Posted by jerry on September 23rd, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Music
Full Circle – Live at the Pot Belly in Canberra (well you wouldn’t want to hear us dead now would you?)What a great night! good audience, great atmosphere as always and there’s always a Guinness or two 🙂
Sometimes – it being International ‘talk like a pirate’ day we just sing sea shanties – unaccompanied. some call it Acapulco, nah – it’s archipelago – must be, because on all them islands they don’t have many instruments so they have to sing just like that… okay who’s the smartarse who reckons we were singing a-capella?
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by jerry on September 18th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Woodwork
Woody stuff…
One of the things I picked up at the wood show was a thread cutter for wooden dowels – this will open up a number of possibilities – particularly for building embroidery frames with adjustable tension. The prospect of collapsible or adjustable-height stools has a certain appeal too – especially for camping at folk music festivals
I have since bought the matching 5/8″ drill bit for the 3/4″ tap to match the 3/4″ thread cutter. And they work a treat. Okay, so I put a square nut on the end of a broom handle, but it’s a start!
And I have been trying to set up my dovetail jig for ages – and managed to destroy the bearing on the dovetail router bit – so a trip to Carba-tec got me a replacement bit (AUS$29.95) that’ll teach me to release the plunge on the router too soon! You would think that a simple chinese half-inch dovetail jig would be easy to set up, but I needed to see the demo at the wood show to learn that if the offset for the vertical piece is inboard of the horizontal piece then tearout is much less of a problem. I have also learnt to use backing pieces to stop this problem altogether… oh well we live and learn 🙂
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by jerry on September 7th, 2004 — Posted in Music
For those who have been following the fortunes of my band, Full Circle, you can now find out a whole lot more about us – the web site has bios, galleries, slide shows and you can download MP3s for free! I’d be interested in any feedback on the site, and how it might be improved. The site is at:
http://lostbiro.com/fullcircle/
or click on the link above
Cheers
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Posted by jerry on September 6th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Woodwork
Well, Sunday I just had to go back to the Working With Wood show – catching up on the demonstrations I missed the first time around. I always learn heaps at these shows – there was an excellent demonstration on making small wooden boxes, using a router and four cutters.
Outside there was a demonstration of chain saw sculpting – and a bizarre but skillful sculpture emerged of an Islander in an outrigger canoe – an amphibious one!
And there were the usual displays of portable saw mills, including the mighty Lucas mill – which turned my burnt ribbon gum tree into boards for me after the bushfires last year. But each year there are new innovations, like this one for smaller chainsaws for lifting slabs off lumber where it lies – great for reclaiming timber from dead trees or storm windfalls. This one doesn’t run on rails, but rather rides over the tree trunk while keeping the saw blade parallel throughout the cut. Simple, but effective.
This is at the start of the cut
and this is near the finish.
The result is a timber slab suitable for a bench seat or coffee table, and the size of the setup is ideal for reclaiming urban trees that are often not so large as forest trees, ones that would otherwise just be chipped when they grow too tall for the telegraph wires.
And yes I did pick up a couple more toys – notably a thread cutter for a wooden embroidery frame that my partner has been dropping subtle hints over…
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by jerry on September 5th, 2004 — Posted in Woodwork
Inspired by the Working with Wood show I thought it was high time I organised my turning chisels and put some of my new toys to good use.
I had a few bits of meranti sticks that I have been using to sticker my green timber, and thought I could spare a couple of bits to make a tool rest. It was a good chance to use the thicknesser (on its new stand) to bring the timber down from splintery rough-sawn to a reasonably dressed state. I chopped each in half and then took one half length and chopped several 2cm pieces and glued and tacked them starting with the outside ends of the uncut halves and worked inward keeping the spacing roughly equal, then drilled and screwed the ends and middle to the bench on which the lathe is mounted and gave the whole thing a quick oil wipe with organoil – instant organisation. Total time about an hour.
The finished tool rest – two layers
Cheers
Jerry
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