The Lumber Yard

On Monday, I stayed home to keep an eye on my dog, Fred, who was having health issues. He's old, but with antibiotics and a new special food, he's fine now.  I worked on my working/technical drawings. 

On Wednesday, I was back in class. I tweaked my drawings and worked on my cut list.  A cut list is a helpful tool. Basically it is a matrix that outlines every piece, with a description, it's dimensions, materials, and quantity.

Today (Saturday), our class met at Exotic Lumber.  Neil Gager, the owner,  gave us a tour and explained how to figure the cost.  That took a bit of effort to wrap my mind around.  lenght x width x thickness = X.  Convert X to inches, divide by 144, then multiply that number by the price of a board foot to get the cost.  Neil was great and gave us a 10% student discount.  I selected soft maple and cherry for my project. 

different exotic boards.

this was awesome, and huge.  two branches from one tree that was about 5 feet across.  based on the rings, it had to be really old.  it would make a great table top, or headboard. 

Bridget and Kamisha trying to decide on the kind of wood they might use.

Neil cutting my boards so they will fit in my car.

Research: no images

This week, we went to the woodworking shop at the Foggybottom campus. The director of GWU's Health and Welfare gave us our safety orientation. He is a lifelong wood and metal worker. Next, Professor Takagi gave us a brief overview of the shop and different machines. He did a demo of the band saws and sanders (drum, belt, and circular). He made a push stick. It is a piece of wood with a cut out notch used to push wood through a table saw so that your fingers do not get near the blade. Then to practice, we each made our own push sticks. It was a little intimidating because it was hard to follow my line on the band saw. I was close, but I am sure with practice I will be closer, like I'd like to be for better accuracy and fit. On Wednesday, we were back in the studio working on our technical drawings. I only had Revit on my laptop and it is really designed more for the architecture of complete buildings rather than individual pieces of furniture. I figured that trying to make the component a family work better and it did, but I still have a lot to learn about how Revit works. When I got home, I did more reading about Revit families and will need to start my drawing again for it to display in 3D. I had removed my reference lines after using them, but Revit really needs them all to remain. On Thursday and Friday, I did quite a bit of reading and research about sharpening and honing systems so that I could hone my new Double Cherries (Twei Kirchen) chisels. My dad had always used oil stones but Professor Takagi uses waterstones. My dad was not a woodworker, but he still ties to keep my mom's kitchen knives sharp. Then there are diamond stones and now ceramic stones. What is the difference and what will work better for me? I bought a cheap duel oils stone from Home Depot (course on one side and fine on the other) and some oil to go with it. The oil keeps the particles suspended so that they do not clog the stone with particles. On Saturday, I went to Woodcraft, and Mike, helped me to decide. We looked at the oil stones and the waterstones. He said that it was six of one and half dozen of the other. I told him that my dad used oil stones, but my professor used water stones, and based on my experience (none), and the availability of my dad (living in Texas) and my professor, (here), I decided to go with the waterstones. I bought two combination stones; one with grits of 250 and 1,000, and the other of 1,000 and 6,000. I also purchased a nagura stone and a veritas honing guide. Some pricey purchases, but I am planning to be working with wood for the rest of my life. I can't believe I have put it off this long. When I took shop in the 8th grade, I knew I loved it and wanted to do a lot more of it. But I always thought I had to do other things or take more classes before I could do what my heart desired. I think I am still caught in that cycle, but am trying to follow my dreams more closely and not get distracted. Like the hero in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, I need to stay true to my personal legend. When I got home from Woodcraft, I practiced sharpening and honing on my husband's set of Craftman's chisels. Next, I carefully added micro-bevels to my Double Cherries chisels. I was hoping to practice a loose-wedged mortise and tenon joint, but by then it was getting late and I needed to get ready to go to the Rhodeside Grille to watch UT beat Iowa State with the other DC Texas Exes. Texas won 37 to 14.