Three minus one makes four

Drillbit problem solved, mortise inserts made up. Little plastic thingys over the flat ends to protect them during the next part of the process. Ready to glue them up.

Oops. Only two gluing clamps. Remembered that I sacrificed one to make a tailstop brace for my lathe, to keep the tailstock from sliding backward on the ways under heavy pressure. Did that right after reworking the tailstock to include a thrust bushing. Duh.

So three minus one makes four. The two original gluing clamps, my bench vise, and the lathe.

With three bored blocks epoxied and curing, I'm done with pipe work until tomorrow afternoon. Next time I can make up 4 blocks at a time.

Maybe I'll get some more dirt moved tomorrow before the epoxy is fully cured, it sure needs moved. The mountain-lion event has reminded me that what I really need here is a freakin' building.

Trip to the village

So I tossed the most chewed-up gas can into the back of the truck, and we went off to the village. Town. Whatever you choose to call it.

Our first stop was the local cop-shop. I was told that the puncture marks were too small to have been made by a bear (which I had been puzzling over) that "bears go through plastic like it's not even there". The marks were made by either a bobcat or a mountain lion. Big relief, I guess. Still, anything that can poke its claws through a plastic gas-can deserves a little respect.

The local hardware store had a few drill-bits. I couldn't find a 3/16 brad-point bit, which they call "pilot point". I asked the guy who was working this morning, but he didn't seem to know much. I decided we were likely to need to promote the trip to the next larger "town", and was looking at the grinding wheels. The wife kept poking around and managed to find the bit I was looking for, somebody had put some other size on top of it.

Looks like time to get back to work.

A subtle hint

This morning I slept late. Woke up with the intention of going into the nearby town, which has a small hardware store, for a 3/16" brad-point drill bit.

Went out to start the generator. Usually I do that around 4am. Last night I had left a plastic gas can near the generator with around 4 gallons of gas left in it.

This morning that gas can was laying on its side, empty. It had marks on the top, made by either teeth or claws. Something -- perhaps the bear, maybe a lion, who can know -- had bitten or clawed into it. Probably trying to get at water, it's been too dry here. So about 4 gallons of gas had spilled onto the ground. Looking around a little, I found that whatever it was had also bit into another of my gas cans, but this one remained upright.

So we're down 4 gallons of gas and 2 plastic gas cans. That'll cost about $25 to replace.

I'm sitting here wondering if I should replace it. I can keep fighting the battle, replace the cans and hope whatever it was has learned there's no water inside, keep doing my best to make pipes that will sit on the website. Or I can call it quits and go somewhere more civilized, get a job that pays enough to live on perhaps.

Something to ponder this morning, ain't we got fun.

Finger, finger, wherefore art thou?

Today I finished pre-shaping the last of the 3 blocks, and bored the set. Almost lost the end of my right index finger to the inverted router... it seems I was putting pressure in a direction I was unaware of, and when I reached the end of the block my finger went for the bit. Took off about 1/16" of fingernail and a couple layers of skin, but didn't draw blood. Lesson learned, be very careful.

Started turning the mortise inserts so I could epoxy the batch and get on with things, and ran into a problem. I haven't yet figured out exactly what is causing it.

I use a 3/16" brass tenon, and the drill that I use is a 3/16" bit that I've reduced in diameter slightly to give just the right fit, and converted to end-cutting to give a flat bottom to the mortise for good seating. The problem is that the hole it's making is too large. It could be a number of things including heat-expansion of the polycarbonate during drilling.

I may have to reduce it in diameter a tad more, I'll figure it out in the morning.

This could be my last blog post for a while, it's starting to feel obligatory and I'm dead set against anything obligatory.

The last paper towel

Things went well in the shop today. I managed to use the inverted router and my Foredom to pre-shape the second of 3 blocks for boring.

It seems to take much longer without the bandsaw. But I am not sure that it does overall. I am doing more shaping of the pipe's outer profile at this stage, which gives better insight to the grain, and it is work that must be done later in any case. Sandpits can be taken out without risking a predetermined shape since none has been set yet. And shaping the outer profile first gives the possibility of a more precise bore in better alignment with the pipe.

Also my nature is to be a slapdash craftsman, the precision found in my work is not a result of my innate nature so much as it comes from concentration and discipline; and I find that the more I have put into a pipe early on, the easier it is to continue putting only the best into it.

In a few days a trip to the city will be unavoidable, and I have hopes of picking up some bandsaw blades if finances permit. But at this point I do not expect that I will use the bandsaw in the same ways that I have in the past. I would almost prefer to purchase a more agressive cutter that I can use with the inverted router, something that would give speed in addition to precision.

After cleaning up most of the briar dust from the shop floor, I performed the dreaded Foredom shaft lubrication ritual. The manual says to do it every 50 hours of use, but I tend to put it off as long as possible. When the flex-shaft begins heating up while I'm working, it's time and it cannot be put off. It is an invitation to cover yourself with grease, since the sheath has to be removed and the inner cable lubricated it's like a greasy snake when you put it back together.

I grabbed a paper towel to wipe the grease with, and noticed that there is only one more on the roll, so I put it back -- I'll need it for use as alcohol wipes during staining. I grabbed a rag instead, I have a small pile of them. The reason I find this of interest is that I never experienced poverty before becoming a pipe carver, and life takes on a very different set of priorities. Poverty is not only the bad things, it also has some marvelous aspects. When one is affluent, things are easy and life is guaranteed. When one is poor, things are more difficult in many ways, but the miraculous becomes visible because it is a part of survival. I can't say that I'd recommend poverty, but it is certainly a thorough teacher of some things that affluence prevents us from seeing. Perhaps that is why many great spiritual teachers of the past have recommend a life of poverty, it removes the blinders of affluence to the miraculous.

In any case if things go as they should tomorrow, I'll be able to pre-shape the final block of the set then get on to boring. With the outer profiles of the pipes already established, rough shaping should go much faster than it has previously.

This is my first experience with blogging, and there are things that perhaps I should know that I don't. I don't want it to be a place to post photographs, in part because my camera makes obtaining a single photograph an hour's time spent, but mostly because I'd prefer it to be about the emotional/spiritual aspects of the workshop. The spiritual aspects of the craft are what makes it something other than just a job, what makes it worth doing instead of a daily drudge.

When pipemaking is a rich man's hobby it is one thing. When carving is a poor man's bread it is something different. At times one realizes that he is in the process of making a thing of beauty for its own sake.

I have not yet discovered any way to get blogger to tell me how many times posts have been viewed, if there is anyone actually reading this thing, and if you know of a way to find out how many times posts are viewed, I would appreciate knowing that.

Onward and, hopefully, forward.

Shapin' for da bin

Today I spent most of the day trying to shape a block into something that resembled a pipe. Since the bandsaw has been out of commission I've been doing more work before boring, and it seems to help, maybe. Or, not. At first glance the block I shaped and shaped and shaped today looked like it was a throwaway, unless it possibly had a pickaxe in it -- not my favorite shape. After working on the thing, it turns out that I was right, it was a throwaway.

Good day though, strangely enough, as an idea snuck up on me that should save me a lot of work later on.

After posting about my troubles with our Dell laptop, I received an email from a colleague who has also had problems with Dells. Then this afternoon I ran across this, which brought a big laugh: exploding laptop

The new grind

After mounting the router upside-down under the fold-up table, I needed to make a plate to cover the screw-heads holding the router to the table. A piece of 1/4" masonite scavenged from a "workmate" foldup workbench served, it was only a dust collecting shelf as part of the "workmate" anyway. That provided a decently smooth flat surface to move the block around on.

I found that the cutter I had hopes for was too fine for use at 27000 rpm, it preferred to burn rather than cut. I tried a cheap chinese rotary rasp and found it barely usable, though a little scarey; I kept thinking about the thing flexing microscopically every time I pushed the block against it, wondering if would fatigue and snap off at that speed -- they're not the best steel. It took forever to get anything done, but I did learn something from the exercise. I think that my Foredom using my most agressive cutter would have been faster. Tomorrow maybe I'll try that instead. To use the inverted router to good effect, I'll need to find an appropriate cutter. Something longer, with at least 2-1/2" of cutting edge, and with probably 4 flutes. Until I find a better bit, I'll probably disassemble the booby-trap since it tends to be in the way.

Sometimes I wonder why it is that I do this -- carve pipes. It seems to be somewhere between a compulsion and an act of desperation. Maybe someday I'll understand it.

An interesting day

This morning I applied the screwdriver to my wife's Dell again, this time removing the last screw holding the keyboard down (the plastic place where the other screw went was broken off). That, and some heavy paper between the keyboard and the motherboard to insulate what seems to have been an intermitten short, seems (I hope) to have done the trick.

In any case, my wife worked on cleaning up the pictures of #91 while I carefully pulled her vital data off the Dell and moved it to my Sony. Then I used it for a while, and it failed to fail. Back in business, but no more Dells for me.

She continued cleaning up the photos while I went out to the shop. Actually the cleanup took her most of the day, our camera is poor and the lighting abysmal, so the background was very difficult to remove with the airbrush tool.

First order of business in the shop was making an end-cutting drill bit to use in boring the true mortise, into which the mortise insert fits. The previous one was a little larger than my preference, the new one reduces the diameter by about .030"

Making an end-cutting drillbit is interesting. I start by whacking off the pointed end of a regular drill bit with a metal-cutting disk in a fender grinder. Then to get the end flat, I put it into the lathe spinning in reverse at 1400rpm and flatten the end with the same fender grinder. Then it becomes a hand operation done with a rotary grinding tool. The whole process takes perhaps 3-4 hours. When that was done I checked the edges on the other tools I'll need to bore the next set of 3 pipes. Why 3 blocks at a time? Simple, I have 3 gluing clamps.

That done, it was time to lay out and bore the next 3 blocks. I decided on one that has a Horn shape in it as my first, and got about 1" through cutting what will become the pipe's top with the bandsaw, when my last bandsaw blade broke.

Of course that puts my bandsaw out of commission until I get new blades. The closest place where bandsaw blades can be purchased is an hour's drive away, and the round trip costs almost $25 at today's gas prices, more than I can afford just now.

So it was pondering time again. After about an hour of thinking over what tools I had that could be made to fill in until I can lay hands on some new bandsaw blades, I decided on an approach. It's something that I'd thought of a couple months back in order to speed up the rough shaping process.

In my shop, I have a fold-up table attached to the workbench. It's made of aluminum, and had originally been a writing table when the shop (which is a 12-foot step van) had been used as a delivery vehicle. I drilled four holes in the table, and mounted my Bosch plunge-router underneath so the bit can project up through the table. I have a pedal-switch that I also use with the Foredom so it will be easy to control. The bit chosen to replace the bandsaw is an agressive hole-cutting drillbit, one of those intended to be plunged through a board and then used as a saw. It sticks up about 2" through the table. OSHA would not consider this a safe arrangement. It seems to work well enough though, surprisingly docile for a 1-hp motor spinning at 27000 rpm.

The only problem is that the 3 screw-heads that hold the router in place stick up above the table surface. In the morning I'll cut a piece of masonite to size and place it on the table to provide a smooth surface, then it's back to getting the next set of 3 blocks bored.

Assuming that the generator doesn't pitch a fit, and the creek don't rise.

One step forward...

Pipe 91 was completed yesterday, and it turned out nicely. It's a lightweight, 31gm for a 6-1/4" pipe is what I'd call light. Slightly bent, Belge shaped bowl, canted a bit forard. Fascinating grain, lots of swirlies to get lost in. Rusticated shank. Nice thin bit at .132" (3.37mm for metric folks), nice open airway.

Took the photos, and did the initial cropping and color evening and moved the images to a floppy disk for my wife to clean up.

Then spent the rest of the day trying to make her computer work.

It's a Dell laptop. When we came up here 3 years ago we had my Sony laptop (which cost me an arm and a leg but has proven worth every penny), and her Dell laptop, and my Dell development laptop.

Her Dell laptop toasted itself some number of months ago, apparently the graphics card fizzled itself to death because the screen went bazonkers and it became useless.

So we moved her onto my Dell development laptop. It's an old one, that I paid $50 for then another $20 for a new backlight part when I then managed to get working in it. I had planned to use it to learn Linux. So it goes.

Now her current Dell is somewhere between sick and dead. Several hours with a screwdriver yesterday found an intermittent short between the keyboard and the motherboard, or whatever that thing is. But it still isn't working right. You'll be working along and then it'll start typing characters and beeping and there you go.

So today I have several projects. The first will be to get the vital data off her system. The second will be to zero her hard drive and attempt to put some software on it so she can edit the pictures of #91. I have the sinking feeling that I'll spend most of the day doing this software restoration then find out that the problem remains hiding someplace in the hardware.

I think that I will never buy another Dell computer if I ever have the money to think about buying computers. I've been amazed at some of the cheap manufacturing they use. I'm sure their CEO is happy with the profits.

Of course I could let her use my Sony to clean up the pictures. But is it a matter of Dell making cheap computers, or does she have the magic fingers of computer death somehow? If my Sony goes belly-up we are screwed.

Somehow it will figure itself out. Assuming that it does, I'll start on the next batch of 3 pipes this afternoon, hopefully I'll have time to get them bored and epoxied and set aside to cure up for the night.

Site-Feed Added

A friend in France emailed me yesterday asking why there was no site-feed, and I explained that not knowing what it was good for I had disabled it. I still don't fully understand it, but it is enabled now and the url appears in the sidebar.

Finishing #91

All of yesterday was taken up by sanding and staining the bowl of #91 at 4 grit-levels, since the first 2 levels were done the afternoon before. Today I hope to complete it, which involves the last grit-level of sanding, then polishing the bowl and stem. And the photographs of course, which must be cleaned up by hand before they are fit to display. Then there is my wife's computer, which is either infected with a virus or having hardware problems and needs to be set right before the photos can be cleaned up. With luck, #91 could be offered on Monday.

Some would call this an insane level of effort for a tobacco pipe. I would tend to agree. But briar is a funny substance.

Certainly you can use a belt sander or a disk sander to quicken the process. I find that mechanical sanding devices introduce a couple of additional variables to the process however, a level of uncertainty, to which I am unwilling to submit.

I have spent obscene amounts of time trying to make my carving process more certain, the results more uniform, and of a quality level in which I can take pride.

Anyway back to briar. What I find is that if the wood has average grain, it takes a good bit of effort to bring out its nuances and make it look its best. And if the wood has excellent grain, it takes a good bit of effort to bring out every detail and make it look its best. In other words, finishing takes a good bit of effort.

Luckily it is not onerous effort, it is more akin to opening a surprise package with many layers of wrapping. As one progresses, the object within becomes more and more clear, until finally... there it is!