The Brave New World

To quote my last post:

"Once I have the tools to super-heat steel, the sky is the limit.  It will start with a simple annealing job...."

Well, turns out I DO have the tools to super-heat steel.  I'm not sure why it makes me giggle to think about the things I can do with a drill press, dremel tool, a piece of copper pipe, a BBQ grill, a small shop vac, and some duct tape...

For the record, I was the one holding the camera, and my sons were all in bed when this picture was taken. That is the hand of my dear silly wife.  I asked her to bring me some long tongs, and she comes back down with a kit of grilling tools (that didn't include a pair of tongs) and a bag of marshmallows.  Here I was trying to get some work done, and she's roasting marshmallows at my forge.  The INDIGNITY.

Yes, of course I ate one. So what.

It turned out that my little forge did a brilliant job.  It did not cost me a nickel; I had everything on hand, including the charcoal.  (No Brenda, that's NOT the grill you and Edgar gave me for Christmas last year.  The grill you bought me enabled me to "re-purpose" this one, which Joy got me for Christmas a few years back!)  With a little learning I was able to heat the piece of my old file to the critical temperature where it loses its magnetic properties and is workable, and it is now sitting in a safe place in the shop cooling down so it will be sufficiently annealed.

The camera didn't catch the color of the metal that well, but it was a pale yellow at the time this was taken.  I had to use my Knipex to handle things since this household apparently has a severe lack of sizable tongs.  All in all I got the job done, and now I can get this piece shaped up far more easily.  I'm excited now; I've got big plans for this little piece of steel.  With any luck, it will become the heart and soul of a custom block plane to help me with the woodworking.  That bit of metal has many siblings waiting for their turn in the forge as well.  I am eager now to give them their chance.

Oh yeah, one more good thing about having a forge: it gives me a way of disposing of this wretched pile of small wooden scraps I'm rapidly acquiring.  Who needs to buy charcoal when you can make your own?

Woodworking... HA!!!

So if I'm supposed to be spending so much of my free time doing woodworking now, WHY AM I SPENDING SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY ON METAL!?!?!?!?!?

A few weeks ago I bought a bunch of old files via Ebay.  This was a lot of very large files of different shapes, and all made from old American steel.  As mentioned in my first posting here, one of the things I am absolutely committed to making for myself is custom tools.  Why would I do such a thing when I've got so many tools already?  BECAUSE I CAN!  Why the heck shouldn't I?  So I bought these files with the intent of destroying them and morphing them into other devices.  Files are made of some of the hardest high-carbon steels known to man.  High-carbon steel is necessary for making any type of tool that must keep a very sharp edge.  Some people use old files to create swords and knives, though I'm trying like mad to resist that urge...

These files are mostly destined for becoming custom plane irons (that's the proper name for the blade of a woodworking plane).  With a little bit of research I found a functional method for "cutting" them into the sizes of material I need.  Who ever knew that the only effective cutting tools for this would be a grinding wheel, a sturdy vice, and a large hammer.  Done properly, this highly violent (yet extremely gratifying) method actually produces a very clean separation.  The problematic part comes afterwards; how on earth do you shape EXTREMELY hard old steel?

The proper way of working with this old steel would be to anneal it by heating it up red hot (to the point it loses its magnetic properties) and then allowing it to slowly cool down in the open air.  This would soften the steel substantially and make it far easier to shape.  Heating steel to this level requires a forge, however, and I don't happen to own one of those.  Yet.  Don't think I haven't typed "home made forge" into youtube and gotten several ideas.  I am certainly capable of making myself a suitable forge, and I've got plenty of things to burn laying around (like my older brother's old Paula Abdul cassette tapes).

The main issue with building a forge is the whole "slippery slope" concept.  Once I have the tools to super-heat steel, the sky is the limit.  It will start with a simple annealing job.  Then I'll want a bigger hammer to "shape it faster while it is still hot."  Then I'll go find myself an old piece of a railroad track to use the hammer on.  Next thing you know I'll be knee deep into the first ever Moeglingator 3000 (the kids are watching Wubbzy right now... I couldn't stop myself).  I'd never attempt nuclear fission in my garage, I promise (after all, I'm not in Sweden).  But what are the chances I'll continue to be able to resist that urge to make myself something very, very shiny, sharp, and highly dangerous?  I don't really have any designs like that running around in my head... really... seriously... there's not a single one... promise... "Trust me, Mom, I know what I'm doing..."


I'd better get back to working with some wood...

The Gift of Light

Over the past few weeks I've struggled through working in a room lit by a single light bulb mounted in the ceiling.  This solitary light source is directly behind my back when I stand in front of my bench, therefore casting my massive shadow directly over anything I am working on.  This is counter-productive.

Last week I was discussing the current status of my work with my father at the clock shop.  I mentioned this extreme lack of light, and he said he thought he had a large florescent light fixture hanging around that he would not be using.  Saturday afternoon I dropped by his house with my family while we were running errands, and he gave me the old light fixture and two new bulbs for it.  After an $8 run to the hardware store and a little time spent on the step ladder, my humble workshop now has a terrific amount of light.  Best of all, my work is no longer encumbered by the dark cast of my own shadow.

For those of you who have read up to this point and thought, "his dad gave him a light fixture. cool. <YAWN>..." you miss the larger picture.  While thinking about how grateful I was for this new light, many thoughts rushed through my mind.  I realized just how great a gift this simple act of charity from my father was to me, and how it represented so much more than what my eyes would see.  Here in this story I have told above there lies MUCH symbolism.

Over the years I have been moving along in life, guided largely by the the light of others pushing me along. While this light has been sufficient to keep me moving in a forward direction, I have been greatly encumbered by my own shadow countless times.  It now has occurred to me that over the past 13 years since I came back home to Columbia, my father has CONSTANTLY given me the light I have needed to see through the darkness and confusion that I constantly place before myself.

I think of every single good decision I have made over that time period, and I am reminded of a discussion I had with my father.  Getting back on my own feet after coming home, rediscovering the importance of religion, getting engaged and married, going to college, starting a family, going BACK to college, pushing the clock shop forward.  His wisdom and knowledge, and his willingness to give them to me, have been there through it all.

But it goes well beyond that time also.  How do I know how to use the very tools I own?  Because I have been there with him while he was using his tools for as far back as my memory allows me to recall.  Why do I think I can do the things I set out to do?  Because of the things that I have seen him do.

I sit here wanting to type more, but I just can't write enough words to express my gratitude for my father's Gift of Light.  His gift educates me, empowers me, and encourages me.  I am very excited and humbled to use his light to continue on my path of Enduring Creation.

Project #1: The Clockmaster's Dream

Q:  What happens when you take an old Nostromo n52 gaming pad and use it to set up hotkeys in Google Sketch Up?

A:  You have a new favorite video game to play with, that actually does something productive.

While I am absolutely committed to NEVER building the same thing twice, my intent is to design project platforms that I can use as master concepts for building products with similar design foundations over time.  I'm calling this platform the "Clockmaster's Dream" series, mostly because the clocks I build with it will be VERY easy clock cases for a clockmaker to work with when it comes time to maintain and repair their movements. 

Being a Sketch Up Artist has its advantages.  I sat down yesterday afternoon for about an hour and toyed around with some concepts for this design platform.  Building my designs in Sketch Up allows me to brainstorm construction ideas and manipulate the model in a 3D environment so I can get a good idea of what will and won't work before I ever cut into a piece of wood.  It also allows me to print off design plans with dimensions.  Extra time spent in Sketch Up saves a LOT of time in the shop, not to mention helping to eliminate wasted wood.  Here's a very rough sketch of the preliminary design concept for this project. 

Many things about this design will change before I power up my saw for the first cut, but I wanted to give you an idea of what Sketch Up can do, and how I'll be spending most of my time at the computer these days...