Some days... [sigh]

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

... it really doesn't pay to go out to the shed. Today was one of 'em. I had no customer work on so I thought I'd spend some quality time turning.

Headed out to the shed all bright'n'cheery, first thing this morning (which is an unusual event. Trust me. :rolleyes:) to make an early start. I had some big plans for today!

On the agenda? Well, I'm partway through a large(ish) hollow-form I was talking about in another thread, using a piece of rather green redgum that DJ kindly sourced for me. I hoped to finish it today... Being quite deep, I've been hollowing with a home-made 3-point steady and 'twas time to move the steady along so I could shape where it'd been. Well... the form at that point is 2cm too wide to fit inside the steady! :doh:

"OK," I think to myself. "I'll just make another steady!"

Which I did. Took me all morning, for one reason or another, but it should do the job. So, while that's gluing up (it's made of laminated 5-ply) I thought I'd start another project. Silly me! This is where the day started going expensively astray...

I have some old redgum strainer post that'd been replaced after a bush fire. Lovely wood, about 100yo but hard, hard, hard. It'll be some work, but it should make for some glorious goblets! As a matter of fact, I've been planning a celtic knot goblet for some time now, so this is as good a time as any. Chainsaw first... still blunt, of course, from the last time I used it. Spent a few minutes sharpening, started a cut... 6" in the blades blunt again. OK, spent a few more minutes, making sure it's sharp and... 6" in, it's blunt again. Sheesh! This wood is HARD! It'd better look good after all this... Finally lopped a section off, decided to break out the splitter to quarter it as I wasn't going to sharpen the chain yet again.

Broke the handle, didn't I? :- But not until after I'd got one usable piece, fortunately! [phew!] Mind you, it's looking a bit rough and it really needs to be squared as accurately as possible so I can inlay the celtic knot... so off to the bandsaw. Have I mentioned that this wood is hard? The BS didn't want to look at it... after about a minute cutting time, a lot of smoke and quite a bit of swearing my 4TPI 3/4" blade had only cut 1/2" into the piece. And blunt? If it wasn't before. it certainly was now. So swap it out for a new blade, same specs, and start again.

"I'll square one side just so I can safely run it through the tablesaw," I reason.

HA! Yeah, and pigs might fly. Some 5 minutes later, blade smoking, I've only cut some 6" of the 12" piece, the blades wandered badly with the grain and... it's even blunter than the first one now. OK, power tools ain't working for me today, so I decided to resort to more drastic measures. Clamped the piece in the ol' engineer's vice and had at it with my old jack plane. A minute in and... I'll be... it worked! One side flattened - not perfectly, but well enough to run it through the TS.

Then I realise that the TS ain't gonna have the depth of cut to make it in one pass... and the top side hasn't been flattened at all, so I can't flip it over to make the second pass. :B But I run it through anyway, then change the blade on the BS to my 1/2" 6tpi (having no sharp 4tpi's left) to make the "finish cut." Again, serious smoking, and it wants to wander all over the place, even though it's just completing the cut made by the TS. Still, it managed the job. Eventually.

Back to the engineer's vice and jack plane to clean it up, then repeat the whole TS/BS/plane process for the next two sides. Blunted yet another couple of BS blades and the plane is looking rather sad, but... it's done! Or is it? Break out the square to check and... well, my planing skills leave a lot to be desired - it's nowhere near square enough to start inlaying. :no: Alright... but it is good enough to run through the TS in two passes now! So I nudge the fence in a tad, and go to it.

The end result? A beautifully squared piece of redgum, 12"x4"sq. Only took me three damned hours to get it that far but it's DONE! :2tsup: Then I realised... My TS didn't have the depth of cut to cut it in one pass, right? So how the heck did I expect it to cut deep enough to start inlaying a celtic knot?

That's when I did my nana and threw it across the shed... where it hit my still clamped up steady and knocked it to pieces.

Back to the drawing board.

:kickcan:


4 blunted BS blades, a blunt chainsaw, a way blunt plane, a broken splitter handle, a (hopefully) repaired steady, a seriously frayed temper and I still haven't managed a single minute of turning. :C

[RufflyRustic]

Oh dear Skew!!!! Of all the things.... :doh:

[Waldo]

... it reallyHeaded out to the shed all bright'n'cheery, first thing this morning (which is an unusual event. Trust me. :rolleyes:) to make an early start.

G'day Skew,

I know. :;

Would've been quicker to walk around here and throw the lump of r/gum through the thicknesser.

So what didn't you bugger today?

[K_S]

Back to the drawing board.

:kickcan:


4 blunted BS blades, a blunt chainsaw, a way blunt plane, a broken splitter handle, a (hopefully) repaired steady, a seriously frayed temper and I still haven't managed a single minute of turning. :C


Should spent the day in the sun

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Would've been quicker to walk around here and throw the lump of r/gum through the thicknesser.

So what didn't you bugger today?

Your thicknesser. :U

[DJ’s Timber]

:rofl::roflmao2::roflmao:

What can I say :shrug: except that it bought tears to my eyes

[ss_11000]

unlucky skew. in an hour or so , i'm going to go out and try to finish off a burl bowl i started yesty ( or was it the day b4?), i hope i dont do as bad as you did today:D

[orraloon]

We all have days like that. Nice cup of tea and a lie down should fix everything.


Regards
John

[wheelinround]

Skew your not alone we all get days like that

there is a brighter side round the corner is always something to cheer you up put a smile on your dial (just make sure you tell us about that TOO)

Till then go troppo get it out of your system

The week ahead or whats left of it is all going to be repair work :2tsup::2tsup:

[scooter]

Looking forward to seeing this goblet, Andy, it's going to be a beauty, I just know it. :D


Cheers mate.....................Sean

[RETIRED]

For what it's worth, I had a ripper day today.:wink::D:p

Had a day like that last week Skew and went home early.

[TTIT]

... it really doesn't pay to go out to the shed. Today was one of 'em. .........................It's that bastard Murphy again - I thought he lived in my shed but he must have decided to give you a visit Skew! I've got this week off work and was planning on breaking down a heap of logs into blanks (to make room for more logs of course!) Made a start on Monday, almost finished the Dogwood and the 1"x1.3TPI bi-metal starts waverin' about all funny like - stop saw - hmmm - lost tension - bugga! cracked 9/10ths of the way across the blade - metal fatigue Murphy strikes again:~. Ring Henry Bros - New South Bloody Wales are havin' a day off :~ probably 'International Bloody Murphy Day'. Called this mornin' - new blades on the way but the week will be over before they get here - bloody Murphy - I'll just have to spend the rest of the week on the lathe I suppose - :UBugga:U

[joe greiner]

Hmmmm. Still Tuesday morning here. Maybe some planets in misalignment? Thanks for the warning. Maybe I should just perch myself in front of the tube and vege out on CNN reruns? Even they make daytime television the pits.

Joe

[Richard Findley]

I recon you're pretty safe Joe, Skew seems to have had everyone's share of bad luck today:doh:... tomorrow will be someone elses turn though, so watch out!!!!:U

Cheers,

Richard

[rsser]

Bummer Skew. But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you strong :D (esp. your plane action).

I had a bit of redgum like that once off the woodpile. Incredibly fine grained and heavy. Got a lidded box out of it eventually at the expense of HSS grit all around the grinder.

[Frank&Earnest]

It's that bastard Murphy again - I thought he lived in my shed but he must have decided to give you a visit Skew!

Nah, he's EVERYWHERE. I have it from reliable sources that in the Dead Sea Scrolls is written: " ...and on the seventh day God said: Over to you, Murphy!" :D

[OGYT]

Skew, I ROFLMself sick! :D Sorry for all the trouble, but you sure brightened the day for all of us. You got a way with words, you do. Have a short snort, and try to relax a while.

[Hickory]

Sometimes it is OKay to say "SCHMIDT" and not talk German.... :oo:

I had a day like that last week and it had nothing to do with WWing, Just life in general.... followed by a letter from IRS (US Internal Revenue Service... TAXES !!!) I owe another $3500 in back taxes. Give me a break! Please! Well CPA guy fixed the IRS and the rest of the stuff fixed itself, I'm going fishing this weekend with my son & grandson and the rest of the world can Pound Salt...... :2tsup:

Skew, You need an attitude adjustment, Grab a piece of lightweight wood, chuck it up, and turn a fishing plug. Then go use it. :p

[rsser]

... that's after you've resharpened everything :p

... and I'm not a believer in Murphy btw. What happens in the shed I find usually parallels what else is happening in my life.

That's me; no asparaguses cast on you Skew :wink:

[Frank&Earnest]

...

... and I'm not a believer in Murhpy btw. What happens in the shed I find usually parallels what else is happening in my life.



You are right. That's my interpretation of the truth behind the joke I quoted before.

You can give me the asparaguses. I like them.:D

No apologies to you, Skew:), I am sure you invented it all just to show how good a writer you are. :wink:

[rsser]

Sorry F&E, missed your post.

Like it ;-}

But my point was a bit more specific.

What we take up in the shed, first and foremost, is ourselves in relation to the material there, its challenges etc. What we get reflected back is our own state at that time.

...

Yep, love the green spears meself ..., freshly steamed til just past crisp, melted butter and a crack of pepper.

(Woops; we'll get bumped to the Cooking section before we know it.)

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

No apologies to you, Skew:), I am sure you invented it all just to show how good a writer you are. :wink:

I wish! :rolleyes:


What we take up in the shed, first and foremost, is ourselves in relation to the material there, its challenges etc. What we get reflected back is our own state at that time.

I agree with this, up to a point. But sometimes the day is just a downhill slide no matter what you do... yesterday started off great, but by the end of it I was afraid to even open a book in case I slit my wrists with a paper cut. :p

Today, I wasn't going to take the risk. I simply set up a lounger on the back patio and idled the hours away communing with my belly button. No planes fell on my head, no passing seagulls... I think that tomorrow I may be up to a fresh foray into the shed. :2tsup:

[rsser]

Sounds good Skew. Hope you had an umbrella in the cocktail as you supped :D

Yes, I've had days on the ski slopes when all that was produced was falls, without broken bones happily. A win of sorts, however hoomilating it was :C

[Wayne Blanch]

I wish! :rolleyes:



Today, I wasn't going to take the risk. I simply set up a lounger on the back patio and idled the hours away communing with my belly button. No planes fell on my head, no passing seagulls... I think that tomorrow I may be up to a fresh foray into the shed. :2tsup:

Yep Skew, some days you need to just take a break and start over again the next day.

I agree with Rssr re: what you take to the shed influences your time there!

However have any of you heard of " O'Grady's Law"??
It simply states "Murphy was an optimist" :o:U

See ya
Wayne