Here’s a story for all us “fine” woodworking friends to grin at. Maybe some will resonate with me about the occasional not so fun struggles associated in this craft. BTW, this story is not invented, it is an actual recount of yesterday in my shop. Disclaimer <g>: Don’t try this at home! Think of Tim Allen on Tooltime ;+). Safety 1st!! Intelligence last??
Woke up bright and early Friday with lots of creative energy (after a pot of coffee) to finish the many projects filling the shop. Loaded up the sprayer with poly, cleaned a paint brush, mixed all the finishes and got all the cabinets, bowls, and furniture parts in various stages of assembly ready to shoot. Being cramped for room I stacked cabinets on sawhorses, the jointer, the lathe and all over the shop so projects were relatively easy to shoot. Shot everything with no problems and still feeling some of that creative burst, thought I would putter productively on some other ideas and half started tasks around the shop. It went downhill from there. First, I tore down an old broken orbital palmsander with the notion of converting it or salvaging parts. Heck, the thing still ran so I slapped on a five inch rubber disk thinking that it would make a good sander for bowls on the lathe. Turned it on and the disk blew off, hit me smartly in the shoulder and put a five inch hole through the ceiling sheetrock. Knocked a nice (and still wet) bowl off the bench with my elbow in surprise. Bowl hit the floor and broke in half. Second, being kind of slow on the up take (i guess), it next dawned that this would be a good day to sharpen the planer and jointer knives. Nothing else to do and I did not want to raise a lot of dust ya know, what with all the tacky finishes around. Except now I had to carefully move the cabinets and tarps formerly stacked on top of the machines without fingerprinting the tacky finish. Removed the planer knives stripping three bolts in the process. So being mechanically challenged however, that did not deter me from the creative puttering mission I must have been on. Honed those #$&()&$# knives for hours on my waterstones until my fingers were cramped. Notice a big puddle on the floor. Waterstone holder had a leak and water dripped through my toolbox thoroughly soaking all my hand planes. Quickly dry them out to avoid rust. Will sharpen the plane blades later after a dose of Celebrex. Run to the secondhand store for a new stone holder. Bought one too big. Third, with all the knives out of the jointer, the poltergeist possessed me to choose this day to do some tune up and accuracy adjustments on the old jointer beast. After buffing and waxing the jointer tables I felt compelled to check them for flatness. Not surprisingly the front and rear tables were off about 3/16. Broke a spring on the rear table while lifting with a crowbar to get a shim under the ways. No worries mate! Just happened to have another big hefty spring to replace the broken one. Things were looking up or so I thought. I was deceived. Fourth, fiddled for almost forever getting the knives back and set in the jointer correctly. Knicked two of the knives (so painstakingly sharpened) with the crowbar while rubbing the sore elbow injury from the earlier sander incident. Fifth, reinstall the planer knives but first must remove the stripped bolts. You guessed right if you are thinking ahead in this story. Two bolts broke off. Now must drill and retap the threads. Think Ryobi planer and metric? threads. Run to four local hardware stores. None carry metric taps. Run to local mining supply shop- purveyors of heavy industrial tools (think underground miners and union labor). They laugh at me while explaining that they don’t carry any taps that small and perhaps I should drill and get a larger bolt. I ask the guy if he was actually referring to my manhood because some hard hats in the store were making jokes about my “girly”ponytail. Avoided a fight. Time to improvise. Bought a 5/16 tap because I had some same size bolts in a old coffee can. Tap broke as well. Out comes the hammer and chisel. Got the tap out and was able to drill new threads with the broken stub tap remnant. Sixth, check the finishes. Most are drying OK but a table top seems full of dust nits and has an odd black smear. A piece of the earlier broken rubber disk had bounced on the wet finish and left its mark. Try touch up and it only gets worse. Decide to let that go for now yet then again possessed reconsider and spray thinner on the table thinking same might dissolve the rubber mark. Table top now looks like vomitus as the thinner lifted earlier coats of finish in some type of demon spirit-induced chemical reaction. Seventh, get a stepladder and some spackle to repair the ceiling hole. Spackle drips off the putty knife onto another wet bowl on the bench. Wipe off the putty leaving a big white smear in the finish. Maybe it will sand out when dry. And finally, wife comes home and innocently opens automatic garage door. String for garage door disconnect latch catches on the door of an open cabinet (high up on a sawhorse for spraying), pulls the cabinet off the sawhorse onto the table top, top tips on floor and dents an edge, cabinet slides over and jars stepladder (from ceiling repair) ladder falls on tablesaw and bends fence. I go to the refrigerator for a beer.
Replies
Boy, did you have a day. Reminds me of some of mine...
It also reminds me of the most important -- no, second most important -- lesson in woodworking (for me): Stop, or at least take a break, when I get tired.
I get going on a project or piece, and I just can't pull myself away from it. I think, "Once I finish this, I might have time to do that, and if I do I'll be able to start tomorrow by doing this or that other thing and be one step closer to being done," and the next thing you know I'm working when I'm tired and I either get sloppy and curse a lot, or put myself at risk.
I'm learning to say "done" when I'm tired or the time comes. Turns out, I'm much more efficient that way. (Less time spent remaking, fixing, and patching pieces, or nursing cut fingers.)
David
Look, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
davamoor,
Despite my less than productive day as posted in humbug and humility, I have to add that I was happy as a clam during the struggles. I am careful to count my blessings you understand and the mere fact that I was involved in an activity (woodworking) that I love was good enough for me. I learned a lot during that day. Thanks for the reply.
sawick
I generally do my tinkering. Then clean the shop. Then apply the finish the leave the shop. Thanks for showing me why I do it this way.
Bart,
Yes, I usually have a pattern of tasks as well. But like I said in humbug, for some reason on this day I felt peculiarly inspired. Hence my ponderings about a poltergeist influence. You know how intimate one becomes with his/her machines? And how such an intimate relationship also evolves with various projects? I guess that Friday was an example of how such relationships can go awry much like relationships with humans. Nonetheless, your post reminded of the importance of sticking to a sort of discipline in the shop, even given a creative burst. Maybe all the mishaps were just then a natural result of "breaking the rules"
sawick
....which just shows to go ya, if you had started with the beer...great story!
.....ONE beer? What does it take for you to take to drink?cabinetmaker/college instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
Adrian,
What does it take for me to drink? Well not much but I was saving the beer break for a can of Guiness, perfectly chilled to 42 degrees. Now that I think of it, maybe that was the distraction thus the incident recurrence. Or maybe there was a unusual spirit at play in the shop that day.
sawick
BG,
Yes, maybe I should have stared that day with a beer. But since I was working in the shop well before 5 a.m. that seemed a bit early to start imbibing, My rule of thumb is to avoud the "evils of drink" till at least noon <g>. Maybe i will rethink that rule...
sawick
Your biorythemes were definitely on a down cycle, and you should have realized this early in the day. You need a set of rules to hang on the wall.
1) when things start going bad, they can only get worse.
2) No matter where you are , it's happy hour somewhere. Can't drink till noon, fine, it's noon....somewhere.
I would have pulled out a lawn chair, and a magazine, and called it an inservice learning day.
I was taught by a good carpenter that when you have make your second major mistake of the day, it's time to head home. Time lost by not finishing the day's work is more than offset by the frustration of fixin', or mendin', or searching for lost digits.
Scott
Rev,
Of course you and your carpenter mentor are right about taking a break before all goes from bad to worse. But heck, if I did that I would never get anything done!! Perhaps the fates of woodworking have cursed me to a pattern of blunder. Oh well..., it still is alot of fun.
sawick
I like that, but I'm not sure how useful it would be in the real world. What if your second major mistake was deciding that the first one wasn't serious enough to trigger the count?
Wow. I don't feel so bad about tipping my 20" drill press over. After swearing at myself for 20 minutes, i felt so miserable i had to take the whole rest of the day off. But you! Man, talk about stick-to-it-iveness...you're an inspiration!
SPLINTIE,
Thanks. I don't know about being an inspiration, but in retrospect it could have been much worse in terms of physical injury and long term tool damage. Speaking of, I hope your drill press was not destroyed nor any part of your person injured other than some pride.
I am happy to report now that after continual hard work over the weekend, all repairs have been made, touch up efforts seem satisfactory, and most importantly, my creative drive remains intact perhaps even stimulated. As I said in another post, I was happy as a clam during that humbug day, feeling lucky just to be involved in a craft I love. For me the pursuit of woodworking is a sort of Zen thing. A paradox. That means the striving for perfection while honoring the imperfection. What is important is the process not necessarily the product.
But I wax philosohical. Time to get another coat of poly on that nasty table top. Anyone have any spare elbow grease?
Thanks for the reply. I might take you up on that invite to meet your fellow turner and/or seek out some wood. I do know where a large stash of spalted poplar is (a local tree trimmer) but unfortunately the stash is now buried under 24 plus inch blocks of pine. Another process...
sawick
I might take you up on that invite to meet your fellow turner
Well, if you're interested...another Knothead is making the pilgrimage on the next First Friday Gallery Walk, which is also done in Missoula as well as Stevensville. There's also a Christmas craft show at the University Th-Sat which i am doing, so why not pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and rendezvous with us? I'll just bet i could talk Joe into giving you a tour of his shop, too...
SPLINTIE,
Thanks so much for the invite. If possible I would like to make reservations for some time after Thanksgiving as the whole famn damily is coming from distant points and I am the executive chef. Much to prepare in the kitchen therefore.
On another thought, may I say that this forum is very fun and rewarding. Being used to working alone and in a relative inspirational vacuum (at least in terms of linking with other artisans) this ability to "talk shop" is just wunnerful!!
sawick
We're talking 6th of December. If you aren't over TG by then, you need to learn to delegate. Email me if you've a mind for a road trip at this time or some other.
Splintie,
Dec. 6 sounds doable although I will just be getting off call so will wait to see how sleep deprived I am. Remind me about this visit plan please. Will you want me to bring a classic Butte pasty to remind you of your roots? As to delegating, perhaps you have a point. I was up at 5 this a.m making breadsticks for TG Day. But that is done so now I can go to the shop. BTW did you get any snow? Butte was blessed with about 4 inches. Probably lots more in the mts.
sawick
Cornish pasties and sandwiches from Pork Chop John's--payday fare when my dad was a miner. I don't suppose they do a vegan version nowadays? <G>
Do you remember Gamer's, the place where there weren't any prices on the menu? You paid what you felt it was worth...
Only a skiff of snow here, but i just came out of the shop where it's darn chilly! Got the woodstove going, hot bath running, electric blanket switched on, and after i find my Sorels, i'll be ready for bed.
Splintie,
Pork Chop John's is still around though I personally detest their fare. There is a Gamers here uptown on Park street; coolplace, quite retro but the menu lists prices now. Would it not be an affront to request a vegan pasty? I can imagine the Cornish miners rolling in their dismal shafts of graves. Forgive me as I am a relative newbie to Butte though I try to catch up on local culture by for example reading the "Copper Camp" and the "Copper Kings". This town must have really been something in its heyday.
Colder than blazes here. I can tell by attempting glueups when the titebond turns white and sort of separates. I need to get some heat in the shop other than halogen construction lights and candles.
You can tell you are from Montana when you wear your sorrels to bed.
sawick
Check out Butte Polka by Donald McCaig. I've heard that the story about the guy getting shoved in the furnace is true.
I attended a wedding reception in the Clark Mansion many years ago. Wonderful carved, flashed-glass transoms, intriguing combed walls with a very heavy texture, and some wonderful woodwork, of course. Maybe they give tours...
Splintie,
The Clark mansion is now a bed & breakfast. I too attended a wedding there a couple years ago and wandered aroung gaping at the many architectural details. Sadly, like much of Butte, the Clark suffers from degradation and sore need of renovation. Must read the Butte Polka as you referenced. Funny to live in a town that, for the most part is gone because the pit swallowed it up. Did you know that most of the carousel and all of the amazingly large timbers used to build it was buried with mine waste? I am told that there are also several churches buried in situ under various man-made mountains of debris as well. Perhaps the next millenium will find this area a rich archeological treasure.
sawick
Columbia Gardens, Clark's gift to the miners' kids--free admission! I remember it well, including the carousel, the biplane ride, the rollercoaster...there was an open-air dance pavilion with a gleaming wood floor...a great place to get away on Sundays from the two-room apt. the four of us lived in at 510 S. Montana. I didn't know about the churches, but i remember having nightmares of our apartment being swallowed after hearing the adults talk about four houses that fell into a stope cave-in.
BTW, Missoula has the first hand-carved carousel to be made in something like 70 years, all done with volunteer help and housed in a building designed by architects and donated by the city. It was the inspiration of Chuck Kaparich, one of the most interesting people i've met, now into new stuff. Dig those Frenched taillights...
He probably got that idea from Robert Service's "The Cremation of Sam Magee". Great poetry, and fun, too.
The northern lights
Have seen queer sights
But the queerest they ever did see,
Was the night on the marge
Of Lake Labarge
I cremated Sam Magee
--
Lee in Cave Junction, Oregon
On the Redwood Highway
Here's the thing. After enduring all you did that day.. and not clocking those jerks for putting you down.. tells me you have a very good hold on yourself. Me? Well, that's another story.
bill
bill,
A good hold on myself? Where? <g>. Must admit it took some considerable restraint to not pull out the guns (fists) as they say. Quite enjoyed the odd bar fight when I was younger. I hold no grudges against the hard hats, After all I was one a time ago. They just did not know me as I am a new guy in town and the locals are pretty tight and cliquish. But I was on a "mission' that day and really wanted to move things along in the shop. Woodworking for me is not about making enemies. Rather, it is about doing good work and leaving a part of me (in a completed project) for others to use and enjoy. What does ww do for you? I am curious as you mentioned another story?
sawick
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