Crack of Noon
Being an early riser I got up at the crack of noon today. I was excited to try out my new whetstone flattening tool, though not before a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. It was super tasty. Before I could get started with my whetstone chore, I got distracted by the practice dovetails I was working on. As I mentioned yesterday, I broke the really good pins I had created yesterday, but before I went to bed I had cut some more.
Let me take this moment to say how much I love my try square. It is so very user friendly. The marks that I laid out for the pins and tails were a delight. I like the way it feels to use, I like how confident I feel about the accuracy, and I like the brass bits on it. If you don’t have a try square, and I am sure most of you do, run out and get one, except for my mom and dad, as they don’t really have any need to mark an accurate line or know if something is 90 degrees. Everyone else though should get one as soon as possible. My little brass marking gauge is very handy too. I like the way the mark makes the placement of the chisel much easier than just a pencil line. This is one of the most exciting parts of my recent dovetail practicing, the improvement in the line across the bottom.
I am still not quite perfect at the fit yet. There are little gaps, but the most recent set is better than the one before it. The learning curve seems to be similar to what I experienced with the mortise and tenons. With each attempt comes an educational blunder. It takes me hours to cut one set. If one compares this to the online videos of people doing it in 3 minutes, well, it is longer. Have I mentioned that I am the son of a mathematician? I digress.
The point is that it is hours and hours of enjoyment. The last set, when the pens finally were paired down enough to fit, was a tremendous job. The hours of joy were not consecutive today however. I had marked some pins before bed, and I cut them quite quickly. Next I needed to do some chisel work and I checked my chisel, and lo and behold, it needed some sharpening. This brought me back to the whetstone flattening.
I bound up the stairs, grabbed the whetstone and took it downstairs to the precision flattening cinder block. I rubbed the whetstone across it and a satisfying red color started to cover the block. I flipped it over, excited to see how it looked. The sight was very cool. The edges were wearing down. I thought to myself, “This won’t take long”. This turned out to be true, if one is comparing the time it took to the length of time since the big bang occurred. In actual time it took a 30 minute session, followed by some lunch, another 15 minute session, and then a break to watch golf. After Ernie Els finished the 18th hole, I brought the cinder block upstairs and put it on my lap, and started the final session. This last session took exactly 5 episodes of the Mentalist. I watched and rubbed.
After it was flat, I spent about 30 minutes sharpening, and went back to my dovetail cutting practice. The newly sharpened chisel did a lovely job, and before I knew it, it was nine in the evening and time to share my woodworking day with the world, which I have done. Now back to the Mentalist, this isn’t as good as Psyche, but is still entertaining.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brian Meeks. Brian Meeks said: Great day of woodworking. I don't know if today's blog is any good, but I am quite happy with the picture. http://bit.ly/a7rLRc [...]