Week Four

There is a point were I get really excited about completing projects; this was that week. I had a great week and got a lot done. not as much as I wanted but there is never enough time in a weekend. My projects are getting closer, but the problem is I am getting distracted by other projects. I am working on some boxes also. They are very basic but I was asked to build them. I also did my first puzzle. I will talk more about that later. I am excited to put on the axles. All I have to do is drill the holes and glue. The fenders are ready to glue on and they are looking more like toys. I spent most of my class sanding though. It is a necessary pain.

Now for some stories:

On Saturday I was able to pick up some lumber at Peterman Lumber. Great lumberyard with a lot of different species. I was delayed several weeks due to truck problems and weather. They had a bunch of discounted hard maple so I stocked up a little. I also picked out some exotic hardwoods. not too bad priced when I only picked up one board foot. However I do wonder what damage I did to the rain forests. I will have to post some pictures later. Later that day I made a huge pile of sawdust (I haven't cut into the exotic hardwoods yet).

Monday was class. I got a lot of sanding done and I put together the boxes. As I was nailing the boxes together, one of my classmates came up to me and said, "A real woodworker doesn't use nails." In some cases I agree because I do not use a lot of nails on my projects. However, nails do a great job of keeping things together while glue dries. He came back a little later and said that I could borrow his bottle of glue. I showed him my bottle and told him the nails were to keep it together. He left me alone after that, not sure why. I also was able to talk to the professor about some lathe work that I need to do. It actually may finish the candle sticks I started a year and a half ago!

I also did my first scroll saw puzzle. I want to get better at the scroll saw and this is a good way to do it. I also learned a lot about wood and scroll saws with this day project. I had some one inch glued panel scrap that I used to make this puzzle. I don't plan on making that mistake again. The first one had a hidden knot in the middle of one of the glued up pieces. Of course the knot was in the middle of the fish. On the second one I realized the white rings in pine are a lot softer than the dark ones. So I would be pushing to cut and then I would cut into a white ring and cut way too far. They look good and they work. I can take the pieces out from both sides which means the scroll saw was set up correctly. They will be painted with food die and polyurethane.

It was a weekend that I needed.