March 5, 2021 - Friday morning

14 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It's pretty sad when the largest bluegill I've held in over a year is one that I manufactured in the shop. More about that in a bit.

Yesterday's walk was one of the prettiest I've taken this winter. With the calm winds and temperatures in the low single numbers, any moisture in the air was frozen, resulting in tree branches that looked like they were made from glass.

 

Unfortunately, my pocket camera isn't sophisticated enough to pick up the tiny nuances, but you get the idea. 

Breakfast finished and back from our daily sojourn to town, I got busy in the shop. First was to move the heavy machinery from one end and clean piles of sawdust that had collected over the winter months.

The blade on the large bandsaw had broken a few days ago and I'd purchased an inexpensive replacement at Harbor Freight.

I shouldn't use the word inexpensive. Cheap would better describe the quality of the blade. The weld was so large and the blade so poorly made that it tore through the center plate on the cutting table. 

You get what you pay for.

Lesson learned.

Thankfully, I had another blade of better quality that put me back in business.

The majority of the day was spent assembling the bluegill and preparing the backer board. I've never done a fish before and found I enjoyed it a great deal. That being said, I was often frustrated at the lack of being able to blend the colors to make it look more natural. I can see an air brush in my future.

From what Mississippi Brother Garry tells me, using an air brush can be rewarding. The time it takes to clean one after isn't nearly so enjoyable.

The segmented bowl is FINALLY shaped and other than a bit of sanding, is ready to have poly finish applied. 

A piece flew off the bowl again yesterday. All I can figure out is that the glue, well over a year old, has lost its holding power. Though it's kept in a heated cabinet, there's a good possibility that I may have accidentally left it out at some point where it froze and eventually thawed.

CA glue was used to permanently attach the last piece yesterday and in the end, the bowl withstood the final turning and shaping.

I love to learn and the bowl has been frustratingly fun to make. I am excited and can envision all kinds of possibilities and designs moving forward into the world of segmented turning.

Sargie spent time yesterday afternoon touching up the backer board of the Lord's Prayer. At some point during the drying process, one of the plaques had slipped a quarter of an inch before drying. 

A chisel was used to pry it from the board and naturally, that left a mark or two. With Sargie's steady hand, a dark colored scratch remover (marker) hid the imperfections and the Lord's Prayer will soon be traveling to its permanent home in a local church.

In fact, there are several shop made goodies in our dining room that will soon be gone. It seems the table has morphed into an indoor loading dock for most pieces that are completed in the shop and about to be shipped out. 

It will be good to see the table empty again, just in time to be filled with future projects.

Sargie had been working in the house. I was busy in the shop when my bride announced she was ready to go for a walk.

The late afternoon was warm, in the mid thirties, and sunny. We put a quick two miles under our feet before returning home to play a game of Rummy.

It was a perfect ending to a near perfect day.

Yooper Brother Mark will be here shortly for our usual Friday morning walk. Other than a few short texts, we haven't talked this past week, so it'll be fun to catch up. 

I've got a couple of last minute things to do with that fish before it swims to its permanent home as well as sanding and applying finish to the bowl. Hopefully, there'll be an hour or two to work on the life sized bulldog that I started a month ago.

Will it ever end?

I hope not.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...