What is so rare as a magical day in the turning shop? This was one; cool, sunny and low humidity with garage doors open and as a plus the truck started! No thoughts of insurance adjusters, storm losses and price gougers this day. Even the constant TV reports of local crime seemed to abate. Of course, this is all before the Dolphins find a way to lose.
Is there a name for the pleasures derived from using tools & machines appropriate to the job at hand? It's true that big 'trophy' lathes can handle anything my mini can, perhaps better, but there's a satisfaction in using the mini for smaller work. There's a delight in driving our little 'beamer' around town instead of the big old good gray family car. The heavy behemoth can transport anything the BMW can and much more. It's rugged and very safe, but it's less fun to drive. Maybe a little like the difference in lathes?
You know what, roughing out at a busy production turner's speed can be fun. I know that "speed kills" and all that, but it's a kick to turn the mini up to max. and run a sharp skew back and forth on dry mahogany box blanks, one after another. Little need to sand below 400 grit then a little soft wax on 600 wet-or-dry and there's another box. I made a bunch today, They are nothing special, but the fun was in the making thereof. Yes, and in making a lot of them with no compulsive aspirations and strivings for perfection. Turning wood the way it wants to be turned is all well and good, but I enjoy turning wood my way. What, me worry!
At my house we mostly use the stopper that came with the bottle. We never seem to actually cork any bottles with my elegant stoppers, they don't fit into the wine cellar (aka fridge) anyway. For that matter, we seldom put things in the grand ornate boxes I turn. Are they really turned for use, or like linen handkerchiefs, more for show than for blow? Do people who buy your fancy turned wood stoppers, boxes, candlesticks and such ever actually use them or do they just look, fawn and admire?
Well, my ideal turning day featured six inches of wet snow, but I still spent some worthwhile time with some curly maple, including my first attempt at flashing figure with aniline dye. Only problem is, I'll have to use oil finish versus the appropriate and easy shellac. Alcohol -soluble dye, y'know.
As to stoppers, I recall some time I spent with a group of Soviets during the Gorbachev days. We were waiting in Havana, playing Russian Scrabble and drinking Polish vodka - Zubrovka (Zubrowka), for the cognoscenti. Gorbachev had just raised the tax on vodka over there, as confirmed by Pravda of the day before.
They asked me if we had a problem with alcoholism in the US, to which I replied yes, but not to the extent they had. When asked why they should have so much more of a problem, I pointed to the twist-off lid on the Polish hooch, and said "you might have less of a problem if you sold vodka in a bottle that you could close again, like this."
Standard bottles over there had tear-off metal and a cardboard gasket. No choice but to finish it at one sitting. Never saw a cork anywhere over in the USSR, except on wine, either.
I went to the shop yesterday for a few hours. It was a beautiful day. Cloudy, very windy, overcast and about an inch of rain. The temperature was in the 50's and I only had to run my 220 volt milk house heater part of the time. It will be months before my garage doors open, though. Another Kentucky winter is on the way!
Barry
PS We haven't had a hurricane all year, though! Cheers!
Arch looking outside seeing the squirrels running around trying to get fat and hide every seed and nut they can find and then the next one finding it and hiding it again etc. etc. yes its another magical day, I'm going in my shop, too wet windy and cold outside, not much noise there only the ones I make (chain saw? . But I'm happy in there, don't do any more driving around than I have to, it's not the price of gas but the dang taxes on it that I can't afford. Have been making some smaller stuff, its that time of year, candle sticks and kid toys (I still like playing with them ). Stoppers?, yes use lots of them, got 9 20 liter pails off california grape juice fermenting away, have to bottle all of them in a couple of months, I use just regular corks for them, LOML and I drink a glass a day normally, that's 2 days for a bottle, no need for fancy stuff here, one off those expanding rubber stoppers with a lever on top do a good job, never like wine to sit to long or it starts to Oxidize, just like my lathe, if I don't take care of it. Fancy wood turnings?, people do use the turnings, some are made for decoration and some for real use, I think :-))
Ahh, a day in the shop. I wish I had the opportunity. My Thanksgiving weekend turned into the plumbing job from hell.
This story starts with cats. We have two. They have had sole domain over one of our bathrooms for four years. The LOML decides that it is time for our 12 year old daughter to have her own bathroom. This is fine, but where do you put the cats' litter box? (There are many obvious answers to this one, folks, but I am decidedly NOT the king of my castle, meaning I couldn't execute the obvious).
The laundry "room" seems like a good spot for the litter box. Our "room" is the passageway between the house and the garage. There is room for exactly one full-sized washer and dryer and a small trash can. The LOML suggests that we move the washer and dryer to the garage. this is possible, but requires a significant amount of garage remodeling. After giving it some thought, avoiding the obvious solutions from which I am barred, I suggest that we buy a stacked unit for the laundry room which will free up space for the litter box. The LOML jumps at this one, so we have a plan.
Being a transplanted Iowa boy, there is only one possible product - Maytag - made in Newton, Iowa. Sears offers the best deal, so delivery is scheduled for Friday.
I pulled the old units on Thursday morning before our holiday guests arrived. I even managed to paint the room with a fresh coat.
(This is the part where it turns ugly).
When we bought the house nine years ago, we discovered that the previous owner was a man who THOUGHT he was handy. He definitely believed he could do plumbing, electrical and framing. Needless to say, the guy was clueless. Everything he did was a kludge and NOT to code. I spent three years undoing the hazards he inflicted on this house.
Now the laundry area has one kludge which I just never got around to fixing until this weekend. He had installed a sink in the garage and had tapped the pipes from the laudry area for the water and drain. This part was not so bad, but how he did the water was laughable.
Instead of cutting a hole in the wall and tapping into the hot and cold supply lines beneath the laundry shutoff valves, this guy found a gate T-valve which essentially turns off the water to one branch of the T while allowing the water to flow unimpeded through the T to the other side. Since the laundry valves are installed in a drain box in the wall, this bozo removes the old valves, puts these T valves in and then proceeds to plumb the sink stubs up out of the valves, then out of the wall box and back down the wall to the sink connections. This is hard to visualize, but the sink pipes were plumbed to pass directly in front of the shutoff handles for the two valves. This makes it very difficult to turn off the water to the washer. Since these valve are probably approaching 20 years old, they are also very hard to turn. To top it all off, these valves were cast iron valves connected to copper pipes. Can you say galvanic reaction?
Well, early Friday morning, since the old washer and dryer were out of the way and the new units arriving that afternoon, I decided it was time to fix this mess. Three hour job max. I made a quick trip to Home Depot for parts and I'm on my way. I cut away all the old pipe and tossed the iron valves. I replaced everything with ball valves and copper pipe.
BUT, one joint in the back of the wall recess just wouldn't sweat shut. I leaked. So I redrained all the house plumbing and tried again. It leaked again. I tried a third time and replaced all the copper bits and pieces. Leaked again - same joint. Drianed the house, sweated it two more times with no luck. I am cursed. I did the white bread trick, I swabbed the area with flux, I sanded the joints clean. I felt cursed.
Now the good part.
When I turned off the house water to try yet again, the 20-year old house shutoff gate valve broke in the off position. 8:00 pm and now I have a new plumbing problem. My family and weekend guests have not had running water for the entire day. No showers, no toilets. Thankfully, our neighbor was out of town and had let us use their place for extra beds.
Home Depot closes at 9:00 pm, so I make a quick dash ther for a new house valve and assorted 1" bits and pieces of copper. Did you know that the average 1/2" copper fitting costs $0.40, but the average 1" fitting costs $2.50? This thing is adding up.
I come back and attempt to replace the broken valve. My problem is that the old valve is installed too close to the concrete slab and there is barely enough bare 1" pipe protruding from the slab to make a good joint. Also, because of the tight space in the line, there is virtually no room to make appropriate joints without disconnecting many feet of pipe. I went for it.
Unfortunately, I could not get these joints together in the tight space. So, I went for plan B which is to make a larger loop in the pipe to accommodate the joints and new ball valve. The problem is that I need more $2.50 parts and Home Depot is closed. I bagged it at
11:30 pm and went to bed.
Since HD opened at 6:00am, I was up and out by 5:45am. I bought more bits and pieces and came home to make the fix. I had the house valve replaced and leak-free by 10:00am and the leaking laundry plumbing replaced and leak-free by 11:30. Finally, a shower and a....... (you know).
That afternoon, my 7-year old son wanted to go see the SpongeBob movie. He said it was very good. I don't know because I slept through the whole thing.
Oh yeah, I didn't get to turn over the 4-day weekend. That was the point.
Joe, I feel your pain having been in some plumbing nightmares myself. Think how much $$ you saved over hiring a pro who likely would've encountered the same problems, then started charging double for after hours.
All plumbing is from Hell, no matter what Darrell might say. Plumbing ranks right behind root canal as my favorite activity. Especially the stuff done in the confined area under the sinks, with sludge dripping in my face, and shelves in my back.
Better you than I, though I must say with pride that I did the new hot water heater in forty minutes, including sweating a new union.
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