adolescence

February 2010...

My lathe was born...

the first few months were rough, we had a lot to sort out, a lot to learn, about eachother...

wood moves, get over it...

maybe the greatest woodworking quote of all time, I'm sure the poet who penned it had no idea I'd forget his/her name...

an all wood treadle lathe moves a lot, but Christopher and Mary over at CME Handworks anticipated this in their construction.

I've had ten months now to get acquainted with this baby, I know now to check the head stock alignment first, tighten all the grub screws. The paver has migrated to its desired home on the right half of the treadle, every thing is oiled, my stool has finally found its destiny...

I don't even need the heater on this side of the shop. It's effortless to spin, till you stick a piece of metal in it, but I've learned to use that metal...

and true to my nature, I'm not a Neaderthal, I've upgraded my technology...

just haven't learned to use it right yet, sorry, I'll get the orientation correct next time.

if you know Santa, please tell him I need a tripod for an iPhone 4...

and if you are the Apple repair guy, pretend you didn't see this video.

quick and dirty

It's that time of year again, the holidays. If I can get ten minutes in the shop it's only through hard-won persuasion. "oh yea, the turkey needs to sit for a while" "the mashers will cook for at least twenty more minuets" and when I do get out the excuse is "they're Christmas presents"

But I did have at least one good project.

New chairs!

no wait...

I still have to plan them, build a mock-up, test the fit and feel, find the right wood...

Oh yea, there was one other thing I needed to do...

Two moves ago the dining-room table leaves disappeared. They are probably still mouldering away in the damp, rat infested basement of the Gingerbread House. So here we have eleven family members trekking to our cramped little home, and the table's only fifty inches long.

You know how this works.

"honey, I'm going to the lumber yard"

mmm, some nice oak will be perfect...

A couple swipes with the jointer and a painless glue-up, a pass or two with the smoother, and a quick matching edge molding with a shoulder plane and block plane. A matching apron with a small grove near the bottom, stick it on with the Kreg, a few holes with the bit and brace and some dowels, and here we go...

no wait...

something's not right here...

they don't line up with each other

oh crap..

well I got a little lesson in truing a panel, a few strokes with the jack plane and a pass or two with the jointer and flip it over on the table saw to parallel the other side. and bingo, there it is!

Since it's covered with a table cloth it really doesn't matter if the color is even close, but I'll be sitting there, running my fingers over the transition between the leaves and the original and I'll smile a little that I can't tell the difference.