Tuesday, February 4, 2014
On the Nature of Shop Time
Einstein was right - time is not constant.
My shop demonstrates this to me on a regular basis - "Ill just work on this for 15 minutes!" and then "What?! Ive been in the shop for 2 hours?" Of course, Im not complaining - I love being in my shop. Im just always amazed, and a little confused, at how it happens.
This time, I decide to try to document the happenings in "shop time." Here goes:
I am finally starting to believe that the Shaker cabinet might, just might, be finished before my son starts crawling. Todays job was to start making the molding for the top and the step-back. In a remarkably sensible move, I decided that there wasnt enough time to finish - Id just rip the strips, clean them up with a plane, and stop. "Should take about 15 minutes."
First - find the board I am going to rip. Okay, there it is - half-way down in the center of a stickered pile. Sigh. Well, nothing for it, start moving wood. Unpile. Pick. Pile. Not too bad.
Put board on bench. Set marking gauge and mark off two strips, one on each edge. Flip. Repeat. Done.
Move board to saw bench. Grab rip saw from till. Start to cut. What? When did this thing get so dull? Oh...probably when I was ripping the bamboo flooring...with its "scratch resistant" coating...probably "saw resistant" too. Hmm. Okay.
Get saw vise. Put piece of 2x4 in bench vise. Clamp saw vise to 2x4. Clamp saw in saw vise. Get file - the one with the handle so I dont hurt myself. Oh. That one is too small. Hmm. Okay.
Find piece of birch in scrap pile. Find brass plumbing fitting (I actually knew exactly where it was!).
Take birch to shavehorse. Rough it out with drawknife. Fast! Clean up with spokeshave. Cut off with saw. Round end to fit brass cap. Clamp cap in vise and drill hole through for file tang.
Hmm. It moved off-center. Okay. Clean up with rat-tail file.
Screw onto birch handle. Clamp handle in vise. Drill two step hole for tang. Clamp file in vise, tang up. Get propane torch. Heat tang. Force handle down over tang. Pull back off. Reheat. Reforce. Whack with hammer. Done. Wait. The "nut" look of the brass bugs me. File it round. Okay. Now its done.
What was I doing? Oh yeah, ripping molding strips. Right. Need to sharpen the saw first.
Run jointer down saw teeth. This creates small flats on top to the taller teeth. In theory, on ALL the teeth, but this saw is a long story. I bought on eBay years ago, and boy was it messed up. I tried to reshape the teeth, and didnt do half bad for my first try at that, but its not perfect, and the teeth are only slowly becoming more uniform each time I sharpen it.
Doesnt matter - works great anyway. At least when it is sharp, so back to that. Reclamp saw lower in vise, just below the gullets. File every other gullet - trying to remove half of the flat on the top of the teeth. Reverse saw. File remaining gullets. Not bad. Not perfect - but plenty good.
Back to the board waiting on the saw bench. Rip. Rip! Holy smokes is it better! When was the last time I sharpened this saw? Rip. Rip. Done.
Hmm. I wonder if I have time to clean these up with the jack plane? Look at clock. "What! Howd that happen?" Drat! Need to clean up and call it a day.
"But it will only take about 15 minutes to plane those two strips..."
Get plane...
Sunday, January 26, 2014
December 8 time for Nativity Crib
The Nativity Crib (presepe) for Neapolitan people is a real must and in these gray days for our city, its nice to find some serenity and optimism in the continuing traditions full of religious and family meaning. Yes, because the presepe as well as tells the Nativity, is a joy moment to share with our Family and especially with our children. I remember with great emotion the days of childhood, when my father invited me to look carefully at the presepe construction scheme, so that one day I might do it for my children.
The characters (called generically "pastors") are still those of the time, jealously preserved for all these years (about 40) and that the December 8 begin to live their annual glory moment, until Epiphany, when traditionally, the presepe is disposed and retained for the next year.Wood, cork, glue and nails are the simple ingredients to build a traditional Nativity scene, but clearly there are no limits to our fantasy. Become a big play for us to try to make the scene as real as possible. The characters are all there, from the Roman soldier to the camel drivers, the pipers, shepherds with their sheep, the Archangel Gabriel announcing the forthcoming Jesus birth, the Magi Kings who come on their camels to bring gifts to the humanity Savior.
Of course the scene lacks of the main character, Baby Jesus, which cannot be placed in the manger before midnight on December 24.