On The Other Side Of The Window: July 2006

Day 6

Day 5

Now I wanted to shape the outside of the bowl
Here is what I started with...

As I was useing the scraper to shape the outside, I kept tearing out wood. Here are two spots. The grains that have torn out are about 1/8" deep. That means that I have to sand the bowl down 1/8", so that you can't see the holes. An eighth of an inch is a lot of wood to remove with sand paper. I started to sand it, but realized how long it was going to take. I got out my gouge, sharpened it up, and took off most of the wood that I needed to. (A gouge cuts, so there is less sanding) I still had to sand a little, but not nearly as much. I felt pretty good about that whole "Oh, I know exactly what I need to do." and then I did it.

Noone can control themselves from playing with the dust!!

Its like when there are huge rocks and a calm pond. You've GOT to throw them in to see how big of a splash you can make.

Dust should stay on the outside of your body. It causes a lot of pain on the inside.

This is the outside. Its only sanded with 80 grit so far, but its starting to look nice. I work all the way up through 400 grit, and 600 if I have to. The outside is shaped kind of funny, but I guess I'm not one to talk.

Here's a big ol' F' up!!

The dark board on the left is going to be the bottom of the bowl. This is really two boards glued side by side. You can see how they make an M in the middle. Each board has an arch shape to its grain. (That arch shape is actually the rings of the tree - if you can imagine looking down from the top of the tree. ) So the rings are cupped down. Thats upside down. I should have put it so the arch shape is going the other way. The cup shape should follow the contour of the bowl. It should look like a W not an M. Thats why the wood is tearing out so much.

To top it off, that piece of wood is purple heart. It should be a deep purple. The outside of the board was purple, but as I'm cut into it the inside is grey. That pisses me off. The purple is a beautiful wood. It almost looks like walnut, not purple heart. The grain still looks nice, just not the deep color.

I don't have a good feeling about this bowl. I have a feeling its not going to make it.

Day 7

Day 5

Day 4

This is what I started with today.

Now the outside is roughed out, now its time to rough out the inside. Sometimes I use the bowl gouge and sometimes I use this, which is a scraper. In the same manner that you can take a knife and scrape the burnt off of your toast, you can take this tool and scrape the wood down. A bowl gouge works as a knife; it slices the wood off. The cut is cleaner, but its more difficult to use, because the knife slices along the grain of the wood. A scraper is easier to control, but it is not sliceing the wood, it is tearing it off. That means a lot more sanding.

Dust collectors are fun!!!

See the inside is smooth now.

Day 6

Day 4

Day 3

This is the part I struggle with the most, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I've stopped using a guide or a rest and just hold by hand.

The pink things are ear plugs. I used to only be about eye protection. In the last year, I've found myself nodding at people when they whisper, thinking to myself "I wish he'd stop mumbling"

I HATE roughing out a bowl. This is a larger bowl then I usually make. Frankly - it scares me.

The wood spins towards me at the slowest speed, which I think is about 700 RPM. (For those that can't visualize 700RPM, that is precisly the speed required to make you shit your pants when it grabs your chisel)

As the wood spins, I shove the chunk of metal into the wood. If the metal is sharp, it will slice the wood off in shavings. If the metal is not sharp, it will tear the wood off.

When it is not yet round, it is scarry as shit.

I broke the blade of my 1.5" roughing gouge when it grabbed and flew across my shop. Now I use this as a roughing gouge. Its pointed so its surface area is much smaller. That means its slower, but grabs less.

Here's a big ol' chunk I ripped out when the wood grabbed the chisel!!

I'm very pleased at this point. The outside is almost roughed out, and I have only had about three 'scares' where the wood grabs the chisel and it almost flys from my hand.

Day 5

I need to own this for a few days then I'll let it go...

A spring hail storm damaged our roof. We got an insurance check, but still need to get a new roof put on.

At the begining of summer, the lawn mower hit the skids. Instead of spending $400 on a mower I decided to spend $1400 on a John Deer riding mower (came with a free dump cart). This did make me realize that its not the big yard I hate, its chasing a lawn mower around the yard.

The bottom board fell off of our delapidated garage door. I now have to keep a 2x4 against it to block the gap. We need to get it replaced before it falls right off the tracks.

We need a new kitchen counter.

We need a new kitchen floor - other than the linolium remnent that is there now.

We need new gutters preferably some that drain.

We need a new front door. Currently it is a very weathered hollow core door.

We went to Colorado last week and spent a small fortune.

We need to paint the outside of the house, or at least glue the existing flaps of paint back onto the house.

We are going to Portland, OR next week. Plane tickets were $1500. Its going to cost so much when I'm there, that I won't be able to enjoy myself.

The air conditioner on the car had a leak - $350 to fix it.

The battery went out on the van - $100

When I'm in Oregon, we're going to the beech for two days. Its going to be so nice that I'm going to cry when I have to come back to this arm pit of the nation.

The van got vadelized and we had to replace a tire.

The spare tire crane under the van broke.

We bought a new van - $3K

Crystal threw a bottle of water in her purse. It leaked all over the new cell phone and her PDA. Both are shot to hell.

I've caught 6 rats in a trap by my trash can.

My dog is dyslexic.

Our promotional rate ran out on the cable and internet. It went from $50 to $120.

My steering wheel shakes bad when I slow down to a stop. Needs fixin' in a big way.

I owe my kids $900.

I think I need hip replacement surgery. Xtal thinks I'm going to be a Tracy Chapmen song (His bodies to young to look like this so mama went off and left him.)

My kids broke all of my sprinklers using them as a pick-ax and shovels.

I left three twelve packs of pop in my car when it was 101 degrees. Big frickin' mess.

We have a leak in the A-coil of our central AC. It can't be patched. we have to have it replaced - $500. The whole system is only 7 years old. It should last a LOT longer than that.

My children are in the Kansas City, MO school district.

I let Merkin use Crystal's lap top to watch a movie yesterday. When Crystal opened it up this morning, four of the keys fell out. Of course Merkin didn't do it and she doesn't know what happened.

Day 3

Day 2

Day 4

Our Air Conditioner is broken....

I called and they said they'd be out sometime this afternoon.

Yeow....

Homepage > Weather > Severe Weather
Jackson County, MO
Heat Advisory:

Issued at: 11:13 AM CDT 7/16/06, expires at: 7:00 PM CDT 7/16/06

heat advisory remains in effect until 7 pm cdt Monday
A heat advisory remains in effect until 7 pm cdt Monday.
An unseasonably hot and very humid airmass had become established over much of central and northern missouri Sunday morning. Humidity levels have increased sharply this morning, with dewpoints running in the mid 70s. Late morning temperatures had already climbed to around 90 degrees, producing heat indices around 100 degrees.
Temperatures will soar into the upper 90s this afternoon. When combined with the high humidity, dangerous heat indices of 105 to 110 degrees are expected across the advisory area. Little relief is expected tonight, with overnight lows in the middle to upper 70s and heat indices only falling to around 80 degrees. Another round of very hot and humid conditions is expected Monday, with actual temperatures likely reaching 100 degrees in some areas.

Wait just a second...

Yesterday at work, I had to go upstairs to my office. I wanted to check my mailbox. When I need to go from the 4th floor up to the 7th, I grab the elevator. I know I should take the stairs but I'm fat and lazy. So I hit the button to call the elevator and a couple other men come up to wait also. We stand there and wait and wait and wait - for probably 3 or 4 minutes. I can hear the mule unloading some skids on a different floor. Usually I just wait, but I get antsy and think - "I'll just take the stairs"

I turn around to head up the stairs and look into the emplyee discount shop, which is at the foot of the stairs. I think I havn't been in a while, so I head in to take a quick look around. As soon as I get about 3 steps in to the shop, I hear the bell and door open on the elevator, I ponder turning around to hope on but decide not to. I walk quickly through the shop and seeing nothing, head back out.

The men who were waiting with me, are gone now, and I think about hitting the call button again to take the elevator. I stop, think, decide not to, and head to the stairs. I'm somewhere between the 5th and 6th floors and meet a woman coming down the stairs. Shes talking on her cell phone, and her other hand is full of books. She's coming down and I'm going up.

When we are about three steps apart, as she is taking a step down, her toe catches in her opposite pant leg. Her momentum is still bringing her down the stairs, but her foot is caught. Reminiscent of not wearing a seatbelt in the front seat and having Mom smack me in the chest to hold me back as she slams on the breaks, I quickly stick my arm out in front of her and grab the opposit hand rail, so she falls against my arm.

Granted I didn't save her life or anything, but I did stop her from taking a header down half a flight of concrete stairs. All I could think of was - why did I decide to go check my mail right now? Why didn't I take the elevator either time I could have? Why did I go through the discount shop?

If I had been one second ahead or behind where I was, I might not have been able to catch her. That's weird. I think about that with car accidents alot. If that guy would have spent 3 more seconds fixing his chair, tunning the radio, looking one way or the other on the road - he may have not gotten killed in a car wreck. If he would have been 3 seconds earlier then he could have hit that school bus.

Its funny how many seconds we waste or rush. Maybe there's a reason for every second in our life. It reminds me of some saying that I heard "The wind from the flap of a butterfly's wing, changes the weather."

This is terrifying!!

Look at this chemical and just read about how widespread its use is!! I wonder how many people per year this stuff kills? This seems to be in everything!! I'm going to take my kids in to get them tested for exposure to this. Any bets on how much is in their bodies?