Kitchen day 1

So its really happening! The cabinets are all torn out and are in the garage awaiting sale... And no matter how many times you walk in there, you keep wanting to put something down on a nonexistent counter.

Exciting stuff!

Kitchen: day 0

So we're about to tear out the cabinets and start the kitchen remodel! Here's a "before" shot for reference...

New veggie garden...

Spent the afternoon putting in a vegetable garden bed on the side of the house.

Man I'm sore!

Nothing planted yet; that'll have to wait for next weekend.

It's about 3' by 12'... gonna put in some tomatoes, squash, onions, peppers, and lettuce... can't wait to see stuff start growing!

(The planters on the deck will be just herbs and flowers this year -- not going to repeat last year's tomato fiasco!)

So the last couple of weekends I've been practicing on the lathe, learning how to control the tools a bit better, and in the process have finished 2 (practice) bowls!

The one in the front was the first one I turned; it's finished with "salad bowl finish" and buffed...

The one in the back I just finished today. On that one I used EEE cream and turners polish; easier and faster than the buffing and it came out pretty good! Of course you can't use finish like that on anything you're going to eat out of; for that you pretty much just have to stick with the salad bowl finish (which still looks pretty decent).

The pic on the left shows the sizes better; they're about the same diameter actually - just the perspective on the image above...

Had a little scare with the one I turned today... had it chucked into a shallow internal notch in the base and was working on the inside, when my tool caught and the bowl completely jumped off the lathe. Yikes! Tore a big chunk out of the base too; luckily I had enough thickness down there that I reversed it onto the chuck and took about 3/8" off the whole bottom to fix the gouge. Still, it got my attention!

One more pic below, showing the profile of the bowls a little more clearly. The shape of today's bowl was actually a result of an accident... was originally going to be a simple oval profile, but when I accidentally took a big chunk out near the lip, I realized the bowl wanted to be a different shape entirely -- so I just went with it.

SuperNova chuck now working!

My nut came on Friday! I was so excited I almost had to go pee.

Let me back up and explain.

So the lathe I'm using is a Nova 1624-44 from Teknatool. I knew I was interested in learning to turn some bowls, so that means I need a chuck to grip the bowl from one side only, as opposed to a "spindle" which can be turned between two centers.

So a few weeks ago, I got a SuperNova^2 chuck from teknatool. Same manufacturer; has Nova in the title -- so of course it'll fit, right?

Well, you'd think so, but you'd be wrong.

Turns out the SuperNova has a 50 MM inner diameter thread, and the Nova lathe has a smaller 1.25" spindle.

Now, it's not the end of the world by any stretch... the SuperNova is intended to work with pretty much all lathes, you just have to buy the right insert to make them fit.

Once I read the back of the box, that was clear enough, but let's be honest -- most of us shop online for at least half if not more of what we buy... and that tiny insignificant bit of incredibly important info was nowhere in the description when I was shopping for this chuck online!

Long story short, I figured out which adapter I needed, and sent in an order for what is essentially a $23 nut. A precisely machined, heavy, threaded on the inside and outside nut.

Here's the adapter on the right: a nice little piece, but it's set me back 2 weeks in my plan to try turning a bowl!

Ah well, now that it's here all is well again in my world.

So what's my point?

1) Just because the names match doesn't mean the pieces will play well together.

2) People who run mail-order sites would serve their customers better by making sure that all important info is listed in the product description. Heck; why not scan all sides of the product box and post that as well -- or the manufacturer could do the same and provide those pics to online merchants.

3) I can't believe how excited I was to get a giant nut in the mail. Off to the shop!

Learning to use a Skew...

So I'm fighting the urge to just dive in and try to turn a bowl right away. I really want to; and to some extent it's the Reaser way to jump right in and sink or swim...

But since decent turning stock is kinda expensive (until I find my own sources of wild wood... someday) I've decided to spend some time just working on the basic skills of turning.

Today I followed along with my "learn to turn" book trying to make a few deliberate cuts with each tool.

Most of them went fairly well; my first spindle is above. The one tool that has been super tricky so far is the skew chisel.

As you can see at left, when you twist the skew the wrong way, it likes to dive into the wood, make a nice gouge, and scare the pants off of you.

Happened once, I thought "that's weird, must have slipped". Happened 2 more times, and I realized "hmm -- I'm doing something wrong here".

Turns out that while most tools can be pushed back-n-forth along a workpiece, the skew doesn't like that.

If you make a bead with a skew, cut from the center of the bead down into the groove, twisting the skew as you move... so that it starts flat, and ends up with the lower (non-pointy) end in the groove to define half of the bead. Then flip the skew over and repeat to make the other half.

But don't do what I did and get "lazy" and feel that you can rock the skew back from the groove/angle position back up to flat and center on the bead, to refine the shape -- the skew realizes that you're trying to be an expert and catches and digs in just about every time.


After taking the spindle back down to round and running some beads 2 more times, I'm starting to feel a bit better about this tool... still plenty to learn, though!

2009 is gone!!!

Wow -- that year went fast.

Rather than a retrospective, I thought I'd publicly post my intentions for 2010... in no particular order, I plan to:

• Spend more time with friends. Host some gatherings, help organize/spur a couple more.
• See a new place -- go somewhere I've never been, perhaps do something there I've never done.
• Exercise a bit more, drink a bit less (hey, no reason to overdo it, right?!!)
• Build 3 pieces of furniture for the house. Now that I have the shop all set up, there's no reason I can't make this happen...
• Learn to turn! (Wood-turning.) Got the lathe, got some instructional books, and I am so psyched to learn a new skill! This actually leads to my next intention:
• Post some blog entries. Not because you care, but because if I "live out loud" a bit, I believe it will keep me motivated to make a little more use of my time this year. On that topic, I intend to write about this whole process of learning to turn on the lathe... as of today, I know almost nothing about it... but I have a feeling this will be something I get deeply into and try to become a master at. So... why not post about it, so I can look back and see how far I've come.

Thanks to all who have made this a great 2009. Let's make the next one even better.