And the actual number is....

That was my last count. Kyle has determined that his blocks about 3 times as many is not as exciting as a bucket of blocks in his parent's room. He would have fun pulling them out and we would put them back in.

Thank-you for all those who participated. The good news is that I had to clean out the garage again so I have a good start on another pile of blocks. I think I will do other things like this also. We will see.

I do not have an update on my projects this week. Cleaning the garage and work interfered with getting stuff done. But I have a clean space to work again and I know were things are.

Another little tidbit of advice. Before gluing everything up put it together first. I dry assembled the flat bed yesterday and the one of the wheels didn't fit and the cut out on the trailer was too small to allow it to turn. The good thing is that I can correct it.

Week Nine

Well nothing was done this week on my four projects. I was able to work more on my candle sticks. Now I just have to drill the top holes. I think they are going to be a little big for the standard candle. I may have to use pillar candles.The guess the number of blocks is still going on for one more week. I think I made it too long so I will announce the winner on week ten post. You can still post your answers on this post or the last one. I have also opened it up to those who do not have a Google account. Since it is an "anonymous" post please put you name or I have no way to reach you. I did not realize the posting restrictions on the blog. I will also ship the blocks to their destination if you are not local. Here is the hint. This is the bucket that I have them in right now. Yes I have cleaned it. If you know my packing skills, then you know the stack is very dense.Lesson for the week:
Keep the glue bottle closed and upright at all times. Even if you think it is closed you should keep it upright. I thought mine was closed so I laid it down in my box I take to my class. It wasn't closed and dripped all over my book and some of my projects. I hope that I will be able to clean all the glue off my turnings.

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!

Week Seven

It is finished, sort of. The flat bed truck for this purpose is complete. I will not be showing this truck again until I clear coat finish it and add the wheels. The only parts that are missing are the air filters, bumper, and head lights.The other projects are coming along. It is more detail work and there is not much to show.

I did more on my wood dowels. It was kind of fun and chips of wood were flying everywhere. These turnings are pretty much complete. I have to cut them to size still and I need to check to make sure the diameters are correct. The thick plain looking dowel is complete. It is three inches in diameter and I have to cut it to size for the few projects that I am making with it. The other two are not candle sticks, but I will keep you guessing. (The candlesticks are the ones on the right. They look the same) I was unable to do any of the face turnings so I don't have anything to report.

The lesson for the week is make sure the tools are sharp. My coworker does a lot of lathe work so when he found out what I was doing he offered to let me borrow some of his chisels. There is a lot of responsibility when borrowing some ones tools because of the fear of damaging or destroying them. Well, he did lend them to me. It was amazing how much easier and cleaner sharp tools cut through the wood. Fortunately for me, my coworker also likes sharpening them too. I guess I need to sharpen some of my hand tools.

Week six

The abbreviated story of lumber is that a tree is cut down and then cut into flat square boards and sold. This week I reversed the process. I took those square pieces and made them round again with a lot of waste. Yep, this week I made dowels. These are not for the four projects I am working on now, but I wanted to make square boards round. The octagons are in the process of being made round. This is a new process for me called face tuning. On the back of each octagon is a piece of scrap wood. Its soul purpose is to be able to mount the hardware that attaches to the lathe without damaging the work piece. The pieces are glued together with a piece of paper in between. My instructor said that once the piece is complete this glue joint is easily separated by a chisel and mallet. I am a little worried. The lathe spins the part at 1200-1500 RPM. I am using chisels to cut the details. I don't know what is going to happen.
The octagons are maple and poplar with a ply wood scrap block. They will be made into disks. Starting on the right: the first dowel is poplar, the second is clear pine and the third is cypress. The last two are maple turnings that I started a year and a half ago. I think I need to finish them.

The other four projects are coming a long. One is almost ready to be finished. The other three have so more work to be done. It is all detail work though so the changes from week to week are going to be small now that I have to make square wood round again. My projects are starting to take notice in my class and I have received some nice compliments.

Week Five

I cannot say that I accomplished a lot this week. I have sort of been side tracked on a couple of other projects. In class I have access to a lathe and I really need to get some parts done in order to make some future projects. However I did have a chance to do some of the detail work on my projects.
This week I have learned that I cannot count. I am short one axle holder and two steps. Oh well, I should be able to make those pretty quick. The projects are starting to come together nicely. I am happy the way they are turning out. I have learned that my father's tape measure is off 1/8" in the positive (better in the positive than in the negative). His response is that I should have been using that tape measure though out the entire project. An eighth of a inch is enough to throw off the entire yield of a board and because I am making toys I also use a ruler. This is the reason some of my parts are a little big.
If you have not been able to figure out what I am making the pictures should give it away. I do not have the trailer in the picture for two reasons: I have not changed it since last week and it is 21" long.
Last week I had some one in class come up to me and tell me that a true woodworker does not use nails. This week another classmate asked if I sold my toys because she would like to buy one. We shall see.
I also learned something this week talking to a coworker about lathes and turning projects. His specialty is the lathe and asking about turning and he offered to give me some wood. I politely declined but he insisted. He purchases turning blanks online and the company uses wood as packing material and it was too small for him to use. (This is where I received the wood for the helicopter.) He said Wood workers give each other wood that they cannot use. So he gave me a chunk of spalted huckberry and cypress. He also offered to lend me his turning chisels because the school ones are not that great. Next week I hope to have some turnings done.

This fish does not get water

I spent four weeks on a few complex projects and post a picture of a fish that took me a couple of hours to make two of them and everyone comments on the fish. I am finishing this fish tale on this post. The plans wanted me to use a aniline die. at $7 an ounce, I don't think so (There are nine colors). I read in one of the books that food coloring is a good way to stain wood. So that is what I used. Well water makes wood swell and these were tight fitting pieces anyways. The good thing is that the fish is now colored and I only colored one of the fishes. The bad new is if the fish gets wet the colors will run. This is not a good puzzle for kids that put everything in their mouths. It would be like sucking on a permanent marker. I need to clear coat it still and with the weather I don't know when I can do that. Not bad for a weekend project that was purely experimental.