[LisaC]

Each day brings new delights

I'm glad that my last rainy day terror didn't dissuade me from my efforts. Thanks everyone for the upbeat words and encouragement… it actually made a big difference when I got out there again.

This weekend I went to Rockler and saw this great deal on Bocote turning blanks. Picked up three 1×1x12 for $1/pc. BTW… has anyone else noticed that Bocote smells like pickles when worked?! WEIRD! After turning two spindles, I decided that I was absolutely in love with the look and feel of Bocote… so I sent a minion back to Rockler yesterday and he picked me out 40 more pieces.

I also took my Russian spindles to my knitting circle and had a handful of really nice women hold and inspect my latest goodies… they liked them very much. I noticed that some of them mentioned that they were intimidated by spinning yarn. I want to make it my personal mission to rectify this in our local knitting community.

Spinning yarn is a joy and should not be scary… and it doesn't have to cost $500 (for a wheel) to get started. Spindle spinning is efficient, effective, and can be (in some cases) just as fast as production on a wheel. Best of all spindles are CHEAP and PORTABLE. Also… you can make them yourself with a little imagination and a few household items. OR you could be awesome and buy them from artisans like ME! Heh.

I think the major barrier to spinning for knitters is IT'S ONE MORE HOBBY and also… it's difficult to find affordable classes. Don't get me wrong… I love my local yarn shops, but some of them charge ridiculous prices for an introduction to spinning course. That's fine for people with gobs of disposable income, but in this economy… not so great for folks who only have $40 to spend on an afternoon. I want to fill that niche with my product and my experience.

I'm also thinking about donating classes to a charity that helps find activities for those with chronic illness that limits movement. I think that supported spindle spinning might be inspiring for people who can't walk or stand but have use of their hands. Must think on this some.

--

I went and picked up some awesome sanding pads from 3M called Sandblaster… they better be awesome for the price of $3.50 a pad. I should go turn a spindle and try them out.

 

[LisaC]

Honing Oil Right in the FACE!

I really like my local hardware store… Stoneway Hardware. First, the people who work there are VERY nice. One happened to go to school with my husband about 12 years ago. Another girl is super sweet. And the owner took a few minutes to personally visit with me when I mentioned at the checkout that they were going to be seeing a lot of my business in the future.

I picked up a wide selection of regular ol' sandpaper, honing oil, Howard Feed-N-Wax (Beeswax and Orange Oil), steel wool in 3 varieties, two gauges of 50ft of wire for burning lines into wood… and a dust pan. I got it all for under $40.

In this economy, that seems like a fair deal to me.

Anyhoo… I came back home and procrastinated all afternoon… then decided I should clean up the Spider Farm (garage). I douched all the dust and left overs from the new door being put it, organized some junk, tossed some things… it became much more livable.

I wasn't going to work on the lathe tonight, but with everything all nice and tidy… I just HAD to make a new mess. HAH.

Earlier in the day, I watched a bunch of videos about the correct use of the skew and how to make clean finishing cuts. Also, I watched even MORE videos about using a honing stone to make a razor sharp skew edge. (Which is where the fun starts.)

I open up the honing oil packaging and pop the top open on the honing oil. Turn it over… nothing happens. There was some kind of stopper in there… so I unscrewed the top of the bottle and started to do battle with a red plastic seal that did NOT want to come off. I tried a screw driver and the plastic was so soft it just tore…

Fine… I'll gently use my teeth. I get the the rim of the plastic between my upper and bottom teeth and give a little tug.

Sadly for me, I was also squeezing the middle of the bottle… so when the seal broke it squirted 1/4th of the oil in the bottle straight into my face. Luckily my mouth was closed. However…. I did have to figure out how I was going to get into the house to wash my face off without wiping the oil into my skin or dripping in the entry.

Man… what a day.

Everything after that went awesome. I did achieve razor sharp skew edge… and I turned out another beautiful spindle and had much less time with sand paper…. because my cuts were more exact and I am learning to trust the lathe and my tools.

 

[LisaC]

Honing Oil Right in the FACE!

I really like my local hardware store… Stoneway Hardware. First, the people who work there are VERY nice. One happened to go to school with my husband about 12 years ago. Another girl is super sweet. And the owner took a few minutes to personally visit with me when I mentioned at the checkout that they were going to be seeing a lot of my business in the future.

I picked up a wide selection of regular ol' sandpaper, honing oil, Howard Feed-N-Wax (Beeswax and Orange Oil), steel wool in 3 varieties, two gauges of 50ft of wire for burning lines into wood… and a dust pan. I got it all for under $40.

In this economy, that seems like a fair deal to me.

Anyhoo… I came back home and procrastinated all afternoon… then decided I should clean up the Spider Farm (garage). I douched all the dust and left overs from the new door being put it, organized some junk, tossed some things… it became much more livable.

I wasn't going to work on the lathe tonight, but with everything all nice and tidy… I just HAD to make a new mess. HAH.

Earlier in the day, I watched a bunch of videos about the correct use of the skew and how to make clean finishing cuts. Also, I watched even MORE videos about using a honing stone to make a razor sharp skew edge. (Which is where the fun starts.)

I open up the honing oil packaging and pop the top open on the honing oil. Turn it over… nothing happens. There was some kind of stopper in there… so I unscrewed the top of the bottle and started to do battle with a red plastic seal that did NOT want to come off. I tried a screw driver and the plastic was so soft it just tore…

Fine… I'll gently use my teeth. I get the the rim of the plastic between my upper and bottom teeth and give a little tug.

Sadly for me, I was also squeezing the middle of the bottle… so when the seal broke it squirted 1/4th of the oil in the bottle straight into my face. Luckily my mouth was closed. However…. I did have to figure out how I was going to get into the house to wash my face off without wiping the oil into my skin or dripping in the entry.

Man… what a day.

Everything after that went awesome. I did achieve razor sharp skew edge… and I turned out another beautiful spindle and had much less time with sand paper…. because my cuts were more exact and I am learning to trust the lathe and my tools.

Lew… master?! HAH! You're funny. ;]

What I did was make sure the skew was good and sharp… honed, not just the grinder… and I prayed. A lot. And I went really slow. And I learned that I need to pull the skew down the tool rest steady and with a firm grip. And when I noticed that it was barfing or bouncing around… I used the gouge to clean things up and I started all over again.

I did that for about an hour… over and over. And I learned a lot.

 

[LisaC]

It's been a while, but I haven't been unproductive!

I've been doing nothing but perfecting my turning for Russian-style lace spindles. I even experimented with French spindles too.

People have noticed and I have been sending off a freshly turned spindle to a far flung corner of the United States at the rate of about one a week. Between that and teaching classes, I had to go out and get a proper business license and start paying taxes.

I would like to branch out to some other areas as well, but right now my heart is in practicing my turning and experimenting with supported spindles.

From a desire to give something back to others, I met with a woman who manages programs at a local senior citizen's center and asked her if she might like to open a class for Spindling (making yarn with a wooden spindle). After a demonstration and gift of one of my spindles, she decided she wanted to try and get me into the class catalog. Sometime this spring I'll be hanging out with a room of women who will all be learning to make yarn on my hand crafted spindles. That excites me and brings together the best of both of my interests… fber arts instruction AND woodworking.

Well, I am neglecting my turning to be here at the computer… so I should get back to it!

 

[LisaC]

The agony of de feet.

... and the back. And the throat!

I flew through minor throat surgery with flying colors. It kept me out of the shop for 5 days. In that time, I managed to work up a pretty decent backlog of orders. (I create and sell custom tools for hand spinning yarn.)

Catching up has been a mixed bag. I'm feeling a little off my sculpting game. So my first spindle, while functional and to the order of my client, just didn't please me. The weight was too much, the Cherry bruised, the bead was off…

BTW, Cherry can bruise when scraped. It left dark areas in my detailed work when it soaked up polishing oil. It's not something they tell you at the check out counter when you're buying the stuff. You find out when you're finished with a project and it has welts all over it and you are frustrated and banging your head against a wall because there went 3 hours of your life. Too bad, so sad.

Next Cherry wood turning, I made sure that my skew tool was nice and sharp. I avoided scraping. Yet, I still experienced some bruising, but I anticipated it and made sure I could sand a bit and it was minimal.

I liked my second Cherry spindle design and shape a lot more than the first, so I am going to go back to the client and offer them a choice between the two.

Also… I learned that I need to pick up a floor pad to stand on. 4 hours at the lathe (with breaks) is OK. 6 hours wrecked my back. And, I wish my stand was 3 inches taller.

Also… I bought an inexpensive Skil bandsaw as a get-well gift for myself. I'd like to set it up this weekend. I wish I had a drill press too. Drill press for me? Anyone?

 

[LisaC]

The agony of de feet.

... and the back. And the throat!

I flew through minor throat surgery with flying colors. It kept me out of the shop for 5 days. In that time, I managed to work up a pretty decent backlog of orders. (I create and sell custom tools for hand spinning yarn.)

Catching up has been a mixed bag. I'm feeling a little off my sculpting game. So my first spindle, while functional and to the order of my client, just didn't please me. The weight was too much, the Cherry bruised, the bead was off…

BTW, Cherry can bruise when scraped. It left dark areas in my detailed work when it soaked up polishing oil. It's not something they tell you at the check out counter when you're buying the stuff. You find out when you're finished with a project and it has welts all over it and you are frustrated and banging your head against a wall because there went 3 hours of your life. Too bad, so sad.

Next Cherry wood turning, I made sure that my skew tool was nice and sharp. I avoided scraping. Yet, I still experienced some bruising, but I anticipated it and made sure I could sand a bit and it was minimal.

I liked my second Cherry spindle design and shape a lot more than the first, so I am going to go back to the client and offer them a choice between the two.

Also… I learned that I need to pick up a floor pad to stand on. 4 hours at the lathe (with breaks) is OK. 6 hours wrecked my back. And, I wish my stand was 3 inches taller.

Also… I bought an inexpensive Skil bandsaw as a get-well gift for myself. I'd like to set it up this weekend. I wish I had a drill press too. Drill press for me? Anyone?

Thanks!

 

[LisaC]

The agony of de feet.

... and the back. And the throat!

I flew through minor throat surgery with flying colors. It kept me out of the shop for 5 days. In that time, I managed to work up a pretty decent backlog of orders. (I create and sell custom tools for hand spinning yarn.)

Catching up has been a mixed bag. I'm feeling a little off my sculpting game. So my first spindle, while functional and to the order of my client, just didn't please me. The weight was too much, the Cherry bruised, the bead was off…

BTW, Cherry can bruise when scraped. It left dark areas in my detailed work when it soaked up polishing oil. It's not something they tell you at the check out counter when you're buying the stuff. You find out when you're finished with a project and it has welts all over it and you are frustrated and banging your head against a wall because there went 3 hours of your life. Too bad, so sad.

Next Cherry wood turning, I made sure that my skew tool was nice and sharp. I avoided scraping. Yet, I still experienced some bruising, but I anticipated it and made sure I could sand a bit and it was minimal.

I liked my second Cherry spindle design and shape a lot more than the first, so I am going to go back to the client and offer them a choice between the two.

Also… I learned that I need to pick up a floor pad to stand on. 4 hours at the lathe (with breaks) is OK. 6 hours wrecked my back. And, I wish my stand was 3 inches taller.

Also… I bought an inexpensive Skil bandsaw as a get-well gift for myself. I'd like to set it up this weekend. I wish I had a drill press too. Drill press for me? Anyone?

I know! I should have been cruising the Internet and blowing up the forums on Lumberjocks while I was recovering!

Instead I was being kind of miserable and playing Mario Galaxy on the Wii. I didn't feel fit for human consumption. =] I feel pretty good now. Stuff hurts in the morning, but once I get some warm tea down my throat I'm good for a few hours. Only gets better from here.

 

[LisaC]

The agony of de feet.

... and the back. And the throat!

I flew through minor throat surgery with flying colors. It kept me out of the shop for 5 days. In that time, I managed to work up a pretty decent backlog of orders. (I create and sell custom tools for hand spinning yarn.)

Catching up has been a mixed bag. I'm feeling a little off my sculpting game. So my first spindle, while functional and to the order of my client, just didn't please me. The weight was too much, the Cherry bruised, the bead was off…

BTW, Cherry can bruise when scraped. It left dark areas in my detailed work when it soaked up polishing oil. It's not something they tell you at the check out counter when you're buying the stuff. You find out when you're finished with a project and it has welts all over it and you are frustrated and banging your head against a wall because there went 3 hours of your life. Too bad, so sad.

Next Cherry wood turning, I made sure that my skew tool was nice and sharp. I avoided scraping. Yet, I still experienced some bruising, but I anticipated it and made sure I could sand a bit and it was minimal.

I liked my second Cherry spindle design and shape a lot more than the first, so I am going to go back to the client and offer them a choice between the two.

Also… I learned that I need to pick up a floor pad to stand on. 4 hours at the lathe (with breaks) is OK. 6 hours wrecked my back. And, I wish my stand was 3 inches taller.

Also… I bought an inexpensive Skil bandsaw as a get-well gift for myself. I'd like to set it up this weekend. I wish I had a drill press too. Drill press for me? Anyone?

Studie - You can turn stuff green, but it can and probably will change shape some.

Also, I noticed that green stuff tends to bow and flex on the lathe WAY too much for the fine narrow shafts that I make. If there is any vibration between the blade and the lathe… there's trouble on the wood in the form of pits and spirals. It's not a big deal if I plan to do a lot of sanding.

Green is just different, not bad.'

--

Thanks everybody for the well wishes!

 

[LisaC]

It's raining, but I'm still finishing

It's been a great week for getting caught up on spindle production. The weather in North Seattle is gray and wet. That means that shop time won't be that pleasant.

That's OK. I have a handful of orders to sand, polish, and finish.

I'm looking for a good source for Birdseye Maple and Tulipwood. Later today, I'm meeting up with a new client and we're going to spin some yarn together.