to save the tuna for dinner. There is a bit of breadfruit left but it is ripe now, so if I don't finish it tonight I'll prolly have to throw it away. Which would be a sin.

Mo insisted on being let out at 3:45 this morning, and because my brain was addled I thought it was nearly dawn and left the door wide open so that he (and any friendly, neighborhood burglars) could come and go freely.

Had a look at the fence on the table saw. It's a T-square Biesemeyer type fence. You can slide it easily left & right on a heavy duty steel guide-rail, and when the distance from the blade is just where you want it, you push the lever down, locking the fence immobile while you make your cut. Yesterday, the fence was moving around as I was cutting. 

This morning I examined the locking mechanism to see how it works. The lever has a cam on it. This bears on a steel plate which hangs down next to the rail. That in turn presses hard against the side of the steel guide-rail, to lock the fence in place. Lift the lever and the cam no longer presses the plate against the rail, so the fence can move freely.

I discovered that the little steel plate was not hanging beside the rail, but rather, was sliding along on top of the rail.

With no steel plate to translate the force of the cam against the rail, the fence simply was not locking in place. I took the fence off, flipped the plate into the correct orientation and bingo! Fence now locks solid!

Not so easy my other problem. Power is controlled by a "magnetic" switch with a built in E-stop. 

Unfortunately the E-stop sticks out beyond the front of the saw, right where my hip catches it. It's very disconcerting to have the saw suddenly stop when you lean over to push the workpiece through the blade. 

It's bolted to the bottom of the fence rail and I thought it could be adjusted to mount anywhere along the rail, but no! There are bolt holes in onlybthst one position. I will have to do research to see if anyone has found a simple solution to this issue. Otherwise I will have to modify the saw to position the switch somewhere more to my liking.

By the way, it's called a "magnetic" switch because it physically switches itself off if the power is cut. I suppose magnets play a part in that.

With a normal switch to your bedside lamp, for example, if there is a power cut, the light obviously goes off. But when power is restored the lamp automatically comes on. You don't want your dangerous machinery coming on after a power cut! Hence the magnetic switch.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

[Netfoot]

Apparently, the government has decided to change that junction (where Kev had the accident on Sunday) into a 4-Way Stop. This is to be done tonight, presumably to take effect from midnight.

They are tired of the repeated accidents, I guess.  Whether this will help remains to be seen.if idiots were rolling through the 2-Way stop, why would the same idiots be less likely to roll through a 4-Way stop? 

I guess they think an accident will now require two simultaneous idiots, rather than one idiot and one guy with the legitimate right-of-way.

[Spunkygal]

Could they install speed buttons on the road a few yards before the stop signs? This would hopefully make drivers slow down as they drive over the buttons and as they approach the stop. And I’m not necessarily referring to those obnoxious speed slabs.

[Netfoot]

Not sure what you mean by "Speed Buttons". We use "Sleeping Policemen" here. AKA Speed-Bumps. And everybody hates them.

There is a system they use (or used?) in Europe that always struck me as very clever. They make a series of ridges across the road on the approach to the junction. They are quite small so they don't smash your suspension or disrupt your driving, but they make a little bump noise and a tiny vibration through the car as you roll over them. As you get closer to the junction the ridges are spaced progressively closer together. So the bump noises speed up. This gives the impression that the car is speeding up. Most drivers automatically put the brake on, to compensate for their car apparently "speeding up". As a result, drivers slow down involuntarily as they approach the junction.

I'd love to see them try something like that. Unfortunately, since they can't even fix the potholes in the road...

...it is probably too much to ask them to install and maintain such a system.

[Lovecat]

3 hours ago, Netfoot said:

There is a system they use (or used?) in Europe that always struck me as very clever. They make a series of ridges across the road on the approach to the junction. They are quite small so they don't smash your suspension or disrupt your driving, but they make a little bump noise and a tiny vibration through the car as you roll over them. As you get closer to the junction the ridges are spaced progressively closer together. So the bump noises speed up. This gives the impression that the car is speeding up. Most drivers automatically put the brake on, to compensate for their car apparently "speeding up". As a result, drivers slow down involuntarily as they approach the junction.

We call those rumble strips.

[Netfoot]

Just climbed in bed, but not to sleep. Still have to lock up the house, take a shower, read my book, appreciate some Led Zeppelin and some Janis, call Mo in for the night and set out something to eat tomorrow. Not necessarily in that order.

Ate the last of the breadfruit for dinner, boiled and served with mackerel in tomato sauce. Threw some pak choy in there as well. To be honest, I don't really like mackerel out of a tin. Not because of the taste but because I can't stand the little spine-bones in there. I have to spend 40 minutes with a magnifying glass and a pointy tweezers, picking out every last shred of bone and general yuk. Same for sardines.

Now someone is going to say how soft the bones are and how they are a good source of calcium and how I could just crunch them up and eat them. I don't care. That crap ain't food fit for human consumption so I ain't consuming it.

So why did I eat it if I don't like it? See, I went spelunking through the back of the cupboard with a torch in my mouth and found the stuff. I was planning to use tuna, but when I sound the mackerel...

And why is it in my house at all? Because I buy mackerel and sardines because I know they won't get eaten casually, so it is a good long-term food that will still be in the cupboard when the hurricane blows away the supermarket. Don't forget, it ain't the eating I don't like. It's the cooking!

Went looking for some boards to make a folding table or two. No, the tamarind is too short. I could mill it into narrow boards and glue them into wider boards. But you can't easily take short boards and make them longer.

But I found some old planks of pine. One is cupped and will have to be ripped into narrower sizes, planed and glued back together to get the cup out. One has a big sap pocket (it looks like) that will have to be cut out. And I think there may be some additional boards suitable to task in the pile.

The bandsaw tires are now "Received at Destination Country" but the chuck stuff is still with customs (five days, now).

I was bitching about not having any ½“ MDF to make a circle-cutting jig for the bandsaw, when I found a piece just about the perfect size! I can start the jig immediately but the final cut has to be made actually on the bandsaw itself.

So now I'm bitching that I don't have more ½“ MDF to make a cross-cut sled for the table saw. And to make spare throat plates. I could really use a zero-clearance throat plate. I wonder what a ¼-sheet would cost? A full sheet costs $61.44 but they may refuse to sell half or quarter sheets. I have some ¾" MDF but that is really too thick.

Mo just popped in, gave me a kiss and departed. I got some photos of him this afternoon.

What a sweet boy!

What an angel! So loving and gentle and

Yeouch! Nasty little devil!

Ok, I'll stop here and go have that shower, then take it from there.

ETA: Rumble Strips. What a perfect name!

Edited August 31, 2022 by Netfoot

[Browncoat]

I buy canned salmon because I love the bones.  I take them out of the fish and eat them before I do anything else with the salmon.  I do not, however, eat the fish skin.

[Netfoot]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I buy canned salmon because I love the bones.  I take them out of the fish and eat them before I do anything else with the salmon.

<gag!>

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I do not, however, eat the fish skin.

<double-gag!>

[Netfoot]

16:03 I'm lying in bed wearing only a pair of shorts that shall never be seen in public, with my book in hand.

16:04 <beep!> "Your package from Grizzly is ready for pickup!" Yay! Customs must have... Wait a minute. The package at customs was chuck parts from Penn State Industries. Not Grizzly! 

16:05 In the car, fully dressed for the road, with Mo strapped in. And we're rolling. We have 25 minutes to cover 2¼ miles of the busiest roads in the island. At rush-hour.

16:21 Standing in line to collect my package behind a very stupid woman who is being served by a completely clueless clerk.

16:28 I finally give my account number and collect my package.

16:29 Back in the van, heading home singing along to The Eton Rifles by The Jam. Well, one of us sings along and the other barks along!

16:46 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Netfoot

[ApprenticeFan]

Speaking of tourism, Japan is easing COVID restrictions from September 7 as the country is on the next phase of re-opening tourism. I wonder the country visiting foreign tourists in the post-pandemic world.

[Netfoot]

Ok, it seems I've shot myself in the foot.

I got home with the bandsaw tires as the light was starting to fail. Decided not to work on the machine I the dark. I could probably have got the tires on the wheels before dark, but then I would not want to stop. I'd be installing the wheels in the twilight, setting the blade in the first minutes of dark, and making test-cuts on wood scraps at midnight!

No, I decided. I would restrain myself and do the job tomorrow morning. Except now I'm reading the instructions which start by telling me to boil the tires for 15 minutes to soften them before stretching them I to place. I knew that, but what I didn't know was that after boiling, the tires should be left overnight to dry out/harden up again, before putting a blade on them!

Which means that if I get the tires on the wheels and the wheels back on the saw tomorrow, I should not put a blade on the machine until Friday! If I'd done nothing more than put the tires on in the fading light this afternoon, I could finish reassembly tomorrow and be cutting things up before lunch time!

<sigh>

Well, I'm telling myself that if I'm lucky, the chuck parts might be released tomorrow and collected before the weekend. Then I'll be slicing up logs and spinning them on the lathe all weekend!

(Of course, I never get that lucky...)

Now notice that the chuck key was ordered on the 8th, received in Florida on the 12th, forwarded on the 18th, arrived here on the 19th, ignored for six days until it was finally sent to customs on the 25th, where it's been ever since - 6 days and counting.

Whereas the tires were ordered on 23rd, reached Florida on 26th, forwarded on 29th, received here on 30th and ready for pickup on 30th 31st. 

The difference? One is $30 plus and automatically goes to customs whereas the other is less than $30 and avoids customs altogether.

I'm expecting the chuck bits to be released some time next week after 15-16 days time wasted, with approx. $62 in fees to be paid to the bloodsuckers customs department.

Lunch today was a simple meal of cabbage and corned beef. Dinner was corned beef and cabbage! I browned the cabbage at lunch, before adding the corned beef. Whereas at dinner I cooked up the corned beef first, then added the cabbage. Tomorrow, I'm going to have pasta. Either pasta or rice, but I think pasta. Probably with tuna fish just as a break from corned beef. Which I like, but too much of a good thing.... I might even have the pasta with egg, if I've got any more eggs remaining. And I will drink lots of tea. I say so only because I feel for a cup now but I'm too tired to get out of bed and brew one.

Guess I'll jook my finger in the morning and test the blood sugar again. Before I start binging pasta or rice. Or potatoes, for that matter, because I've got some. Or sweet potatoes...

Eyes feeling rather droopy. Guess I will say no more her and see if I can finish the chapter that I was halfway through this afternoon when I suddenly had to rush off and get that package. Then I will summon Mo and we will kill the lights and try to get some shut-eye. Might even try for a shower somewhere in there. 

Taken yesterday.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Netfoot

[Spunkygal]

You had me at corned beef and cabbage! 😛 Even though my mom was a really wonderful cook, she boiled the crap out of cabbage. I prefer it either browned as you indicated or when boiling, turn off the pan as soon as it comes to a boil. I like a little texture to it. And if corned beef isn’t around, smoked sausage is a yummy substitute. I usually have smoked sausage in the freezer. A local restaurant periodically has as a weekly special corned beef, cabbage and bread pudding. But my bread pudding is better than theirs. Don’t you love it when you like something you make better than how a restaurant does it! 

[Netfoot]

Well, it's 10:36 and I'm exhausted. I put one tire on one wheel and it took me nearly two hours. I followed instructions to the letter. It fought me like a boa constrictor on steroids. The whole time, I am terrified I'd either nick the edge of the tire (so that when I try to stretch it, it tears and destroys itself) or damage the rim itself (which must run true and is carefully balanced in the factory).

I boiled only one tire, thinking to myself that if the first one was a struggle, I didn't want to leave the second tire boiling all that time  Good thing too!

They say "Use two clamps." I used eight clamps. It didn't help. "Use  a ½" dowel in a drill." The dowel snapped like a breadstick under the strain from that tire, when it was stretched.  I eventually had to use a tool-rest off the lathe "⅝" chrome steel) and brute force to eventually get it on. 

I've stopped. To drink a large glass of iced water and a big mug of tea. Drenched with sweat. I know that even though I'm in full remission, the Myasthenia has left me weaker than usual.  But it didn't come across as me just being too weak. It was oe of those "I bet they got a special machine for this in the factory!" moments. For sure, once I get that second tire on, I ain't never doing this again without first collyfoxing some sort of mechanism to stretch tires for me.

Now I have to go look for a puppy. I have not seen him since he demanded I let him in at 6 AM. He insisted I open the door three times last night and the third time I bid him good night and left him outside. I think he will be under the bed, or under the car. I don't need him to move from where ever he is. I just want to be sure he is OK.

Oh, and I managed to boil the tip of my left index finger while dealing with boiled bandsaw tire! 

That dark patch amongst the dust is him!

[Netfoot]

The two tires are on. Here are the wheels with their boots on, laying on top of the sablesaw, where they will stay overnight.

(Forgot to include photo. Adding it now!)

Now I will crash out in bed until Monday. Because I am that exhausted. And my boiled finger hurts every time I bang it against something. Which happen three times a millisecond.

I better take that pot of boiling water off the stove. I want pasta for lunch but a) it's too early and b) I don't fancy urethane-flavoured macaroni.

I have not had a pool since I lived in Trinidad in my parents house. But if I had one now, I'd jump right in and drink the thing dry. Today is hotter than hell. (Yesterday too.) Add the steam and hot tire and the struggle, with machinery, I feel like I need to put ice on my head.

Mouse is still under the bed. Sleeping the day away, because he won't sleep at night. Part black panther, I believe. When I peep under, he only opens one eye to make sure it's only me, then closes it again.  I can tell, because a tiny point of light appears then vanished again.

Well, if I can't refit those wheels until tomorrow, I guess I will have to work on something else. I need a scraper. I'll try to make one from a piece of hardwood and a Stanley blade. Once scraped, the bandsaw table can be scrubbed with baking soda, and then cleaned down. I have to see if the fence must come off first. 

My boiled finger is hurting. I will put some ice on it. And I will go lie down with the fan blowing on me. There is one chapter left in my book, and after that, lunch.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I went to bed with an ice cube. Naturally, I held it in my mouth, slurping away any melt-water.

It only took one slurp before I was visited by someone who wanted to know what I was eating and where their share was.

I bit off a piece or two for him, but at first he didn't want that. He wanted my piece.

Now, with the ice cube vanished, so has he.

[Netfoot]

Mo and I are in and the door is locked. He seem a little down this evening. Not his usual fireball self. Will keep an eye on him.

Big achievement for today: getting the tires on those rims. The job was not easy. It would have helped if I had normal strength in hands and arms, but that isn't ever happening again. The second wheel took lest time than the first, but only because I didn't bother with all the techniques I tried with the first wheel... that didn't work.

Of course I was itching to reinstall the wheels and begin the process of setting up the saw. Once the wheels go on, the blade must be installed and the blade guides adjusted. They say the guides should be positioned using a dollar bill as a gauge. I don't have any dollar bills so I will use a worthless Scottish £10 note instead.

So to occupy myself this afternoon, I cleaned the cast iron table on the bandsaw and then applies a coating to try and keep the rust at bay. While I was at it I applied a coat to the table saw as well. So you know the first thing tomorrow I will begin reassembly of the saw.

I cooked a simple meal today, of macaroni and a not-really-a-sauce from tuna and pak choy. Seasoned with garlic, Worcester and some balsamic vinegar. I made sure there was enough for two meals, lunch and dinner. Tomorrow I'm thinking a pot of rice. Corned beef, some type of bean or possibly channa, carrots, sweet and/or English potato, cucumber and pak choy. Maybe not all of those things. I have a small saucepan that makes a nice pot of rice but not really enough for two meals. So maybe I'll cook separate pots of rice for lunch and dinner, and vary the ingredients. Or use a bigger pot and cook one time. Making enough for two meals. We'll see.

Mo just came and stood on the bedside table to look out the window.

Then got snuggled up with my left side and is now sprawlaxed in a tickle-my-tummy position. OK, now he is lying on his side... No, back to the window! He's been very snoozy all day. I hope this doesn't mean he will be doing zoomies and barking for the entire night! Now he has left the room.

Checked the status on the other package. It is still being processed by customs. Today is one week. There is a statutory requirement for customs to process your "Entry" in four working days. Of course, anyone who ever makes a fuss about them taking two weeks can be sure that no future shipment of thiers would enter the country smoothly ever again.

Mo is now bathing me. I told him I intend to take a bath shortly but it made no difference. His nose is back out the window again...

Let me start my playlist... Desert Rose by Sting. I could tell you a funny/sad story about my sister and parachute jumping and this song, but it wouldn't make any sense without so much back-story we'd be here all night. Sufficient to say that the fact she not only didn't recognize the song but had never even heard of Sting undermined all the cred that jumping out of an aeroplane was supposed to have gained her.

I finished the book I was reading. Yep, Todd ain't a patch on Anne herself. As feared, there was some mild bodice ripping for which there is absolutely no place in the Pernese universe. But the ending made no sense.

In a nutshell, a pandemic sweeps the land and many die. The hero of the story and his mates are apprentice Harpers who work tirelessly to save as many people as possible, and help find a solution to the crisis. In the final chapter after the pandemic has been defeated, these apprentices are allowed to "walk the tables" signifying their promotion from apprentice to journeyman.

But I don't see how deftly changing bedpans and applying cool damp cloths to the foreheads of the sick is any indication that their skill at Harpering has advanced to a point that justifies promotion to journeyman. Sorry, the ending makes no sense.

Anyway, my new book is set in 1935 in the early days days of the 3rd Reich and a soldier of fortune flees Nazi Germany and takes a job smuggling guns from Rumania to Abyssinia and eventually into the hands of the Ethiopian army, so they can oppose the advances of Benito Mussolini's invading forces. I'm only a handful of pages in, so we will have to see what we see.

Anyway, I'll go get a shower now, and approach said book for a chapter before dousing the lanterns. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I got a good 2½ hours of sleep last night. Thanks to a puppy barking, body slamming the front door and generally insisting he be let in and out. Finally dozed off at 3:30 and was roused again just before 6:00! Got a few extra ZZZZ before finally getting up. Two of my neighbor's cats frolicking 6 feet from my gate and Mo going crazy. The neighbors blame Mo, of course, not the kitties. That's why a deftly thrown stone sent them packing! (Stone carefully avoids hitting kitty, of course. I'm saving them for the wood chipper!)

So, there was something else I had to do this morning. Now, what was that? 🤣

Wheels reattached,

and blade installed. (Looks rusty!)

Blade guides adjusted, blade tensioned.

Tools needed: four metric Allen keys and a ½" spanner. Also a couple of banknotes. 

The banknotes should really have been a set of feeler gauges, but the last time I needed them, I couldn't find them. So I borrowed a set and unfortunately, they were damaged. So I had to replace them with my own set (which I'd found by then). So: no feeler gauges, hence banknotes.

I'm surprised that four different Allen keys were needed. The choice of screws used in the machine could have been altered to reduce that to only two. But that might have increased the cost of production by 3¢ so of course, they didn't do that. 

Also, the one bolt (tapered pin, actually) that required the ½" spanner could have easily been replaced by one if essentially any size. Another opportunity to reduce the tool count. 

Now, all the required Allen keys were included in the set provided by Grizzly for the table saw. Good thing I actually have their table saw, then, isn't it?

It wouldn't really matter since I already have a good set of Allen keys. But it's convenient that I do have their set, because I can leave them by the saws. 

Consider that if they had gone with the 3¢ more expensive set of screws with their design, they could have saved money on the set of Allen keys they provide free. <shrug>

[Netfoot]

But the proof of the pudding...

A wavy cut through a piece of scrap to confirm the machine works. Wavier cuts would require a narrower blade. The saw can handle (and I have) a ⅛“ blade, which is supposed to make a ⅛" radius cut.

A straight cut against the fence. It cuts straight enough. No band saw will ever make a straight cut as good as a table saw but this is not bad.

Similarly, cut quality of a bandsaw will never equal that if a table saw, but once again, not too bad! A wider blade is better for straight cuts. This saw is capable of handling a 1" blade but I don't have one. The widest I have is ¾“ but this blade is about ⅜“ only. 

[Netfoot]

However, a big-assed bandsaw is really expected to do some re-sawing. Which again is best done with a wide blade with only a few teeth per inch. But with that same old ⅜“ blade...

I stopped the cut several times and used my fingertip to check for overheating of the blade. Don't want to melt the new tires that cost me $101.36 and eight days, plus some stress! But the blade remained cool the whole time, barely warm to the touch.

The cut isn't too bad considering that there was nothing keeping the wood "upright" other than hand and eye. 

Later, I will try to cut a bowl-blank out of one of these pieces and get it ready for the lathe. Still won't be able to turn it properly without the chuck, so avidly awaiting the arrival of those jaws and the key.

Which, as of a moment ago, were still being processed by customs. If they become available today (and I've had goods become "Ready For Pickup" as late as nine at night) then I can go collect them up until 1:00 tomorrow afternoon.

But that is just me being unrealistically hopeful. It's Friday and nobody in the government service (like customs) is going to do a stroke of work today. Ditto Monday. So the earliest I could realistically look to see the shipment released is Tuesday next week. Which would be 12 days; the time it took my last customs-processed shipment to be released.

[Netfoot]

Ok, so I swore I wouldn't, but...

Turning between centers. A "Drive Center" on the spindle has several spikes jammed into the blank, allowing the spindle to spin it. A "Live Center" on the tailstock stops the blank from falling off the drive center and prevents wobble. This piece of wood is not balanced, so at lowest speed the entire lathe jiggles like crazy. Once it's been trued up a little, the balance will improve and the speed can be turned up.

Ideally, I'd have used a "Wood-Worm Screw" instead of drive/live centers. And I have one, but I don't know where it's got to in the last few years. And it works with the chuck anyhow, so not useful until the new key gets here. By which time the original key will probably show up. Along with the wood-worm screw!

The piece of wood dictates to a large degree what the turning will look like. There was plenty of bark which I wanted to cut away, and the base of the bowl developed this shape in order to accomplish this goal.

The wood-worm screw would allow me to dispense with the live center giving better access to work on the base. Right now, the tail stock fouls on the handle of my chisels, making work on the base difficult.

Notice the wide recess turned into the base, which provides a rim on which the finished bowl will sit. It also provides a recess (generally called a tenon, or more correctly a mortice) into which the jaws of the chuck can be expanded to grip the base, allowing the top of the bowl to be hollowed. 

Also, you can see the conical point of the live center pressing into a little nub of wood. This is to be removed when all other work on the base is complete. The conical point is called a live center because it has a bearing in it. The entire cone can spin along with the wood. There are also dead centers. They work exactly the same but have no bearing. The wood just spins around an immobile pointy bit. 

The surface is quite rough at present. When I'm satisfied I will resharpen my chisels and give the whole base a skimming cut, then start in with the sandpaper and finish.

The top of the blank incorporates the curve of the side of the trunk/branch of the tree. It is covered with bark. I will hollow this out (when I can use the chuck) to make the inside of the bowl. This will leave the rim/lip of the bowl uneven. This is called a "live edge" and can sometimes even have the bark left on it. In this case, the bark was thick and had a soft, pulpy, black under-layer so I won't keep that. (Large chunks of bark were flying off at speed and smacking me in the face anyway!) I will remove most of it with the chisel when hollowing. What remains on the rim won't be touched by the chisel so a wire wheel will remove the remains of the bark.

Well, the saw seems to be working and is useful in producing blanks for the lathe if nothing else. I've started to rough out one blank but I should really wait until the chuck is operational before going any further. 

Of course, I forgot about lunch so I will have to have a large dinner instead. 

But first, a shower.  I'm covered in shavings. And I've brushed away shavings several times before this photo. What with flying chunks of bark and a snowstorm of shavings, you can understand why my face shield is my favourite piece of equipment for this pastime. 

Mo took one look and vanished. He has spent the day snoozing in the gloom under the bed, anyway. He had a tiring night keeping me from sleeping, so the poor baby needs to rest. But I suspect he would enjoy his lunch, the little trencherman! So I will get that for him and then take a shower. Or do some more turning.....

[Netfoot]

Naturally, I couldn't leave it alone. 

I started hollowing out the bowl, working around the head stock. This is a silly thing to do. It isn't possible to finish the hollowing until you can grip the bowl by its base, which requires the chuck. If I hollow away so much that the huge nub in the middle breaks, the bowl will go flying into orbit. The nub is also required for the drive center you currently see jammed into it.

Part of the finished bowl will have a finished rim (on two opposite sides) while it looks like the other two sides of the rim will be live-edged. It really depends on what the bowl wants to be - the wood dictates much of what the final outcome is.

The bowl can go deeper and the wall can go thinner. But not while it is still between centers. I was running afoul of the tail stock earlier and now the head stock is fouling the chisels. 

So I sharpened my favourite round-nosed scraper and gave the outer surface a very light cut. The surface finish was much improved. After that I started with a scrap of sandpaper and it didn't come out too bad. There is definitely potential here. Let's hope nothing unexpected happens to ruin the piece.

If you notice a dark spot inside the bowl near the drive center nub, you can check back and see it extends out the bottom of the bowl. This is where a small branch grew out sideways. This may cause the bowl to leak water. But you know what they say about wood turnings: "If it will hold water it's a bowl. If it won't, it's art!"

One rattle of his feeding station and Mo was front & center in a flash. After his meal he took his repose and watched me on the lathe. Until the shavings started coming his way...

Edited September 2, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I've been giving my wood turning today some thought. A bowl (vase, vessel, box, etc) requires turning on both sides. You can turn the first side (either the inside of the bowl itself or the underside/base) between centers, with a face-plate, on a wood-worm screw, or with a chuck. Once the side has been shaped, sanded and finished it is then necessary to flip it over and do the other half of the bowl. Holding the bowl by the already finished side without marring the surface is difficult. The easiest and arguably best way is with a chuck. You could use hot-glue blocks, jam-chucks, vacuum fixtures, and more but nothing beats the ease and convenience if a chuck with a selection of jaws. 

And I have a chuck! But until I can get the replacement key in my hands I can't use it without engaging in unusual prying and poking at the internals to open and close the jaws. Which risks damaging the chuck internals. Not a good plan. 

I tried to turn a bowl this afternoon after the band saw was made operational. You have likely seen the pictures.  I cut a reverse tenon on the base which I will try to hold by expanding my Cole jaws without plastic/rubber buttons. But the reverse tenon is a bit shallow for my liking. I couldn't get it deeper because the tail stock kept fouling the handle of the chisels. Not only does that reverse tenon need to be cleaned up but the small nub used by the live center needs to be removed and the underside of the piece finished properly. 

The easiest way to accomplish all this would seem to me to use the much larger nub being used by the drive center (also called a "spur center"). I need to clean this up and grip it in a chuck, allowing the tailstock/live center to be removed and the bottom of the bowl finished without them getting in the way. 

You see? We're back to needing a chuck again! So I think the best thing to do is to sit back, drink alternate cups of sweet tea or iced water, enjoy the relentless, baking, soul-destroying heat, try to guess what my clepto-puppy will half-inch next

and wait for customs to finally release the parts. Which as of nine PM today they have not done yet. Of course. Friday, remember? And hope that when they finally do release the shipment, they don't screw me so hard I can't pay it!

I missed lunch today. When my 2:00 PM meds alarm went off, I was covered in shavings and didn't want to go into the kitchen to start cooking at that stage. So come dinner time I was quite peckish.

I  started with rice, and added a tin of channa. Peeled and chopped a couple of carrots, three leaves of pak choy to give crunchy bits (stems) and green stripes (leaves) and half a tin of corned beef. Some garlic powder and just enough red pepper flakes to make your lips tingle.

Contemplated sweet & English potatoes, cucumber, onion and a few other possibilities, but decided against them. It was the right thing to do. The rice came out tasty without being overpowered by extra ingredients. I don't know if because I was hungry, but I was a little heavy handed and the meal turned out to be a little larger than usual. Yet after dinner there wasn't a single grain of rice on the plate left for Mo. Sorry, baby. 

Well, the bandsaw seems to be working fine, the table saw is working fine, the lathe will be working fine once customs releases the bits. I guess I should get that dust-collection unit running so as to keep the two saws clear of sawdust. The drill press could use the table cleaning up and if I'm going to get the dust collector going I could as well hook up the spindle sander, scroll saw and thickness planer to it. 

The door is locked, Mo is snoozing next to it. Alison Goldfrapp sings Horse Tears, I had a good long shower and shampooed half a tamarind tree out of my hair, my book awaits and tomorrow...

Well, tomorrow it will be alternate cups of sweet tea and iced water, and probably more relentless, sanity-stealing heat.

Oh. By the way. I broke my specs again. This is the sixth time now. I think the plastic frames have reached their chemically pre-programmed, self-destruct age.

[luv2lurk]

On 8/20/2022 at 12:12 AM, Netfoot said:

Got some interesting/important news which I will tell in the morning. 

Umm still waiting for this - unless it was Mo's Bday 

As for the microwave I think your new stove came with a newfangled thing called an oven. What can you do in an oven? Bake potatoes (no pan required) and re-heat food (no fancy pan required). I'm too lazy to find the posts on these matters, but yeash.

[Netfoot]

16 hours ago, luv2lurk said:

Umm still waiting for this - unless it was Mo's Bday 

As for the microwave I think your new stove came with a newfangled thing called an oven. What can you do in an oven? Bake potatoes (no pan required) and re-heat food (no fancy pan required). I'm too lazy to find the posts on these matters, but yeash.

So sorry! Yes, the news -- perhaps more interesting than important -- was Mo's birthday. Sorry for leaving you in suspense.

You are absolutely correct and I am an idiot. I must put the thing to use next time I feel like eating spuds. Now why didn't I think of that myself?

Thanks!

Edited September 3, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Heard a rattle in the passage. Somebody dropped something. And it wasn't me. Sounded like a small piece of wood. Possibly a scrap, scrounged off the floor of the garage. 

A puppy runs past. He runs fast. There is something in his mouth. What is it? Can't see - it is all ablur.

I am compelled to give chase. Can't let the puppy have it if it's something important or useful. 

It's a small block of wood. Its... my new cell phone stand. Well, I knew it would only be a matter of time. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve it unchewed! Next time, who knows?

[Netfoot]

In bed without Mo. Will see if he wants to be in or out when it's time to lock up. 

Playing some music (Dirty Hole by VAST) and contemplating my book. My soldier of fortune has fled Germany with the Gestapo hot in his heels, and made it to London.

Only one meal today, at about 5 PM so I am not sure if that is Linner or Dunch. Decided to keep the carbs low, so it was the other half of the tin of corned beef from yesterday with sliced onion, diced cucumber, a tin of red kidney beans and several leaves of pak choy chopped up, stalks and leaves alike. Seasoned with a touch of garlic and more than a touch of red pepper flakes. It was so good Mo couldn't wait for me to finish. I had to pause my meal and put 3-4 spoons of it into a bowl for him to eat right now!

For tomorrow, I've put a piece of chicken to defrost and will fry it and have it with @luv2lurk's roast potatoes. That will be lunch. Dinner has to be simple, because if we go to the club I don't want to come in after dark and then start any sort of complicated tom-foolery in the kitchen. So either a simple pasta or a pot of rice. 

Tomorrow, I have to run to the pharmacy to get warfarin. I hate going to the pharmacy on the weekend, especially on Sunday. But I forgot and now I must, or face Dr. Kristi's wrath. Hoping to take Mo up to the club later in the day.   

So, apart from making and eating lunch, I did very little else other than watch crap on YT and a silly movie with a rather attractive heroine. Why then, am I filthy from head to foot? Yesterday I took a long shower with plenty of scrubbing and even washed my hair. But this morning, I cleaned the black under-bark from the live-edge of that bowl in the lathe. (In hindsight I should have used a faceplate rather than turning it between centers. But not to digress...) I never turned the lathe itself on at all! I just wire-brushed the parts of the rim of the bowl that were covered by the black stuff. But it seems that black stuff turns to a fine powder when disturbed. And it distributed itself all over me. So, while I would normally be considering a quick sluice before bed, I think I will have to have another serious scrub-down instead.

Well, we've progressed to Alice Cooper now (School's Out) so I'd better stop here and look to the shower. Mo was snoozing in the passage just now, but I think he's gone out. When I am on my way back from the shower I'll poke my nose outside and ask.... Oh! He just hopped on the bed! I wonder if he will stand still long enough for a photo?

Yes, he was OK with that. He is now licking a nasty scrape on my leg from where I dropped the piece of wood on it yesterday, rough bark and all. Now he's curled up and leans against my back.

But I still need to hit the shower, so...

Edited September 4, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Went off to get my warfarin and they make me wait 30 minutes while they put 45 tablets in a pill-bottle.

So naturally I went and bought some groceries, which is (I believe) the reason they make you wait at the pharmacy. Couple tins of corned beef, couple little boxes of milk, a breadfruit, a few carrots, a tub of red butter and half a cabbage. Forty two bucks!?!! Still, saw something I have not seen in a long time: a complete cabbage for sale. They are usually so expensive nobody can afford them so they cut them in half for sale. My half-cabbage was six bucks and change...

Came home and Mo who was so excited to jump in the car is so disappointed. He thought he was going to the club snd and instead he was back home in a jiffy. I wish I could tell him, we will (weather permitting) be going up later.

Cut a small bowl blank out of a piece of tamarind. 

It's about 6½" in diameter but the bowl will eventually be smaller than this after the outside is cleaned up. I will attach a faceplate to the flat surface and turn the base using that.  Once again, the chuck will be necessary to hold the base and allow the center to be hollowed. First I need to make a centering tool that will allow the faceplate to be properly centered on that little dent in the center.

Drawing out the circle would have been much easier if the spring on my big pair of compasses had not chosen to break. So now I have to make a pair of compasses as well!

Still need to make a circle cutting jig. 

So much for me to do! So much laziness standing in my way!

Despondent puppy not realizing that the day is young!

Edited September 5, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Good afternoon at the club! More later...

[Netfoot]

Took Mo to the field as promised. He was happy and I enjoyed the fresh air and relaxing surroundings. 

I was first to arrive, but Rudy soon showed up with his Spacewalker and his Puppeteer. And minutes later came Austin with the Gorrion and a trainer of some sort. The field needed a hair cut so I took the mower and mowed the strip and the pits area, plus the area in front of the clubhouse itself. I was going to stop at that point but Austin took over and did some of the parking area and a rough patch we are gradually trying to rehabilitate.

The Pup was the first in the air, but wasn't handling to Rudy's liking so he came in early. The motor was not producing the power he wanted. What has he changed? Well, that old Enya has always run like a Rolls Royce despite having the pressure nozzle broken off years ago. Without this, the fuel tank can't be pressurized which means the engine should be temperamental. But they forgot to tell this to the Enya, because like I said, it ticks like a clock! So after many years Rudy got a replacement muffler and reintroduced a pressurized fuel system. And now the old Enya gives nothing but trouble. Rudy says he's glad he didn't throw the broken one away, because it's going back on the aeroplane tomorrow!

Austin then flew his Gorrion while Rudy flew his Spacewalker. The Spacewalker kept trying to dive into the ground. This was quickly diagnosed as a bent pushrod and the aircraft was flying again as soon as the pushrod was straightened. 

At this time we were supprised to see what we thought was Kevin's pickup approaching. But no, it was David who drives a near-identical vehicle. He says that Kev was very much more shaken up by last weekend's crash than he let on!

David brought his son with him this afternoon (and Mo fell instantly in love) and spent part of the time teaching Zach how to pilot his racing drone. Zach can fly it perfectly well, but Dave was giving him exercises that would hone his racing skills.

Dave also brought a modified low-wing Sonic powered by a Saito FA-56GK. I have that exact same motor and flew it very successfully in my old Elder. That motor works beautifully! And the black and gold colour scheme is just pure sex-appeal!

Around this time Austin turn-stalled the Gorrion and it spiraled rapidly into the ground. It was recovered with the cowl broken (it was made of wood) and a crack in the skin it the top deck forward of the cockpit. Easy repair.

As the sun went down, we sat in the clubhouse talking slow aeroplanes and fast women, as well as drinking rum. (Zach and I skipped the spirits.) And eventually we all set off tor home.

I was diverted again and my "Check Engine" light came on. About ¾ of the way through the diversion Mo and I came upon a gridlock of cars and nobody moving. I waited a while but I think there must have been a serious accident up ahead, so when people began turning around I did the same. So diverted from my diversion! And after a while I realized that this new course would take me miles out of my way. So I diverted from my diverted diversion and made my way home, wondering the whole way if we would make it.

Now, as it happened, I had had nothing all day but some OJ at the club (with no rum in it) So I didn't cook @luv2lurk's roasted potatoes because I didn't feel like experimenting with the newfangled iven oven  thingy. I just boiled them while cooking a piece of chicken, then browned them in the hot chicken oil, then made turkey gravy to go with the combination. It went down well enough and hunger made an excellent sauce.

Listening to I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me) by Marilyn Manson. Puppy was right here snoring but he just jumped up and ran off. I've already had my shower, so when I'm done here I will go lock the door with him in or out as he chooses. Then a few pages of my book until the Sandman calls.

Tomorrow? Will cut a few more bowl blanks, possibly even working on a circle cutting jig. They are easy enough to make. The hard part is making it adjustable for different size circles. Customs is not likely to release the package before Tuesday and all I can do is grit my teeth and hope I get it before next weekend and that they don't decide to wait another week to process it through.

I had a look at the off-cuts from the current bowl and I think I may be able to turn a bangle out of it. Them. I wonder if a bangle made of tamarind wood would stand up to regular use? But what does it matter? If I make it I certainly won't wear it, so it will sit around collecting dust until it eventually gets thrown out.

OK, let me go and see if the puppy wants in or out. I leave you with a picture of him today with that lovely, rich chocolate colour in the ridge that only afternoon sunlight can bring out:

Edited September 5, 2022 by Netfoot

[luv2lurk]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Took Mo to the field as promised. He was happy and I enjoyed the fresh air and relaxing surroundings. 

I was first to arrive, but Rudy soon showed up with his Spacewalker and his Puppeteer. And minutes later came Austin with the Gorrion and a trainer of some sort. The field needed a hair cut so I took the mower and mowed the strip and the pits area, plus the area in front of the clubhouse itself. I was going to stop at that point but Austin took over and did some of the parking area and a rough patch we are gradually trying to rehabilitate.

The Pup was the first in the air, but wasn't handling to Rudy's liking so he came in early. The motor was not producing the power he wanted. What has he changed? Well, that old Enya has always run like a Rolls Royce despite having the pressure nozzle broken off years ago. Without this, the fuel tank can't be pressurized which means the engine should be temperamental. But they forgot to tell this to the Enya, because like I said, it ticks like a clock! So after many years Rudy got a replacement muffler and reintroduced a pressurized fuel system. And now the old Enya gives nothing but trouble. Rudy says he's glad he didn't throw the broken one away, because it's going back on the aeroplane tomorrow!

Austin then flew his Gorrion while Rudy flew his Spacewalker. The Spacewalker kept trying to dive into the ground. This was quickly diagnosed as a bent pushrod and the aircraft was flying again as soon as the pushrod was straightened. 

At this time we were supprised to see what we thought was Kevin's pickup approaching. But no, it was David who drives a near-identical vehicle. He says that Kev was very much more shaken up by last weekend's crash than he let on!

David brought his son with him this afternoon (and Mo fell instantly in love) and spent part of the time teaching Zach how to pilot his racing drone. Zach can fly it perfectly well, but Dave was giving him exercises that would hone his racing skills.

Dave also brought a modified low-wing Sonic powered by a Saito FA-56GK. I have that exact same motor and flew it very successfully in my old Elder. That motor works beautifully! And the black and gold colour scheme is just pure sex-appeal!

Around this time Austin turn-stalled the Gorrion and it spiraled rapidly into the ground. It was recovered with the cowl broken (it was made of wood) and a crack in the skin it the top deck forward of the cockpit. Easy repair.

As the sun went down, we sat in the clubhouse talking slow aeroplanes and fast women, as well as drinking rum. (Zach and I skipped the spirits.) And eventually we all set off tor home.

I was diverted again and my "Check Engine" light came on. About ¾ of the way through the diversion Mo and I came upon a gridlock of cars and nobody moving. I waited a while but I think there must have been a serious accident up ahead, so when people began turning around I did the same. So diverted from my diversion! And after a while I realized that this new course would take me miles out of my way. So I diverted from my diverted diversion and made my way home, wondering the whole way if we would make it.

Now, as it happened, I had had nothing all day but some OJ at the club (with no rum in it) So I didn't cook @luv2lurk's roasted potatoes because I didn't feel like experimenting with the newfangled iven thingy. I just boiled them while cooking a piece of chicken, then browned them in the hot chicken oil, then made turkey gravy to go with the combination. It went down well enough and hunger made an excellent sauce.

Listening to I Don't Like The Drugs (But The Drugs Like Me) by Marilyn Manson. Puppy was right here snoring but he just jumped up and ran off. I've already had my shower, so when I'm done here I will go lock the door with him in or out as he chooses. Then a few pages of my book until the Sandman calls.

Tomorrow? Will cut a few more bowl blanks, possibly even working on a circle cutting jig. They are easy enough to make. The hard part is making it adjustable for different size circles. Customs is not likely to release the package before Tuesday and all I can do is grit my teeth and hope I get it before next weekend and that they don't decide to wait another week to process it through.

I had a look at the off-cuts from the current bowl and I think I may be able to turn a bangle out of it. Them. I wonder if a bangle made of tamarind wood would stand up to regular use? But what does it matter? If I make it I certainly won't wear it, so it will sit around collecting dust until it eventually gets thrown out.

OK, let me go and see if the puppy wants in or out. I leave you with a picture of him today with that lovely, rich chocolate colour in the ridge that only afternoon sunlight can bring out:

[luv2lurk]

2 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Now, as it happened, I had had nothing all day but some OJ at the club (with no rum in it) So I didn't cook @luv2lurk's roasted potatoes because I didn't feel like experimenting with the newfangled iven thingy. I just boiled them while cooking a piece of chicken, then browned them in the hot chicken oil, then made turkey gravy to go with the combination. It went down well enough and hunger made an excellent sauce.

That sounds delicious (and I know an iven is an oven)

But since you have mentioned me a couple of times I feel compelled to respond regarding cooking potatoes in the oven.

I always leave the skin on after cleaning it and then poke with a fork. So you can put them as is in the oven (375F for about 45 -60 minutes for medium ones, but you are going to have to figure out how hot your oven is) I would cook more than one for a meal to be used  next day ie re-heat by frying.

If you want faster potatoes in the oven, cut into 1/8 wedges then sprinkle with olive oil S&P and rosemary or your red pepper seasoning. Still probably 35 minutes for this option  and it does require a flat bottomed pan.

Edited September 5, 2022 by luv2lurk

[Netfoot]

5 hours ago, luv2lurk said:

That sounds delicious (and I know an iven is an oven)

But since you have mentioned me a couple of times I feel compelled to respond regarding cooking potatoes in the oven.

I always leave the skin on after cleaning it and then poke with a fork. So you can put them as is in the oven (375F for about 45 -60 minutes for medium ones, but you are going to have to figure out how hot your oven is) I would cook more than one for a meal to be used  next day ie re-heat by frying.

If you want faster potatoes in the oven, cut into 1/8 wedges then sprinkle with olive oil S&P and rosemary or your red pepper seasoning. Still probably 35 minutes for this option  and it does require a flat bottomed pan.

I am going to try this. Both ways! But I don't want to do it when I'm rushed or tired or distracted. I don't want it to go wrong - or I could be oven-shy for life!

[Netfoot]

😡😪😕

😠😏🥰

🙂😁🤣

[Netfoot]

Miserable, hot day. The sort where you sit around and just drip. And at home with only Mo around, I am as close to nekkid as I can get, with just a tiny pair of shorts to keep my equipment from getting caught in the machinery!

Still wet from the shower, I entered the bedroom to find Mo sitting on the bed. Eating a dowel. Which he stole from behind the lathe. 

You can tell from his face he thinks he is in trouble. But I don't have any use for this particular dowel, so I just gave his head a snuffle and his chin a tickle and went and closed the front door. Now he has gone off, leaving chewed dowel-bits all over the end of the bed for me to clean up. 

The fan is blowing and the window is open but there is very little breeze coming in. Paradise by Sade is playing and I am feeling sorta relaxed for the first time all day.

I didn't do much today.  Attached faceplates to two pieces of tamarind and (after temporarily removing the piece I have been working on) attached the larger to the spindle to check for clearance. It spins but it's well out of balance and truing it up will be the first priority, to stop the lathe dancing around the garage. 

The second and smaller piece (right) is sitting on top of the headstock with the faceplate facing the camera. Yes, it's only attached with two screws. No, I won't make the foolish mistake of spinning it without adding the two remaining screws. The other piece (left) is screwed onto the spindle and (after some effort) spins clear of the ways. I may take it off and try to round it up a bit before actually turning it. Depends how bad the lathe shakes when I turn it on.

Chuck still out if commission, but using faceplates I can get these two chinks of wood half done and wait until customs gets their finger out their ass to finish. I'd do more than two, but I only have two small faceplates. And I don't fancy using glue-blocks.

So what else did I do? I tried using a piece of MDF to create a zero-clearance throat plate. If you look back you will see a red throat plate in the table saw photos with a slot for the blade and riving knife to come up through. You don't need the eyes of a hawk to see that the slot is several times wider than the blade itself. Usually not a problem until you want to cut thin strips or little bits on the saw. If they are small enough, they can fall down between the side if the slot and the blade, and get lost in the guts of the machine. So most folk make a plate with no slot. Then with the blade fully retracted they fit it into the throat. The saw is then started and the blade raised to cut a slot that perfectly fits the blade with zero clearance. I did this with a suitable thickness of MDF but despite the blade cutting the slot, the slot ended up too narrow for the blade. Eh? I don't understand either. And I decided not to chase that mystery today. Ideally, I'd use Baltic birch plywood instead of MDF but the MDF while not ideal should actually work! Another thing to follow up on when I get a chance.

After the one meal last night I woke up and told myself to have three meals today! I could start with pasta, then next meal would be potatoes and finish with rice for the third meal of the day. But in the end I settled for two meals.

I cooked up a simple sauce of onion, tuna, tomato, carrots,  cucumber and pak choy. I had half of that with linguine for lunch. For dinner I cooked plain, white rice. With a lot of garlic and some red pepper flakes. I poured the remainder of my sauce, reheated of course, over the rice and added the last bit of red butter from the tub. I enjoyed both meals.

Tomorrow, the book tent will be erected but I have no reason to drive down there. I have to go to the pharmacy later in the week but if I go tomorrow instead, they won't dispense the meds because I'll be early. I'd like to go just so Mo can meet his ladies, but with ga$ always short and the pesky "Check Engine" light popping on now and again I would prefer to do as little driving as possible. Which is not really new. I always did prefer to schedule to get as much done as possible, on each trip away from home.

Mo is back now and shuns the part of the bed covered in dowel-chips. Obviously! 

My gun-running soldier of fortune discovered that the man he was buying a consignment of used weapons from was planning to betray him. The plan was to keep the guns and the money and turn my hero over to the Gestapo from whom he had previously fled, earlier in the book. But our guy was smart enough to make off with a consignment of new weapons and most of the cash, leaving the betrayer to explain to his superiors what happened to the new guns and deal with the angry Germans to boot! I am getting flashes here and there of knowing what will happen next. I've obviously read it before! But so small and disconnected are the flashes of memory that they aren't spoiling the book for me. 

Puppy has started twitching in his sleep. A dream, hopefully a happy one: him chasing a rabbit rather than a lion chasing him! I will go and rub his tummy gently. I know that used to calm Buddy when he dreamed...

Speaking of rabbits, last night before we left the club (it was quite dark) the guys were drinking rum and telling lies when a large "bush donkey" (a hare) hopped out of the dark into the perimeter of our lights. He was trying to figure out how to get from one side of our green protective fence to the other and it was a while before he figured to walk around it. Meanwhile sleepy (but awake) Mo wandered around between us and never saw a thing! Buddy would have given immediate chase had he seen it, and Dotty would have as well. Mo has not yet met one so we can only assume. But last night wasn't the time to find out for sure.

Sleep!

[Netfoot]

Just spent an hour dancing the Jitter-Bug with the lathe. It walked all over the place, but I finally got the blank trued up enough for the shape of the piece to be seen, and running smooth enough for the speed to be turned up a bit.

With that, I started roughing out the tenon, which serves as the point by which the chuck will grip for the hollowing to be done. It also serves as the foot upon which the finished bowl will stand.

There is some nice colour coming out of the wood and the unexpected appearance of spalting was a pleasure too. 

Spalting is that pattern of dark lines that comes as a result of chemicals given off by bacterial activity within the grain of the wood. It isn't too pronounced but is definitely visible in this piece of wood. If left unattended, the spalted areas would eventually be the first to decay (rot).

[Netfoot]

The piece had has only been roughly cut, with a light skim and a few seconds of sanding to remove any possible splinters. The finished shape will develop later. 

The foot of the bowl as it currently stands, includes a spec of wain, which is where the outer edge of the original log has not been fully removed.

I can eliminate this entirely by simply turning it off and reforming the foot in all fresh-cut wood. But I think I may leave this in the finished piece. It does not affect the ability to stand, and it fits in with my "Modern Rustic" approach to woodwork, which conceals any screw-ups by making them features of the job.

The top of the bowl is untouched and obviously no work can be done here until the bottom is complete, sanded and finished. (Not sure what finish I will use.) Then the faceplate can be unscrewed and the foot/tenon gripled gripped in the chuck so shaping/hollowing can begin. Which conveniently removes the holes left in the wood by the faceplate screws.

Have made no decision about the top/rim. I could leave the wain for a bit of live-edged action. Or turn down until I have all fresh wood to give me a completely new, shaped rim. Final decision when I see it on the chuck. If ever.

Let's have another Look at that spalting!

Isn't that wild? Provided free of charge by mother nature herself. I have a little 'bowl' made from some Casuarina that sits on my desk with my meds in it in little pill boxes. It has some light spalting too. Seems that if you leave your logs outside in the weather for a few years you can pick up the spalting that way. But if you leave them too long, you end up with rotten wood.

Edited September 6, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I was attempting to make a trivet. It's a slice across a log, and more spalting can be seen.

Fail!

Both sides of this slab were rough-sawn, so I hot-glued one side to a disk and flattened the other side with chisels and a sanding bar. The lathe spat the trivet off at high speed, like a demented frisbee. Fortunately, it went away from me. 

Remounted the other way round and tried flattening the other side. The problem is that the more I flattened the thinner it got and the more it warped, requiring more flattening, which made it thinner, which made it warp even more...

Eventually, it detached itself and did the demented, high-speed frisbee thing again, this time passing directly between my legs (without touching anything) and coming to rest in a pile of shavings.

That's when I decided I'm done with this piece. It's only ¼" thick now, with a dish in one side and a matching hump in the other. And goodness knows what it would do if you heated it by putting a dish of hot corned-beef stew on it... It's obviously junk. I have a few more slices that I might try because they are thicker. I have to get myself a cricket box before I try, though.

Here is a peep at my Casuarina bill pill-box bowl mentioned earlier:

Some slight spalting visible. What is also visible if I turn the bowl a bit is...

the reason this is not actually a bowl at all. It's obviously not able to hold water. And as the saying goes: "If it will hold water it's a bowl. If it won't, it's art!"

Now, did someone say corned-beef stew?

Edited September 7, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

I got the second bowl blank on the other faceplate, and (after adding the missing two screws) attached it to the spindle and started truing it up.

I want this one to be more conventional with the flat where it was cut to be the top/mouth of the finished bowl, and the curved section with the bark to provide the rounded base of the bowl. With the bark, etc, turned away, this time.

You can get an idea of the general shape I'm aiming for. The last bit of bark and the odd twiglet and leaf at the bottom, awaiting a visit from the chisel. 

And here, with a tenon formed to be the base of the bowl (upon which the final piece will sit) as well as something for the chuck to grip so I can hollow the insides and finish the rim. The foot has been sanded with a long sanding bar to make sure there is no wobble and that the bowl will stand perfectly upright.

I don't want to go any further with these pieces until the chuck is operational. Not having any more faceplates I can't get any additional bits to this stage in waiting. It's now 3:30 PM and there is no sign of customs releasing that package. They have had it for 12 days now, and today was the first day I expected it might possibly be released. 

So, gotta find something else to do. Maybe a nap will help me think of something...

[Netfoot]

In bed, damp from my shower. Puppy nowhere to be seen. I walked around the garden with him about an hour ago and gave him a Vienna sausage as a treat. So I know he's around here, somewhere.

Listening to Brass In Pocket by The Pretenders. (I love Chrissie Hynde!). Puppy has just jumped into bed and is licking the shower water off my legs.

Nothing to report. Already told you what I've done today. Meals (both) were corned beef and beans with boiled potatoes. Small portions, too. Probably for the best. Linguine, rice and potatoes are all I've been eating forvtheclast two days. If I test the blood sugar tomorrow it will probably exceed the rate of inflation! Anyway, I'll cook a big pot of macaroni tomorrow and... 

Don't know what I will pass the time with tomorrow. Maybe I'll cut some more bowl blanks. And if so, that circle cutting jig I've been talking about would be a big help. So maybe I'll do that, even if it's only a primitive example of the device.

Mo has gone again. I'd better go and fetch him in (if he's willing) and close the door. Then I can get to my book for a few pages. I'm about halfway through, and at the rate I've been reading it will be some time before I finish. But my nextvread fell into my hands this afternoon. Literally - I knocked it down off a high shelf. Nothing particularly interesting. Caravan to Vaccarès by Alistair MacLean. I believe there is a film by the same name, which I've never seen. Perhaps I will watch that as well. 

Ok, going to lock up, now!

Edited September 7, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

De dawg en' 'fraid!

I hay readin' an' he gone an' teef de shoe an' bring it right back an' push it up en muh face!

Edited September 7, 2022 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Today is Dotty's birthday. 

Had he survived so long, he would have been 22. He was an absolute angel.

When I die, should I find myself at the Pearly Gates, I know it will be only because my boys put in a good word for me.

His photo album is here.

[Netfoot]

Didn't achieve much if anything today. I felt very depressed all day, no doubt in part by the memory of old Dotty. Not that thinking of him depresses me, but because of how much I miss him. And Buddy too. They would have been very good influences on little Mo if they were still around.

Anyway, after lunch (corned beef & tomatoes with macaroni) I went and had a look at that zero-clearance throat plate. I screwed up the slot for the blade so I turned it around and cut another one. The original was then patched by gluing in a narrow sliver, which I would not have been able to cut without the same zero-clearance throat itself!

The red lines (sharpie) are so I can easily tell which way is up. The hole is so you can get your finger in to remove it from the throat of the saw. This is not a long term item. I hope to replace it with a better built version in the fullness of time. One built from Baltic birch ply or melamine board. 

The insert sits low in the throat, as the afternoon shadow makes clear. The original red one shows that there are adjustment screws underneath that can be screwed in and out until the top of the plate sits flush with the top of the table. I will acquire similar screws for use with any proper plate I make in future, but for the one shown here, I will glue on small wooden shims to push the plate up, then sand them down slowly to lower the plate until it's flush.

Later, I cut two circles of PVC pipe and use them to fashion a poor replacement for the old pair of compasses of mine which broke. Cheesy, but it works. I will still build myself a pair of compasses from wood, as soon as suitable materials fall into my hands.

Otherwise, I didn't do much other than watch The Age of Adaline. Mo has been fairly quiet since 4:59 this morning when he jumped on my face to get me to open the house. I really shouldn't open it that early at this time of year because it's still essentially dark at that hour. Anyway, since then, I've only seen him three times. At his dinner and earlier at his lunch, and also at my lunch. Did you know that given the end of a long piece of macaroni, a puppy can sllluurp the entire thing up? I will see him again soon, because the remainder of the macaroni awaits me for dinner.

[Netfoot]

Trying a tip from YouTube I learned a new way to blacken fine grooves in wood turnings. I already knew how to do this on the side of a turning, with a wire garrote. This method works on the end of the workpiece as well. It involves a little piece of Formica® Laminate or a similar brand. Only draw back is the laminate wears away quickly and you have to keep getting more. But given the tiny size of what you need to use, a small scrap should last a good while. Especially if you stick to the garrote for side grooves and only deploy the laminate on the ends.

I tried it on the two pieces I've roughed out on the lathe. The photo shows a pair of lines on the base of each piece, under the foot where they will hardly get noticed.

Feeling a bit despondent, I decided to go to bed around 9:30 which is early for me. I walked around the garden with little Mo and sat at the computer to take off my shoes. Started a livestream on YT and the next thing I knew it was past eleven!

In bed now, showered and powdered and the door is locked. Mo wants out already and I don't know if I feel like getting up from here to let him out. Especially if it means I have to get up later on to let him in again.

I'm going to turn on the music and read my book a while, before turning the light off. Each day gets shittier than the day before and I'm sure tomorrow will be no different. But at least I can get away from it for a few hours by going to sleep. If only Mo wouldn't insist on waking me up so damned early each morning!

[Netfoot]

LOL!

Was listening to Caroline, No, a song by The Beach Boys. The album version features an ending with the sound of a freight train and barking dogs.

Mo leapt up, ran to the window (which is right over the speakers) and stuck his head out to see the barking doggies!

I must try him with Dogs, from Pink Floyd's album Animals. Dotty used to listen to that track very attentively.