Week Eight

There are a couple of things this week that happened. I will start with the freebie because most people want to see something free first before they commit to reading the rest of anything. I have completed a bucket of scrap. That means that I have a bunch of random wood blocks to be used as toys. I usually give them out to family but I am going to try something new. I will give this bucket of blocks to the person who comes closest to guessing the correct number of blocks on the floor. These blocks are very much random and are all different shapes and sizes. I have sanded them and put a coat of mineral oil on them making them child safe. However I do warn you if your child likes to throw things, some of these blocks will do damage. Most of them are out of poplar, but there is some good sized pieces of hard maple and walnut. The last two woods will dent other pieces of wood. I will run the contest for two weeks, so the last day to place your vote is March 22. I will allow two votes per person because I hate guessing 1000 and two other people guess 1001 and 999. I said they were free but a plate of chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies would not be turned down. Good luck.

This week It looks like I did not get much done. And I did not. I was side tracked on another project that I hope to clear in the next couple of weeks. I did put headlights and bumpers on my current projects. I also did some face turning. This is what I was concerned about a couple of weeks ago; two pieces of wood glued together with a piece of paper. It worked and they turned out really nice. I just might finish my candle sticks this month. It was amazing how easily the two pieces of wood separated with a chisel and a mallet. I also learned a couple of things in the process.
After five years of studying to be and engineer and getting a BS in mechanical engineering I don't know how treads work. In brief, my work piece is attached to a threaded insert that is then screwed onto the lathe. I was told this was a left hand thread. Righty tighty and lefty loosely, right? Wrong! This is a left hand thread so it is backwards. After finishing my first turning I went to take it off with the wrench. It wouldn't budge. The "Woodworkers don't use nails" gentleman saw me struggling and offered to help hold the lathe while I turned the wrench. He thought I was going the wrong way and then realized this was a left hand thread after a couple of attempts. It still would not budge. We tried a mallet. The instructor states at the start of every session that if your are forcing it you are probably doing it wrong. So I finally humbled myself and ask the instructor for help because I was too weak to remove my part from the lathe. I held the lathe and the teacher took the wrench and popped it right off with a flick of the wrist. I was turning the wrong way!