T.Rob
I make stuff with code and with wood. Just, you know, not at the same time.
#actuallyautistic #cybersecurity #woodturner
Joined Oct 2022
My wife asked if we should get one of those stair-lift chairs.
I said "No, those things drive me up the wall."
I tried a new Indian recipe and managed to give my wife and I food poisoning. After reviewing the recipe, I'm sure I didn't do anything wrong. I think it was just bad korma.
Was about to clean out the newspaper tube under the mailbox when I noticed some cedar needles from trimmings I'd done just a day earlier. Grass clippings often blow in but the cedar was at the other end of the lot so must have been deliberately gathered and put there. Took a closer look and sure enough - we've got babies! I postponed the cleanout.
It's been SO much work getting MIL's house ready for sale. I'm exhausted but in the best possible way. The estate sale starts tomorrow, then in quick succession comes painting, photography and the listing goes live. It finally feels real! So many emotions. Closing this chapter in our lives and opening the next one.
Getting MIL's house ready for sale and pressure-washed the front porch and steps today. This included two decorative columns that were full of bird poop, top to bottom. The nest looked empty at the time But I didn't have a ladder so I didn't blast it.
An hour later the column was dripping with poop again and when I asked who did it, I got a chorus of unapologetic "not me" from the poop squad.
I say if they are old enough to fly away while I'm working, they are old enough to relocate tomorrow.
Paint contractor asks what sheen to use.
I ask realtor which sheen buyers prefer.
Realtor says to ask contractor.
Considering realtor commission rates, this is a 5-figure game of rock-paper-scissors.
"Uh, I'll take eggshell for $20,000 Alex."
I bought my wife some ground roasted cacao beans to add to her coffee and now I am regretting it.
Based on her reaction, I should have waited until I was on her s#!t list and used it as an apology gift. For die-hard coffee drinker/chocolate lovers, this stuff is doghouse amnesty in a bag.
#HotOffTheLathe today are a Longwood style pen in olivewood with gold trim and a Vesper style pen in canarywood with gunmetal gray trim. These are both commissions so I took extra care with the finishing and buffing and they turned out great. The Longwood kit is great for showing off a great blank and this olivewood lives up to the promise. The Vesper is one of my favorites for balance and reliability.
We get so many calls identified as "Potential Spam" in the caller ID that my wife has invented a character Potential Pam who is the aggregate of all those callers, similar to Florida Man being an aggregate of idiots.
This morning she told me "Potential Pam got up early today. I wish she would take my ghosting her as an answer and leave me alone."
My wife chose the colors when I cast this blank and I promised it to her. I chose a Rockler Longwood component set because the extra-long 1-piece barrel lets the burl/resin blank shine.
I admit to a hidden agenda here. A while back I caught her using a cheap plastic pen. I thought I'd made enough custom pens that she'd get rid of all the crap ones. Maybe now?
Thought about doing a photo essay on this but pens are quite technical and it came out to 13 pix.
5/5 After all the sanding and polishing, it's finally time to put a finish on the bowl. Rather than use a film-forming finish like shellac or varnish, I use Danish oil. This penetrates and cures.
Tomorrow I might tweak the finish. Once it is final I'll remove the tenon on the bottom that is holding the bowl to the chuck, then go through most of the same finishing steps where the tenon was.
#woodturning #woodworking
4/5 After applying the abrasive paste it's time to...apply finer abrasive paste. Everything that was done in the previous step is repeated with this white paste that is closer to a polish than an abrasive. It is cleaned with denatured alcohol between every step at this point. Proper ventilation is critical!
3/5 After sanding to 1500 grit, there sre still some very minor sanding lines visible. Sanding paste is a mix of beeswax, oil, and diatomacious earth. The grit of the paste is actually more coarse than the last sandpaper, but it breaks down and getrs finer as it is worked in. A generous amount goes inside, then the bowl is spun and the grit worked in until it is smooth. Then it is removed with more denatured alcohol and the whole process repeated on the outside.
2/5 The bowl was sanded inside and out from 60 to 120 grit before the sealer. Now I'll sand at 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1500. Sanding is by hand with the bowl rotating slowly (250rpm). Between each grit, the rotation direction is changed. At 400 grit and above, the bowl is cleaned with denatured alcohol because at that point the sawdust from a lower grit can scratch the surface. This is the first time we get an idea of what the finished bowl will look like.
1/5 Yesterday the bowl was coated with sanding sealer and left to dry. In this case, the wood is freshly cut so "dry" refers both to the sanding sealer and the wood itself. My hope was that the bowl would be thin enough to flex rather than crack as it dried. This was mostly true but several cracks are visible radiating from the center of a spot that had been a branch. If these do not sand out, I'll need to repair them. Fingers crossed at this point.
The log is shaping up as a bowl. Flat part is screwed onto the chuck. A small tenon is carved into the bottom for the chuck to hold onto when it is reversed for hollowing.
Finally, the bowl has been rough sanded and sealer is applied. This will close the pores and harden the wood so that further sanding will leave a smoother finish.
Tomorrow I'll post the final sanding and finishing. I have no idea whether this is of interest so keeping it brief.
It turns out that after turning aromatic cedar on the wood lathe all day, the laundry hamper has never smelled better!
This is the first in a series showing how a log becomes a bowl.
This log section has several branches clustered. The grain in a 4-way crotch is going to be VERY interesting.
It is normal to cut out the pith (very center of the tree) because it tends to crack, so I need to section the log into halves. The bottom of the bowl will be the bark side.
Tomorrow I'll post pics of the bowl taking shape. I'll be using the section on the left that has the 4-branch crotch.
T.Rob
I make stuff with code and with wood. Just, you know, not at the same time.
#actuallyautistic #cybersecurity #woodturner
Joined Oct 2022