Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

Cool stroll through the garden this evening. Encountered a crapaud for the first time in months! Mo was very excited, but the crapaud was soon flying over the wall like all his predecessors.

Dressed heavy for bed again, except no socks. Why no socks? Can't find them. I asked Mo what hexknew about them, but li'l tar-baby ain't saying nothing! So, I am not pursuing the socks. They will show up when they will.

No lunch. Too busy busting bandsaw blades and taking bites out of spindle gouges. Cooked a pot of plain, white rice for dinner and put the remainder of the dumpling sauce/stew from last night (sans dumplings) on top. While I was eating I was baking a half-chicken I found in the freezer. Came out looking much better than my last effort. Whether or not it tastes better will be determined tomorrow, where I will have it cold for lunch and dinner and any scraps can go to make me a nice pot of chicken & rice (or macaroni) on Friday. With any luck I will make some money on Saturday morning, because I am low on cheddar and cheddar is my secret weapon when it comes to getting Mo's medicine down his neck.

He is rolling on my foot like it's a dead rat he found on the road.

Oh sh*t! Forgot to lay out meds for the next three days. Will have to climb out of bed and go do that now. Which means I will have to shift light bulbs again...

This house was built by an asshole who couldn't decide between crappy screw-in bulbs and decent bayonet type bulbs. So he mixed the two. The bulb over my computer was dead this morning so I grabbed the box of spares. Uh-oh! The fitting is bayonet and the bulbs are screw! So I've had to take the bedroom bulb and put it over my desk. Just now, I swapped the bulb back into the bedroom, but now I have to swap it back outside to do the meds, then swap it back again when I'm done.

Oh well. Better get to it. 

[Netfoot]

Cool stroll through the garden this evening. Encountered a crapaud for the first time in months! Mo was very excited, but the crapaud was soon flying over the wall like all his predecessors.

Dressed heavy for bed again, except no socks. Why no socks? Can't find them. I asked Mo what hexknew about them, but li'l tar-baby ain't saying nothing! So, I am not pursuing the socks. They will show up when they will.

No lunch. Too busy busting bandsaw blades and taking bites out of spindle gouges. Cooked a pot of plain, white rice for dinner and put the remainder of the dumpling sauce/stew from last night (sans dumplings) on top. While I was eating I was baking a half-chicken I found in the freezer. Came out looking much better than my last effort. Whether or not it tastes better will be determined tomorrow, where I will have it cold for lunch and dinner and any scraps can go to make me a nice pot of chicken & rice (or macaroni) on Friday. With any luck I will make some money on Saturday morning, because I am low on cheddar and cheddar is my secret weapon when it comes to getting Mo's medicine down his neck.

He is rolling on my foot like it's a dead rat he found on the road.

Oh sh*t! Forgot to lay out meds for the next three days. Will have to climb out of bed and go do that now. Which means I will have to shift light bulbs again...

This house was built by an asshole who couldn't decide between crappy screw-in bulbs and decent bayonet type bulbs. So he mixed the two. The bulb over my computer was dead this morning so I grabbed the box of spares. Uh-oh! The fitting is bayonet and the bulbs are screw! So I've had to take the bedroom bulb and put it over my desk. Just now, I swapped the bulb back into the bedroom, but now I have to swap it back outside to do the meds, then swap it back again when I'm done.

Oh well. Better get to it. 

[Netfoot]

I reground the chisel this morning so as to be able to continue working. HSS is specifically supposed to take heat better than high carbon steel, but I still dipped the tip of the chisel in a cool water bath every second (or less) of grinding. Here is the result:

I altered the angle of the grind a little, because I wanted to make the top less thin (and therefore, hopefully, stronger) and because the slightly shallower angle would allow me to get a workable tip with less grinding, therefore less heat and less time. If you look closely at the exposed (left) wing you should notice a very slight kink in the edge:

That is where the new grind meets the old. As I continue to sharpen at the new angle this kink will move back down the chisel and eventually disappear all together as the new angle is fully ground in.

What bothers me is the slight darkening of the edge of that left wing. Darkening usually suggests overheating or "burning" of the metal. Which, given how careful I was with the cooling when grinding leaves me to wonder about the metal itself.

[Netfoot]

Blood sugar this morning was way high at 6.2 mmol/L but I guess that's what you get if you eat a big bowl of carbs late at night and test first thing next morning.

You may remember when two of my finger nails got ripped almost completely off. The little finger and the ring finger on my right hand. It was the day before my first foray to Brighton, if I remember correctly. I taped the finger nails down and the little finger nail stuck back down just fine, but the ring finger nail, instead of sticking down, just came up more and more until it finally came off. 

But the nail has been growing out again. At first it was all weird and lumpy and red, but then it levelled out and returned to normal colour. The weird part will eventually grow out and be replaced by an all-normal nail. 

I finished my other bowl this morning. There was a small patch of bark which I left on the rim. After all the shaping and sanding, I was about to begin applying beeswax as a friction finish. Suddenly the little piece of bark leapt off, straight into the air and landed gently on my left forearm. Here it is, the chip of bark next to the place on the rim of the bowl that it came from:

This piece has beautiful coloration. One half of the bowl is a lovely blonde colour, while the other half is darker, due to its proximity to the bark (I think). And running between them is a lovely, wriggly line of spalt.

This is yet another bowl I wish I could afford to keep for myself! But I will take it to Brighton on Saturday and see if I can get it sold.

Lunch was cold chicken; a leg and thigh from the half bird I roasted yesterday. It tasted good. Mo sat between my feet peering up at me and demanding his share. He got all the bits I didn't want for myself - Pope's nose, some of the more wobbly pieces of skin, all the gristly bits plus any cartilage that came surfaced. Some of the good meat too, if course. I kept the bones. 

Dotty ate chicken bones all the time, sometimes a dozen at a time. The Budster did the same. Nary a problem. Nor any of the previous doggies the family have known who also ate chicken bones freely and often. Now, everyone including the vet tell me that to give Mo chicken bones would be akin to giving him strychnine or something! I think it's all horse-shit, just like the new talking point of the anti-fossil fuel brigade that a gas stove is somehow dangerous. But for a quiet life I have agreed not to give him chicken  bones and I am sticking to my promise. (But they will have to rip my gas stove from my cold, dead hand!)

Anyway, here is the latest bowl, ready for the market. It may look a bit thick in the wall and it is, right at the top, but it thins out inside beneath the rim. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Closing in on midnight. Lying in bed snuggling with Mo 

and listening to Easy To Be Hard by Three Dog Night. You can see a couple of old towels that Mo uses to make a nest when he decides to sleep on the floor. 

This afternoon I was working on a scheme to make use of tamarind scraps that are too small to become a bowl. I thought I'd make little toadstools. When I first got my lathe I made several toadstools which I gave away. They can be fun to make!

I could turn a tamarind toadstool in one piece but the wood removed from under the cap would be wasted. So as a test, I made three caps using slightly larger scraps, with the intent of making separate stalks using smaller scraps. As I began to work on this, Mo found the caps and chewed them to bits. I'd give him away but his new owner would only bring him back the next day. (Like Buddy's dognappers returned him the next day.)

Dinner was what we used to call "porridge" but I prefer to refer to as "gruuuel." I followed instructions on the bag, thinking one cup would hardly be sufficient but it yielded in the pan and was more than sufficient. Despite Scottish antecedents I did not use salt, I sprinkled it with brown sugar instead. I can eat it with salt well enough but prefer sugar. My favourite is a generous handful of rasins, but there have not been rasins in the house for ages.

Got to get up tomorrow and try to be productive. Also got to nip out and out put a gill of fuel in the van so I can make it to Brighton the following morning. So, I will shut this off here.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

First thing this morning, I removed the broken ¾", 3 TPI blade from the bandsaw and installed my ⅜", 14 TPI blade in its place. Then went round and readjusted the guides, etc.

Got a slab of tamarind that I was hoping to make a large bowl out of, and drew out a circle, then with my teeth grinding, I asked the itty bitty blade to cut the circle. I had to go very slow and frequently back the work up do the gullets could clear, but after a lengthy session, I had myself a bowl blank:

It's just about 10" across.

If you were wondering why it makes a difference, have a look at this comparison photo:

The big blade has wide, deep gullets spaced three per inch, so the sawdust from the cut doesn't get to clog the blade so easily. The smaller blade in comparison gives a much cleaner cut, but those tiny teeth (14 per inch) take for ever on a thick chunk of wood, and those tiny gullets clog up real quick. 

While sitting on the floor adjusting the lower guides, I glanced under the right-hand wing of the table saw. I knew it would be horrible but I wasn't ready for this:

The problem is, I use the right-hand wing as a work table because I have nowhere else close to the saw to use. Stuff falls off the back and disappears under the wing, and then shavings from Mr. Noisy cover it all over. I need to clear a space near the saw and put a low table there so I don't have to use the saw itself.

Anyway, now I know what I'm doing on Sunday.

Stopped for a cuppa and remembered I had no milk. So instead I went and put a few drops of gas in the car, ready for tomorrow morning. Mo behaved like a little demon, as usual. 

While there I noticed the grocery store next door. When it first opened it claimed to have the best prices and I went to give it a try, but it was a dump, with limited range of items and too few cashiers. So I didn't use it after that first time.

But seeing it right there I threw my hands in the air and succumbed to temptation. I popped in and bought a 250ml carton of milk. And the place has significantly improved! Plenty of cashiers to handle your purchases, a wider range of goods and the prices for a few items that I checked are a little cheaper. The milk was 10¢ cheaper and a pack of macaroni was 6¢ cheaper than what I normally pay, but there was a brand of Turkish macaroni that was 60¢ cheaper, and I've had that brand before and it's fine!

Anyway, now I will have a cup of tea, then get to work on that bowl. Hope I have not cut it too big, because I'd hate to have to go back to the bandsaw and cut the whole edge off.

In fact, it's approaching lunchtime. I think I will go and get the blank mounted on the lathe and trued up, then I will have lunch (cold chicken) with a mugga, while watching a movie of some sort.

[Netfoot]

Well, I guess I won't be finishing this bowl today. My bowl gouge:

Just snapped clean in two, with my face/head only inches away! 

I assumed the inside of the bowl would be all torn up, given that the force needed to break this piece of ½" steel would also have been brought to bear on the wood (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction), but not a scratch. Uncanny.

This piece of wood has given me hell all day. First, it would not balance and vibrated constantly. The whole lathe shaking from side to side. Even with the blank completely trued up, the vibration continued, only a little diminished.

Mo stole my little pill-bottle of faceplate screws, and destroyed the bottle, losing all but 8 of the 20 screws I own. Not only do I not have the screws (and can't afford to replace them) but if I find them later, it might be by stepping on them in the grass and injuring my foot, or by driving over them and destroying a tire I can't afford to fill with air, far less replace.

I have contacted the manufacturer, explained my predicament and asked for a replacement chisel.  I've also offered to send them the photos. Perhaps that would be like replacing a turd with another turd, but I can't afford to replace it any other way, far less buy anything less turdy. In any case, I expect them to say that since I bought it from Amazon I should deal with Amazon, but I hope not. Amazon will insist I return the busted chisel which would cost me more than just buying a replacement.

Mo is hiding because I gave him spanx for stealing my screws.  (Before that he got away with steaking stealing my precision 6" rule which is now no longer a precision anything. But there are limits.) Since he got spanx we have met and had a gentle conversation while I stroked his back and patted his head, but I believe he is still hiding out.

With no bowl gouge I can't make any more bowls. That will make paying the bills a little difficult...

Edited February 17, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

LOL! 

I contacted the manufacturer and told them I think I had a defective tool, suggested there might have been an issue with the heat treatment of the steel and asked how to go about getting a replacement. To my surprise, they responded within 34 minutes (and not 5 working days as I was expecting)  asking for various info, such as Amazon order number & date, mailing address, photos of the part showing the defect, etc.

I promptly answered their questions, and sent the first of the above photos, and the explanation: "Note discoloration at very tip. This is blue/rainbow after about 1/2  second on the grinder. Also note slight damage to shaft of tool."

21 minutes later, I get an e-mail saying "...regarding order number 11236047. To check the status of your order, print invoices online, track your package or setup a return, please use the following link: https://yada.yada.yada.com"

I think the "slight damage to shaft of tool" sold them on the idea of sending me the replacement.

Now, 

1. I'm amazed that this actually appears to have resulted in a favourable outcome!
2. I'm doubly amazed to see the matter handled so speedily, and with so little back and forth.
3. A little surprised to discover that the tool is made by the same people who make my table saw and band saw. And dust collector, for that matter. (I must get that operational!)

So, good news. And meantime, I remembered that I have the shaft for a carbide-tipped turning tool. All I need to do is make a handle for it! It won't be ideal because it has a square carbide insert, and circular would be better, but it's better than nothing, and there is no sharpening of a carbide tool. You just throw it away and screw on a replacement! (But I will try to sharpen it anyway.)

Now I have to cook myself a bowl of grrruel, organize the van for a rapid departure in the morning, shower the sawdust out of my ears (and butt-crack) and go to bed.

[Netfoot]

Yup, they have cut an order for a new bowl gouge, and it says Order Total $0.00 Invoice Total $0.00 and it appears like I will get the replacement without further ado. 

All packed up, ready to go. Kettle full, bags, sugar and a little milk ready and thermos sitting right there with the filling funnel beside it. It's the only thing to go into the van other than myself. Even remembered to include the drilling machine in case someone wants weep-holes drilled in their planter. (I won't offer unless someone complains.)

Speaking of planters, I priced the two larger ones at $45 and the smaller one at $30. We'll see if they sell. A few days ago Heidi told me to display them with a plant in them. I don't know what planet she lives on. Or what planet she thinks that I live on. Where in hell does she think I will get a plant/plants from?

Mo here "spooning" upside down, using my foot as a pillow. The foot is in a somewhat uncomfortable position but he will probably move soon, freeing me to shift it. Ok, he just moved so I repositioned the foot just in time for him to start using it as a pillow again in it's new location.

I am thinking of making some simple boxes that will hold a bottle of wine. People could use it as wrapping for a bottle they were giving away. I could shape the box like a coffin for Halloween, but that is a long time from now. Also thinking of making trivets on the scroll saw, cutting the shape of a flower, humming bird, flying fish - what ever. 

Anyway, with Bodhisattva by Steely Dan in my ears, time to douse the light, reclaim my foot from Mo and get some shut-eye. Gotta be up at 4:30, don'tcha know!

Edited February 18, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Totally bushed. Listening to Proudest Monkey by Dave Matthews Band and waiting for Mo to come to bed. Back hurting bad enough for me to take two Panadol.

Left home this morning at 5:00 AM in a shower of rain. Got to share Melba's tent (she sells coconut bread mainly, but also carrot, pumpkin and banana breads, as we as cassava pone). Right next door was Toni, a very pleasant woman who I met last time. She and I chatted off and on. Melba was pleasant enough, but was constantly on her phone so it was a bit difficult to chat with her.

My friend Mark is back from his visit to County Cork, and described it in glowing colours. Presumably mostly shades of green? (Heh!) I didn't see Jim so I popped across for a quick word with his wife Sarah, who told me he was visiting the kids in Canada and doing business in Milwaukee. Also absent was President Aussie who is almost always there. I grillied his son Darius who explained that Austin was kicking back down St. Vincent & the Grenadines on some yacht or other. For the next two weeks, poor bastard.

The rain continued off and on all morning, reducing attendance and depressing sales. My total sales came to $105 and after I deduct the $10 I had to pay to be allowed in, my total take was $95. (Mo has just arrived, and is dividing his attention between chewing a piece of cardboard, looking out the window and nibbling my toes.) Well, 95 bucks isn't going to pay any of the bills that will come due at the end of the month.

Worse, I only had one teabag left at home, and precious little sugar. So I stopped on the way home to buy tea, sugar and milk. Along with potatoes, cheese (for Mo's cheesy medication treats) and some bread. All totalling $40 bucks almost to the cent. So with the $50 bucks left, I have to buy Mo some food on Monday, plus pay over $800 in bills before month-end. Will go back to Brighton next Saturday, but I will need a spectacular day of sales to get those bills paid!

Got a quandry. I sold the smaller of the three planters, leaving the two taller ones. A couple of ladies decided they wanted to buy one of the tall ones to use as a "wine cooler", as a gift for a friend. I think they were talking about a bucket in which they could keep a bottle of wine cool by surrounding it with ice. I told the lady repeatedly that it was a planter and it was not a bucket nor was it constructed to hold water, but rather expected to leak if water was placed inside it. Yet, she continued to talk about using it for wine. In the end she decided to come back next week to make her purchase. But should I allow her to buy a leaky planter to use for a wine bucket? I don't think I should. 

Got an email from the chisel company, obviously an automated follow up, asking me to rate their service. I intend to rate them highly, but I will wait until the replacement chisel had embarked on its journey to me before I offer my rating. I have a tracking number but it is at that "shipping label has been created" stage so I will wait until I see a status indicating it's left them and is actually on its way. I will also go on Amazon and leave a short, positive review as well, but not until the replacement is actually on its way.

Well, Garden Patrol is over and I'm fainting with fatigue so I'd better put on my all-black ninja-jammies, frych fetch Mo inside again, lock up and try to get some sleep.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Got up this morning, took my blood sugar (4.6 mmol/L) and had a cup of tea. Went out to look at the mess of sawdust and shavings under the table saw and next thing I knew I was working on a project. Add-on shelves for my little table. Can't look like crap, so got to try and fancy them up a bit!

Barely started when the power went off. Spent over an hour with no phone or internet or wifi (they go through a fiber router which needs power) watching Tough as Nails on the computer until the UPS gave a low battery warning. 

When the juice came back, I got to the point of the first bentwood lamination glueup

(Yes, that is Mozie sneaking past as I snap the photo) and leaving that to dry, I switched to another project, a wooden seashell. Two of them, actually, because splitting a board into wedges gives two wedges which are then cut down into sets shorter pieces. (You can't mix the short pieces from one half with the other. Grain wouldn't match.)

Don't know if I will be able to finish these -- don't have all the correct tools I would normally use, but I will try to work around it.

To complete the seashell(s), I will need to use the scrollsaw, so in order to get that into a workable location I have to move it. Which requires me to clean up the disgraceful amount of sawdust that is under the lathe. See? I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid the sawdust...

Got the drippings and bones from the chicken I recently cooked simmering on the stove. Rendering my own stock that I will use to cook some rice for dinner. Have to bag up all the sawdust so the dustmen don't give me a hard time when they collect it up. Got a bag half-full, sinivwill tie it off and fold the top half back over the lower, to double-bag it with only one bag.

Stopped to take my lunchtime meds and give my back and ease. Will watch a show and then go and see what the lamination looks like. Feel like leaving it until tomorrow, but can't take forever in this project. Which is admittedly half-baked at this point, with a lot of stuff not yet worked out. Also get rid of some more sawdust & shavings.

Could drink a cup of tea but will save that until this evening. 

[Browncoat]

19 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Got a quandry. I sold the smaller of the three planters, leaving the two taller ones. A couple of ladies decided they wanted to buy one of the tall ones to use as a "wine cooler", as a gift for a friend. I think they were talking about a bucket in which they could keep a bottle of wine cool by surrounding it with ice. I told the lady repeatedly that it was a planter and it was not a bucket nor was it constructed to hold water, but rather expected to leak if water was placed inside it. Yet, she continued to talk about using it for wine. In the end she decided to come back next week to make her purchase. But should I allow her to buy a leaky planter to use for a wine bucket? I don't think I should. 

If she comes back, remind her again that it will not hold ice/water, and suggest she purchase a plastic liner somewhere else.  If she still wants to buy your planter, let her -- she's been warned enough!  I'd be surprised if she returns at all, honestly.

[Netfoot]

32 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I'd be surprised if she returns at all, honestly.

Me too, but a young woman admired one of my bowls, and asked if I would be there again the next week. I said yes, but did not expect to see her again. The next week she was back, sorted through my offerings to find the very same bowl as before, handed over the price in full, and went her merry way. So it does happen.

I think your advice is sound. I will make it perfectly clear that it is a planter and not a bucket, wine, ice or otherwise. After that, if she still wants it she can have it, and I will suggest she use some sort of plastic liner for the ice.

ETA: Got a pot of rice on. The stock from the remains of the chicken, plus all the tiny fragments I was able to scrape/pick from the bones, a large carrot sliced, and a half-tin of lentils. The smell is tantalizing me as I sit here with one eye on the timer!

Edited February 19, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The Great Gig In the Sky. With the amazing voice of Clare Torry. No wonder that album became one of the most acclaimed albums of all times, with something approaching 50 million worldwide sales and 950+ weeks on the Billboard Top LP charts, the highest number ever. (#2 is Bob's album Legend with only some 620ish weeks on that chart). Clare's contribution to that successful album may be small but is certainly not insignificant.

Coincidentally and apropos of nothing, I had a girlfriend back in the late 70s whose name was Claire Troy, a truly lovely girl from Chelsea, who I have not seen or heard a thing about for over 40 years now. I wonder what became of her? I hope she had a good 40+ years since we last met.

Ninjammies on (save gloves) and in bed with Mo. He has eaten every last scrap of chow, so I have to go buy him some more tomorrow. The prices are scary high. Some bags costing $250 each! I may have to teach him to eat rice. 

Speaking of, my chicken & rice with carrot & lentils was corking good! Rendering the remains of the bird into food stock took a while but picking the fragments of meat from the bones was tricky. I made three piles: soup, Mo and dump.

Tomorrow afternoon I am going with two friends to collect some free mahogany logs. I am not sure where to go, and I don't know if we can lift the logs onto the truck between us, and I am not sure if these logs have any useable wood left or if they are all just rotten through to the core, but I m taking a chance I will get some useful wood out of it. Tomorrow will tell.

New chisel still not picked up by the courier yet. No surprise. I expect tracking info to show up starting tomorrow. In a way, I'm sorry the chisel didn't break a little earlier on Friday. The replacement might have made it into the system in time to be travelling over the weekend, instead of sitting in the shipping department waiting to be picked up.

Chilly Garden Patrol tonight, with no moon and a clear sky apart from a few clumps of white cloud. 

Ok, time for bed, said Zebedee....

Edited February 20, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Ok! Here is that bentwood lamination from yesterday, freed from the bending form and being inspected by master woodworker Mo.

The ends that overhung the form are superfluous and will be removed later.

And here you see how it was made. Six thin strips which will easily bend around the form are glued together to give the main bulk of the part and four more narrower strips then added to form a ledge.

A little work with a block plane will clean up the slightly ragged top and bottom surfaces and the ends (like the one you are looking at) will be cut away and discarded.

And here you can see how it will be used. It fits over the end of my folding table. The ledge stops it from falling straight down.

Ends not yet trimmed back to length. I may cut them a little long, then bridle-joint two small pieces in the ends to prevent it from moving sideways around the curve.

Shot from underneath (table on the left, lamination on the right) the main part of the lamination hugs the curve in the table's end. The narrower part forms a sort of ledge which "hooks" onto the table top.

Onto this I must build a way to attach two (or three?) risers that can carry shelves to support smaller pieces, what ever they might be. Uh, I have not yet quite figured out how to do this, but that's all part of the fun!

[Notabug]

Just an FYI, it's a holiday here in the US (President's Day), so don't expect anything to happen with the US mail today.  They're closed.  Other carriers like UPS and Fed Ex will be working, though.

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Notabug said:

Just an FYI, it's a holiday here in the US (President's Day), so don't expect anything to happen with the US mail today.  They're closed.  Other carriers like UPS and Fed Ex will be working, though.

Thanks for the heads-up. Didn't know that. The tracking number is a Z1A so I think that means UPS. Let me check... "The tracking number provided is either invalid or not yet available to view." so I guess tomorrow, then.

Went and blew the last of my cash on a 2Kg bag of food for Mosie Posie. The store is right on the same parking lot as Dr. Kristi and just as I was getting back to the car with the purchase, she was leaving for the day. (She usually works mornings, Dr. Gabby does afternoons.) She came over and spent a couple minutes chatting and getting some majorly excited puppy-love from Mo, but alas she couldn't stay long because she had an appointment elsewhere. Which might simply mean she is tired and wants to get home and put her feet up while her husband brings her cool drinks. But I think she would have said exactly that if it were so.

Started working on some shelves for my table attachment. resawed some boards thinner (about 5/16") and planed them smooth. edge-gluing them together in pairs to make three wider shelves. Will consider scroll sawing some sort of simple pattern into them (I am very inexperienced with the scroll saw) to reduce weight both physically and visually, but won't attempt any of that until the entire design is done so I know how to cut the shelves. They will probably have to be cut to length and I am also considering adding a gentle curve to the front as per the table itself. So I can't decide what sort of design I want until each shelf is down to it's final shape & size.  

[Netfoot]

Mo, making entirely too free with my pillows, top sheet and book.

[Netfoot]

Ok, UPS says it's on it's way, estimated delivery on Thursday, February 23 by end of day. So, hopefully it will be forwarded Friday and will arrive here early next week.

ETA: But prolly not...

Edited February 20, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Went North with Kev in his pickup  to the west coast a.k.a. platinum coast where rich people live. Collected a pile of logs of Bajan mahogany and brought them home. I ended up with far more than I expected and in far better shape than I thought. 

It took four of us to load the pickup, but it was only Kev and I to unload so we rolled the logs outvtge back of the pickup and let them fall to the ground. To save the concrete from being busted to buggery I put a pallet for the logs to land on. This broke the fall but ended up  wrecking the pallet. Small price to pay. 

Took photos before the van came back inside, but it was quite dark:

Nine logs of different lengths plus

Three shorter but quite a bit thicker. I will get a better look at them In full daylight tomorrow. 

Mo was a little peeved at me because I tricked him three times today, by locking him I side the house while interesting things were going on. First, I like locked him up so I could get the van out and park it on the grass opposite, before Kev got to me. Then I locked him up so Kev could back in as close as possible to the logs final resting place and while we unloaded. And finally so I could bring the van back inside. But he forgave me when he got his dinner and a cheesy treat as well.

My own dinner was grrruel again. After a lunch of potatoes, onion, bully beef and the remainder of the can of lentils. Lunch & dinner at [* I was mega-tired when I wrote this post, and now I have no idea what this sentence was going to say when I zoned out. *]

Garden Patrol was cool. But now we are in bed, the house locked up and Do You Feel Like We Do by Frampton. From back when he would direct notes from his guitar into his mouth with a plastic tube and use his mouth to modulate the guitar to sound like a voice that had been put through a voder/vocoder. It was cheap and easy and the sound became synonymous with his music. (ELO on the other hand saved up their pennies and got a real voder/vocoder. "Mister Blue Sky", etc.)

Going to sleep now. I will try to finish that bowl I was working on when the bowl gouge broke. I used a spindle gouge for bowl turning for years so I guess I can do it again to complete this bowl. 

And now, to get some kip.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Some old Lionel Richie and the Commodores playing on the "gramaphone" as I lie in bed in my heavy sleepwear. It was cold and clear on Garden Patrol, with a star field overhead.

All buttoned up and Mo using my foot as a pillow. 

Had grrruel for lunch and dinner. With brown sugar and milk for lunch, and with corned beef, butter and salt for dinner. The latter was an experiment. It didn't taste bad but it needs something. Not ketchup! I hopa I'm never that desperate for a meal.

Also roasted some chicken in the oven and have stashed it in the fridge for tomorrow. Looked pretty good. Felt like eating it there and then but resisted the temptation. 

Finally finished that bowl. It wasn't easy. I used the spindle gouge in the absence of a proper bowl gouge. I've quickly Gotten used to using the right type of chisel. Any way, it's done.

I also tried to cut a piece of mahogany but the electric chain saw is giving trouble, now, and the guy I borrowed it from is overseas right now. So no tips or pointers available.

I've dropped the phone about 6 times since I started, and had to recover the post twice. I think I'll just pop on my orange gloves and try to catch some sleep. Mo just hopped down and is making a nest on the floor with a couple of old towels. Well, it couldn't be any harder on the concrete than it is on this wodden platform!

ok, I'm out!

Edited February 22, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

This didn't look too bad!

I have to change the formulation on my dry rub. More paprika and/or cayenne or something like that to darken it, so it doesn't have such a pale colour. Or mix it into a paste with tomato & mustard and spread it on with a spatula. But what would you call it then? Obviously not a dry rub...

This should give me three solid meals at least, with some tit-bits for Mo.

Alas, this will be the last chicken until I run over another fowl in the road. The only thing left in the freezer is flour and dried beans/peas. And trays of ice. 

I'm working on some (four) pencil holders for the desktop. Made in the style of antique wooden buckets (again) but obviously much smaller and not waterproof. 

Dry-fit without a bottom and held together only with rubber bands. If I can find a suitable sized drill bit, I will use the large, red, carpenter's pencils as holders. With a Turk's head on one end and rubber band on the other to keep it in place it might look nice. 

Now I can see the thing sort of assembled, I believe that the sides are a bit thick. Next iteration will be thinner. Assumed I do make more.

Planeing the boards to a suitable thickness wastes half the thickness of the board. Resawing with the table saw also turns ⅛" of thickness into sawdust and then you need to plane the two cut surfaces at least slightly.

Will have to try resawing on the bandsaw, which a bit trickier than on the table saw. But the bandsaw blade is only 25 thou. thick whereas the table saw blade is five times thicker at 125 thou. So using the bandsaw and assuming a good cut, I would save 100 thou. or a full tenth of an inch.

If I can manage it, I can cut each board into two thinner but still useful boards, rather than planing away half of each board to come to thickness.

 

[Netfoot]

OK, by way of experiment I resawed a board on the bandsaw. Seen here with other boards for comparison.

On the left, a full sized board after both sides have been planed smooth.

Next over, a full sized board that has been resawn on the table saw, along with the piece which got cut off in the process. The thicker piece has been planed again on the freshly cut side, and the thinner piece is obviously of little use, unless I get very imaginitive. 

And on the right, two pieces resawn from a board on the bandsaw. One is thicker than the other because my resawing technique is poor. Not planed. Here are the raw-cut sides of the freshly cut boards:

The finish is surprisingly good, and could be used as-is (or just lightly sanded) for certain projects. 

And then the two bandsawn boards planed on the cut faces:

Obviously, you don't have to resaw a board down the middle to give equally thick boards. You could deliberately resaw into boards of two different thicknesses as I have done here, only I did it unintentionally. Or even resaw one board into three or more, depending on what you start with, what you want to end up with and how steady your hand is.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

In order to fit the bottoms to my pencil holders, I need to cut a ⅜" slot on the inside of each stave, near the bottom. Good thing I have a ⅜" box-joing -joint blade, then!

I replaced the regular blade with the ⅜" blade, anc now, the zero-clearance throat plate won't fit. But the saw came with a throat plate with a wide slot, suitable for a dado stack, and suitable for my ⅜" box joint blade. Only, I can't find it. 

Searched everywhere it could reasonably be. It won't be in the fridge or behind the computer. It will be outside in the workshop garage somewhere. Only, I can't find it!

Eventually, I decided I would have to delve into that mess that is under the table saw. (I was planning to do it but I have not yet gotten a round tuit.) Using the shop-vac, I started by vacuuming out the dust and shavings from the saw and the planer. The shop-vac holds twelve gallons and I filled that to the brim with packed-in sawdust twice. So 24 gallons of dust. This revealed plenty of wood scraps - many of possibly useful size - and an amazing trove of tools and gadgets which I will be glad to recover.

There is more vacuuming to be done under there, but first I will have to get the stool to sit on and start removing scraps piece by piece, deciding what to keep and what to chuck. And recovering the screwdrivers, pliers, rulers, pencils, boxes of screws and a mess of other stuff under there that I obviously won't throw out. 

As for the wide throat plate? I was sure that it would have to be under there. Only, I can't find it!!!

Edited February 23, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Found it!

Here it is, with the fence sitting partially upon it and the staves of the first holder slotted to hold the round bottom:

(That ⅜" blade scares the pants off of me. Even the smallest accident with that blade would be devastating. And the dado stack will go up to twice that width!)

And here is the pencil holder with the bottom fitted. So far, no glue. I still have to drill the handle holes and round the corners of the taller staves a little before final assembly. 

The bottom will not be glued into place. It is captive inside the circular slot so it can't go anywhere, and the fit is close enough that there isn't any undue moving around.

As for a finish, I had thought of pickling it in white. As far as I know you can pickle with any colour paint, but I think I'll save pink and lilac for another day. Only thing is, I'm not sure how to pickle anything. I think I know how, but I'm not certain. I know that Heidi knows (Heidi knows everything) but will she assist? I will see. And it depends how long the process takes to dry. Can't take it to market still tacky!

ETA: It was in the fridge! 😁

Edited February 22, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

This cold weather at nights is becoming a bit of a bore, now. I come into the bedroom and put on four additional garments I n order to get some sleep!

It was wet (just showered briefly) as we patrolled the garden. Mo was playing with something and didn't want me to take it away, so he was not letting me get too close but eventually I could see what it was: an aluminium tin which formerly held Vienna sausages, stolen some while ago and kept in some secret stash. Oh, speaking of stolen, I found the screws for the faceplate that he stole a few days ago, all bar one. 

New chisel due to arrive at my forwarder tomorrow. I've pre-alerted them to be on the lookout so it should have rapid processing. I just hope it gets stuck in the pipe before the weekend so the carriers have two days to move it down here and local processing can begin early next week. We will have to see exactly how speedy that processing will be. The value of $0.01 will probably confuse the issue but I listed it as "Tool replacement under warranty" and the invoice also make that clear.

Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley. That lad had a talent, for sure. Last seen alive singing Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love as he went for a swim, fully clothed. Unnoticed, the wake of a passing boat dragged him out and under. His body was not recovered until six days later.

Mo is having too fine a time playing outside to come to bed. If he isn't ready my the time I am, I will.havdvto lock him outside. It will be a great hardship not to be woken up every 90 minutes thruout the night! But honestly, I always prefer if he is inside where I can keep him safe from any danger. No matter how annoyingly he behaves. Waking me repeatedly, barking in my ear, using the claw/paw on me, stealing half of the pillows and all of the sheet...

Did some research on pickling wood and Timmy dismay, it isn't as straight forward as I'd always believed. I have white paint and #2 reducer but the proportions are decided by trial and error, and can take a while to dry. So I won't be trying that for Saturday. Tomorrow first thing I want to finish slotting, drilling and sanding the staves of my four holders and get them glued up. I have not Ben able to find a ⁷/¹⁶“ or a ¹³/³²“ drill bits. I will go see if there is one available in the mall at a price I can a afford. Failing that I will try for a suitable rope for handle making, or a dowel. How I will finish the final items is another story. Polyurethane varnish, perhaps?

If these holders turn out OK (and it looks likely they will) my next test will be to try a tapered form, by leaning the staves out by a number of degrees. 

Didn't eat cold chicken for dinner as planned. Mo got snippets of meat plus gristle, cartilage and skin mixed with his lunchtime bowl of chow but he demanded dinner early and I wasn't ready to eat yet. So he got plain chow, I got macaroni with tuna, and the cold chicken will be revisited for lunch tomorrow instead.

It seems like am posting more and more junk in this forum. Almost stream-of-consciousness level of waffling. I doubt the site operators really want that. Maybe I should stop posting here and if I need to keep up the brain dump I should find another venue. I remember years ago when I went off to the UK I actually wrote a blog of the trip on blogger.com and I'm su're my account is still in existence. I never closed it down, so why wouldn't it be? 

Ok, he's in now, so I'm gonna lock up.

[andidante]

14 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

It seems like am posting more and more junk in this forum. Almost stream-of-consciousness level of waffling. I doubt the site operators really want that. Maybe I should stop posting here and if I need to keep up the brain dump I should find another venue. I remember years ago when I went off to the UK I actually wrote a blog of the trip on blogger.com and I'm su're my account is still in existence. I never closed it down, so why wouldn't it be? 

Ok, he's in now, so I'm gonna lock up.

I like your posts! I love to see how you make the bowls, etc. as I would have no clue how to do it. I hope you stay. 😁

[Netfoot]

I've got the pencil holders pretty much finished. Here is a photo of them sitting on my table saw.

This photo was taken when they were still held together with rubber bands but they were glued and back in the rubber bands over two hours ago. I will wait until 6-7 this evening and give them a brush-coat of water based polyurethane varnish as a finish. 

The pencils are what are called "beginner's pencils" which are thicker than a regular pencil. They are a hair over ⅜“ in diameter. They slip easily through the holes in the holders but are not all that loose. 

The closest piece has a small Turk's head tied around it (5 bight, 3 lead, tripled) in a slender silver grey cord. I had a few colours I could have chosen as you can see draped over the handle/pencil but thought the grey was the least garish against the red paint of the pencil. All pencils well be tied, and I will tie a second one on the other end once the varnish has dried and the pencil been inserted.

The knots will prevent the pencil from falling through the hole and getting lost. If you want to actually use the pencil, you can pull off one of the Turk's head knots and discard it, then sharpen the pencil and you're away. 

I deliberately chose not to sharpen the pencil because I don't if stabbing me or breaking on the way to the market. Ditto to any purchaser on the way home.

Tried to obtain some ⅜" rope in a natural fiber so I could offer rope handles as an alternative to the pencil handles but could not find any in a natural fiber. It's Al plastic crap nowadays. 

Mo was thrilled to have some of my cold chicken at lunchtime. I picked off all the wobbly bits I didn't want, plus all the cartilage and so on, plus most of the skin and mixed it in with his chow. Also a few pieces of regular chicken meat which I myself would have liked to eat. I did leave some meat on the bones because last time I did this, I made a tasty rice out of stock derived from the leavings. And a fragment or two of actual chicken in the stock always makes for better rice.

Now I want to explore the web and find a recipe for easy-to-make paper flowers that I can fold from coloured paper and use to dress those two remaining planters. Preferably at least two different designs. Will carry a selection of odd items to dress up the pencil holders...

[Browncoat]

I like the pencil holders, and that last bowl you posted a photo of is beautiful.

[Netfoot]

Just back from Garden Patrol where the breeze was cool, not cold or even chilly. But I won't be fooled. With the night air similarly cool last night I went off to sleep without putting on my day-glo orange gloves. Mistake! I awoke at 4 AMbwith frozen hands and had to put the gloves on in the dark soze not to burn out my retinas by turning on a light. 

Potatoes, bully beef and lentils for dinner. I overdid the pepper a bit, but it still went down great. 

15 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I like the pencil holders, and that last bowl you posted a photo of is beautiful.

I like that bowl too, and it's the biggest I've ever turned from tamarind wood. But that piece of wood fought like a Gurkha! It gave me a huge amount of trouble. Whereas the previous piece of tamarind was as gentle as a lamb, fully cooperative, and such a joy to turn!

The pencil holders are OK too. The red pencil as a handle does brighten them up, and the pencil is removed if not wanted by slipping off one Turk's head and sharpening it for use.

I laid on a single coat of poly and tomorrow evening I will givre then a light sanding with hugh-grut high-grit paper just to knock off the nibs from the varnish. Been working on Turk's heads on the pencils 

I hate painting. I can do it but I hate doing it. My tortion torsion box table was four coats of sanding sealer followed by sixteen coats of satin poly, applied two hours apart with sanding in between. Every two hours for forty hours. Came out great but I hated every minute of it.

Had to buy an extra pencil, so I popped down the stationers this morning. They had metal pencil holders selling for less than $10 so mine aren't likely make me rich!

Starting to drop the phone again. Going to lock up and go straight to sleep.  Could use a good night's rest. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

All done.

Seems like if I only get $10 for these, it really isn't worth my time making them!

[Browncoat]

What if you painted them bright colors and marketed them to kids?  Kids would want that way more than they'd want the metal one.  And by kids, I mean me.

[Netfoot]

Was making a bit of shop kit - a French-cleat hanger for my dado blade. I already have one for the box-joint blade but an identical one for the dado blade would be nice. 

I started on the table saw to cut out the piece that fit into the handle and finished shaping it on the bandy. Then I cut out the back of the hanger and canted the blade to 45° to make the French-cleat. When I went to return the blade to vertical, I couldn't get it to come up. 

Reason? The innards of the saw are too gummed up with sawdust. 

So, I opened up the cabinet and using a dustpan as a scoop, I dug out a 20 litre container of sawdust. The dust is rammed down and packed tight and more added on top, rinse, repeat, until full. 

I dug three of these out of the machine, after which it was only dirty enough to bring the shop-vac into play. 

But I paused to get lunch for Mo and also for myself, may as well. Porridge (gruel) with brown sugar and a little milk, plus a mug of tea. One half-cup of "good" oatmeal and one half-cup of "ancient" oatmeal. Cooked up fine and tasted good. 

I was/am watching The Rookie and resting my back. Will return to the table saw with shop-vac shortly. But first, I want to try and find x recipe for cornmeal porridge.

I have got to get that dust collection system working! And do a little general cleanup around the place, as well!

59 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

And by kids, I mean me.

LOL!

Edited February 24, 2023 by Netfoot

[Notabug]

4 hours ago, Netfoot said:

All done.

Seems like if I only get $10 for these, it really isn't worth my time making them!

But, these are unique and hand made; not some machine-made plastic junk that is churned out by the thousands.  I think people will pay for something special and one of a kind.  It would be a great end of the school year gift for teachers, for graduating students, for someone starting a new job.  

I wouldn't go lower than $15 apiece for them.

These would also be very easy to personalize with names, stickers or other details.  I could see someone buying a bunch and using a Sharpie to add the names as gifts for office mates or grandkids or something.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Notabug

[Netfoot]

How ever early I tell myself to go to bed, I never seem to hit the sack one minute earlier than normal. There is always some last minute detail to be attended to. Anyway, Mo and I are in bed

and all is made ready for easy departure tomorrow morning. The car is packed except for my thermos of tea, and the makings for the tea are laid out next to the kettle in the kitchen. So, I'm ready to go.

Got to give Mo his morning Histal early, and I will also take my blood sugar before departure. Breakfast Meds are in my pants pocket to be taken at 8:00 as usual. 

Never did return to the table saw this afternoon, but I will do that tomorrow afternoon. Got to vacuum the last of the dust out of the cabinet and then start vacuuming and brushing it out of the motor drive, trunnions and the tilt mechanism. It's the perfect job for a compressed air line, so naturally I don't own a compressor. Anyway, I will clean it out as best as I can without taking the cast iron top off. (It probably weighs 250 lbs. which is beyond me on my own and when it is replaced it requires a whole realignment and adjustment procedure that takes hours and hours.) So a clean out from underneath followed by a couple squirts of Teflon based dry lubricant in the gubbins that should make it move smoothly without making a place that sawdust will stick. 

Ok, that alarm will be shouting obscenities at me in six hours - or maybe it is the other way around? One way or the other, obscenities will be heard. And the longer I wait before I get to sleep, the more obscenities there will be and the louder they will be shouted.

So off to bed with The Sea Named "Solaris" by Isao Tomita playing and the off-timer set for 90 minutes.

Edited February 25, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Went off to Brighton this morning, and set up early. Toni wasn't there but Melba was and I shared her tent. Melba makes cassava pone as well as carrot, banana and pumpkin bread. Plus the Bajan specialty, coconut bread. And apparently her bread is very good. She has a band of dedicated customers that beat a path to her door every Saturday. She was telling me about getting up at 2:30 to grate the pumpkin for this mornings loaves....

It was a lovely morning, with only the tiniest fleck of cloud visible in the whole blue vault of the sky.

A dozen or more people stopped to say how much they love the pieces. Bowls, planters and pencil holders. They all moved on without making a purchase. I got no sales at all. And I really needed some. I've not been able to pay any bills this month, and a new month is upon us in only 3-4 days time. And some groceries would be nice, too. 

I came home and after a long cuddle with my puppy, I had lunch (macaroni with no sauce at all except some garlic powder and a little of the pasta water). After lunch I divided my time between working to free the table saw trunnions of sawdust, and sitting in my chair wondering if my back would ever stop hurting. My conclusion is that the back will probably hurt less or more depending, until the day I die. 

Some of the sawdust was in the mechanism of the trunnions. In the teeth of the gears, etc. The dust between some of the gear teeth was packed in so hard (by the teeth of the opposing gears) so hard I had to use a chisel to chip it out. I was working down through the throat of the saw, with one of my smaller torches. When night fell, I may as well have continued working. But I decided to take a break until tomorrow. The mechanism for raise/lower and for tilt/untilt are alllmost completely free and moving smoothly, but I'd like to do a bit more before calling the job done. I tried to locate my toothbrush but couldn't find it. No, not the one I put in my mouth, but the one I use to clean machines. I also have a small wire brush that would probably work better but I'm not sure where that is either. I will try to locate one tonight and finish scrubbing out the saw tomorrow. Then a squirt of lube, before zipping it up again. 

I must pull out that dust collector and get it working.

Guess I will be cooking rice tonight. Got a lot of rice. Will boil the chicken bones for awhile to get the stock to make the rice taste good. There is only one tin of corned beef left in the cupboard and I don't want to open it just yet. I am also almost out of red butter and I like to put some on my rice, so there might be none after tonight.

Poor Mo. I promised him that if I got some good sales today, I'd put some gas in the van and take him up to the club tomorrow. Instead he gets to remain at home.

Trying to take Mozie's picture after dark is like trying to photograph a shadow at the bottom of a mine shaft, when your candle has burnt out.

Edited February 25, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Tired. In bed. Snuggling with Mo. Listening to Led Zeppelin. Tummy full of tasty chicken rice. Not much more to say, really.

[andidante]

16 hours ago, Netfoot said:

A dozen or more people stopped to say how much they love the pieces. Bowls, planters and pencil holders. They all moved on without making a purchase. I got no sales at all. And I really needed some. I've not been able to pay any bills this month, and a new month is upon us in only 3-4 days time. And some groceries would be nice, too. 

 

I'm so sorry you didn't make any sales! That must be so frustrating. Do you get any kind of social security like in the US or pension or something? Not trying to be nosy, just wondering if you get any kind of relief?

[Netfoot]

14 minutes ago, andidante said:

Do you get any kind of social security like in the US or pension or something?

My pension is $14.20 less than my rent. I do collect this 13 times a year so technically it is slightly more than my rent, but I only get that 13th payment one month per year, and it quickly goes to pay for electricity, water, etc. Next double-payment month is either June or July.

[Netfoot]

Saw cleaned out as best I can get it, lived lubed, and back in service. Decided to make something for myself, for a change. A simple thing, easy to make and serves me a good purpose.

Here is a device I made years ago. It has a French cleat (angled strip) attached to the back with glue and screws:

And it hangs easily on the French cleat that is screwed to the wall:

My box-joint blade (which can cut ¼" or ⅜" slots) in it's carrier, hangs right on the front:

Like I said, I made that years ago but today I made another one:

And my Dado stack (by the same manufacturer) can now hang right next to it:

Because I've never misplaced my box-joint set but as you may recall, I searched for weeks to find where the dado stack was hiding. I should never again have that problem, now.

Edited February 26, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I had a pack of dried, green split-peas in the fridge and a while ago I put some of them into some rice I was cooking. Despite 20 minutes of boiling (with the rice) they were hard and "bitty" and I was  a little disappointed.

On Friday, I put the remaining peas into a bowl with water and let them soak. Today, as I was cooking boiled potatoes with a little corned beef, I tossed in a handful of the split-peas, and after 48 hours of soaking followed by 25vminutes of boiling, they were still "bitty". I have decided to remove split-peas from my personal list of things to be cooked and eaten. Along with okra and any type of meat officially designated as offal.

Dinner was macaroni in a sauce of diced tomatoes and a little corned beef. 

Listening to The Fab Four with Mo snuggling up against my tummy. Back has been hurting all day, and my tendency to overbalance has been in the increase. Couple that with the recent stiff neck and the inability to turn my head very far either left or right without pain in the back of my neck may mean I'm developing arthritis in my spine. Near the end, my mother suffered from this and could hardly walk.

Falling sleep. Will stop fighting it. 

[Netfoot]

Just in from Patrol with Mo looking out the window one minute and wrestling with my feet the next. Listening to Waiting For The Break Of Day by Shaggy & Sting. I like both of these two musicians, but I would never have thought they would work well together. Until I heard this album (44/876).

It was pleasantly cool outside, without being at all chillyy, far less cold. But I will wear my arctic pyjamas never the less. Won't stop with them until I pass an uncomfortably hot night.

Mo was just here cuddling

but has just gone outside to piss off the neighbors. 

Had a couple visitors to the house who bought some of my bowls. I really wish people would not come to my house to make purchases, but obviously I'm not going to refuse a sale. Cash in hand is better than a bird in the bush.

Later I got a call from a lady I know. She is a very likeable woman who is always kind and pleasant to me. She wanted to commission four bowls of similar size, to be made by the end of the fortnight. I hate when I'm asked to turn something to order. (Mo is back.) Because I never know what is going to come off the lathe, or even if it will be in one piece or not. And especially with my replacement bowl gouge still in transit. I told her I'd do what I could but because of the absence of a bowl gouge I could not guarantee anything.

Speaking of the replacement chisel, it's status went to "In transit to destination country" today and I have no idea how long it will remain there. All I'm pretty certain of is that the zero-value invoice will cause trouble with Customs. Packages with a declared value under US$30 generally passes through unmolested, but with no value stated, they will be completely lost and chaos & bacchanal will ensue.

Went to the supermarket today. Bought a tin of bully beef, a tin of cheap lentils and a bag of sugar.  Had porridge for lunch and again for dinner. I like the taste of the stuff! But it does get a bit boring. 

Ooops! He's off again...

Got a call from someone who says they want to buy that larger tamarind bowl, and to save it for them. I told them I was at home all week, virtually, so come collect it any time, but if they didn't come before Saturday...

Been thinking of making a lighthouse. Or a windmill. I'm thinking something between 2½ to 3 feet tall. They both have a circular, tapering wall. Only the top would different. I think with a microwave turntable motor I could make the lighthouse function exactly as it would, and I've even worked out how to get it to send a suitable code. (Lighthouses flash out their ident in Morse code so a ship at sea that spots a lighthouse in the distance can tell which lighthouse it is by the pattern of the flashes.)

Or! With a different top, I can make a windmill, which should be able to drive a small DC motor to act as a generator. Voila! Wind powered phone charger!

I have a list of crazy things I would like to build, for no reason than I'd like to. Some examples:

1) Digital clock. Using 4' florescent tubes to make up the numbers. So an 8' tall clock, somewhere over 16' long. 

2) 3D puzzle of interlocking wood parts. Maybe something like this?

Only with the pieces a foot square and what? Six feet long?

3) a set of chess pieces, with the royal pieces six feet tall and the others scaled to suit.

So you can see what I mean. Stuff that nobody would actually want, and which would be a little expensive to just build for the hell of it. 

One thing I would really like to build for myself would be a four-poster bed, out of purpleheart. But if the posts were only 4½' tall, they would cost $600 for the raw lumber, and the lumber for the remainder of the bed would be equally expensive.

Oh well. If we didn't dream, life would be pretty boring, right?

[Netfoot]

And this

is why I can't get a decent night's sleep!

The little beggar sleeps the day away, arousing himself only for lunch and any vehicular excursions that may occur, plus the occasional visit by someone who he knows. So when comes nighttime, he is rested and full of energy to run me ragged, playing Tummy Trampoline, racing back and forth between the bedroom window and the front gate and once the house is locked up for the night, frequently demanding to be let out, and generally giving me no peace!

Edited February 28, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Honestly, I don't know how I'm supposed to make it.

My bowl gouge was in transit yesterday and arrived in the island today. When it shipped, the shipper auto-billed me.

Now, today was the last day to make a payment on my credit card which is maxed out.  I had to find the money to make the payment today. So, I made a deposit today of every cent I could scrape up and then used internet banking to make a payment by the skin of my teeth! Don't want to get sclatevchargevlevied, do I?

That's when I noticed the charge for shipping the bowl gouge, which had been charged to the wrong card. Which put me $7.70 over the limit. So, obviously, I paid that off at the same time as I was making the monthly payment. But no matter! Over the limit by seven bucks for a single day? Eighty dollar penalty fee. 

Meanwhile, all the other bills are as of midnight, now overdue and there is no cash to pay them. Plus there is no gas in the car, precious little food in the cupboard and one serving of chow for little Mo remaining. Of course, Mo can eat rice along with me. He really enjoyed his rice, lentils g bully beef rice today for lunch. But what food there is won't last for long. 

Cut out this bowl blank on the bandsaw. It is Bajan mahogany. Bajan mahogany is highly prized but is quite rare. There are not huge groves of it around but I got a bunch of logs last week from a large storm-felled tree. 

The bandsaw struggled cutting the blank and I may have done irreparable damage to my little ½“ blade, but the ¾" blade with the low tooth count broke and I don't have the $104 to buy a new one. 

The block isn't perfect by any means. There are some cracks

and a couple bug-holes, in one of which I found the dessicated corpse of some type of wasp.

I will true up the blank and then see about removing the cracked and buggy wood. If anything remains, I might even try to sell it.

Listening to Bangladesh by George Harrison.  Mo sleeping on my foot and my cover sheet simultaneously. House locked up, ready to kill the lights. Awake later than usual because had to take meds at 1:00 AM.

Anyway, I want some shut-eye, now! Tomorrow is another day.

Oh! Did I mention Holders Farmers Market on Sundays? Different market, different day, different clientele. Considering giving it a try. Sent email to address on their horrible website. No response. Sent another email via their webform. No response. Dialled the number on their FecesBook page. "This subscriber is not accepting any calls. Tried the number from their website. "This number is not assigned to amy subscriber."

So I messaged Heidi and suggested that we pop down this coming Sunday, check the place out, get the lay of the lland and hopefully make contact with one of the organizers. She read the message, but didn't deign to reply. Not even a simple "No!"

Sleep!

[Netfoot]

Got that chunk of mahogany on the lathe and it turns beautifully. But there was a bug-hole, which I chased with the chisel. It was deep!

Had to settle for a much smaller bowl, shown here still attached to the other half of the piece. You can see just how deep I had to chase that bug-hole!

You should also be able to see a little hole in the face of the outer piece, near the top. This is the bottom of one of the holes drilled to mount the faceplate. 

The top piece can't be used in its entirety. So I am cutting out the middle to make another small bowl. 

The outer rim might be useable for something, but I can't think what. Unless...

[Netfoot]

Lying in bed. Right after lunch I got a terrible pain in my tummy, and cold sweats as well. Sat on the throne but that wasn't very productive, so I lay in med. The sweats went away and the pain in my stomach diminished considerably, so I will stay here for a while. 

I have a very sweet, fuzzy nurse maid. He provides hot water bottle action for the tummy by lying against it. He is s real love-puppy. 

Yes, that funny looking lump is my tummy.

I have a large lump in my stomach which I can feel when I rub it. (Not that thing in the photo! That's just fat!) It's been there for several months. It may have been there for much longer but as I lose weight it becomes more prominent. I never asked Dr. Kristi for an opinion as to what it might be. I have been assuming it is related to the hernia surgery I had done a few years ago. It's very close to the incision made by the surgeon and may be scar tissue. Or the "mesh" he told me he was going to use. Or a combination of the two.

I think I should find out exactly what it is. But I know Dr. K. will tell me to get an x-ray, which I have not a hope in hell of being able to afford.

Heard of some more mahogany that was available for the taking. Called the guy (went to school with him about 50 years ago) and he said he had not disposed of it as yet and yes, I could have it. Explained I was in bed and couldn't come immediately, so he is expecting me tomorrow.

Tummy still feels tender but not that bad ache I had earlier. Could probably go for the mahogany now, but wouldn't want to be halfway through loading it and a bout of "the trots" hit me. Will lie right here with a friendly puppy fast asleep at my side and my bathroom only two steps away.

The mahogany will, of course, be wet. It will take years to dry out enough to be used. So I might try making what are called "twice-turned" bowls. you turn the wet wood which gives off so much water you end up soaked but is very soft and easy to turn. You make a bowl as usual but leave it an inch thick. (The actual rule of thumb is one inch thick for every 10 inches of diameter. So a 5" bowl would only need to be half inch thick.) Then you leave it to dry out. Because you have cut the wood to only one inch it dries much faster than the whole log would. One year per inch of thickness is the rate. As it dries, the wood "moves" so a year later it has dried but is warped. You then put it back on the lathe and turn it again (twice-turned, remember?), reducing the thickness from an inch to (say) a quarter of an inch and at the same time re-truing the bowl and eliminating the warp. 

Now, someone was recently telling me that they would turn wet wood to final thickness of a quarter inch or less so it only needs three months to dry out. Of course, the dried bowl will be warped and too thin to be re-trued. So turn a bug into a feature: declare your bowls as deliberately warped and put the price up.....

Anyway, if I'm lying in bed I may as well get a little sleep.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack is playing. Vocals by Shara Nelson. Mo curls up against my sock-clad feet. No more trouble from the tummy, but it still feels tender. 

Had fried bread with a tiny bit of corned beef stew for dinner. Once more trying a recipe that supposedly pours out like pancake batter, and once more ending up with an unholy mess of doughy bread, cooked but with no sign of the browning on the outside that makes fry bread nice. Mo ate more than his fair share of the stuff and more than half the bully. 

Because the piece I started out with became two, I didn't finish either one of them before the tummy trouble switched me offline this afternoon. The first piece was finished on the outside before separation, then the second piece was finished on the inside. Some juggling of chuck jaws and work was begun on the other side of each piece but then came the interruption. But they are both nearly complete. 

I shouldn't draw any conclusions based on my first piece of local mahogany but the stuff is very nice to turn and can give a great finish straight off the chisel.

I have a silly idea for the leftover ring from removing the piece of wood on the inside of the faceplate screw holes. Assuming I can hold it (and the big Cole jaws should do it) so as to clean it up, I am thinking of a round-bottomed bowl with no foot to stand on. Instead it comes with an entirely separate wooden ring that it can sit upon, like a wok. Will give it more thought and see if the idea bears fruit. 

Mo has disappeared. Will lock up first time he gives me a choice. Time to extinguish the lanterns and go looking for tomorrow.

[Netfoot]

Just collected some free, green mahogany. Here it is being unloaded at home.

Some of these pieces took three men to load but I had to unload by myself. I dropped them out one by one, stood them up and walked them into their new home.

This came from a tree that had a three-way crotch about 3 feet above the ground. Apparently a different tree took root in the crotch and sent its roots down through the mahogany. One of the three branches of the tree separated and fell and us now in my garage. 

QC inspector aproves. Same QC inspector that behaved so badly in the car I nearly stopped and threw him in a skip.

On the way, I stopped by Dr. Kristi and asked her to feel up my tummy. She did do, asked some questions and told me I needed an ultrasound. I told her that couldn't happen.

I explained that I thought it was probably scar tissue from my hernia surgery. Dr. K then called the surgeon and he recommended skipping the ultrasound and getting a CT immediately. She drew blood for tests to make sure my kidneys could handle the contrast medium I would have to take. I reminded her I couldn't afford any of this do so she called my niece despite my begging her not to. Taking my weight on her big scale and comparing with my last weight taken in September it seems I've lost 24 lbs since then, on a diet of carbs and sugary tea.

I'm waiting on a call now, to discover what happens next. I needed this like I needed a hole in my head!

Edited March 2, 2023 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The downside of all this new mahogany...

Is getting close enough for a kiss!

I finished the larger of the two mahogany bowls. It's actually quite tiny. And the other one is even more tiny, but I've not finished it yet, so: photos of both to follow.

[Netfoot]

Here ya go!

Bajan mahogany. Not from Suriname nor Belize. This is the real stuff!