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Skew ChiDAMN!!
6th March 2009, 04:52 PM
So, what with the bowl charity and all I thought I'd best pull my finger out and make a start. :-

I haven't done any bowl turning in quite some time; not since we moved here some 6+ months ago! And as I'm working out of a "temporary shed" (ie. the garage) until I get around to building my new shed, the vast majority of my tools are still packed away. Somewhere. I know where, in general... in one or more of the boxes that are stacked everywhere leaving me with no standing room. :rolleyes: But which particular boxes? Aye, now there's the rub...

First order of the day? A new bandsaw blade so I could cut the blank to size. How hard can it be to find BS blades? Even rolled up, they're fairly big and bulky, and I have some 2 dozen of 'em! 45 minutes later, I gave up the search and charred, frayed and cursed my way through on the one I blunted a few days ago while ripping down old, used garden sleepers.

With sad and sorry looking blank finally in hand, I moved on to the part I was looking forward to. Turning it! :2tsup: First, a faceplate... a faceplate... :think:

Another 45 minutes later... :~ Torx screws! Where are my Torx screws?

More rummaging. And more rummaging. I finally found the Torx screws but... can you guess? The hex driver isn't with them. :doh: OK... I can't say that I've seen the driver in any of the boxes I've already unpacked, so on to a fresh pile.

(What moron packed these boxes without labelling even a single one of 'em? :innocent:)

Another hour or so and I'm so frustrated I could weep. I have, however, come across several particle board screws and numerous sets of Phillip's headed screwdrivers. Not the best choice, but at least I know where they are! I've also found my small drill-bits, but not the battery drill recharger. Still, who needs to drill pilot holes? Not when you've found a HAMMER and have a lot of frustration ready to vent. :p

By now, most of the day has gone, the prospect of turning doesn't fill me with quite as much anticpation as it had earlier in the day. I couldn't be bothered trying to find my layout gauge to find the centre of the blank, so I just eyeball the faceplate in the centre of the blank, start the screws with the Thwacking Stick (best part of the day!) and eventually get it screwed down.

Then I notice my tape-measure laying only inches away, partially hidden under a rag... :- Ah well... measure it up and discover the ol' Mk I eyeball still has what it takes: only 5mm off centre. :2tsup:

Finally! We are ready to turn! So, I proffer up the faceplate to the headstock and...

BWAAAH! :cry4: The blank is 5mm too large to fit over the bed! And I can't switch to outboard mode without spending another couple of hours moving all the boxes I've just moved back to the other side of the shed...

The blank was quietly put back onto my woodpile, faceplate still attached, the shed locked up and I slunk back inside.

Me: 0 Chaos: 1

:sigh:

ss_11000
6th March 2009, 05:01 PM
unlucky mate

Grumpy John
6th March 2009, 05:08 PM
Quitter :stirthepot:

Skew ChiDAMN!!
6th March 2009, 05:12 PM
Quitter :stirthepot:

:p

has the right idea: spindle turning. At least I know where my chuck and drive centres are.

Although finding any of the other jaw sets... :think:

dai sensei
6th March 2009, 07:28 PM
:U:U


.... The blank is 5mm too large to fit over the bed!

How many times have I done that :doh:. I always revert to my trusty electric plane and hack away until it fits :rolleyes:

hughie
6th March 2009, 07:32 PM
has the right idea: spindle turning. At least I know where my chuck and drive centres are.
Although finding any of the other jaw sets... :think:
[/QUOTE]

It could be worse, I have my workshop spread across three garages in three different locations.:C Spend a lot of time digging stuff out and putting it back :~ nope not in this one. :? must be some where :C:U

springwater
6th March 2009, 07:36 PM
Skew, you need a slab and a shed raising party:2tsup:

jefferson
6th March 2009, 08:27 PM
Skew,

Music to my ears and I'm still chuckling. A great story, just what we needed. I don't suppose you found any protective footwear either?

It's about time you paid me a visit too. The Oland tools that Ern so kindly made for me still are biting.

And like you, I better get busy next week with a bowl for the charity run. The stuff I've done so far won't bring much at auction.

Jeff

orificiam
6th March 2009, 08:58 PM
Cheer Up Skew. We all get one of those days now and then.:?:?
Best thing to do? A bit of elbow bending.
Cheers Tony.:2tsup::2tsup:

Skew ChiDAMN!!
6th March 2009, 09:21 PM
Skew, you need a slab and a shed raising party:2tsup:

Now, that's my sort of thinking! :beer:

Waldo
6th March 2009, 10:35 PM
Should've gone for a walk instead and knocked on some other shed door. :wink:

Ed Reiss
6th March 2009, 11:10 PM
"Best laid plans of mice and men" :doh:

springwater
6th March 2009, 11:15 PM
Fairdinkum Skew, I watched a crowd of seventh dayers or maybe they were Jehovah's put up a 40sq brick hall in a few weekends. Maybe not a slab, because a wood floor is better for wood workers. Stumps, bearers, joists, stud walls and tin etc. etc. then a few slabs :D :2tsup:

Skew ChiDAMN!!
6th March 2009, 11:29 PM
And Jehovah only took six days to create the world.

I, however, don't have that sort of fervor... I'm flat out working at the speed of procrastination. :D

artme
7th March 2009, 08:06 AM
It could be worse, I have my workshop spread across three garages in three different locations.:C Spend a lot of time digging stuff out and putting it back :~ nope not in this one. :? must be some where :C:U[/QUOTE]

Well hughie you might be envied by many here but unfortunately nature always interferes and we invariably expand to take up the available space. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Great story Skew!!:2tsup::2tsup:

Sawdust Maker
7th March 2009, 11:56 AM
I

Well hughie you might be envied by many here but unfortunately nature always interferes and we invariably expand to take up the available space. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Great story Skew!!:2tsup::2tsup:
I've seen one of Hughie's sheds and it's got less room in it then mine:o
Too much NG rosewood though :~

Skew tough luck - somedays just aren't conducive to producing curlies - Ya favourite roughing gouge was probably hiding in another box elsewhere

Calm
7th March 2009, 01:17 PM
I's times like this Skew you just say "at least the thought was there"

Cheers

ElizaLeahy
7th March 2009, 02:34 PM
I don't get it. Aren't you suppose to whack phillips heads in with a hammer first? That's the way I approach face plate work. I don't even know what the other things you were looking for are.

I hope you find your bandsaw blades soon!

Skew ChiDAMN!!
7th March 2009, 05:24 PM
Yes, Elizah, whacking 'em is an acceptable method to starting 'em off. :)

We blokes tend to get all the latest and greatest tools to do specific jobs (and only those jobs) quickly... then spend more time looking for those tools than we would've saved by using 'em. Sometimes we can be as single-minded as a bull-dog trying to flush a cat (which has already slunk over the fence) out from under a bush... :-


The only tools I think I mentioned which you may not be familiar with are the Torx screws and centre finder?

Torx screws are like phillips heads that do up with a hex key. They're stronger, provide a better grip than phillips heads and can be reused many, many times without "rounding" the head. A recommended purchase if you do a lot of faceplate work.

And the centre-finder is a home-made jig: basically a big wooden square with an extra arm across the top at 45°, so it sorta looks like a big wooden arrow. It's held to the edge of a round blank so you can scribe a line across the middle, then turn the blank some 90° and scribe another line. Where they intersect is the centre.

Just a convenience (when you can find it :rolleyes:) but handy to have just the same.

hughie
7th March 2009, 05:35 PM
Well hughie you might be envied by many here but unfortunately nature always interferes and we invariably expand to take up the available space. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:



Nah they all borrowed garages for storage only, just piles of boxes. Everything I look for seems to be some where else.


I am sorta still moving in after three months......:C

lubbing5cherubs
7th March 2009, 05:48 PM
Skew I hope that the end of your bad days turning. I understand exactly how stressing that is. hope it improves
Toni

Pat
7th March 2009, 06:03 PM
I use one of these, Drive Dog Punch (http://www.vicmarc.com/default.asp?contentID=697), for spindle work after finding the centre with this (http://www.teknatool.com/products/Other/Chuck_Gauge.htm) or this (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=43205&cat=1,330,49237&ap=1). Skew, your day sounds very familiar . . .

Skew ChiDAMN!!
7th March 2009, 06:07 PM
Nah they all borrowed garages for storage only, just piles of boxes. Everything I look for seems to be some where else.


I am sorta still moving in after three months......:C

I know wotcha mean. We've been 6 months or more and still moving... and I'm still "borrowing the garage just for storage." To give you an idea, here's a few pix of it. (Ain't gonna post these in the My Shed thread... too humiliating. :-)

Pic 1 shows two of my lathes, MC-900 variants, including the only one I have ready access to. It's difficult to see 'em, but they're there. My tools are in those boxes, somewhere...

Pic 2 shows the narrow aisle I have for access to the back door. That board on the floor is only 120mm wide.

Pic 3, t'other side of that 'aisle'... and more boxes for my tools to play hide & seek in.

Out the back of the shed, on the other side of the roller door? Why, surprise, surprise! MORE boxes! And some timber storage. And, believe it or not, a couple more lathes. My faithful little Leda is under the blanket in the foreground, as for the other lathes... well... trust me: they're in there somewhere.

Final Pic - this is the only space, apart from the 'aisle,' where there's room to put feet. It's easy to fill with curlies, but getting those curlies out again... a broom is useless... so that's a problem for another day. :p

Normally the place isn't quite so chaotic: that mess came about due to the frantic rummaging. The thought that I gotta clean it up and I still haven't found all the pieces I was looking for is depressing. (Mommy? I don't wanna go back out there! :C)

Grumpy John
7th March 2009, 07:47 PM
Those :aro-u: photos belong in the Show Us Ya Shed thread.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
7th March 2009, 07:51 PM
Those :aro-u: photos belong in the Show Us Ya Shed thread.


(Ain't gonna post these in the My Shed thread... too humiliating. :-)

:p

Sawdust Maker
7th March 2009, 07:58 PM
Ah
but it might make some of us sympathetic to your plight :2tsup:
but then again maybe no :no::o

DJ’s Timber
7th March 2009, 08:20 PM
I've dropped some timber off to Skew's place and I do sympathise with him, it is a burden when you have to accommodate the other half of which thankfully at this stage I am not burdened with with :q

Robomanic
7th March 2009, 08:34 PM
I can only see two lathes in one shot, this is dire Skew!

Calm
7th March 2009, 10:46 PM
Skew i think what you need is a trip to my farm to help cut some burls off the gum trees (before i sell 2 blocks) - Knowing full well you have no room to take and store any:D:D:D:D:p:p

Some are about 1 metre in diameter:q there are a couple of photos in my "album"

Cheers

Skew ChiDAMN!!
7th March 2009, 10:54 PM
People keep saying that to me and I can't help myself but prove them wrong.

You want to keep that challenge^H^H^Hoffer open? :D

Ed Reiss
7th March 2009, 11:42 PM
Normally the place isn't quite so chaotic: that mess came about due to the frantic rummaging. The thought that I gotta clean it up and I still haven't found all the pieces I was looking for is depressing. (Mommy? I don't wanna go back out there! :C)

The "Shop from Hell" :o :dev: :censored2:

rodent
8th March 2009, 01:50 PM
Yes skew you and I are still unpacking , at least I don't have to share my shed with any one .:doh:

BoomerangInfo
8th March 2009, 02:14 PM
Haha, good one Skew.

I know what it's like. We lived out of boxes for 9 months while our new house was being built. Then we lived IN the shed (with a whole house full of furniture and packing boxes) for another 6 weeks while they finished the house (since our rental lease expired when the house SHOULD have been finished), then it was another two months before we got all the boxes out of the shed again, another 10 months before I got power laid on to the shed, and I STILL have one wall of the shed where the wood is where it got dumped originally.

You're a braver man than I for even making the attempt.

Russell.

Texian
8th March 2009, 02:24 PM
Russell's story is much like my own. Been there and done that a couple times in past 20 years. Take heart Skew, for this is only temporary. It will all come right in the end.

Grumpy John
8th March 2009, 02:38 PM
Skew, between 1999 and 2006 we moved 5 times. After the last and final move (next time I move it's going to be IN a box) we still had boxes that hadn't been opened since the first move. These boxes have since been taken to the tip and so far we haven't missed whatever was in them. Sometimes you just gotta let go :C.

BoomerangInfo
8th March 2009, 02:42 PM
Skew, between 1999 and 2006 we moved 5 times. After the last and final move (next time I move it's going to be IN a box) we still had boxes that hadn't been opened since the first move. These boxes have since been taken to the tip and so far we haven't missed whatever was in them. Sometimes you just gotta let go :C.

Yep, and I suggest you do the same Skew, just tell me which tip you go to, and when, so I can congratulate you on a job well done when you come back :wink:

Russell.

Skew ChiDAMN!!
8th March 2009, 03:59 PM
After the last and final move (next time I move it's going to be IN a box) we still had boxes that hadn't been opened since the first move. These boxes have since been taken to the tip and so far we haven't missed whatever was in them. Sometimes you just gotta let go :C.

That's happening... sorta. The real trick is to get her boxes outta the shed and into the Hard Garbage truck without her catching on...

:innocent:


Yes skew you and I are still unpacking , at least I don't have to share my shed with any one .:doh:

At least it's done. If I knew we were moving again in another couple of years, I wouldn't bother unpacking any of it! :D

Dunno how you manage it...

Sawdust Maker
8th March 2009, 08:32 PM
Skew, between 1999 and 2006 we moved 5 times. After the last and final move (next time I move it's going to be IN a box) we still had boxes that hadn't been opened since the first move. These boxes have since been taken to the tip and so far we haven't missed whatever was in them. Sometimes you just gotta let go :C.

The one you turf is the one with the priceless box brownie photos in :doh:

Robomanic
9th March 2009, 12:53 AM
Skew, between 1999 and 2006 we moved 5 times. After the last and final move (next time I move it's going to be IN a box) we still had boxes that hadn't been opened since the first move. These boxes have since been taken to the tip and so far we haven't missed whatever was in them. Sometimes you just gotta let go :C.
I am in the process of doing the exact same thing. 1 year after moving into this place there is literally a wall of unpacked boxes in my way. Some of them from 2-3 moves ago.

Good to see I'm not the only one.