Orb Designs

  • UK weather

    If I’d been driving around a local equivalent of the Tops Gear (UK) track this weekend, all my laps would have been on the board as either D(amp) or W(et). Fog, drizzle, rain, drizzle, fog – and that was just today. And today was still a busy day.

    I was at work by 0715, to do a bit of patching (which could be done remotely), and some BIOS configuration on one of the machines I was patching (which couldn’t). That, on top of 6 hours at work yesterday: racking up the comp time, eh?

    I was back home by ten minutes of nine, having finished what I wanted to do there today. Then, off to the shopping while Marcia went to church. Once back, I cleaned up the basement shop a bit, roasted some coffee, and cut my hair. The next step, had it been a nicer day, was to wash the car. But that didn’t happen because plans changed.

    Marcia got home, changed out of her Sunday best, and hopped in her car to head out to Annapolis for some kind of quilting thing … and her car just make a single click. Dash lights flashing, computer reset, and … nothing. I got the multi-meter on the terminals and had her try to start it again. The voltage dropped like a stone. Bad battery, of course, which I had confirmed at the Sears Auto Center in Bowie (quick, friendly, efficient folks had that tested and me out the door with a new battery for her in about 7 minutes). Got that installed in Marcia’s Solara, too late for her to head out to Annapolis.

    Down in the woodshop, I found that I was out of the dimensional hard maple that I’m using for face frames. So, no work down there today. The balance of the day went to Top Gear and Skyrim. Oh, yeah, and I made a gallon or so of turkey chili with tomato sauce reserved from the summer. Huzzah!

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to the family, friends, and unit of Sergeant Wittman.

    • Sgt. Aaron X. Wittman, 28, of Chester, Virginia, died Jan. 10, in Khogyani District, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his unit was attacked by small arms fire while on mounted patrol.

  • Memory and Less

    This weekend: A bit of woodworking, a bit of Top Gear UK, but mostly Skyrim. I utterly forgot about an event on Saturday afternoon that I’d like to have attended, but something in my brain has decided that since I’m done with school, I don’t have to remember shit for a while. Sigh.

    *      *      *

    OMFSM. For the first time in years, possibly since I’ve started taking note, there are no reported US casualties on the DoD site since I last posted. Surely not the end of such things, but I’m very grateful to be able to NOT offer condolences, at least for this one week. To be clear, had I not been a day late last weekend, it would have been one and one for the last two weeks.

     

  • Except for the Shouting

    Degree:  Bachelor of Science
    Confer Date:  12/30/2012
    Degree GPA:  4.000
    Degree Honors:  Summa Cum Laude
    Plan:  Computer Information Technology

    Um, yay?

  • Happy 2013

    Or as Jenny puts it, “The Library opened yesterday.” I like that metaphor. It’s a bit Doctor Who-ish, but cool.

    I spent most of New Year’s Day doing production work down in the basement, trimming and cutting dadoes and rabbets for the other three shelving units. Tonight, I started assembly:

    The Second Shelf in assembly
    The Second Shelf

  • Dead Microwave

    Last night, I was looking online for new microwaves. Our over-the-range microwave stopped making food hot last night. It still makes light, and provides a clock that flashes when the power goes out, but no more bubbly food.

    I’ve got a query into Linda Rose on the subject, and we’ll see what the recommendation is.

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

    • Sgt. Enrique Mondragon, 23, of The Colony, Texas, died Dec. 24, in Baraki Barak, Afghanistan, from injuries sustained when his unit was attacked by small arms fire while on dismounted patrol.
    • Pfc. Markie T. Sims, 20, of Citra, Florida, died Dec. 29 in Panjwal, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.

  • Wider

    The shelving unit that goes beside the door is a two-piece: a 12″ deep bottom section, and a 9″ deep upper, totalling 7 feet tall. Here’s the next stage of assembly of the bottom section, glued up and curing right now:

    Door Lower Shelving Glue Up
    Door Lower Shelving Glue Up

    This evening, I plan to get the side piece glued on, so that I can fabricate the back, and start preparing this unit for paint.

  • Shelving begins

    Finished assembly on the bones of the trial shelving unit: It’ll stay in the workshop, sans face frame. The first half of one of the office lower shelves is in glue-up on the table saw extension:

    Shelving assembly
    Shelving assembly

  • Fixtures and Late Posting

    Last night … I was playing Fallout 3, and went from game to sleep. My bad.

    Today, I’m back in fabrication and assembly mode in the woodshop:

    Cutting a rabbet
    Cutting a rabbet

    I’m running with the dadoe set installed for cutting 3/4″ slots for the shelves, but by embedding about half of that width into the sacrificial fence, I can also cut the rabbets for the back panel. Notice that I’m using a finger board to help keep the workpiece in control – a 4′ long side needs a third hand, and the finger board provides the safest method of control near the blades.

    *      *      *

    Our condolences to Commander Price’s family, friends, and team:

    • Cdr. Job W. Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, died Dec. 22 of a non-combat related injury while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.

     

  • One Done

    Knife re-handled
    Knife re-handled

  • Knife and Fixtures

    The work on the chef’s knife continued today:

    Trimming the knife handle
    Trimming the knife handle

    The epoxy for side two cured overnight. I removed the clamps, and trimmed the sides down to near the tang, all the way around, using the scroll saw.

    Sanding the knife handle
    Sanding the knife handle

    Sanding the knife handle was a multi-step process. This first phase used a couple of sizes and grits to get the wood down to the same profile as the tang. I used mini-sanding drums in the drill press for the task. Then I drilled through the rivet guide holes from the other side, then finished drilling the rivet profile in the handle. 0.177″ ∅ through, then 0.25″ ∅ drilled 0.21″ deep from each side for the rivet head.

    I seated one side of each rivet using a hammer, after treating the drilled-out surface in the handle with cyanoacrylate adhesive. I put some more adhesive on the threads of the mating side and on the shoulder in the handle, then screwed each rivet together. Oh, yeah, the rivets: I got them from North Coast Knives – pleasant folks, quick & efficient order fulfillment, and lots of parts in stock for just about any sort of knife fabrication and repair you’re contemplating. Recommended!

    Hacking off the rivet heads
    Hacking off the rivet heads

    Removing the rivet heads required application of the hacksaw. Sanding or grinding them all the way down would have caused too much heating … I know this, and caught it before I burnt the handle. Then sanding, a bit of carving, and a lot more sanding at progressively finer grits brought the knife to the place where I could apply the first coat of Danish Oil:

    Applying finish
    Applying finish

    Three or four more applications are due, with sanding and/or rubbing with #0000 steel wool between each coat. This will be done Sunday, I think.

    *      *      *

     I also finished building my table saw fixtures today. Here in one image you can see both the outfeed extension table (the leg actually still needs hardware, so I’ll go get that tomorrow) and the over-size cross-cut sled I built. It’s not light, but it makes getting true 90° cuts possible on large pieces:

    Tablesaw fixtures
    Tablesaw fixtures